Why didn't Scar kill Mufasa before Simba was born?

[AnonLion]

From the very beginning Scar doesn't hide the fact that he wanted to be king before Simba was born.

"Well I was first in line, until the little hairball was born."

You'd think if he really wanted to be king he'd just kill Mufasa from the very beginning, after all that would save him the trouble of committing an extra murder.

So was Scar just hoping Mufasa wouldn't have any cubs and wait for him to die? Why not just kill him? I find it strange that only until Mufasa foils his plans of killing Simba does Scar decide to kill him too. But had he succeeded killing Simba would Scar still spare Mufasa? It feels almost as if Scar really didn't want to kill Mufasa but decided to do it just because he'd always be there to save Simba.

[Elton John]

He needed a good plan that would ensure that not only he would be king, but his followers would believe it was an accident. Someone like Scar bides his time for years and strikes at the right moment.

He manipulated young simba into going to the elephant graveyard, and at the same time making him believe his uncle looked out for his best interests by making him 'promise' not to go there, taking advantage of simba's desire to be brave and be seen as brave.

That didn't work, obviously. His second plan worked. Someone like Scar always has multiple plans in case one doesn't work. His strength is in his ability to manipulate others via his silver tongue.

[Panda-chan]

I personally don't think Scar had the idea to kill Mufasa and Simba until after the "Scar tricks Simba" scene. I like to think that he spent most of his life dreaming of being king and simply hoping for Mufasa to die. But when Simba was born, he skipped the ceremony out of spite and became a bitter loner for a long time. And then, when Simba visits Scar and brags about being the next ruler, something snaps in him and he realizes he will never get to be king unless he acts. It is at that point that I believe Scar decides to kill Mufasa, and Simba as well for good measure. Of course this is just my personal headcanon but I feel like it explains the sequence of events in the movie pretty well.

Even if we assume Scar had the desire to kill Mufasa from the start, there's no way he would have been able to do it himself, obviously, being physically weaker. I also don't think even the hyenas would have been any match for him. Mufasa was not only powerful, but wise enough not to get himself caught in any dangerous situations Scar would have planned. The only two times we see Mufasa being that careless was when he was saving Simba. Scar must have seen that Simba was Mufasa's weakness, which is why he basically used him as bait to lure Mufasa into the stampede. If Scar ever had the idea to kill Mufasa from before Simba's birth, I don't think there was ever an opportunity that allowed him to do so.

[quote="AnonLion"]I find it strange that only until Mufasa foils his plans of killing Simba does Scar decide to kill him too. But had he succeeded killing Simba would Scar still spare Mufasa? It feels almost as if Scar really didn't want to kill Mufasa but decided to do it just because he'd always be there to save Simba.[/quote]
I kind of disagree. I think Scar wanted to kill both Mufasa and Simba because they were both obstacles preventing him from becoming king. I feel like the Elephant Graveyard plan was meant to kill just Simba, leaving Mufasa to be killed by some other means. I don't think Scar foresaw Mufasa running in to save his son (and the hyenas were not expecting it either judging by their dialogue), but I do think it gave him the idea to kill two birds with one stone.

[Panpardus]

Excluding the Lion Guard-offered backstory - which pretty much implies that Scar wanted to dethrone Mufasa long before Simba was even born - I personally think the idea of killing Mufasa never actually solidified for Scar until sometime during the events of the movie, triggered by Simba's birth. Regardless resentment and/or jealousy had clearly been brewing at least in Scar's psyche for a long time prior to the film, and if he'd already attempted a coup and failed (while also losing what made him physically powerful in the process) that would certainly add to why he's such a recluse in the movie, since we never see him around the other lions.

[Sigurd]

Maybe he had the idea, but didn't dare to do it. The birth of Simba made him more angry, it was the last straw

[DGFone]

Why commit a crime that can ruin all your plans if you don't have to? While Mufasa was around without Simba to replace him, he could have been offed by all sorts of ways that did not involve Scar directly nor indirectly - all it would take would be one minor slip up and any planned regicide would backfire, so let the Circle of Life do its thing and Scar would replace Mufasa once the king's sun dial ran its course.

But once Simba came into existence, simply outliving Mufasa was no longer an option, therefor forcing a more... paws on approach.

[Littlefoot]

I've always seen Simba's birth as the straw that broke the camel's back, so I'll probably just echo what everyone else said about how Scar was kind of just praying for Mufasa to die, then when Simba was born, he decided that it was no longer worth simply trying to outlive Mufasa. I also feel like Scar might have wanted to kill Mufasa for a while, but since he was too smart to think that he could take on Mufasa himself or that Mufasa would fall for any traps he could set up, he didn't bother trying to find a way to do it until Simba was born, thereby giving him the perfect pawn.

Basically, I think Simba's birth was a double-edged sword, because it both sharply decreased Scar's chances of becoming king if he outlived Mufasa and gave Scar a pawn to use in a clever plot to kill both Mufasa (and now Simba too).

[Azdgari]

I get what people are saying, but I do have to think that with Nala in the picture, the calculus about them having a cub wasn't super complicated... and given how analytical we know Scar is, it is odd that he chose to wait so long. I think, like some people may have said, the kettle may just eventually have boiled over. His isolation and jealousy increased until he finally reached a place mentally where he thought it was a good idea to commit a bit of murder to get where he wanted to be.

[Hatari05]

[quote="Azdgari"]I get what people are saying, but I do have to think that with Nala in the picture, the calculus about them having a cub wasn't super complicated... and given how analytical we know Scar is, it is odd that he chose to wait so long. I think, like some people may have said, the kettle may just eventually have boiled over. His isolation and jealousy increased until he finally reached a place mentally where he thought it was a good idea to commit a bit of murder to get where he wanted to be.[/quote]

I think the reason Scar waited was because he didn't have much of an opening. To kill Mufasa Scar needs a weakness to exploit and Mufasa didn't seem to have one. He was very powerful physically, he was not reckless and his pride rarely got the best of him. An attempt on Mufasa would likely fail as he was too powerful Mufasa could probably take a large chunk of the hyena pack and Scar doesn't have proper bait to lure him in.

Before Simba was born Mufasa was just too powerful he didn't really have a weakness. However seeing Mufasa rush right into the elephant graveyard showed Scar that he would rush blindly into anything for his son. Scar now had the weakness he needed to create a scenario that would allow him to manipulate Mufasa as Mufasa didn't seem to trust him too much but with Simba trapped in a stampede Mufasa would believe him without hesitation.

Without Simba there wasn't really any way to exploit Mufasa that would give a plan a better chance of success.