Would it Last?

[Carl]

Here's an interesting idea that's come up, NostalgicChills on deviantArt reckons that Kiara and Kovu would have ended up splitting up. Take a look at what she wrote:

[quote="NostalgicChills"]Don't hate me for this. It's a known fact that one in three marriages ends in divorce. Sometimes the person you're with will leave you, it'll be heartbreaking and it won't be fair. But that's life sometimes. There were three unions/marriages in TLK: Mufasa & Sarabi were seperated by death, Simba & Nala were still together by the end of the second movie, so who does that leave? Yup! Kiara and Kovu. You could argue that they didn't really get married at the end, but there was some kind of union ceremony and most fan fiction writers say that they do, so i'm going to say they got married too.

Now, before you bite my head off; i didn't choose Kiara & Kovu for this just because i dislike them (which i do), i actually have good reasons to think that it'll end this way. First of all, their age. Kiara and Kovu if they were human, i'd say they'd be about 16 years old. That's a little too young to get married, at 16; we aren't fully matured yet emotionally or physically. Young people, especially young guys aren't ready to settle down at that age, they stil have a lot of testoterone and need to experience their young lives at the fullest. To settle down at 16?? Not fricken' likely! Yeah, Simba & Nala were young too, but not THAT young. You can tell by the size of Simba's mane compared to Kovu's, Simba's mane was full, Kovu's was not. So i'd say Simba would have roughly been in his 20's or so when he and Nala reunited.

Secondly, Kovu's upbringing. Kovu was raised to kill, Zira filled his heart and soul with hate and anger. That's something that can't be fixed in an instant, not even 'love' can erase the damage that Zira had done. He wouldn't know how to be a good husband, it's not like he even had a father figure either.

Thirdly, what would stop him from leaving? Aside from Simba probably killing him, and having somewhere to live. But really, Kovu has no real obligation to stay. If Simba is still in charge, Kovu could just up and leave. Simba and Nala needed to stay together, they were to rule the Pride Lands as King and Queen once Scar was pushed off the throne. Then they had a child together, so togther they stayed. But really, if Kovu left the Pride Lands while Simba was in charge, they could just find another suitor. It wouldn't be fair to Kiara, but that's how it would work.

Plus, i'm sorry but to me; Kiara & Kovu are the weakest TLK couple in the franchise. Mufasa and Sarabi's relationship was pretty down played, but you could still see the love they obviously had together before they were divided (and likely reunited) by death. Simba and Nala spent most of their childhoods together, and no doubt developed a strong bond. They were seperated by tragedy, reunited by a bizarre coincidence, fell in love, argued, threw Scar off his throne and took back their land. They had a child, and worked together to ensure the life of the Pride Lands. Kiara & Kovu roughly had a similar circumstance, but weaker. Yeah yeah, they stopped the war between the families and united the prides, but i just didn't feel the connection between them. All i can really think about when watching them are 'High School sweethearts'. Yeah, they look cute together, but you know that it most likely won't last for more than a few years. There are exceptions of course, but they're very rare.

Before you comment telling me how wrong i am about Kiara & Kovu, could you seperate your personal preference for me? Don't base your opinion around how much you like these characters, if you like them, that's fine! But try and see my point of view from a logical standpoint, if Simba & Nala were more likely to divorce, i would ackowledge it. But the odds really are against Kiara & Kovu, whether you want to admit it or not.[/quote]

So, what do you guys think about it?

[FlipMode]

[quote] First of all, their age. Kiara and Kovu if they were human, i'd say they'd be about 16 years old.[/quote]

But they aren't human, so there's the entire 2nd paragraph moot. Even if they were human some of that wouldn't apply.
But yeah, they are cute together and that there is the problem as far as I can tell. Most of the happiest couples I know, I look at them and think "Huh?" because they are both so different... But it just kind of "works" y'know? Like, the last two girls I've been with were both like that, we got along too well and it just feels like it's the same person rather than two people actually going well together. This, like many things I can talk about properly is something I learned from trial and error.

But then they actually are quite different when you think about it, but then Kovu did kind of change completely who he was so that he could be with her... Which never ends well in relationships, if you can't even be honest with yourself then it'll never work with another person.
I think there are as many points to make for it working as there are for it not working. And that's the thing, in the context of the film it's hard to say really. Usually people just "know" when they find the right person for them and even then the feeling needs to be reciprocal and people can change suddenly too...
I'll just say that humans are a lot more complex than that so the points made in the OP are a bit, well clutching at straws I suppose I'd call that.

[juhouh]

I don't care what NostalgicChill says that's just crap to my ears since I think differently. There have been like 100 "TLK 3" FanFics around and all of them would make sense.

Some people just have this common "I know what happened" problem and then they wants everyone to believe in their own theories

My final answer: Yes it would (but I missclicked "no")

[MooLion]

In the Disney/TLK context I would say of course they'd stay together. They had to make a few sacrifices and their (too fast) love for one-another prevailed in the end. Mostly in reply at a comment by Flip, Kovu changed for Kiara for the good. He wasn't a bad cub, got brainwashed into badness by his mother, and finding Kiara 'gradually' erased that bad to bring out the goodness he could be, blah blah. He's still Kovu, which his natural outsidery tendences, but with better balance, so it would still work for Kovu and Kiara.

[zinxscar]

Yeah. They'd stay together. Mainly because Disney refuses to break up a couple unless it's at the beginning of the movie and they get back together in the end. It's just expected by now.

[ScarLoyal]

I believe they stay together because Kovu has no reason to leave Kiara with the company of his sister, Pride, and I personally believe Kovu is older than Kiara so he is practically already grown up. But as for Kiara. She would probably go into a 'depression' once Simba died and feel 'lost' without her father's guidance and 'wisdom' But even real rulers have went through that and grew into true royals. Kovu also might be 'paranoid' of turning into another Scar and has frequent nightmares of his mother's death almost like Simba was paranoid of Kovu being just like how Scar intended for him to be. And who knows, maybe K & K would be like those argumentative families. IMO of course. An interesting theory!

[Regulus]

Wait. So we're talking about the reunion of two prides that have been mortal enemies for an entire generation... and the first concern here is that it won't work because Kovu is too young to settle down. Of all the things that would put a strain on that relationship, I don't think the problem would originate from Kovu or Kiara.

I'd say their relationship wouldn't last because of external factors. One little mishap from Simba, Nala, Vitani, or any of the other Outlanders or Pridelanders would cause all sorts of trouble. Even though we're led to believe that everything is okie dokie in the end, I personally believe that there would still be a lot of hate and prejudice on both sides. To grow up being told that someone is your enemy, and then to actually fight them on several occasions—you can't just expect those memories to be erased.

That's big. That's like the modern-day equivalent of Kim Jong-un falling in love with Beyoncé, and then we're all supposed to be happy to welcome every North Korean into America.

[DGFone]

^ Not exactly. North Korea has a God-worship level of hatred of the US, and that has been going on since 1952, so several generations. Quite different than the Outsiders and the Pride Landers, which were split for less than a generation. Plus, we only know that Zira herself was madly hateful of Simba. I don't know how much loyalty the others had towards the same attitude, but based on the final battle in SP, it's safe to assume that they did not share Zira's passionate hate. So in fact, the two prides getting along is much easier than the DPRK and the US.

But I do agree that the tension that might cause trouble is not whether or not Kovu and Kiara will have their love last, but rather someone else in the pride failing to get along with the others.

I've read a few fan fictions where Vitani couldn't adapt to the comfort of the Pride Lands, and while they never ended with another civil war, quite a few had Vitani leave before she cause too much trouble, no matter how much Kiara or even Kovu might object to a self-exile.

[LionessJhr13]

I voted "yes" because honestly, I think Kiara brought out the real Kovu, but didn't change him. When we're watching the movie we're always led to believe that Kovu is good, he doesn't ever just turn evil, even if it looks that way. Whenever he's acting evil, you know it's fake, he doesn't act like Scar or Zira, he can be violent but the intense hatred just isn't there, and it never was. While Kovu is with Kiara, they have some fun and pretty quickly he becomes normal, if not a little confused sometimes. I also think they had a little more time for their bond and love to grow before Kiara inherited the throne and they got married. I don't think that ceremony at the end was a wedding, it was just about uniting the prides.