Could a Lioness rule the Pridelands?

[Misiziri]

I know they can be Queen like Sarabi, but could they "rule?" Or will any king's daughter have to find a male to rule? There is no right or wrong answer, just a topic. I'd love to think that the king's daughter would rightfully be ruler and not some rogue she finds, but still

[SuperBabySimba]

The way I interpret Simba's line in Simba's Pride, the princess will be the ruler itself.
He said to Kiara:
"Some day I won't be here and I need you to carry on in my place."

And as the canon's makers didn't bother to give the cub in the end a gender, it's pretty much implying that the gender doesn't matter. I guess that even though TLK is about lions and the canon used real life lion pride habbits to some extent, the leadership gender isn't one of them because they inserted the human type of kingdom ways in it too? And in those, the ruler can be either gender, has been so for centuries. At least in some countries.

[FlipMode]

Of course a female could rule over the PrideLands, I see no reason why she could not...

[Misiziri]

Good! That's a reasonable answer.

Although it's a common misconception that male lions 'rule' over females, they are guardians, not kings. There isn't any leadership in a lion pride, but each has a specific role that is benevolent towards the pride. Ladies hunt and raise children, males guard the territory and help create offspring. And then they crash for 20 hours digesting food, lol

[Misiziri]

But the reason I thought of this is because Mufasa is telling his son, "The great Kings of the past look down on us from those stars." Why didn't he say kings and queens? For my own peace-of-mind I like to think that kings give guidance to males and queens give guidance to females. That's kind of a dumb theory, but there is no right or wrong answer

[SuperBabySimba]

But the reason I thought of this is because Mufasa is telling his son, "The great Kings of the past look down on us from those stars." Why didn't he say kings and queens? For my own peace-of-mind I like to think that kings give guidance to males and queens give guidance to females. That's kind of a dumb theory, but there is no right or wrong answer

I don't think that's a dumb theory. Just like in parent-child relationships Dad's relate to sons better than mothers and mothers to daughters better than fathers. Thus, the gender could easily matter in who is the better option to give guidence.

[Misiziri]

Thanks, you're very smart!

[atouchofgrace]

Eh, I never got that idea in TLK. Nala wanted help, a lion to overthrone Scar and become king, right? That's the way I see it.
SP says gender it's not important, but SP is not very coherent when put together with the first one. So, I'll say a lioness can rule the Pridelands just to be fair, since I don't consider SP to be canon.

[Misiziri]

Okay, not to sound dim-witted, but... what is canon? Does that mean official?

[atouchofgrace]

Okay, not to sound dim-witted, but... what is canon? Does that mean official?

The term canon denotes the material accepted as "official", in a fictional universe's fan base.