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Vitani is a former villain in Disney's 1998 film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, sequel to the 1994 film The Lion King. She is the daughter of Zira, the older sister of Kovu, and the younger sister of Nuka. Vitani's name was originally going to be Shetani, but as the word means "she-demon" in Swahili, it was changed to Vitani, which can be taken as a portmanteau meaning "I am war".


She is voiced by both Lacey Chabert as a cub, and Jennifer Lien as a young adult.

Background[]

Vitani was born to Zira and to an unknown lion. Sometime in between the events of The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Vitani, along with the rest of the Outsiders, was exiled from the Pride Lands, for assisting Scar. Although It is never stated, it is likely that Scar was her father, as is implied with Nuka despite the fact that she is close to Kovu's age and Kovu is not Scar's kid but chosen heir.

Physical Description[]

Vitani bears a strong resemblance to her mother, but she is differentiated by a tuft of hair on her head. Although Zira and Vitani look similar, Vitani does not have the chunk of her ear missing that Zira bears, or Zira's vicious snarl. As a young adult, her ears are striped with black. However, this feature was not present as a cub, and appeared intermittently after it was introduced. Vitani has blue eyes, and like the rest of the Outsiders, her front claws are constantly unsheathed.

Personality[]

Vitani is something of a tomboy, likely from growing up in such an inhospitable environment. As a result, Vitani is portrayed as steadfast to her mother's cause, tough, and prickly, who has a tendency towards making cynical taunts or cunning remarks. Vitani is mindful of her own brilliance and loyalty (that is, in comparison to the rest of her family). Vitani is shown to openly assist Zira's plan to make Kovu the next king, conscious that Nuka is weak, simple-minded and chicken-hearted. Vitani does seem to show genuine care for Kovu's safety, becoming aggravated towards Nuka for leaving him on his own, and again when she excitedly says 'Kovu, what a guy!' in Zira's number. As a young adult, she sees the error of her ways, and becomes the first of the Outsiders, apart from Kovu, to rejoin Simba's pride.

Appearances[]

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride[]

Vitani is seen first as a young cub, arguing with her brother Nuka over Kovu. She points out that Nuka's failure to babysit Kovu will get him in trouble, and scoffs at his claim that he could be a better leader than Kovu. When Zira returns with the wandering Kovu, Vitani greets him and challenges him to a fight. She later approves of Zira's plot to kill Simba by taking advantage of Kovu's relationship to Kiara.

Years later, a young adult Vitani and Nuka are tasked with setting a wildfire in the Pride Lands while Kiara is hunting. The two gather fire from the elephant graveyard and quickly set a large blaze. This interrupts Kiara's first hunt and forces the princess to flee, which allows Kovu to rescue Kiara and eventually enter Simba's pride. She is later seen spying on Kovu and becoming dismayed when she witnesses her brother sparing Simba's life when he could have taken him from behind. Vitani quickly informs her mother. Zira is angered, and plots an ambush of Simba, in which Vitani takes part. In the course of the fight Vitani notices Kovu's attempts to defend Simba so she kicks him into a boulder and knocks him out to end his interference. When Nuka is crushed by logs which fell from the dam, she rushes forward to see about her brother, and witnesses his death. Along with Zira, she is shown to mourn Nuka's death, but her feelings on Kovu's betrayal are not shown.

Vitani is shown to take part in a battle against the Pridelanders, planned by Zira as an attempt to take the throne by force. She momentarily taunts and then fights Nala, while Zira deals with Simba. Kiara and Kovu intervene, and Kiara argues that the two prides should stop fighting and come together, as there is no difference between them.

Vitani is the first to understand the truth of Kiara's words. She surprises both Zira and Kovu by being the first to rejoin Simba's pride, and makes an attempt to convince her mother that it's time to stop fighting. But Zira is angered and sees Vitani as a traitor. Zira threatens to kill her own daughter as well as Simba's pride, which shocks and disgusts the other Outsiders enough to join Simba as well. She later joins Pride Rock following the death of her mother and presumably lives the remainder of her life with the rest of the lions. It is also possible that Vitani later learns that it was the hyenas not Simba who were responsible for Scar's death.

The Lion Guard[]

Vitani along with Zira, Kovu, and Nuka, guest star in the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard in the Season One episode "Lions of the Outlands" (which takes place some time after the first half of the "My Lullaby" scene in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride).

She openly shows her distaste for Jasiri, though that doesn't stop her from enjoying the young hyena's actions that help make Nuka look more like a fool than he already is. She is in awe and curious about the Roar of the Elders, asking her mother to explain it. She is eager to fight when the Lion Guard shows up only to be taken down by Fuli.

Vitani along with Zira, Nuka and the rest of the Outsiders (sans Kovu) is blasted away to termite mounds by Kion's Roar.

Vitani reappears in the Season Three episode "Return To The Pride Lands", which takes place after the events of the film.

After the Outsiders merged with the Pridelanders, Vitani formed her own Lion Guard in the place of Kion and his Lion Guard, who had left The Pride Lands to search for the Tree of Life in order to heal Kion and Ono, who had been injured during the final battle against the spirit of Scar and his army.

Kion and his Lion Guard return to The Pride Lands after hearing from Janja and Jasiri that Zira and the Outsiders were coming to The Pride Lands. Upon reaching The Pride Lands, they are confronted by Vitani and her Lion Guard. The two groups fight, before Kion attempts to use The Roar of The Elders. Just then, Kiara and Kovu arrive and put a stop to the battle. Kiara tells Kion that Vitani, Kovu and the Outsiders are now part of their pride. Vitani tells Kion that she did not recognize him due to his scar (which he got from Ushari) and because he was with Janja, his clan and Jasiri.

Vitani and Kion's Lion Guards later compete to see who should be the official Lion Guard of The Pride Lands. After seeing that Vitani fully believes that she's fierce enough to lead the Lion Guard even without the Roar of the Elders, Kion decides to step down as leader of the Lion Guard and makes Vitani the new leader and passes the Roar of the Elders over to her.

Though not seen, it is assumed that Vitani attended Kion's wedding to Rani at the Tree of Life.

Trivia[]

  • Even though she's a minor character, she is the only Outsider that cares about Kovu and trusts him.
  • Vitani and Kovu appear to be close, such as in the end when she turns to Simba's pride, she is seen standing right by Kovu.
  • We do not see Vitani's reaction to Zira's death.
  • She is one of the few if only cubs who are actually obedient to their parents and does not appear to have a headstrong side, unlike Nuka (who neglects his mother's orders to watch over Kovu), Kovu (who promptly leaves the Outlands into a place he's not allowed), Kiara (who does the exact same thing), and Simba (who deliberately disobeys his father to check out the Elephant Graveyard). Vitani appears to be totally devoted to her mother's plot, until the very final moments of the film.
  • Vitani has a slightly shifting design throughout the film. As a cub, Vitani was shown without dark ear marks and ponitier cheeks (Similar to Kovu). As a young adult, her cheeks became rounded (Similarly to Kiara and Nala) and was sometimes drawn with dark ear marks, and sometimes without. One error right as Zira was leading the Outsiders to war had her drawn with pointed cheeks.

Gallery[]

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