My Lion King Forum

Kiara is a great character, I know she will be an awesome Big Sister.

I like Kiara as well she was a good contrast to Simba from the first movie being pretty much his opposite both as a cub and as an adult. I never found her whiny either it's natural to want to be free and determine your own life. I also feel being sad about losing your lover is also perfectly reasonable.

I think Kiara just had the misfortune of following Simba as the main character. I mean Simba's conflict was all about being overwhelmed by guilt because he blamed himself for his fathers death and finding the courage to face his past and take his place in the circle of the life. I pity anyone who has to come after that arc there's a reason everyone loved the first movie.

She's still a great character her conflict with Simba is very complex and her desire for freedom and independence is understandable and her relationship with Kovu is sweet. I really don't understand a lot of the hate the character gets yeah she makes mistakes and she sometimes says things she shouldn't but so did Simba
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I do feel Kiara was a great main character who was just as strong as Simba maybe stronger. Her arc unfortunately really can't match his but I do find her admirable she was accepting of everyone giving anyone a chance regardless of their differences and when she had the chance to have everything she wanted and truly be free she instead chose to go back to her family and fulfill her place anyway even more impressive no one had to persuade Kiara to do this she chose to all by herself throw in her risking her life to save Zira who she had no reason to. She may be stubborn and occasionally get mad about not getting her way but she doesn't want anything except to be free beyond that she's completely and utterly selfless.

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I've never understood all the Kiara hatred. I think she is a good character first of all because as a young cub she worries about pleasing Simba and wants to be more free and not treated special because of her status as princess. Making friends with Kovu also shows her being open to others and not biased because of the bad reputation of the outlanders. I find one of her best moments telling Simba that he will never be Mufasa! That is very bold of her and wise. Simba is trying too hard to be his father and not himself. She also steps in front of battling lionesses to get the we are one message across. I find her positive and bubbly which I think is a good quality.

I don't "hate" her, nah, I'm not into hating on fictional characters, but I don't particulary like her neither. While I don't really mind her as a cub, I think she's way too careless and immature as an adult. She still acts like a child, unable to understand most of things and acting too harsh and emotional. Her original design is pretty bland too.

I like her more design and personality wise in TLG. I like her interaction with Kion and how she teases him. I like that she's being more mature and responible and her design is more pleasant to look at too.

Growing up SP was my favorite TLK movie, and I loved Kiara and Kovu and Vitani. As I got older, I stopped liking the film as much, and began to dislike Kiara for a while. Because she does have those moments of immaturity and she doesn't seem to think things through and she seemed pretty shallow.

That said, as I went through life, I began to notice a lot more depth to her character than was first apparent. She's one of those people who are very bubbly and cheery and seem like they don't put thought into things but have maturity and wisdom beyond their years that a lot of people just fail to see. I know some people like this irl and honestly at one point I actually began to relate to Kiara myself. She's flawed, sure, and she can act rashly, but overall she's got a lot of her mother's spirit in her, and even some of her grandfather's, I'd say. So yeah, I like Kiara as a character quite a bit these days.

The part that really irks me about Kiara, well more about the writing... is during 'love will find a way' when she says 'I may not be brave or strong or smart'. The worst lyrics in a disney movie?

She isn't brave? She went to go find Kovu when the outlanders were a huge threat and her daddy exiled him. She was so excited to go on her first hunt, a coward would have ran off.

Not strong? She doesn't look like a weakling to me.

Not smart? She probably shouldn't apply for mensa but that's because she's a lion, they would not accept her. Speciests. She never struck me as stupid. Smart, in what sense? As in Einstein smart or common sense smarts?

Eh...

I understand what you're getting at with that line, but I always took it as more that she was being humble. She is those things, even though that's not what she's set out to be, and she doesn't consider herself to be those things because she's wise enough to know that there will always be people out there who are braver, stronger, or smarter than she is, and that those things aren't everything. Well, that's how I always interpreted it, anyway.

One of my interpretations is that she has self esteem issues.

It's more likely it's just poor writing.

That line always rubbed me the wrong way, but I couldn't pinpoint why. I think you finally hit the nail on the head there, EJ. Kiara is incredibly brave, in the face of crocodiles, rhinos, and going out to find Kovu when tensions were high. She's plenty strong physically, and even stronger emotionally. And okay, she doesn't come off as overly-scholarly, but she's far from stupid. Just very naive, which is pretty realistic for teenagers at that stage of life. And she has her "wisdom beyond her years" moments.

Thanks to the Freeform channel (formerly ABC Family) showing both LK 1 and 2 a good handful of times during the past 2 years, I now have much more exposure to this film. So because of that, I've seen a lot more of this character in depth. And I have to say that while I'm not fond of any of the lion characters, adult Kiara has become a (partial) exception in my book.
Very honestly, she's a character that I personally find to be a bit hard to not like regardless of her being a lioness and princess. Although, having a somewhat unique design from the rest. Heck, even seeing fanart of her as an LK meerkat out there (before I saw more of her character in film), intrigued me.

The main reason why it's hard for me to Not like adult Kiara is because she has a Very strong underlying sense of morality. Watching SP fully several times now, she stands up to Simba twice and tells him the reality of what things really are and should be (that he'll never be Mufasa and that the outlanders are also them). But more important, she sacrifices herself and even goes to the point of trying to save a hostile enemy who almost kills her in the process. Although this may also be because she's the character who got the most development in SP.

The part where Kiara says [i]"..I'll help you."[/i] to an about to fall to her death Zira always gets me, because it's such merciful and un-common compassion to have toward a highly evil or aggressive person. Plus, Kiara's expression at that part paints this clearly and this all goes to point that this character would mean no less to me even if she wasn't officially created as a lioness in the franchise.

Another less significant reason is because of how poorly Simba as her father treated and wanted her to conform to him. Seeing as I dealt with obviously different conforming issues coming from my father, these kind of actions usually Do result in the child having at least some personal resentment to their parent even if it's temporary.

As far as brains are concerned, Kiara isn't necessarily a smart character and pretty far from an "Einstein". She engulfs herself in a fire without much thought beforehand, and hunts so blindly to the point that I don't think she should be a lioness in this case (but goes back to why I still wouldn't see adult Kiara any less of an interesting character even if she wasn't a lioness).
Though, adult Kiara as a person is pure and fairly wise, and so I definitely credit her for that. But, wisdom and smarts are two different things. A dumb person in real life can easily still have a sense of morality and wide open compassion towards others in them. 'Definitely Not a bad thing at all though.