Did the Hyenas help or hurt?

[LeonaInez]

I don't really understand why Scar needed the hyenas. They only seemed necessary to start the stampede which Scar could have done without them. Also it seems like his entire downfall was promising the entire hyena clan food forever. So why were they even necessary? Aside from the whole "funny disney villian sidekick" tradition.

[TheBlackCatCrossing]

Scar is a narcissist and he needed an army to do his bidding because he did not want to get his paws dirty.

[Panda-chan]

Imagine trying to single-handedly kill the king and heir to the throne, take over a kingdom, and fend off any lionesses that try to drive him from power. Yup, those hyenas were pretty important.

[DGFone]

Scar needed the hyenas for extra muscle. As he liked to tell Mufasa (alright, only once in the movie), but Scar had the intelligence to run the kingdom, but not the brawn. So he rallied the hyenas under him to make up for that loss, and took over.

So even if the takeover went smooth and Scar did not need his hyenas to ensure discipline, he still needed them for his own moral support.

[cleargreenwater]

Yeah, I think if they would have left the deleted scene in the movie where Scar propositions Nala, it would have been more apparent just how much of an "occupying army" threatening police-like force the hyenas should have been.

Additionally, the rivalry between lions and hyenas in the wild is one of the most brutal animal warfares there is--not only are the hyenas funny sidekicks, but by alligning with them, Scar is more or less bartering/making a deal with a lion's Devil/most unholy nemesis (...es. Nemesises XD) totally going against what would be "good" lion morality.

[SimbasGuard]

The Hyenas were also there to ensure that no other Rogue Lion would try to overthrow Scar.

[HellmotherEva]

Even IF Scar would have started the stampede by himself: What if one of the wildebeests would have recognized him? :3
And teh hyenas were his personal bodyguards, so: YES, I think they were pretty important.

[Jiirani]

He had to tell Mufasa that Simba was in the gorge too, and I don't think he would have made it in time if he had ran the wildebeest into the gorge. Lions don't have much stamina or something... And he'd have to run and find Muffy too.

He wouldn't have been able to keep the throne without the hyenas either, I think the lioness' would have done away with them if you could have. Together they might have been able to if there were no hyenas...

[Regulus]

Scar: "But, you see them? They think I'm king."
Nala: [looking up to see no hyenas] "Exactly, nobody thinks you're the king."
*Simba easily pushes Scar off Pride Rock*

That's what comes to my mind when I think about this.

[LeonaInez]

Imagine trying to single-handedly kill the king and heir to the throne, take over a kingdom, and fend off any lionesses that try to drive him from power. Yup, those hyenas were pretty important.

But he was already going to get power. The only thing the hyenas did was start the stampede, and yes, he probably did need those three to start it, but why not just promise them a zebra each instead of the entire hyena clan getting full access to the Pridelands?

Scar: "But, you see them? They think I'm king."
Nala: [looking up to see no hyenas] "Exactly, nobody thinks you're the king."
*Simba easily pushes Scar off Pride Rock*

That's what comes to my mind when I think about this.

Yes but things were only in such bad shape because of the hyenas eating all the food. If they weren't around, then the land would have been in much better shape and the lionesses probably wouldn't have been mad at him.