Shenzi, Banzai and Ed

Shenzi
Shenzi is the only female of the trio. According to Timon in The Lion King 1½, her full name is Shenzi Marie Predatora Veldetta Jacquelina Hyena. Her name means "savage", "pagan", "uncouth", or "barbarous" in Swahili. Her distinguishing features are five prominent bangs hanging over her face and a mane that reaches all the way to her bangs. She also lacks the dark grey 'stubble' snout of the males, and the dark patches around her eyes are shaped to resemble heavily applied eye-shadow.

She is assertive, collected and possesses a considerable amount of self-control, only very rarely losing her temper. This makes her the de facto leader of the trio, and apparently the Matriarch of the clan of hyenas. Her authority is so absolute that she has no need to exert physical force over other hyenas - Banzai and Ed consistently follow her orders without her needing to fight them - whether they are to stop fighting, remain where they are, or even to lie to Scar.

Shenzi's primary concern is the well-being of her Clan. She allies the Clan with Scar even though the hyenas dislike the lions simply to provide for them, tells Scar that Simba is dead to get them into the Pride Lands, and is even unafraid of informing him that there's no food or water left, meaning the Clan is starving. When Scar tries to pin Mufasa's death on the hyenas at the end, she doesn't hesitate to inform the Clan of his betrayal, resulting in his elimination. And in Simba's Pride, she presumably has taken the Clan away from the Elephant Graveyard to find better hunting grounds.

Shenzi was originally going to be male and played by Tommy Chong, reuniting him with his old comedy partner Cheech Marin, who was playing Banzai, but apparently the two had had a falling out. Many of Shenzi's facial expressions and voice were copied from her voice actress, Whoopi Goldberg.

Banzai
Banzai is the most aggressive of the trio. Unlike the calmer, more intelligent Shenzi, he has almost no self-control, and is always ready to lash out or start a fight. However, because he thinks with his muscles first and his head second, and has a tendency to speak without thinking, he is not the leader of the trio and always submits to Shenzi, consistently obeying her orders.

His name means "skulk" or "lurk" in Swahili. It can also mean "die with honor" or "ten thousand years" in Japanese, possibly a reference to his aggressive nature but more likely coincidental. His most distinguishing feature is his unusually heavy eyebrows. Apart from these, he is the model for most generic hyenas. He is the greediest of the three, frequently making references to being hungry, and asking for food. He also usually speaks and acts without thinking, losing his temper with Ed twice, and complaining when the Pride Lands lacks food under Scar's rule ("It's dinnertime, and we ain't got no stinkin' entrees!"). He even quietly remarks to his friends that Mufasa was a better king than Scar.

He is wounded twice in the film, the first time in taking the worst injuries during the fight with Mufasa, resulting in visible scratches on his rear, and secondly when he is knocked into a thorn patch while chasing Simba out of the Pride Lands.

Ed
Ed is one of the few characters not to have a Swahili name. However, there exists in English the word eddy meaning whirlpool.

Ed is apparently the 'crazy guy' of the trio. His distinguishing features are two round cuts on each ear, and that he is constantly grinning, his tongue often lolls from his mouth, and his eyes rarely seem to focus on anything. Also, he has no eyebrows. He communicates through laughter, his only line of dialogue being the chorus of the song Be Prepared (mostly because Jim Cummings was filling in Jeremy Irons'/Scar's lines at this point). When amused by anything, he cannot control his laughter.

In the special edition of The Lion King DVD, character profiling reveals that Ed is neither stupid or completely insane; he "knows the score". However, for whatever reason, he chooses not to speak. He often displays lucidity, being the first to notice Simba, Nala and Zazu escaping while his two peers are busy cracking jokes. When Shenzi comments that the hyenas would be running the show if the lions weren't around, he nods in agreement, listening to the conversation. And when Scar betrays the hyenas at the end, he understands that they have been betrayed just as well as Shenzi and Banzai, and is just as angry as they are. However when they were attacked by Mufasa and Shenzi and Banzai denied knowing that Simba was his son, Ed confirmed it, during a scuffle with Banzai, he chews on his own leg obliviously, has numerous 'episodes' during which he stares vacantly, and cannot control his laughter. Ed's behaviour is reminiscent of a Manic Depressive (aka Bipolar Disorder). Jim Cummings recorded over four hours of various laughter clips for any situation Ed might be in; excited, amused, angry, etc.