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| Stampede (event) | |||
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| Event Information | |||
| Location | |||
| Participants |
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| Outcome |
• Mufasa is killed | ||
| Appearances |
• The Lion King | ||
| “ | Simba: Hey, Uncle Scar, will I like the surprise? Scar: Simba, it's to die for. | ” |
The stampede is the veiled assassination of Mufasa, the king of the Pride Lands, by Scar and his hyena cronies.
Information
The Lion King
Background
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The stampede
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Scar prepares to heave Mufasa to his death
Simba's tree breaks, causing Simba to be flung into the air, but Mufasa catches him in his jaws and bears him to safety. Before Mufasa can escape the stampede himself, the wildebeests draw him back into the fray. Eventually, Mufasa jumps free and begins to climb up the side of the gorge, out of sight of Simba, who begins to climb up the gorge himself to meet his father at the top.
From his precarious position, Mufasa pleas for help from Scar, who is standing on a ledge above him. Instead of helping Mufasa, Scar digs his claws into Mufasa's paws and throws him to his death. Simba catches sight of his father falling and screams in agony.
Mufasa's death
| “ | Simba: There were wildebeests, and he tried to save me. It was an accident! I didn't mean for it to happen! Scar: Of course, of course you didn't. No one...ever means for these things to happen... But the king is dead. And if it weren't for you, he'd still be alive. | ” |
Scar manipulates Simba into fleeing the Pride Lands
After the stampede passes, Simba searches for Mufasa. He finds his father's body at the bottom of the gorge and attempts to revive him. When Mufasa does not rise, Simba screams for help before curling up beneath one of his father's paws. Just then, Scar appears and accuses Simba of killing Mufasa. He then manipulates Simba into thinking that the pride will blame him for Mufasa's death, which prompts Simba to flee the gorge. Scar then orders the hyenas to kill Simba.
The hyenas chase Simba to a thorn thicket, where Banzai gets severely injured. Shenzi refuses to brave the thorns and so decides to tell Scar that Simba is dead, as they expect him to perish in the desert. This allows Simba to escape the Pride Lands.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
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The Lion King 1½
| “ | Pumbaa: Shall we run for our lives? Timon: Oh, yes, let's. | ” |
The Lion Guard
"Battle for the Pride Lands"
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The Lion King (2019 film)
Background
| “ | Simba: Dad will be so proud, won't he? Scar: It's a gift he'll never forget. | ” |
Scar leads Simba to the gorge under the pretense that he should practice his roar
Scar brings his nephew, Simba, to the gorge, which he claims to be the spot where all lions come to "find their roar." Simba questions if his father, Mufasa, had come to the gorge for the same purpose, and Scar asserts that Mufasa had practiced his roar as a cub until it could be heard above the rim. Simba makes a feeble attempt at roaring, and Scar encourages him to keep practicing before leaving him alone in the gorge.
Scar departs. As he walks the length of the gorge, he makes eye contact with the hyenas, who are standing on the ridge above, and they leave to instigate the stampede.
The stampede
| “ | ” |
Mufasa falls to his death
With Scar gone, Simba practices his roar on a passing lizard. He succeeds in scaring it away, but just then, the ground begins to tremble, and wildebeests stampede into the gorge. Simba flees the stampede, taking refuge on a dead tree.
Meanwhile, Scar warns Mufasa of the stampede and leads him to the gorge. Once there, Mufasa jumps into the stampede, while his majordomo, Zazu, departs to warn the pride. Mufasa manages to rescue Simba from the stampede and bear him to safety. However, he is drawn back into the stampede by the herd and only barely jumps back onto a nearby ledge. He begins to climb, and Simba rushes up to meet him at the rim. However, as Mufasa reaches the top of the gorge, Scar grabs him by the paws and heaves him off the side of the cliff. Simba reaches the rim just in time to see his father fall and screams in anguish.
Mufasa's death
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Simba climbs back down to the floor of the gorge, where he finds his father's body. As he grieves, Scar approaches and blames Simba for Mufasa's death. He then urges Simba to run away, and the cub obeys. Shenzi and her clan pursue the cub, only to lose him over a ledge. Shenzi orders her lackeys, Azizi and Kamari, to check that the cub is dead, but they do not follow through, as they believe that the fall is too high for a cub to survive.
Behind the scenes
General
- In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, the stampede is shown running in the wrong direction.[1]
In development
- During early production of The Lion King, Mufasa was going to save Simba from a flood instead of a stampede.[2]
- In another version, Scar lured Nala's young brother Mheetu into the stampede in an attempt to lure an adolescent Simba to his doom. Simba would've managed to rescue the cub, but nearly die in the process, resulting in Mufasa saving both of them, only to meet his downfall at the claws of Scar.[2]
- In an early script, Scar pretended to wait for Mufasa with Simba, then departed under the pretense that he was going to search for Mufasa.[3]
- Originally, Scar did not show Simba any sympathy after the stampede. Instead, he chased him out of the Pride Lands himself.[4]
Media
References
- ↑ Revealed in Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998). Written by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus, and directed by Rob LaDuca and Darrell Rooney. Distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
- ↑
- ↑
| The History of the Pride Lands |
| Preceded by | Reign of | Followed by |
| Simba's presentation | Mufasa | Scar's coronation |
| For more information about the history of the Pride Lands, click here. |
