Azaad

Azaad is a young male cheetah who made his debut in The Race to Tuliza and returned for the episodes Journey to the Pride Lands and Return to the Pride Lands.
==Appearance==
Azaad's upper body is well built. His fur is yellow, somewhat darker than that of Fuli's. His muzzle, paws, and underbelly are a slightly darker shade of cream, which is also present around his grass-green eyes. The top of his ears are black, and inside the ears are light gray with hazel brown lining the sides. His pointed nose contains two shades of brown, again darker than that of Fuli's, and also larger. At the bottom of his muzzle are two black markings. The markings on his body are dark spots of various sizes and shapes. Lastly, he has a pointed muzzle, with a tuft of fur sticking out from beneath. His tail is striped with yellow and black, with a rounded black tip.
==Personality==
Azaad is shown to be a prideful cheetah with high self-esteem, who never minded much before about having friends, that is until meeting Fuli.
After meeting Fuli, Azaad is open to new ideas that he finds suitable for himself and his friends. He helps out Kion to get home faster by making a suggestion for the path to get there.
==History==
===The Race to Tuliza===
While looking for tuliza, Fuli encounters Azaad, who is confused as to why Fuli has friends, since cheetahs, in general, are ordinarily solitary.
Since she is in his territory and shows the fire of a cheetah in her heart, he challenges Fuli to a race, promising to help her locate the tuliza, if she should win. During the race, Fuli trips and falls at the very end, causing her to lose the race. She challenges Azaad to a rematch since he knows the route better than she does. He accepts, and the rematch begins.
Fuli overtakes Azaad to the point where he is unable to catch up to her unless he uses a shortcut. He quickly thinks about it and then decides to make the decision of using the faster route to be faster than Fuli.
As he does so, he fails to grab the platform after leaping across a ravine and starts to lose his grip. To his surprise, Fuli forfeits the match and returns to help him, and explains that it's what friends do. Azaad is shocked to hear that Fuli already considers him a friend, and agrees to deliver the tuliza to her friends with her.
They return to Flamingo Beach each with a branch of tuliza blossoms just in time to avoid Kion roaring at the flamingos. As the Lion Guard and Makini continue on their journey, Azaad bids Fuli farewell and tells her of his hopes that they will meet again in the future. He speeds away, leaving Fuli to gaze towards her new friend. She also replies that she would like to meet him again, giving him a smitten, shy and almost dreamy-like expression as Azaad speeds off into the distance.
===Journey to the Pride Lands===
Ullu swiftly flies in and alerts Fuli and Rani that a cheetah made it's way through the mountain pass, whom both they recognize as Azaad. He leads Janja and Jasiri quickly on their way towards to the Tree of Life. There, to Fuli's surprise, Rani reveals that she knows him and that Azaad has been to the Tree of Life before, after an “unexpected fall.” 
Then Azaad shows the Lion Guard the fastest way to the Pride Lands. Making their way through the pass at night, Kion thanks Jasiri for getting him and the others, though Jasiri claims she is just returning the favor after all the help he gave her in the past. A few ways behind them, Azaad talks to Fuli about the hyenas, finding it unlikely she would be friends with them, though she assures him that they've earned their trust. Outside the pass, Ono reveals he still remembers all of the landmarks from Rafiki's map, recalling the first on their way back to be the frozen lake. However, they soon realize that, even with the map, the road back to the Pride Lands will take time.
Azaad then reveals he knows another way to the Pride Lands, having traveled enough to know the fastest routes to all the Great Lands. However, Azaad points his shortcut only to work for cheetahs, putting some of the Guard at a disadvantage. Wanting to take a look, Kion and the others follow Azaad to the shortcut: an incredibly narrow passage through a canyon. Realizing Beshte won't fit, the group considers going back to the slow route, though Kion refuses. Telling everyone to get behind him (which Janja knows what it means), including a confused Azaad, Kion uses the Roar to widen the passage, allowing them all to take the fast route.  
The next day, Azaad leads the group to a deep and wide ravine, saying they will have to cross it to get to the Pride Lands. While a cheetah can just leap across, Azaad notes the others will have to cross the land bridge, though the nearest one will take days to reach. Wanting to go as fast as possible, Kion uses the Roar to summon a small twister and carry Bunga across, surprising Janja and Jasiri. When Kion asks who's next, Janja starts to panic despite the others' attempts to reassure him that the Roar is safe. In the end, Jasiri gets to Janja by saying he is scared, with Janja wanting to prove otherwise.  
Kion then uses the Roar to move the hyenas and Besthe across, with the three enjoying the experience. While Fuli and Azaad jump across the ravine and Anga and Ono fly over to the others, Kion uses the Roar to lift himself up in the air and make his way across. With everyone now on the other side, the group continues on their journey to the Pride Lands. Along the way, Bunga and Beshte see that Fuli and Azaad are just as close as Kion and the Queen, causing Kion to think back to Rani. Coming across a dried river bed, Azaad tells them they will have to turn and follow the river bed to its mouth. However, Azaad reveals the way to the mouth is far, saying they could get there by sunset if they were all cheetahs. Claiming they can get there before sunset, Kion claims his plan involves getting a dead tree into the river bed. When Beshte moves to knock it down, though, Kion stops him and brings the tree down himself, with Bunga pointing that Kion's new Roars make him a one-lion Lion Guard. Revealing they will ride the tree down the river, Kion uses the Roar to conjure up some storm clouds, briefly scaring Janja as he reveals he is scared of lightning, much to Jasiri's amusement.
The Roar causes a flood to appear in the distance, with Kion telling the others to get on the tree and hold on tight. When Azaad begins to hesitate, Janja mocks him for being afraid of water, though Azaad argues that cheetahs and waters just don't get along. Climbing aboard the tree, the group braces themselves as the water reaches them, carrying them across the river. While most of the group enjoy the log ride, Janja gets seasick while Fuli tries to comfort Azaad about the water. While Azaad admits to enjoying being on the land, he is glad to share this particular adventure with Fuli.
Soon after, the log flies over a waterfall, splashing everyone with water as they reach the mouth of the river. With the log ride now over, the group decides to continue the rest of the way on foot. Over the next days, the Guard pass by all of the landmarks they faced on their journey to the Tree of Life. However, Kion's new Roar powers help them move on through obstacles with ease, allowing them to move at a much faster pace than they initially did. After traveling for a while, the Lion Guard soon come across what Azaad calls the Great Stone Wall, noting they're not so far from the Pride Lands now. 
Though Azaad suggests going around the Wall, an overconfident Kion considers using the Roar to create another path as Bunga cheers him on. Fuli, on the other hand, tries to stop Kion, pointing that the Roar can't solve everything and they still don't know what is on the other side of the Wall. However, Bunga rebuffs her, saying that it doesn't matter, and Kion agrees, thinking Zira's pride may have already attacked the Pride Lands by now and thus they need to get there as fast as they can. As the group begins to stand back, Fuli asks Anga to fly and take a look as Kion summons lightning on the Wall, cracking the stone ridge above the Wall.
Flying above, Anga realizes that the Wall is actually holding back a great big lake and, horrified, tries to get Kion to stop roaring. Unfortunately, the roar is too loud for Kion to hear her pleas, as Kion breaks the ridge, causing large amounts of water to rush through. Shocked, Kion quickly dispels the water away with the Roar. Unfortunately, this doesn't solve the problem, instead of making Kion the only thing holding the water in place for the time being. Looking around, Anga spots small herds of klipspringers and hyraxes in the fields around them and realizes they will all be in danger if the water floods the valley.
Taking over for the still roaring Kion, Fuli has Ono and Beshte help fix the Wall while she and the others (hyenas included) move the herds, needing to clear the valley in case the Wall can't be saved. Analyzing the situation, Ono comes up with an idea and tells  Beshte to gather up all the rocks the Roar made when it smashed the Wall. As the rest of the Guard move the herds to safety, Ono tells Kion to keep on roaring as Beshte pushes rocks onto the Roar's path, holding them in place alongside the water. Having moved the herds to a hill above the field, the others make their way back to Kion.
By this point, Kion has begun to tire out from the constant roaring, hoarsely telling Ono he can't hold on much longer. The rest of the Guard arrive and, helping Beshte, move more rocks in the Roar's path. With the rocks in place, Ono tells Kion to stop roaring, allowing the rocks to fall over the hole and block the leak. Turning to the others, Kion thanks them for their help and apologizes for almost causing the flood, having thought he could solve all their problems in his arrogance. However, Kion now knows that nothing can replace the Lion Guard working together as a team, not even the Roar.
As Kion realizes they will have to take the long way around, after all, Azaad tells him to not worry, saying the Pride Lands are not far from them. Moving on ahead, the Guard soon come across the plains with a view of the Outlands Volcano, with Azaad declaring they have reached the Outlands. After spotting Pride Rock in the distance, making them all realize they're almost home. However, Kion reminds them they can't stop now: they need to find Zira and stop her. Chanting their catchphrase, the Lion Guard starts the final trek back to the Pride Lands, their home, and the end of their journey.
===Return to the Pride Lands===
Azaad arrives at the Pride Lands with the Lion Guard and introduces himself to King Simba and Queen Nala. When the Lion Guard is reuniting with their friends and family, Fuli shows Azaad around the Pride Lands and they run into the baboons. When Kion's Lion Guard and Vitani's Lion Guard are arguing over how to get the dimwitted Thurston out of a hole, Azaad solves the problem by telling Thurston to just walk backward and Thurston is out of the hole instantly. During the contest between the two Lion Guards, he was right that Fuli would win the contest to see who was the fastest, as she beats Kasi. Azaad attends Kion's coronation as King of the Tree of Life, standing next to Fuli.
==Trivia==
*"Azaad" means "Free" or "Liberated" in Arabic.
*Azaad's catchphrase: "Mibinamet" means "See you (later)" in Persian.
*Actually in urdu, Azaad is pronounced as Aazaad
*Just like Fuli, Azaad tries to avoid water.
*Azaad frequently refers to himself in third-person.
*Fans knew about Azaad over a year in advance, due to the voice actor, Behzad Dabu, placing the information on his Twitter account.
*Azaad is the third known cheetah in this franchise.
*He only appears in three episodes of Season 3.
Category:Characters
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Category:Cheetahs
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Category:Reformed Characters