I have an entry, but I want to see if anyone else shares this idea before adding it. Otherwise it wouldn't be a WMG, just a WG.
The Pridelands aren't a kingdom, they're a protection racket.
Lions are, of course, prey on animals such as zebras and wildebeest, yet all these herbivores recognize them as the rulers of the pridelands (at least if the opening credits and similar sequences are anything to go by). Why do they willingly live under the rule of animals that eat them?
Because hyenas are more efficient hunters than lions (IIRC somewhere near the 90% success rate of Painted Dogs), and they kill their prey in a less pleasant way (ripping apart vs. going for the throat). So, if lions and hyenas are fighting for control of the pridelands, the herbivores side with the predator which is less of a threat to them. Then, once everything settles down, the leader of the lions decides to instate his species as the ruler of all the others. Rebellion is countered with threatening to let the hyenas back in. Perhaps the prey animals could even be persuaded to give up a certain number of weaker individuals as the necessary cost of protection. The "circle of life" is later developed to justify this system and cement it in place. Mufasa is murdered before Simba is properly taught the full implications of this.
When Scar breaks this truce by allowing hyenas into the Pridelands, the prey end these sacrifices and many of them leave the pridelands entirely during the drought (in a normal drought, they would stay within the "protected" region out of fear of hyenas). The resulting famine is part of the natural course of events, but by this time nobody still remembers a time before lions were kings.
I have an entry, but I want to see if anyone else shares this idea before adding it. Otherwise it wouldn't be a WMG, just a WG.
The Pridelands aren't a kingdom, they're a protection racket.
Lions are, of course, prey on animals such as zebras and wildebeest, yet all these herbivores recognize them as the rulers of the pridelands (at least if the opening credits and similar sequences are anything to go by). Why do they willingly live under the rule of animals that eat them? Because hyenas are more efficient hunters than lions (IIRC somewhere near the 90% success rate of Painted Dogs), and they kill their prey in a less pleasant way (ripping apart vs. going for the throat). So, if lions and hyenas are fighting for control of the pridelands, the herbivores side with the predator which is less of a threat to them. Then, once everything settles down, the leader of the lions decides to instate his species as the ruler of all the others. Rebellion is countered with threatening to let the hyenas back in. Perhaps the prey animals could even be persuaded to give up a certain number of weaker individuals as the necessary cost of protection. The "circle of life" is later developed to justify this system and cement it in place. Mufasa is murdered before Simba is properly taught the full implications of this.
When Scar breaks this truce by allowing hyenas into the Pridelands, the prey end these sacrifices and many of them leave the pridelands entirely during the drought (in a normal drought, they would stay within the "protected" region out of fear of hyenas). The resulting famine is part of the natural course of events, but by this time nobody still remembers a time before lions were kings.
Does this make sense to anyone?