The Tree of Life

"**The Tree of Life**" is the sixty-sixth episode of the Disney Junior animated series *The Lion Guard*. It premiered on October 6, 2019, and is the eleventh episode in the third season.

## Plot

Arriving at a frozen lake, Anga tells the Lion Guard that the last moja kwa moja stone is on the other side of the lake. Kion asks her to know long it will take to find the last stone to which Anga explains that it could take all night to find the last stone. Walking across the frozen lake, the ice on the frozen lake begins cracking due to Beshte's weight. Everyone gets through safely except for Makini who is in danger. Kion asks Anga to rescue her but Anga explains that the flapping pushes away the ice she is standing on. The Guard rescues her but Makini also loses her staff in the lake. While Kion asks for Tuliza, Makini notices she is not carrying her staff as it fell into the lake. Anga tries searching for it, but she finds no sign of it. Upon arriving to the last moja kwa moja stone to which Ono realizes that without Makini's staff, the painting cannot be activated and brought to life. When Kion asks Ono about remembering Rafiki's map to know where the Tree of Life is at, he remembers on Rafiki's map that through the desert is a mountain pass and through it is the Tree of Life. Anga then sees the mountain pass shown on the moja kwa moja stone as the Guard follows the path to get to the mountain pass.

Meanwhile, an owl named Ullu sees the Lion Guard arriving to the mountain pass as she warns the Night Pride about the Guard. Back with the Guard, they arrive at the mountain pass as Bunga sees a beehive in it. As a honey badger, Bunga takes risk on getting the beehive as he does not notice it causes a rockslide to block the path to the Tree of Life. The Guard decides to work together to clear away the rockslide blocking the path.

Meanwhile, the Night Pride, a different group of lions as the name suggests, arrives led by Rani as they decide to go to the spot she saw the Guard earlier only to notice the mountain pass is blocked by the rockslide caused by Bunga. Rani asks Surak, a male lion, to know who the voices outside are to which Surak explains that they are strangers as he tells Rani that they are powerful than the Night Pride to cause the mountainside to collapse. Rani asks Nirmala, a lioness with a flower hair clip, to know if she noticed the Guard to which she asks her to take it slow by talking to the Guard. Upon hearing Kion clearing away the rockslide, Baliyo, another male lion, decides to find out what is happening. Upon overhearing Kion about getting to the Tree of Life, Baliyo decides to take on the Lion Guard as the rest of the Night Pride decides to fend them off. As the Night Pride attacks the Guard, Fuli tells Beshte to hold back the Night Pride while telling Makini and Ono to work together to rescue Bunga and clear the rockslide.

Soon as Rani tries to attack Fuli, she tells the lioness that it is a misunderstanding to which she refuses to listen. Bunga, trapped in a rockslide, sees the Lion Guard fighting against the Night Pride while Makini and Ono are clearing away the rocks from the rockslide. Kion then uses the Roar of the Elders against Baliyo to know which lion is stronger than him. Soon as the Night Pride notices this, Rani, a lioness and the leader of the Night Pride, confronts Kion for his actions against Baliyo. Rani then warns Kion that his actions are more powerful than words to which Fuli tells her that the Guard is not harming anyone. Kion asks Rani to know they need help at the Tree of Life but she refuses to let the Guard in the Tree of Life due to Kion's actions.

Soon as the Night Pride returns to the Tree of Life, the Guard decides to remove the rocks from the rockslide trapping Bunga inside as a plan to get to the Tree of Life as Beshte explains that the Lion Guard should be welcomed to the Tree instead of being fought as he thinks the Night Pride was defending their home. Fuli tries to ask Kion about what Beshte said but he ignores her as the Guard continues to remove the rest of the rocks.

Meanwhile at the Tree of Life, Rani decides to ask Queen Janna to know what happened as she tells Surak and Nirmala to comfort over Baliyo, the young lion. Inside, Rani asks Queen Janna to know what is wrong to which she tells Janna that the Lion Guard caused a rockslide blocking off the mountain pass. When Rani asks her about the roar, Janna explains that the roar has finally returned. Back to Kion, he walks sadly to the wrong actions he did with the Night Pride as he decides to work together to clear away the rocks with his friends. Bunga is finally rescued as he decides to take the beehive again but the Guard stops him. Arriving to Kion, he tells the Guard that he is unsure if he should go to the Tree of Life or not because of what Rani said to the Guard. Ono then tells Kion that there are other ways to heal his scar outside of the Tree of Life even if Rani doesn't allow him to enter as the Guard decides to continue their journey.

Meanwhile at the Tree of Life, Janna tells Rani to welcome Kion and his friends to the Tree of Life before they leave and never return. Outside, Baliyo offers the Night Pride to talk to the Lion Guard as she and Rani discuss the situation about the Guard. As Surak and Nirmala tells Baliyo to relax, Rani decides to talk to her deceased parents. Rani then talks to Sãhasí and Ãnanda to know how good is she. She talks to them that her grandmother Janna wants her daughter welcome the Lion Guard to the Tree of Life and is unsure if she welcomed them to the Tree to which her parents tells her that one day when Queen Janna passes away, she will become queen as well. After talking to her parents, Rani decides to follow the advice from her deceased parents as the Night Pride decides to talk to the Lion Guard.

Arriving to the Guard, Kion apologizes to Rani for using the roar against Baliyo as he tells her to tell Ono to complete his journey to the Tree of Life as he was not affiliated in fighting against the Night Pride as his eyes need to be healed. Rani accepts Kion and Ono to go to the Tree of Life so they can be healed as she welcomes the Guard to the Tree of Life. She and the Night Pride take the Guard to the Tree of Life.

## Cast

* **Max Charles** as **Kion** (speaking voice)
	+ Aaron Daniel Jacob as Kion (singing voice)
* **Joshua Rush** as **Bunga**
* **Diamond White** as **Fuli**
* **Atticus Shaffer** as **Ono**
* **Dusan Brown** as **Beshte**
* **Bryana Salaz** as **Anga**
* **Landry Bender** as **Makini**
* **Peyton Elizabeth Lee** as **Rani**
* **Vyvan Pham** as **Ullu**
* **Lou Diamond Phillips** as **Surak**
* **Miki Yamashita** as **Nirmala**
* **Hudson Yang** as **Baliyo**
* **Shohreh Aghdashloo** as **Janna**
* **James Sie** as **Sãhasí**
* **Grace Young** as **Ãnanda**

## Appearances

### Characters

* **Kion**
* **Bunga**
* **Fuli**
* **Ono**
* **Beshte**
* **Makini**
* **Anga**
* **Ullu** (debut)
* **Rani** (debut)
* **Baliyo** (debut)
* **Surak** (debut)
* **Nirmala** (debut)
* **Janna** (old / debut)
* **Sãhasí** (debut / first appearance)
* **Rafiki** (mention)
* **Ãnanda** (debut / first appearance)

## Groups

* **The Lion Guard**
* **Night Pride** (debut)

## Locations

* **Tree of Life**
	+ **Mountain Pass** (debut)
	+ **Giant Lake** (debut)
* **Desert** (painting)
* **Four Stars** (painting)
* **Ocean** (painting final appearance)
* **Pride Lands** (mention)

## Animals

* **African Lions**
* **Asiastic Lions**
* **Honey Badgers**
* **Cheetahs**
* **Hippopotamuses**
* **Egrets**
* **Eagles**
* **Mandrills**
* **Owls** (debut)
* **Bees** (final appearance)

## Trivia

* The Night Pride is introduced in this episode.
* Towards the end of the episode where Baliyo says "Lion Guard? You only got one lion," this is an allusion to the TV movie *The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar*, where Simba told Kion that the Lion Guard is only made of lions and not other animals as he scolds him for not finding any other lions to be part of the Lion Guard.