Something I quite never understood...

[Cyrus]

In every single appeance Mufasa has made in the films after death be it physical or spiritual (through wind and such), why is it that Mufasa only appears with Rafiki's help or within his range? I know Rafiki's the spiritual one in the flims and such, but it still makes me rather confused. Mufasa's ghost never showed himself to Simba untill Rafiki showed up, AND it wasn't untill Rafiki told Simba to look harder and almost touch the water that his reflection started to show that of Mufasa's.

In the 2nd film Mufasa is shown proudly watching the birth ceremony of his grand daughter and communicating so to speak with everyone through the wind, but it's as if Rafiki summoned him or something. Later there is a seen where Mufasa is "speaking" to Rafiki through the wind once more, but it's only Rafiki! The scene in which Simba is under the stars and says: "Father, I am lost. Kovu is one of them, Scar's heir. How can I accept him?" Mufasa makes no point in comunicating with his son whatsoever! At all! But he talks with Rafiki whenever! It just really bugs me that Mufasa is only allowed per say to communicate with Rafiki, but not even his own son. Only doing so with Rafiki's help or in his range.

On a side note, has anyone heard of the reviewer, Confused Matthew? He did a 3 part review on The Lion King which was more of a rant as he HATES the film, but it's a good watch. He also recently has posted 2 parts of a review on SP which hasn't been finished yet.

Lion King Review Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwWzFOvCq8&feature=related
SP Review Part 1 & 2: http://confusedmatthew.com/The-Lion-King-II.php

Anyway, back to the original topic, what are your guys thoughts on Mufasa's ways of appearing?

[Daenerys]

Huh, you know that's right. In the first one, Simba wants to talk to his father, but his spirit thing doesn't come until Rafiki meets Simba... I wonder why that it is....... maybe because Rafiki has some kinda spirit communicating thing. Who knows.

[Panda-chan]

Wow, that's a great observation. I have no answer to this, except that it might have something to do with the fact that Rafiki is a shaman and so is sort of the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds (lol Avatar). So maybe the only way to communicate with the Great Kings and other dead animals is through Rafiki. That's sort of his job as a shaman right? *shrugs*
I think Rafiki and Mufasa shared a very strong bond when they were both alive so maybe this is also why Rafiki is able to summon his ghost whenever he pleases. Or maybe Mufasa's ghost never even existed and Rafiki is actually talking to himself the entire time. And this leads Simba to also believe that he is communicating with his dead father when he is in fact hallucinating. LOL you can definitely tell it's 2 am here

[AdAstrα]

I agree with Amanda ^ Mufasa's spirit appears when Rafiki is around because Rafiki is a shaman and can summon spirits. He is no ordinary monkey xD

[SummerSnowLeopard]

Yeah. Rafiki is weird. Thats why he can do all these things XD

[Cyrus]

Good answers! That's what I was leaning towards too. ^^

[SummerSnowLeopard]

Yup. Rafiki is crazy.

[PrincessKiara]

That is a very interesting observation indeed!

As everyone else already stated, I think Rafiki is the only one able to communicate with/summon Mufasas spirit because he`s..magical in a way. He`s a shaman, and a very mystical character.

In SP, I`m actually glad we didn`t get a repeat of the ghost-scene in TLK.. It would have ruined it, in my opinion. It was such an amazing moment in the original film. In SP, Nalas role as Simbas voice of reason is stronger, and Simba must turn to her instead of his father for wisdom and guidance. Seeing as Mufasa died in TLK, he doesn`t appear in SP (except at the beginning) so I feel it would be weird if Mufasas spirit would be able to speak directly to Simba whenever he turns to the Great Kings for answers.
I really like that connection Rafiki has to Mufasas spirit, it shows what a close bond they shared, and underlines Rafikis mysterious ways.

-----
As for ConfusedMatthew, I`ve listened to his review of TLK, but not SP. *goes to check it out*

[SummerSnowLeopard]

Yeah. Rafiki is insane. And so is ConfusedMatthew.

[Cyrus]

^ XD

And thanks for everyones input! Glad to see we are on mostly the ame page about this. ^^