Headscratchers / The Lion Guard

• Why is Rani was appointed to the position of Queen of the Night Pride after her Grandmother died, when she was only a cub? She has an adult uncle who would logically act as a regent until Rani is older, plus there are other adult members of the pride shown. Surely an inexperienced cub would not be picked as leader if there were other options?
• Why is Jasiri, a cub or at least a younger teenager, in charge of a clan of hyenas instead of an adult female? Surely she would have been overpowered by an adult hyena if there was competition for the role of leader?
• Why are Simba and Nala okay with thrusting such a huge responsibility like leading the Lion Guard onto Kion when he was only a cub? Not only is it an extremely dangerous position, since he is supposed to fight off larger predators and peace keep, but they did not take time to prepare him for this role before putting him into the position. Simba more or less threw him into it and his dialogue in the first episodes implies he expects Kion to somehow be ready to handle this role or at least be mature enough to? If they are taking time through Kiara's cubhood to train her to be queen before she takes the position, its makes no sense that they throw their youngest into his role immediately without taking time to actually prepare him. It's a bit weird they don't wait until he is an adult to do so like how they raised Kiara.
• Why did Mufasa not exile Scar for killing the other members of the Guard?! Of course, the kings of the past took away his powers, but that is still a very clement punishment in such a horrible multiple murder.
  • Maybe Mufasa could not resolve to banish his own brother. After all, he is family, and exile or death sentence would not bring back the dead. Scar was totally helpless without his powers, and nobody ever considered him as a threat otherwise (mistakenly). But the pride probably made him sit on his own. Note he looks already very lonely in the first film.
    • Retrospectively, it is strange that Simba looks like to be allowed to visit such a psychopath, but even if he was forbidden to do so, you wouldn't expect him to obey, would you?
  • Who said he was convicted immediately? Maybe it passed for an accident at first, and they took years to find about it, even after his death. We are talking of Scar, a guy who could kill both his brother and nephew the very same day to succeed them on the throne, without anybody ever suspecting anything for years, and he never expressed any remorse. Even when Simba showed back, revealing he was not telling all the truth, Scar managed to come out a totally new story making Simba guilty to keep the pride on his side, without still anybody questioning. They needed him to admit publicly before to react. Admittedly, after such a succession of unfortunate accidents both implying Scar, this makes the lionesses look all the more dumber.
    • He would probably have had some difficulty to justify why he had lost all his powers in the same time, and/or why he did not mount another guard after the terrible "accident". But this is not a challenge for a skilled manipulator like Scar, combined with the prevailing stupidity.
• Jasiri mentions that, unlike Janja and his clan, most hyenas respect the Circle of Life by acting as scavengers. So why, then, did the hyenas in the first movie overhunt to the point there were nothing left to eat?
  • Obviously the exception to the rule. They were the animal equivalent of criminals and thugs.
  • When you count the hundreds and hundreds of hyenas at the end of the first film (probably not even including the clan of Janja), the word "most" is maybe a little generous, at least for the specimens of the Pride Lands. A poor Hand Wave could be that "most" were deep down kindhearted, but to all appearances stupid and short-sighted, blindly following the evil Terrible Trio. The Writers clearly meant the hyenas to be Chaotic Evil, and used them as a common antagonist in their Black-and-White Morality.
• Jasiri is supposed to be a younger hyena around Kion and Kiara's age. Maybe most of the hyenas who followed Scar had a Heel–Face Turn after the movie and, seeing (lately) what devastation they caused, agreed to respect Simba and follow the Circle of Life. Jasiri is part of the next generation of hyenas who grew up with that philosophy, and Janja and his clan come from the few rebels who miss the old days of Scar being in charge when they could eat as much as they want without thought to the consequences.
  • Note that Jasiri talks of the hyenas in general, not her particular clan, and does not insist on the hyenas' role during Scar's reign and the Heel–Face Turn hers possibly did afterwards. Reciprocately, putting aside his experience with Janja, young Kion probably got his bad bias about all hyenas from his own family, and that shows how low the hyenas still are in the esteem of the Pride.
• When Kion and Jasiri first meet Nuka, he questions Kion's allegiance with Jasiri by saying "What kind of lion are you, siding with a hyena?" Did he forget that his own father commanded legions of hyenas in his time as King?
  • Maybe his pride never spoke well about hyenas. After all, they are the ones who killed personally their beloved Scar. However, it means that the adults certainly withhold some information about the way Scar ruled the Pride Lands. Generally speaking, new generations don't seem to know much about the times of Scar's Reign.
    • Which still doesn't completely add up: Nuka is at least an adolescent by the time of the show and Simba's Pride, so he'd probably be the only one who actually remembers what happened during Scar's regime. Maybe he used to like hyenas, then began hating them once he learned they ate his father alive?
  • Simba's Pride makes it clear that Zira blames Simba and Simba only for Scar's death ("Who killed scar?"/"Simba!"). "Simba killed Scar" seems to be the Outsiders' official view of history — they don't blame the hyenas (whether from genuine ignorance or willful denial should be debated). Zira clearly looks down on hyenas, but then again, so did Scar. He treated them like servants and saw them as tools to further his plans, not as equals. He saw hyenas (and, indeed, pretty much everyone) as beneath him, and so do the Outsiders. Recruiting hyenas to work for you, they could probably understand, but being their friend and fighting alongside them as an equal? Risking your life for theirs? Ridiculous!
• Another question relating to the Outsiders: Kion uses the Roar on them to blast them into a new area of the Outlands, which greatly resembles the termite mound they inhabit in the sequel (right down to the various animal bones lying about), and they promptly claim it as their new turf. Is it safe to assume this is a completely new area they settle, or did they land in the area they resided in during Simba's Pride?
  • It's probably a nod to the sequel, provided they are trying to maintain a continuity. However, as long as the series continue, no events are definitive and lots of WMG speculate about the way they are going to fit in.
  • Zira could have been sarcastic by calling it their "new home"; utterly frustrated from losing the land they took from the hyenas. It's possible they moved into that part of the Outlands and resided there for some time until being sent back to the termite mounds.
• Kion was curious as to what lions are doing in the Outlands, but why didn't he first ask his dad if he knew anything about this? A pack of lions out of place wasn't something that looked right for Kion.
  • A case of Poor Communication Kills, as well as an illustration of a possible taboo about the break-up of the Pride.
• How did Kion develop such a strong prejudice towards hyenas when he supposedly grew up learning about the Circle of Life and his father rules over hyenas anyway?
  • Kion has not a prejudice against all hyenas in general. He only fights the Janja's clan, which apparently doesn't respect the circles of life by hunting more for fun than hunger. The very first episode deals with this problem by showing a good hyena character, who belongs to an ecoresponsible clan. It is not sure the different hyenas clans fit in the hierarchy of the kingdom, since Simba's Pride states that Hyeans are gone from their desolated land in the first film.
• The "Roar of the Elders" is a power bestowed on the second-born, the sibling who doesn't become king. So shouldn't the spirits who appear and magnify the current user's roar be previous holders... meaning, not previous kings? Why would a power specifically bestowed on those who don't become king involve tapping into the spirits of past kings? What happens to past holders of the Roar? To make any sense, it seems like the spirits that aid the current holder of the Roar should be previous leaders of the Lion Guard, not previous kings.
  • Well, they are the only one who gets to communicate with living generations, so they could transmit past leaders’ wisdom on their behalf. It is also for them a better way to make sure the current holder won’t be tempted with any bad idea of overthrow. Past leaders of the Guards would probably be less vigilant than past kings themselves to watch over the continuity of their line.
• Both logically and physically, how could Fuli possibly be the first female in the Lion Guard? Had Kion limited himself to lions like all his predecessors, his only choices would have been female! So would all of his predecessors'!
  • The Pride is supposedly surrounded by beta males, who bring new blood for the lionesses. The quadruple murder by Scar is even an explanation to why we never see any on-screen (survivors probably fled during his reign anyway). Simba may refer to some hypothetic lions who came back since the tyrant’s fall, but we still never get to see one.
• The second film and this series treat Kiara becoming the queen (regnant, not the king's spouse like Sarabi) like it's no big deal, nothing special, not some big break from tradition, par for the course. So how come there are nothing but references to past "kings," not "kings and queens" or even "rulers"? Do only kings get to communicate in spirit form with future generations? If there were previous queens (regnant, not spouses) like Kiara, why do they get the shaft in the afterlife? Will Kovu, as the (eventual) king consort, get to join the "great kings of the past" but Kiara won't?
  • King means originally the monarch in title. It’s just that, in the male chauvinist medieval context, it had obviously to be a man. Even when women were allowed to transmit the title, it’s their married consort who ruled the kingdom like if he was the true genetic heir. It is not sure whether the Pride considers equally their monarch according to "his" gender, but remember it is a female assembly. The male leader will always appear more special than his female counterpart, notably because he fulfills some... specific needs.
  • That and fraternity logic. Well, after all, maybe the “spiritual link” works exclusively within the same gender. Female Guard leaders on their side (when the second sibling is a girl) would only talk to the past regnant queens.
• Now that I think about it, the above 2 issues raise another issue together: if their culture has no problem with females ruling, why would they have a problem with females fighting in battle?
  • The lions don't want the lionesses to demonstrate physical prowess.
  • Lions can't mate with injured/dead lionesses.
• If Scar wants to build up his army again, why wasn't Zira the first person he had his new minions contact? There's a group of lions who have always been on his side, so why hasn't anyone gone to tell them their idol's back and planning something and needs help? Zira would leap at the chance! Why not send Janja to recruit her and her clan instead of manipulating crocodiles or trying to kill targets they've never been able to kill? In fact, why hasn't he shown any interest in contacting his mate at all, practical reasons aside?
  • Zira is a powerful and influent lioness. Even if she is totally devoted, Scar would take a risk to see his name being usurped (ironically) taking account of her mischievous personality. Comparatively, hyenas are more stupid and thus more reliable to not act on their own. Since the two species can't get along because of their mutual hatred, alas, he has to choose one. It’s also possible that the scenarists can’t find room for two big head villains, and prefer to use them separately (shamefully, because these two would make a great evil couple).
  • Perhaps Scar will eventually realize he will never get anywhere with the hyenas constantly failing him. So he will most likely appoint Ushari to consult Zira's pride and tell them news of his return. Once they potentially meet, Scar will order them to chase the hyenas out and subsequently backstab Ushari as well; he would have no more use for them now that he has reunited with his loyal pride.
    • Scar does not share Zira's lions supremacy philosophy and seems to hold a great deal of disdain for lions as Scar has never been seen working with lions before even when he could, his army was compromised entirely of non lion animals and while hardly treating them well he treated the hyenas better than he did the pride during his reign. Scar has no desire of working with lions he prefers underdogs as he himself is an underdog going up against the strongest. Scar's whole thing is the weak defeat the strong, Zira is a social Darwinist who believes in survival of the fittest. Everything about Zira clashes with what Scar prefers.
• The main savannah-dwelling animals have come into contact with wildlife from other parts of Africa; notably okapis and gorillas. But do they have awareness of animals from other continents? Wild geese are brought up in "Janja's New Crew", an elk briefly appears as a cave painting in "Never Roar Again", but the most recent and probably most intriguing example is the appearance of red pandas and a snow leopard in an upcoming episode.
  • In a similar debate, what locations exist within this universe and are the characters aware of them? No real-life countries have been directly mentioned, however in "Fuli's New Family", Ono clearly addresses Ushari as an Egyptian cobra.
    • It's the problem of Orphaned Etymology in "non-human" universe : here, many names of species are human-related (Thomson's gazelle, Cape anteater...) which doesn't make sense in-universe. Let's say it is for the sake of the translation of their Animal Talk.
  • Zazu explicitly talked about "Africa" in the first film, so they know about the mere existence of their continent at least. It's very plausible they have some notions of geography thanks to the migratory birds, who probably told them about the other Land far in the North (Europe) as well as about some big dry place on the North-East (Middle-East), but certainly not much more.
• Why do all the prey animals have a cordial relationship with the lions?
  • Mufasa taught Simba to respect all species, including those lions eat. We can assume that Simba passed that wisdom on. Essential to this series's less savory elements is that groups like the Outlanders just don't get it.
• Trespassing aside what is inherently bad about Hyena's hunting in the Pride Lands? When Shenzi's clan became apart of it, it took several years for the Pride Lands to fall apart and as mentioned in Lion King's YMMV that only happened because of a drought and Scar's refusal to manage the situation with there being no indication that things weren't going relatively well before that. I understand the Circle of Life ideology, but what consequences could come from a few Hyenas occasionally hunting there?
  • The problem in both the original movie and the series is that the hyenas are prone to over-hunting. In the film Scar promised them they would never go hungry again, but once the hyenas forced the lions to hunt more animals and the surviving ones left the Pride Lands, they had nothing to eat (and by then the herds were likely too far away to track). The Guard repelling Janja's clan is mainly to prevent that situation from happening again.
  • The premise of the film and the show is that the Pride Lands must be ruled and defended to keep the Circle of Life in balance and the Pride Lands thriving. Careful management of resources is very important. Disruptive influences, like hyenas that overhunt, or even the mere presence of leopards, are considered unacceptable. The Lion Guard isn't just a rescue brigade, they're law enforcement and immigration control for the Pride Lands. "Just a few" isn't acceptable because it leads to more disruption. The hyenas are known criminals and not allowed to enter the Pride Lands, period.
• Just how far away is the Tree of Life? By the seventh episode of the season, it looks like the Guard must have left Africa via Egypt and walked across the Middle East and India to the coast of Asia. How long have they been gone?
  • Not to mention the way they appear to travel around Asia on their journey to the TOL is completely illogical. For example, the first place outside of Africa they reach is not the Middle East as one might expect, but instead seems to be Japan of all places (going off the snow monkeys) on the complete opposite side of the continent. Which also brings up a whole new can of worms: though in theory, they could go from Africa via Sinai in order to access and then trek across Continental Asia on their journey, how did they get to Japan and the Komodo Islands which are separated from the mainland by ocean? The presence of animals like Darwin’s foxes and golden bamboo lemurs, which are native to areas that are separated from Afro-Eurasia by ocean, at the Tree of Life raises similar questions.
• According to Simba's pride, the cub presented in the ending of the Lion King (officiously named "Fluffy" in the production, who didn't intend a sequel initially) reveals to be Kiara in Simba's Pride. And yet, almost every tie-in materials of the first film mentioned "Fluffy" as a boy, logical in the context of the scene: since the ending repeats the beginning scene with the Circle of Life theme, anyone would assume it is a boy like his father was in the first place. So, Kiara as a girl was a bit of a gender Retcon, and the film even gives a nod to this gender bias with Timon and Pumbaa's reaction when they learn it. However, some fans complained that the differences between Kiara's and Fluffy's presentation (which are supposed to be the exact same scene) are too blatant to make it the same, and still stuck with the first boy theory (in fact, every character of the previous film was redesigned because of the change of animation team, but it is more flagrant for the little cub). A first, previously common explanation was that it was actually Kopa, a spin-off character from the Children Books "The Lion King: 6 New Adventures" presented as the grown "Fluffy" of the film, and who disappeared in the events of the official sequel for a reason that some linked to the true motive of the Outlanders banishment. Alex Simmonds, creator of the character, even asserted that the 6 New Adventures were an interquel between the two films, thus making it in line with the universe continuity, but without explaining what happened to his character, in this case. However, the fact the new series "The Lion Guard" stated Kion as the second prince cub made this statement wrong, thus destroying every "canon Kopa" theory. Nevertheless, the introduction of Kion as a son of Simba and Nala brings a new perspective on the debate: since they have approximately the same size and age, they are certainly from the same litter (They look like cubs aged of a few months. A lioness gestation being four months, their sibling-ship would be impossible otherwise, if we suppose the anthropomorphism is reasonable in the series and Nala is the true mother for both).
  • Then, it is possible that Kion is indeed the "Fluffy" of the first film, giving an in-universe explanation of the scenes differences and tie-in materials confusion about the gender. Kiara can still be the heir to the throne if she is born a few minutes before her twin brother, but they were both presented to the people in the same ceremony, cut in half throughout the two movies. However, that still raises the question why Kion would have been presented in first, and why he was still nowhere to be seen during Kiara's presentation.
    • "Return of the Roar" makes specific more than once that Kion is in fact Kiara's younger brother in a manner that suits more to a brother of a different pregnancy than a twin brother younger by a few minutes. Either this is the way for characters to keep in mind the order of succession, as unfair as it is for a few minutes (which is a Truth in Television for twin princes), either it means Disney anthropomorphised the age/size difference like it did with Kovu and Kiara in Simba's Pride.
    • Kion may not have been presented first. Kiara's presentation takes place at sunrise, while Fluffy's takes place a bit later in the morning. If Kion is Fluffy, his presentation could be either immediately after Kiara's as a twin (what means Nala awkwardly left newborn Kion in the cave (in the care of another lioness with no doubt) just to watch the presentation of the crown princess), either months later as a separate pregnancy brother, Kiara being mysteriously absent in both cases, as a newborn or as young cub. Anyway, this remains a retroactive fan reinterpretation of the scene more precarious than for Kopa's since it inverts the order of the scenes for no other reason that to fit in. Canonically, Fluffy will stay to be Kiara.
• The hyenas' song is about attacking in the night, but they strike in the afternoon.
  • Given how the hyenas are practically starving, who could blame them for attacking earlier than planned?
  • If you are a primarily nocturnal species, maybe the definitions of day and night are also reversed.
  • Janja and his clan aren't the brightest bulbs in the box.
  • For a meta explanation, it's been said that the plot of the pilot changed but they didn't have time to write a new song, so they kept it in.
• The fact that the Guard under Scar's command was destroyed (and Scar himself stripped of his powers) means that the Pridelands were practically defenseless for quite sometime. The beginning of the first film fits into a context where Mufasa is alone to defend the country and has to face an increased harassment from the neighbouring hyenas' land that takes all his attention; what didn't allow him to find out Scar's plot in time. Maybe they could have prevented Mufasa's death, Simba's exile and Scar's ascension to power in the original movie if it weren't for their demise.
• "The Imaginary Okapi" introduces us to Makucha the leopard, who (according to the Guard) aren't native to the Pridelands. The premise of the episode "The Trouble With Galagos," which is two episodes later, is the Guard helping a leopard reclaim his territory... even though leopards supposedly don't live in the Pridelands.
  • The leopard's proper territory is in a forest, in the Backlands which are right next to the Pridelands. It's right that technically, this place is not within the Guard's jurisdiction, but they may help him for diplomatic motives. In a meta way, it is also a good thing they create different characters from the same species on both sides, so they avoid stereotyping like they initially did with the hyenas.
• In "Return of the Roar," Simba initially tells Kion that there are plenty of lions to choose for the guard right in their own pride... have we seen any other lions at Pride Rock? We've got the royal family, Kiara's friends, and that's it aside from the Outlander lions. They've got to be there, since canonically in the second movie all the lionesses from the first film are still around. Obviously they haven't been integral to the story so far, but for there to not even be so much as a background appearance or any shots of the pride just mingling about or anything still seems odd.
  • They're most likely hunting while the main plot of every episode takes place. A few new lionesses appear in "The Ukumbusho Tradition". Likewise, Zira has noticeably less lionesses in her pride than in the movie, though it can be assumed they went off to search for new territories.
• All the previous Lion Guards really wouldn't have been able to fully live up to their reputation. While it is possible for lions to hold the titles of "fiercest" and "bravest" in the Pridelands, the others would have been unable to back up their positions of "fastest", "strongest" and "keenest of sight", since (as the modern-day Guard proves), there are other animals in the Pridelands who are far faster, stronger, and keen of sight than lions.