The Lion King/Tear Jerker

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"...help."

The Lion King

Animated Film

  • Mufasa's demise. The scene where Mufasa is killed shows the body is pulled about by his son, because he can't understand why his father won't wake up...
    • It's especially sad for kids because if something so horrible could happen to the perfect dad (don't lie, we all wanted a father like Mufasa), who's to say it couldn't happen to their own father?
    • The music that plays during the scene certainly doesn't help, especially when the part when Mufasa's theme comes in. It's the part around 1:15. Add Simba trying in vain to wake his dad up, and then in utter despair trying to cuddle up under his paw, and you have a scene that is possibly one of the saddest in any animated film ever.
    • The scene also became a tearjerker for the film's creators, as they received a letter from a young boy who had lost his father, thanking the creators for the film as it helped him deal with his loss. The staff were moved to tears by it.
    • The scene is even more heartbreaking in theaters, in 3D...
    • This scene may be worse than the death of Bambi's mom. For one thing, there isn't any Mood Whiplash to this scene, no "she's dead" followed by a bunch of birds hopping around in Springtime to happy music; no, we get Scar telling HIS OWN NEPHEW that it's his fault his father is dead, and telling him to run away and never return, and THEN he sends the Hyenas after him to kill him. There's a little bit of comedy courtesy of Banzai falling into a bramble patch, but THEN we see Scar giving a none-too-sincere eulogy for Simba and Mufasa just before he takes the helm, and we see the lionesses and Zazu's reaction to this... And then the Hyenas come out. And these aren't the goofy trio that we know and love; these hyenas are Nightmare Fuel. And then we see Rafiki's reaction. Given Rafiki was Mufasa's closest friend, it just... Gets to be too much. And then we see cute little Simba almost dead in the desert. Good thing Timon and Pumbaa showed up when they did.
    • There's also the fact that, unlike Bambi's mom (who's a 'standard mom' character), Mufasa is a *real* character with heart and humor who the audience has come to love and sympathize with. To see him snuffed out so cruelly is just...
    • And if nothing else gets to you with Mufasa's death, how about when Simba crawls under Mufasa's limp arm so it will almost be like his father is holding him one last time...
  • When Mufasa and Simba play in the grass and promise to be there for one another.
  • The scene following Mufasa's death when Scar convinces Simba that it's all his fault.
  • The first few lines of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", sung by Timon, never fail to turn me into a sobbing wreck. I actually walked out of the movie theater (I couldn't have been older than ten) because the most heartbreaking sentence I'd ever heard got a huge laugh from the audience.

I can see what's happening
And they don't have a clue
They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line
Our trio's down to two

    • What about the end of the song, with Timon and Pumbaa having those big "sad" eyes.

And if he falls in love tonight
It can be assumed
His carefree days with us are history
In short, our pal is doomed
(cue Timon, Pumbaa, and the audience crying hysterically)

  • The reactions of the lionesses when Scar takes the throne and the hyenas and eerily creeping in.
    • Rafiki as he watches a dark era arrive in the Pridelands, followed by him smudging out a drawing of Simba on his tree (everyone thought Simba was dead).
  • The scene where Simba rises up onto the rock overlooking Pride Rock, and takes his place as king.
  • I'm amazed no one's mentioned the scene in which Rafiki leads Simba to the pool where he sees his reflection and eventually his deceased father's. Simba tells Rafiki he only sees himself, and the tears start when Rafiki almost chides him, "No...look harder." Cue quivering chin and the floodgates opening when Simba finally sees Mufasa's face and Rafiki tells him, "You see, he lives in you." Guh, I'm tearing up just REMEMBERING the scene.
  • Remember when Mufasa saves Simba and Nala from the hyenas? If you're a parent, you feel Mufasa's distress at his son being in grave danger... Driven home in the following scene when Mufasa confesses to his son that the possibility of losing him is the one thing that made him genuinely scared. Even moreso during the stampede, when you can clearly see the distress on Mufasa's face as he searches desperately for Simba among the mass of wildebeests.
  • "You said you'd always be there for me!"
  • When Scar freakin' obliterates the Moral Event Horizon by sending Sarabi flying for mentioning Mufasa's name. Naturally, Simba was PISSED.
    • Keep in mind, up until that point Simba had probably been hoping that he could work things out peacefully with Scar. He didn't know about all the horrible things his uncle had done. For all he knew, Scar was just guilty of being a crummy king. However, as soon as he sees Scar strike his mother, he's out for blood.

Simba: Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you apart.

  • Simba's mothers reaction when Simba is confronted by Scar and is forced to tell what happened at the stampede.

Sarabi: It's not true. Tell me it's not true.
Simba:' ...It's true.

Scar: You see? He admits it! Murderer!
Simba: No! It was an accident!
Scar: If it weren't for you, Mufasa would still be alive! It's your fault he's dead! Do you deny it?
Simba: No.
Scar: Then you're GUILTY.
Simba: No. I'm not a murderer.
Scar: Oh Simba, you're in trouble again. But this time, daddy isn't here to save you. And now, everyone knows WHY!

    • What really hurts about that scene is the fact that after all these years, even though he is now an adult and no longer an impressionable cub, Simba still blames himself for what happened to Mufasa. He spent years thinking he killed his own father. It just goes to show how badly Scar screwed with his head. Just imagine the amount of guilt Simba must have been living with during his time with Timon and Pumbaa. Thank God Scar was Genre Blind enough to tell him the truth.

Simba: You said you'd always be there for me! ...But your're not. It's because of me. It's my fault. It's my fault.

      • This is actually made quite clear in Lion King 1 1/2, when cub Simba can't sleep because he "had a bad dream". The utter look of suffering on Simba's face is heartbreaking, and even though he has no idea what the dream was about, Timon's comforting reaction is so sweet and shows he really is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • There's a very understated bit during the stampede. Zazu is flying through the gorge searching for Simba and finds him desperately clinging to a tree branch over the rampaging wildebeest. Simba cries out for Zazu to help him, and all Zazu can do is reassure him that his father is coming and tell him to hold on. Simba has caused Zazu plenty of irritation in the past, but Rowan Atkinson's excellent voice acting definitely gives the impression that right now Zazu would give anything to be able to pull Simba out of harm's way.
    • Nasty Fridge Horror when considering Zazu for this whole thing. After Mufasa goes down into the gorge to save Simba, Zazu tries to fly back to Pride Rock and get help, only to be smacked into a wall by Scar and knocked unconscious. Imagine what happened when Zazu woke up. He probably thought he panicked and hit the wall himself and failed to get potential help for Mufasa and Simba because of it. Until the truth comes out later, it's not unreasonable to think that he blamed himself and felt that he failed both Simba and his king. Zazu is already a potential woobie, this just makes him even more of one.
  • The look of utter horror and betrayal on Mufasa's face when he realizes his own little brother is about to throw him to his death. In spite of the vitriol shown between Scar and Mufasa at the beginning, Mufasa is still a good and noble character and he probably still cares about his brother and is completely unaware of Scar's hatred for him until the very end. Someone he knew as family, someone he probably loved and wanted to see happy, tricked and brutally murdered him.
    • Even moreso when you consider that at that moment, he probably realized that Scar wanted his son dead too, and there was nothing he could do about it.
  • While Scar is telling the lionesses about the stampede and Simba and Mufasa, there is a close up of Nala crying. We also see poor Sarabi weeping while Zazu tries to comfort her. The poor woman has just lost her husband and (she thinks) her young son. Just imagining how utterly wracked with grief she must be is heartbreaking.
  • "Hey, where you going?" "I'M GOING BACK."
  • Zazu’s story throughout the film, as explained under the Woobie section of the YMMV page, is a lot sadder than most people realize. Disney seemed to be going with the “when in doubt, hurt the bird” pattern they’d used with Iago a few years earlier in Aladdin. The difference? Iago is a Jerkass who sided with the villain of the film, whereas Zazu is a snarky but overall NiceGuy who is unambiguously on the side of the heroes. Two very different scenarios.

The Lion King II

  • "When you first came here, you asked for judgement! And I pass it now...EXILE!!!
  • The death of Nuka.

Nuka: I'm sorry, Mother. I tried.

  • Kovu being rejected by Simba, and seeing Scar as his reflection. Made even worse by the fact that he loves Kiara and didn't want to kill Simba.
    • That entire scene was sad, with the song, Not One of Us, being one of the most emotional songs in the movie. Kovu looked so heartbroken while he was being cast out of the Pride Lands.
  • After all this time, it turns out Simba is still not completely over his father's death and he shuns the Outlanders thinking Mufasa would have done the same to Scar and his clan for their actions. Plus, he has a nightmare of not being able to save him in the stampede. Makes you wonder who's the real woobie in this.
    • But at the end, he welcomes the Outlanders back into the Pridelands. And he gets this message from his father...

"Well done, my son. We are one."

  • "YOU WILL NEVER BE MUFASA!!!"
    • The utter shock on Simba's face when he hears that shows that he knows he screwed up big time. The lionesses looking on as Kiara runs crying into the den just kills it.
  • Simba's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown during Zira's first attack. When it was all over, he could barely even get up. No wonder Simba was so pissed.

Theater Production

  • Although a great deal of The Lion King is deeply emotional and affecting (as is the film it was based on), one particular addition not in the movie always brings this editor to tears: the solo number performed by Simba, "Endless Night." In particular the lines: "You promised you'd be there/Whenever I needed you/Whenever I call your name/You're not anywhere/I'm trying to hold on/Just waiting to hear your voice/One word, just a word will do/To end this nightmare." Also, the earlier lines "Sleepless, I dream of the day/When you were by my side/Guiding my path/Father, I can't find the way." By the time the end of the song comes, Simba sings such a stirring, heartfelt testimonial to hope for the future, but the way the song uses actual lines from the movie and builds upon them to reference both the deep love Simba and Mufasa shared (and how he was such a perfect father) and the guilt, despair, and suffering Simba went through as mentioned above is just so overpowering and gut-wrenching.
  • This is especially tear jerking when you realize that the original actor in this role hung himself because he couldn't sort out the differences he had with his father.
  • Rafiki Mourns.
  • "Shadowland." Just "Shadowland."
  • Seeing Mufasa's death live.
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