A fan of Disney’s 1994 animated film The Lion King has uncovered a dark implication in the film’s subtext.
In the film, which is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the noble lion patriarch Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is murdered and replaced by his brother, Scar (Jeremy Irons).
However, according to TikTok user Christian Jones, the indignity doesn’t stop there. Rather, his theory argues that Mufasa was in fact eaten by Scar after his death.
Jones’s amusing video substantiates this idea with a few pieces of supporting evidence.
While some viewers may have assumed that Mufasa’s corpse was devoured by hyenas – The Lion King’s secondary villains who are always shown to be hungry – a Google search by Jones reveals that hyenas do not eat lions. Lions, however, are capable of consuming other lions.
The theory then points to a scene later in the film, in which Scar holds aloft an animal skull in a parody of Hamlet’s most famous scene.
As the TikTok video illustrates, the skull bears an uncanny resemblance to that of a lion – with the logical conclusion being that it belonged to Mufasa.
While it is unlikely that Disney would have entertained such a morbid idea on purpose, the theory nonetheless had many Lion King fans convinced.
“Scar really ate Mufasa bro,” wrote one Twitter user. “Childhood ruined forever.”
“I was today years old when I found out Scar ate Mufasa,” wrote someone else.
“This new Lion King theory that Scar ate Mufasa seems pretty legit,” wrote another fan.
The Lion King can be streamed now on Disney+.
