Zira

**Zira** is the mother of Kovu, Nuka and Vitani and the main antagonist of *The Lion King II: Simba's Pride*.

## Background

### Personality

Zira is opportunistic, cynical, and imposing, letting her emotions control her constantly, which usually leads to her launching into venomous rants and invective. She seems to be patient, as she was willing to wait until Kovu became a young adult before putting her plans into motion. However, she generally shows little affection even for her children unless they are of use to her, and is willing to kill them if they will not follow her path of vengeance. However, despite her strengths, she suffers the same downfall as Scar; her hatred blinds her, thus destroys her in the end. Zira does seem to care for her family and her Pride, despite her vindictive nature, showing depression when Nuka dies, and pride when Nuka and Vitani say or do things that appeal to her plan. Although Zira hated Simba completely, her interactions with the rest of the pride were comparatively neutral, which is especially evident in her introduction: When Simba and Zira encounter each other when the latter attempted to ambush Kiara, after identifying Simba in a tone that obviously implied that she was excited at the opportunity to exact revenge, she saw the rest of the pride, Timon, and Pumbaa arrive with Simba and identified Nala in curt tone.

Shortly before the end of *The Lion King*, Zira was Scar's most devoted of his followers, revering him with a fanatic-worship and praising his very name. However, after Simba returned, Zira was exiled along with her followers for their continued loyalty to Scar. After that, Zira held Simba responsible for Scar's death (unaware or ignoring the true cause of Scar's death), and plotted to both avenge Scar and take back the throne, using Kovu as a puppet ruler. Zira and her followers became known as Outsiders.

Apart from her total devotion to Scar and her desire to avenge him, Zira also shows a deep contempt for other animals and especially for hyenas. This is especially seen in the song "Lions Over All" where she exclaims the superiority of lions.

### Physical appearance

She is a lioness with dark coloration. Her fur is grayish-tan with a cream muzzle, underbelly, and paws. She has red eyes, black eyebrows, dark brown upper eye patches and eyelids and white under patches, a black, pointy triangular nose, one notched ear (the history of which is never revealed), and a dark stripe down the center of her head.

## Trivia

* It was originally planned for Zira to deliberately let go of the cliff rather than simply reject Kiara's help, but her fall was instead depicted as her simply slipping while rejecting Kiara's aid, as it was felt that the villain committing suicide was too 'adult' for a Disney movie. However, although this concept was cut, Zira's death in the finished version of the film is still implied to be a suicide, or just an accident, as if you *look* closely, you can see that she's smiling, albeit a little.
* When Zira and Simba encounter each other onscreen for the first time, Zira's line "If you need your pound of flesh..." as she pushes Kovu forward is actually a reference to the Shakespearian play "The Merchant of Venice", even though "Simba's Pride" is based on "Romeo and Juliet".
* When Zira blames Kovu for the death of Nuka, her reasoning seems somewhat ironic for someone who had a high opinion of Scar.
	+ She told Kovu that he betrayed his pride, which is exactly what Scar did when he allowed the hyenas to invade.
	+ She also told him that he "killed his own brother", which, again, is exactly what Scar did. Also, Kovu hardly can be held accountable for this seeing as Nuka fell, and had nothing to do with him.
	+ This scene is vaguely similar to when Scar accused Simba of murdering his father. But while Scar was simply trying to discourage Simba, Zira truly believed what she said was true.
* In early production, Zira was originally going to be Scar's mate and the mother of his cub Nunka (who would later become Kovu), who would seduce Aisha (Kiara's original name). Because this would be incest, due to Nunka and Aisha being first cousins once removed, the relationship was obscured to make Zira "a follower" of Scar, and Nunka became Kovu and was instead Scar's adopted son.
	+ However, some fans of the film still consider Zira to be Scar's mate, and at least one novelization did explicitly refer to her as Scar's mate.
* Kovu eventually will become the Pride Land's King, meaning Zira actually succeeded with her plan to fulfill Scar's dying wish, but not to avenge his death by killing Simba. It also fulfills Mufasa's wish and hopes that both the Pridelanders and Outsiders got rejoined through Kovu and Kiara, while presumably taking into account Scar's dying wish (despite his murder of him).
* Zira's role as a follower to Scar contradicts the events of the first film, where all the lionesses present at the time were followers of Mufasa and Simba and had fought beside Simba against Scar. It was later revealed in *The Lion Guard* that she and Scar were very close and that he shared his knowledge of the Roar of the Elders with her, which perfectly supports the contradiction. It's possible that she and the Outsider lionesses were still away hunting and just returned after Simba reclaimed the throne.
* Zira, McLeach, Sa'Luk, and Forte are the only Disney sequel villains to actually die. Jafar does not count because he originally appeared in the first film as its main antagonist.
* Her name means "hatred" in Swahili.
* She has no mark on her head in *The Lion Guard*, except in Rafiki's painting.
* Zira becomes Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's enemy in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of The Lion Guard: Lions of the Outlands.*

## Gallery

Zira's demise.Zira tests if Simba will enforce his penalty on trespassing Outsiders by offering up Kovu.Zira before "My Lullaby".Zira and the Outsiders decide to go to war against Simba.Zira in The Lion Guard."Nala."Zira with Timon and PumbaaZira with Simba"Oh no Simba...we have barely begun."Zira with NukaZira with OutsidersZira and Vitani"Just like we always planned..."Zira and Vitani angry that Simba is escapingGet Kovu! Get him!"Zira and Vitani upset that Nuka is being hit by logsZira upset that Nuka is crushed by logsZira and Vitani mourn over Nuka's deathZira lashes out at Kovu."What have you done?"Zira and Vitani blaming Kovu for Nuka's deathZira, Vitani and Outsiders arriving at the Pride Lands to prepare a final battleZira's deathZira twisting to the Outsiders to kill Simba and Pride LandersZira about to kill Simba, but is later interrupted by KovuZira gets interrupted by Kovu to not attack Simba"If you will not fight, then you will die as well.""I'll never let it go!!!""This is for you, Scar."Zira avenging ScarZira with ScarZira with KionZira lying to JasiriZira expressing her disgust for hyenas