The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (later renamed with an Arabic numeral as The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) is the sequel to The Lion King. It was released as a direct to video in 1998 in the United States and 1999 in Europe. It was re-released on Blu-ray alongside The Lion King and The Lion King 1 1/2 in 2011, and placed into "the Disney Vault" in 2013.

Plot
King Simba and Queen Nala's daughter, Princess Kiara, is born and will be the next monarch of the Pride Lands.

As a young child, Kiara goes off exploring the Pride Lands, and decides to look in the Outlands, the place in which Scar and the hyenas once lived. She meets Kovu, a dark lion who will be Scar's heir. The two form a friendship almost immediately, but they're both caught by their feuding parents Zira and Simba. They are then separated until adulthood.

By then, Kovu has been brainwashed to be an assassin to take out Simba so that the Outlanders can reign once more. A part of the plan to murder Simba involves getting his trust, so Nuka and Vitani, Kovu's siblings, set the Pride Lands ablaze while Kiara is hunting. Kovu must then go on a staged rescue to gain trust from Kiara and Simba. In the process, Kiara and Kovu recognize and remember each other, but Kovu is still intent on murder. Simba isn't at all swayed by Kiara's rescue, but he allows Kovu to at least follow him home.

The next morning, Simba goes down to the water hole for a drink, alone, but Kovu is watching him and getting in the ready position. However, Kiara is very much awake, and informs Kovu that he promised to teach her hunting last night. Grudgingly, Kovu goes with her to practice. While demonstrating on how to be sneaky, he stumbles upon Timon and Pumbaa, and the two being carefree, playful clowns, he gets caught up in a game and realizes that he cares about Kiara and can't kill Simba.

Simba eventually warms up to Kovu, and while taking a private walk with him in the devastated grassland which the Outlanders burnt, the two are ambushed. Simba assumes that it was organized by Kovu, who is later banished. During the fight, Nuka is killed and Kovu is ostracized from his own pride.

Shortly afterwards, a war breaks out between the two prides. Kovu wants to run away, and Kiara states that they have to go convince their prides to at least have peace. They manage to stop the fighting, but Zira still wants Simba, as well as those who oppose her, dead. She accidentally falls off the cliff on which they're fighting and drowns in the river below.

Dropped ideas

 * Originally, Simba was going to die in the fight with the Outlanders in the burnt grassland.
 * Kovu was originally going to be Scar's son, but that would have implied incest.
 * Nuka's last words would have been "At least I finally got your attention, didn't I?"
 * Zira was going to commit suicide after dangling from the ledge while Kiara urged her to take her paw. Zira responded with "No never!" and threw herself into the ravine.
 * Kiara was once going to be named "Shani" and have a brother named "Chaka".
 * Vitani was originally named "Shetani".
 * The hyenas would have been included.
 * Zazu was going to have a girlfriend named "Binti".
 * Nuka and Vitani were originally going to attend Kiara's birth ceremony and report back to Zira.

Multiplayer worlds
A number of multiplayer worlds have been set during or after Simba's Pride. A currently-running RPG is Everything The Light Touches. Two MUCKs from years past are Lion King II: Simba's Pride MUCK and The Prides MUCK.