The Lion Guard Before Scar

             We know that Scar was the leader of the Guard before Kion but who was the leader before him? We saw in “Eye Of the Beholder” that there were other Lion Guards (at least 5) before Scar’s Guard, as evidenced by the paintings on the wall in the Guard’s Lair. This means there were previous leaders and there had to have been some kind of system for choosing them. I’ll be discussing some fan theories about who led the Guard before Scar and how said leader was chosen. I’ll be referencing characters and events from both The Lion Guard (TLG) and The Six New Adventures books.

Uru’s Sibling Led the Guard

            I mentioned in an earlier post that the royal family might traditionally have at least two cubs so that the second-born can lead the Guard. This implies that the power of the Roar is supposed to remain within the royal family. If this is true then Uru would have had a younger sibling, most-likely a brother because all of the Guard leaders appear to be male (which begs the question: if the second-born is female does the power of the Roar skip over her and either go to her younger brother or another Prideland male?)

Said younger brother would have been gone by the time The Lion King (TLK) starts because the new leader of the Guard presumably inherits the Roar after the previous leader has died and Scar led the Guard before TLK starts. This would explain why, like Uru and Ahadi, the previous leader of the Guard would go unseen and unmentioned in TLK.

Uru Led the Guard Herself

            Another theory is that Uru was the leader of the Guard before Scar. This is unlikely for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that she has the responsibilities of the queen to prepare for and carry out. The queen of the Pridelands is the head of the hunting party that feeds the whole pride. She is also responsible for providing support and back-up for the king. With all of this on her plate, I don’t think Uru would have had the time to lead the Guard. Based on all of the trouble Kion and his friends have to stop, leading the Guard seems to be a pretty full-time job and doing that on top of the queen’s duties would probably be too much for anyone to handle.

Ahadi Led the Guard

            One possibility is that Ahadi was the leader of the Guard but I think this is unlikely for two main reasons. The first is that, like Uru, Ahadi had his own set of responsibilities that would have made leading the Guard difficult. Arguably, the king has even more duties than the queen because he has to settle all of the disputes in the Pridelands, provide protection via patrols around the Pridelands’ perimeter, and making sure the land can support the pride. In Follow the Leader, one of the Six New Adventures books, Simba complains that he doesn’t even have time to take a nap so I highly doubt that King Ahadi would have time to lead the Guard. At any rate, he likely wouldn’t have gotten the Roar in the first place because (according to pretty much every fan theory in existence) Ahadi isn’t a native Pridelander. He comes from somewhere else to join Mohatu’s pride. The legend of the Guard suggests that the members are always Pridelanders so I doubt that Ahadi would qualify.

Some Other Pridelander Led the Guard

            Yet another theory is that a non-royal Pridelander was the leader of the Guard before Scar. This is also unlikely based on the fact that Rafiki, Nala, and Simba all seem to be expecting Kion to get the Roar, which implies that the power travels down the royal bloodline. The only time I could see this theory working is if the second-born cub was female because all of the leaders of the Guard who are depicted on the Lion Guard Lair wall are male. If the head of the Guard had to be male then it would make sense for the power of the Roar to go to a worthy Prideland male who didn’t belong to the royal family should the second-born royal cub be female. 

            What do you think? Let me know in the comments!