Outsiders and Zira never existed

In my previous posts I studied one of many earlier scripts of The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. If in 1996 scripts Kovu was Scar's cub, who lived with his power-hungry aunt Bianca (while Kovu's mother died in exile), who allied with the hyenas from the original film. Now I found 1995 script pages and notes, where even Bianca hasn't existed. Kovu still was Scar's son and loved Shani, Simba's daughter, but he lived in command with elephant named Brutus, who was power-hungry and allied with the hyenas from the original and forced Kovu to do their bidding — to kill Simba or they'll kill Shani. Brutus wanted to make Kovu (as Scar's son) to be his puppet and to rule Pridelands.

Zira/Bianca and Outlanders never intended to be. However, both 1995 and 1996 dcripts stated pretty clearly that Simba had no idea about Kovu's existence, hence he was born either after exile or in other place.

A short one-page TLK/TLG fan comic drawn with markers - Lions of the Outlands, Alternate Ending. A little bit of explanation about this:

Before the actual “Lions of the Outlands” episode came out, I had a dream that the episode came out early and I was watching it, and the Outsider cubs were fighting the Lion Guard. Vitani was fighting Fuli (same as in the actual trailer) and Kovu was reluctantly fighting Jasiri, and it seemed like the Outsiders were winning, but Nuka was fighting Beshte (lol) to show his mother how tough he is, and his fighting style was mostly long leaps and fast movements (it was very well-animated and in the style of the movies with shots from different angles, but well, it was a dream, so…). That was a pretty successful tactic, and Beshte looked genuinely impressed and said something like “Hey everyone, this guy is actually good at this!” and Nuka stopped in surprise and was all “You… really think so?”, and he looked so proud that someone complimented him, especially in front of his mother, but Vitani was like “No!” because he got distracted and the Guard won.

This authentic script of The Lion King: Simba's Pride has had the fandom in an uproar all because of it being an earlier draft where Vitani and Kovu were unrelated and betrothed to each other. I'm seeing people denying this script like people denying any clear footage of a bigfoot sighting. It's funny as hell that y'all are so morally pure and indignant toward official content that you can't grasp what a story concept actually is and how drafts change over time. It's like you can't accept the facts and have to make shit up to feel good about liking the film. Sounds exhausting.

THE LION KING 2: SIMBA'S PRIDE

Option 1: Short Essay 

Please write an essay that respond to ONE of the follow questions. Your essay should be about 3  pages (900-1100 words) in length, have a central argument or thesis, and use direct quotes from  the texts you choose to support your argument. 

2. Alternative Adaptation: Is there a text you are familiar with that you wished had been on the  syllabus? For this essay, you may pick an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that we did NOT use in  class and write an essay exploring how the conversations we have been having this semester  appear in this new text. You may consider questions such as: What story is being told? What  contexts, histories, and ideas is the text drawing on in order to tell its story? How does it use  genre, audience, and context to reshape Romeo and Juliet? How does it critique or celebrate  Shakespeare’s play? Please engage with at least ONE additional text from our syllabus.

When given the option to choose the next adaptation we'd examine during the last weeks of class, I hoped for Simba's Pride. Unfortunately, I also knew that was unlikely to happen knowing the class and I ended up being right when Gilmore Girls were chosen. Thankfully for the final assignment, the freedom to focus on another adaptation was given. So for this essay, I'll be focusing on Simba's Pride and how Disney adapted Romeo and Juliet into the sequel.

Lion King 2: Simba's Pride was created in 1191, an animated direct-to video musical romantic drama film. It debuted four years as a sequel after the original film, The Lion King, which similarly took themes from Shakespeare, being based off Hamlet. The plot revolves Simba's daughter, Kiara, and her relationship with an Outsider, Kovu. Their first encounter were as kids when Kiara ran off, having grown annoyed by her father's overprotective nature. This leads to her meeting Kovu, the son of the Outlander's leader, Zira. The two are later separated by their families but reunited later on during early adulthood. Together, they work to reunite the clashing prides. From this short summary, you can already see the parallels between the movie and Romeo and Juliet. The sequel Simba's Pride is a film that celebrates and builds off of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It does so by incorporating similar characters and elements that parallels the original while still being it's own story. (maybe edit)

First, let's examine the characters. Kiara and Kovu are clearly Romeo and Juliet. Kiara comes from the Pride landers and is the daughter of Simba and Nala, as well as heir to the throne. Kovu on the other hand is son of the outlander Zira and apparently the hand chosen heir for Scar before he passed. In spite of their families' rocky relationship with each other, they're able to see past their differences and fall in love, adapting the Star-crossed lovers trope. Rafiki fits the role of Friar Laurance who guides the secret love between the two. Nuka represents Mercutio. Both are sharp tongue and play the role of comedy, similarly to how he is in Luhrmann's movie. They also share the same fate when the two houses fight and he dies as a victim of the unnecessary conflict. Mercutio dies in Romeo's place when he refuses to fight and Nuka does the same when chasing after Simba when Kovu refuses. Both lead to their unfortunate deaths.

Zira, the main antagonist, could be Lady Montague, but personally I think she fits better as Tybalt. Both are strong-willed and aggressive, being the one to drive the conflict. Neither compromise or back down, and it's that blind lust for violence that leads them to death. Tybalt gets killed Romeo because he refused to back down peacefully during a street fight. Zira dies by refusing to let go of the past or accepting help from Kiara during a battle.

As for the plot, its driven by the conflicting prides. For background knowledge, Simba leads the pride lands after overthrowing his evil uncle, Scar. However, some of them still saw Scar as the real king and remained loyal to him even after death. Zira especially, who's cubs were either biologically or adoptively his. Kovu, according to her, was hand-chosen to be his heir before he was dethroned. Those still loyal to Scar were banished to the Outlands. The Pride landers and Outlanders are clear call backs to the Montagues and the Capulets. Both are rival families, but the difference in the Lion King is that there is a strong establishment of why. The original play never provided a reason, simply opening up with "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean (Romeo and Juliet, Perseus Digital Library)." Of course, the general reason is a pursuit of power. Both houses seek political power or territory control. But it always felt like the background for why the lover's can't be together. However, Lion King builds on this conflict and adds depth to each side. For the Outlanders, mainly Zira, blames Simba for the reason why her pride is stuck living in barren lands and was robbed of power that was rightfully theirs. As a result, her and her pride are a threat to Simba and have a reason to be banished. In addition, Kovu being a spitting image of his 'father' feeds into Simba's distrust of him because he is a spitting image of his trauma with Scar. By giving a story to their quarrels adds more weight to the protagonist's romance. You can understand why it's impossible for them to be together and why neither families trust each other.

Another small element to take note of is the significance of water. Overall, water represents many things. It symbolizes purity, life, and hope according to Google. Those three things all perfectly describe Romeo and Juliet's love. From the variations we've seen in class, from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, water is always present during their first encounter and their most intimate moments. For Luhrmann's, it can be seen at the party when the two first meet and are separated by the fish tank.

It can be seen again when Romeo goes out to find Juliet near the pool and the two swim together.

West Side's Story's 'Maria', performed by Ansel Elgort, is similar. As Tony, this story version of Romeo, goes out to find Maria who is his Juliet, he is surrounded by water as he sings to her.

For Simba's pride, water is used when they're separated and staring at their reflections, only whole when they're together.

While the specific meaning behind the symbolism varies from film to film. what remains is that water is always there during pivotal points of their love. Luhrmann and Spielberg is when they first meet and realize their love for each other, and Lion King is after they lose each other and realize how much they complete one another. Water, no matter the adaptation, remains central to the romance of the leading characters.

The only difference between Simba's Pride and Romeo and Juliet, along with its other variations, is that this story isn't a tragedy. Neither Kiara or Kovu dies to reunite their families, instead they give a heartfelt speech during a battle between the two and had them realize they're the same. The only death that does happen as a consequence is Zira's. Because she failed to give in and let go of her hatred, it led to her demise. Unlike the original where it ends with the death of their children reuniting the family, the Lion King ends with the prides being together and ruled by Kiara and Kovu as their new king and queen. It's a happy story compared to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and this is likely due to it's franchise. It's a Disney after all and is aimed towards kids, so it makes sense why the tone is different.

In conclusion, "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride" brilliantly echoes Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" while crafting its unique narrative. The parallels are vivid: Kiara and Kovu as star-crossed lovers, and the strife between prides akin to clashing houses. The depth of their conflict is deepened by the film and adds layers to the story and the romance. While the tone is distinguishable between the original and the film with its more uplifting resolution, it still captures the powerful love story in its own way.

Scar Hudson

Race: Afflicted Gilnean Class: Warlock Specialization: Destruction Pronouns: He/Him

Scar Hudson is a ginger and black-furred Worgen with a crooked physique, distinctive scratches across his muzzle and right eye, and a fel-green gaze. He has round, lion-like ears and a long, tufted tail, and his Human form is black with freckles and long, tied dreadlocks. Born into a set of triplets, his two sisters being Mariah (later titled "Graysmite") and Veronica Hudson, Scar as an infant (originally named "Taka") was given up for adoption to a different Gilnean noble couple than the one he hailed from due to a prophecy that one of the triplets would be the doom of their birth parents. He was raised under the last name Lyon, consistently being viewed in the shadow of his older adoptive brother, Mufasa, who took up his parents' empty ranks in Gilnean nobility when they died--and did a very poor job; Scar's wife and three children later starved to death as a result of Mufasa's faulty influence, and thus Scar enacted revenge on Mufasa by cursing him to the form of a lion and forcing him to watch as Scar helped bring Gilneas to ruin. Since then, Scar has found the Shadows of the Faithful, who aided him to recover from his grieving and vengeful state of mind, aided him in realizing his true origins, and introduced him to the Warblade Clan, the strategist councilor of which, Hanethrick Grimsford, is now Scar's partner.

Links: "Crooked" art piece with Hanethrick Scar body ref Scar's hummus "Mama, We All Go To Hell" art piece The fucking doodle page that got Scar removed on Toyhouse Is Scar a catboy? Scar/Hane/Zira/Dahlia ship doodle 2023

Related Characters: Graysmite Wyrmbane (sister) Veronica Hudson (sister) Zira Lyon (wife) Hanethrick Grimsford (romantic partner) Lancelot Wyrmbane (brother-in-law) (not my character) Dahlia Grismford (romantic partner) Edith Wyrmbane (niece) Simon Wyrmbane (nephew) (not my character) Mufasa Lyon (adoptive brother) Ahadi Lyon (adoptive father) Uru Lyon (adoptive mother) Nuka Lyon (son) Vitani Lyon (daughter) Kovu Lyon (adoptive son) Sally Grimsford (adoptive daughter) Judas Hudson (father) Laila Hudson (mother)

<Why doesn't Scar have a Toyhouse page?>

back in the day, Lion King 2 was my favorite movie ever and i had this insane lion phase where i'd draw kovu and all sorts of lions all over on my school worksheets. it got to the point where i made a catholic fursona named Sister Seraphina. she was this white lion with a golden mane who wielded a giant (also golden) cross as her weapon to beat the devil out of the unholy and cleanse the world on her crusades. during this time in my life, i wrote a story about her and a character i made for my best friend.

he was not catholic but i had often wished that he was so i could have asked him to go to church with me. i made him a catholic wolf sona named Brother Bartholomew, because i knew that he loved wolves. he was this ferocious wolf with sleek black fur who loved to listen to christian heavy metal and wore chains to symbolize his dark past before he converted. he also used his chains as weapons, kind of like whips but they were chains. he also rode a motorcycle.

i should mention that i made it a personal rule to NEVER shorten their names or give them nicknames. they were NOT Phina and Bart or anything, they were always referred to properly as Sister Seraphina and Brother Bartholomew always by everyone. even satan. but anyway, at some point in the story, it was revealed that Brother Bartholomew was a reincarnation of Cain which haunted him deeply. he was scared to tell Sister Seraphina the truth because she was always so adamant about punishing the wicked. Brother Bartholomew, on the other hand, would often pray for redemption of the unholy.

i would write chapters of the story down in one of my school notebooks during english class because i really didn't like my teacher. i remember taking the notebook with me to church once and showing it to my priest but he didn't really Get It and told me that i should write less violent stories, but like, in the gentlest way possible and still trying to encourage my writing hobby. i was scared that this meant i might go to hell but i also really wanted to finish the story so i could show it to my best friend. i started secretly writing it more at night before bed while occasionally praying that i wouldn't go to hell for doing so. i also started censoring h*ll and s*t*n because i thought it might make it more likely for the devil to drag me down to hell by my feet when i was laying in bed (real fear i had)

in the climax, they rode the highway to hell on Brother Bartholomew's motorcycle to kill satan forever. when i had finished the final chapter, i tore all the pages out and stapled them together and drew a book cover for it and everything. i even busted out my HUGE box of crayolas that everyone would ask to borrow colors from whenever we did school projects. anyway, i brought it to school and gave it to my best friend to read. he just said "thanks" and took it home with him, and i'd ask him like EVERY day for the next week what he thought and he would just say "its pretty cool" and finally one day he said that he lost it and didn't get to read it at all. then he stopped talking to me after that.

still fucking love finding voice actors from skyrim in other things.

I saw the tagline you out about the Lion King fandom and it reminded me of an encounter I had with a Lion King fan.

I grew up loving the Lion King and usually when I love a story- I do as much research on it as possible. So when I encountered this other Lion King fan in a group chat, I knew a lot of TLK behind the scenes stuff. I do like bringing up things I’ve found about the stories but do get insecure about sounding like the ‘mister know it all’ person like Ono. Yet- the fan I was encountering was spreading false information such as ‘Zira is Scar’s mate’, ‘Kovu is Scar’s son’, ‘Kopa is canon’, they even brought up fan characters like they’re actually canon. When I corrected them on that and showed screenshots of interview articles from the Lion King team, they got really mad at me- they tried sending proof as well but it was really screenshots of fanon pages and what was obviously OCs. They got more mad when I stated ‘these are OCs’, even sending an angry text ‘stop saying that!’. I do feel like I was also in the wrong because part of me felt like I was damaging their headcanons- especially when the user became more inactive after that. I will admit I have a bit of pet peeve of fans spreading false informations on stories. 0-0

Any sort of fandom police are just the worst. I remember one user (not naming names) going around every single piece of Vitani fan art known to man and leaving the same copy and paste comment about how they'd coloured their eyes wrong or w/e and linking screenshots to "prove" their point, even the artwork where this was clearly deliberate. Because it's always a case of personal preference as to whether people want Vitani's eyes to be purple or blue. They even began to lose track of who exactly they told and even commented on the same artwork again and again. Just this... desperate campaign to try and correct the wrong that is Vitani's eyes being coloured incorrectly. It was a riot. lmao - RJ

Compare/Contrast of Zira and Gabriel Agreste AKA Hawkmoth

Ok. Here I’ll be going over the similarities and differences between Zira from The Lion King 2 and Gabriel Agreste from Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug And Chat Noir. It occurred to me that these 2 have quite a bit in common but are still a little different. I think it should be noted that most of what I’m gonna say here about these 2 characters doesn’t apply to abusers that exist out there in the real world. After all, all abusers should either be locked away in prison and/or rehabilitated in a mental hospital. They hurt people. So, they must face the consequences for it. This post is supposed to be a compare/contrast between 2 fictional characters and nothing else. Another thing I’d like to note here is that here, I’ll be going over Zira as she was portrayed in The Lion King 2, The Lion Guard episode ‘Lions of the Pridelands’, and how she was interpreted in the YouTuber Isaac Carlson’s Zira’s FULL STORY (mixed with my theories) | The Lion King II: Discovering Disney YouTube video. Also, Spoiler Alert for the movie The Lion King 2, The Lion Guard, Isaac Carlson’s YouTube video and the TV series Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug And Chat Noir. With that said, let’s dive right in.

Both of them are abusive parent(s) as shown in the song ‘My Lullaby’ and in the episode ‘Ladybug & Cat Noir Origins - Part 1’ respectively. The difference here though is that Zira is more physically abusive as demonstrated when she threw her son Nuka off a tall rock and that Gabriel is more emotionally abusive as demonstrated when he kept his son Adrien in their house for a very long time. Also, as shown in The Lion King 2 when Zira went against Kovu when he turned against her and when Zira threatened to kill her daughter Vitani when Vitani went against Zira’s methods and in the episode ‘Cat Blanc’ when Gabriel threw his son Adrien at the Eiffel Tower, psychologically tortured him and akumatized him after Gabriel found out Adrien was Cat Noir, both Zira and Gabriel are at one point even willing to go against and hurt their own children in order to accomplish their own goals.

Note: Credit for the The Lion King - Zira and Scar picture above belongs to the DeviantArt user Diego32Tiger.

Both of them have similar albeit different reasons why they became the way they are now. Both Zira and Gabriel became the way they are now because they’ve become too attached to the memory of the love of their life (I know Zira was never confirmed to be Scar’s mate but in the episode of the TV series The Lion Guard ‘Lions of the Outlands’, a cave painting did show Zira and Scar ruling the Pridelands together and in the same episode, it was confirmed that Scar taught Zira about the Roar of the Elders and also that Zira claimed she and Scar were close. All this indicates there was something romantic going on between Zira and Scar. So, for this post, I’m gonna call Scar Zira’s love interest; It should be noted that credit for all this belongs to the people who worked on Zira’s page for the Disney Wiki) as shown in The Lion King 2 and the episode ‘Style Queen’ respectively. Zira became too attached to the memory of her love interest Scar while Gabriel became too attached to the memory of his wife Emilie. They both are going way too far in fighting in Scar’s and Emilie’s names. The difference here though is that Scar abused Zira into believing in him and while it is admittedly unknown what exactly Gabriel’s relationship with Emilie was like, it’s implied throughout the TV series that it was a relatively good one. Another difference between Zira and Gabriel in this regard is the tragedies that struck for both of their relationships. Zira was abused by her love interest Scar as I said before while Gabriel’s wife Emilie fell into a permanent coma. The similarity here though between Zira and Gabriel is that they were both too weak willed to handle the trauma of those tragedies. However, they responded to their trauma in 2 different ways that caused them to become the villains they are now. Zira responded to her trauma by bending it into rage and thus later swearing revenge after getting banished to the Outlands while Gabriel responded to his trauma by drowning himself in his love for Emilie to the point of it becoming an obsession and thus later vowing to wake Emilie up again with almost no care about who he has to manipulate and/or destroy in the process. Zira is too focused on her rage while Gabriel is too focused on his love. Zira was lost in the raging and rough ocean waves while Gabriel was lost in the dehydrating salt water of the ocean itself. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t still have people they care about. Speaking of which…

Both of them have similar albeit different relationships with their children. Both Zira and Gabriel want their children Kovu and Adrien to be something that suits their organization’s needs. Zira wants her adopted son Kovu to be a vicious killer that can help Zira and her pride of lions defeat Simba while Gabriel wants Adrien to be a model that can model for Gabriel’s company’s brand as shown in The Lion King 2 and the episode ‘Frightningale’ respectively. Also, as I said earlier in this post, Zira and Gabriel are both abusive to their children. That being said, Zira and Gabriel still deep down genuinely care about their children.

For Zira, an example of her caring about her children was shown when she comforted her son Nuka just before his death. I think the reason why Zira was abusive to Nuka earlier despite the care Zira showed him just before his death is that Zira was so blinded by her rage and anger that she forgot about Nuka. There’s also the fact that Zira was once an abuse victim of Scar. So, that means that Zira is a case of the abused becoming the abuser. I think I have a metaphor that could explain what’s going on judging by the fact that Zira was an abuse victim who became an abuser herself. This is where I’m gonna get a bit philosophical. Keep in mind, though, that I really don’t know much about how abuse works. So, I think it’s best to take what I’m gonna say here with a grain of salt. Picture an abuser as the malicious monster and the abused as the evil monster’s potential prey. There are 3 ways that a confrontation between the 2 would end. 1. The evil monster tears the potential prey apart and eats him or her alive. That’s my metaphor for if the abused victim completely succumbs to the abuser’s torture and succumbs to complete and utter despair and depression. 2. The evil monster bites the potential prey and thus infects the potential prey and turns him or her into an evil monster, also. That’s my metaphor for if the abused victim becomes an abuser him or herself at least partly because of being abused by an abuser. 3. The potential prey overcomes the trauma caused by the malicious monster and defeats the evil monster. That’s my metaphor for if the abused victim completely overcomes the torture and trauma caused by the abuser. Zira fits the #2 metaphor. The evil monster Scar infected his prey Zira and thus Zira became an evil monster herself. Zira went from being an abused victim to being an abuser herself. However, the 3 metaphors I listed above may all be different paths but they all began from the same starting point. That starting point is the potential prey letting out his or her initial cries as he or she was getting stalked by the evil monster. That would be my metaphor for the abuse victim’s initial cries as he or she was starting to get tortured by the abuser. What I’m getting at here is that Zira let out her initial cries when she was left completely insecure by the environment around her and later when Scar took advantage of that and abused her (I’ll elaborate on that in my next and final point). And those initial cries continued to echo throughout her being even after she became an abuser. So, Zira became an abuser but the initial cries of the abused victim she once was temporarily snapped out of her evil fog when she saw her son Nuka was about to die. However, the abuse from Scar’s manipulation still dug deep. So, Zira’s trauma from seeing her son Nuka die combined with Scar’s influence caused Zira to blame her son Kovu for killing Nuka since Kovu sided with Simba which inadvertently led to the disaster that killed Nuka and also caused Zira to take her pride of lions to face off against Simba and the lions that resides in the Pridelands. But Kiara and Kovu intervened. Kiara and Kovu wanted the 2 groups of lions to coexist in peace. Zira was disgusted by the idea. When Zira’s daughter Vitani was moved by the idea and went along with it, Zira threatened to kill her. During all the events from when Nuka died to when Vitani betrayed Zira, the pain of the abused victim and the pure rage and controlling nature of the abuser merged into one. Zira’s inner victim’s trauma from losing her son Nuka now fueled her inner abuser’s rage and desire to avenge Scar and Zira’s inner abuser’s rage and desire to avenge Scar tricked Zira’s inner victim into helping to avenge Scar. Zira’s inner victim and inner abuser merged into one but her inner abuser was the one that was in complete control.

For Gabriel, examples of him caring for his child are shown when he told Gorizilla to drop Ladybug in order for Ladybug to save Adrien from plummeting to his death and finally allowed Adrien to watch the movie Emilie appeared in alongside Gabriel in the episode ‘Gorizilla’, when he allowed Adrien to go see his friends after playing the piano with Adrien in the episode ‘Captain Hardrock’, when he briefly gave up on being Hawkmoth partly because he didn’t want to put his son in further danger in the episode ‘Queen Wasp’, when he tried to tell his Akuma villain YanLuoShi to stop when he realized Adrien might get hurt in the TV special Miraculous World: Shanghai, and when he stopped himself from akumatizing someone when he realized that someone was Adrien in the episode ‘Glaciator 2’. I know this is inconsistent with how he’s portrayed in the episodes ‘Cat Blanc’ and ‘Ephemeral’ where he emotionally manipulated Adrien and then akumatized him against his will. It gets even more inconsistent with how Gabriel was way more shocked when he found out his son Adrien was Cat Noir in the episode ‘Wishmaker’ just before Viperion reversed time than he was when he found out Adrien was Cat Noir in the 2 alternate timelines in the episodes ‘Cat Blanc’ and ‘Ephemeral’. These days, I believe it’s just yet another example of the TV series’s bad writing. After all, it wouldn’t be much of a stand-out considering the way Chloe Bourgeois’s redemption arc was wasted and destroyed in Season 3 and Season 4 and the way Adrien Agreste hardly gets the spotlight compared to Marinette Dupain-Cheng despite his character being more interesting and his story being more plot relevant. But for the sake of this post, I’m gonna give a more in-universe explanation. So, I think the reason why Gabriel was nothing more than the textbook example of an abusive parent is because Gabriel spiraled further down into his obsession with bringing his wife back. I think this downward spiral started in the episode ‘Stormy Weather 2’ where it was shown that Gabriel is being dishonest with himself when he told himself he was doing it all to Adrien happy. But the lack of sincerity in his tone at least suggests that Gabriel is doing it at least mainly for himself. In the episode ‘Cat Blanc’, Adrien started dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng and was thus already happy. This contradiction with Gabriel’s excuse that he’s doing it all to make Adrien happy probably caused Gabriel’s self-dishonesty to skyrocket through the roof. This caused Gabriel to still think he was doing it for Adrien despite the fact that he was willing to emotionally torture and then akumatize Adrien into an Akuma villain named Cat Blanc. It’s also probably what caused Gabriel to be willing to emotionally torture and akumatize Adrien immediately after he found out Adrien was Cat Noir. In the case of what happened in the episode ‘Ephemeral’, it’s different. In the episode ‘Ephemeral’, Gabriel probably became willing to hurt and akumatize his son Adrien only sometime after, rather than immediately after, he found out Adrien was Cat Noir. I think this because in the episode ‘Cat Blanc’, Gabriel smiled maliciously immediately after finding out Adrien was Cat Noir. However, Gabriel didn’t smile immediately after finding out Adrien was Cat Noir in the episode ‘Ephemeral’. I think this means that Gabriel was still wrapping his head around the fact that his son was Cat Noir and spiraled downward into his self-dishonesty and also his malice as the night went on. In my opinion, the change of scenes kinda implied that a few hours passed since Gabriel found out before he decided to emotionally torture and akumatize Adrien that time around. It still doesn’t excuse let alone justifies what Gabriel did to Adrien in ‘Cat Blanc’ and ‘Ephemeral’, though.

So, both Zira and Gabriel are abusive parents that still genuinely care about their children. The difference here though is that when Zira went up against her own children, it was out of heartbreak and rage while when Gabriel goes up against his own child, it’s out of self-dishonesty and malice. So, in conclusion, Zira was an abuse victim that became an abuser herself but there was still some remnants of the abuse victim she was at the starting point left inside her and that more or less allowed her to temporarily look past her evil ways in order to care for her son in his final moments but Zira’s inner abuser merged with her inner victim with the inner abuser taking complete control of it all thus causing Zira to turn against her son Kovu and her daughter Vitani when they stood against her. So, in conclusion, Gabriel was a victim of tragedy that genuinely loves his child but at least will turn into an abuser with no traces of the victim left inside him that will take complete and utter advantage of his son Adrien without any hint of regret or remorse. Zira and Gabriel were too fanatically devoted to their goals at the expense of their children. Speaking of that…

There’s one final similarity I see between Zira and Gabriel. They both are at least partly motivated by the same thing: fanaticism to the people they can’t let go of. For Zira, it’s her fanaticism to Scar. For Gabriel, it’s his fanaticism to Emilie. For Zira, this was demonstrated in full force when she lashed out at Simba for rejecting Kovu as the heir since he was only approved by Scar who was not the rightful ruler of the Pridelands. For Gabriel, this was demonstrated in full force in the episode ‘Risk (Shadow Moth’s Final Attack - Part 1)’, when he was wallowing to Emilie about how he was unworthy of their love since he failed again and again to obtain Ladybug’s and Cat Noir’s Miraculouses, lost his temper and, as a result, accidentally cracked Emilie’s pod which was keeping her alive (or keeping her body from decomposing until Gabriel can wake her up; it wasn’t exactly revealed which one is the case in the TV series just yet). For Zira, I think another example of this was shown when Zira raised her child Kovu to avenge Scar. For Gabriel, another example of this was shown in the episode ‘Dearest Family’ when it was revealed that Gabriel is planning to destroy the entire world and create a new one where their family will never be apart again. The difference between them here though is that Zira doesn’t focus any amount of attention on anyone or anything other than Scar and Zira’s children while Gabriel, on the other hand, focuses an amount of attention on someone other than Emilie and Gabriel’s child: Nathalie Sancoeur. I also think that it was hinted at just how obsessed Zira was with Scar in Isaac Carlson’s Zira’s FULL STORY (mixed with my theories) | The Lion King II: Discovering Disney video. In it, Isaac Carlson believes that Zira grew up being insecure about her weak strength compared to the other lionesses. Isaac Carlson also believed that when Scar began ruling the Pridelands, it gave Zira hope that her life would change just as much as the Pridelands did after the beginning of Scar’s reign. Isaac Carlson would go on to say that the strict schedules that Scar gave the lionesses made Zira feel like she had purpose and it caused her to long for the attention of Scar. Isaac Carlson also said that when Scar gave Zira the news that Zira’s son Kovu was gonna be Scar’s heir, Zira felt right with the world. Scar abused Zira’s insecurities and her need for purpose in order to gain her loyalty. If Scar means this much to Zira, that means that Zira most likely didn’t trust anyone other than Scar and her children. In the case of her children, they’re a legacy Zira left behind. So, it makes sense that Zira would pay attention to them given her own need for purpose. Given the way Zira comforted her son Nuka just before his death, Zira must have formed a genuine bond with her children somewhere along the way. Gabriel, on the other hand, has a lot of faith in Nathalie as shown in the short Miraculous Secrets Nathalie As Seen By Gabriel when he said to Emilie that Nathalie will be able to help him succeed. Furthermore, Gabriel does genuinely care about Nathalie as shown in the episode ‘Mayura (Heroes’ Day - Part 2)’, when it was revealed that Gabriel told Nathalie to never use the damaged Peacock Miraculous since he knew that it could kill her. Gabriel also sometimes listens to Nathalie as shown in the Christmas special ‘Santa Claws’ when he took Nathalie’s advice that he needed to go see Adrien since it was Adrien’s first Christmas without his mother Emilie. Gabriel even threw away an opportunity to akumatize a group of people when he saw that Nathalie was getting ill again as shown in the episode ‘Ladybug’. So, Zira doesn’t have anyone other than her family and her idol/love interest while Gabriel, on the other hand, does.

These are the similarities and differences I see between Zira and Gabriel.

Thanks for reading.

 was looking at the lyrics for “One of Us” from the lion king 2 and i noticed that a lyric i always interpreted as “Born in greed/Raised in hate/Help us to defy his fate” was actually “Born in grief/Raised in hate/Helpless to defy his fate”

 TL;DR: local idiot finds out that they had been mishearing a lyric in one of their favorite disney movies and is way more interested than they have any right to be

i definitely find that way more interesting than most people because i had always read “born in greed” as a reference to how Scar had handpicked Kovu to succeed him and be king, but im not entirely sure how to interpret the lyric now

  I checked Scar’s wiki page (which is the most research im willing to do for the sake of the lion king lest i remember later and cringe) and i didn't find any real reason that Scar would have to grieve(unless it referred to Scar grieving losing his title of crown prince when Simba was born; leading to Scar taking action against Mufasa and then finding himself a successor?) so the grief must refer to Zira herself

   Normally id say “not to read too far into things” but we’re in paragraph 4; that ship has long since sailed. ‘Born in grief” could allude to Kovu not actually being hand chosen by Scar. Zira is referred to as Scar’s mate(on google but not the wiki so grain of salt ig),and she claims multiple times throughout the film that Scar chose Kovu as a successor, but if Kovu really was “born in grief” it doesn’t really make sense for him to be born prior to Scar’s death. (it also doesn't make chronological sense because Kovu and Kiara appear to be the same age and Kiara was born after Scar’s death).

  Anyway my off the wall theory is that Zira found Kovu shortly after the death of Scar, and Kovu reminded of her of Scar so much so that she took him in and decided that he was to be Scar’s heir. Potentially making up the story of Sca choosing Kovu to give him a better chance of being accepted by the Outlanders.

anyway idk why im suddenly obsessed with this movie again but it is what it is and this lyric is genuinely interesting to me

Sokai Prompt

I’ve only really written a one of these but have so many ideas for them! This is just one of many I hope to put out there :)b

Prompt:

After helping another set of colorful characters in their world, Sora sits down on at the gummy ship with his usual, childish energy and happily places his feet Indian-style under himself.

He pulls out a very special section of his notes, taking out a pen and begins to cheerfully move his head as he writes. Back and forth,... a goofy grin and then back and forth... before nodding and pulling the pen away.

“Done!” he exclaims, mostly to himself. However, this attracts the cartoony attention of Goofy and Donald, who immediately lean over on either side of his chair, inadvertently trapping Sora as he looks to each of them.

“What’cha got there, Sora?” Goofy asks, relatively in innocence and pure curiosity.

In a duck’s poor articulation, Donald also quacks up, “Yeah, is it a love letter?”

“Huh?!” Sora, surprised by their sudden interest, goes to move the notebook away but Goofy sticks his nose right inbetween it. “Ah!” Sora was looking at Donald when he abruptly tried to close the book and gasped when Goofy’s nose made a honking sound. “Oh! Sorry, Goofy. Donald-!”

“Got it!” swiping the notes from Sora’s hand, Donald began to move to the side of the pilot’s chair and flip through it.

Sora fought ‘valiantly’ to get it back but Goofy held him back with one hand, giggling into the other in his infamous laugh.

Sora struggled as he switched from Goofy’s arm to reaching out for Donald. “Hey, no fair..!”

“Huh?” Donald’s eyes quickly skimmed the notes as he ducked his head into the book, reading quickly and animatedly. “This doesn’t make any sense...”

“Well, why don’t’cha read it out loud, then? A-ya-huk!” Goofy suggested as Sora finally pounded lightly on his hand and he let go, having Sora blush and reach for Donald.

“Dooon’t-! Offph!” he fell short as Donald stuck out his wand to pin Sora back, then trip him up so he fell straight to the ground while attempting to lean against the wand.

“It says, ‘a wonderful ride, maybe try some singing’?”

“Ohh... that is strange.” Goofy placed a finger up to his mouth. “Maybe it’s out of context, try and... uh... read some more!”

“No!” Sora’s head zipped back up, now on all fours. He looked truly embarrassed.

“Quuaah... ‘True love’s kiss breaks the spell every time, but maybe... true love is just being close to that special someone you hold close to your heart, and showing how much you care about them.”

“Stooopp!!!” Sora plugged his ears, pulling his hair a bit down on its sides in the process.

“Gwosh, sounds like Sora’s been doing some research of his own in the ways of the heart!” Goofy kid.

“Yeah! With each note, there’s a world we’ve been too. Awhhh... Agrabah. New Orleans... Wah! Here’s one from Dumbo! ‘It’s not the power of your special ability, like a keyblade or feather, that helps one to achieve their potential. Sometimes, it’s always just been inside you. If I can tell her my true feelings, which have always been inside me, then maybe I don’t need a Paopu fruit. Though I hear they’re very tasty... I wanted to wait to share one with-EMMPH! Emm, uhmph!” Donald was immediately seized upon by Sora’s hands shutting his bill tight.

With a face as red as his, he looked away and didn’t make eye contact, but Donald, while struggling, narrowed his eyes in determination and threw the book to Goofy, muttering something that sounded kinda like, ‘What’s the big idea?! Goofy!’

Goofy fumbled in a comedic way to catch the journal, then opened it up and began to laugh to himself multiple times.

Finally, Donald stomped on Sora’s big foot, “Oww! Hey!” Sora let go to reach his foot up, rubbing it, before forcibly slamming it down and having sparks fly between him and Donald’s eyes, a clear battle about to ensue before Donald turned his attention back to Goofy.

With a mischevious intent, he waved a hand out to gesture to him, “Goofy! Read it out loud!” then turned to Sora, hands confidently to his sides. “It’s about time you came clean... this could help you admit your inner feelings-WAHH!! Wha-Wha-whaa!!!” In the duck’s infamous cry, he dodged Sora’s keyblade swipe and ran from him as he charged.

“Get back herrrreee!!!” Sora called, as they raced around the gummy ship.

Goofy took a moment, scratching his head as though remembering to read out loud, and carefully plotting to speak clearly and read the sentences a few times, then finally nodded. “Ohhh’kay! It says ‘ere... umm... Oh right, sorry.” he flipped the page and laughed, as though looking at a blank sheet of paper. His eyes skimmed just like Donalds, holding the book really close before pulling it far away. “Duhh... ‘Grandmother Willow said to listen with your heart, and you will understand. Princess’...uh... oh! That’s gotta be ‘Pocahontas’ Gee... is that how it looks?” he turned the book to the side and squinted, as though incredulous to the fact that those letters all put together made her name. “Well, anyway, ‘Princess Pocahontas used that to learn John’s language. I’ve heard the saying that love is a language all in itself. Is that how she was able to communicate with him? Or even with us? Will Kairi know what I’m saying without really saying it with my mouth... but with my heart?’ Ah-yah-huk! Well, ain’t that the cutest thing!” He hugged the book close, still having it open, and shaking his head to emphasize his adoration of what he just read. “Reminds me of my Maxie! And his first crush. Why, he went all the way to that there Powerline concert just to keep a promise to her. Ah... I miss my boy.” He wiped a large tear forming at the side of his eye.

Suddenly, a keyhole opened.

Sora and Donald, in the midst of an absolute wrestle war, suddenly stopped mid-attack--a silly jumble of themselves--to see it.

“Goofy...” Sora, forgetting himself for a moment, noticed the keyhole and realized Goofy really did miss his son. He stopped the brawling momentarily, putting Donald at ease, and walked over to him. “Goofy... would you like to go back to your world now? Just for a moment to... check things out?” He smiled.

Goofy was extremely touched. Smiling wide, he then remembered the book and held it out. “We’ve been to so many worlds... You even wrote just here that when we went back to the Lion King world, Kiara and Kovu reminded you of how you’re constantly separated from Kairi... I guess... Ohhh... Me and Donald are constantly separated from our loved ones too.”

Donald sighed, “Daisy...”

“That’s right.” Sora looked back to Donald, “You guys sacrifice just as much as I do to be doing what’s right...” there was a moment of empathy in Sora, and he didn’t feel the need to be embarrassed about missing Kairi anymore, or the fact that he was writing down not only romantic devices he had learned from other worlds, but also colllecting his thoughts together to understand his own feelings.

He scratched the back of his head, “I promise, I’m not just goofying around.” he joked.

Donald laughed, but Goofy just smiled, “So, how are you gonna woo Kairi?”

He suddenly flinched and Donald laughed even harder, pointing to him, slapping his knee, and clutching his stomach.

Sora found a new reason to want to fight again... but instead, he just stomped a foot toward Donald and held up a fist, “Ohh! Like you could do any better!”

“I could! And I would!” Donald spat out, sticking his tongue out to tease his sensitive side further.

As the three headed into Goofy’s world to meet his son, the lyrics ‘Eye to Eye’ were the next Sora began to write down about.

“If we listen to each other's heart! We'll find we're never too, far apart, and maybe love(!) is the reason why,... for the first time ever, we're seein' it eye to eye.” Sora sang as he tapped his hands to the rhythm on the side of his captain's seat.

Goofy suddenly giggled.

So did Donald.

“What now?” Sora turned around, “Ariel taught me to sing and Sabastian said I had good pitch- AH!” Sora noticed the notebook still in their hands and their sly expressions of contorted, cartoony pleasure as they prepared to state what they were thinking.

“You want to stop by and ask Tiny Chef..” Goofy twisted one of his ears around his finger...

“-to help you make some...  Spaghetti?” Donald sneered, snickering in his infamous duck laugh.

Sora almost flipped to reach the two of them and rip the notebook away. 

THIRST AID KIT | S3E08 | A WHOLE YEAR, FAM

WE’RE A WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR OLD. 😭

*cue Stevie Wonder*

It’s not everyday Thirst Aid Kit turns ONE YEAR OLD. And so we have an extra special episode here for ya — from southern men to British baes, newbies to Zaddies, french fries to hearty snacks, we tried to show love to all the baes we’ve loved before and we’re thrilled you’ve been along for the ride. We’re talking messages from former guests across the seasons of Thirst Aid Kit, from super-listener thirst-buckets, and from the celebrity world [SPOILER: YES, CHRIS EVANS]. And so many other treats. Grab a chilled drink and a fan and get buckled in! Let’s go!

We began with a real ‘Behind The Candelabra’ Moment where we revealed what goes into our much-misunderstood opening segment, [REDACTED]. We chose some of the most-requested episodes: our very first, starring Andre 3000 (😍), and of course our two patron saints, John Cho, and Keanu Reeves (spoiler: we were drinking cider in that [REDACTED]. Innocent cider!)

Shoutout to every single producer and editor we’ve ever had on Thirst Aid Kit – your flawlessly applied beeps have helped to take our sweet but suggestive little tributes into the realm of filth and joy. Shoutout to Eleanor Kagan, Julia Furlan, Agerenesh Ashagre, Meg Cramer, Megan Detrie, Neena Pathak, TK Dutes, and Camila Salazar. 🤗😘

We moved on to talking about out fave moments from the three seasons of TAK. We all have our faves, but we chose three, one from each season, starting with Oscar Isaac, our Season 2 opening episode. We laughed a lot about just how ridiculous Oscar’s bit in the not-great In Secret? Remember?

Ah, memories!

We also cackled at our over-the-top reaction to that scene in Creed, and how Michael Bae Jordan made us feel like we could tackle our to do lists FOREVER. And then we reminisced about the time Gena-Mour Barrett, The Perv’s Perv, came on the show in our Loony For Toons episode, and went HAM on a) Kovu from The Lion King 2; and b) Winnie the Pooh. Nichole said she enjoyed the way Winnie the Pooh ate honey, and Gena chimed in and said he “gobbles it up.” JESUS CHRIST.

Then of course, we got into one of our listeners’ favorite segments: Fanfic Wars. Between us, we have written more than fifty (50!) short stories over the course of this year, and well, we love writing those drabbles! So we went a little deep on our faves, and what they say about us and and very specific kinks (Bim: men doing housework. Nichole: men doing... housework 👀). We chose from across all the seasons, so! Nichole went back to the John Cho episode. Excerpt below:

He places the bouquet on the bar, and gathers my hand against his cheek. He waits until I return his gaze and says, “maybe we wished on the same star as children. Maybe you’re the princess I died slaying a dragon for in another life. Maybe this is a type of hell where our punishment is knowing we’ll never have another love like this. I don’t know. But whatever I did to deserve you, I’d do it again and again, and again.” The woman behind me lets out a soft, “damn.”

Bim also chose from the first season, picking the drabble she wrote for Andrew Lincoln:

The wave in his hair gets tighter the further back you go, and because he hasn’t had a haircut recently — at my insistence, I have to admit — the curls gather and sit right on his collar, making my hands itch to touch. I must have made a sounds because he turns off the tap before turning to me. His face is a little flushed, from the steam, I presume, and he’s smiling. The smile reaches his eyes but I don’t linger there. Instead I let my eyes rest on one of my favorite features of his: that noble nose.

And there are other drabbles besides!

We also did a very special thing this episode: a MUTUAL WEDDING PROPOSAL. 😭All the best of life and love to Jenny and Henry, who allowed us to be part of their engagement. Thanks for trusting us, and happy married life!

No Fanfic Wars because, well, ISSA BUMPER BIRTHDAY EPISODE ALREADY! From the dirty auntie laughs to the profane gasps of delight, we’ve enjoyed every minute of breaking down pop culture and thirst with you. You can listen to the whole episode RIGHT HERE. (more links to listen are down below).

Guest shoutouts in order of appearance (you can find all the episodes they appear in on our Episodes page):

Bridget Minamore, The Great British Bae Off

Tobin Low and Kathy Tu, Nancy Podcast, The Nancy Fancies

Jen, Glorious Thirst Bucket

Krutika Mallikarjuna, Pow! Bam! Thirst!

Gena-mour Barrett, Loony for Toons

Julia Furlan, Former TAK Producer

Cynthia Harris, Southern Baes

Alanna Bennett, Tom Hiddleston, The Earnest Scarecrow

Bolu Babalola, Back to Baesics

Cookie, Glorious Thirst Bucket

Essence Gant, The Sterling Choice

Brittany Luse, More, More, More

Ayumi, Glorious Thirst Bucket

Daniel M. Ortberg, Literary Baes

Eleanor Kagan, Former TAK Producer

Samantha, Glorious Thirst Bucket

We’re on Twitter at @bimadew and @tnwhiskeywoman; the show is on Twitter at @thirstaidkit. Send us your (short!) drabbles at [email protected]. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, please, because WE NEED IT LIKE OXYGEN.

TO LISTEN

Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to your device automatically every Thursday. We’re on Apple | Stitcher | Spotify | Google Play | Podbean | Overcast or you can search ‘Thirst Aid Kit’ wherever you get your podcasts.

DRINK UP, THIRST-BUCKETS — IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY! 🥂🍾🎉

requests

If you want to type one of these requests, please use our SUBMIT page.

Ryn from Siren

chaos walking - todd and viola

Peter Pan

Early Man, Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit - Gromit (I think IXTP)            

Enchanted April

john beckwith and claire cleary from wedding crashers  

The Walking Dead: Glenn Rhee

Christine Collins (changeling)

Frances Ha

Lee Israel from Can You Ever Forgive Me

Dead To Me on Netflix (Mod: NFP 9w1 / 92?; ISTJ 8w9 / 825)

The Lion King 2 characters? Kiara, Kovu?     

Jennifer Blake (Teen Wolf)      

Norse gods (MBTI and enneagram)

life is strange 2

Druck (Skam Germany)

Call The Midwife: Sister Mildred (Mod note: ESTJ. Prob. an 8.)

Emperor of Mankind (Warhammer 40k)            

These Lion King characters are currently open!

Jahmil French as Kovu Sewlyn (Kovu from The Lion King II)

Logan Browning as Kira Pendleton (Kira from The Lion King II)

Mazzi Mazz as Timon Matata (Timon from The Lion King)

Come and join us as we revitalize this truly amazing concept! Join in an entirely new and exciting adventure in the halls of this well know school, play as your favorite Disney characters, and be a part of a fantastic role-playing family! New mysteries, powerful magic, and friends to last a lifetime wait around every corner! Why not find your place in this extraordinary world?

Now open! With a large cast of characters already in play, why not come and join us today?

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