I was thinking today about how fortune cookies usually have little messages about your future or perhaps words of good luck, but sometimes a line from a movie feels like a fortune too. Or a warning for the future.
If I ever opened a fortune cookie that said “Remember who you are,” it would feel like Mufasa was talking directly to me. In The Lion King, this line isn’t just a casual phrase. Simba is lost and scared. He’s been running away for so long that he doesn’t even think he can go back home. Then Rafiki shows him his reflection in the water. Simba thinks he’s just looking at a reflection of himself. Rafiki denies this and tells him to look harder. That’s when Mufasa appears in the sky and says, “You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me… Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true king.”
If someone got that fortune in real life, I think it would feel different depending on what they’re going through. For Simba, it was a reminder that he still had worth and responsibility even though he had messed up before. For me, it would feel like a quiet push to stop wasting my time and go back to what I was meant to do. Mufasa’s words remind me that no matter how much I try to hide, the truth of who I am will always be there waiting for me to accept it again. It’s not a dramatic “you can do it!” sort of fortune, but rather a softer one that says, “You were always enough.”
Another fortune cookie could say “Long live the king.” Scar, the main antagonist from The Lion King, said this right before he let Mufasa fall into the stampede. If someone opened a cookie with that inside, it would probably feel unsettling at first. In the movie, Scar pretends to save Mufasa but then says “Long live the king” and throws him off to his demise. That line sounds respectful, but it’s actually filled with betrayal and greed. Scar wanted power so badly he was willing to kill his own brother for it. If I got this fortune, I think I’d see it as a warning about blind ambition and jealousy. It reminds me that not every person is genuine, and not every compliment is real. Scar’s words were just as sharp as his claws that very day.
I drew this scene on lined notebook paper. It’s Mufasa clawing into the edge of the cliff, trying to pull himself up while the wildebeest stampede rages below. He’s desperate, but also full of this tired strength that refuses to give up. Looking at my drawing now, it feels less like a movie scene and more like a memory of what it means to care about someone, your pack, so much it scares you to not let go.
If I opened these two fortunes back to back, I think I’d sit there quietly and just think about them. Mufasa’s fortune would feel grounding, reminding me to go back to who I really am inside when I feel lost. Scar’s would feel like a cold lesson about how dangerous it is to let jealousy and hate control you. When I think about it, both lines tell the whole story of The Lion King in just a few words. One is about staying true to yourself and your responsibilities and the other is about what happens when you let darkness take over your heart.
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