The sibling relationship at the heart of The Lion King is even more complicated than you might think. Here's the truth about Mufasa and Scar's bond.
Fact-Check: Are Mufasa and Scar Actually Brothers?
Updated on Jun. 20, 2025
Everybody has a story about the first time they saw the transcendent film that is The Lion King. Here’s mine: The summer after my senior year of high school in 1994, I escaped to the movies on a regular basis so I wouldn’t have to emotionally deal with leaving home to go to an out-of-state college. So, of course, I had to see the newest Disney movie. From the moment the drum beats sounded in “The Circle of Life,” I knew I was experiencing something magical. I hung the movie’s poster on my dorm-room wall, and to this day, The Lion King represents my last gasp of childhood. So imagine my shock when I was recently forced to ask myself a grown-up existential question: Are Mufasa and Scar brothers?
The Lion King‘s head honchos first raised this issue in a 2017 interview. Then, it came up again in the 2024 prequel Mufasa: The Lion King—and the answer there seems to reconfigure the entire original movie! Suddenly, a simple fact we’ve all taken for granted for more than 30 years may not be true. And if that’s the case, it really complicates things. After all, if Scar hadn’t been so jealous of his brother’s title, he would have never plotted his murder and gaslit little Simba into exile and subsequently taken over the Pride Rock kingdom, despite Simba being the rightful heir.
“They’re really two entirely different films speaking entirely different languages,” Sarah Nilsen, a professor of film and television studies at the University of Vermont, tells Reader’s Digest. “But the heart of The Lion King is this fabulous brother relationship—and the presence of Simba sets up such an interesting triangle. So I can see why the screenwriter took that narrative and gave us an unexpected twist. I just wish there was more consistency overall.”
Can you feel the confusion tonight? With the help of Nilsen, let’s sort out the Mufasa and Scar family dynamic and find out the real answer to this misunderstood movie fact. Read on for the details.
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Why does everyone think Mufasa and Scar are brothers in The Lion King?
For starters, there are several overt references to the family ties. Young Simba refers to Scar as “Uncle Scar,” and Mufasa cries out to Scar, “Help me, brother!” during the fatal stampede. Scar, meanwhile, acknowledges his familial status when he says, “I’m from the shallow end of the gene pool.” (Though, in retrospect, this line can be open to interpretation. More on that below.)
Scar is also presented as a jealous brother desperate for power, stuck lurking in the shadows (literally) because Mufasa was the natural heir to the Pride Rock throne. This is classic sibling rivalry material, dating allllll the way back to Cain and Abel in the Old Testament. “The Lion King is so good about setting up these sizable differences between the brothers,” Nilsen says. “You really do feel pity for Scar because he’s treated so poorly. Yet he’s extremely smart and manipulative. There’s a lot of emotional complexity.”
So are Mufasa and Scar brothers?
Though the zebras in Pride Rock are black and white, the answer here is not. In a 2017 interview with the now-defunct site Hello Giggles, The Lion King producer Don Hahn and co-director Rob Minkoff revealed that Mufasa and Scar were not brothers. Hahn said, “[While making the movie,] we talked about the fact that it was very likely [Scar and Mufasa] would not have both the same parents.”
Their logic? In the real world, lion packs don’t usually have more than one adult male, and females vastly outnumber males. When that adult male gets old, a “rogue” male lion from an outside the pack will often kill him and the new lion cubs, asserting himself as the new ruler of the pack. In prides with two to three males, the males are usually unrelated and were born in separate packs. “We were trying to use those animal truths to underpin the story, so we sort of figured Scar and Mufasa couldn’t really be from the same gene pool,” Hahn told HelloGiggles. “In fact, that’s what [Scar] says. There’s a line [where] he goes, ‘I’m from the shallow end of the gene pool.'”
However, Minkoff later clarified their relationship to Screen Junkies. “They are [brothers]!” he said, noting that Scar and Mufasa grew up together. “I just want to clear that up.” But does that clear things up? They could actually be brothers … or they could have grown up like brothers. Minkoff still stops just short of saying they are related by blood.
How is Mufasa and Scar’s relationship different in the 2024 Mufasa movie?
In Mufasa, Scar and Mufasa are definitely not related by blood. Here’s the deal: While The Lion King alludes to Mufasa belonging to a long line of monarchs, the prequel reveals he was born from “common” blood. When he was just a cub, Mufasa lost his parents in a flood and was dragged miles from home. He’s rescued by a young Taka, aka Scar, a prince in one of the many lion kingdoms spread across the African plains, and is adopted by his family. (FYI, taka is a Swahili word that can mean “trash,” “dirt” or “want.” Taka received a scar on his eye after an incident involving a buffalo and Mufasa.)
Throughout their childhood, there is no obvious sign of jealousy between the siblings, even though Taka’s father, Obasi, wants nothing to do with Mufasa because he believes having a male cub around could threaten his birth son’s path to the throne. The brothers’ relationship perseveres even after their kingdom is attacked by Kiros, a white lion determined to wipe out every royal bloodline. It’s not until the pair both fall for the same lioness princess—and she picks Mufasa—that things get hairy and a seething Taka begins to resent his adopted brother.
“The original movie focuses on this circle of life and how we’re all in this diverse enmeshed community,” says Nilsen. “But Mufasa is very much about finding tribes and battling each other for power and dominance. No longer are you part of your culture—it’s all about your blood. So if you’re brothers working out your issues, it’s harder to reconcile because you’re no longer part of the same genetic tribe.”
What else inspired these characters?
The obvious answer is Hamlet—and the filmmakers have openly admitted to using the William Shakespeare–penned classic as inspiration. The Cliff’s Notes version: Claudius also kills his brother so that he can succeed him and become the king. Young prince Hamlet is profoundly shaped by his father’s death, and his father ultimately comes back as a ghost to tell him that his death must be avenged. The Lion King‘s original (and much darker) ending directly alludes to Hamlet, as Simba actually kills his uncle. In his final moments, Scar says the line from Shakespeare’s play that Hamlet’s friend Horatio utters as Hamlet is dying in his arms: “Goodnight, sweet prince.”
Nilsen notes that The Lion King also draws parallels to classic biblical stories, including Moses (who led his people out of slavery) and Joseph (whose 10 jealous half-brothers betrayed him because their father loved him the most). “You’re talking about examples of males having to assert themselves to assume power of some kind,” she says.
And here’s a bit of pop-culture trivia you probably never knew: The Lion King is also based on stories of West African royalty. Known as the Lion of Mali, Sundiata was the founder of the Malian Empire and ruled his empire from 1235 to 1255. The story goes that King Naré Maghann Konaté, the real-life Mufasa, had two sons. The one born crippled became strong and was recognized as a leader among his people, sparking resentment from his half-brother, Dankaran Tourman. After the king died, Sundiata was sent into exile but returned to overthrow Dankaran, the new king. Upon his victory, Sundiata adopted the title Mansa, which means “king” or “emperor” in Mandinka.
Does any of this change how we should look at the movie?
That depends on whether you consider Mufasa as the official “are Mufasa and Scar brothers” gospel. “This is a completely rewritten story that takes out the whole Hamlet element,” Nilsen says. “You can watch it and think, Oh, they’re not really brothers? I didn’t think of that element before. How will this play out? That is really interesting and exciting.” But she adds that The Lion King will always reign supreme: “It’s an amazingly well-told story that deals with rich family drama on many levels. It’s a gold mine.”
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At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on whether Mufasa and Scar are brothers, Mara Reinstein tapped her two decades of experience as an entertainment journalist, film critic and pop culture expert. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Sarah Nilsen, professor of film and television studies at the University of Vermont; interviewed, June 13, 2005
- Teen Vogue: “‘Lion King’ Producer Reveals That Scar and Mufasa Are NOT Brothers”
- Live Science: “Becoming King: Why So Few Male Lions Survive to Adulthood”
- Screen Junkies: “Lion King Director Reacts to Honest Trailer”
- Screen Rant: “Scar’s Real Name & Meaning in The Lion King Explained”
- Oprah Daily: “The Lion King’s Surprising Connections to Hamlet”
- Washington Post: “The true story behind ‘The Lion King'”
