My Lion King Forum

It just occurred to me that besides Simba and Nala, I don't think we see any other cubs in the film.
My friend said "Well maybe the royal family didn't want other lionesses to have cubs and create a family that could overthrow them?".
Nala and Simba were betrothed that young so its almost like they knew she was the only option, as if they made it inevitable.

Lions typically are known as king of the jungle. So it might be that they put a law in place to stop other lionesses from reproducing in order to protect their monarchy. It might also have something to do with why Zira and her cubs were banished. Just some crazy explanations we came up with.

I'm sure its been discussed before but in this moment I'm interested to hear what you guys think? Where are all the other cubs? Just a goof on Disney's side or do you have your own ideas on where they were?
Additional though:Not even in the presentation in the beginning where we see other young animals are there any lion cubs.

Having only two cubs is a terrible way of preserving a monarchy.

Yes, let's take the gene pool, and flatten it with a steamroller. That'll work!

I think the main reason there aren't other cubs is because other characters weren't necessary, like with the deletion of Mheetu.

However, they could have thrown a few in in the background with the unnamed lionesses just to make it seem more realistic and they didn't. Maybe they just didn't think about it?

Or maybe Mufasa was entirely devoted to his queen, Scar was infertile, and the lionesses couldn't find many other males?

Well in fantasy land of a child's mind, guys don't share girls like lions do. They're used to a mommy and a daddy per child. Unless of course they've grown up in a different kind of situation. They didn't think about it and it's unnecessary. They kept true in the fact that prides are usually a lion and many lionesses though, so it's not like they didn't do any research

Darn it, Julie beat me to it! Pretty much, I don't think any additional cubs were featured because they were not necessary for the story. Linda Woolverton (one of the co-screenwriters) wrote an early draft giving Nala a brother named Mheetu, but his purpose to the story was written out after his role was transferred to the other characters according to storyboard artist Thom Enriquez. Also, having more cubs would be problematic to the story since after they grow up into adults, they (given if there's a male) can just as well threaten to overthrow Scar, and the whole storyline to get Simba to return home because he's the rightful king is rendered useless. We also discussed some months ago about Simba not having any sibling(s) because it would be impossible for Scar to kill them all, and still make it look like an accident.

[quote="ScarsLove"]I think I recall in one scene of the TLK when Simba goes to wake up Mufasa that you can see some cubs, or much younger looking lions, amongst the pile. I do see the point in them being pointless additions to the movie but it would've made it more realistic, in my opinion, only because they added so many other lionesses but no other cubs. Granted, this might confuse some children because they're used to the base of idea of 'daddy + mommy' not 'daddy + mom1 + mom2 + mom3 + mom4', but I digress. [/quote]

I remember seeing a cub but i just assumed it was nala.

I think that cub is meant to be Nala, but unlike Nala, her pawtoes are the color of her underbelly rather than that of her main pelt, so it could be interpreted as a different cub. However, they did make this error on Sarafina a few times in this film, and the same mistake on Nala in SP, so it could just as easily be her.

Yeah, while disney animators are some of the best out there even they make mistakes at times.

Or maybe they didn't care.

Keep in mind that 2D animation is VERY time and effort consuming - it's one of the many reasons why 3D animation took over so thoroughly rather than becoming just another form of animation. So when the animators choose to actually care about continuity in a scene, it's because it's important for the scene.

Adding other cubs to the pride? Not important. We have Simba and Nala who are needed for the story, but any other cubs would be just wasted time and effort. After all, they still thought of having Mheetu while he still had relevance in the story. As soon as that part was edited out, so went the character. Sure, they could have left him in as an easter egg, but I somehow doubt that the animators really cared enough to do so.

As for the scene where Simba runs inside the den to wake Mufasa up: the important elements are the fact that there is a pride, and that Mufasa and Sarabi are sleeping on their elevated platform. And yes, they included a cub that might or might not be Nala, but again: that is not important for the scene, so there was no need to make sure that the cub fit any particular description.

Remember that at the end of the day, Disney is a company, and profit is the goal. Keeping costs down is important, so if it's not needed, don't have it.