Simba

**Simba** (currently voiced by Matthew Broderick/Cam Clarke/Rob Lowe) is the protagonist of *The Lion King*. He is the son of Mufasa, who was destined to rule the Pride Lands, as king. When Mufasa is killed in a wildebeest stampede, Simba is blamed for the tragedy and abandons his kingdom in guilt. He finds refuge in a jungle oasis with a meerkat and warthog, but the Pride Lands fall to disarray during his absence. With the kingdom in peril, Simba is forced to confront his troubled past to take his place in the "Circle of Life".

Upon entering adulthood, Simba marries his childhood best friend, Nala, and has two cubs named Kiara and Kion.

## Background

### Personality

As a cub, Simba was quite adventurous and impressionable, he highly admired his father, Mufasa, and wished to someday become a ruler as mighty as he, spending much of his time either learning the ways of a king or simply envisioning what life would be like with such power and self-esteem. This inflated his ego, making him arrogant and boastful towards characters such as Zazu and Scar, and additionally led to troublesome situations, as his viewpoint on Mufasa led him to believe being a king meant being fearless and looking for unnecessary danger, just to prove how mighty one could be. This would fall perfectly in line with the schemes of Scar, who plotted to kill Simba to increase his chances of becoming ruler of the Pride Lands. Nevertheless, Simba was able to learn from his mistakes in the end, as his negative actions were primarily driven out of admiration for his father.

As a young adult, Simba's personality takes a shift, becoming melodramatic and fearful – a direct result of Mufasa's death. Because he believed his father's demise was ultimately his fault, Simba felt unworthy of ruling the throne, hinting at signs of insecurity and low self-esteem, in addition to becoming reluctant to ever face his past. It wasn't until he met and obtained guidance from the wise mandrill, Rafiki, that Simba would learn that the past is important, and should be looked to as a means to learn from mistakes, but never as a reason to prevent one's self from moving on in life. It also wasn't until Simba learned the truth of his father's demise, he was more confident and self-assured. In spite of this, Simba was also willing to partake in more easy-going hobbies, such as loafing around with Timon and Pumbaa. As seen during "Hakuna Matata", and his time as a teenager seen in *The Lion King 1½*, Simba retained some of his childlike nature when simply in the presence of his friends, and away from the pressures of his past, being laid-back and fun-loving if given the chance.

Now as a full grown adult and King of the Pride Lands, with a loving family, including a daughter and a son, Simba is no longer overly adventurous and outgoing, instead of becoming humble and rather soft-spoken, even in the face of his family and closest friends. As a direct result of Mufasa's tragic death, Simba also became fearful and overprotective, specifically with his daughter, Kiara, as he feared the dangers that lurked in the Pride Lands, be they outright such as the hyenas were or hidden within the shadows, such as the true nature of Scar. He also looked back at his childhood with some sense of shame, as evidenced by his conversation with Nala early in *The Lion King II: Simba's Pride*, in which he claimed that Kiara's adventurous spirit made him fearful, as she mirrored his own adventurous attitude as a cub, referring to the dangers he endured during childhood. Despite this, he was not over-protective of his son Kion as he was with Kiara. This was probably due to Kion's role as leader of the Lion Guard, as well as the fact that he was more obedient and followed the rules more than Kiara did.

Simba was also shown to be a wise and respected ruler, much like Mufasa before him. He had the prejudice against those who retained loyalty to the dethroned Scar, but was willing to accept them eventually, as he followed the philosophy verbally showcased in "We Are One". However, despite being King, Simba knows that he has to respect the traditions of other animals, which was why he didn't interfere with Makuu and Pua's mashindano.

Simba also likes to stick to tradition, which was why at first, he was disappointed with his son Kion for putting other animals in the Lion Guard instead of other lions like the previous Lion Guards. However, after witnessing the new Lion Guard defeat hyenas, Simba accepts his son's choice and expresses pride for him.

Like his father, Simba is willing to jump into combat when it comes to rescuing his family and friends, even if it means his own life is in danger. When he and Nala were being chased by Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, he noticed Nala was starting to slip on a mountain of bones in the elephant graveyard. Without hesitation, he ran down the bones to assist Nala to climb back up for their escape. Simba then also swipes at Shenzi's face, which leaves 3 scratch marks on her. Another example is when Timon and Pumbaa were being chased by a lioness, Simba quickly springs into action and battles the lioness until coming to the realization that he was battling Nala.

Simba sometimes doesn't listen to the advice he is given from his friends and family right away, showing he has to find out the hard way. As time went on he got what his friends and family meant when he sees things for himself, shown when he finally understood the advice he was given from Timon and Pumbaa about letting go of the past back when he was a cub after witnessing Zira not willing to let go of it. He also uses the same advice that he was given to him from his friends and family for others, shown with Zira.

Despite his many commendable attributes, Simba can sometimes be arrogant, even towards those who know him well, he is also sometimes gullible (a trait he still possesses from his childhood) to the point of believing his enemies, evidenced by the fact that when Zira claims that Kovu led him into an ambush, however, in truth, the latter had no knowledge of the ambush, and was completely innocent.

Simba later developed a ferocious temper in his adult life that he can quickly enter, swinging from one mood to the next, and this temper frequently gets the better of him as he held a grudge against those loyal to Scar or who he considers enemies, as seen when he did not give Kovu a chance to explain that he didn't see the ambush coming. Simba was so caught up with his grudge against the Outsiders that he had forgotten they are also lions just like him and his pride until he was reminded by Kiara that they are one which helped him see through his mistakes.

Realizing the error of his ways, Simba is finally able to put his tragic past and hatred of Scar behind him, remorsefully forgiving and accepting Kovu and the other outsiders back into his pride. He even forgives Zira, offering her the chance to return to the Pride Lands peacefully, despite his intense hatred of her in the past and her previous attempts on his life. This shows that thanks to his daughter's guidance Simba is becoming a far better and wiser ruler.

## Trivia

* "Simba" in Swahili means "lion", so he is named after his own species.
* Interestingly, all of Simba and Nala's children's names begin with "K" (Kopa, Kiara, Kion); though Kopa is their semi-canon son while Kiara and Kion are their full-canon children. This trait is also shared by their son-in-law, Kovu. However, this trait would later be broken by their daughter-in-law Rani.
* When the animators were drawing adult Simba, they wanted a little twist for his appearance and personality to be like his voice actor Matthew Broderick.
* Simba is the first animated Disney character to have a villain as a biological relative, followed by Hercules.
* In "Lions of the Outlands", it is shown that Simba had confronted Zira prior to banishing her and was the victor.
* While not stated outright, it is very heavily implied in the second film that Simba has post traumatic stress disorder as a result of what he went through in the first film. Simba's nightmare where he relives the stampede and sees Scar turning into Kovu, his violent mood swings and vicious temper, which can be triggered very easily, and his paranoia over Kiara and Kovu are all major symptoms of the disorder. This would make Simba the first original Disney character to have it.
* Simba's cub counterpart was voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas in *The Lion King* and Matt Weinberg in *The Lion King 1½*, while his adult counterpart was voiced by Matthew Broderick in *The Lion King* films and Cam Clarke in his other appearances and has been currently voiced by Rob Lowe since *The Lion Guard*.
* Simba meets Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of The Lion King.*
* Simba guest star in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures Series.
* Simba, Twilight, Celestia and Luna support each other very well as rulers since they have partnerships between Equesodor and the Pride Lands.

## Gallery

Simba with his father Mufasa.Adult Simba with his mother Sarabi.Simba with Scar.Simba and Kiara.Simba with Timon and Pumbaa.Simba with Rafiki.Simba with ZazuSimba and Kovu.Simba and Nala.Simba, Nala and Zazu with Shenzi, Banzai and EdSimba and Zira.Baby Simba.Simba as a cubSimba as a teenager with half a mane on his headBaby Simba (Live Action)Cub Simba (live action)Adult Simba (live action)Simba in The Lion GuardSimba and his family at Kion's coronationSimba with KionSimba with BungaSimba reuniting with ScarSimba with ZazuSimba with FuliSimba with OnoSimba with PuaSimba with Ma TemboSimba with Muhanga and MuhangusSimba welcoming AjabuMbuni thanking SimbaSimba with BupuSimba, Nala and Kiara with AngaSimba with JanjaSimba with Cheezi and ChunguSimba growling at ReireiSimba with Kiburi