Outsiders

“	The Outsiders are a group of lions led by a lioness named Zira. Simba banished them from the Pride Lands before any of you were born.	„
	~ Rafiki to The Lion Guard about the Outsiders.

“	Nice try now why don't we just wait quietly for Zira to come back	„
	~ An Outsider to Kion.

The Outsiders, also known as Outlanders, are the main antagonist faction of the 1998 animated Disney film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (the sequel to Disney's thirty-second full-length animated feature film The Lion King) and guest antagonists in its midquel television series The Lion Guard.

They were an offshoot of the Pridelanders, being a pride of lionesses (as well as two known male lions, Nuka and Kovu) that remained loyal to Scar after his death. Scar's nephew Simba banished them to the Outlands, a near-waterless wasteland neighboring the Pride Lands. The pride eventually disbands and its members become Pridelanders again at the end of the film.

Description[]

Appearances[]

As a whole, they are much skinnier than the Pridelanders, and many of the lionesses are of darker coloration than that of the Pridelanders. Interestingly, although Zira and her children are the only Outsiders with speaking roles, several individual members can be identified throughout the film by different markings on their bodies.

Personalities[]

The Outsiders, for whatever reason, were devoted to the evil lion, Scar, even after it was proven that he usurped the throne by murdering his brother, the good king, Mufasa. They followed their leader, Zira in her plot to depose of Simba and place Kovu on the throne as Scar intended. They were all very violent initially, but were not beyond redemption, as proven when they were all touched by Kiara's words of wisdom, and when Zira proved that she cared about revenge more than she did her own family, they all became disgusted by this and abandon her to rejoin the Pridelanders.

Biography[]

Background[]

During Scar's reign, the Pride Lands had become a barren wasteland, causing many of the lionesses to hate him. However, there were those among them who supported him, including one lioness named Zira, who practically worshiped him. Because of her devotion, Scar chose her newborn cub, Kovu as his heir.

According to Rafiki's story in "Lions of the Outlands", after Simba defeated Scar and became King of the Pride Lands, Zira approached him and stated that he couldn't be king as Scar had chosen her son Kovu to succeed him. When Simba replied that Scar was never the true king, an enraged Zira attacked him. Simba won the battle and was left with no choice but to banish Zira, her children and her followers from the Pride Lands forever.

During their banishment, the Outsiders resided in a wasteland known as the Outlands. Among their members included their leader Zira and her three children: her sons Nuka and Kovu and daughter Vitani as well as a substantial number of lionesses. Altogether, their pride seemed to be equal in number to Simba's pride, the Pridelanders. The name "Outsiders" most likely comes from the fact that they all lived in the Outlands, as well as the fact that they were exiled from the Pride Lands.

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride[]

The leader of the Outsiders was Zira, who was a fanatical follower of Scar and the mother of Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu. In the end, all the Outsiders (with the exception of Nuka, who dies during an ambush on Simba, and Zira, who dies after the climactic battle against the Pridelanders) join Simba's pride. They are also referred to as "Scar's pride" or "Zira's pride."

As almost all of the Outsiders are shown to be female, Nuka and Kovu are the only two males seen in the pride. According to Zira, Kovu was the lastborn before they were exiled.

Most of the Outsiders appear in background scenes, following Zira's orders. The pride first appears as Zira is bringing Kovu home. They are present years later as Zira lays out her plan to kill Simba by allowing Kovu to get close to Simba's daughter, Kiara. Later on, when it appears that Kovu is growing reluctant in his quest to kill Simba, the Outsiders ambush the two when Simba is alone with Kovu. They pursue Simba, but he manages to escape. In the aftermath, Nuka is killed after being crushed under fallen logs, and the pride is shown mourning his death and Zira blames Kovu for it and scratches him in the face giving him a scar across his eye like Scar's. Kovu declares he wants nothing more to do with Scar and leaves, the lionesses prepare to give chase, but Zira tells them to let him go saying Simba has corrupted him. Zira reveals her plans for a direct attack on Simba, which pleases the lionesses.

The Outsiders head towards the Pride Lands, traveling through a muddy river on the way. They are confronted by Simba and his pride, and a major battle breaks out between the two prides. Thanks to Zira's constant orders, the Outsiders gain the upper hand, and begin swarming Simba. However, they back off when Zira prepares to go one on one with Simba. Later, they are shocked when Kovu and Kiara interrupt the fight. Kiara's reasoning about stopping the fight seems to get the pride's attention. Seeing the truth of Kiara's words, Vitani defects from Zira. When Zira threatens to kill Vitani for her defection, the rest of the Outsiders, disgusted by this threat, turns against her and join Simba's pride. Zira attempts to attack Simba anyway, but is countered by Kiara. After Zira dies by falling into the river, the rest of the Outsiders are allowed to return to Pride Rock along with Simba. There, they watch as Kovu and Kiara are united in marriage. Finally, the Outsiders remained as part of Simba's pride.

The Lion Guard[]

They served as supporting antagonists in the episode Lions of the Outlands, which takes place during the timeline of Simba's Pride, after Kovu's encounter with Kiara, and before the Outsiders attack the Pride Lands.

In the episode, the Outsiders along with Zira and her children, move to another part of the Outlands and take a waterhole from a clan of hyenas. One of the hyenas named Jasiri goes to her friend Kion (who is Simba's son and the leader of The Lion Guard) for help. Having never been told about the Outsiders' banishment, Kion, confused as to why there are lions in the Outlands, goes with Jasiri to talk to Zira.

Upon learning that Kion is Simba's son and leader of the Lion Guard and could possibly get the Outsiders back in the Pride Lands, Zira (who knew of Scar's time of leading it) takes him to talk privately. After arriving at a private area, the Outsider lionesses appear and surround Kion. Zira reveals to Kion that she was close to Scar, who told her about the Roar of the Elders and he lost it after using it on his fellow lions. She also tells Kion that if it hadn't been for Simba, Scar would still be king. When Kion tells Zira that Scar was never the true king (which Simba himself had told Zira prior to banishing her), she orders the lionesses to attack him, but almost immediately calls the attack off, deciding to let Kion have a chance to decide whether to side with the Outsiders or Jasiri's clan.

Whilst Zira leaves to get her children, Kion tries to negotiate with the lionesses, only to be told to wait for Zira. Kion tries to escape, but is eventually pinned down by the lionesses and is told once again to wait for Zira. Soon after Zira returns with her children, the rest of the Lion Guard (who had been told by Rafiki about the Outsiders exile) along with Jasiri arrive to help Kion and fight off the lionesses.

Upon noticing that they outnumber the Lion Guard and Jasiri, Zira and the Outsiders prepare to fight back. Bunga urges Kion to use the Roar on them, but Kion tells him that if he uses it on fellow lions, he will lose it like Scar did. However, Bunga replies that Scar lost the Roar because he used it for evil. Upon hearing this, Kion tells Zira and the Outsiders that as long as he is around, they are not welcome in the Pride Lands or the Outlands, before using the Roar to blast the Outsiders away (with the exception of Kovu, who dodges the blast, before going after his family) and they land at termite mounts similar to the ones they lived at during Simba's Pride. Later Vitani leads a new lion guard that are coposed of former outsiders. They have a breaf battle with the old guard, Janja and Mizingo.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

There seems to be some inconsistency with how many lionesses minus Zira and Vitani are in the Pride. When Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumbaa and the Pridelander lionesses find them at the border, Zira and Vitani are accompanied by thirteen lionesses, but when the lionesses leave Zira, only eight are visible walking over to the Pridelanders.
The existence of the Outsiders seems to contradict the events of the first film. All the lionesses present at the time were allied with Mufasa and Simba, and only the Hyenas sided with Scar. Though it could be possible that they were away from Pride Rock at the time of the battle.
The Outsiders are the first seen but second chronological group of antagonist lions in The Lion King franchise. The first, which were an all male group, were mentioned and appeared in paintings in The Lion Guard episode "Cave of Secrets" were it is revealed that like the Outsiders, they attempted to take over the Pride Lands. However this group were defeated by Askari, the leader of the first Lion Guard and the namesake of Scar.
The term "Outlanders" is never used in the movie. However, it can be found on the back of the VHS cover for Simba's Pride along with various other Disney-approved sources.
Outsider is a very broad term, as Ni, a lion from The Lion King: Six New Adventures books, is referred to as an outsider, yet has no affiliation with Zira's pride.
At first, there were no plans for Zira to be allied with other Outsiders. Instead, Zira was going to be accompanied by the Hyenas, but they were scrapped due to the Hyenas being the real ones who killed Scar. And had Zira known that, she would never have allied with them.
The lions in DreamWorks' Madagascar franchise have the exact same Outlander noses as Scar and most of the Outsiders—angular and black.
It is odd that they are loyal to Scar, as he did not do a thing about the food and water shortages when he ruled the Pride Lands.
The Outsiders alternative name "Outlanders" is the name of the animals that reside in the Outlands (such as hyenas, vultures and jackals) in the 2015 TV film The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and its 2016 follow-up series The Lion Guard.
Originally, instead of termite mounts, the Outsiders would have lived in a crystal cave. It would also have been the place where Kiara (then known as Shani) and Kovu (then known as Nunka) would have met.

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