Do you think Scar was as smart as he says is?

[Minions8217]

Well, I guess he was smart...his plot was very good, I mean no one suspected or questioned him, so you gotta give him credit for that. Although near the end of the film, I was kind of disappointed that he turned out to be more of a coward then the villain I thought he was. He was scared half to death when Simba (or Mufasa from what he thought) appeared on pride rock and ran away from the midst of battle. Now Zira on the other hand was a great villain! She was a warrior and would risk her cub's lives just to get her vengeance on Simba.

Scar was actually very smart if you think about it, he made only a few errors that messed up his plot, although his cowardice was one thing that made him a not so great villain.

[HereWeStand]

He was certainly very smart and cunning. His overarrogance in that aspect was his downfall, though.

[crownofsimba]

I think he was very good at getting what he wanted, which was the throne, which he did through a combination of cunning and abusing Mufasa's trust in him.

The problems came with the fact that he didn't realize that being on the throne meant that he'd have to DO things, so when the drought happened apparently the whole thing spiraled out of control, both from his laziness and also probably from the fact that he was likely never taught how to actually manage the kingdom, since he was not the actual heir.

On whether he is as smart as he thinks he is, which is mainly that he thinks he's smarter than Mufasa, I think there is evidence for and against it. Mufasa is probably intelligent enough that he kept the Pridelands running so well and was well respected, but on the other hand he still trusted Scar?

And Scar's plans honestly had lots of ways they could have gone wrong. If Simba had mentioned to Mufasa that he'd mentioned the elephant graveyard, he would have gotten into trouble (although he had framed it as being an accident, Mufasa might very well see through it). If Simba had ever thought to look back on what happened he would have seen the obvious clues that Scar was in on things he shouldn't have been, but I imagine he blotted out the day at the gorge because it was so traumatic. Then of course we see that he can't rule worth anything, and honestly the hyenas and/or lionesses would have eventually turned on him anyhow.

His plot was very clever, but he's not as master a manipulator as people often frame him as being, he was too haughty and proud to mask his true feelings as much as it would require.