Simba

Simba
First Appearance:	The Lion King (1994)
Voiced by:	(see below)
Created by:	Jonathan Roberts
Species:	Lion

Simba is a character from the Lion King series, who serves as the protagonist of The Lion King, a secondary character in The Lion King: Simba's Pride, and the tritagonist in The Lion King 1 1/2. He is the son of Mufasa and Sarabi, mate of Nala, and nephew of Scar. The name "Simba" is Swahili for "lion".

Appearance[]

As a cub, Simba boosts a golden-fur color, which he carries on with him when he grows into an adult, and has a auburn mane similar to that of his father's.

The Lion King[]

Simba is first seen at the beginning of the film, curled up in his mother's paws. After being anointed he gets held up by Rafiki, a mandrill, from atop Pride Rock for all the animals to see. Simba's uncle, Scar, is upset with Simba's birth as it means now that Scar will never be king. When Simba is a little older, he has his father show him the kingdom from the top of Pride Rock. He asks his father about a shadowy area in the distance, but father tells him that the area is beyond 'their' borders and that he must never go there. Mufasa then shows Simba rest of the lands from the ground but eventually has to leave to chase away some hyenas. While back at home, Simba visits his uncle Scar, who on purpose reveals to Simba that the shadowy place is an elephant graveyard and only brave lions go there. Simba becomes curious of the place and decides to visit it himself with his friend Nala. When Sarabi asks Simba where they were going, he lies telling her "around the water hole." Sarabi lets Simba and Nala go, but sends Zazu to watch over them. The cubs manage to lose him by crushing him with a pile of animals led to Simba singing "I Can't Wait to be King."

As the cubs approach the elephant graveyard, Zazu catches up and stops Simba from entering a large elephant skull, where three hyenas named Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed come out of and attack the cubs. Zazu manages to escape and tell Mufasa that the hyenas are after the cubs. Mufasa dashes all the way from the Pride Lands to the graveyard where he pins the hyenas down and threatens to kill them if they came near his son again.

Cub simba 1 — Cub Simba from the first film.

On the way back home, Mufasa asks Zazu to take Nala home while he teaches Simba a lesson. Mufasa is dissapointed in Simba for disobeying him. Simba says that he was just trying to be brave like his father but Mufasa tells Simba that his only brave when he has to be and that being brave doesn't mean go looking for trouble. He then teaches Simba about the great kings of the past that will be there to guide him, and soon, so will he.

In the meantime, Scar plans another plot with the hyenas to try and murder both his brother and nephew. The next day, Scar takes Simba down to a large gorge where he tells him to wait on a rock as his father has a "marvelous surprise" for him. Before leaving, he also mocks Simba of his "little roar" and tells him to work on it before leaving. While waiting in the gorge, Scar signals the hyenas and Simba takes his advice and practices his roar. He successfully scares a chameleon with a loud roar before the wildebeasts come running down the gorge. While pretending to be concerned about him, Scar alerts Mufasa of the stampede and tells him that Simba is down there. Mufasa jumps into the stampede and successfully saves Simba, but gets dragged back in himself. He escapes and hangs on the side of a cliff while asking his bother for his help. Instead, Scar mocks Mufasa before throwing him back into the stampede to be trampled to death. After locating his father in the gorge, Simba tries to revive him but fails. Scar joins Simba near Mufasa's body and begins to accuse Simba of Mufasa's death. Simba asks his uncle what to do, but Scar tells him to run away and never return. While running, Scar sends the hyenas after him again to kill him, but fail when Simba falls into a thorn patch and escapes into the desert. The hyenas tell Scar that Simba is dead and takes the throne, allowing the hyenas to invade the Pride Lands.

Close to death, Simba gets rescued by Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and warthog duo. They teach about living without worries under "Hakuna Matata", and have him eat bugs while exploring his new home. They raise Simba in the jungle until he's an adult. One day, Simba hears Timon and Pumbaa calling for help and comes to their rescue. Simba engages in a battle with a hungry lioness but realizes that the lioness is his old friend Nala. The two begin to spend alot of time together which turns into a romantic relationship. Eventually Nala begins to question Simba about not returning to Pride Rock, which begins to anger him. Rafiki finds Simba and tells him the Mufasa is still alive. The mandrill leads Simba into a grassy meadow where Mufasa's spirit appears in the clouds. Mufasa begins to accuse Simba of forgeting him and tells him that he must return to Pride Rock and reclaim the throne. Rafiki then comes in and teaches him to learn from his past and not to run from it. Inspired, Simba returns to the Pride Lands joined by Nala, Timon and Pumbaa. They discover that the lands are barren and dry. Simba has Timon and Pumbaa create a diversion while Nala rallies up the lionesses and he looks for Scar.

Simba witnesses Scar striking Sarabi, which angers him and confronts him at Pride Rock. Scar forces Simba of his guilt about Mufasa's death and backs him off a cliff. Scar then grabs Simba and whispers to the young lion that he killed Mufasa but he jumps up and pins Scar down calling him a "murderer." He forces Scar to tell the truth to all the other lions, causing a battle to ensue. As Timon, Pumbaa, Nala, and the other lionesses drive

away the hyenas, Simba chases Scar to the top of Pride Rock where Scar pleads for his life. Scar tells Simba that it was the hyenas' idea but doesn't believe him. Instead of killing him, Simba lets Scar go and tells him to never to return to the Pride Lands. Before leaving, Scar throws hot embers into Simba's face where a battle between the two erupts. Simba manages to beat him by throwing Scar over the edge where Scar gets killed by the hyenas below for betraying them.

After Simba roars to the lands, the Pride Lands return to normal and Simba, Nala, Timon and Pumbaa proudly watch as Rafiki presents their newborn cub to the animals below to see.

The Lion King: Simba's Pride[]

In the second movie, Simba has a daughter named Kiara, who he is very protective of. When Kiara goes out to play by herself, Simba sends Timon and Pumbaa to watch over her. Shortly after Kiara and her new friend, Kovu escape from being eaten by crocodiles, Simba leaps in and confronts Zira, Kovu's mother who was watching the two cubs play. Afterwords, Simba talks with Kiara and tells her that they "are one."

When Kiara grows up, she askes her father to promise to let her hunt on her own, which he does, but sends Timon and Pumbaa out to watch over her anyway. After Kiara discovers Timon and Pumbaa, she runs off only to be trapped in a fire that was started by Nuka and Vitani. Kiara manages to climb up onto a rock where she loses conciousness. Kovu saves her but Simba becomes angered after he hears from Rafiki that he saved her. Nala convinces him to let Kovu stay with them. He does, but won't allow Kovu to join the pride until he sees who Kovu really is.

Shortly afterwords, Simba has a nightmare about Mufasa's death. Mufasa is hanging on the side of the cliff and is calling out for his help. Simba goes to help him, but hears an evil laugh behind him. He reaches out to his father, but Scar grabs his paws with his claws. At that moment, Mufasa calls out for help one last time but ends up falling into the stampede. Simba looks back at Scar but he has morphed into Kovu, who laughs and throws Simba into the stampede below.

Over time, Simba begins to gradually trust Kovu. After a few days, Simba takes Kovu out for a walk and begins to tell him the real story about Scar. Eventually, Zira and her pride show up and ambush the two. She tells Kovu out loud that "it was just like they planned", resulting in Simba not trusting Kovu again. Simba escapes to a log dam where Zira orders Kovu to go after him. He refuses to do so, so Nuka decides to but ends up getting crushed to death by a falling log. Simba manages to get back to the Pride Lands with Timon, Pumbaa, and Kiara helping him get home to recover. When Kovu returns to Pride Rock, Simba decides to pass his judgement law by exiling Kovu from the Pride Lands.

Later on, he is informed by Zazu that the Outsiders are attacking and its war. Simba heads out to fight with pride After a brief battle, Simba comes face-to-face with Zira. Before the two lions are able to attack, Kiara and Kovu both leap in front of their parents to end the battle. Kiara mentions to Simba that fighting is pointless and there is no difference between them and the Outsiders. Simba finally sees this and offers to Zira to join them. Zira refuses to be "one" and decides to jump at Simba which results in Kiara jumping in front of Zira, causing the two lions to tumble down into a gorge. The dam bursts and the river floods. Kiara offers Zira a hand to save her, who is hanging on the edge of a cliff, but refuses at first. For the second time, Zira attempts to grab Kiara's paw but loses grip on the rock and falls into the river below.

Afterwords, Simba allows Kovu and the Outsiders to join his pride.

The Lion King 1 1/2[]

The film mainly shows Simba's life in the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa after his exile. Simba is shown to be a tough cub to handle and gets into all sorts of danger such as climbing large and tall trees, swimming over waterfalls, and using Timon as a play toy. He often wakes Timon up in the middle of night having to use the bathroom. One night, he wakes Timon because of a nightmare, possibly relating to his father's death. As a teenager, Simba has beaten Timon and Pumba in all sorts of bug eating contests such as the snail slurping contest that is shown in the film. In the final scene before he made his mighty roar, he thanks Timon and Pumbaa and tells them that he wouldn't have made it without them.

Beyond the films[]

Books[]

Other than appearing in films, Simba appears in numerous of books. One book shows that Simba has a son named Kopa. He is known to look more like Simba when he was a cub, with the exception of the tuft of fur on his head that Simba didn't have when he was a cub. (See picture below for more details.)

Video Games[]

In most of the video games based on the films, Simba is the playable character.

Simba can be seen as a cub in the DS videogame Disney Friends.

Kingdom Hearts series[]

Kingdom Hearts

In Kingdom Hearts, Simba appears as a summon spirit whos world has been destroyed.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he appears as a summon card.

Kingdom Hearts II

He playes a more active role in this game. He appears as a more full-fledged

Simba in kingdomk hearts — Simba in Kingdom Hearts II.

partner rather than a summon. When the protagonists of the game Sora, Donald, and Goofy, they explore the Pride Lands world. Around this time, Simba is being attacked by a heartless, which he defeats. When the protagonists turn into animals, Simba doesn't recognize them, but becomes overjoyed realizing who they really are and how there appearances has changed. Simba refuses to return the Pride Lands, stating that he was "not who he used to be." Mufasa comes to him and tells him to go back. After accepting to return, he accompanies Sora, Donald, and Goofy to Pride Rock to a battle between Shenzi, Banzai, Ed and Scar, who has turned into a heartless because of his anger and jealousy.

Sora left after the successful coronation of Simba. When Sora returned, Simba had been driven into doubt by rumors of Scar's ghost. He later gained confidence and stood up to Scar's ghost, which was a manifestation of Simba's uncertainty and fear, with help from Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Simba then has to prove himself as leader in a fight with a huge Heartless.

Portrayers of Simba[]

Media	Actors
The Lion King (1994) (film)	Jonathan Taylor Thomas (cub voice), {C Matthew Broderick (adult voice), {C Jason Weaver (cub singing voice), {C Joseph Williams (adult singing voice), {C Frank Welker (adult roaring vocals)
The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa (TV Series)	Cam Clarke (adult voice)
The Lion King (1997) (musical)	Scott Irb-Ranniar (cub), {C Jason Reize (adult)
The Lion King: Simba's Pride (1998) (film)	Matthew Broderick (adult voice), Cam Clarke (adult singing voice)
The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004) (film)	Matt Weinberg (cub voice), Matthew Broderick (adult voice)
Kingdom Hearts II (2006) (videogame)	Jonathan Taylor Thomas (cub voice), Cam Clarke (adult voice)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Its unknown how Simba grew to the size he is, just with his diet of bugs.
Simba originally sung a song with Zazu called "The Morning Report". It was removed from the film.