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waeirfaahl · 4 months ago

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Don't trust Zira

Although I strictly against any sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes of the original The Lion King 1994, I disagree with fans, who is negative toward "Mufasa: The Lion King" for ignoring TLK-2:SP and other series and for "changing canon". The 2019 movie and its prequel are separate universe, so they can do what they want. The problem happens, when bad sequels are connected to the original TLK 1994. Like, many people hated TLG for contradiction to either books or TLK-2:SP, but... TLK-2:SP already created the large contradiction to the original film and created the plot and logical hole that breaks the story. Now I'll discuss about the aspect that bothered me pretty long time. So I summarize all my thoughts in this post.

The sequel of the original TLK had several different scripts, which always were changed many times during production. Simba's pride literally was the abomination of the production hell. So here we have the main antagonist Zira, whose presense in the film gave birth to thousands of fanfics and headcanons and theories. Almost all fans believed that she loved Scar and wanted revenge for his death, and that she was Scar's beloved or friend so he chose one of her cubs as heir or even fathered them all. But what if I say, that it's all lie? What if Zira has no relation or connection to Scar? What if she just made up this story with Scar's heir for own goals? The workprint of the sequel gave me some details, which perfectly demonstrate this version as the true one. And there's no need to ask the authors themselves for answers. If we look at the early scripts, neither Zira nor her cubs and followers ever existed. Yes, in early scripts Kovu was the only Scar's cub, whose unnamed mother went from the Pridelands and later either died or abandoned Kovu, so he was in friends with Brutus the elephant and various other animals. In later scripts Kovu still was Scar's cub, but he lived with the power-hungry maternal aunt Bianca, who allied with Shenzi and her clan. In later scripts finally we see Zira, who was vaguely described as Scar's queen, and she already had these sudden followers (who actually were the suffering pride of the villain suitor prince in one of the early scrips). However, Nuka and Vitani weren't Scar's cubs, and they weren't Zira's cubs as well, they were orphans. Plus, Zira actually stole Kovu from his real father, king Regandi, and brainwashed him into her weapon and "Scar's heir". I have no idea, why the information about true origins of Kovu, Nuka and Vitani was scrapped, if in the final movie Zira is described by both the authors and the workprint as Scar's most loyal follower, i.e. fanatic.

But... what if Zira and her pride are NOT Scar's followers, but just pretended? I have many arguments that debunk the entire idea of Zira's existing in the original film or as a follower etc. First of all, well, for Scar it is a huge contradiction. He is egocentric tyrant, who cares only about himself and wants to rule as a sole king, where others are slaves or servants. No queens, no cubs. Only Scar. The deleted scene from the original film, where Scar harrassed Nala, is not a strong argument — he just wanted to find a way to become loved by others in kingdom, and when Nala and lionesses rejected him, he blatantly said to them "Fine. I don't need your love and respect, only your obedience" and then called the hyenas for Nala's banishing. Plus, if Scar wanted a queen, he'd do this way earlier, i.e. not 2-3 years later, when Simba and Nala are already adult — this aspect already debunks the idea of Nuka or Vitani being Scar's kittens, 'cause if Nuka is allegedly Scar's son, Scar's attempt to seduce Nala makes no sense, 'cause he already had a pregnant mate and 6-month-old heir or whatever in this case.

And both Nuka and Vitani never referred to Scar as Father, Zira never referred to Nuka and Vitani as to Scar's cubs ("Scar, watch over MY poor Nuka..." — not OUR), Nuka never used this as an argument to be king as well as Vitani. Plus, if they were Scar's cubs, Zira would love them way more than Kovu, fathered by random rogue, 'cause they'd be the heirs of her "adored Scar". But no, Zira hates and ignores and abuses Nuka and shows no love toward Vitani, but "loves" and brainwashes "the chosen one" Kovu. If they were Scar's cubs, they'd have no need in trying to get attention of their fanatical mother, she'd already adore them from the beginning, and she'd make exactly them to be king and queen, not Kovu. Second, all lionesses in the original film hated Scar and fought on Simba's side.

Third, as we know, in the original film Scar cruelly mistreated all, he devastated the kingdom and acted like a ruthless tyrant, everyone starved and suffered during his reign. Zira and her lionesses have nothing to admire Scar for. Think about it.

Fourth, if Zira and her pride allegedly were Scar's followers and existed in the original movie — why Zira and her followers were defeated and banished? In the original film in Mufasa's pride (later conquered by Scar and then fought on Simba's side against Scar and the hyena clan) there were 12 lionesses, but after Simba returned, there were 6-7 lionesses (including Nala and Sarabi), i.e. other 5-6 either ran away or died, while in Zira's pride (without her three cubs) we see 9-11 lionesses. How could they be defeated and banished, if Simba, Nala, Sarabi and their lionesses were exhausted by hunt and then by the battle against Scar and 100+ hyenas?! It makes no sense.

Then let's go to Zira. The entire Zira's claims are these:

1. Scar chose Kovu as his heir (i.e. Scar knew Kovu, Kovu knew Scar):

"He was hand-chosen by Scar to follow his pawprints and become king!" – Zira to Simba.

2. Kovu was born in Pridelands:

"Kovu was the last born before you banished us to Outlands!" – Zira to Simba.

In the deleted scene Zira also says this:

"That is our home! That is where we belong! And soon, my beloved Scar, we shall reclaim your kingdom!" – Zira to her cubs.

So, what's wrong with these claims? Well, everything.

First of all, many people ignore one tiny detail in Zira's claim – that Scar chose Kovu himself "to follow his pawprints and become king". How and when could he do this?! "To follow his pawprints" – it means "To kill the previous king and conquer the kingdom and power by force". Scar could not choose anyone for this mission before the battle on the Pride Rock, because he did not suspect the existence of Simba (that Simba is alive). Scar had no idea that he will be overthrown, and he only feasted with the hyenas. During the battle he would not have had time to do this – he tried to hide and escape during battle and then was chased by Simba and later fought with him. Plus, he ruled alone and wasn't interested in getting a queen and making cubs. He was lonely character, who needs no one, while the hyenas were just his army.

In the workprint of the sequel Zira says this:

"Don't be a fool, Nuka! Kovu is the chosen one! We must fulfill Scar's dying wish and train Kovu to become king!" – Zira to Nuka.

What kind of dying wish, if Scar tried to run away, fought with Simba and then was eaten by the hyenas and burned in the fire?! He couldn't survive even for few seconds at all!

Second, Kovu couldn't be born in Pridelands. He has no memories about Scar. All he says is either "Scar was not my father" or "I heard about Scar this, but what you tell now, I never heard" type of lines.

Also in the deleted scene Zira proudly says this:

"Remember, Scar took you in and accepted you as his own son. Yes, he wasn't your father, but he chose you to become the next king." – Zira to Kovu.

You can notice that she is the only character, who insists this, while Kovu is pretty unsure and uncertain in this scene. We see how Zira brainwashes him (under false attempt to cheer him up), so her claims about accepting Kovu as son by Scar can't be the truth at all.

So, when Kovu was born? In the workprint we find out that Kovu was born before Kiara, and he already is pretty grown up cub during Kiara's presentation. However, Rafiki discovers Kovu's existence exactly after Kiara's birth and presentation, he refers to Kovu as "What is this? Another cub? Where he can be? In the Outlands... where Simba banished Scar's followers...". I.e. Rafiki didn't know about Kovu until the day of Kiara's birth and presentation.

Plus, as the sequel demonstrates, Simba and the pride never knew that "Scar had a heir", they didn't know about Kovu, since Simba refers to Kovu just as "the cub". Plus, Zira only now introduces Kovu to Simba:

"Haven't you met my son, Kovu? He was hand-chosen by Scar to follow his pawprints and become king!" – Zira to Simba.

So, why Zira mentions this only now, but not during/before banishing? And how Simba and others didn't see any cubs (or even newborn cubs) in Zira's pride and literally were okay with their banishing? I doubt that Simba is so cruel to banish innocent little cubs to die from hunger and thirst.

I'm genuinely sure that Kovu (and even Nuka and Vitani) was born after Scar's death and after Zira's banishing. Zira just made up this story for gaining power. She didn't love Scar, he was just a manifestation of her desire to rule the Pridelands. Don't believe me? In the sequel Zira says this:

"I now see the path to our glorious return to power!" – Zira to Kovu and her pride during My Lullaby song.

In the workprint Zira also says this:

"[Scar is dead] because of Simba! If not for him, Scar would still be the king!" – Zira to Vitani.

Then she dreamily adds this to herself:

– "And I, Zira, his devoted queen!". That's it. Zira is angry toward Simba not 'cause of banishing or Scar's death, but 'cause Simba returned and deprived her of the opportunity to legitimately seize power, i.e. the possible chance to become queen. She wants power, Scar for her is just the manifestation of her desire, nothing more. I mean, she herself never claimed her right as a queen, she acts like a power-hungry conquer, she blames Simba, not the hyenas who ate Scar, and she is absolutely okay with fact that Scar killed his brother and tried to kill his nephew, since she mentions about Scar's inner darkness and is proud of this. She's a cunning psychopath, who admires another cunning psychopath.

Even in TLG her line "I and Scar were very close" is a blatant lie, 'cause Scar was resurrected as a volcano spirit and he NEVER mentioned Zira or "the hand-chosen heir"and NEVER visited them.

I was pretty adult, when I discovered the existence of Simba's Pride, so since the 1st watching I saw the cruel and power-hungry lioness, who pretends to be a devoted follower of the previous king, lies and manipulates, using her cubs and her pride as a weapon for conquering the kingdom. Seriously, even in My Lullaby song Zira sings NOT about her love for Scar and desire to avenge him and fulfill his wish or whatever, she sings exactly about her desire to use Kovu as a weapon for conquering the kingdom and to kill Simba and his family, before this song she says exactly about "glorious path to returning to power". Scar was only a manifestation of her desire for power. That's it. Nothing more.

I assume, Zira could be a "black widow" type of the character, i.e. she could ingratiate herself with the trust to kings, convincing them to make her a follower, an advisor or a queen, later kill these kings and get the power and rule, until a kingdom becomes devastated and destroyed, so she leaves this place and repeats this. Hence she could have cubs (with these kings or random rogues) and use them as a weapon and army well before Nuka, Kovu and Vitani, i.e. she didn't care about them, if they die. She was a wandering nobody from other lands and wanted to rise to power, prepared for this in Pridelands, but Simba returned and ruined her plans, she tried to claim her rights as a "loyal follower" with young Nuka and the group of convinced lone lionesses from other lands, but was banished and waited for battle and returning to power, using Kovu and Vitani. And, well, I would more quckly assume that Simba simply forbade them to be in Pridelands, so they simply can go away and find the new inviting lands, but Zira wanted exactly these lands. So her cubs and followers suffered.

#the lion king #the lion king 2 #the lion king 2 simba's pride #zira the lion king #lion king kovu #kovu #nuka the lion king #vitani #the lion guard #scar the lion king #the lion king scar

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