Letting go of Hate
by veronica.toon.7 is a The Lion King fanfic that acts as a Zira redemption arc.
The story starts with Kiara saving Zira from falling. Zira is reluctantly let into the pride, but lions keep their distance from her. Kiara isn't satisfied with this and decides to help Zira become a normalized member of the pride. Part II deviates from this by being from Zira's POV as she continues her Character Development.
Letting go of Hate provides examples of:
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Vitani switches between calling Zira by her name and using a distant, formal "Mother".
- Childhood Friends: Cheka is a childhood friend of Zira's. He's from her original pride.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Zira wasn't born a Pridelander. She was a rogue who arrived during Scar's reign, explaining why she wasn't in the original film. She and several of her pride ran away after rogues usurped the pride. The new leaders were abusive and cruel, so the lionesses left.
- Dark Fic: The story tries to be close to canon's tone, however it does cover darker elements. Lions are also shown hunting.
- Decoy Protagonist: Kiara is the protagonist of Act I but Act II is from Zira's POV.
- Emotional Regression: Zira temporarily regresses into her cubhood self after her Repressed Memories resurface. She snaps out of it after seeing her reflection.
- Innocence Lost: Zira considers her innocent lost when the rogues took over her original pride. It led to her life being turned upside and most of her loved ones dying.
- Long-Lost Relative: Zira reunites wih her sister Zula in Act II.
- Meaningful Rename: Zira was originally named "Ziva" (which means "alive"). She renamed herself after leaving her pride.
- Misplaced Retribution: While hunting, Zira single-handedly kills an antelope. In her rage, she imagined it was Simba.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Scar's original name Taka is a shortened version of "Takata".
- Nuka's name is a shortened version "Nukato".
- Parental Substitute:
- Kovu sees his father-in-law Simba as the dad he never had.
- Vitani is closer to Nala than she is her biological mother.
- Repressed Memories: Zira repressed most of the memories between the rogues attacking her pride and her joining Scar's pride.
- The Sociopath: The writer sees Scar as a sociopath, or more specifically as having antisocial personality disorder, and writes him as such. He didn't love Zira back despite her Mad Love.
- Tame His Anger: The plot revolves around Kiara helping Zira tame her hatred and rage.
