Heroes Wiki

-Welcome to the Hero/Protagonist wiki! If you can help us with this wiki please sign up and help us! Thanks! -M-NUva

READ MORE

Heroes Wiki
Register
Advertisement

You win today, Kion. Next time won't be so easy.
~ Janja declares war to Kion.
Jasiri: Janja! What are you doing here? This isn't your territory.
Janja: Yeah, I know. I just, uh...
Jasiri: You what?
Janja: I've been thinking, 'bout something you said to me a while ago.
Jasiri: And, what's that?
Janja: Aw, you know...Sisi ni sawa means we're the same.
Jasiri: Well! I never thought I'd hear you say that.
Janja: You were right. Scar don't care about us hyenas.
Jasiri: And, what made you realize that?
Janja: The rest of my clan is trapped! In a fire at Pride Rock.
Jasiri: A fire at Pride Rock?
Janja: The Lion Guard's trapped, too.
Jasiri: And, you're standing here singing? There's no time to lose! Let's go!
Janja: Uh, uh, okay. Uh. Whatever you say Jasiri!
~ Janja's redemption.
Fur-brains! We're good guys now!
~ Janja reminding his cronies that they're not evil anymore and turning against Scar, and also his most famous quote.

Janja is a hyena living in the Outlands and the main antagonist of the 2015 channel film The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and a recurring antagonist turned supporting character of its follow up series the Lion Guard. Formerly the sworn enemy of Kion and The Lion Guard, Janja and his clan have many conflicts with them but generally ended in failure, those which led him to summon the ghost of Scar so that he could helped defeat the guard. Under Scar's command, Janja has teamed up with all of the worst creatures in the Outlands to form an army to conquer the Pridelands, but after nearly dying and being saved by his rival, Jasiri, Janja, at the defining engagement of the war, began to reject his diabolical lifestyle eventually accepting The Circle of Life, which he had always despised and became an ally of Kion and the guard.

He was voiced by Andrew Kishino who also voiced Saw Gerrera in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Personality[]

Janja was a callous, stingy and relentless hyena that eats more than his fair share, when he met Kion they became foes, but he reformed in Season 3, "Battle of the Pride Lands", becoming a much better hyena. Even before his reform, Janja had at least shown concern for his fellow hyenas, probably because they were his only friends. Later he displays remorse as shown when he and Jasiri wish Kion and the Guard farewell as he had a sad look on his face. Although he is still somewhat cowardly and passive-aggressive at times, he will do what he can to help his new friends and has proven himself as trustworthy as Jasiri.

Appearance[]

He is a brawny hyena, he is handsome and he has bushy eyebrows and a black mane with spots, he has a brownish grey underbelly with yellow eyes, with a black nose.

History[]

Return of the Roar[]

Janja gnawed at a bone under the hungry gaze of his clan, until Bunga, Kion's best friend, entered the Outlands to recover a fruit he had dropped. Janja ordered Cheezi and Chungu to grab the honey badger for the meal but they fail after Kion is awakened on the Roar of the Elders.

Janja later berated his two minions for failing because of a lion cub roar, despite claiming it was no ordinary roar. Janja's old friend Mzingo arrived at the lair of the hyenas and talked to Janja about the creation of a new Lion Guard, of which Janja knows the original story. Realizing that a new guard would make their lives and hunting more complicated and even impossible, Janja decided to launch a massive attack on Pridelands before the new guard is ready. He then sings "Tonigth We Strike" to make it clear that the Outlanders don't care about Cirle of Life and do what they want when they want. When the song ended, Janja told his henchmen to follow him and that the Pridelanders will never be the ones to bite them.

Janja's clan attacked a herd of antelope and managed to kill two off screen. Before they made other victims, the Lion Guard confronted the hyenas and succeeded in repelling them. Despite this, Janja continued to stand up to Kion and his friends because he was not afraid of them until Kion uses the Roar to repel the Outlanders. Forced to flee, the hyenas returned to the Outlands but Janja stopped briefly and warned Kion that he may have won this time but that the next time will not be as easy.

Season 1[]

Janja and his clan or sometimes just accompanied by Cheezi and Chungu make numerous incursions on Pridelands but are still confronted with the Lion Guard. Twice, Janja and the hyenas rubbed shoulders with two other members of the royal family, the first time it was Kiara who had appointed temporary queen and whom he had brought to the Outlands for a false request for peace but in truth for the trapped. The second time was when the hyenas pretended to be the guard that he was capitulating on returning to Outlands but immediately returned when the guard left and found themselves facing Nala, that they were nearly seriously injured if Kion had not not used the angry Roar.

Season 2[]

No longer able of their constant failures, Janja allied with the cobra, Ushari to invoke the ghost of Scar and thus finally won against his enemies. To summon Scar, they needed the angry Roar and for that, Janja kidnapped Kiara to attract Kion but the rest of the successful guards saved the young lioness. As a last resort, Janja provoked Kion by spanking him to understand that he and his hyenas will never give up and that the next time they will hurt one of Kion's relatives, which pushed the lion cub to use angry roar on Janja and unknowingly invoked Scar. Now under the leadership of the most despicable lion of all time, Janja and his hyenas founded an army made up of all the vilest creatures of the Outlands (Except the Outsiders for an unknown reason).

Season 3[]

Janja and the rest of Scar's army spent a few years fighting the Lion Guard and the Pridelanders without ever taking advantage of them. While watching Mizimu Grove, Janja listened to the lamentations of his two minions over the groaning power of the guard before isolating himself to think about what Jasiri had told him a long time ago and finally began to sing "A New Way To Go ". At the end of the song, Janja began to doubt his life.

Scar seeing that Janja begins to no longer be really reliable, summoned him to entrust him with a mission consisting in invading the lair of the guard with his hyenas but which is in reality a trap for the guard and the hyenas. Knowing that he could possibly go out, Scar cheated on Janja with the way that Kion could beat him using the most powerful that there has ever been inside the volcano, when in reality it will only be harmful for the guard.

As expected, Janja and his clan infiltrated the repair located under Pride Rock and her chased by the Lion Guard but outside, the rest of Scar's army starts a fire on Pride Rock. Janja managed to get out while the other hyenas and the guard are stuck in the lair. Janja realized that Scar wanted to double cross them and went to look for the only person he can trust, Jasiri. As Jasiri was sleeping, she smelled the scent of Janja that shows up right after and she asked him what he is doing on his territory. Janja first admitted having thought about what she had told him about Sisi Ni Sawa before revealing Scar's betrayal and the current situation of his hyenas and the guard trapped under Pride Rock.

The two hyenas found the Janja's Clan and the Lion Guard still alive, alongside the Pridelanders. Janja showed up and explained that he knows how to defeat Scar but Simba can hardly believe it because the hyena is a sworn enemy of Pride Lands. Encouraged by Jasiri, Janja tried to gain the lions' trust by clumsily singing Sisi Ni Sawa until Jasiri clarifies that he had better say what he knows. Janja told Kion that to defeat Scar, he must use the most powerful roar in the volcano.

The next day, Janja was part of the Pridelanders army who would fight in the Outlands against Scar's army while Kion and his friends will face Scar for the last time. Scar was finally destroyed and Ushari fell into the lava of the volcano and the victorious guard leaves the volcano so that Jasiri and Janja joined them and found that Kion was scratched in the eye during the fight. When the Outlanders asked who will take care of them now that Scar is gone, Janja spoke up to say that Jasiri should lead them, which even Kion agreed to. When Kion and his friends leave, Janja let out a sad look, probably still guilty for his old actions.

Some time after the departure of the Lion Guard, the hyenas discovered that Zira had returned and planned to invade Pride Lands, now deprived of its best defenders. Knowing that their clan has not the slightest chance against the Outsiders, Janja and Jasiri will seek Kion and the others at the Tree of Life, guided by an Asiatic cheetah named Azaad.

Arriving at the Tree of Life, the two hyenas immediately notified the Lion Guard of the situation and without losing a moment they set off again for Pride Lands. The return trip was much faster thanks to the new mastery of the Kion Roar. Back in the Outlands and reunited with Madoa, Chungu and Cheezi, Janja and the others rush towards Pride Rock before being ambushed by Zira's daughter, Vitani and her lionesses. Janja, Bunga, Cheezi and Chungu surrounded Shabaha until the lioness throwed Bunga at Janja before chasing the other two hyenas. Bunga compliments the style of the lioness while Janja finds that she does not cheerfully remind him of the honey badger. The battle ended when Kiara accompanied by Kovu arrived and put an end to the fight by revealing that Zira is dead and that all the Outsiders have joined their pride. Now relieved that all is well, the hyenas returned to their territory, under the benevolent eye of the lions.

Later, Janja is among the many wedding/coronation guests of Kion and Rani.

Songs Performed By Janja[]

  • Tonight We Strike
  • Outta the Way
  • Panic and Run
  • Bring Back a Legend
  • I Have A Plan
  • The Worst Hyena We Know
  • I Do Have a Great Deal to Say
  • We're the Smartest
  • I'm Gonna Run This Dump
  • A New Way to Go
  • We're the Same (Sisi Ni Sawa)

Gallery[]

Images[]

Trivia[]

  • Janja and his clan are descendants of the Hyena Clan who served as antagonists in the original film, The Lion King.
  • Janja is the first antagonist hyena in the The Lion King franchise to reform.
  • In Season 3, Janja does not seem to have aged physically, although he seems to be a little bigger as he is the same size as Teen Kion who is much bigger than when he was a cub. It is also difficult to know if Janja has become an adult since he is older than Kion and Kiara, but it should also be noted that lions and hyenas do not age at the same rate.
  • He is possibly the oldest of the clan.
  • Since he was a cub when Kion was just a baby lion, it's quite possible that Janja was born in the last days of Scar's reign on Pridelands.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           The Lion King Logo Heroes

Movies
The Lion King: Simba | Nala | Timon | Pumbaa | Rafiki | Zazu | Mufasa | Sarabi | Sarafina | Pridelanders
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: Kiara | Kovu | Vitani
The Lion King ½: Ma | Uncle Max
The Lion King (2019): Simba | Nala | Timon | Pumbaa | Rafiki | Zazu | Mufasa | Sarabi

Television
The Lion Guard: Kion | Bunga | Fuli | Ono | Beshte | Jasiri | Makini | Anga | Tiifu | Zuri | Janja | Rani | Baliyo | Surak | Nirmala | Askari

Books
Kopa | Ahadi | Mohatu

Advertisement