 Besides inspirations from Shakespeares Hamlet, the story also has  elements of the Osirian family myths of Ancient Egyptian mythology.  In the Osirian myths, the king (Mufasa/Osiris) is killed by his  jealous brother (Scar/Seth) and the rightful heir (Simba/Horus) is  sent into exile as a boy. The murdered king visits and mentors his  son in ghostly visits and when the heir comes of age, he returns to  exact revenge on his fathers murderer.