Backstory for TLK now we know about TLG....

Ok, so Pat and I had a ridiculously in-depth discussion last night about this. The ideas that are opened up from the idea of the Lion Guard for a prequel for TLK is quite detailed. I have thought about this a lot, and I apologise in advance for the bitsy rambling, since I'm still coming up with ideas myself.

Firstly, it's a story about betrayal. Scar and Mufasa are growing up as cubs under the guidance of Ahadi and Uru or whoever there parents may or may not officially be :p Mufasa and Scar both know that as the eldest, Mufasa is destined to be King, and Scar, from Kion's age (as mentioned in TLG) is the leader of the the Guard. There is no jealousy.

So, Mufasa becomes King, and he establishes himself as a great and well-loved King.

In Return of the Roar we learn that Scar had four male lions with him on the guard. One of these is illustrated with a brown mane, pale ears and vibrant green eyes. http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/...20151116012401 My theory, is that this lion is Nala's father. Clearly before this point we had no idea of the existence of other male lions in the Pridelands, so as acknowledged by one of the movie's creators it was mentioned that Mufasa could be Nala's father, as it would be with lions in the wild.

So, timeline so far. Mufasa became King and ruled well for a time while Scar had control of the guard. Scar ran the guard well, but over time because "the power went to his head" (as mentioned in TLG) he developed the idea that he could use the guard (who were loyal to him) to overthrow Mufasa (as is described in TLG) and be King himself. Sarabi and Sarafina become pregnant. Now this I like to see as a nice trigger. The pride knows that Sarafina is expecting, the possibility for Scar to become King is dwindling away, if Scar can rule before a son is born, he can remain King. So, Scar executes his plan to get rid of Mufasa.

Obviously, the plan doesn't work. The Guard refuses to cooperate and Scar destroys them. Now, it says in TLG that Scar "used the roar to destroy the Lion Guard", and while the imagery implies that they died, it doesn't specifically state that they were killed, only that the Guard itself was no more. As a result Scar confronts Mufasa on his own, not realising that he has lost the power of the roar when he overthrew the Guard. They fight, Mufasa may at this point give Scar his scar, either that or his "bad back" that is mentioned to Simba in TLK. Scar is defeated, but Mufasa lets him remain with the pride at Pride Rock, as he would not be able to fend for himself. Also, it is suggested in TLG that the use of his powers for evil made him weak and frail. As clearly as the "Fiercest" member of the Guard, he would have been a force to be reckoned with.

In addition, the time frame of Sarabi and Sarafina being pregnant at the end of the film, before giving birth at the beginning of TLK, gives Scar time to befriend the hyenas and come up with a new plan (3 and 1/2 months). Which is how he ended up with them behind his cause. He knows he'll need more strength to overthrow Mufasa, and no lion will help him. So he needs strength and numbers from elsewhere. Plus there's that age-old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". It would be an interesting end to a movie with an obvious sequel, with the beginnings of the development of the relationship and would be a "what happens next?" ending, even though we all already know.

Now, Mufasa allowing Scar to stay also ties in with TLK2. In TLK2, it is told that Simba exiled lions loyal to Scar at the end of TLK. Rafiki would have told Simba about all that happened with Scar and his Guard, and how Mufasa let him stay. I like to think that as a way to prevent similar events, Simba decided to exile those loyal to Scar. As Scar killing Mufasa and sending Simba away wasn't his first attempt, but the second. Lions exiled may have included members of Scar's Guard who could have been somewhat hanging around in the Pridelands still or they may have been long gone. Now, this leads me to my second theory about that lion in Scar's guard with the green eyes. It's possible that lion is Kovu's father. If it were the same lion that was Nala's father, the green eyed lion would be Kiara's grandfather, and Kovu's father. So, still inbreeding :p but still lion society :D The other option is that another one of the lions is Kovu, Vitani's and Nuka's father too (or a different lion is Nala's father). Although I don't accept the theory that Kovu, Nuka and Vitani all have the same father.

So there you have it, I think that's everything and I hope it made sense. :cheese: Feel free to discuss! We'll round off the details before going to Disney with the idea ;) But they do need to make the movie before all the original cast dies :lol:

As an amendment to that theory/story line... after more discussion with Pat, we realised that after Scar instructed the guard to help him overthrow Mufasa and they refused, that Scar would not have tried to overthrow Mufasa. Clearly he wouldn't have the roar and the Guard were all but destroyed. Therefore, Mufasa would still at least suspect that Scar had done something awful with the roar to have lost his power of it, and the missing guard would be cause for suspicion. However, without any proof, Mufasa couldn't exile Scar which is why he was able to remain at Pride Rock.

Perhaps the loss of the Guard is why Mufasa and Sarabi don't have a cub for some time. In contrast to my earlier theory where Scar tries to take over when Sarabi is pregnant, perhaps if Scar attempts it earlier in Mufasa's kingship, Mufasa would have had to spend more time defending the Pridelands and protecting the Circle of Life. So therefore much more time passes before he and Sarabi were able to have a cub (hence why they seem to be fairly mature parents in TLK). This also lends more credit to giving Scar time to befriend the hyenas. Nala's father could still be the member of the Guard with green eyes, it's possible that members of the Guard if they survived, would be living outside or on the outskirts of the pridelands. Scar being the plotter that he is, would have likely threatened them with the fact that he could tell Mufasa that the guard turned on him and he used the roar to defend himself from them. So therefore if they returned to the Pridelands they would be driven out or killed. However they could still sneak in (with only Mufasa patrolling) and there's no reason why Sarafina couldn't make a trip to the edge of the Pridelands every once in a while, if you know what I mean... ;) :rawr:

Wow, that's a really interesting analysis both you and Pat came up with, and it does make sense x3
I like the idea of both Nala's father being a member of Scar's Guard. But I'm inclined to think that they were all killed off by Scar's roar, as the series suggests with "destroyed". So I don't think Kovu's father could have been in there.
Still an interesting theory though.