How did Simba never meet Rafiki before Mufasa's death?

[TheLionPrince]

Given how close Rafiki was to Mufasa, you would think young Simba would have met Rafiki a lot sooner. Supposedly, shamanism is an important element in the vitality of the kingdom that Scar's reign maybe suffers from a lack of it.

I have always seen as a contrived plot point that even non-canon comics contradict the film with Simba knowing Rafiki at a young age. It isn't quite as contrived as maybe Hades not discovering Hercules is still alive after eighteen years, but let me hear your thoughts on it.

[Elton John]

How old was Simba when we see him go to the elephant graveyard? 2-3 months? I mean maybe he was never given the chance to meet him. A day or two before the plot kicks into gear we finally get to see Mufasa maybe having his first big father/son talk with Simba, and it didn't seem like Simba was allowed to explore on his own.

Mufasa probably intended on telling Simba about a lot of things but being killed by his brother got in the way of that.

[FlipMode]

He did. Rafiki was at the presentation ceremony which is literally right after Simba is born.

[TheLionPrince]

[quote="FlipMode"]He did. Rafiki was at the presentation ceremony which is literally right after Simba is born.[/quote]

Yeah, I know that, but Simba was too young to remember him. This question is mostly around Simba, during his few months in the Pride Lands before his father's death, never encountering Rafiki at least once when he's not that reclusive especially around Mufasa even though he has some sort of important role in the kingdom.

[Simba_Lion]

Probably Rafiki didn't come to visit the royal family so often because his tree was far away, maybe he came once in 4-5 months. And cub Simba was just 2-3 months old when his father died. So probably, he would have come later but... we all know what happened.

[Justmeonhere]

Maybe there wasn't an emergency or something so he didn't visited the Pride Rock. In the movies we always see Rafiki alone in his baobab. The only exceptions are the presentations of Simba and Kiara, the Mufasa's ghost scene, when Kovu saves Kiara, when he announces the return of Simba to Nala, Timon and Pumbaa and when he talks about the Hakuna Matata with Timon in the third movie. So I think he is here only for emergency or special matters.

[Squeely]

Agreed with everyone that it was probably planned for Simba to meet Rafiki in the near future, but we know what put a halt to that. Simba seems very excited at the beginning of the film, which could indicate that it's his first time being allowed to roam away from Pride Rock. Given his lack of hair tuft, it's safe to assume he's quite young. If he was allowed to roam before his big day with Mufasa, he likely wasn't allowed to go far. Heck, Muffy taking him out and showing him the Pridelands could be a rite of passage once cubs hit a certain age.

We also don't know what Rafiki was up to while little Simba was growing. He may have only just gotten back from a journey or something.