My Lion King Forum

I've always believed that Simba left for Pride Rock the same day he got reunited with Nala, but I've heard several different people express other theories and wanted to see what you guys thought. I've heard people say that the entire scene is spread out over a period of days or even a week. Here are the basic segments:

Reunion
Waterfall
Down the Hill
Breakup

If time were cut out, it would have to take place between these segments. Anyways, I just wanted to here your thoughts.

What's most likely is that it's one night. If it was longer, then Simba would have eventually cracked and told Nala why he couldn't come back - she would have been bugging him about it all the time. But if it were only one night, then it would make sense.

Well, the time Simba got Mufasa's guidence and talked with Rafiki, it was clearly the same night right after Simba's argument with Nala. When he was returning to Pride Rock, he was going all the way though the desert by the next daylight. I would assume that the time lapse between CYFTLT and returning home was about one day. I'm not too sure if I answered the question clearly, but this is my assumption.

Yeah, I always figured it was all just one hell of a day for Simba.

Not to mention, the lighting makes it pretty obvious that it's the same day. The reunion starts during the late afternoon, and the rest takes place as the sun sets, and the argument scene starts that night. I assume that following day would be Simba's run through the desert and return to Priderock.

Just watched the scene again to make sure I didn't miss anything. The only possible place that a time lapse could have occurred during the scene would be the time between Nala pushing Simba into the water and the shot of them running through an open field. However, this is unlikely for the reasons mentioned above. Additionally, it just makes the timing of bookending the song itself with Timon and Pumbaa very akward if the scene actually took days. Why would they finish the song days after they started it?

[quote="KentuckyWildcat"]Just watched the scene again to make sure I didn't miss anything. The only possible place that a time lapse could have occurred during the scene would be the time between Nala pushing Simba into the water and the shot of them running through an open field. However, this is unlikely for the reasons mentioned above. Additionally, it just makes the timing of bookending the song itself with Timon and Pumbaa very akward if the scene actually took days. Why would they finish the song days after they started it?[/quote]

It could also be that the argument took place several days after the song. But like I mentioned in my post: I find it unlikely. Nala would have been very eager to get Simba to return, and would not wait several days. So I still stand that entire thing took only one night, as rushed at that seems, it makes the most sense. Nala left to find help. If Simba wasn't the one to give it, she would have left him at least long enough to get rid of Scar. But seeing as she stayed with Simba while still having that severe overhang, it had to happen in one night.

Also, take a look at this alternate scene:
.
For one thing, Timon taunts Simba for "loving and leaving" Nala - as in, the time-span between CYFTLT and Simba leaving is very short, most likely less than a day. And then in the video, Nala finds out that Simba is returning, she tells him "I thought that what you said last night meant something". Confirmed: The time-span between Simba leaving and the song is one day, at most - in the scrapped version.

It's most likely even shorter in the movie. Simba and Nala go through the song, and have the argument already late in the night, at which Simba leaves her to sulk and Rafiki comes in to do the rest with Mufasa's help. So Noah, if you had to bet, I would go for one night at most if I were you.

I think that the scene happens during only one evening, because the song CYFTLT starts right after the fight/reunion of Simba and Nala. And we can also see during all the scene from the fight to the breakup, the evolution of the day, from the evening to the night.

I agree that it's just one day, mostly for the lighting progression. Obviously songs are often used to tell a lot of story and the passing of time, but I don't think this is one of those cases.