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Zira from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Sep. 10th, 2012 12:23 amFile this one under Weird Shit I Over-Analyze: This is my attempt to fanwank the existence of Zira and her cubs, and explain the chronology thereof, from The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, the direct-to-video sequel to Disney's The Lion King. I love both these movies, although the first is clearly superior. There's been a bit of debate and confusion about some things in the sequel, some of which are minor nitpicky bullshit, and some of which are probably legit questions.
I will assume everyone is familiar with TLK. In the sequel, we meet the villainess Zira, Scar's mate and the mother of three cubs (Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu) who she's raised to carry on her psychotic vengeance against Simba, the rightful king of the Pridelands. She is a remarkably scary villain for any Disney movie.
The unanswered questions raised by the existance of Zira and her children are as follows:
A) If Zira was Scar's queen, why didn't she take part in the confrontation between Scar and Simba at Pride Rock in the first movie?
B) Kovu explicitly says that Scar was NOT his father. His brother Nuka also mentions that Scar "took them in". Behind the scenes, we know this is because Disney doesn't want any accusation of incest around the relationship between Kovu and Kiara, Simba's daughter. If Kovu were Scar's son, he would be Kiara's first cousin-once removed.
C) But if Kovu (and presumably Zira's other cubs) weren't Scar's children, why did he take Zira as his queen and accept her cubs as his heirs?
Of course, some of this could be due to an unreliable narrator. Almost everything we know about Zira's past comes from her mouth, and the mouths of her children, whom she's raised. Quite possibly she's portraying her relationship with Scar the way she saw it or wishes it was.
Here's my fanwank:
I figure Zira was a rogue lioness who fled another pride while pregnant, possibly after a hostile takeover by a new male, and then made her way to the Pridelands. Scar took her in and she was so grateful that she became psychotically attached to him. Maybe he found Zira, with her powerful personality, useful to keep the other lionesses in line.
Kovu and Kiara at the beginning of TLK2 look to be exactly the same age, which suggests that Kovu was either not born yet or a newborn when Scar was killed and Simba took back the throne (maybe Kiara was conceived during the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" sequence in the first movie). That would actually explain why Zira wasn't involved in the Scar vs. Simba battle -- she was either heavily pregnant or had just given birth.
So Zira flees with her cubs and the other lionesses who were either loyal to Scar or (just as likely) too scared of Zira to go against her. Simba proclaims them exiles and Zira bides her time, mourning over Scar and her son's 'stolen crown'. When actually Scar probably never loved her or planned to leave anything to her cubs, and in all likelihood was using her pathetic devotion to his own ends.
I will assume everyone is familiar with TLK. In the sequel, we meet the villainess Zira, Scar's mate and the mother of three cubs (Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu) who she's raised to carry on her psychotic vengeance against Simba, the rightful king of the Pridelands. She is a remarkably scary villain for any Disney movie.
The unanswered questions raised by the existance of Zira and her children are as follows:
A) If Zira was Scar's queen, why didn't she take part in the confrontation between Scar and Simba at Pride Rock in the first movie?
B) Kovu explicitly says that Scar was NOT his father. His brother Nuka also mentions that Scar "took them in". Behind the scenes, we know this is because Disney doesn't want any accusation of incest around the relationship between Kovu and Kiara, Simba's daughter. If Kovu were Scar's son, he would be Kiara's first cousin-once removed.
C) But if Kovu (and presumably Zira's other cubs) weren't Scar's children, why did he take Zira as his queen and accept her cubs as his heirs?
Of course, some of this could be due to an unreliable narrator. Almost everything we know about Zira's past comes from her mouth, and the mouths of her children, whom she's raised. Quite possibly she's portraying her relationship with Scar the way she saw it or wishes it was.
Here's my fanwank:
I figure Zira was a rogue lioness who fled another pride while pregnant, possibly after a hostile takeover by a new male, and then made her way to the Pridelands. Scar took her in and she was so grateful that she became psychotically attached to him. Maybe he found Zira, with her powerful personality, useful to keep the other lionesses in line.
Kovu and Kiara at the beginning of TLK2 look to be exactly the same age, which suggests that Kovu was either not born yet or a newborn when Scar was killed and Simba took back the throne (maybe Kiara was conceived during the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" sequence in the first movie). That would actually explain why Zira wasn't involved in the Scar vs. Simba battle -- she was either heavily pregnant or had just given birth.
So Zira flees with her cubs and the other lionesses who were either loyal to Scar or (just as likely) too scared of Zira to go against her. Simba proclaims them exiles and Zira bides her time, mourning over Scar and her son's 'stolen crown'. When actually Scar probably never loved her or planned to leave anything to her cubs, and in all likelihood was using her pathetic devotion to his own ends.
