Why didn't the lionesses fight back?

[Panda-chan]

I find it odd that during Scar's entire 5 year rule of the Pridelands, the lionesses didn't try to oust him even once. They may have had no reason to mistrust him in the beginning, but as the situation in the Pridelands deteriorated and Scar became more dictatorial and abusive, wouldn't it have occurred to at least some of them to drive Scar and his hyenas out? And I know what you're going to say: Scar was too powerful, and he had too many henchmen. But when Simba returned to reclaim his throne, they really had no trouble kicking the hyenas' butts. Why couldn't they have just done that earlier, instead of waiting for a strong male to arrive?
Maybe that's the answer, that the females couldn't bear to dispose of the monarchy that had held their pride together for so many generations. After all, kicking out or killing the king would break the traditional Circle of Life. That does seem a bit extreme though - the pride was literally about to die under Scar's rule, and rebelling still didn't cross their minds at all.
I dunno, I'm just throwing around some ideas here. Thoughts?

[Baya]

Well, the mentality of a pride is that the dominant male is "King" or "Pride Master". Until the male is challenged, they would go to hell with him and back. Since Simba had defeated Scar, they lionesses had no instinct to hold them back from finishing off Scar's henchmen. A good example of this is how Scar is treated DURING Mufasa's rule, which is pretty much with a negative context within the pride. This is also common in lion prides ruled by brothers, which does actually happen in the wild.

[FlipMode]

I think that maybe there is some kind of pride thing associated with killing a fellow lion / lioness... Particularly when it comes to royalty, of course Scar had no problem with killing Mufasa because he was already part of the royal family, not to mention he pretty much did not care about anyone or anything.

If you notice, no one actually intentionally kills anyone in the whole series, except for Scar killing Mufasa of course. But Nuka, and Zira were deaths by their own doing pretty much. All of the other times they are more injured than killed.

[TheLionPrince]

Good question, Amanda. It never occurred to me why they didn't so in the first place Anyway, I believe you already stated the answer as why the lionesses didn't stand up against Scar on their own. They needed a king to replace Scar after he and the hyenas are ousted from power, which they found in Simba as he is the rightful king that should be ruling the Pridelands. Also, keep in mind, real lion prides usually have 1-2 alpha lions to protect the pride from rogues and intruders, and maybe it is against the laws of nature (and maybe the Circle of Life) for a pride of lionesses to not have any alpha lion governing over them.

Also, maybe none of the lionesses felt strong enough to challenge Scar in a fight even though they needed to get through the legion of hyenas first, to which they could have.

[DGFone]

For one thing, Scar is in fact surrounded by an army of hyenas. The lionesses would have to get through those first. They did when Simba came back, but he brought Rafiki and Timon and Pumbaa along with him. These additions were enough to convince the lionesses that they can fight. That and the fact they are after his blood after his confession for Mufasa's murder. But before that, they simply lacked the confidence to take on Scar.

And also, with Simba, they already know who the future king will be. But before that, if they simply kill Scar, there would be a huge power vacuum to be filled by the first male to arrive. And those can be even worse than Scar, who is still family.

So the lionesses in the end were ready to take on Scar. But they needed something to tip their mindset into gear. Simba was that tipping force.

[SimbasGuard]

Anther thing to consider is that the army of Hyenas would have in no way been intimidated by the smaller group of Lionesses. They would have stood and fought, where as a small group of Lionesses led by a powerful Lion, that now makes the fight more of an even one and with the Hyenas not having such an overwhelming advantage. They may not think that standing and fighting is their best option. I believe it is largely because of Simba's presence that manly of the Hyenas ran away rather than fought (as we saw in the scene after Rafiki's Martial Arts fight with the Hyenas).

[Ophelia]

Yes, everyone's pretty much summed it up. Not only would the army of hyenas pose a huge problem - and realistically, hyenas aren't much intidimated by lions either - but the lionesses, realistically, had no way out and simply could not challenge the lead male. Unless and until another lion came and challenged Scar and won, there was no escape for the lionesses. I applaud Disney, actually, for sticking to the realism of it; when I watched TLK, I was quite surprised at how much they did stick to the pride's actual "values." Strong as the lionesses were (and are), they just didn't have a choice. A revolt would not be possible without a male lion to challenge Scar.

In reality, lionesses are only able to submit to the winning male (whoever wins in a challenge for leadership of said pride). As I said above, unless and until another male comes and challenges that male's leadership, the females are only allowed to do as their current leader dictates. That's it. And after a few years, a male from...ugh, I can't remember the name for the group, but outside of said pride and he challenges the male for leadership.

Sorry, I know I'm not making much sense. I'm currently sick, so. xD

[Misiziri]

^ Actually, female lions have been documented revolting against their lead male(s). It's a common misconception that females 'submit' to males, or that a male lion is a king, or that a male lion is lazy, all of which are false. There is no leadership, really, just lions with a role to fulfill for the sake of the pride.

However, there were literally hundreds of hyenas. If there had been fewer hyenas I would question. Not to mention the hyenas are starving and wouldn't hesitate to eat them alive.

[Ophelia]

[quote="Cherish"]^ Actually, female lions have been documented revolting against their lead male(s). It's a common misconception that females 'submit' to males, or that a male lion is a king, or that a male lion is lazy, all of which are false. There is no leadership, really, just lions with a role to fulfill for the sake of the pride.

However, there were literally hundreds of hyenas. If there had been fewer hyenas I would question. Not to mention the hyenas are starving and wouldn't hesitate to eat them alive.[/quote]


Really? I didn't know, thanks for clearing that up. I love lions, but honestly it's a newer love and I've yet to obsessively study them like most animals. xP

(is stupid)

[Misiziri]

No worries, I love clearing that up I hate how whenever lions are mentioned things always become a gender war xD I'm obsessed with lions, my fave animals, so I like to study them ^^