Cezary Jan Strusiewicz makes some good points about villains who are actually right, including The Lion King’s hyenas:
They want something to eat. That’s their problem, and it’s only a problem because Mufasa banished them from the Pride Land and forced them to live in an elephant graveyard, which is no place to raise a child, hyena or otherwise. We never know why they were banished to the Pride Slums, leaving us to assume Mufasa’s unedited explaination of the Circle of Life went something like this:
MUFASA
Everything you see exists together, in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance, and respect all the creatures-- from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope.
SIMBA
But Dad, don’t we eat the antelope?
MUFASA
Yes, Simba, but let me explain. When we die, our bodies become grass. And the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life.
SIMBA
Wow... Say, Dad, where do the hyenas fit into the great Circle of Life?
MUFASA
Ugh, the hyenas. No, f#@k those guys.
SIMBA
Yeah, that’s fair.
That said, I’ve seen hyenas in the wild, and they freak the bejeezus out of me. At first glance, you think “dog.” Then they start to move and nope, not dog.
Not. At. All.