Timon (Disney)

"Ah, you're and outcast! That's great, so are we!"

- Timon to Simba

"Hey, that's not Simba!"

- Timon as Stitch crashed into the circle of life

"What do you want me to do? Dress in drag, and do the hula?!"

- Timon's catchphrase

Timon is a meerkat and the son of Ma, the nephew of Uncle Max, the adoptive uncle of Bunga, one of the two secondary tritagonists of The Lion King, a supporting character in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion Guard, and the main protagonist of The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa and The Lion King 1½. He, along with Pumbaa, serves as one of Simba's best friends and is also his childhood guardian.

He is voiced by Nathan Lane, who also plays Max Bialystock and Snowbell. Billy Eichner is set to voice Timon in the upcoming remake of The Lion King.

The Lion King 1 1/2 and The Lion King
Timon first appears as a silhouette when watching to go back to the prequel. In the midquel, Timon stays humble with his meerkat colony every day, where he must follow the rules from Uncle Max: Avoid the hyenas, stay in the colonies. He also runs away from his mother after a misunderstanding. He also encounters Pumbaa where he wants to be in a new home with him. He tried the watering hole, but was interrupted by Simba and Nala who sing. He and Pumbaa also try to go to the Elephant Graveyard, the stampede, and a new place called Hakuna Matata. He also appears raising Simba after his fate from the buzzards. He also raises Simba each moment before they grow old. He and Simba compete in a snail-eating contest and spend life with Simba.

Outside the midquel, he and Pumbaa teach Simba how to say, "Hakuna Matata". Continuing in the midquel, he feels jealous that he wants to stop Simba and Nala from falling in love, along with Pumbaa. Timon and Pumbaa also tried various attempts, but they failed. After that, Simba and Nala have an argument that makes Timon happy. After mistaking Mufasa's spirit for bad weather, Timon and Pumbaa go to their bed where Nala talks to them about Simba returning to Pride Rock to fight his uncle Scar. Timon also talks to Rafiki about his friends going off to fight Scar and his Hakuna Matata went with them. He catches up with Pumbaa and the two help Simba fight Scar's hyenas. Timon and Pumbaa also appear battling the hyenas by causing debris, making a trap from his uncle, and sending the hyenas to eat Scar. He and Pumbaa watch Simba become the king of Pride Rock and they also appear on the top during the presentation of Simba and Nala's cub. Continuing in the midquel, Timon and Pumbaa decide to bring his meerkats to Hakuna Matata.

The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
Timon, along with Pumbaa, is the main protagonist of this 1995-1999 spin-off TV series. In this series, he and Pumbaa are seen hunting bugs, singing songs, and going on wacky, hijinx-filled adventures.

It is revealed in the series that before Timon met Pumbaa, he had a best friend named Fred, who is a meerkat who enjoys pulling practical jokes. The episode "Isle of Manhood" also reveals Timon taking a manhood test in order to prove himself brave and manly.

In "Timon's Time Togo", Timon dies from eating a poisonous bug, but the meerkat angel sends him back to Earth so that he can perform one good deed in order to enter Meerkat Heaven. Timon, however, decides to never again do any good deeds so that he'll never die and leave Pumbaa forever. In another episode "The Law of the Jungle", Timon breaks the law by touching a forbidden stick. Due to that, he gets sent to a jungle court by the vulture police, where a rhino judge, known as the Wonderful Rhino of Laws, comes up with various tests for Timon to prove his innocence.

In "Timon...Alone", Timon decides to start a new life as a writer and wants to be away from Pumbaa in order to concentrate. He later realizes how lonely he is without Pumbaa and decides to find his friend and quit his new lifestyle as a writer. In another episode "Ice Escapades", Timon reveals that he dreams of becoming an ice skater and suggests that he and Pumbaa become world's famous ice skating champions. It turns out that Timon is not good at ice skating, but Pumbaa suggests that he keeps trying in order to live out his dream, which he does.

In the episode "Once Upon a Timon", a pre-existing version of Timon's backstory was revealed. He lived in a more civilized colony, which was ruled by the Duke Meerkat and his daughter Princess Tatiana, whom Timon had a massive crush on. One day when Timon had guard duty while the Duke was away, he left his post to speak with the princess. While he was gone, a snake invaded the colony and kidnapped Tatiana. As a result, Timon got blamed for abandoning his post and was banned. He soon met and befriended Pumbaa, who was also an outcast. Soon enough, the two came across Tatiana, who was held captive by the snake, and rescued her. When Timon returned to the colony with Pumbaa and Tatiana, he was offered to marry the princess and get the good life, but that would mean leaving Pumbaa. Therefore, he decided to stay with his pal and live a Hakuna Matata life.

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
Timon is seen again in this sequel. He appears with Pumbaa during Kiara's birth where they mistakenly believe that she is a boy and are shocked when Rafiki corrects them. Months later, Timon and Pumbaa are sent out by an overprotective Simba to keep an eye on Kiara. Upon catching up with the young princess, the two snack on bugs, which Kiara considers gross. When Timon and Pumbaa have an argument about whether slimy or crunchy bugs are best, Kiara takes this opportunity to sneak away to the explore the Outlands. Timon and Pumbaa later appear when Simba and Nala come to return Kiara home after encountering Zira (the leader of Scar's followers the Outsiders) and her young son Kovu (whom Kiara befriended).

The duo is seen again years later during Kiara's first hunt and are once again sent by Simba to watch her but are caught out by her where she is angry that her father broke his promise to let her hunt alone and then leaves them.

The next day, Timon and Pumbaa are seen having fun with Kiara and Kovu after escaping from angry rhinoceroses and birds. Timon and Pumbaa are later seen during Kovu's banishment (where Simba believed that Kovu was aware of Zira's ambush), but they didn't drive him out of the kingdom or aid the lionesses in stopping Kiara (who knew Kovu was innocent) from interfering. Timon and Pumbaa have an argument again after Kiara left the Pride Lands to look for Kovu.

During the battle with Zira and the other Outsiders, the two distract some of the lionesses. After that, Timon and Pumbaa are happy after Kiara and Kovu are married and the two prides have reunited.

The Lion Guard
Timon along with Pumbaa, appears in the 2015 TV film The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and it's follow up 2016 TV series. It is set in the middle of the second film and centers around Simba and Nala's second child Kion. Also in this series, Timon and Pumbaa serve as adoptive uncles to Kion's honey badger friend Bunga.

Songs sung by Timon

 * That's All I Need - After Timon hears the words about avoiding hyenas, he is longing to be in paradise to avoid hyenas.
 * Hakuna Matata - Timon and Pumbaa sing this song when they reach paradise in the midquel. Outside the midquel, they sing this song for Simba meaning not to have any worries. The deleted version says that he was a young meerkat.
 * Warthog Rhapsody - This song is sung when Timon and Pumbaa talk to Simba. This is deleted, later used for That's All I Need.
 * The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Timon sings most of the song. It was shown in the music video of Timon and Pumbaa.

Trivia

 * In an earlier draft of The Lion King, Timon was married to a female meerkat named Tesma.
 * In the early stages of The Lion King 1½, Timon had a father. But he was cut from the final film as there were too many characters and his lines were given to Ma and Uncle Max.
 * Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Billy Crystal were considered for the role of Timon.