[quote="Regulus"][quote="TheLionPrince"]
If I can barge into the conversation, it's unlikely and flat-out denied by Darrell Rooney who, in my attachment in my last post, explained that in the final version, Zira is a follower, but not a mate of Scar as originally intended. [/quote]
In your attachment, he states that Zira and Scar's relationship is obscured, not denied. The two a completely different.
We could sit here and interpret what the writers intended all day, but when it comes right down to it, they were only trying to cover up the whole incest issue by doing that. That's why we have these sorts of discussions; because they did a horrible job at covering it up.
The fact of the matter is, Zira was obsessively attracted to the idea of continuing Scar's heritage. So, as adults who know how the world works, are we seriously expected to believe that they didn't have a little something something (hint) going on between them?
Nuka being the son of Zira and Scar just makes sense logically. Scar wanted a heir of his own, we know that from TLKoB. Scar, being the narcissistic lion he was, found Zira and fathered Nuka but denied him the right to the throne, because he was not worthy. As a result, Zira mated with another lion to continue Scar's legacy, thus producing Vitani and Kovu, and Nuka followed his mother as a helpless cub feeling rejected.
Nuka being Scar's son also adds a reason for Simba to exile the Outlanders. This is just speculation, but instead of Zira killing Kopa, it is entirely possible that Zira could have attacked Simba. She could have been trying to protect Scar's cub from the big bad murder, Simba. Either that, or Simba just didn't want to deal with Scar's heir. If there wasn't a direct relationship, it wouldn't have been an issue.
It's obscured, but it's never denied.[/quote]
Yes, their relationship was obscured, but don't leave out the rest of the sentence: to make her a "follower". Zira and Scar had a relationship with each together which we will never know, but from what I can interpret from Rooney, her relationship with Scar (whatever it was) rose to nothing more than a follower.
Nuka being Scar's son just doesn't make any sense because not once in the movie does Nuka mention Scar as "Dad" or "Father" and after Nuka dies, Zira mourns stating Scar to watch her "poor Nuka" not "our poor Nuka". If deleted scenes were to count in this situation, after Zira fantasizes about being Scar's "loving, devoted queen" and Nuka is reminded that Scar (who again never states as his father) is dead, Nuka responds that as the oldest, he should be king until he's denounced by Zira. And since you tend to quote Nuka's dialogue ("...Scar wasn't even his father. He just took him.") as evidence of being Scar's son, please keep in mind, he later complains to Vitani that because he's the oldest cub of Zira, he should be the chosen heir of Scar. It has little to nothing to do with Nuka's resentment that Kovu isn't Scar's blood descendant.
And it's commonly accepted by the fanbase that Zira and the Outsiders were exiled by Simba for their past loyalty to Scar. While I do have a theory that Zira could have attacked Simba or the Pridelanders, my purpose of the attack was for Zira to avenge Scar's death. It would be line up with Zazu's comments, "Nothing there but a bunch of backstabbing, murderous Outsiders!" They may not be murderers, but they contain a violent character trait that may lead them to be murderers.