The Lion King Hero's Journey

The hero's journey is a story outline that has been used throughout time to outline the basic and common steps that every hero takes in his or her epic journey. While commonly viewed as an ordinary Disney film, The Lion King tells the story of a maturing lion cub and emphasizes the Circle of Life. Every story with a hero follows most of the traits of the hero's journey, The Lion King perfectly exemplifies the qualities of a story of an epic hero.

In the Lion King, Simba's Ordinary World is the Pride Lands. This is where he was born and where he establishes his comfort zone. Here, Simba meets his childhood friend, Nala, and they explore the wonders of their home against Mufasa's will. At this young age, Simba assumes his family will always be together and safe from any danger, but his idealistic thoughts are soon disrupted when he explores too far out of his safety zone. Against Mufasa's orders, Simba gives in to his immature curiosity and goes to explore the lands. On his journey, he disturbs a herd of wildebeest who stampede him. Mufasa comes to the rescue, ultimately risking his life to save Simba and is killed when Scar refuses to lift him up to safety.

Simba receives his

Scar is a rash leader and will stop at nothing to ensure he has the upper hand. Scar is greedy and vain and has taken the food and water of the Pride Lands for himself, killing off or causing most of the animal herds to flee. Nala tells Simba that Scar has taken his mother captive. Simba knows it is up to him to do something, but he is not sure that his family will understand his actions or accept him back into the family. Simba has a conversation with the ghost of his father, who gives him the final advice he needs to convince him to return home and rescue the people he loves. This is his supernatural aid because in real life, we do not seek advice from a projection of our deceased ancestors who offer advice on the hardships in our