#nuka the lion king | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

waeirfaahl · 3 months ago

Text

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

6 notes · View notes

a-dauntless-daffodil · 2 years ago

Text

i love lion king 2

i love how we see Simba overcorrecting for his own childhood, how Kiara can recite lessons on the circle of life at the same age when Mufasa was just starting to introduce the idea to Simba

i love how Kiara is already so aware of the responsibility she'll have as ruler that, when cub Simba was bragging "I'm gonna be king of pride rock" and singing "Oh I just can't WAIT to be king!", Kiara, his daughter, who he's been raising to not make (or suffer) any of his own mistakes, instead says "But what if I don't want to be queen? It's no fun..." and sings "If there's so much I must be, can I still just be me, the way I am?"

I love how we see this PAY OFF at the end, when Kiara's sense of responsibility means she never once thinks of running off into the sunset with Kovu, no, of course she has to go back, of course she has to try reuniting both of their prides-

And maybe that's also some of Nala's spirit shining through her daughter, but really, Kiara is so much like Simba in all other ways (including her terrible pouncing, her thirst for adventure, her rule breaking) it really just feels like this is who Simba might have been if Mufasa hadn't been so confident he'd be around for his son so much longer, if Mufasa had focused more on preparing Simba for what the circle of life really means-

At The Same Time, even though it's good for the pride lands and the outlanders in the end, there's something tragic in comparing Simba and Kiara as cubs

how confident and carefree Simba got to be, how stifled and resigned Kiara ending up being, how she didn't get that kind of childhood at all thanks to her father's fear that it might be suddenly cut short, so much of Simba's talks with cub Kiara are warnings or lectures-

(when we see her play pouncing she's doing it on her own, contrast that with Mufasa and cub Simba playing together, contrast that to Simba's restraining paw scooping up his young daughter and keeping her in place)

-and even as an adult she ends up singing about how "I may not be brave, or strong, or smart" like this is more than just not being self-centered, this is depressing as heck, this girl doesn't think she's good at ANYTHING

(Timon you are not helping)

(I understand you might still be traumatized by your first meet-and-almost-eat with her mom and be worried about disappointing or hurting your adopted lion son if his cub gets hurt under your watch, but please, stop)

dear gods she never ever got to be herself without being held to the same standard as the great kings of the past

(except for when she snuck off on her own and got have a little adventure with Kovu, which she got through as HERSELF, not a princess, just a cub swatting at crocodiles and jumping on their gaping mouths just in time to save her new friend from getting eaten)

(meanwhile, Simba doesn't even acknowledge (or even hear???) her sad little line in their song together, he goes on talking about life lessons and leadership and she's the daughter of a king they are one, good, great, Simba your daughter is Distressed)

and that could have driven such a wedge between her and Simba, that could have pushed her into wanting escape and independence more than anything

except, she knows he's feeling THE SAME THING too

and we know she knows because when she wants to hurt him, to jar him, to criticize him for exiling Kovu while claiming he's doing it to follow in his father's paw prints, she tells him

"You will never be Mufasa!"

This is her fear, that she'll never be enough to be a good queen, this is also her fear, that the only way to be a good ruler is to stop being yourself

And it's what she rejects the moment she pulls a Nala and runs from pride rock alone- not to get help, but to give it- and when she returns to confront Simba with the wisdom she's learned, using the words he taught her

She looks at him, finally confident in who she is (with her back turned to the outlanders, defending them from her pride, "my father says to never turn your back on an outsider!" but she has grown since then)

she says "A wise king once told me" (Simba listen to yourself)

she says "we are one" (listen to the part of me that I learned from you)

"I didn't understand him then. Now I do" (Listen to me, now)

she says something that is true about pride landers and out landers, about Simba and Zira, about Kovu and Simba

"Them? Us. Look at them, they are us. What differences do you see?"

(between the desperation of lions on a starving land, dead loved ones, the thirst for revenge, children following in their parent's pawprints, to be so blinded by your own pain (fear, shame) that the pain of others fades away)

she asks him not to be a great king, but to see himself in them, these 'outsiders', and then to be himself in answer

And Simba listens

He looks at the daughter who had the same fear as him (Simba, who looked for guidance in the stars, saying "My father would never-" who Nala also understood so well, "Oh my Simba, you want so much to walk the path expected of you."), he looks at Kiara, who also feared that she couldn't be enough, as herself

Only... she isn't afraid anymore. She is a queen already, smart enough to find wisdom, brave enough to speak it, strong when she has to be

(he was so afraid of losing her but she had the chance to run and she came back, she came back and she is asking him, just once, to please finally-)

He listens to her. The clouds part.

We can feel Mufasa watching over them.

We look into Simba's eyes as he sees this (recall the same pattern of clouds and gazing when Mufasa told his son "you have forgotten who you are, and so you have forgotten me" and to "remember who you are")

The words Simba says as he accepts Kiara's wisdom "It's time to put the past behind us"

The lesson he learned from Timon and Pumba, this time used not to run from responsibility and pain but to face it, this hard part of his past that IS part of him

And the fact that even with all the reasons in the world to want Scar dead he still didn't want to be like him, he didn't want to kill his own uncle

(Mufasa never wanted to kill his brother, even as openly resentful and threatening though Scar was. There, the shock and horror in Mufasa's eyes as his brother betrays him- Mufasa never would have- Mufasa could have killed him any time before now, but he-)

Simba gave Scar the chance of mercy. Now, he gives it again. His daughter, his refection, his pride, has reminded him.

He looks at Kiara and he find himself in her.

He finds his father in her.

Great Kings of the past and present, great Queen of the future- Three generations and the choice of who they wish to be, and how that guides them into kindess, into mercy, into healing more harms than they cause.

Kiara speaks. Simba listens. Mufasa lives on in them

....

...then the contrast, sudden, stark, painful, of a daughter who speaks and a parent who does not listen

(Vitani says "No, mother" says "Kiara's right" pleads "Enough")

(Nuka is already dead, Kovu is scarred-)

(Their enemy no longer wants to fight, no longer IS their enemy-)

(Zira's smirk as she condemns her own daughter to death)

and the point hammered home, as the outlanders turn in disgust from their leader, that they were never evil

The point that the 'evil' which doomed Scar and Zira and Nuka (drove them on, single minded, into danger, into death) was a simple choice they all had faced. The simple question not everyone asks

Who are you?

Will you close yourself off to everyone and everything that does not feed your own conviction? Ignore anything that doesn't further your own goals?

(Nuka was loved for what he was, even if his mother never showed it. But his brother spoke up for him, his sister looked out for him, his pride all mourned him- he never needed to be the "chosen one")

(Scar was not the great king he thought he was, all around him is proof of his failure, the pridelands barren and empty, and his chance to do better, lead the lions from pride rock, make a new life- but it was never about being a good king to others. "I am the king, I can do whatever I want"- Simba's cubhood song, echoed in a lion who never learned better. Simba's offer of mercy, to let Scar escape with his life, thrown back in Simba's face (Nala's trick of always throwing off the lions who leap on her, here mirrored, saving Simba's life) and Scar, always thinking of himself, killed by his own self serving words and the hyenas he was so quick to betray)

(Zira wanting revenge for her pain, for Scar, wanting Nuka's death to be the last time Simba hurts her- Losing her daughter, because she will not stop the fight, losing her follows, because she would killed her daughter for refusing to fight... losing her life, swatting at the helping paw held out to her, only wanting to cause pain, only causing her own pain instead)

Will you cling desperately to what you have, or what you think you are owed, even when another way is offered?

Or will you listen.

(Vitani, so loyal to her mother, so vicious in her battles- Kovu's confused look as she changes her choice, choosing peace, Kiara's answering smile)

Will you see yourself in others and use that wisdom to decide who you want to be...

(Kiara, Simba, Mufasa- remember, remember)

...or who you do not want to be?

(the rest of the outlanders turning away from Zira. Their disgust at a mother who would kill her own child. The choice to leave her behind)

(the ending of the war)

I love lion king 2

it's the kind of sequel that makes me love the original more than i did before, it's so good it makes the first one even BETTER than it was on it's own

it makes the first movie sadder to re-watch

seeing how unprepared Simba really was. How Vitani proves that Scar had another way out

seeing Mufasa with his son, giving him a wonderful childhood, unaware of how has Simba will have to grow up- how long it will take him- the nightmares still haunting him- the gap between Simba and his own child thanks to his fears, his shames- (Mufasa's spirit, making leaves dancing as little tiny Kiara playfully swats at them) -Mufasa raising his son with no idea how much pain it will cause his granddaughter when Simba tries to make up for it...

...seeing all that, and knowing it still turns out okay

i wouldn't enjoy lion king 1 half as much without Simba's Pride. They fit together

i love them i love them i love them both

(also i am Gay and kiara is WOW)

(also also vitani too)

( also also also the fact that i just wanted to wrap kovu in blankets and never let anyone hurt him meanwhile he was everyone else's crush-> hmmm i wonder why that was....)

#Lion King (1994)#Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998)#Kiara #Simba #Mufasa #Vitani #Zira #Nuka #Scar #i am thinking and i am Feeling

591 notes · View notes