Cub simba and nala, were they just friends or was there a

[Elton John]

Hint of romance?

Ever since i bought the legacy collection cd set whenever i get to the music where they are having the betrothed speech i hear a 'can you feel the love tonight' cue. It's really blatant.

Is it meaningless? Is it a clever way of saying that the two did care about each other? Am i reading too much into it?

Also during scars announcement of mufasa and simbas death they show the lionesses mourning but also make sure to show young nala as the focus




Those look like tears straight from the heart.

Also the part where there are three vicious carnivores, and all of them are bigger than simba and nala. Close to the end of the elephant graveyard scene simba blatantly places himself in front of nala and does his best to ward off them. That to me is a sign of him caring about her.

[Captain Cupcake]

[quote="Elton John"]Ever since i bought the legacy collection cd set whenever i get to the music where they are having the betrothed speech i hear a 'can you feel the love tonight' cue. It's really blatant.

Is it meaningless? Is it a clever way of saying that the two did care about each other? Am i reading too much into it?[/quote]

It's just thematic foreshadowing, hinting at their eventual romance later on in the CYFTLT segment. It's similar to the unused portion of the first score cue in the set, where part of Be Prepared is hinted at during the middle of it, and would have been played during Scar and Mufasa's chat at the beginning of the film.

As for how they actually felt in the film, I think that it most likely was just a close friendship at the time. Simba coming to Nala's rescue, and then standing between her and the hyenas are obvious signs that he deeply cares for her, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has romantic feelings. You can have strong feelings for someone without actually being IN love with them. Same with her crying for him after she learns of his "death." They focus on her because she's one of the more significant characters and was also his best friend.

It's possible that they could have always loved each other deep down on a romantic level, but given that the whole purpose of the CYFTLT segment was to show two characters falling in love, it's unlikely, and we don't have much to imply that there was "something there." Those signs of closeness and caring early on in the film don't exactly indicate deep romantic feelings. They're just proof of a strong bond and that Simba isn't entirely a self-absorbed brat. Whether that bond is something much more deeper already, or something that would eventually blossom into love is left for viewer interpretation.

[gothprincesskiara]

Well let me bring out that when Simba and Nala reunite out of surprise, and Nala also suddenly goes from saying how hard it was for her to see Simba like coming back from the dead and then she suddenly nuzzles him and says how much she really missed him. To me I have to think Nala had some romantic feelings for Simba when she was younger or maybe by myth or fan fiction had a horrible hook up with some lion and or Scar, and once she saw Simba was alive again she thought she had a chance to romance him which she does in CYFTLT

[Marizzle]

[quote="Captain Cupcake"]As for how they actually felt in the film, I think that it most likely was just a close friendship at the time. Simba coming to Nala's rescue, and then standing between her and the hyenas are obvious signs that he deeply cares for her, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has romantic feelings. You can have strong feelings for someone without actually being IN love with them. Same with her crying for him after she learns of his "death." They focus on her because she's one of the more significant characters and was also his best friend. [/quote]
I agree with this by 100%.

[Iberian]

---------------------

[it means no worries]

I think that it was just a close (and innocent) friendship in the first half of the film, but then obviously got romantic by the time they are adults

[SimbasGuard]

I believed that they did care for one another, more so than they truly were capable of understanding as cubs. I can't say that it was a romantic attraction, but they definitely felt a very strong connection of some kind. That is why they had such a close friendship as cubs and that is why it was so easy (and Believable) for them to fall in love so quickly when they met each other as adults.

[Shenzi]

They were close friends. I honestly couldn't detect any obvious signs of romance when they are cubs. I believe that the romance starts to show when they're adults.

[FlipMode]

Its just that when you are a young male, girls are full of cootees and the idea of falling in love is ridiculous to you. But then you mature.
So I mean, yeah, I guess. The foreshadowing is that they deny it so much when they are younger, that's usually a pretty obviously sign, especially in films.

[PrincessKiara]

I`ve personally not seen anything romantic about the relationship between Nala and Simba when they were cubs. They were clearly very close friends, and their friendship deepened into love when they met again as mature adults. It`s clear that they meant a great deal to each other, I do for example love how Simba saves Nalas life in the Elephant Graveyard and tries to protect her as the hyenas come closing in... Nala gives young Simba emotional support and is naturally devastated to learn that he is "dead." She must have missed him terribly. Their reunion is so beautiful and heartwarming.
I agree with what was already stated, that the CYFTLT melody in the background when Zazu tells the cubs they`re engaged is just clever foreshadowing.