Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed

Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are a trio of hyenas that serve as Scar's personal lackeys. They made their first appearance in Disney's 1994 animated feature, The Lion King. Despite their role in the film as antagonists, the trio easily became some of the film's most popular characters. They are used primarily for comic relief, something that was carried over into Kingdom Hearts II .

Kingdom Hearts II
When Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive in the Pride Lands, they find Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed desperate for food and trying to eat them. Banzai almost gets his paws on Sora, but he is stopped when Scar roars. The trio of hyenas runs to Scar to see what he wants.

At Pride Rock, the hyenas attempt to attack Sora and his friends once more, again halted when they hear Scar roar. They look up and see Scar with Pete. Nala knocks Scar down, telling Sora and his friends to run. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed in pursuit, the protagonists manage to escape.

When Sora and friends return to Pride Rock with Simba, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed stand in their way, preventing Simba from getting to Scar. Sora then tells Simba to pursue Scar while he, Donald, and Goofy handle the hyenas. Timon and Pumbaa knock the hyenas into the air and are chased into Pride Rock, where Sora and friends finally face them in battle. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are easily defeated and flee the scene.

When Sora visits the Pride Lands a second time, he fights the hyenas again for information on the source of Scar's Ghost. In the end, they know nothing of it, and they proceed to taunt Simba.

Personality
Shenzi is the dominant member of the hyena trio and is its most intelligent. She constantly insults Banzai and Ed and resents their bumbling nature, although she does show signs of friendship towards them. Such behavior perfectly reflects her name translating into "savage", "pagan", "uncouth", or "barbarous" in Swahili.

Banzai is the sliest member of the hyena trio, and as his name suggests, he constantly lurks around searching for food due to his constant hunger.

Ed appears to be the group's least intelligent member. He is always smiling and laughs uncontrollably at everyone and everything. He never speaks, save for the rare few-word sentence. Ed is always at the bottom of the trio's jokes.

Appearance
A trio of spotted hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed share the same basic appearance. They are each rather mangy, the top half of their bodies covered in grey fur while their bellies are tan and their paws are dark brown. They each have hunched backs and dark purple spots on their backs, as well as rings of the same color around their eyes. They have short, black tails and a crest of long, black hair lining their spines. Each member of the trio has dark brown ears and a dark brown nose, as well as yellow eyes and sharp, slightly yellowed teeth.

Shenzi sports five long, dark brown "bangs" on the top of her head, and the patches around her eyes are shaped to resemble heavily-applied eyeshadow. She seems to have a larger upper lip than her two companions, and her eyes are usually half-shut. She also lacks the dark grey "stubble" mark that Banzai and Ed possess.

Banzai's most distinguishing feature is his unusually heavy, dark brown eyebrows. He has two very short strands of dark brown hair on top of his head. The fur on Banzai's chin is slightly longer than either Shenzi's or Ed's, making him appear as if he has a short beard.

In a sharp contrast to Shenzi, Ed's eyes are always wide open and rarely focus on anything. His mouth is also frequently seen hanging open with his tongue lolling. Ed has three strands of dark brown hair on the top of his head. His mane is also slightly more mangy than the other two.

Origin
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed's first appearance was in Disney's 1994 animated feature, . In the movie, they try to catch, kill, and eat the young Simba and Nala in the Elephant Graveyard on Scar's order, but they flee when Mufasa arrives to rescue the lion cubs. Later, the hyenas help Scar execute his plan to kill Mufasa and Simba by attacking a large herd of wildebeests, causing the creatures to run into a gorge where Simba was awaiting a "surprise" from his father. When Scar finds Simba trying to wake the dead Mufasa after the stampede, he reveals that Mufasa's death was Simba's fault and orders the cub to run away and never return, then ordering Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed to give chase and kill him. Simba manages to escape the hyenas, and they return to Scar.

Years later, when Simba returns to Pride Rock, he pursues Scar through Pride Rock after the antagonistic lion confesses that he was the one who killed Mufasa. The hyenas attack Simba and try to kill him, but the lionesses engage them in battle so that he may proceed. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed chase Timon into Scar's cave, where the late Mufasa's majordomo, Zazu, is being held prisoner, but they are beaten up by Pumbaa after Banzai calls him a "pig". Timon and Zazu are freed in the process, the hyenas fleeing the cave. After Simba corners Scar and the hyenas come to aid him, they overhear Scar telling Simba that all the events that have transpired up to this point have been their fault and their idea. The hyenas leave in anger as a result of Scar's betrayal, and Simba engages his uncle in a climatic fight to the death. Simba manges to kick Scar off of Pride Rock, and when the evil lion lands on the ground below, he finds his "friends", the hyenas, waiting for him. Shenzi finds Scar's referring to the hyenas as "friends" amusing considering he had previously referred to them as the enemy, and Scar watches in horror as the hyenas close in around him. They leap on their master, devouring him.