Our story begins, as the stories often do, in the wondrous realm of the Pride Lands of Africa. These lands were ruled for years by the rightful king, Mufasa, along with his wife Sarabi and his would be heir, Simba. Under the rule of these lions, the Pride Lands was prosperous, calm and peaceful; but nothing lasts forever, as the saying goes, and the rule of Mufasa didn't last forever...Within the Pride Lands royalty, there was someone else who wanted the throne: The king's brother Scar. He may have been first in line for the throne, but as far as Scar was concerned, with the birth of Simba, he may as well have been 666th in line for the throne; in an attempt to ensure that Simba would never be in line for the throne, he took advantage of his nephew's naivety and sent him to the Elephant Graveyard in the hope that hyenas could kill him, and his friend Nala with him.
Sadly (for Scar), Mufasa had a tip off and prevented the Hyenas from killing his son and his friend; but the king's brother had no intention of remaining 666th in line for the throne, and rather than rely on merely three hyenas to aid him, made a deal with countless other hyenas, allowing them free reign in the Pride Lands should they help him. He had hoped to kill Simba in a stampede, which was a failure; but at least there was some kind of satisfaction as he just killed his own brother, pinned the blame on his own nephew, gave him a head start by telling him to "run away and never return" then sent hyenas after him. The blame that Scar pinned on his nephew would haunt Simba for years and would ultimately be used by Scar for more psychological breaking.
"The land and the king are one", so they say, and this was certainly the case with Scar: He had turned the Pride Lands from a prosperous realm into a barren wasteland; lions and hyenas were forced to over hunt and droughts ensured that if the Pride Lands would not starve, then they would parch instead. To make matters worse, Scar refused to accept that the now dire situation of the Pride Lands was his fault. While the Pride Lands starved and parched, Simba was assumed dead and if it wasn't for a warthog and meerkat in the form of Pumbaa and Timon, the cub very well would have died.
Years passed and Simba returned to confront his uncle; who would have continued to rule the Pride Lands if he hadn't told Simba the real reason for his father's death: Scar murdered his own brother. Why? Because once Simba learned the truth, he told his uncle to spill it to the entire Pride; thankfully for Scar, his nephew wasn't in the killing mood so on their confrontation, Simba ordered his uncle to leave the Pride Lands and never come back. But Scar had no desire of leaving quietly and fought Simba one last time. His nephew said that he wasn't in the killing mood and he was quite right; instead, Simba threw him over Pride Rock and forsaken him to the hyenas...who he had allied himself with, the whole time. With his nephew dead, Simba claimed his rightful place as ruler of the Pride Lands, restoring the realm to its former glory. Him, his new consort, Nala, and a new heir: His daughter, Kiara.