As a cub, Vitani is voiced by Lacey Chabert who also voices Eliza Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys, Zatanna in Young Justice/Justice League Action, Princess Elise in Sonic the Hedgehog, Tanya Mousekewitz in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island/American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster and Aleu in Balto 2: Wolf Quest, with Crysta Macalush doing her singing voice and by Meredith Scott Lynn as an adolescent in Simba's Pride. In the Lion Guard, Chabert reprising Vitani's voice again as an cub in the first season and as an adolescent in the third and final season.
Vitani was born to Zira during the reign of Scar, and had two brothers: An older brother Nuka, and a younger brother Kovu.
Sometime in between the events of The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Vitani, along with her mother, brothers and any other lioness loyal to Scar, was banished to the Outlands by his nephew Simba. Vitani had grown up with the rest of her pride in the Outlands, being raised to hate Simba and his followers.
Designs[]
Vitani bears a strong resemblance to her mother, but she is differentiated by a tuft of hair on her head. As an adolescent, 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, bellicose, prickly, and sardonic; likely from growing up in such an inhospitable environment. As a result, Vitani is portrayed as loyal to 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 gutless. 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 adolescent, she sees the error of her ways and becomes the next Outsider (after Kovu) to rejoin Simba's pride. However, she maintains the sardonic, teasing demeanor to Kovu. Probably to atone for her past and as the sister of the future king, she chose to become the next leader of the Lion Guard, also earn Kion's respect.
Appearance[]
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 with Zira, 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, which he accepts. She later approves of Zira's plot to kill Simba by taking advantage of Kovu's relationship to Simba's daughter Kiara.
A few years later, an adolescent Vitani along with Nuka is tasked with setting a wildfire in the Pride Lands while Kiara is doing her first hunt as part of Zira's plan for Kovu to infiltrate the Pridelanders. 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 hunt and forces the princess to flee, which allows Kovu to rescue Kiara and eventually join the Pridelanders.
She is later seen a few days later 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 the next day, in which Vitani takes part. In the course of the fight, Vitani notices Kovu's attempts to defend Simba so she kicks him away, sending him into a boulder, which knocks him out (although it is unknown if Vitani deliberately did this or if it was unintentional). 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, Kovu, and Simba's Pride by being the first to rejoin the Pridelanders and makes an attempt to convince her mother and the others 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 as a cub 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 in the final episode, "Return to the Pride Lands" (which takes place sometime after the events of The Lion King II) 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 spirit), Janja and Jasiri. She didn't recognize 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 realized their mistake and recognized Kion and his guard. Vitani and Kion's Lion Guards compete with each other to decide which one should be the official Lion Guard of The Pride Lands, with Kion's Guard winning. Despite this, Kion decides to retire as leader of the Lion Guard to return to The Tree of Life, making Vitani his successor and gives her the power to use the Roar of the Elders.
Quotes[]
“
Vitani: Nuka! Where's Kovu? Did you leave him out there on his own again? Nuka: Hey, it's every lion for himself out here. That little termite's gotta learn to be on his own. Vitani: Mother's gonna be mad. She told you to watch him! Nuka: Oh, who cares? I should've been the chosen one! I'm the oldest, I'm the strongest, I'm the smartest... Oh, these termites! I could be a leader, if she'd just give me a chance! Vitani: Yeah, right. Why don't ya tell that to her? Nuka: Yeah? Don't think I won't! Vitani: Oh, yeah? Here's your chance.
„
~ Vitani to her older brother, Nuka.
“
Vitani: No Mother! Kiara's right. Enough!
„
~ Vitani to her mother, Zira.
“
Kion? It's been a long time. You look different with that scar, and surrounded by Outlanders.
„
~ Vitani to Kion.
“
Vitani: Kion, what are you doing here? Kion: What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Vitani: I'm the future king's sister. It's my duty to lead the Lion Guard. Kion: Vitani, I'm the future queen's brother. We have the Mark of the Guard, and I have the Roar. We're the Lion Guard.
„
~ Vitani and Kion disagree over the leadership of the Lion Guard.
“
Vitani: But Kion, what does it mean to have mastered the Roar? Kion: Watch. [Kion demonstrates the power of his Ancient Roar by lifting Pride Rock into the airs.] Vitani: Hevi kabisa!
„
~ Vitani impressed with Kion's subdued roar, also her last words in The Lion Guard.
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 enjoying fight playing as cubs, and in the end when she turns to Simba's pride, she is seen standing right by Kovu as adults.
Vitani's reaction to Zira's death is not seen in the film, however in an inspired comic, she is seen with Kovu and Nala looking shocked as Zira falls to her 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.
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. This inconsistency is rectified in the final episode of The Lion Guard.
Lacey Chabert, the speaking voice of a younger Vitani in the original sequel, would later reprise this role and her young adult self in The Lion Guard.
Vitani is the first female leader of the Lion Guard, as well as the first leader of any Lion Guard to be outside of the royal blood-line.
Aside from Kovu, Vitani was the first of the outsiders to listen to reason and renounce the fight against Simba and his pride, and like Kovu, is the only one so far to address Kiara by name.
While in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Vitani's tuft of hair as an adult is flatter and shorter than in her youth, in The Lion Guard her tuft is much thicker.
Heroes