People gasp at Rafiki's age, but...

[SuperBabySimba]

...anyone realize they ALL are old and not even showing it. I mean the adults of the first film.

THE APPROXIMATE GENERAL TIMELINE: is 10 years.
I assume Kovu is about a year older than Kiara, judging by his cubhood's head tuft being the mane starting to grow. And that the adult Kiara is at least four because adult Kovu has to be at least five years old, judging by his mane being fully grown. Resulting in the two movies going through at least ten years in time: 5+ years of Simba before he claims the throne, then about a year for the Pride Land to recover and Kiara be made and born, and then the about four growing up years.

A LION'S ELDERLY AGE STARTS FROM 10 years of age, as in they start to grow weaker and grayer.

RAFIKI:
Add the ten years to Rafiki's already old age in the beginning of TLK... How old CAN the whatever baboon Rafiki is, live? Or maybe he's just taken reeeally good care of himself. There are stuff in nature that can heal and keep you in a good shape and Rafiki is the shaman character.

SCAR:
He had to be at least five going on six in the beginning and almost a year older when he exiled Simba as in at least six going on seven. He had to be at least 11, likely 12 or older in the end of TLK. He wasn't even graying though should've been. And he fought like a young lion.

TIMON AND PUMBAA:
They were adults when Simba was less than a year old, so they too should be quite old by the SP movie's events. But no aging apparent at all.

SIMBA AND NALA:
Simba was at least five years old at the end of TLK, judging by his mane and the fact that his father chose this time to have Simba challenge Scar. Add five years between his return and Kiara and Kovu's wedding, Simba would be stepping into his old age by the end of the film yet he seemed as young as ever. Same with Nala.

ZIRA (wasn't in the first film but I talk about her anyway):
I'd finally assume she was couple of years older than Simba and origins from Mufasa's pride. That would make her about eight years old in the end of TLK and 13 in the end of SP. Again, no aging shows. But wherever she comes from, she had to be at least 12 years old when Kovu and Kiara were grown up because lionessess can't have babies before the age of four and Nuka seemd around the age of 2+ in the beginning of the film.

SARABI:
I've thrown a theory about her old age for the reason she isn't in the SP film but I doubt the film makers actually thought of it.

BECAUSE:
Apparently they, (both film's makers), went for the cartoon characters' right not to age at all or age unrealistically. But nonetheless the old age would explain Sarabi's absence if thought of realistically and not cartoonily and it never hurts thinking realistically when trying to fill plot holes.

[ZirasMate]

It's a Disney movie. They don't go by facts.

[SuperBabySimba]

[quote="ZirasMate"]It's a Disney movie. They don't go by facts.[/quote]

I don't think it's just Disney, it's cartoons overall as I stated in the last paragraph. Also, I was just bringing this up because people seem to wonder only about Rafiki's age though in fact everyone's age is a mess in one way or another. (:

[TheIvanMuse]

Very interesting topic,I can see where you are going. But it is a fact that we can't compare TLK lions that much to lion we see in real life. Many things are different,as for the aging apparently. But yeah,we're all trying to rationalize over an issue that is only due to the fact that it's not very vital to the story and thus is left out from too much thought when making the movie.

[Panda-chan]

I disagree about Rafiki and T&P's ages... those two were adults even before Simba was born. My guess is that Timon was probably a young adult around the time he left his meerkat colony as seen in the midquel, so Pumbaa was probably around the same age then too. As for Rafiki, I have no clue. It's like he's immortal or something lol

[Mike]

Rafiki's too stubborn to die <3 and Scar fought like an experienced lion, not a young lion imo.

[LionKing4EVR96]

I don't shudder at his age. Primates live longer than lions.

[Timon the great]

I don't gasp at Rafiki's age. Ha! I Know he's old! That 'Ol monkey.

Despite this realm in animated movies, it's kind of hard to figure out exactly (unless it's mentioned) how much younger/older a TLK character is through each installment of the series. Because of the different people who worked on the films.
What I mean is the character appearances are different in each of the movies, even if it's just a little or they're not suppose to be any younger/older.

I think Rafiki did look slightly older in TLK 2 and younger in TLK 3, compared to 1. So that would bode well to me.

Timon, on the other hand (while in TLK 2 might've looked older as well), didn't look older in TLK 1, compared to TLK 3 to me. We were supposed to assume he was younger in 3 because of most of it taking place before the events of 1, of course. But either way, I know for sure he wasn't any much older or younger in either of those TLK movies (despite him looking 10X better in 3, than in 1).

Then again, Nathan Lane's voice might have changed with time for this meerkat (and the same for other character's voice actor with each film). Especially being about 10 years apart from the release of TLK 1 and 3. But that easily could've also been because LK 3 creators wanted Lane, to make Timon's voice sound more heroic in His film.

[Regulus]

[quote="SuperBabySimba"]RAFIKI:
Add the ten years to Rafiki's already old age in the beginning of TLK... How old CAN the whatever baboon Rafiki is, live? Or maybe he's just taken reeeally good care of himself. There are stuff in nature that can heal and keep you in a good shape and Rafiki is the shaman character.[/quote]

I don't know what you're talking about.

Spoiler: show

NatGeo says the average life span of a mandrill in the wild is 20 years.

The San Diego Zoo says they can live for up to 40 years.

According to the BBC, mandrills can live for over 46 years.

My work here is done.

[Sigurd]

As Regulus pointed out, Mandrills have a relatively long life span, so it is not strange that he is still alive in TLK2:SP. My real concern is Timon, who seems to bean adult in TLK. He is probably 8-10 years older in the end of TLK2:SP. That seems unrealistic since meerkats only have a life span of 6-7 years in the wild.