The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

• Zira forcefully tries to turn Kovu into her personal assassin and ultimately attempts to kill Vitani.
• This is downplayed with Simba. While nowhere near as bad as Zira, Simba often lies to his daughter and never accepts her decisions out of overprotectiveness and fear. Fortunately, Kiara manages to snap him out of it.

• Of the sequel variety, it's directly shown that Mufasa is spiritually present at Kiara's ceremony at the start of the movie, as well as the finale with Simba, Nala, Kovu and Kiara roaring from Pride Rock. This implies that with Simba's ceremony in the original film, the beam of light parting from the clouds was likely Mufasa's father or mother blessing his or her grandchild.
• Simba was hinted in the first film to have some serious psychological problems, primarily a lot of self doubt in who he was and the grief over his father's death, though it was primarily indicated through a few lines, and was not given that much depth. This time around, his psychological problems are shown far more clearly, serving as a major part of his character becoming a colossal jerk, and it is strongly implied, especially in the second half of the film, that he has post traumatic stress disorder.

Simba: Scar couldn't let go of his hate, and in the end, it destroyed him.
Kovu: ... I've never heard the story of Scar that way. He truly was a killer.
Simba (while brushing the remains of burned plants): Fire is a killer. Sometimes what's left behind can grow better than the generation before, if given the chance.

Rafiki: It is a girl!
Timon: (sigh) Girl...
Timon & Pumbaa: GIRL?! (both faint)

• When Nuka goes after Simba on the dam, whilst proclaiming "I'll do it for you, Mother! — I'm doing it for you — And I'm doing it for me!", and he inadvertently gets dislodged, falls and manages to tell Zira "I'm sorry, Mother. I tried," making Zira go from My God, What Have I Done? to Never My Fault in under three seconds flat. Even more so in the deleted extended version where Nuka bitterly points out that he was only able to get his mother's attention in death.
• Also Zira. Yes, she is an Ax-Crazy lunatic and did threaten her own daughter for deciding to stop fighting Simba, but it's still sad to see her desire for revenge leading to her demise. Even Kiara wishes she could've done something to save her.
• Posthumously for Scar, as both Simba and Kiara laments about how he couldn't let go of his hatred and when it eventually consumed and destroyed him, Scar was at the end his own worst enemy.

• Simba takes a page out of Mufasa's book when he scolds Kiara after she endangers herself by pulling off a similar stunt that Simba did when he was a cub and went into the Outlands.

  Simba: Kiara, what did you think you were doing? You could have been killed today.
  Kiara: But Daddy, I— I didn't mean to disobey—
  Simba: I'm telling you this because I love you. I don't wanna lose you.
  Kiara: I know.
  Simba: If something happened to you, I don't know what I'd do.

• He shows this again to a grown-up Kiara after the wildfire.

  Nala: (relived) Kiara! You're all right.
  Kiara: Father... how could you break your promise?
  Simba: It's a good thing I did. I almost lost you. No more hunts for you; not ever!

He asked for trouble the moment he came...

• Kovu delivers an effective one to Simba when he asks to join his pride, one that hits close to home…

  Kovu: Judge me now for who I am... or am I to be blamed for a crime I didn't commit?

• When Kovu and Kiara return to stop the war between the Pridelanders and the Outsiders, Kiara tells Simba "They are us. What differences do you see?", which helps him realize the error of his ways.

• While on her first hunt, Kiara tries to catch a herd of hartebeest, but they get away. Then she sees fire in the distance, and the panicking herd stampeding back in her direction, prompting her to run too.
• Kovu, Kiara, and Timon and Pumbaa are chasing a flock of birds for fun, before they run into a huge herd of rhinos. The rhinos snort at them, and attack them, forcing them to run as well into a cave.
• At the climax, Timon tells Pumbaa "When the going gets tough, the tough get going," and they charge into the battle between the Pridelanders and Outsiders. They then chicken out when confronted by an Outsider.

• Timon and Pumbaa may be frustrated with each other and with Simba on occasions, but they'll drag Simba back to Pride Rock when he's injured and both valiantly join the fight against the outsiders. They actually kick butt... again.
• Zira, surprisingly, gets one: she may not show it all the time, but she does love Nuka. She's actually utterly heartbroken and furiously angry at Kovu when Nuka is flattened.

• "Love Will Find A Way," as performed by Heather Headley and Kenny Lattimore.
• Tina Turner's rendition of "He Lives in You," heard at the first half of the end credits of the French dub.

• Simba pulls a rather deliberate one on his daughter and her new friend.

  Kovu: Kiara... I need to talk to you...
  Simba: Kiara! I don't want you talking with him... [smiles] I want to talk with him.

• Zira pulls a rather nasty one on Kovu and Simba by falsely congratulating Kovu, immediately sending the message to Simba that this was a deliberate scheme.

• Zira has Nuka and Vitani set up the fire so Kiara would be trapped and Kovu would rescue her, so Simba would gain his trust and let him in. She then claims the closer Kovu gets to Kiara, the closer he gets to Simba, and once he has Simba alone, he will kill him when the time is right.
• When Kovu starts turning on the Outsiders, Zira decides to try to force Kovu back into the Outsiders by ambushing Simba while Kovu is with him. She then falsely congratulates Kovu with a skillful use of Exact Words, and Simba reacts predictably. While Simba survives, he banishes Kovu, but Kovu angrily turns on Zira for getting him involved with her schemes.

• Justified with the Outlanders, as they are only skinny and sunken-eyed from not getting enough to eat. After being accepted into Simba's pride, they're shown with the same build as the Rock Pride's lionesses.
• Played straight with Kovu, who is the most well kept of the Outsiders and quickly becomes the most heroic, given that he defects in roughly half a day.

Zira: What were you doing?
Kovu:: I did nothing!
Zira: Exactly. And by doing so, you betrayed your pride. Betrayed Scar!
Kovu: I want nothing more to do with him!
Zira: You cannot escape it! Nuka is dead because of you! You killed your own brother!

• Twice by Simba during his nightmare, first when Mufasa falls to his death, and when he is falling to his own death by Kovu.
• Kovu yells "No!" when the Outsiders attack Simba in ambush, and after Zira blames him for Nuka's death.
• Kiara yells "No!" after Simba exiles Kovu from the Pride Lands in the film's second half.

• A non-African language example: Kiara is Latin for "bright," and when it was introduced in Africa, it came to mean someone of importance, fitting for Kiara being the heir to the throne, and also due to her important role in the plot.

• Young Kiara does this to the crocodiles as they try to reach her and Young Kovu after escaping them.
• A flock of spotted thick-knees do this to Kovu, Kiara, Timon, and Pumbaa after leading them to a rhino crash as they chase them.

• Zira clearly mentions that Kovu was the last to be born before their exile, and hand-chosen by Scar to be his heir. However, Kiara was barely conceived around this time. It means there is an age difference of the time of a lioness gestation between them, that's to say roughly four months. The difference should be more flagrant when they first meet as cubs only aged of a few months.
• Even though it was done to avoid unfortunate incestual implications, the idea of Kovu being hand-chosen without being his blood by the self-centered Scar does seem a bit odd. Though at least it tries its best to make some sense in context, since Scar had no actual heirs and Kovu coincidentally bore some resemblance to him.
• It is not clear where Zira and the future Outsiders were during the Final Battle of the previous film. And neither is the exact fate of the hyenas who mysteriously disappeared at the moment where Scar died.
• Overlapping with Continuity Snarl, the ghost of Mufasa here communicates with Rafiki (through the wind that the latter understands thanks to his shamanic abilities). That confirms he was not just a hallucination in the first film, he is a real apparition from the afterlife (the "stars" in this universe). This raises some questions. If he told the truth about his death to Rafiki or Simba right after it (or sooner than the famous stormy night), Scar could not have ruined the kingdom for years and countless lives would have been spared. And in the current film, he would be a very precious witness to testify to the villainy of his brother in front of Outsiders who are still faithful to his memory, and thus to prevent the war between the prides about the legitimacy of Simba (if this is the lone reason). It is possible there is some limit to how often he can speak to the living, and/or what he can say, but if so none of this is indicated onscreen (and The Lion Guard would suggest otherwise as well). Rafiki has a small part of this too: he's fully aware of the intentions of Mufasa, but similarly to the first film he still acts in a more overseeing role. Aside from showing Simba the ghost of his father (which he lampshades), and teaching Kovu and Kiara about "Upendi," he makes no use of his knowledge and connection with the Kings of the Past.

• At the beginning of the film, when Simba alludes to the danger he and Nala ran into when they were kids, he is clearly referring to the Elephant Graveyard.
• During one of Kovu and Kiara's romantic moments in "Love Will Find A Way", Kiara licks Kovu in a very similar manner to the way Nala did to Simba in the first movie. Before that, Nala pins down Simba in a way that recalls their childhood.
• When Timon and Pumbaa offer some bugs to Kiara as a meal, she says "Eww, gross!" in the exact same way as her father.
• In the first film, Simba says that when he's King, betrothals will be the "first thing to go". Indeed, Kiara is not betrothed, despite being older than Simba and Nala were at the time of their betrothal.
• Scar's introduction had him catch and about to eat a mouse, which escapes when he's distracted. Nuka offers to catch mice for Zira to eat; she ignores him.
• Simba quotes (somewhat unintentionally) Timon and Pumbaa's advice by telling Zira that it's time to "put the past behind us".
• Simba's ideology of "We are one" can be seen as a take on the "circle of life" philosophy taught to him by Mufasa, where all beings are connected.
• Kiara looking at herself from the tree branch with a leaf distorting the reflection after Kovu has been banished is identical to Simba after his argument with Nala.

• Kovu calls out both the old lady and the posthumous father figure:

  Zira: You betrayed your pride! Betrayed Scar!
  Kovu: I want nothing more to do with him!

• Kiara tries several times to call out Simba for his over-protectiveness, but it never seems to take until Kovu's exile, resulting in her saying "You will never be Mufasa!"

• Timon and Pumbaa have no problems hanging around the Pride Lands, probably being under the protection of Simba. They also look like they accept being in a community of carnivores well, even though they probably witness from time to time some "taxation operations" on the Pridelanders.
• The lions have no difficulty gathering the population around Pride Rock for an official announcement, without anyone fearing predation from anybody else. Maybe it is because the place is sacred, but in this case, lots of hunting must look like off-ground tags.
• This is even an impediment to the development of Kiara's character. She is shown as a clumsy hunter throughout the movie, and contrary to Kovu, who learns the meaning of fun and kindness, she never has the occasion to train and improve herself as a killer... though for the sake of the story, it's probably better that way.

• Kovu accidentally channels Scar through his reflection, same way Simba channels Mufasa. Kovu doesn't take this well.
• Nuka mentioning that the hyenas ran away could also count as this, considering that Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were outside of the Pride Lands in the TV series Timon & Pumbaa. It helps that some of the people who have worked on this film, such as co-director Rob LaDuca, have previously worked on Timon & Pumbaa.

• Zazu becomes a minor character in the movie. He has a few brief lines, but it's very easy to forget he is in this movie.
• Despite being a supporting character in The Lion King, Simba's mother Sarabi is given a background role this time around.

• Simba roaring at Kovu simply for playing with his daughter is a blatant case of this trope. While you could understand being worried when he found out about her getting away, Kovu is only playing with Kiara, and Zira had not revealed herself yet, so roaring at a cub who is doing nothing but playing innocently is going way, way too far. Simba really should have just approached calmly and asked him who he was.
• Banishing the Outlander cubs in the first place seems wholly unfair. Zira and the other adult lionesses may have been dangerous, but Nuka likely would have been a young cub when Simba took over as the king, and Vitani would have been an infant— she would have posed absolutely no threat to the Pride Lands, but she was banished to a childhood of starvation, neglect and deprivation for the crime of being Zira's child.

Timon: Don't anyone move! This thing's loaded! I'll let you have it!
[The Outsiders scream and run away in fright]

Kiara: Why'd you bring me here? Who do you think you are?!
Kovu: I think I'm the one who just saved your life!
Kiara: Look, I had everything under control!
Kovu: Not from where I'm standing.

• Vitani is shown to be genuinely hurt when it seems Kovu has turned his back on the Outsiders for Simba.
• While Simba is more focused on the Outsiders, it is indicated he genuinely began to trust Kovu, and the fact that Kovu has apparently just led him into an ambush to be killed is seen as an enormous betrayal of trust. Fortunately, he does acknowledge that Kovu was not behind the ambush at the end of the film.
• Kovu himself is visibly horrified at the fact that his family and pride, which is shown repeatedly throughout the film that he genuinely cares about, has framed him for murder, and later for blaming him for Nuka's death.

Now, the past I've tried forgetting
And my foes I could forgive.
Trouble is, I know it's petty,
but I hate to let them live!

• Zira has a deep husky voice, granted by the late Suzanne Pleshette.
• Andy Dick provides Nuka with a whiny high pitched voice for most of the film, but at the ambush, when he finally snaps, Nuka drops the high pitch and gains a very guttural voice.
• As an adult, Vitani has a low, raspy voice, courtesy of Meredith Scott Lynn.

• The film shows Nuka being crushed to death by logs while trying to earn his mother's love and respect.
• Zira's fall into the ravine after refusing help is a classic Disney Villain Death, but in a deleted scene, she commits suicide.

• Kiara does this to Simba several times when he lectures her.

  Simba: Accidents can happen. You could easily get hurt, or stepped—
  Kiara: *simultaneously* ...Hurt, or stepped on, or even get lost.
  Simba: And remember, I want you to stay in sight of Pride Rock at all—
  Kiara: At all times, I know. (annoyed) And if I see any strangers, don't talk to them. Come straight home.

• And later on:

  Simba: You are part of the great Circle of—
  Kiara: Circle of Life. I know.

• During a talk with her two reluctant babysitters, Kiara tells them being a princess is only half of who she is, leading Pumbaa to ask who is the other half, which Kiara doesn't know yet as she is only a cub.

Kiara: [annoyed] Would somebody please just listen to me?!
Timon: I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Did you say something, princess?
Kiara: I'm not just a princess, you know. That's only half of who I am!
Pumbaa: Well then, who's the other half?

• Simba's nightmare depicts Kovu with Scar's... scar. He would later gain his for real when Zira strikes him.
• When Kovu races down to dig Nuka out of the logs, if you look closely at the scene, you will notice water is leaking out from under the logs. The logs collapse and cause a brief flood that ultimately kills Zira in the climax. This is also underscored later, when Kovu and Kiara cross the dam and the former nearly falls thanks to the rising water smashing a log into the one he's crossing. While it isn't shown directly, the ironic implication is there that his weight was part of what destabilized the dam, leading to its collapse.
• When Simba is escaping from the Outlanders in the gorge, he climbs a series of logs and accidentally dislodges one of them. It lands harmlessly in front of a few lionesses, causing them to back off because of the danger. Nuka ignores the danger as he attacks Simba who dislodges a few more that ultimately seal Nuka's fate.

• Zira expresses a very brief one at the beginning of "My Lullaby".

I've been exiled, persecuted, left alone with no defense.
When I think of what that brute did, I get a little tense.
(Assume "that brute" refers to Simba).

• Given Nuka's status as The Unfavorite and the place he lives in, it's quite obvious why he's so unstable.

Simba: You and your young cub, get out.
Zira: Haven't you met my son, Kovu? He was hand chosen by Scar to follow in his pawprints and become king.
[Kovu shivers noisily in fear]
Timon: That's not a king! That's a fuzzy maraca!
Zira: Kovu was the last born before you exiled us to the Outlands, where we have little food... less water...
Simba: You know the penalty for returning to the Pride Lands.
Zira: But the child does not. However, if you need your pound of flesh... here. [pushes Kovu forward]
Simba: Take him and get out. We're finished here.
Zira: Oh, no, Simba. We've barely begun! [chuckles maliciously]

Timon: Gee, Simba! The good news is, we found your daughter. The bad news is, we dropped a warthog on her. Is there a problem with that?

• Nuka's death not only leaves Kovu utterly shattered, but fully realizes his Heel–Face Turn.
• All Kiara can do is watch in despair as Simba and the Pridelanders exile Kovu in the second half of the film.

• Kovu has just been kicked headfirst into a rock. Less than a minute later, he has recovered, with no injury, and no real sign of a concussion later on in the film. Simba despite being mauled, and brutally injured, recovers to full health in what is implied to be just 12 hours. That said, Zira says Simba being injured and weakened is why they're attacking now, suggesting he wasn't at his full strength in the battle (which says a lot about how he still holds his own well).
• The final battle, where despite every single lioness being involved in the fight, no one has a potential problem walking. Then there is the scene of Kiara crashing down the rocks really quickly, which should have caused serious burns from the friction at least.

• Simba gives Kovu a speech about how fire (Scar) is a killer, but what's left behind (Kovu) could grow better if given the chance. He seems to forget about that last part when he exiles him as guilty of betrayal before being proven innocent. Even before this, his song "We Are One" is strange to listen to when in the previous scene we saw him reject Kovu simply for being Zira's son!
• Zira blames Kovu for Nuka's death though it was an accident, yet she worships Scar who killed his brother on purpose.
• Zira later proceeds to blame Simba completely for putting them in the Outlands where they don't have a lot of food and water, but her leadership style shows that she could have easily just accepted that punishment and actually focused on getting food and water, but instead decides to get revenge on Simba.

• Kovu slowly realizes that he isn't like his adopted father Scar at all and doesn't have to do the terrible things he did. It doesn't help that everyone, bar Kiara, assumes he's Scar 2.0 and will carry on the legacy without even giving him a chance.

Kovu: He [Scar] was a part of me.
Kiara: My father said there was a darkness in Scar that he couldn't escape.
Kovu: Maybe there's a darkness in me too.

• A rare example with a positive father figure, as Simba realizes he isn't Mufasa and can't rule based on what his father would have done. By the end of the film he's learned to let go of the past and become King in his own right.

• Simba's overprotectiveness of Kiara even into adulthood does nothing to help their already tense relationship.
• Simba quickly believes that Kovu deliberately led him into Zira's ambush, even though it was his idea for them to walk to the scene of the fire, not Kovu's. How could Kovu have set up an ambush there when he had no way of knowing Simba was taking him there?
• Nuka's idea of pursuing Simba up the unstable logs was really stupid—even Zira wasn't willing to follow Simba up there. When Nuka snatches Simba's leg, the combined weight causes the logs beneath Nuka to collapse, causing him to lose his grip and tumble down, with several logs crushing him to death.
• Zira's failing psyche causes her to grab the ball tight and never let go, costing her the loyalty of her entire pride.

• In the "Upendi" song.
• Also, the waterfall which presumably kills Zira at the end.

• Zira always wanted Kovu to become King... and he achieves this not by killing her sworn enemy, Simba, but by marrying Simba's daughter.
• During "One Of Us," one of the lines is "Now we're not so blind." Except they are blind-blinded by their own prejudice.
• Simba has a nightmare about him hanging in a crag and then being thrown into a stampede below by Kovu, similar to how Scar threw Mufasa into one in the first movie and nearly threw Simba himself into a fiery pit in the climax. Come the end of this movie, and the one who falls downward is Kovu's mother (and the movie's Big Bad) Zira... after Kiara (Simba's daughter) tried to save her (as a dam broke and there was a fierce river).

• Blink and you'll miss it, but Nuka's "Mother...I tried..." just before his death is echoed by Kiara's "Daddy...I tried," just after she fails to save Zira.
• Zira asking Kovu "What have you done?" before trying to blame him for a death he had nothing to do with echoes Scar's line to Simba after Mufasa's death in the first movie. However, unlike Scar, Zira seems to genuinely believe that Kovu is to blame for Nuka's death.

Simba: Take him and get out. We're finished here.
Zira: Oh no, Simba. We have barely begun. [chuckles evilly]

• When Simba banishes Kovu after the ambush, he notes that Kovu used his relationship with Kiara to get to him. While Simba is clearly going off the bend, and Kovu has turned on the Outsiders by this point in the movie, his claim that the Outsiders did use Kovu and Kiara's relationship to kill him and take over the Pride Lands isn't exactly wrong, even if slightly outdated.
• Simba is honestly pretty reasonable to have Timon and Pumbaa look after Kiara while she is a cub. She was warned not to go to the Outlands, showed interest in going there even before Timon and Pumbaa showed up, immediately goes into the Outlands after running off from her babysitters, and gets into danger almost right away after that. Namely nearly getting killed by crocodiles—and then Zira shows up. On a meta level, it makes sense to have a cub be supervised, even within the Pridelands. Various predators roam the savannah in real life anyways, and Simba is likely aware of this, although the Pridelands seem to at least be somewhat safe since he and Nala were okay with Kiara exploring it as a cub alone.
• The film treats Simba's prejudice against the Outlanders as somewhat unreasonable at times, such as during his exile of Kovu. However, seeing as the Outsiders themselves followed a sociopathic, evil tyrant like Scar (who murded Simba's father, attempted to kill Simba, and ruled as a tyrant), Simba hating and being wary of them makes sense. They do in fact try to kill him during the events of the film as well, if Kovu is not directly responsible for that. As noted above, he was originally supposed to kill Simba after all.

Kiara: A wise king once told me, we are one. I didn't understand him then. Now I do.
Simba: But they...
Kiara: Them? Us. Look at them, they are us. What differences do you see?

Timon: I think you're missing the basic point here.

"A melody of angry growls
A counterpoint of painful howls
A symphony of death, oh my!
That's my lullaby!"''

• "I tried" is spoken at least twice in the movie, both time indicating that a character failed to do something. First, they are the last words of Nuka to Zira, who failed to kill Simba. Second, Kiara says it to Simba after failing to rescue Zira.
• Simba says to Zira that it's time to put the past behind them, the same advice Timon and Pumbaa gave before teaching Hakuna Matata. While in the original movie this lesson winds up being thoroughly deconstructed for Simba's kingship, in this one it's the lesson he badly needs to learn the most in order to reunite the Pridelanders and Outsiders.

• Timon and Pumbaa really do not belong in this movie, as their only purpose is to ruin genuinely dramatic moments with non sequitur jokes. Zazu takes a similar, but more minor role. On a more positive note, there's another dimension of Mood Whiplash, between Lighter and Softer moments and Darker and Edgier moments. Disney movies in general tend to have this, but this movie takes it even further than most, like when a cutesy song about all creatures being a big family is quickly followed by a Villain Song about revenge. That's a very deliberate tonal shift, intentionally juxtaposing the differences between the two families.
• "My Lullaby" also has this...twice. It begins with Zira seeming to show Kovu motherly affection and wishing him a goodnight, then instantly cuts to singing about how she can't wait to hear the screams and cries of her dying enemies and their loved ones. Then cuts back to her singing about how she loves and cares for Kovu, then cuts to how she wants to raise him into a killer. Strangely it works.
• Similarly done intentionally when Kovu's plotting or emotional conflict is cut short by Timon and Pumbaa or Rafiki trying to show him fun in a very whimsical manner.

• Simba after Kiara calls him out from trying to be like Mufasa, as he realizes that his actions have not only caused Kiara to lose the one she loves most, but also because he almost destroyed the Circle of Life by not uniting the Pride Landers and Outlanders into one pride, like Mufasa actually wanted, and instead continued to be prejudiced again all Outlanders.
• Zira also has this reaction after Nuka's death, realising that her own actions ended up getting him killed. However, she quickly passes the blame onto Kovu, accusing him of betraying Scar.
• Kovu, after spending time with Simba's Pride and falling in love with Kiara, begins to regret being part of Zira's plot to assassinate Simba and take over the Pridelands.

Zira: The battle will be bloody, but that kind of works for me.

• Zira tries to tell Kovu that he killed Nuka when her plan to groom him into Scar's successor begins to fall apart.
• Kiara gives one to Simba, telling him that the outsiders aren’t all that different to his own pride.

Simba: I'm gonna be the main event, like no king was before. I'm brushin' up on lookin' down, I'm workin' on my roar!
Kiara: If there's so much I must be, can I still just be me? The way I am.

• Kiara when she sees fire in the distance and the animals stampeding towards her in a panic. (Simba also has one when he sees the fire and realizes the danger to Kiara.)
• Kovu has one when the Outsiders surround him and Simba during their walk.
• Kovu when Simba exiles him from the Pride Lands.
• Simba when he realizes that Kiara has ran off to search for Kovu.
• Even the Outlanders become still with concern when Zira enters the fight in the climax.

Kovu: [to Kiara] Let's get out of here. We'll run away together! [wiggles his backside with a seductive voice] And start a pride all our own.

• Kovu gets a scar across his eye from his abusive mother Zira, while she blames him for Nuka's death.
• Zira's ear is partially torn, but it remains unknown as to how she got it... like Scar.

• Seems the case in "We Are One." During it, Kiara tells Simba straight up that she's afraid her destiny as queen will come at the cost of her own identity. Simba ignores this, delivers about six irrelevant life lessons in lyrical form, and ends by telling her that she'll "understand someday", addressing none of her concerns. Somewhere floating in there is an intended message about how she doesn't need to worry about either losing herself or not being a good queen because she isn't alone and can appeal to her loved ones (and the Great Kings) for help, but this is not at all obvious from the lyrics, and Kiara never picks up on it. Subverted later when Simba's message helps Kiara realize that the two prides should unite rather than constantly fighting. That just wasn't what Simba meant when he was teaching. So Poor Communication Saves?
• While Kovu initially decides to confess about his role in Zira's plot to Kiara, he does not think to say anything about it to Simba when the latter asks to speak to him in private. During their conversation, they happen to be ambushed by the Outsiders and Zira reveals the plan to Simba by herself, making Simba think that Kovu had intentionally led him into an trap, and Kovu tries to explain that he had no role in the ambush before Simba is attacked. Simba is also separated from Kovu during the fight and never witnesses his attempts to help him escape, leading to him later banishing Kovu without letting him explain the truth about the incident.
• Rafiki never once even attempts to tell Simba about Mufasa's plan to have Kiara and Kovu unite the Pridelanders and Outsiders, choosing just to do the matchmaking in his own vague and eccentric way. This ultimately results in the plan, along with Simba's family, almost completely falling apart after Simba banishes Kovu.

Simba: I was seeking counsel from the Great Kings.
Nala: Did they help?
Simba: [sigh] Silent as stars. My father would never—
Nala: Oh, Simba... You want so much to walk the path expected of you. Perhaps Kovu does not.
Simba: What? How do you know what—?
Nala: [giggle] I can see them down there as easily as you can. Get to know him and see.

• Subverted with the protagonist Kovu (who has more or less the same color scheme as Scar and acquires a scar over his eye about halfway through the movie).
• Played straight with the other outsiders, most notably Zira (who has a vertical stripe on her head and an Ear Notch). Before the end battle, the outsider lionesses all walk through mud, just so we (and maybe they themselves) can tell them apart from their Prideland counterparts in the heat of the battle. By the time they realize there's really not all that much of a difference between the two groups, and reunite, they're all clean again, though their distinguishing drawing style remains.

• In their first meeting, Kovu asks Kiara why she is not turning her back on him.
• Kovu says it again in order to alert her to who he is when they reunite as adults.
• Right before he learns the Outsiders are on their way, Simba stumbles upon Timon and Pumbaa fighting, and asks "What are you doing?", right before he learns that Kiara has disappeared.

• The Outsiders's very existence is one. They are followers of Scar and are fanatically loyal to him, especially Zira, and likely would have been major supporters of his during his reign. And yet there is about zero signs of their existence in the first film during Scar's reign. They are nowhere to be seen in the final battle of the first film, despite the fact they logically would have been fighting to defend Scar in that scene and otherwise should have been mentioned in the third act.
• Kovu being Scar's heir as well. He is mentioned to have been chosen by Scar as an heir and yet he is way too young to have been born at any point when Scar is alive, and thus could not have been chosen in the first place. (He is implied to be the same age as Kiara, who was shown to have been born well after Scar died.) It's possible that Zira was pregnant with him during the end of Scar's reign (but then were where Nuka and Vitani?), and Scar declared her unborn cub would be his heir (hoping the cub would be both male and of better health than Nuka), or even less likely, that whatever cub Zira had next would be the heir, but none of this is implied or made clear in the dialogue.

Rafiki: What? Kovu... Kiara... together? This is the plan? [yells] Are you crazy? This will never work! Oh, Mufasa, you been up there too long. Your head is in the clouds! [wind blows hard at Rafiki] Okay, okay, okay! Okay!

• Zira threatens Kovu at the climax of the movie, which he responds with "You'll never hurt Kiara or Simba. Not while I'm here." To be fair, her line right before suggests she knew that Kovu might not have it in him anyway to harm Simba in the first place, so it really shouldn't have been a surprise.
• Earlier after Nuka dies, Zira tells Kovu he betrayed Scar. Kovu, fully aware of who Scar really was now thanks to Simba, angrily replies he wants nothing more to do with her insane idol.

• Played With in regards to Kiara. Zira clearly did not expect that Kovu and Kiara would fall in love and shows utter shock when she learns that Kovu has apparently betrayed them, not considering that Kiara and Kovu's connection meant that this very easily could have happened anyway.
• Later on, Simba telling Kovu the full story of Scar proves to be the last straw for Kovu's already wavering loyalty to the Outsiders, and when Zira tells Kovu he betrayed Scar by not helping, Kovu gives Zira a withering Shut Up, Hannibal! moment before he leaves. While Zira had no reason to think Simba would bother trying to tell Kovu his/Mufasa's side of the story, or that Kovu would be receptive to it, she didn't even consider the possibility and how it might ruin her plans.

Let him run, let him live
But do not forget what we cannot forgive!

Kiara: My father and I used to do this all the time. He says all the great kings of the past are up there.
Kovu: Do you think Scar's up there?

Zira: What have you done?!
Kovu: (nervous) I-I-I didn't mean to... It wasn't my fault, I... (turns angry) I did nothing!
Zira: Exactly! And in doing so, you betrayed your own kind! Betrayed Scar!
Kovu: I want nothing more to do with him!

• "My Lullaby" shifts from D minor to E flat minor for the second verse, then to E minor for the final verse and chorus.
• "Upendi" shifts from G major to A major near the end.
• "Love Will Find a Way" starts in F major, then modulates to A major from Kovu's verse onward.

• Kovu's innocent action of playing with Kiara unknowingly sets the plot in motion, as Zira realizes that she can use the friendship as a means of having Kovu getting close to Simba and kill him.
• Kiara's efforts to run away from the Pride Lands leads to Zira using her relationship with Kovu to endanger the Pridelands, eventually leading to war.

• Simba's overprotectiveness of Kiara and paranoia over Kovu is used by Zira to try to get him killed and frame Kovu for the ambush.
• Kiara nearly became one for Zira and her schemes, but they ended up going sideways as Kovu falls in love with her and learns about Simba's past, and thus Took a Level in Kindness.

• Nuka. Rare variation in that it's his mother's approval, not his father's, that he longs for. The effort of getting Zira's attention is what ends up killing him. There is even a deleted scene where he uses his dying breath to point that fact out to her directly.
• Simba too, albeit with less subtlety than the first time around. Forgetting the moving testimonial he'd received from his father's ghost, and unable to get over his past, Simba refuses to trust Kovu or see him as anything but a reincarnation of Scar, all in the mistaken belief that this is what his father would do (and therefore, would make Mufasa proud of him). Luckily Nala, as usual, is the voice of reason while Kiara, with typical bluntness, makes it quite clear to her father that he is not and never will be Mufasa. And just to hammer the point home that Simba does not have to emulate his father's reign (or his perception of it) in order to receive his love and pride, Mufasa's ghost actually says the words, "Well done, my son" after the prides are united and peace is declared.

• Played straight with the now queen Nala, something that exasperated most fans of her previous portrayal, and her teenage daughter Kiara in regards to Simba. On the other hand, Simba not being particularly wise by any standard is a big part of the plot.
• Zigzagged with Zira's pride. Both Kovu and Nuka are far less swift and formidable than the female outlanders, though ultimately far less vicious and deluded, with Kovu ultimately becoming a White Sheep. Vitani and the rest of her pack do ultimately Heel–Face Turn, though it takes until the end of the film.

• While a lot of people hammer Kovu for getting knocked out incredibly easily, he was kicked headfirst by Vitani into a rock, which would knock anybody out.
• Kovu is shown throughout the film to have good reflexes, as shown when Simba surprises him and Kiara after the fire. It is implied the only reason Zira managed to give him a scar was because he was still grieving over Nuka's death and in a normal situation would have been able to dodge or parry Zira's swipe.
• Likewise, it is pretty obvious the only reason Simba is overwhelmed by the Outsiders in the final battle is because he is still suffering from his wounds in the ambush.

• Once when Zira and the Outlanders appear and prepare to ambush Simba while he talks to Kovu.

  Zira: Well done, Kovu. Just like we always planned.
  Simba: You!
  Kovu: No! I didn't have anything to do with this!

• And then after the ambush, Zira snarls "You!" when blaming Kovu for Nuka's death, right before slashing him across the eye.