WMG / The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

• The Lion King (1994)
• The Lion King 1 ½

Zira didn't fall into the river by slipping, Kiara threw her off

Ok aside from and ignoring the deleted scene of Zira committing suicide and still smiling in the final product. Kiara didn't try to save Zira and instead finished her off. Why would Kiara do something like that? Well, think about it....why did she even bother trying to save Zira? What exactly did she think was gonna happen if she managed to save her when seconds ago Zira showed that she's a psychopath full of hate who doesn't listen to reason and crossed the line of no return by choosing war, bloodshed and death over peace, reason and moving on from the past and threatened to kill her own daughter? It's highly unlikely that Zira would just suddenly have a change of heart and live with the ones she absolutely despises and has tried to kill. She would just stop at nothing until Simba, Nala and the rest of the Pridelanders are all dead whenever she gets the chance. So Kiara wasn't trying to save Zira but kill her and eliminate her as a threat to her family but also so she won't be able to kill or cause suffering to anyone anymore. After all we don't actually see Zira slip and fall in the final product and it could've been Kiara's recollection of how it happened and not what actually happened as nobody else saw Zira fall into the river. Also in comparison to Simba in the original Simba gave Scar the chance to live because despite what he had done Scar was still his uncle and family in Simba's eyes so it makes sense for Simba to give him a chance, Zira on the other hand isn't any relation or family to Kiara or Simba.

The movie was originally supposed to follow Kopa/Chaka, not Kiara.

Originally, the film followed Kopa/Chaka, and Kiara did not exist, or if she did, she had little significance. Taking a look at Vitani, who was to take Kovu's role as the love interest, she does not look like a background lion. Her bright blue eyes and distinctive design make her look like a much more significant character than she ends up being. Consider this in contrast to Kovu, who had a decidedly unoriginal design.

• Kovu is basically a dark-furred version of Simba - or rather, Scar with Simba's physique.
• Kopa is not and has never been a real character in The Lion King franchise. There was a book company who decided to fraudulently profit from the first movie's popularity, and they wrote a few books without Disney's permission. Kopa was invented for these unlisenced books and was never canon, not even as a concept. Peoples' ignorance infuriates me.

Kovu was from a branch pride from several generations before the events of the two movies.

In spinoff material, Disney bothered with naming Mufasa and Scar's father (Ahadi) and grandfather (Mohatu). Given that Mohatu is named as the first king of the Pridelands, it probably doesn't go back much further than that. But perhaps either one had a brother, who was either exiled or left of his own free will to establish (or conquer) nearby lands and establish a pride of his own. Fast forward a couple of generations, and if the other 'king' or perhaps the entirety of the clan died somehow and newborn Kovu was the only one left, Scar, in taking him in (maybe got the idea after a lioness found him on a hunt and took pity on him), would have had an heir with at least a tiny semblance of blood claim to the crown (given that he was the first king's great-grandson or something like that.)

Zira had an affair

• When Scar turned out the runt Nuka, Zira wanted a strong baby so much that she simply had an affair with another lion. She'd hoped to be able to pretend that it was Scar's but the jig went arse-up because hyenas told Scar - because that's their job. Scar had the father killed and was totally going to kill Kovu at some point (or have him killed by hyenas) but Simba came along first. Zira didn't tell Kovu or Nuka these things because she wouldn't believe them, or didn't find out herself.

Why the Outsiders weren't there in the first movie's climax

They simply didn't care about Scar at the time. Only Zira (whom Scar met on one of his walks outside the Pride Lands, visiting the Hyenas) ever met him (and fell in love with him); they mated, had their kids. But Zira is also already the leader of the Outsiders, which are called like that and don't look like the main Pride because they are precisely that: another Pride that normally lives outside of the Pride Lands. When Scar became king, Zira used her newfound influence (as the King's mate) to allow her Outsiders to move in, since the Pride Lands are much more agreeable to live in than their usual territory. Scar doesn't really know/doesn't care. The Outsiders themselves, aside from Zira, don't care much about Scar either; as far as they're concerned, Zira is their leader, end of story. When Scar's Hyenas begin to battle the regular Pride's denizens, the Outsiders, who are neither especially friend with the Hyenas or with the regular Lions, don't feel concerned, failing to understand that Scar loosing his powers would get them out of the Pride Lands. As we all know he does die, and thus the Outsiders are kicked back out by Simba and the regular Pride without really understanding what's happening to them. All they know is that thanks to Zira they were living in this awesome territory with many preys to catch, and the next day they're back in their old arid homeland. Zira, still faithful to Scar, later manipulates their disappointment by telling them only part of the story and making Scar seem like their benefactor…

Scar's plan came about because the gene pool did screw him over.

In the Lion King 'verse, there seems to be something of a premium placed on physical robustness in terms of the male lion kings. Given that there seem to be no other male lions in the Pride Lands excepting the royal family (and the numbers there are limited as well), it's possible that other males born into the pride (whether by the queen or otherwise) eventually leave to form/intermingle with other prides (which would possibly be a case of Shown Their Work, as male lions in real life usually do so once they reach maturity). These other prides would either be independent of the main family's pride, or perhaps in something of a subservient, vassal-like role (the equivalent to a lord as opposed to a king). Taking over another pride would likely require physically defeating and/or killing the previous leader. Since Scar was born physically weak, he would be limited in how much he could travel and what he could do when he got there.

Zira was Scar's Monster Fangirl, not his mate

It is never explicitly stated that Zira was Scar's mate (though it was very strongly implied). Having Zira as Scar's mate (as well as the very existence of the Outsiders) creates a huge Plot Hole for the first film. If Scar had a mate and a pride, then where were they during the first film? Why didn't they help their leader during the final battle? Why weren't they mentioned, or even hinted at? How could Scar have handpicked Kovu to follow in his footsteps when he appears to be about the same age as Kiara, who wasn't born until after Scar's death? It's possible that Zira and the Outsiders never actually had any direct contact with Scar, or only very little contact with him, but were aware of him and formed a cult of sorts around him. Zira isn't shown to be the most mentally stable lioness in the world, so she could've deluded herself as well as everyone else into thinking that Scar had more involvement with the Outsiders than he actually did. Supporting the claim that Kovu looks too young to have even been alive at the same time as Scar, Zira could have believed that Scar spoke to her from beyond the grave and told her that Kovu was to be his successor.

• Nuka looks a lot like a mixture of Zira and Scar, supporting the theory that the two were mates.
  • it’s confirmed she was a fan girl and Scar having Cubs was Jossed by The Lion Guard.

Scar wanted Nuka to kill Kovu.

Scar became king by killing his own brother. Someone capable of doing such thing is probably also capable of thinking his son would need to do that same sort of thing to prove himself a worthy successor.

Scar chose Kovu to protect Nuka.

Scar was afraid that, if needed, Kovu would kill Nuka to become the new leader and Nuka would be easier to get rid of than Mufasa was. He believed that he and Kovu had more in common than looks.

Unseen in the film, both Simba and Zira had chosen heirs for their children before the events kicked off. After this those two left to start their own pride.

I mean hey, Kovu was all for doing the same when Kiara came after him after the exile right? :P

Kovu just shares Scar's coloring: not related

Not just Word of God, either. Scar's pelt could be recessive to Mufasa's dominant golden, or they could both be equally likely, and the lack of other Scar-pelted lions in the pride is because of Scar's lack-of-Kingship means he doesn't get to spread his genes.

• Somewhat amusingly, Scar and Kovu's fur color would be considered a sign of being very healthy. Ironically this is also explainable in-universe. Scar gets plenty of food and does nothing strenuous (other than put up with the hyenas). Kovu is supposed to be capable of killing Simba when he grows up so Zira is going to try to make sure he is as healthy as can be. Its not like she has any more reasonable candidates to choose from for potential king.
  • It's basically confirmed that he’s not Scar’s son in The Lion Guard.

Zira wasn't mad that Kovu killed Nuka as much as she was mad that he did so with everyone watching.

If she was bringing him up to be like Scar, he did a very good job of "taking care" of Nuka and she should have rewarded him.

Zira and her followers were out hunting during the final battle in the 1st film

I can't believe no one has thought of this - they weren't at Pride Rock because they were out hunting. Unlike Sarabi and the others, they had not given up hope, and wished to please Scar by actually finding something to eat. Too bad Scar was dead when they came back (unsuccessful)

Zira is insane, and the Outlanders only follow her out of fear.

...Okay, so not really "wild" mass guessing, but still counts. It would certainly explain the mass Heel–Face Turn after Kiara's little speech, they felt that her deciding to off her only daughter was the last straw.

Zira was the only Scar loyalist among the adult lionesses.

Most of the lionesses disliked Scar at best. Zira, Scar's mate, was his only non-hyena supporter. After Nala left to get help, Scar decided to get an heir to solidify his reign in case she returned with a few males in tow (or, you know, Simba). Even though Kovu wasn't Scar's son (that was a random wandering male), he was the youngest, which would give Scar the best chance of molding him in his image.

Kovu was born only a few days before Simba returned. Zira didn't take part in the battle because she was still recovering from birth. Simba, a fairly merciful guy, chose to exile her instead of killing her, along with Nuka, Vitani and the infant Kovu. He continued this policy with other lions who disobeyed his rule, perhaps not realizing he was providing Zira with a steady stream of potential recruits. Most of the Outlanders were probably exiled for trying to eat Pumbaa.

Zira blames others for everything because she was exiled for something she didn't do.

Scar's death drove her mad already, but she originally laid blame on the Hyenas who really killed him, then someone else framed her for something she didn't do (being Scar's mate clearly makes her easy to blame) and got her banished by Simba. Thus she snapped and blamed Simba for Scar's death, her banishment, and everything else wrong in her life. By the time Nuka died, she was no longer capable of accepting any blame for anything and imdiately shifted the blame from herself to Kovu.

Zira is just a fangirl.

We never hear about the Outsiders or see Scar with anyone other than hyenas in the first film because they were not established yet. Zira was a member of the pride who simply became dissatisfied with Simba's leadership and became so nostalgic for the time before that she went crazy convinced herself that her cubs were Scar's and she had been his mate.

• Basically confirmed in The Lion Guard.

Nuka's death pushed Zira completely over the edge.

Zira occasionally showed compassion to her children (at least Kovu and Vitani) before hand but after Nuka's death, she banishes Kovu and threatens to kill Vitani. Rather than showing she was a monster from the start, this shows a change in character. Her original evil actions resulted from Scar's death driving her insane, but Nuka's death finished the job and drove the last ounce of compassion and sanity from her mind. In other words, the death of her first born son (at least I'm pretty sure he is) drove shattered what was left of her mind.

• Zira didn't banish Kovu. He ran back to the Pridelands, tired of being compared to Scar.

Nuka was the only cub Zira had with Scar.

Nuka is the oldest, and if this was the case, it'd definantly make sense why he thinks he should be King instead of Kovu. Vitani may or may not be Scar's, but she's a female and thus not in line for an heir. Zira treated Nuka poorly because 1) Scar rejected him as successor, and 2) he reminded her of Scar and her grief over Scar's death made her dispise him for reminding her of Scar.

• Nuka's manginess could be directly related to Scar's comment that he's "on the shallow end of the gene pool".
• Except Nuka made it clear Scar is not his father. He calls him by name rather than "Father." And when listing his "qualifications" to be the next king, he simply says that he's the oldest, strongest and smartest, and deserves a chance to lead. If he were Scar's son he would immediately point this out, whine about it more often, and resent Kovu far more than he does. Perhaps he would even actively lure Kovu into danger in an attempt to get rid of him.
  • This evidence is not conclusive to Nuka not being Scar's son; "actually Scar's son" might have been so obvious that he didn't mention it, and was listing his qualifications aside from that, or it had already been dismissed, and so he was focusing on the other reasons he should lead. And it's not uncommon to call one's parent by their first name, and according to Six New Adventures, Scar is an adopted name. Nuka doesn't even seem to like Scar, and is presumably usually talking to people who aren't Scar's children, so he just refers to him by name. He whines and resents Kovu plenty as it is.
  • Wasn't one of his complaints about Kovu that he was considered Scar's heir even though he (Kovu) wasn't Scar's son? I thought that was more than enough proof that Nuka had to be Scar's actual offspring, otherwise he wouldn't bring it up because it would have been a reason for him not to be king, other than not being chosen by Scar.
  • Nuka resembles Scar really closely, and the only reason we know Kovu (similar resemblance) isn't Scar's son is because Nuka tells us and Disney is adamant. The reason he never calls Scar 'father' is because Scar was a lousy father. Nuka is so sour because he thinks he has every reason to be king.
  • The Lion Guard says he had no Cubs of his own.

Lion King 2 is a Zutarian movie.

Think about it. The girl's name is Kiara, which sounds like Katara. She has an older brother, though he is absent from the film for whatever reason, is a princess (If Hakoda is the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, that makes Sokka and Katara the Crown Prince and Princess, yes?), and is anything but docile and girly. She is also brave, friendly, and just a little bit naive. Though as far as death goes, however, it would appear that her brother toke the bullet foe their mother, as where Kopa (Sokka's counterpart) is no where to be seen, but Nala, their mother, is fine.

Now, the boy. Seriously, take the 'V' from Kovu and replace it with a 'Z', then switch the syllables. What name do you get? Also, he has only one parent, though in this case it's the mother, who is cruel and abusive to him and his siblings. He is expected to follow in someone's footsteps and become ruler of a new dark kingdom. They were both raised to be evil, but both have good and gentle hearts that lead them to the right path. Most obvious, however, they are both banished princes with scars over their eyes. Scars, by the way, that were maliciously afflicted by their said only parents for doing essentially nothing wrong.

By the way, Vitani is really no angel, but she is the first one to make the switch and it is suspected that she is not truly evil. Cut to Azula, who is mentally sick and one of the more sympathetic villains out there. It can be safely assumed that neither of these girls were bad from the start and both had the same potential as their brothers to be good, but their parents conditioned and brainwashed sadistic and evil tendencies into them. Also, Vitani, at least as a cub, speaks in the same creepy tone as Azula and both showed sadistic tendencies from early ages.

As well as their respective homes. Kiara lives in benevolent kingdom of which she is an important figure. Kovu hails as the heir of an 'evil' kingdom, though he is banished from it. Also, mostly from the first movie, it seems to rain quite a bit in the Pridelands, and the Outlands seem to be in a never-ending drought, despite how they boarder right on one another.

• First, it's not true. Second, Simba's Pride was long before ATLA. Third, Kovu's name is pushing it. Fourth, spelling.
  • A Time Lord Did It.
  • Or better yet, Zutara is inspired by this film: Ha!

Zira and the Outsiders were banished for hoarding more than loyalty to Scar.

If they were loyal enough to Scar for Simba to banish him, they sure as hell didn't show up to save Scar's butt in any sense during the final battle. The kingdom probably went through a rough stretch between the two movies as it attempted to rebuild from Scar's rule, and it's not far-fetched to imagine that food was scarce for a while. If there was a segment of the population hoarding food for themselves, it would have made sense to banish them because they were straining the kingdom's already scarce resources.

• Jossed. The Lion Guard shows they did try to attack Simba.

Zira and the Outsiders were a scouting team Scar sent forth for an expedition. Simba beat them to Pride Rock and they were stuck.

Yes, Scar was insane, but he was also very ambitious. Zira, who was - at least at the jump - probably slightly less insane, may have suggested that they try to expand their sphere of influence beyond Pride Rock in an attempt to find more food. Except when Zira's group was out on its raid, Simba and co. came back and re-took Pride Rock. Zira's party suddenly found themselves stuck in the Outlands and unable to return home. Zira probably didn't mind this, as she could plot her revenge. The other lionesses probably weren't as thrilled, and were probably even less thrilled when they realized that the situation in Zira's domain was almost as bad as Scar's rule at Pride Rock. That may explain their quickness to turn on Zira after they realized that she was certifiable and cared more about revenge than she did about them.

Nuka is Scar's biological son

He is weak and mangy due to Scar being "at the shallow end of the gene pool".

• Nuka does say this line when he is introduced, which certainly implies something:
  Nuka: "Scar wasn't even his [Kovu's] father, he just took him in".
  • The Lion Guard implies that Scar didn’t have any biological Cubs.

Kovu just happens to look like Scar; it's a lucky coincidence

Even among humans, people often look like each other. There's only so many variations.

• Confirmed in The Lion Guard.

Kovu as a cub is starting to grow a mane

I assume that's what the fur on the top of his head is, and he's more muscular than Simba was in the first part of The Lion King (1994). I'd pin him at under 2 years of age.

• Kovu, Kovu, Kovu...

Scar killed Kovu's parents

Word of God states that Kovu is an orphan and Scar "took him in". It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that Scar kidnapped Kovu as a cub and killed his biological parents.

• I think Kovu is referred to as an orphan because Zira is now dead, not because he lacked parents before.

Scar choosing Kovu as heir was all in Zira's head

Ok, we know for a fact Zira was completely insane. So it's not much of a stretch to assume this insanity might have caused her to believe Scar told her Kovu was his heir, when Scar died before it ever happened. In fact, while Nuka may have been Scar's child, possibly Vitani too, as with real lions in real life, Scar may have mated with several lionesses but Zira only believed she was his prefered mate and queen, because she truly loved him and may have been the only one to actually sire cubs. Knowing Scar, he might have even cultivated such an idea because she clearly had a large sway with the lionesses and they'd obey her. Thus most of Zira's 'motive' was the result of her rampant insanity.

• Besides, Scar doesn't seem to have had the foresight to actually pick an heir. He must have been banking on being king forever.
• I totally roll with this to the point that I think Scar was gearing up to have Kovu killed by the hyenas and it would have happened if Simba hadn't killed him first. Zira would never have believed Scar gave the order - especially if he told Zira that Kovu was indeed going to be heir.

Zira does know the hyenas killed Scar

The reason the hyenas ran off is because a vengeful Zira killed several of them and forced the survivors to flee. But Simba also shares the blame for returning to the Pride Lands and turning everyone against Scar.

• Well, assuming that the events of The Lion Guard are to be considered canon (which is doubtful), Zira just seems to hate everybody who isn't a lion.

Kovu and Draco Malfoy are the same person

Said person is trapped in a neverending, karmatic, self-repeating pattern, with only slight variations, regardless of whether he is incarnated as a lion or a human wizard.

• Both Kovu and Draco were born during the last part of a Dark Lord's rule.
• Both Kovu and Draco were born to followers of said Dark Lord.
• Both Kovu and Draco were given dark, meaningful names strongly associated with the Dark Lord (Kovu meaning literally "scar", and Draco being derived from Greek for "serpent").
• Both Kovu and Draco were raised by fanatical followers of the Dark Lord, and brainwashed into believing said Dark Lord was an awesome guy, despite the fact that in reality, said guy was a murderer and a tyrant with little regard even for his own followers, and who eventually brought about his own destruction.
• Both Kovu and Draco had a female relative who was a fanatical, ax-crazy, violent and murderous follower of the Dark Lord (Zira/Bellatrix); said relative is implied to have been the Dark Lord's most loyal follower and right hand woman, and to have been in love with the Dark Lord.
• Both Kovu and Draco were taught to hate the ones responsible for the Dark Lord's fall (Simba/Harry Potter) as well as all those who oppossed the Dark Lord's views.
• Both Kovu and Draco, as kids, appear to be arrogant, proud and self-suficient, but in reality are cowardly and weaker than they'd like to admit.
• Both Kovu and Draco came from supremacist families (if we take The Lion Guard into account, Zira is apparently a lion supremacist who believes her kind to be superior to the rest of the animal kingdom, whereas the Malfoys are similarly obsessed with "blood purity").
• Both Kovu and Draco were in their early adolescence when an attempt to revive the Dark Lord was made (if we take The Lion Guard into account); the attempt involved a magical ritual and was performed/witnessed by a normally ineffective, secondary villain (Janja/Peter Pettigrew) and a snake (Ushari/Nagini). Neither Kovu nor Draco were present at that time. However, whereas the ritual succesfully restored Voldemort to life, it apparently only did so temporarily for Scar (seeing as he is very much dead by the time of The Lion King 2 second half), and it seemingly only restored him to a spirit-like form. Neither Kovu nor Draco play a part in their respective Dark Lord's resurrections.
• Both Kovu and Draco are eventually chosen to assassinate the leader of the Dark Lord's enemies (Simba/Dumbledore), by infiltrating said leader's domains (Pride Rock/Hogwarts), so that once he falls the Dark Lord's followers can take over.
• Both Kovu and Draco are branded with a permanent mark that associates them with the Dark Lord and makes everyone else see them with fear and distrust.
• Both Kovu and Draco manage succesfully to infiltrate the good guy's domains and corner him into an ambush; however, both fail to assassinate him as they find they are not cut for murder AND they have been treated kindly and offered forgiveness by their target. Unfortunately, the good guy is still attacked by the rest of the Dark Lord's followers, forcing Kovu/Draco to flee along with the other "bad guys".
• Neither Kovu nor Draco feel any real loyalty to the Dark Lord by the end, being concerned only about the people they love. Both Kovu and Draco are eventually forgiven and ultimately escape the consequences of having supported the Dark Lord.
• And of course, both Kovu and Draco have massive fanbases :B

Zira isn't the biological mother of either Kovu or Vitani, they were newborn siblings who were just discovered.

Remember in the first movie when Scar lectured Sarabi about her team not looking hard enough for food? Well, Zira, who’s very loyal to Scar, must’ve been searching far and wide for food along with her personal team of lionesses. She likely stumbled upon two very young and unsupervised cubs — Vitani and Kovu.

Sometimes, lionesses find very young and seemingly abandoned cubs and take them into the pride, so this must’ve been the case with Zira finding Kovu and Vitani and bringing them to Scar to accept. Scar was not Kovu’s father as Scar is implied to have not had any kids, and Zira was very much in love with Scar so it’s unlikely that she would’ve looked for another male to have cubs with. That creates an unlikelihood of Kovu and Vitani having both Scar and Zira as their biological parents, which opens the idea of them being from the same litter. This would make sense since Kovu and Vitani are the same age and have similar appearances (extra fur at the ends of their faces, tufts of fur on their heads, recessive gene eye color). And of course, since they were from the same litter, they were left in the same place together and eventually found by Zira.

Upendi is the animal version of a gay bar.

I am basing this theory on the fact that two brown ostriches were dancing together. Other than that, there is really no proof.

Mufasa's spirit lectured Simba off-screen

If the deleted line is any indication, it was probably planned for Mufasa to appear in the heavens shortly after Kiara runs away following Kovu's unjust sentence. He would have likely expressed stern disappointment in his son, prompting Simba to become confused before hearing about having broken the Circle of Life and seeing his father disappear into the clouds once more. Then he could've questioned himself if he really had done the right thing, wanted to apologize to Kiara and even thought about making a peaceful resolution with the Outlanders, walking into the den as the rain begun... before finding out that Kiara had fled and then being alerted of the impeding attack by the Outlanders that wanted an all-out war, going in to fight them because he quickly realized it was now absolutely too late to negotiate and could only defend his home from the attackers.

Zira originally wanted Kovu to marry Vitani making her the queen of the Pride Lands

I mean, Kovu is not Zira's biological son and thus, Vitani and Kovu are not related. Also, Vitani is the only Lionness among the Outsiders that is around the same age as Kovu. So who else could have been his queen except for Kiara? Zira probably intended to arrange their marriage as soon as Simba and his pride were defeated. But due to Kovu falling in love with Kiara instead and getting redeemed in the process, she has failed.

The Outsiders is made up of several family groups. Most of them are younger lionesses who were either cubs or not born yet when Scar fell, and are only with the group due to being raised within it by their mothers.

• It would be one way to get around their strength in numbers vs. Scar's unpopularity.

The Outsiders other than Zira and her children were originally meant to be the hyenas.

This is a Doylist explanation for where the Outsiders came from when the lionesses all apparently hated Scar in the first film. Maybe in the script's first draft, Zira was the only lioness who had been loyal to Scar, and she regrouped the hyenas to overthrow Simba. But then the writers realized that Zira would never willingly work with her beloved Scar's murderers, nor would they work with her after Scar's betrayal. So they replaced the hyenas with lionesses.

Kovu is demisexual.

It's already been theorized by some (including this troper) that Kiara is asexual, as she is never shown or said to feel any superficial attraction to anyone, not even her love interest (EXCEPT maybe when she cuddles him, I guess?!?!?!). However, it's also worth noting that Kovu LITERALLY TOLD HER "We'll run away together, and start a pride aaaaaaaaaaaaaall on our own!" WHILST LEGITIMATELY TWERKING and lowering his head to make sure she could see! This is a clear indication of demisexuality, where one only experiences sexual attraction towards those who they've grown a strong bond with.

Additionally, Kiara obviously didn't bang him (at least not on-screen!) and simply smiled before reminding him of her duty to bring equality between the Pridelanders and Outsiders. Although her smile may have been fake just so Kovu would feel better (horribly, many sex-repulsed aces are demanded by our romantic partners to have sex with them, but we frequently and tragically don't show our pain, because as one put it, "...I was afraid to say no as I just wanted to please my partner."), the necessary dishonesty and pain seems unlikely for such a healthy, beautiful relationship. She is clearly not sex-repulsed, she wasn't even aroused, and she clearly doesn't particularly like sex either. Kiara likely just felt happy that Kovu wanted to please her and was completely indifferent towards whether it was through sex or not.