Okay, hello and welocme to my first Pure Good blog. Today, I will be discussing the removal of a character who was approved without a proper vetting of the goodness zone, and also the general tone of the series, along with some of the Pure Good's disqualifying traits.
That candidate would be https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Kion from the Lion Guard.
Who is he?
Kion is the second son of Simba and Nala and the main protagonist of the Lion Guard, a Disney Junior show based on the Lion King franchise. Kion assembles a team of animals to defend the Pride Lands and protect the Circle of Life. When Kion was proposed, it was ruled he fit because it was effectivly summed up that he was the main protagonist and that by default, because he was an all around nice guy and did some normal heroic things like saving people, being a good leader, that was more than enough to qualify, and effectivly saying there was no competition in the Pure Good sector, along with not mentioning some of his more negative traits.
Reasons for removal
This was completly ommitted in the proposal that got approved, but the Lion King franchise already has two Pure Goods: Kiara, and her husband Kovu. While Kion was from a television series based on the franchise, if the franchise has other Pure Goods, they must be brought up to see if they measure up. In the case of Kiara, she relativly had the same backstory as Kion, a largely sheltered and safe life, though if you watch the series, you know she was put in danger quite a few times, and while she did have a few difficult moments with Kion, that was primarily sibling teasing rather than genuine meaness and she becomes quite close. It is their deeds in which they really stand out. Kion, in the show, Kion does a lot of genereic hero things, saving people, dealing wtih self doubt, and so on. Kiara, by very stark contrast in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, had a very strong conflict with her father Simba over her love interest Kovu where Simba was outright racist towards Kovu and very overprotective to the point of being outright smothering to her, and he got quite a bit violent towards her. While she did run away, she immediatly convinced Kovu to voluntarily go back to end a completly needless war that her father unneccesarily started despite the fact that she hated the idea being a leader. Furthermore, she tried to save Zira's life after Zira made it clear that she would still try to make attempts at overthrowing the royal family and showed genuine remorse over failling to save Zira. Kiara was ruled as a Pure Good for this back in 2018.
Now if Kiara had been the only Pure Good, Kion would have had quite the ramp to climb, especially given what you can get away with in a TV show. However, the second Pure Good of that film, Kovu is really what pushes Kiion out of this territory. Kovu, being Zira's adopted son, is raised during his entire childhood to betray Kiara and kill Simba. Now despite that, Kovu clearly hates the plot and he immediatly grapples with who he is as a person, and he ultimaetly decides, well before he fell in love with Kiara actually if you pay attention to the film, that he will not do this, overcoming years of his mother's evil indoctrination and making his own choice. This alone would have been enough for me to say Kion really doesent fit, but Simba was incredibly hostile to Kovu simply because he was an Outsider. Throughout the film Simba is violent and threatening to Kovu, and ultimaetly banishes him out of petty spite despite the fact in an Outsider ambush, Kovu immediatly tried to help Simba and got knocked out for it. Despite being unfairly banished and Simba's outright hostility to him, Kovu still voluntarily went back with Kiara to try to end the war despite being somewhat uncertain and in a deleted scene, he outright said "Race you back". In that final confrontation, he makes it clear to his adopted mother that he will not let her wage pointless war against an innocent people, and he forgives Simba for his outright violence and racisim. When you look at what Kovu went through, and how easily he could have beome a villain yet refused to, Kion is just completly outclassed.
Now in addition to the already remaining Pure Goods who clearly outclass Kion, there is the general nature of the Goodness zone. Given that this is a Disney Junior show, what Kion does is generic hero stuff, the Pure Good proposal never really gave stand out moments where Kion did something exceptionally good, wheras Kiara and Kovu, because they were in a theatrical film, they could get away with much more mature themes that their actions easily qualified them as Pure Good, especially given that at the time, Simba's Pride was the first Disney film to really portray that morally ambigous tone, whereas beforehand ,even in the original film, all other Disney films had clearly defined sides, in fact there have been a number of times where I have strongly considered putting Simba on the Villains Wiki for his actions in Simba's Pride, simply because of how villanous his actions were, and I was only convinced he wasant when he showed that he still had some good in him. By very stark contrast, a Disney Junior show clearly portrays things very clearly without getting too dark and redemption and saving villains is clearly a norm in kids shows in general. Now the Lion Guard was definetly unique; it showed death twice, at least one onscreen, romance was shown openly even if they never called it love. But in comparision to a film and other Disney Junior shows where redemption and being friendly is the norm, Kion just did what an oridnary kids shoow protagonist does.
And finally there are concerns about Kion himself. Several of the people who voted yes clearly just summed it up as "heroic and nice guy", and they never really looked at some of his more difficult episodes where he is an outright jerk. One such episode is The Savannah Summit, where Kion is outright suspicious of Makuu because he had attacked his mother and even attacks him completly unprovoked and with no reason, and although he is later remorseful, he never directly apologizes to Makuu for his actions. Then in "Cant Wait To Be Queen", he shows a nasty streak of jealously and envy to Kiara when she starts telling him what to do, even if they are orders that are completly reasonable, and while he does show remorse later on, he never apologizes to her. Furthermore, there have been several times where he insinuates he has no trouble using lethal force on adversaries. While he can't outright say he will kill them, because it is a Disney Junior show, he clearly makes that intent clear, and a Pure Good never willing resorts to lethal force, only using it in self defence or a last resort, and if they do kill by accident, they feel immense remorse. So Kion has several corrupting factors that were never talked about.
Final Conclusion
I honestly think that Kion is a clear cut. If there was only one Pure Good, and if he was as moral and kind as the proposal made him, I could see him counting. The fact that there is a second Pure Good, which really kicked the bar up high, along with the fact he dosent do anything that really stands out as above and beyond combined with several corrupting factors and Kion really doesnet fit as Pure Good.
Verdict
Kion is a clear cut. I hope you approve