Vitani is a cool character IMO because she is great for roleplays and fan fictions. I mean we're given so little, aside from her tomboyishness and the fact that she has some amount of good or logic in her. We are given just enough to give her a bit of personality, and to know that she is Zira's daughter. I prefer characters like this to characters like Sarafina, because there is a little bit of something already there to build off of. In Sarafina's case all we know is that she is Nala's mother and in one scene asked for Sarabi's opinion on something. That's it. But with Vitani, we get to see a little bit of her cubhood and some of her adulthood/adolescence.
She is shown as being somewhat bitter, but all of the Outlanders were, and understandably so. And there's not much other than that, but it is enough to give rise to theories of why. It begs the question, where does that come from? Is it just her personality, is it life in the Outlands, is it some unknown factor, is it jealousy over Kovu's position? There is so much left open to decide about her, and so many different ways to portray her without breaking that little we know of her.
She can be believably Zira's child by blood, or a kidnapped daughter of Nala, or even a random cub Zira adopted. She can be believably loyal to Kovu and Kiara once the prides have merged, and she can be believably against them. She can be believably straight, lesbian, bi, asexual. She can be believably cruel and cold, and she can be believably kind. It all depends on how the writer goes about it. I could keep listing things, but it could take a while, for to me, her potential is vast and nearly limitless.
The only thing Vitani can not be believably portrayed as, that I have thought of or seen, is girly girly, like Kiara. She would never be like that.
Not to mention she has a wonderful character design. She's scruffy, and has that tuft on her head. She's got the
only Outlander-style nose that is not black, it being pink. She's got purplish-blue eyes, and her colours are practically Pridelander colours. She's not grey or brown or reddish. Yes, Zira's colours are Pridelander-esque too, but most of the Outlanders have darker fur. To me, Vitani just has this... odd beauty. I don't know. I'm weird.
And finally, I have always felt a connection to her, being an "unappealing" outcast myself. I always got this feeling that she was somewhat misunderstood, and that she's only an "antihero" because she was remaining loyal to her family, which I can quite understand. My family doesn't have it too great, but I wouldn't bail on them for a rich almost-stranger without a damn good reason.
I don't know, I'm rambling and probably not making sense anymore, so I'll shut up.