Intro
When I started this blog for the first time, I started off by talking about the hero of one of Disney's greatest movies and my all time favorite: The Lion King. I explained how Simba was actually a very flawed hero if you looked at his actions. Today, I will dive into the second movie of the franchise. Though he is not the real main character of this movie, and his journey is over now that he is king, that doesn't mean he is perfect.
So, let's see what our favorite hero is up to now that he is king and a father, free from trauma and Scar's influence... Or is he really?
(If you are interested in reading the first part, you can read it here.)
First Movie Aftermath
After the final battle for the pride lands when Scar is finally gone, there are still some issues for Simba left to deal with after becoming king. Of course, it is no surprise that Scar had followers. He was a villain and a terrible king, but even those kind of people have followers. Not simply sidekicks like the hyena's but even lioness. We don't know a lot about what happened after the fight, but Zira was clearly his mate, or at least someone that was desperately in love with him and saw him as a good king.
So, the only thing for Simba to do was to banish them after he defeated Scar. One other option was to kill them all, but he let them go free, as long as they didn't come back to the pride lands.
To be fair, this was a rational thing to do at the time. They'd only have caused trouble if they had stayed and probably plot against him. The sad thing is that there actually were cubs send away with them. Kids who don't know any better. Whether he should have kept the cubs in his pride is also a bit of a tricky question. They might have grown up better, but they still have been taken away from their parents.
We don't see all of this in the movie of course, but we learn pretty early the movie what happened.
Writer's Note: When you make a sequel to your book, not everything that happened after the first book has to be included or shown immediately in some prologue or something. You can simply start your story and explain what happened if it's needed. Maybe with a flashback when your main character comes across someone they know, but wasn't in the first book. Or a simple conversation with them or about them. These small things go a long way, and it avoids exposition if there is a long time jump between the first and second book.
A Reminder Of His Past Self
Quickly after the intro song, we meed child Kiara, excited to play, but instantly stopped by Simba. He gives her a very stern talking to and clearly it hasn't been the first time he stopped his daughter from leaving before giving her a lecture. She can reside everything he is about to say to her, and begs her father just to go and let her play. Even Nala tells her to do what her father tells her.
This is not really a big issue as a parent. She is only just a child, and Simba knows that she is just like him. Nala even teases him that she is just like him when he was younger, but tells him she'll be fine. She is probably convinced she will be fine, because she is so much like him. Sadly, Simba is not convinced himself and tells Timon and Pumba to go after her and make sure nothing happens.
To be fair... Kiara did decide to go off the path that Simba marked for her, and went to the one place she was told not to go. She is just as curious about the outlands, as Simba was about the elephant graveyard.
His argument with Zira is also quite logical, because she was banished... But him growling at Kovu to intimidate him might go a bit too far. He is a cub, and like Zira said, he doesn't know what happens when he returns to the pridelands.
Both Zira and Simba take their children, and Simba stays back to talk to Kiara. He is upset with her, like a father would be when a child disobeys him, but also instantly telling her that he is only upset because he loves her and wouldn't know what to do if something happened to her.
Writer's Note: When writing a parent and child relationship, remember that parents getting angry at their children does not mean they are bad parents or abusive. Children are reckless and sometimes don't follow the rules. Even the most kind people who claim to have never done anything wrong in their lives have done something that went against the rules of their parents. Doesn't make the kid bad either. Simply having the parents talk about it is a fine way to resolve the conflict.
Teen Years
It isn't clear how old Kiara is after the time jump exactly, but I am going for the equivelant of a teen in human years on this. I don't think she is quite an 'adult' yet.
The fact that Simba is worried about Kiara when she was a child is obvious not too bad. But with the time jump, it is clear that Simba has started to be over protective. Sending some chaperones with your child? Sure, though I'd say he shouldn't have let them follow her secretly but that's beside the point. In the scene where Kiara is going on her first hunt, it becomes clear that the childhood scene was not the last time he sent Timon and Pumba after her. Her words make it clear he never let her do anything alone.
"I need you to promise to let me do this on my own... Can you do that?"
Having to ask her father this says it all. She knows he always sends someone after her and especially when it is something important like her first hunt, she really wants him to trust her. He tells her he promises, watches her go, and then whispers to Timon and Pumba to make sure she doesn't get in any trouble. This is where his flaw of being overprotective shows. He doesn't trust his own daughter, and he can't let her do anything by herself.
Though Kiara is a bit reckless and clumsy when it comes to hunting, she is rightfully furious with her father, knowing he lied to her and still treats her like a child, causing her to run away and hunt on her own, away from the Pridelands.
Judgement For A Childhood Event
Kiara nearly dies in the fire and is saved by Kovu, who then asks Simba to let him join his group. Claiming to have left his tribe. Though Kovu is at first pretending to be good and away from his pride, Simba doesn't know this. He doesn't ask any questions about why Kovu left his pride and why he'd want to be part of the Pridelands again. His answer is instantly "No! You were banished with the others!"
Though you can argue Simba's trauma and hatred for Scar, Kovu was a cub, too young to even remember what actually happened and everything he knows comes from Zira's stories. Simba simply sees Scar's heir, and hates him because of it instead of giving him a real chance. Though when Nala points out he owes Kovu his daughter's life, he let's him join, refraining from any judgement for now. But he doesn't really allow him to be anywhere near his pride. Kovu has to sleep outside, and is not allowed anywhere near his tribe.
He is blinded by his hatred and trauma, convinced that he will follow Scar in his paw prints. He doesn't know what to do when he sees him and Kiara bound over stars, asking his own father for help. Nala is the one who calls him out on what he is doing.
"You want to walk the path that is expected of you... Maybe Kovu doesn't..."
This is enough for Simba to finally open up and try to give him a chance, letting him into the Den instead of forcing him to stay outside and alone. At least Nala made him see through what he was doing and he at least tries to give it a chance now...
Writer's Note: It's good to have someone call a character out on what they are doing, whether it is the main character or a side character. How is a character going to learn if they are never told what they are doing is wrong? Nala simply tells him to get to know Kovu and wait and see, which is enough for Simba to realize that maybe, just maybe his judgement on the young lion was too hard. A moment like this won't fix everything. It is still a learning path for the character, but it will have to start somewhere.
The Ambush, Battle And Realization
Simba tries to talk to Kovu, clearly giving him a chance. We only hear the last part of the conversation, but they have clearly been talking about Scar. Perhaps Kovu asked him about it, perhaps Simba just decided to tell him his side of the story... That is something for the reader to interpret themselves, and there isn't really a wrong answer for it.
Sadly, Zira and the rest of their pride planned an ambush when they saw that Kovu did not attack Simba when they were alone the night before.
Now, this is a thing you can see from two sides, and I can understand that Simba thinks that Kovu planned the ambush and purposely lead him there. Simba started to trust Kovu and gave him a chance, ready to talk to him alone. Then, when they were all on their own, he was suddenly surrounded by Zira's tribe. It was a misunderstanding, but I can imagine someone thinking it had all been a set up, especially when Zira acts like it had always been their plan.
But Kovu was just as shocked and panicked as Simba was. He tried to help him, and ran away when he had the chance to kill him easily. All of that could have give some sign to Simba that maybe he hadn't planned on making this happen at all.
Still, after barely surviving the ambush and seeing Kovu come back and even pleading for him to listen, he finally gives his judgement and banishes him. Not only that, he is convinced Kovu was only close to Kiara because he was his daughter, and then tells her she will never go anywhere alone without an escort anymore. He goes back to his old self, being too over protective and refusing to believe his daughter can take care of herself.
Though Kiara manages to escape and find Kovu again, the final battle is already happening. The only thing that can still stop it are the two of them, and Kiara knows it. She finally understands what Simba meant when he told her 'we are one' all those years ago. But Simba's hatred for Scar makes him forget his own lesson, and it's Kiara that needs to remind him.
"They? Us! Look at them... Do you see any difference?"
This is the moment not only Simba realizes what she is saying, but also the lionesses from Zira's side. You can see the look on their faces, wondering what they were actually fighting for. When Zira commands the others to attack, it is Vitani, who was also just a cub when they were banished, who tells her it's enough. Simba tries to convince her to lay the past behind her and join back into the pridelands, but Zira refuses, causing her own death as she tries to keep fighting.
Simba finally realizes he was wrong, telling everyone that they're going home. He now knows to let his daughter go and choose her own path.
Writer's Note: A redemption arc for a villain is good, but if they would have gone for it with Zira, I don't feel it would have been believable. A villain who spends their lives trying to take revenge on someone isn't simply going to stop because of a few words or because their enemy tells them they need to forget the past and start anew. The rest of Zira's tribe was filled with lions who were a bit younger and it is at least a bit more plausible for them to shift, especially for Vitani. But most of the time a villain cannot be saved, even if the hero tries to stop the war.
Conclusion
This movie has been one of my favorites and to be honest if I had to name one movie that has a GOOD sequel, it would be this one. But I might be biased because the first Lion King as been my favorite for as long as I can remember 😛.
So what do you think of this movie? Do you agree with my take on Simba still being flawed? Let me know, I would love to hear everyone's opinion!
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