Kovu

"You'll never hurt Kiara, or Simba, not while I'm here."

- Kovu to Zira

Prince Kovu is the main deuteragonist of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He is Zira's son, Nuka and Vitani's youngest brother, Simba and Nala's son-in-law, Scar's adoptive son and heir and Kiara's best friend and later, her mate.

Cub
When Kiara distracted Timon and Pumbaa by going onto a log, she accidentally crosses the river with Kovu on it. Kovu angrily greets her that she is Simba's daughter. Kiara and Kovu get into a moat filled with crocodiles. The crocodiles tried to eat them, but they escaped from the angry reptiles. After Kovu is saved, Zira pops up and tries to stop Simba's clan. Zira picks up Kovu and then takes him to their home The Outlands where his two siblings Nuka and Vitani are. Kovu is seen sleeping during Zira's song ("My Lullaby").

Young Adult
As the years go by, Zira sets up her plan for Kovu to kill Simba. After Kovu's siblings Nuka and Vitani set fire to the Pride Lands whilst Kiara is out hunting trapping her, Zira sends Kovu into the fire to save Kiara from being burned and along the way they fall into a lake but Kovu manages to stop Kiara from drowning and swims her to land. When Kiara wakes up she at first angry that Kovu ruining her hunt but when she recognises Kovu she is happy to see him. Just then Simba and Nala arrive and find out from Rafiki that Kovu saved Kiara and Kovu asks to join the pride but at first Simba refuses as he is an Outsider but Kovu says that he left the Outsiders and is now a rogue and tells Simba to judge him for who he is or blame him for a crime he didn't commit. Simba going by the law of owing debts decides to let him join the pride, but says he will reserve judgement until he sees what Kovu really is and makes him sleep outside Pride Rock. Kiara goes to see him and arranges for him to teach her to hunt whilst being watched by Zira and Nuka. He later appears in Simba's nightmare in which Simba tries to save Mufasa from falling into the gorge but is stopped by Scar who then turns into Kovu and throws Simba into the gorge after Mufasa.

The next morning, Kovu prepares to sneak up and attack Simba but fails when Kiara arrives to start her training. Along with Timon and Pumbaa and Kiara, they accidentally run into a group of angry rhinos. After avoiding the rhinos, Kiara and Kovu are later seen laying on the grass stargazing. They later appear in the song "Upendi". After the song, Simba following Nala's advice to give Kovu a chance,lets him sleep inside Pride Rick and starts to trust him unaware that Vitani is watching and reports to Zira that Kovu did not kill Simba. The next morning, Simba and Kovu go out walking when they are ambushed by Zira and the Outsiders. They attack Simba and when Kovu tries to save him he is knock away by Vitani and Simba unintentionally kills Nuka by knocking logs onto him crushing him whilst escaping up a dam. After Zira says a prayer to Scar (the first film's antagonist), she gets angry for Kovu and scratches him across the face leaving a scar over his left eye and blames him murdering Nuka, having enough Kovu stands up to his mother and leaves to return to the Pride Lands. But when he gets there Simba accuses him of causing the ambush and has the other animals of the Pride Lands chase him away, much to Kiara's sadness who believes Kovu is innocent and against her father's orders leaves Pride Rock to look for Kovu.

She eventually finds him and convinces him to return with her to try and reunite their prides. Kovu along with Kiara return to the Pride Lands and see the battle between the Pridelanders and Outsiders going on and manage to stop the fight by jumping in front of Simba and Zira just as they were about to fight. Zira tells Kovu to move but he refuses saying he won't let her hurt Kiara or Simba whilst Kiara reminds Simba about what he told her We Are One she didn't understand him then but does now, hearing this Vitani and the Outsiders go over to the Pridelanders except Zira who tries to attack Simba but Kiara knocks her aside causing the two lionesses to go over the side of a cliff. Luckily Kiara lands on a platform and tries to help Zira but she falls to her death into a fast flowing river below much to Kovu's sadness having lost both his brother and mother. Simba apologises to Kovu and allows him and the other Outsiders to rejoin the pride. Kovu is last seen at the end of the film now married to Kiara and joins her and Simba and Nala to roar at the end of Pride Rock.

Family

 * Father: Unknown Lion
 * Mother: Zira
 * Adoptive Father: Scar
 * Brothers: Nuka
 * Sisters: Vitani
 * Wife: Kiara
 * Father-In-Law: Simba
 * Mother-In-Law: Nala
 * Brothers-In-Law: Kion and Kopa

Trivia

 * In the original script for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Kovu was originally called Nunka and was going to be Scar's son and be voiced by Andy Dick and would have had orangey-brown fur, a black mane and green eyes like Scar. However this would have made him Simba's cousin and therefore Kiara's second cousin, thus having a relationship with Kiara would count as incest. So Kovu instead became Scar's adoptive son and Dick went on to voice Kovu's brother Nuka. The only thing Kovu has left from his original design is his green eyes.
 * In the documentary Proud of Simba's Pride, Kovu is described as a "teenage killer". Which would mean that his young adult self is meant to be the equivalent of someone in their late teens (approx 17-19 years old). Kiara is likely the same age or slightly younger.