The Outsiders (also known as the Outlanders or Zira's Pride) are an offshoot of the Pridelanders. They are the primary antagonistic group-turned-supporting characters of the 1998 film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and also appear in its midquel television series The Lion Guard.
The Outsiders are a pride of lions who remain loyal to Scar after his death. Because of their ties to the former tyrant, Scar's nephew Simba banishes them to the Outlands, where they remain until the pride is disbanded, and its remaining members, except their leader, Zira become Pridelanders again.
Appearances
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
When Kiara, the young daughter of Simba and Nala, expresses interest in romping the Pride Lands, Simba warns her to stay away from the Outlands, where the Outsider pride dwells. Overhearing the conversation, Zazu flutters up to the king and warns Kiara that nothing inhibits the Outlands but a "bunch of backstabbing, murderous Outsiders." Simba then warns his daughter to never turn her back on them.
The first Outsider seen in the film is a young cub named Kovu. Upon first meeting him, Kiara takes her father's advice, never turning her back on the stranger. Intrigued by her behavior, Kovu questions her and then mocks her for always following her father's rules. He then boasts that an Outsider is self-reliant and can take care of himself.
Not long after their encounter, Kovu's mother, Zira, shows up to defend her son, and Simba jumps up in his daughter's defense. The two have a stand-off conversation, during which Zira laments the poor conditions of the Outlands, where her pride is deprived of food and water. Unsympathetic, Simba reminds her that an Outsider is to be repelled and driven away if he strays into the Pride Lands. Testing Simba, Zira pushes her son forward, but Simba takes pity on the cub and spares him (while equally disgusted that Zira would make this offer), kicking Zira and her own family out of the Pride Lands.
Once home again, Zira yells at Kovu for associating with a Pridelander, reminding him that Simba has banished their pride from the Pride Lands for staying loyal to Scar. She then gets a marvelous idea to make an older Kovu woo Kiara in order to gain Simba's trust and then kill him. She then sings "My Lullaby", during which her vengeful pride echoes her murderous intentions.
Years later, the plan goes underway, and Zira's other children Nuka and Vitani set fire to the Pride Lands, making way for Kovu to save Kiara and wedge his way into Simba's pride. While the Outsiders wait excitedly for Simba's downfall, Kovu begins to fall in love with Kiara and refuses to kill the king. Sensing Kovu's betrayal, Zira and her pride ambush Simba, leaving him severely wounded. Though Simba escapes, Nuka dies during the attack, leaving Zira in a fury.
The vengeful lioness leads her pride into battle against the Pridelanders, and the Outsiders exert well-honed battle strategies and skills. Despite the ferocious tussle, the fight is soon stopped by Kovu and Kiara, who convince Simba that the Outsiders and Pridelanders are no different from each other. Vitani is the first one to see Kovu and Kiara's point and convinces the Outsiders that the fighting is pointless and must stop. When Zira threatens to kill her own daughter if she refuses to fight, the Outsiders, shocked and disgusted by such a threat, turn against her and join Simba's pride.
After Zira's death, Simba welcomes the Outsiders back into his pride. Once back at Pride Rock, the Outsiders and the Pridelanders witness the union of Kovu and Kiara. They then bow their heads as first Simba and Nala, then Kovu and Kiara stride past and roar out over the kingdom.
The Lion Guard
The Outsiders appear in the episode "Lions of the Outlands". They originally lived in the same part of the Outlands as a hyena named Jasiri and her clan and refused to share a waterhole with them, until Simba's son, Kion, used the Roar of the Elders to blast them to a different part.
In "Journey to the Pride Lands," the Lion Guard return from their healing at the Tree of Life after finding out that the Outsiders have returned to the Outlands.
In "Return to the Pride Lands", which takes place after Simba's Pride, Vitani, and four other former Outsiders became the new Lion Guard after being accepted back into Simba's pride. Mistakenly believing Kion (who had the Mark of Evil on him which he had received during the final battle with the ghost of Scar) leading an invasion with his friends, hyenas, and vultures, Vitani, and her party engaged them, while they believed they were trying to bar them from getting to Zira. Kiara stepped in and cleared things up with both of them.
Trivia
- The Outsiders' alternative name Outlanders is the name given to the other residents of the Outlands such as hyenas, jackals, and vultures in the 2015 TV film, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and its 2016 follow-up series The Lion Guard (both of which take place in the middle of Simba's Pride).
- In The Lion Guard, it appears that the Outsiders, like the Pridelanders, are enemies with hyenas, despite the fact that Scar always helped them. It also squares with the idea of Zira originally being accompanied by the hyenas, but instead only outsider lions in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. It could be that this is only because Jasiri and her clan are friends with Kion and the rest of the Lion Guard, and respected the usual monarchy and the Circle of Life.
- In production, there were no plans for the Outsiders as the antagonists. In fact, Zira would've allied with the hyenas to take back Pride Rock. But this was scrapped as the hyenas were the reason why Scar died.
- When Scar came back as a spirit, the Outsiders were the only residents of the Outlands who did not join his army. They did not know because they lived in the depths of the Outlands, while the other Outlanders lived at the border where Scar was located.
Gallery
External links
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