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Child neglect Asisting a crimes Arson Attempted child murder
Type of Villain
Envious Sibling
“
Oh, who cares? I should've been the chosen one. I'm the oldest, I'm the strongest, I'm the smartest-- Ooohh! These termites!
„
~ Nuka
“
This is my moment of glory!
„
~ Nuka monologuing to himself as he chases after Simba, only instead leading up to his death.
“
We told you to stay out of here, hyena!
„
~ Nuka voicing his hatred of hyenas towardsJasiri.
“
I'm sorry, mother... I tried... Well, I finally got your attention, didn't I?
„
~ Nuka's final words toZira before passing away (as well as achieving his goal to get the affection of his mother in the deleted scene).
Nuka is a major antagonist in Disney'sThe Lion King franchise.
He is a member of theOutsiders who wishes to seek approval to his motherZira out of jealousy towardsKovu's favoritized status as an intended leader of the Pride Lands. He'll do anything to win their mother's love for him by any means necessary even if it means killing Simba and his daughter Kiara. He is also the eldest child of Zira, as well as the older brother of bothVitani and Kovu.
He was voiced byAndy Dick, who later playedBoingo inHoodwinked! andHoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil.
In a similar manner toScar, Nuka was jealous, resentful and acquisitive of his younger brother and his position as heir. Despite Zira constantly abusing Nuka, he was very loyal to her and craved her affection. He constantly tried to please his mother and carried out what she commanded, along with his sisterVitani. When Nuka snaps the branch Vitani was fighting with, making her fall backward, Nuka is shown to be laughing, proving him to be extremely cruel, sadistic, unforgiving, and merciless, like his mother, but to a much lesser degree. His egotism could also be a defense mechanism to hide his insecurities. Nuka had traits of a bully, as aside from making Vitani fall backwards and laughing at her, he also constantly referred to Kovu as a "termite". Nuka was rather reckless and neurotic, accidentally surrounding himself in a ring of fire and stating that Kovu should have attacked Kiara when she went to talk with him outside the den of Pride Rock, which led to Zira pointing out that it would be better to wait until he had Simba alone before attacking him.
Like the other Outsiders, Nuka hated Simba and the Pridelanders, speaking of "the joy of vengeance" during Zira's song. He also showed a disdain for hyenas inThe Lion Guard. Despite his resentment toward Kovu, he was willing to work together with him as proven when confronting Kion and Jasiri, and he could be seen smiling confidently when their mother, Zira, was telling Kovu to attack Simba while he was climbing up logs during the ambush, clearly believing along with Zira and Vitani that Kovu would attack Simba. This suggests that Nuka did hold some amount of care and/or respect toward Kovu despite his being envious of his role as Scar's heir.
Appearance[]
Just like the rest of the Outsiders, Nuka is a slender, muscular lion but appeared to be even worse for wear than they. He has dusky brown fur and a scraggly black mane as well as an equally scraggly goatee. His eyes are yellow with red irises (like his mother's) and his claws were always present. The borders around his eyes were dark and heart shaped. His whiskers are twisted.
As an adolescent, Nuka was regularly plagued by termites.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Nuka was born in the Pride Lands duringScar's reign to Zira, who later had two other cubs named Vitani and Kovu, the latter of whom was chosen by Scar, over Nuka to be the heir to Pride Rock in the wake of Scar's passing, sparking a jealousy within the elder brother. Some short time after Kovu's birth, Scar's nephew and the rightful kingSimba returned to the Pride Lands to defeat Scar and reclaim his birthright. After defeating Scar, Simba was approached by Zira, who told him that Scar had chosen Kovu to succeed him as king. But when Simba told Zira that Scar was not the true king, she attacked him. After Simba emerged victorious, he was left with no choice but to banish Nuka along with his family and several lionesses that were loyal to Scar to the Outlands.
Adolescence[]
Zira's Plot[]
At the termite mounds, Nuka muttered angrily to himself about how Kovu was the Chosen One despite not being Scar's son. He then comes across his sister Vitani tugging at a tree root and sarcastically asks her where Kovu is, but Vitani ignores him and carries on tugging the root. Annoyed, Nuka retaliates by cutting the root in half with his claw, sending Vitani flying backwards to which Nuka laughs. Vitani gets up and questions Nuka on Kovu's whereabouts, to which Nuka replies that it's every lion for himself. Vitani then berates Nuka as their mother Zira had told him to watch Kovu. Nuka replies that he should be the chosen one as he is the oldest, strongest and (in his opinion) the smartest. Nuka then declares that he could be a leader if Zira gave him a chance. Vitani then alerts Nuka to Zira's arrival with Kovu (who Zira found playing with Simba's daughterKiara) to which Nuka approaches his mother and proudly tells her that he caught field mice for her dinner, but Zira just walks past him, much to Nuka's dismay. Zira then scolds Nuka for not watching Kovu.
After Kovu unintentionally gives Zira an idea to use Kovu's friendship with Kiara in order for Kovu to earn Simba's trust and then kill him, Zira expresses pride in him and compares him to Scar to which Nuka expresses disgust but then laughs nervously when Zira snarls at him. Zira then picks up Kovu and takes him to bed as Nuka bitterly mutters chosen one. Nuka is last seen as an adolescent taking part in "My Lullaby".
Meeting Kion[]
Nuka and his family drove a clan of hyenas from their watering hole. The clan leader, Jasiri, went to her friend, Kion, for help. Together, Kion and Jasiri entered the Outlands, where Nuka pounced onJasiri the hyena, telling her to stay away from the watering hole only to bested by Jasiri's friendKion, implying that he shares his mother's hatred of hyenas. When Zira makes Kion use the Roar of the Elders to create rain, he watches in slight awe and fear. Later Nuka tries to "hunt" Jasiri, only to be humiliated as she easily avoids him. Nuka only shows the confidence to attack Kion again, when he's surrounded by the others in his pride and told Kion can't use the Roar on fellow lions. Once again, Kion easily beats him. He is last seen being blasted out of the Outlands to the termite mounds by Kion's Roar.
Young Adulthood[]
Kiara's first hunt[]
A few years later Nuka (now a young adult) and an adolescent Vitani are sent by Zira to collect fire from the Elephant Graveyard in order to set fire to the Pride Lands during Kiara's first hunt in order to trap the young princess so Kovu can rescue her. The two are able to start the fire and quickly leave.
Later that night after Kovu is accepted into the Pridelander pride as gratitude for saving Kiara, Nuka and Zira watch him talking to Kiara at Pride Rock. Nuka is annoyed that Kovu will not attack Kiara, but Zira reminds him that the closer Kovu gets to Kiara, the closer he gets to Simba in order to kill him.
Ambush on Simba and death[]
Nuka later takes part in the Outsiders' ambush of Simba (who was out walking in the Pride Lands with Kovu). Simba attempts to escape by climbing up a pile of logs. Zira calls for Kovu to kill Simba, but the young lion runs off instead. Seeing his chance to prove himself to his mother, Nuka steps forward and climbs up the logs after Simba. Nuka catches up with Simba and grabs his ankle and declares that this is his moment of glory. Suddenly, Nuka loses his footing and falls down the logs and gets trapped. Simba continues to climb to safety, but causes more logs to fall on Nuka, crushing him.
Kovu arrives and tries to move the logs to save his brother, but is pushed aside by a horrified Zira, who moves the logs herself and finds Nuka fatally injured among the logs. In his dying breath, Nuka tells Zira that he is sorry and that he tried. A saddened Zira then tries to comfort Nuka by cradling his head in her paw, but he dies. Zira and Vitani then express sadness at Nuka's death. Afterwards, Zira prays to Scar to watch over Nuka. Angered, Zira hits Kovu in the face, giving him a facial wound identical to Scar's in the process, and accuses Nuka's death on the young lion, resulting in his exile from the Outlands, before Zira declares war on Simba's pride as an act of revenge against Scar and Nuka's deaths.
Quotes[]
“
Oh, hey, Vitani! Where's littler termite Kovu?[Mockingly] "The Chosen One?"
„
~ Nuka to his sister, Vitani
“
Hey, it's every lion for himself out here! That little termite's gotta learn to be on his own!
„
~ Nuka justifying his reason for not watching Kovu
“
♪Roasty toasty princess! Roasty toasty princess!♪ Hey, is it hot in here or is that just me?
Nuka is the equivalent of bothBanzai and Ed from the first film.
His role in the film was inspired byTybalt fromRomeo and Juliet. Both characters' deaths increased the feud between the two factions of the stories.
In Swahili, his name means "smell" or "stink".
When he dies, Nuka's last words to Zira are "I tried". However, there is a deleted scene after that line, where he also says, "Well, I finally got your attention, didn't I?", whereupon Zira gives a heartwarming smile. This scene was deleted because it would give younger viewers the impression to commit dangerous acts upon themselves to get attention, which would give them wrong ideas to please their parents.
Nuka and Zira were the only two villains who died and weren't redeemed. However, it should be noted that unlike Zira, Nuka died beforeVitani and theOutsiders switched sides with Simba's pride upon realizing their mistakes. Because of this, it's unknown if Nuka would've switched sides as well or remained loyal to his mother's cause.
Not counting Kovu's appearance inThe Lion Guard, Nuka is Zira's only child who is voiced by the same voice actor as a young/teenage lion and an adult lion.
In the early stages ofThe Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Nuka was originally going to be a serious villain rather than the comic relief one in the final film.
The filmmakers ofSimba's Pride have disagreed whether or not Nuka is related to Scar:
Writer Flip Kobler stated in a post that Nuka is Scar's son, making him Simba's cousin and Kiara and Kion's first cousin once removed. He later stated that Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu were originally scripted as Scar's cubs in the shooting script, but after Kovu's relation to Scar was scrapped, he couldn't have a say in Nuka and Vitani's relationship with Scar, which suggests their relation may not have been scrapped.
Darrell Rooney however, stated that Zira and Scar's relationship was obscured to be perceived as Zira being "just a follower", making Nuka potentially unrelated to Scar.
However, it might be possible that he is Scar's biological son. While Nuka lacks the intelligence and charisma of Scar, using Scar's own words from the first film of being in "shallow end of the gene pool" in regards to physical strengths, Nuka's scrawny, weak physique indicates this facet.
In 1996 drafts ofSimba's Pride, Nuka was unrelated to Kovu, being simply an Outsider lion that Kovu had admired.
In the final episode ofThe Lion Guard, Nuka isn't at all referenced or mentioned, nor is he shown on the paintings that recap the events of the second film.
