Sarabi
From TLKFAAwiki
Sarabi is Simba's mother and the mate of Mufasa. She first appears in 'The Lion King', and does not appear in any of the later 'Lion King' films due to the death of her voice actor, Maidge Sinclair. Her name means 'mirage' in Swahili.
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The Lion King
Sarabi is the mate of Mufasa and the mother of Simba. We get the impression that she is good friends with Nala's mother, Sarafina. We first see Sarabi at the presentation of Simba, where she is lying curled up with him in her paws. She looks on proudly as her son is presented to the kingdom.
A few months later when Simba is an older cub, he races in to the cave to wake up his father so he can take Simba out to see the kingdom. She mutters sleepily to Mufasa, "Your son is awake." He replies, "Before sunrise he's your son." She is seen accompanying them outside the cave where Simba runs up and brushes against her leg; she playfully nudges his rump and watches Mufasa and Simba begin the walk up to the top of pride rock.
She is next seen sitting with Sarafina who is cleaning Nala. Simba runs down and asks her if he can go to the 'Waterhole'. Sarabi immediatly knows something is going on so she asks Zazu to watch the two cubs.
Later in the movie after the stampede, Sarabi is seen grieving over her family as Scar announces the news that both Mufasa and Simba are dead. Unknown to her, Simba is alive.
Years later, while Scar is ruling the Pride Lands, Scar calls Sarabi to his attention. She walks with her head held high through a pack of hyenas. Scar is sitting on Pride Rock, where he questions her why there is no food. Sarabi replies that "The herds have moved on". She tells him the pride has to leave Pride Rock. When Scar refuses, she yells "Then you have sentenced us to death!" begins to When Sarabi mention Mufasa, Scar strikes out and knocks her to the ground. Simba, enraged, leaps forward and walks up to her, nuzzling her. Sarabi mistakes him for Mufasa, but when Simba reveals who he is, Sarabi nuzzles her son. She then helps gain back Pride Rock. After Simba defeats Scar, Sarabi is shown again nuzzling Simba. Then she is seen roaring in approval of Simba's Kingship with the other lionesses.
The Lion King 1½: Hakuna Matata
Although only for a couple of seconds, Sarabi appears in 'The Lion King 1 1/2: Hakuna Matata' at the presentation of Simba as Timon and Pumbaa walk past.
The Lion King Musical
Following the success of The Lion King, Julie Taymor created the musical "The Lion King", commonly abbrievated as TLKOB. In this production, we have an insight on events that were not explored in the original film. Sarabi is included in 'The Circle of Life' as she is in the film and is seen carrying baby Simba up to the top of pride rock before handing him over to Rafiki. She is also included in the lioness hunt, which is a scene that does not appear in the original film. In this scene, Sarabi and the other lionesses dance around, giving the illusion of the lionesses out on a hunt. Her scene containing Simba asking her to go to 'The Waterhole' is practically the same as in the film. Sarabi is also in 'Shadowland', which is a song about Nala having to leave her family in order to find help for the pride. Gina Breedlove plays Sarabi in the original Broadway cast of "The Lion King".
Sarabi's Childhood
There is no official writing of Sarabi before she was queen with Mufasa but a story written by a third-party called 'Friends in Need'. This story tells us a bit about Sarabi's teenage years. In the story Sarabi is a teenager and the future bride of Mufasa. She falls into a pit in the gorge, and it is only because of Zazu spotting vultures circling the pit that he notices something. He tells Mufasa, but he replies that "There's probably just some small creature over there", and goes back to his nap. Zazu gets too curious to sleep and so flies over to the pit. There he spots Sarabi, who pleads him to help her. Zazu immediatly flies to Mufasa who comes to save her but he can only scare the vultures away and doesn't know how to get her out of the steep pit. Zazu suggests pushing a log into the hole so Sarabi can climb up. After she climbs out, Sarabi nuzzles Zazu and purrs, "You saved my life."
The Lion King: 6 New Adventures
The Lion King: Six New Adventures, or TLK6NA, as it is commonly abbreviated, is a set of six books centered around Simba and Nala. Sarabi is briefly mentioned in "How True, Zazu?". She was worried that Mufasa was going to get hurt by ants and was glad he was safe.
