The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (antagonists)

The following is a list of the antagonists in Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

• Zira (Swahili for "hate") - Zira was the mother of Kovu, Vitani, and Nuka, and the wife and fanatical supporter of Scar. She makes her first appearance in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride as the main antagonist. After Scar was gone, Simba became the king of the Pridelands, and Zira and her own pride of lionesses who supported Scar's rule were banished to the Outlands. Not long afterwards, she trains Kovu to avenge Scar's death and take over the Pridelands from Simba. However, her plans are thwarted when Kovu falls in love with Simba's daughter, Kiara, leaving Zira to carry out the plan on her own. After the death of her eldest son Nuka and a fight with Simba and his pride, the other outsiders betray her and join Simba's pride after Kiara and Kovu convinced everyone to stop fighting. She tries to attack Simba, but Kiara tackles her, sending them both tumbling down a cliff. During the fight, Zira is left hanging off a ledge as Kiara tries to help her up, but she falls into a flooded ravine below and dies. The character was voiced by Suzanne Pleshette in the English version of the movie.

Zira has a pale yellow coat and a dark stripe that runs down her head.

In a scene that survived to the rough animation stage, Zira committed suicide: Kiara offers to help Zira, but Zira replies "No. Never." with a twisted grin, and lets go; falling to her death into the raging river below. This scene was cut because it was "Too dark for a Disney film." Zira's grin can still be seen in the finished film.

Vitani

• Vitani is the (former) secondary antagonist of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. She is the daughter of Zira, the stepdaughter of Scar and the younger sister of Nuka, the older sister to Kovu, and the sister-in-law of Kion and Kiara. Her original name was Shetani, which is Swahili for "demon".

Vitani's father is unknown, although Darrell Rooney, the director of Simba's Pride confirmed that it is not Scar. However, he might be Vitani's stepfather.

The character was voiced by a few different people in the English version:

• Lacey Chabert voiced the young Vitani.
• Crysta Macalush was the singing voice of the young Vitani.
• Jennifer Lien voiced the adult Vitani.
• Lacey Chabert also voiced Vitani in The Lion Guard both young and adult.

Nuka

• Nuka (Swahili for "smell" or "stink"; also Inuit for "younger brother") - Nuka was the tertiary antagonist of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Nuka was an (Outsider) who was the eldest son of Zira, the stepson of Scar, and the older brother of Vitani and Kovu. His character was based on Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet. He was voiced by Andy Dick.

Nuka was very resentful of not being his stepfather's (Scar) chosen heir, especially towards Kovu. It was confirmed on a Facebook post by Darrell Rooney that Nuka despite popular belief and a quote from Flip Kobler, is not Scar's son. But due to the confirmed romantic relationship between Nuka's mother, Zira, and Scar, Nuka is Scar's stepson. Nuka was born during Scar's reign to Zira and an unknown lion, (the latter of which is unknown, as well as his fate being unknown in the slightest). Sometime later, Zira would have Nuka's siblings, Vitani and Kovu. After Zira and Scar's marriage, Nuka would become a part of the royal family of Pride Rock. However, he was passed up as Scar's successor to the throne in favor of his younger brother Kovu. This was likely due to Nuka's stupidity and unfitting of the role as Prince. Sometime after Scar's death, Simba, Scar's nephew, (who would also be Nuka's stepcousin and Nala being his stepcousin-in-law) banished Zira and her family to the Outlands, where Nuka spent the rest of his life.

Nuka simultaneously bashes Kovu and tries to please his mother, helping her out in her schemes to kill off Simba in The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. This leads to his death when he chases Simba up an unstable dam of logs in an attempt to please his mother. Simba kicks off a log in Nuka's general direction, trapping Nuka and crushing him to death. There was a theory in The Lion King's book A False Ancestor, we meet King Joe who looks a ton like Nuka, even his mane. This could mean that he was Zira's mate before Scar and is Nuka and Vitani's father.

His last words to Zira are "I'm sorry, Mother. I tried." In a cut version, he goes on to ask, "Well, I finally got your attention, didn't I? Didn't I?" However, in the final film, the second "Didn't I?" can be heard in a gasp before he dies.