"There was a darkness in Scar that he couldn't escape." "Maybe there's a darkness in me, too."
I know those two lines are from Simba's Pride, but they work so well for this particular storyline. For those who don't know, the cub/preteen lion in the foreground is an AU version of Kopa. He's the son of Simba and Zira, and was banished with his mother and half-siblings when he was very young. He grows up hating his father for what he's done, and vows to take back the Pridelands someday.