Matthew Broderick and James Earl Jones in The Lion King (1994)
Figure 1: The Lion King (1994) Poster

 The Lion King is Disney's 1994 animated story about the life of a lion called Simba. Simba is the heir to the throne on Pride Rock, until he is chased out of the Pridelands when his evil uncle Scar convinces him to take the blame for his father, Mufasa's, death. The story teaches Simba about the circle of life, through musical elements and his growing up until he returns to become the true King. 

 The Hero within The Lion King is Simba. The role of the hero is to serve and make sacrifices for their community or home. The hero is often the protagonist of the film, The Lion King revolves around Simba's life of becoming a hero. We watch Simba grow throughout the film from a mischevious cub, to a lazy adolescent and then finally becoming the hero despite not wanting to be so; which could make him a reluctant hero. Simba is then the character that returns against all odds to save the Pridelands at the end of the film. He returns with bravery and strength to face the evil that has been eating him alive all the time he ran away. (Simba faces an archetypal situation, the death and rebirth.)

 The Herald is typically the character that warns the hero of something during the story, often at the start to help the hero on their journey. Nala is The Lion King's herald, although she does not warn Simba of the true journey he needs to embark on until the later half of the film. She is present throughout his childhood, warning him of danger in the Outlands by being sceptical of going, and suffers the loss of Simba with the rest of the pride. When she leaves to find help, she finds Simba and tells him that she needs his help; she calls him to his adventure. 

 The Mentor is typically the character of a story who provides motivation, guidance and knowledge to the hero. In The Lion King, this is Mufasa (Simba's father). Sometimes the mentor gives the hero a weapon or a gift to help aid them in their journey, the closest Mufasa gets to this is when he appears in the clouds to remind Simba who he is. Mufasa is the story's mentor due to his father and leadership role to Simba, he teaches him everything he needs to know about hunting and how to rule a kingdom as a King. 

 The Threshold Guardian in The Lion King is Rafiki. Rafiki is the character that provides Simba with the tests to remind him who he is and where he belongs. He prepares Simba to become the hero he needs to be through his reminders of where Simba came from. Rafiki outwits him through the scene where he brings Simba to a river, playfully, to see his reflection to reconnect with the image of his father. 

 The Shapeshifter is someone who questions and deceives the hero. This would be Scar. Scar hides his true intentions from the royal family and most importantly Simba. He gives Simba doubt about the death of his father, convincing Simba that it was his own fault rather than Scars. Sometimes the Shapeshifter can become the hero once their loyalties are revealed, but in Scar's case, he was purely an evil shapeshifter. 

 The Shadow in The Lion King was the hyenas. The hyenas represent the shadow archetype by aligning with Scars evil plans to take over the Pridelands. They are able to represent dark fears and quite literally the shadows, also shown by the fact that the live in the shadows of the Outlands. The Shadow may not be fully evil, or have redeemable qualities- the hyenas just followed along with Scars plan until he turns on them, when they end up killing him they get rid of the worse evil. 

 The Tricksters are Timon and Pumbaa, the Trickster archetype typically causes a lot of mischief and are there to torment Simba and make him laugh throughout his growing up. The Trickster may not always have a significant impact on the story, but Timon and Pumbaa end up coming through in the final battle to help their friend to win the Pridelands. Their joking and jester-ing are almost mocking the fact that he is destined to become a King. 

 Allies within a story are the archetypes to help and support the cause, typically it will be multiple characters that combine into this archetype. They could be made up of any group of characters, so it's possible that in The Lion King the allies are made up of the lionesses, Timon and Pumbaa, Zazu and Rafiki. These are all of the characters that can be seen helping Simba defeat Scar in the battle of Pride Rock.

 The Father is the archetype that represents the authority figure within the story, with elements of seriousness and wisdom to contrast with the hero's playfulness. Mufasa can be seen as literally being Simba's father, and giving him serious talks in order to prepare him for being King of the Pridelands. Mufasa radiates wisdom and male authority by being King and the fatherly-figure archetype. 

 The Mother in The Lion King is Sarabi, who we do not see much of. The Mother archetype cares for the hero, they are typically a female character, in this case, the actual mother. We see that Sarabi is the Mother figure by the way she cares about Simba's safety at the beginning of the film, and in the end. 

 The Child archetype represents innocence and a childlike outlook on things, they are the character who shows honesty, development and always sees an innocent view on the world. The only real child figure within The Lion King could really only be Simba when he was young, restless and ready to take on the world and become a true fighting King. But only when he disappears into the 'real world' on his own, that he steps back and becomes an adult before becoming the hero. It could also be when Kiara is born, she is the new innocence of a new era among the Pridelands. 

 The Maiden within The Lion King could be Nala, she is the character that best fits this archetype. She can represent the purity that Simba has had alongside him his whole life, and the sexuality as they get older. 

The Lion King fits the majority of the archetypes nicely, due to the simple good and evil sides to the story and the way Simba, in most respects, completes the cycle of a hero's journey. The story itself is so iconic that the archetypes are mostly fairly obvious, especially the idea of Simba being the hero since it is essentially a story all about his life (and his journey).



Figure 1: The Lion King Poster (1994) [Poster] Online At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110357/mediaviewer/rm3272938240