My Lion King Forum

First off, who are kovu's parents? He was originally going to be scars son but was changed when one of the higher ups at disney realized that kovu and kiara were cousins.

Is nuka or vitani in any way related to kovu?

If kovu was born before the events of the battle for pride rock, just how old is he exactly at the beginning of sp?

If nuka and vitani are ziras children, who was their father? Scar?

[quote]First off, who are kovu's parents? He was originally going to be scars son but was changed when one of the higher ups at disney realized that kovu and kiara were cousins.[/quote]

Zira is his mother, and his father is left unknown after the change was made. He was just some random lion.

[quote]Is nuka or vitani in any way related to kovu?[/quote]

They're his siblings. Whether they're half-siblings is left up to fan interpretation.

[quote]If kovu was born before the events of the battle for pride rock, just how old is he exactly at the beginning of sp?[/quote]

It's unspecified how long it took from the time of Simba's return to the beginning of the sequel, but assuming he was just born not long before Scar's demise, he would have been around 4 months old by the time Kiara is born.

Going by real lions, he should have already been significantly larger than her by the time they meet each other, so it's a bit of an age flub on DisneyToon Studios' part. Although, as much of a hard time as I'd give for SP's team for other plot errors and inconsistencies in the film, I wouldn't knock them too hard for fudging up the size of Kovu, though. They probably did it on purpose to make them look like more of a match.

Besides, even the team behind the first TLK was originally going to put a "2 years later, Kenya" early on in production for the scene after the Hakuna Matata sequence, and there's no way that Simba is only 2 years old after the time skip happens(heck, even going by his original design with the smaller and spikier mane we see in concept art and some old pencil tests, he still would have looked a bit too old).

[quote]If nuka and vitani are ziras children, who was their father? Scar?[/quote]

Like with Kovu, it is left unknown. Going by Vitani's size alongside Kovu's, she may have been born in the same litter as him(although, as mentioned above, his age is so wonky that it's actually possible she wasn't). If they were, there's still a small chance that they may have not had the same father , as it is actually possible for cubs in the same litter to have been sired by different males.

Nuka's father could be anyone. Scar or the same lion who sired Kovu and Vitani, or maybe even another lion.

^ The thing is, Kovu's age may not be wonky. Nothing in the final version definitively shows he was born before Scar's death. Zira says he was hand picked by Scar, but we have no proof that that's so, or if it is, that Scar didn't return as a spirit like Mufasa did. Or she could have hallucinated, or had a very vivid dream of it. We can't positively say whether or not Kovu was born before or after Scar's death. I go with after, because otherwise, his age is wonky.

And based on Disney's decision not to make Zira Scar's mate, none of her kids are his. Including Nuka.

[quote="Julie Skywalker"]^ The thing is, Kovu's age may not be wonky. Nothing in the final version definitively shows he was born before Scar's death. Zira says he was hand picked by Scar, but we have no proof that that's so, or if it is, that Scar didn't return as a spirit like Mufasa did. Or she could have hallucinated, or had a very vivid dream of it. We can't positively say whether or not Kovu was born before or after Scar's death. I go with after, because otherwise, his age is wonky.[/quote]

It's possible, but considering they never implied that he was chosen by other means than what we're led to believe, I tend to just go with before even if it means accepting an age flub.

One could say that Scar may have chosen him very early on when Zira was still carrying him, and had met his demise before Kovu was even born, but that really negates the whole "handpicked" statement. It'd be far from a choice handled with at least a modicum of care and thought if that were the case, and that just undermines the entire thing. The whole chosen one plot point is already a rather contrived element in the story just so they can dance around the incest issue, so I'd hate to have it actually be somehow even more forced and cheesy than it already is. Kovu would probably still have to be a bit bigger than Kiara for that idea to work anyway.

I always assumed she just made that up because she's crazy and saw the resemblance to Scar. Like I said, all we have as evidence is her word and she's obviously not in her right mind. I assumed that was the case when I first saw the movie at six years old.

[quote="Elton John"]First off, who are kovu's parents? He was originally going to be scars son but was changed when one of the higher ups at disney realized that kovu and kiara were cousins.

Is nuka or vitani in any way related to kovu?

If kovu was born before the events of the battle for pride rock, just how old is he exactly at the beginning of sp?

If nuka and vitani are ziras children, who was their father? Scar?[/quote]

Zira is Kovu`s mother, but his father is unkown.
Nuka and Vitani are his siblings, Zira is the mother of all of them. Who their father(s) is/are is unknown. Some fans believe that Nuka is Scar`s son, but that Scar picked Kovu as his "heir" due to deeming Nuka unfit for the job as leader/king. This is just speculation, though. The only thing we know about the parentage of the cubs is that Zira is the mother of all three, and that Scar is not the father (at least not of Kovu).

Kovu`s age is uncertain. He certainly looks the same age as Kiara, though it makes sense to assume he should be older, considering Zira mentions that he was born right before they were exiled (when Simba returned to claim the throne)... so technically, Kovu is older than Kiara but they`re made to appear the same age in the film.

i just want to give a fun fact! i have a ladybird book from simbas pride that said that zira was scars mate during his reign ^-^

^ And, as EJ pointed out in the OP, a director said that wasn't so, despite originally being planned. It isn't a canon fact that she was his mate, only that she was obsessed with him and that Kovu is not his son. It doesn't fit Scar's personality to have a mate at all at any point, imo, and there is no solid evidence that, in the movie verse, he ever did have one.