Were the vaguely ethnic hyenas in the original Hamlet, or in the improved Orson Scott Card version?

Actually (he said retucking his shirt), The Lion King is less a retelling of Hamlet than a pastiche of Shakespearian archetypes thrown together in a Kiplingish Just-So-Story kind of setting. Simba’s character arc that takes him from youthful frivolity to a mature acceptance of responsibility mirrors that of Henry V. Scar, on the other hand, is Richard III right down to his lean frame not “shaped for sportive tricks” and plan to murder and screw his way to kingship. Timon and Pumbaa (especially Pumbaa) are more than a little Falstaffian, though they’re treated a bit more evenly than the fat, old drunk was. Nala’s quite the Shakespearean heroine herself too, showing the same sort of determination we see in Juliet, or Portia.

And Rafiki was the monkey who had magic powers.
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This is going to sell SO MANY Hot Topic T-Shirts, folks.