Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are servants to Scar in The Lion King.
Canon Bio[]
- Shenzi (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) is the only female of the trio. She is confident, collected and constantly scheming. This makes her the de facto leader of the trio, and probably the entire pack, a trait consistent with true spotted hyenas; females are usually larger than the males and dominate them. She comes up with the idea of telling Scar that Simba is dead after he escapes, confident in the belief that he'll never learn otherwise, and is confident enough to tell him that there's no food or water left. Her distinguishing features are three prominent bangs hanging over her face and a mane that reaches all the way to her bangs. She also lacks the dark grey 'stubble' snout of the males, and the dark patches around her eyes are shaped to resemble heavily applied eye-shadow. Her full name, according to The Lion King 1½, is Shenzi Marie Predatorra Veldetta Jackalina Hyena. Shenzi was originally going to also be male and played by Tommy Chong, reuniting him with his old comedy partner Cheech Marin, who was playing Banzai.[6]
- Banzai (voiced by Cheech Marin) is the most aggressive of the trio, usually speaking in a raised voice, with a shorter temper than Ed or Shenzi, and always ready to get into a fight. But since he usually thinks with his muscles, he still submits to Shenzi. He is also extremely greedy, talking about food frequently. His aggressive nature gets him into trouble more often than his friends - he gets the worst injuries in the battle with Mufasa (whilst Shenzi and Ed only received a few minor scratches, Banzai's buttocks were severely lacerated by Mufasa's sharp claws, causing him to be unable to sit down for a long time), is knocked into thorn bushes when chasing Simba, and complains out loud to the other two that "I thought things were bad under Mufasa" under Scar's reign, which nearly gets him into trouble with Scar. His distinguishing feature is his unusually heavy eyebrows, but apart from these he is the model for most generic hyenas.
- Ed is one of the few characters not to have a Swahili name. Ed communicates entirely through crazed laughter and sports a permanent idiotic grin. His eyes never seem to focus on anything properly, he has two round cuts on each ear and his tongue is almost always lolling out. In the Special Edition of The Lion King, character profiling reveals that Ed is not actually stupid; he "knows the score", but he cannot speak (it is never explained why he cannot speak). Jim Cummings recorded over four hours of different laughter clips for use with Ed's dialogue in the Episode of the Timon and Pumbaa Show Don't Wake the Neighbear Ed was one of the guests and friends that Timon had invited to his Party meaning that Ed is a friend oddly though Ed along with Shenzi and Banzai would normally try to both kill and eat Timon how ever as Ed was on his own it prooves that when he is not around Shenzi and Banzai or with them he is not dangerous like they are .
The hyenas first appear in the Elephant Graveyard where they, under Scar's orders, chase the young Simba and Nala in an attempt to kill and devour them, but are frightened off by Mufasa. Afterward, they help Scar carry out his plan to murder Mufasa by triggering the wildebeest stampede. Immediately after Scar tells Simba to run away and never return, he commands the hyenas to kill Simba too, but Simba eludes the hyenas as they cannot follow him through the thorn-bushes he falls into. Years into Scar's reign, they complain about lack of food in the Pride Lands but Scar ignores them. When Simba returns to Pride Rock, Scar angrily stares at the hyenas for failing to kill him, making them feel very nervous. As Simba tries to chase and overthrow Scar, the hyenas join the fight, but most are defeated by the lionesses, and Shenzi and Banzai are ruthlessly beaten up by Pumbaa for trying to eat Timon and Zazu and calling Pumbaa a "pig". When Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed overhear Scar trying to foist all blame for the events on them to Simba, claiming that it was all their idea, they alert the rest of the pack to his treachery. After Scar is defeated by Simba and is surrounded by the hyenas, he tries to explain that he didn't really mean it, but the hyenas have had enough of his lies, derogatory treatment and broken promises of never going hungry again, and viciously maul him to death.
Ultima role[]
Despite their betrayal to Scar, the Organization managed to find the Hyenas and corrupt them fully to their side to make sure they stay loyal to Scar this time.