One of the most well-known characters from Disney’s The Lion King is the mandrill Rafiki. The shaman, who has a quirky appearance, is actually a knowledgeable man and a royal advisor who gives Mufasa and his son Simba moral lessons. Additionally, he places a lot of emphasis on the Pride Lands’ “Circle of Life” and the importance of maintaining its equilibrium.
Rafiki also appears to have the spiritual abilities to speak with the dead, as seen in The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride. Rafiki has appeared in a number of spin-off programmes, aside from the original two movies, and is frequently used as comic relief.
A Changed Role In The Musical
Julie Taymor, the director of the musical The Lion King, wanted the cast to include a stronger female character. Rafiki was portrayed by a woman on Broadway as a result of this.
Tsidii Le Loka played the lead role. Rafiki also engages in hand-to-hand battle with hyenas in the third act, giving her character a minor boost. She presents Simba’s cub to the rest of the kingdom as she proclaims Simba king. For her performance, Tsidii Le Loka received a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination.
Equivalent Of Hamlet’s Horatio
It’s no secret that William Shakespeare’s great tragedy, Hamlet, and The Lion King share a theme of wanting retribution. Rafiki can readily serve as Horatio if Simba is to be compared to Hamlet.
Horatio, who has known the main character since they were students at Wittenburg University, serves as his buddy and advisor in the play. Along with being Hamlet’s father’s close friend and supporter, Horatio helped him overthrow the King of Norway.
Geographical And Biological Inaccuracies
Rafiki is a mandrill, but other characters refer to him as a baboon. It’s interesting to note that several of his physical characteristics, including his long tail, also match those of a baboon. A mandrill, on the other hand, has a tail that is between 5 and 10 cm long, very short, and reduced.
His very being is a geographical error in the area around the character. Mandrills are primarily found in the tropical rainforests of Africa, not the Sub-Saharan African region where the movie is set.
Parodying Circle Of Life With Scar
In the House of Mouse episode Ask Von Drake, Rafiki makes a brief cameo clutching Scar, just as he did when he was holding young Simba during the Circle of Life sequence. This is a parody of the Circle of Life.
In the episode, Mickey Mouse puts Ludwig Von Drake’s memory to the test. Mickey challenges Van Drake to identify each diner in the vicinity as there are various Disney characters packed within the eatery. The latter then begins to sing a song that introduces each and every character as a result. He can be seen lifting the aggressive lion as he sings, “There’s Simba by Mufasa and Rafiki next to Scar.”
The First Draft Versions
The first Lion King movie, which was first titled King of the Beasts, had a number of rewrites in which Rafiki was initially envisioned as a cheetah. Additionally, one of these versions had referred to the villainous Scar as a baboon!
Later in the narrative, a knowledgeable, elderly baboon by the name of Kwashi was introduced. The lion prince Simba needs Kwashi’s assistance to escape the hyenas after his father is killed. Kwashi trains Simba to reclaim his crown as he matures into a stronger lion. Rafiki naturally took Kwashi’s place in the finished product.
The Inspiration Behind The Voice
Robert Guillaume, Rafiki’s original voice actor, based Rafiki’s voice on what he described as “a Jamaican accent.” Rafiki breaking a gourd in a scene from The Lion King. He stated in an interview that “I enjoyed pretending to be Jamaican or anything similar. It was a really bad try at a Jamaican accent, but I was just having fun with it at the time.”
In the same interview, Guillaume also mentioned how, even before his part was decided upon, he had been experimenting with Rafiki’s voice during social gatherings.
The Meaning Behind Rafiki’s Song
Despite the fact that the famous opening track is in Zulu, many other songs are in Swahili. Rafiki hangs on a limb and sings joyously in Swahili, “Asante sana, squash banana, we we nugu, mi mi apana,” during one of his encounters with the adult Simba.
“Thank you very much, squash banana, but you are a baboon and I am not,” is how this is loosely translated. Given that Rafiki frequently uses metaphors in his speech, even though it appears to be a meaningless lyric, there may be philosophical overtones.
The Meaning Of His Name
Rafiki’s name is one of many from The Lion King characters whose names are derived from Swahili. The word “rafiki” means “friend” in Swahili.
Given that the mandrill is one of the titular monarch of the Pride Lands’ closest confidants, the meaning seems more than appropriate. Similar to how Mufasa’s name might be translated as “king,” Simba’s name means “courageous warrior.”
The Original Voice Actor Won A Grammy
In 1979, Robert Guillaume’s performance in Soap earned him a Primetime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. He received numerous nominations for Emmy and Golden Globe awards (for his major part in the Soap opera spin-off Benson), and he even took home a Grammy for voicing Rafiki.
The actor won a Grammy for The Lion King Read-voice Along’s cast for Best Spoken World Album for Children. The 1994 audiobook was made available as a companion to the movie that same year.
Three Voice Actors
Rafiki was voiced by Robert Guillaume in the first movie, as was previously mentioned. He continued to play the same character in all future movies and the Timon & Pumba animated series. He finally left the part in 2014, and Khary Payton took over to play Rafiki in The Lion Guard.
While Payton is a well-known voice actor who provides the voices for Cyborg in Teen Titans and Aqualad in Young Justice, Guillaume is most known for his role as Benson DuBois in the comedy series Soap. Rafiki was voiced by Black Panther’s John Kani in the 2019 version.
