My Lion King Forum

Inspired by an older thread, I thought I'd make a topic debating who suffered more---Simba or Nala.

Personally, I feel that while Simba's struggles were bigger and more pronounced (being his story), Nala's were, in the long run, worse. The difference, simply, is the life they had in the years that pass during "Hakuna Mutata". Simba managed to shrug off his worries for the time, whereas Nala's surrounded her. But again, Simba had what you'd really consider the bigger problem.

So really, it's up for debate. The original poll also included Mufasa, which seemed rather pointless, seeing as his life was only truly terrible during his last minutes. Scar was included, but that seemed even more pointless. And so was Sarabi (who actually received a majority of votes), but I've decided not to include her, and keep it to our main lion and lioness.

I think they both suffered a ton, but ultimately I'm going to say Nala.

With Simba, he lost the rest of his childhood innocence, was deprived of his home and family and spent years living in guilt for something he hadn't even done. However, by falling into the philosophy of Hakuna Matata I think this certainly helped to numb it all a bit. How appealing it must have been to him, the whole thought of a life with no worries or responsibilities. In a way, I think Simba wanted to run from all responsibility since it was something his father had so often stressed the importance of ("There's more to being King than getting your way all the time."), and at that point he wanted to forget all about it. Speaking as someone who has struggled with anxiety in the past (which, to my belief, Simba suffered from, certainly in TLK2 if not in the first movie), the promise of a life free from fear and worry is such an attractive concept when you're in that kind of situation.

With Nala, however, there was no "no worries" lifestyle to fall back on. In my opinion, the brief snapshot of Scar's temper that we see near the end of the movie when he strikes Sarabi is just a snippet of what went on. I've read some fanfictions with interesting theories, some horribly brutal, about what life during Scar's reign was like. I've explored it in some of my own writing, albeit in a much more AU sense, but I think life under Scar must have been a living nightmare. I don't like to hypothesize about it, but I think there are some subtle hints. For example, at the end of the movie there seem to be very few lionesses left (though the number does seem to fluctuate between shots, but when Scar is confronting Simba there seems to be only four or five of them left). Did they die? Did they run away when it all became too much? Did Scar kill them? Did they starve? I don't know, but I doubt the pride was that small at the start of the movie.
She was so young too when it all started, so I'm sure she lost her innocence as well. The difference though is that Nala probably witnessed some terrible stuff during the times we didn't see while Simba was off "enjoying" himself), not to mention the gut-wrenching creepiness that was the "Be Prepared reprise" seen on the Blu-Ray re-release.

Nala had to see her true love leave her. That has to hurt. Of course, I do feel bad for Simba though.

I'm gonna be a total rip off here, and say - Simba. It's not that I don't think Nala suffered, quite the contrary. She did, very much, but...

It was Simba who saw his father dying, and that's the kind of trauma that's left for the rest of the life. Plus, not only that he saw Mufasa die, but he was also directly informed that it was him who actually murdered him. And he was still a cub, a cub not capable of understanding such things on higher level. He accepted what Scar told him with no doubt. His later life did seem worriless (is it even a word?), but only he knows what he had been going through in his head all along. The fact that he was actually capable of leaving all that behind and living a "carefree" life only showed how strong and courageous he was, but he hadn't forgotten his past at all. He couldn't had. Not only had he gone through his trauma over and over again in his nightmares (most likely), but he was also always in fear that the lionesses of his pride might find out "the truth" about him being the one responsible for it. He knew the pride was now in Scar's claws, and Scar was aware of everything. The fact that he could tell that to the others (mainly Nala and Sarabi) simply horrified him. And all this can be a really huge burden to carry through your childhood and adolescent years. Even for adults, it can be really hard to take.

Nala, on the other hand, had no traumas of that sort. But there is something else that's pretty bad about her condition. It's the fact she actually had to watch everything happening, Pride Land getting destructed, pride starving and so on. Only her rebellious nature kept her spirit up through all this. Unfortunately, we can't know much about all this, since the movie hasn't given us much on Scar's reign, but we can all still guess it was really hard to bear. The other thing is that she also didn't know what happened to her childhood friend. She could guess and trust Scar's words, since she had no other option, but I believe that deep inside she still wondered. And the situation of not knowing anything is often way much worse than being given the bad news.

But none of this I consider half as bad as Simba's situation. I really want to hug and comfort them both, though. <3

To be honest, I think Nala suffered worse, because she stayed in the Pridelands while Scar was a awful king.
Simba just had a great cubhood, because he was with Timon and Pumbaa in the jungle...

I would so have to go with Simba. Nala of course, did suffer, but she only lost Simba for a few years, and then he came back. Mufasa couldn't ever come back, he was killed... And although Nala had to deal with Scar and him being real mean and all that and the Pride Lands falling apart, Simba was always trying to cope with what happened.

Also, I realize that Simba may have had a slightly easier cubhood in a physical sense, I definitely don't think he had an easier cubhood emotionally. They both suffered, but overall I think Simba had the worse of it.

Nala did as being under Scars terror without food, without friend, afraid of her life.

Nala, because she had to live through Scar reign and nearly starve to death, probably watch some other lionesses do that. Not to mention live through late childhood and early aduldhood thinking that her childhood friend were dead. Simba could at least try to forget his problems with the Hakuna Matata lifestyle.

In favor of Simba

-watched his dad die right before his very eyes
-was manipulated by scar into blaming himself for that very death
-was nearly killed by hyenas chasing after him
-nearly dies in the desert, eaten alive by buzzards or due to heatstroke
-lived for lord knows how many years with the guilt of his fathers death, not knowing scar did it.
-lived without his best "friend" {I believe that they did care for each other beyond friendship before meeting again as adults} and mom
-had to eat bugs for lord knows how many years


Nala

-believed her best "friend" {I call BS on them just liking each other as friends early on} to be dead
-lived under the reign of scar to see her way of life change forever for the worse
-nearly starved to death

Both had it bad, but my vote goes to simba

I'd vote Simba mostly because of the guilt issues he had to deal with... But honestly, I can't stop thinking of all the things Sarabi went through. Losing her loved ones, being dethroned by an abusive new ruler and watching her home turn into a wasteland, I think the Queen had it worse!