My Lion King Forum

Scar tells Simba at least twice to wait down in the gorge for a "surprise" from his dad. He also basically mocked Simba and said it was to "die for". That's a pretty strange thing for an uncle to say to his nephew only to have it come true. When Mufasa does die, he tells him its his fault but he was the one who told him to wait down there. Why didn't Simba realize this all along? He only puts everything together when Scar makes the mistake of saying he was the murderer. It should have been obvious all along with the hyenas chasing him out of nowhere.

Simba thinks it's his fault because of the huge roar he lets out just before the wildebeest come flooding into the gorge. Although Scar says "you might want to work on that little roar of yours", he doesn't explicitly say "Stay down here and practice your roar until your father comes." So Simba thinks he is the one that started the stampede in the first place, by scaring them into running into the gorge, meaning Mufasa must save him (and therefore dies). Simba has been told to wait for a surprise from his father in the gorge, so he has no reason to believe that there's any problem with him being there (So Scar telling him to wait there doesn't influence his guilt).

Also, seeing as Simba is a child, he is very easily manipulated into believing he killed his father, rather than percieving it as a tragic accident (though of course, not so tragic, seeing as he doesn't know about Scar's underlying plot). Survivor's guilt could also be a factor.

Because it's part of the plot. And it does make sense in that scenario.
The whole theme of the film is overcoming your past instead of blaming yourself or running from it.

Simba was still a cub. Of course he believed that adults know everything, especially when it comes from his uncle

i couldn't have told it better than nina.

Plus you gotta admit he kind of is under shock after thoses events , everything happened so fast , no one could really think straight while it was still fresh