Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Mufasa: The Lion King!

Mufasa isn't the only character who has his backstory explored in explain why Scar is the way that he is in the original The Lion King and its 2019 remake.

Mufasa: The Lion King is the highly-anticipated prequel to the 2019 The Lion King remake, with the movie following Rafiki as he tells the story of Mufasa's origins to Simba's daughter, Kiara. The story chronicles Mufasa's childhood up until he becomes the king of the Pride Lands, with it exploring how Mufasa lost his parents, became adopted into Scar's family, and then saved the Pride Lands from an evil pack of outsider lions. While Mufasa is at the center of most of the prequel's big reveals, Scar gets a lot of screentime too, explaining his origins and how he got his scar.

Scar's Real Name Is Taka: What It Means

It Has Two Different Meanings

Although Taka has been cited as Scar's real name for a while, Mufasa: The Lion King finally confirms this, with Taka being what the character goes by for the majority of the film. However, the Taka name has just as much meaning as his Scar nickname, as, like many other The Lion King characters, the name has a meaning in Swahili. In Swahili, the word "takataka" means "garbage," with it often being said that the villainous lion was given a cruel name when he was a child.

However, Taka also has another meaning in Swahili. The word "kutaka" can also be translated into English as "to want," giving Scar's real name a dual meaning. Throughout The Lion King, Scar's defining character trait is envy. Scar desires the throne so much that it drives him to kill Mufasa and blame it on Simba. Scar's "Be Prepared" musical number is even defined by its green color scheme, further emphasizing the jealousy that Scar feels. The seeds of this envy are planted throughout Mufasa: The Lion King, highlighting the character's Taka name.

Scar's Name First Appeared In A Lion King Spinoff In 1994

& The Prequel Confirms It As Canon

Mufasa: The Lion King isn't the first time that Scar was given the name Taka, as it first appeared in a The Lion King spinoff from 1994. The Lion King: Six New Adventures was a collection of six short stories that released around the same time as the original The Lion King movie, with the first short story, "A Tale of Two Brothers," delving into Scar and Mufasa's childhood. It is here that it was first revealed that Scar's real name was actually Taka, with this name sticking around all the way until 2024's Mufasa: The Lion King.

"A Tale of Two Brothers" shares a surprising amount of similarities with Mufasa: The Lion King, although there are also some big differences. Both stories feature Rafiki telling the story of Mufasa's childhood to one of Simba's children. However, in the prequel movie it is Kiara, while in the short story, it is a cub named Kopa. The story also has Rafiki befriend a young Mufasa, as well as a young Taka deciding to betray Mufasa out of jealousy.

How Scar Gets His Name In Mufasa & How It Changes The Lion King

Scar's Scar Comes From A Sacrafice

Taka doesn't get his iconic scar until the end of Mufasa: The Lion King, with him jumping in front of Mufasa and getting scratched in the eye by Kiros. After defeating the white lions, Zazu tells Mufasa to banish Taka from the Pride Lands. However, Mufasa decides not to, with Taka saying that he should refer to him as Scar as a punishment. Mufasa agrees to this, with him promising that he will never utter Scar's true name again.

Mufasa apparently kept this promise, as he is still calling Taka Scar by the time of The Lion King's story. Other characters, such as Sarabi and Simba, also know Taka as Scar, meaning that Mufasa is far from the only character who knows about this humiliating nickname. Although Taka came up with the name, it is possible that he grew to resent it, explaining why he turns so villainous in between Mufasa: The Lion King and The Lion King.