Vitani

"No, Mother. Kiara's right. Enough."

- A redeemed Vitani to Zira

Vitani is the redeemed tertiary antagonist of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and a guest character in The Lion Guard. She is the daughter of Zira, the younger sister of Nuka, the older sister of Kovu, the sister-in-law of Kiara and Kion and the leader of the Lion Guard.

She is voiced by Lacey Chabert (who also voices Eliza Thornberry, Zatanna, and Aleu) as a cub (with Crysta Macalush doing her singing voice) and Jennifer Lien as a young adult.

Background
Vitani was born to Zira and an unknown male lion (Scar is probably not her father) sometime during Scar's reign in Pride Rock, after Nuka and before Kovu.

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 banished from the Pride Lands by Simba, for supporting Scar.

Designs
Vitani bears a strong resemblance to her mother, but she is differentiated by a tuft of hair on her head. 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 crude, belligerent, prickly and sarcastic; likely from growing up in such an inhospitable environment. As a result, Vitani is portrayed as loyal to Zira|Zira's cause. She has a tendency towards making sardonic taunts or sly remarks, especially to Kovu. Vitani is aware of her own intelligence and loyalty (that is, in comparison to the rest of her family). Vitani is shown to openly support Zira's plan to make Kovu the next king, aware that Nuka is weak, simple-minded and cowardly. Vitani does seem to show genuine care for Kovu's safety, becoming irritated towards Nuka for leaving him on his own, and again when she excitedly says, "Kovu, what a guy!" in Zira's number. As an adult, she sees the error of her ways and becomes the next Outsider (after Kovu) to rejoin Simba's pride. However, she maintains the sarcastic, teasing demeanor to Kovu.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Vitani is seen first as a young cub, arguing with 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 Simba's daughter Kiara.

As 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 (the former home of Scar's hyena allies), 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 join the Pridelanders. 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 returns to the Outlands informs Zira, who is angered, and plots an ambush on 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, though judging by her expression when Zira blames Kovu for Nuka's death, it is presumed that she was angry at him.

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 Simba's wife Nala over Kiara's disappearance (after she left to look for Kovu after he was banished from the Pride Lands by Simba), 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 the Pridelanders and makes an attempt to convince her mother that it is time to stop fighting. But Zira is angered and sees Vitani as a traitor. Zira threatens to kill her own daughter as well as the Pridelanders, which shocks and disgusts the other Outsiders enough to join Simba as well. Following Zira's defeat and death, Vitani joins Pride Rock and presumably lives the remainder of her life with the rest of the lions.

The Lion Guard
Vitani appears in this series, which takes place after the "My Lullaby" scene.

Vitani first appears in the Season 1 episode "Lions of the Outlands" where she and the rest of the Outsiders have claimed ownership of a waterhole from Jasiri's hyena clan. She is seen with Zira at the waterhole when Kovu and Nuka arrive to introduce Zira to Kion who is Simba's son. When the Lion Guard arrive to help Kion (after they learned from Rafiki on who Zira was), Vitani tries to fight Fuli, but is easily defeated. Afterwards, Vitani and the rest of the Outsiders (sans Kovu) are blasted away to termite mounts by Kion's Roar of the Elders.

Vitani reappears at the Season 3 episode "Return to the Pride Lands" as a young adult where she and four other former Outsider lionesses named Shabaha, Kasi, Imara and Tazama are confronted by an older Kion, the Lion Guard (who had left the Pride Lands to search for the Tree of Life in order to heal Kion and Ono following the Lion Guard's battle with Scar's spirit), Janja and Jasiri. She didn't recognized Kion or his team at first due Kion having a scar and being with Outlanders. Just then, Kiara and Kovu arrive and tell Kion that whilst he and the Lion Guard were away, the Outsiders joined the pride and Vitani had formed a Lion Guard of her own in the usual Guard's absence. Vitani and her guard realizes their mistake and recognized Kion and his guard. Vitani and Kion's Lion Guards compete with each other, with Kion's Guard winning. Despite this, Kion decides to retire as leader of the Lion Guard, making Vitani his successor and gives her the power to use the Roar of the Elders.

Trivia

 * Prior to her redemption, Vitani was the only Outsider that cared about Kovu and trusted him.
 * Kovu and Vitani appear to be close, such as in the end when she turns to Simba's pride, she is seen standing right by Kovu.
 * Vitani's reaction to Zira's death is not seen.
 * 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.
 * She 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.
 * Vitani appears an episode of the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard (which takes place during the first half of Simba's Pride), alongside Kovu and Nuka.
 * Lacey Chabert, the speaking voice of Young Vitani in the original sequel, would later reprise this role and her adult self in The Lion Guard.
 * Vitani made her own Lion Guard to fill in for Kion's Lion Guard while they made their trip and later new home to The Tree of Life.
 * Vitani's Lion Guard is the first leader of any Lion Guard all of whose members are female.