Kiara

Princess Kiara is the main protagonist of the 1998 film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and will be a supporting character in the upcoming series The Lion Guard. She is Simba and Nala's daughter and eldest child, Kion's older sister, Kovu's best friend and later, his wife, Mufasa, Sarabi and Sarafina's granddaughter, Scar's great-niece, Zira's daughter-in-law and Nuka and Vitani's sister-in-law.

Appearance
Kiara shares many traits with her parents and grandparents. Like Nala, her fur and belly are both a cream color with a noticeable tinge of gold given to her by Simba, which results in a light creamy gold pelt. She has brownish-red eyes, which she inherited from Simba and Mufasa. The only other features Kiara seems to get from Queen Nala are her build and eye shape. Unlike most of the lionesses in The Lion King universe, Kiara stays one consistent color throughout the film, instead of darkening with age like her predecessors. She closely resembles young adult Sarabi. She isn't very large in terms of height either, only coming up to Nala's shoulder and Simba's chest. Her mate Kovu easily dwarfs her in size, as well as every other leonine character in the movie. This is probably because, as a young adult, she hasn't finished growing yet.

Personality
As a cub, Kiara is a bit mischievous as her father was when he was a cub, and disobedient. She gets ignorant and annoyed with her father's overprotective parenting and Timon and Pumbaa's babysitting. Where Simba goes to the elephant graveyards, merely because he was curious about what was there, Kiara goes to the Outlands because she was told not to. Despite all this, she is very friendly, trying to make friends with Kovu, an Outsider cub she should be wary of. Unlike Simba, however, she has no desire to be the future Queen. As a young adult, Kiara doesn't change much. However, she isn't as approving of her father's supervision as she once was, and wants to be self-sufficient and make her own decisions, thus putting her into a conflict with her father. She's still friendly and a bit rash in her actions. As the film develops her personality changes. She saw no problem with her husband, for she saw her kind character, befriending him when he was an cub, and strongly supporting him when he is a young adult. She is also much more calmer as a young adult, as shown when she is dealing with her husband and her father late in the film, and later standing up to him and talking sense into him, showing her dedication to the task at hand and also her loyalty to her family and kingdom. She also was very charismatic as she convinced both prides that they were better unified than fighting each other. She also proved herself to be incorruptible for despite her desire to avoid being queen, and her feelings for her husband, she chose to return to her pride, thinking and putting the needs of both prides above her own goals. She forgave her mate and the Outsiders, and tried to save her mother in law even when she was threatened by her, showing no intent to kill her or any of the Outsiders no matter their acts of cruelty. She also possessed a large amount of heroism and bravery, blocking her mother in law from killing her father, and then trying to save her. Upon the reunification, she asked for no reward for her actions. This proves that although she does not want to lead, she posses the qualities, traits, personality and vision to be the best queen there is, giving her the characteristics of a true heroine, a Golden Lioness.

Cub
In the beginning, Simba and Nala bring a newborn Kiara to Rafiki who presents her to the animals of the Pride Lands and also Mufasa's ghost. Pumbaa and Timon begin to discuss about teaching Kiara and mistakenly believe that she is a male, but Rafiki corrects them causing them to faint. Months later, Kiara now a young cub prepares to go off to play but is stopped by Simba who tells her to be careful and after she leaves sends Timon and Pumbaa to keep an eye on her. Kiara starts to chase a butterfly which leads to the Outlands but then Timon and Pumbaa appear behind and she falls into water and Pumbaa drives in to save her but ends up landing on her. After getting out of the water Kiara sneaks away whilst Timon and Pumbaa are arguing about what grubs are better slimy or crispy. Eventually Kiara reaches the Outlanders where she mets another cub named Kovu.

In the lands, she and Kovu get attacked by hungry crocodiles until they escaped. After escaping the two cubs start to play but then Simba appears then Kovu's mother Zira and take their children back their homes. After returning to the Pride Lands, Simba scolds Kiara for wandering off and says that she has to be careful as future Queen. Kiara then asks what if she doesn't want to be Queen to which Simba replies saying that it like saying she doesn't want to be a lion and it's in her blood as he is before singing We Are One, which means about how the species they are.

Young Adult
Years later, Kiara now a young adult is preparing to go on her first hunt and asks Simba to let her do it on her own. Though he promises to, he goes against his word by Timon and Pumbaa after her when she is gone. After running into Timon and Pumbaa, Kiara guesses that her father sent them and is angered that he broke his promise and then goes off to hunt away from the Pride Lands. Just as Kiara is about to hunt antelope they run off and Kiara notices fire (which was set by Kovu's siblings Nuka and Vitani) and eventually falls unconscious. Kovu on Zira's orders goes into the fire and saves Kiara. After waking up Kiara is at first angry at Kovu for bringing her back to the Pride Lands but changes her mind when she recognises him just as Simba and Nala arrive who had noticed the fire. At first Simba is reluctant to allow Kovu to join the pride because he is an Outsider but has to go by the law of owing debts but makes him stay outside Pride Rock where Kiara thanks Kovu for saving her and makes a deal with him to teach her to hunt.

The next day, Kiara and Kovu meet Timon and Pumbaa and help them chase away birds that are eating the bugs, then running into a herd of rhinos on a gorge. Later that night Kiara and Kovu are taken to an imaginary world called "Upendi" by Rafiki where the two lions fall in love. The next day, Kovu comes to Kiara to talk to her, but Simba arrives saying he wants to talk to Kovu. Later that day, whilst out with Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu, Kiara sees Simba limping in the distance and tells Zazu to get help. She, Timon and Pumbaa rush over to Simba who upon being asked what happened to him, he spits out Kovu and Ambush before collapsing, which Kiara can't believe as Pumbaa carries Simba back to Pride Rock. Back at Pride Rock, Kiara tells Simba that it can be true about Kovu being part of Zira's ambush. Upon seeing Kovu coming towards Pride Rock, Kiara goes to greet him, but is stopped by Simba who confronts Kovu for coming back before banishing him from the Pride Lands. Kiara tries to protest against this but is held back by two lionesses, but she is able to push them aside only to be stopped by another two. After Kovu is gone, Kiara asks Simba to reconsider his decision to which he replies that she will not go anywhere without an escort from now on and that Kovu had used her to get to him. Kiara denies this saying Kovu loves her for herself but Simba claims it's becuse she is his daughter and tells Kiara that she will not leave Pride Rock so he can keep on eye on her away from Kovu. Kiara tells Simba that he doesn't know Kovu but Simba replies saying that he knows that Kovu is following in Scar's paw prints and that Simba himself must follow in his own father's unknowingly he already failed to followed his father's and completely broke the Circle of Life. Angry at her father's attitude, Kiara tells Simba that he will never be Mufasa (suggesting in Kiara's eyes, Mufasa would've seen that the ambush wasn't Kovu's fault) horrifying him before leaving to find Kovu.

After finding him she convinces him to return with her to reunite their prides. The two then stop the feud between two prides during the final battle and Kiara tells Simba that the Outsiders are like the Pridelanders which convinces Kovu's sister Vitani and the other Outsiders to rejoin the Pridelanders. Only Zira refuses peace and she tries to attack Simba but Kiara leaps in to defend her father and crashes into Zira and the two lioness fall over the edge of the cliff side. Kiara lands on a ledge whilst Zira hangs onto it, Kiara attempts to save her but the evil lioness falls to her death just moments before Simba arrives to pull Kiara back up to the top of the cliff where she is reunited with her mother and Kovu and Simba allows Kovu and the other Outsiders to rejoin the pride. The day later, the Outsiders and Pridelanders are rejoiced and peace is restored. Kiara and Kovu are seen on the top of Pride Rock and Mufasa's ghost congratulates them, "We are one" She later accompanies her husband and parents to the top of Pride Rock and all four roar in unison.

The Lion Guard
Kiara is set to appear in the upcoming 2015 film The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and 2016 TV series, The Lion Guard. It will serve as a midquel to The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (as Kiara is shown as a cub) and will see Kiara having a younger brother named Kion. Also in the show, Kiara is friends with two lioness cubs named Tiifu and Zuri.

Family

 * Father: Simba
 * Mother: Nala
 * Brothers: Kion (officially; younger) and Kopa (unofficially; older)
 * Grandfathers: Mufasa (paternal) and Nala's Father (maternal)
 * Grandmothers: Sarabi (paternal) and Sarafina (maternal)
 * Great-Uncle: Scar
 * Husband: Kovu
 * Great-Grandfather: Ahadi
 * Great-Grandmother: Uru
 * Great-Great-Grandfather: Mohatu
 * Mother-In-Law: Zira
 * Brother-In-Law: Nuka
 * Sister-In-Law: Vitani

Trivia

 * Original names for Kiara were Aisha and Shani.
 * In the original script for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Kiara was going to fall in love with Scar's son Nunka. But this would count as incest as they would be second cousins so Nunka became Kovu and was instead Scar's adoptive son.
 * Kiara is similar to Scamp and Melody
 * They are the protagonists of sequels.
 * They have a strained relationship with one of their parents which is repaired at the end of the film (Kiara with Simba, Scamp with Tramp and Melody with Ariel).
 * They run away from home for a reason (Kiara runs away to find Kovu after he was banished by Simba, Scamp ran away from home to be a junkyard dog and Melody left to be in the sea).
 * They have a love interest (Kovu with Kiara, Alex with Melody and Angel with Scamp).
 * It can be assumed that Kiara's young adult self is meant to be the equivalent of a teenager judging by how Simba still acted over-protective of her and after she left to hunt outside The Pride Lands, Timon called her a kid.
 * Originally, Kiara was to have light brown fur, green eyes and a hair tuft. But this was changed to the orange colour seen in the final film.