- “'Til the Pride Lands' end, Lion Guard defend!”
- ―Kion to The Lion Guard
Kion is the protagonist of the Disney Jr. animated series The Lion Guard.
He is the son, and youngest child of Simba and Nala, and the younger brother of Kiara. As the second-born child of the Lion King, Kion served as the leader of the Lion Guard, a team of animals who protect the Pride Lands and defend the Circle of Life. He was the fiercest member of the team before retiring and passing the role of the leader onto Vitani, although he still has the Roar of the Elders.
Kion is now the mate of queen Rani and has become the king of the Tree of Life.
Quick Answers
Who are Kion's parents in The Lion Guard?
What is Kion's role in the Pride Lands?
How is Kion related to Simba in The Lion King?
Why is Kion not present in The Lion King 2?
Background
Personality
Unlike his parents, Simba and Nala (when they were cubs) and his older sister, Kiara, even as a cub, Kion is a stickler for the rules, even in the face of temptation. He heeds the words of his parents and intelligently recognizes the signs of potential danger. This strong sense of responsibility is in part why Kion has such a sturdy head on his shoulders and is far less likely to jump into dangerous situations than his best friend, Bunga. Although he is mature in aspects of obedience and rule-following, he is still young and doesn't recognize more adult concepts, such as romance. However, by the end of the third season, he clearly has developed an understanding of romance as demonstrated by his decision to marry Rani.
Kion is strong-willed and able to trust his instincts, which is in part due to the gentle guidance of his grandfather and his parents. Even when his ideas are challenged, he is faithful in his beliefs and brave enough to take a stand for what he feels is right, he takes his position as the leader of the Lion Guard very seriously and is a firm believer in the Circle of Life. Kion initially held prejudice against the inhabitants of the Outlands. However, after his first encounter with Jasiri, he realized that not all Outlanders are bad. He is trusting enough to give strangers a chance even if they cause trouble, but never to the point of being naïve, as he just likes keeping an open mind.
Although Kion is capable of acknowledging his mistakes and learning from them, as well as the fact that he is not above apologizing or admitting when he is wrong, he can be prideful when pitted against his older sister, Kiara. When he attempted to move the bees to another location, which ended in disaster, while he admitted this mistake to his friends, he refused to admit it to Kiara, due to the fact that he did not want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she was right. He also has a temper when it comes to his family and friends lives being in danger. Kion is well aware he needs to learn to control his temper, but still struggles with it daily, as seen by his constant need to repeat "not in anger" to himself.
Kion's discipline and sticking by his principles stem from his fear of turning out like his great-uncle Scar. Time and again, he has expressed his insecurities on this matter and has made misguided choices because he feared he was becoming like Scar, such as when he considered never using the Roar of the Elders again after using it out of rage and putting his mother in danger. At one time, Zira convinced Kion that using the roar against lions would make him lose the power until Bunga reminded him of the real reason Scar lost the roar.
In Season 3, as a teenager, Kion leads the final battle against the spirit of Scar, but he's attacked by Ushari, resulting in a permanent scar on his left eye, and his poison took effect on his body, causing him to lose control of his roar and his temper. As the result, Kion occasionally thinks recklessly and behaves aggressively at his friends, and when it happens, it can only be kept at bay with Tuliza blossoms. On multiple occasions, Kion was unable to trust himself and was forced to give Fuli the authority. Continuously losing control of his roar gradually caused Kion to lose confidence in leading the Guard to the point he thinks he's nothing without it until his friends helps him realize that the scar and the Roar don't make him who he is, and he is already a great leader even without the Roar.
Kion later begins to develop a secret desire to stay at the Tree of Life, not just because of his romantic feelings for Rani, but also because he believes he could choose who he could be and that it was something he truly wanted. A major factor in this desire was Queen Janna asking him to stay before she died of natural causes.
Kion is also shown to have more understanding and awareness in the concept of romance due to his growing romantic feelings for Rani.
Physical appearance
Though quite similar in appearance to his father, Simba, Kion bears a striking resemblance to his grandfathers, Mufasa and Nala's Father respectively; while Simba is more rounded in appearance, Kion is robust and block-like, with a square jaw and a pronounced chest. As far as coloring goes, Kion possesses a pale golden pelt broken only by patches of lighter fur on his muzzle, paws, and underbelly. His fur is several shades lighter than his father's and carries more yellow undertones as opposed to his sister's orange. This trait most likely comes from Nala, whose tawny color mixed with Simba's gold to result in a rich yellow.
Kion inherited dark ear rims from his father, Simba and paternal grandmother Sarabi. However, Kion's ear rims are black on the top and brown on the sides as opposed to Sarabi and young Simba's ear rims, which are black only on the sides. Kion bears spots on the backs of his legs and the Mark of the Guard (a lion head) on his left shoulder. His tail tuft matches his head tuft in color, being somewhat bushier than his father's, and his eye rims follow the usual pattern, with the top shade being darker than his main pelt, while the bottom shade is lighter than his main pelt. His eyes are light brown.
In "Battle for the Pride Lands", as a teenager, Kion has grown taller, and he is showing strong shoulders and is more muscular. His mane has also grown and has more shades of red, and most of the spots on his legs have faded. During his final confrontation against Scar, Ushari bit him and placed a scar on his left eye. But unlike Scar and Kovu's, Kion's has two markings on his eyebrow instead of one. When Kion gave up his position as leader of the Lion Guard to Vitani, his Lion Guard marking on his left shoulder vanished and was replaced with the Night Pride marking on his right shoulder, Kion then gains a blue mark on his forehead symbolizing him as King of the Tree of Life and the mate of Queen Rani by Makini during his coronation/wedding.
Powers and abilities
Powers
- Roar of the Elders: Kion possesses the Roar of the Elders. When he uses the Roar of the Elders, spirits of multiple deceased lions roar along with him, instilling real power in the roar. With this roar, he has flattened plains, held floods back and torn down rockslides. Throughout the series, Kion begins to learn more about the roar and its other mysterious powers. Even after passing the Mark of the Guard to Vitani, Kion still had its power due to mastering it.
- Sonic Roar: Kion can use the roar to send his enemies several feet away. However, Kion's roar is not as powerful as Scar's, possibly because in Season 1 and 2, he was still quite young. In Season 3, as a teenager, Kion's roar has become ever more powerful than before. In "Dragon Island", Kion's roar has grown powerful enough to create a land bridge all the way across an island.
- Mark of the Guard: Whoever Kion chooses someone to become part of his team, he marks them with a lion head, symbolizing their positions as members of the Lion Guard, when Kion inherited the Roar of the Elders, a lion head automatically appeared on his own left shoulder. Kion can also bestow his own title as the Fiercest and the Roar of the Elders to another lion to be his successor, this also causes all the other marks on the Predecessor's Lion Guard to disappear and normally cause the original leader to lose the Roar. However, since Kion mastered the Roar he was able to keep it.
- Precision: Kion can use the roar to hit precise targets. However, it only works if his targets are in-sight of him. In "Never Roar Again", it is revealed that the Roar can be used to hit precise targets. For example, when Makuu and his float took Nala hostage, she encouraged Kion to use the Roar. When he did, instead of using the Roar on everything, he controlled it to only take out the crocodiles holding Nala before turning on Makuu and the rest of the float. Kion uses this skill again in "The Scorpion's Sting" to take out the Army of Scar so he and the Guard can escape with the volcanic ash to cure Simba.
- Spiritual Summoning: Kion can use the roar to summon lion spirits of the past, such as Mufasa from their afterlife. However, when used out of anger, the Roar is capable of summoning the evil lion spirits from their afterlife, though the effect will not work unless a bakora staff is engulfed in a fire and roared upon by the user. In "The Rise of Scar", Kion was tricked into summoning Scar over a volcano when he uses the Roar raging against Janja when Janja was threatening his family. After evil spirits are summoned, they are capable of acting on their own accord, not needing to be called on by the user.
- Atmokinesis: Kion can use the roar to create a whirlwind to lift objects far off the ground.
- Hyetokinesiss: Kion can use the roar on a cloud to produce rain clouds, as explained by Zira. He does this in "Lions of the Outlands", "Swept Away", and "Journey to the Pride Lands". In "Battle for the Pride Lands", he blows to appear the clouds and the Great Lions of the Past blow to start rain to defeat Scar.
- Aerokinesis: In "Triumph of the Roar", it is revealed that the Roar can create a whirlwind to lift objects from the ground. Kion used this ability to help carry Beshte and Bunga in order to defeat Makucha's army's biggest assault. In the next episode, he uses it to transport Bunga, Beshte, Jasiri, Janja, and himself across a dried ravine.
- Electrogenesis: Kion can use the roar to summon bolts of dry lightning.
- Geokinesis: Kion can use the roar to cause earthquakes. He was also able to lift Pride Rock with no difficulty.
Abilities
- High-Level Intellect/Expert Tactician/Leader: As Leader of the Lion, and later King of the Tree of Life, Kion is highly intelligent, even at a young age. He is shown to be a skilled tactician and leader on numerous occasions. Whenever he makes a mistakes, he figures out to make things right. He's the second most intelligent member of the Lion Guard after Ono. In the pilot episode, Kion is shown to be able to recognise the signs of potential danger for someone his age. He's the smartest member when it comes to strategy and finding solutions to problems. In "The Rise of Makuu", he intelligently recognizes that fighting isn't the answer to resolving conflicts. In "Never Judge A Hyena By Its Spots", Kion is shown to know more about the geography of the Pride Lands than anyone else on the Lion Guard, even Ono. In "The Savannah Summit", after consulting Mufasa about his worries over Makuu, Kion suddenly figures out what's really going on and that Makuu is the one in danger. He also intelligently figures out how to get the Pride Landers to come clean in the end. In "Cave of Secrets", while the Lion Guard and Makini are all stuck in a dark chamber, Kion uses echolocation to find the way out of the darkness. He's also the first one to realise that they themselves are the secret to defeating great evil, when they arrive in the final chamber. As a teenager, in Season 3, Kion is even more intelligent and strategic than ever. This is demonstrated in "Battle for the Pride Lands", where he intelligently remembers Mufasa's wise advice about staying true to himself, and ends up outwitting and defeating Scar in the process. "The Lake of Reflection", even as a little cub, Kion was intelligent enough to show his friends how to work as a team against Janja, Cheezi and Chungu, when they were all much younger.
- Expert Combatant: As the leader of the Lion Guard, Kion, for a lion cub, he is an excellent combatant in battle. He is well able to tackle and pin down Janja, a teenage hyena, to the ground with ease. He is also shown to be able to easily fight and pin down Nuka, a teenaged lion, with extreme ease. He can almost fight off several members of Zira's pride with ease, despite being younger and smaller than said lionesses. As shown in numerous episodes, like "Ono the Tickbird" and "Let Sleeping Cros Lie", Kion can easily fight off Makuu and Kiburi, two adult male crocodiles with little difficulty. In "The Lost Gorillas", Kion was shown to be able to fight and face down a forest hog with little difficulty, despite his age. Kion is shown to be able to easily tackle and defeat Mackucha, an adult leopard with ease, even as a cub. In Season 3, as a teenage lion, Kion is even stronger and more formidable than he used to be. He can also easily fight off Mackucha and Chuluun, two fully grown leopards, without any difficulty whatsoever. Kion's strength, speed, and agility also makes him a formidable opponent alone in single combat. Even as a little lion cub, Kion was shown to be able to fight vicious predators, as seen in a flashback in "The Lake of Reflection", where a baby Kion successfully pins down and intimidates a young Janja, with ease.
- Expert Swimmer: Being a lion, Kion is an excellent swimmer. In "Never Judge A Hyena By Its Spots", although, Kion struggled to swim to shore at that point, it may have been because the water was moving really fast and he was still a cub. In "Painting and Predictions", he is shown to be getting better at swimming in lakes within the Pride Lands. As a teenager, Kion is an even stronger swimmer. This was demonstrated in the Season 3 premiere, "Battle for the Pride Lands", where he swam outside of Pride Rock, via Beshte's pool, with ease. During the song, "Of the Same Pride", Kion and Rani are both shown swimming in water together with no difficulty.
- Expert Tracker: As a apex predator, Kion is an expert at tracking down any animal by their scent. He has the best sense of smell in the entire Lion Guard. "The Imaginary Okapi", unlike Fuli, he immediately recognized the mysterious animal tracks as leopard tracks. As seen in "The Trail to Udugu" and "The Underground Adventure", Kion has shown to be evenly matched with his sister Kiara, in his ability to track by scent.
- Singing: As demonstrated throughout the series, Kion is an excellent singer.
- Lion Physiology: Kion possesses incredible feats of strength, speed, agility, stamina, endurance, intellect, sense of smell, hearing, and eyesight, even as a lion cub. This makes Kion one of the most physically strong and more powerful animals in the Pride Lands to beat. In Season 3, as a teenager, Kion is even stronger and more formidable than ever. He is considerably stronger, faster, smarter, and more intelligent. The flashback scene in "The Lake of Reflection", shows that even as little cub, Kion possessed incredible feats of strength, speed, stamina and more from a very young age, even before he became Leader of the Lion Guard.
- Animal Strength: Kion is the second strongest member in the Lion Guard and the Night Pride, after Beshte. He has proven he can send Janja, a teenage spotted hyena, flying several back with a single swing from his paw. He was also shown to be able to pin down Janja, Cheezi and Chungu, with ease on numerous occasions, even as a lion cub. He has also easily sent Mackucha, an adult leopard, flying several feet back even as a lion cub. In "Lions of the Outlands", he successfully pinned down Nuka, a teenage lion, without any difficulty, despite the latter being nearly twice his size. In "The Lost Gorillas", Kion was able to pounce on and pin down both Majinuni and Hafifu, two teenaged gorillas, simultaneously with little difficulty, even as lion cub. In the same episode, he was able to fight and pin down a rampaging forest hog with little difficulty. Kion's strength, speed, and agility also makes him a formidable opponent alone in combat. As a teenager, he is even stronger and broader. In "The Harmattan", Kion was able to bull his way through Mackucha's cronies, Fahari and Jiona, with ease. He also sent tackled and sent Mackucha flying several feet back without any difficulty. As a teenager, he now surpasses Mackucha and Chuluun, two adult leopards, in terms of physical strength. In "Journey to the Pride Lands", during the song "Of the Same Pride", Kion was strong enough to hold up and balance a tree trunk on his back without any difficulty. Even as a baby lion cub, Kion was capable of great feats of strength for his age. As seen, in the flashback in "The Lake of Reflection", where he holds down and defeats a young Janja with no difficulty.
- Animal Speed: Kion is the third fastest member in the Lion Guard and possibly the Night Pride as well, being surpassed only by Fuli and Anga, respectively. Even as a lion cub, he can run as fast as an adult lion, as seen during the "Path of Honour". Kion has mentioned in "The Trail to Udugu", that he goes on a run with Fuli everyday, which could contribute to how fast he is.
- Animal Stamina: Kion is able to run and fight opponents for long periods of time, even as a younger lion cub, as shown in the flashback in "The Lake of Reflection". This makes him a formidable opponent in battle. Being a lion, he has the second highest stamina on the entire Lion Guard, after Fuli.
- Animal Endurance: Kion possesses great levels of endurance. He is able to endure hits and can hold own against opponents that are his size or larger, like Janja, Makuu, or Mackucha, to name a few.
Weaknesses
- Evil Deeds: If Kion ever uses the Roar of the Elders for evil purposes, he will permanently lose the power.
- Rage: If Kion ever uses the Roar of the Elders when he is in a state of rage, he will temporarily lose control of it, as he could unintentionally hurt or kill someone, as well as accidentally summon evil lion spirits. In "Never Roar Again", his roar echoed off a cliff, blowing off all five of Ono's crest feathers, as well as creating an earthquake causing the ground to open that Nala nearly fell in. In "The Rise of Scar", he made the Outlands volcano erupt, which simultaneously opened the doorway to Scar's spirit being risen. In "The Accidental Avalanche", Kion started said avalanche while trying to blast a hole through a tall mountain. In "Dragon Island", he created a tidal wave while defending his friends. In "The Race to Tuliza", Kion almost lost control of the roar, again. In "The Tree of Life", he roared at Baliyo, sending him flying.
Former Weaknesses
- Venomous Scars: Ever since Ushari bit him on his eye, Kion has experienced frequent personality changes such as aggression, irritation, dominance, hostility, frustration, impatience, quick temper, recklessness, uncertainty, pain and anger. The Roar of the Elders has become more difficult to control and Kion's darker instincts start to unfold because of this. It makes Kion lash out at his friends, demonstrating hostility to the animals they encounter and make bad decisions. He can only be calmed when eating tuliza blossoms, or by talking with Fuli. After undergoing several healing sessions with Nirmala, Kion finally became cured of the venom even though his scar would remain. However, the lessons he learned under Nirmala have allowed him to find peace with himself and accept that he is who he is and that his scar will not change that.
Role in the series
The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
Kion makes his debut in the series premiere. He first appears on Pride Rock playing Baobab Ball with his best friend, a honey badger named Bunga. At the urging of his father Simba, who is teaching Kiara the responsibilities of being Queen, the pair takes their fun to the Savannah. Their fun comes to an end when their ball gets knocked into the Outlands. Kion does not want to go in because his father told him to never go in the Outlands. Bunga, however, jumps in any way. However, Bunga runs into Cheezi and Chungu, two members of the hyena clan that used to work for Scar. Kion saves Bunga with a very powerful roar.
When the pair gets back to Pride Rock, they find Simba and Rafiki waiting for him. The pair takes Kion to the Lair of The Lion Guard and tells him about his destiny: He is the new leader of the Lion Guard and that the Roar he used is the Roar of the Elders. Kion leaves to go assemble his team and picks Bunga to be the bravest member because he is the bravest animal he knows. He picks Fuli to be the fastest, Beshte to be the strongest, and Ono to be the keenest of sight. Simba comes by and refuses to accept his son's choice of teammates telling him that the Lion Guard has always been a lion only group and asked him to take his new responsibilities seriously.
This disheartens Kion and he goes off by himself. He meets the spirit of Mufasa, who tells him to trust his instincts. Later, Kion decides to stick with his choice of teammates. When the hyena clan led by Janja start attacking gazelles, Kion and his team drive them off. Watching from afar, Simba and Nala express pride in their son with Simba accepting the new Lion Guard.
The Lion Guard
Set after the original film and in the middle of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Kion continues serving as leader of the Lion Guard and also continues protecting the Pride Lands' animals mainly by making sure no predators overeat and unbalance the Circle of Life, especially those from territories outside the Pride Lands. Near the middle of the second season, Ushari finally gets tired of getting hurt by the Guard, so he soon forms an alliance with Janja and his clan by helping them find how to summon Scar after hearing that Kion can talk to Mufasa. Other Outlanders such as power-hungry Kiburi the Nile crocodile, gluttonous Reirei the black-backed jackal, and Mzingo the bossy vulture eventually join the cause to claim the Pride Lands.
As summoning Scar's spirit requires Kion's powerful roar, Ushari and Janja's clan stole Makini's staff and kidnaps Kiara and brings her by the Outlands volcano, forcing the Lion Guard to go to the Outlands to rescue Kiara. Kion distracts Janja while his friends rescue Kiara, and Kion able to stall enough time without fighting Janja until Kiara is saved. However, Janja is able to goad Kion to roar by threatening to kill his family next time, enraging Kion enough that he used a more powerful roar than usual. Without Kion realizing that this allows Ushari to summon Scar's spirit.
For a while, Kion and his friends didn't know that Scar was behind the hyenas', jackals' and crocodiles' recent attacks on the Pride Lands. Kion got suspicious when he saw a glimpse of Scar in flame talking with Janja when they were attacking Rafiki. But because Kion is unsure of what he saw, he didn't say anything at that time. Kion and his friends finally found out about Scar's revival when Simba was stung by a scorpion sent by Scar, leading them to go to the volcano to get the ashes needed to cure Simba. Inside the volcano, Scar reveals himself and Kion instantly recognizes him. They got cornered by Scar's army as they're about to return to cure Simba, but Kion uses the Roar on them, and they are able to get out safely with Fuli and Bunga returning ahead with the ashes that cure Simba right on time.
After his father is cured, Kion tells Rafiki and Simba about Scar's revival. He and his father discusses with Mufasa about Scar's return and seeks his advice, but since the return of a lion of the past is something that never happened before, Mufasa couldn't help much. However, he assures them that since Scar has been defeated before, they can do the same again. As to not cause further panic, Simba asks Kion and the Lion Guard not to let the Pridelanders to know of Scar's return. Since then, Kion and his friends focuses on fighting against Scar's army.
On two occasions, they lost against them, which caused Killio Valley and Mizimu Grove to be under Scar's control. During "The Fall of Mizimu Grove", the rest of Pride Landers who finally found out of Scar's revival became afraid and contemplated on leaving the Pride Lands. Fortunately, Kion manages to convince them to stay and fight back to protect their home. He also enlisted Jasiri's help who has formed the hyena resistance to fight against Scar and his army.
In the third season, Kion is shown to have grown into a teenager. Simba suggests they take the battle against Scar's army into the Outlands. The night before the attack, Pride Rock is attacked by Janja and his clan under Scar's order. Unbeknownst to Janja himself, Scar has the vultures assigned to set Pride Rock on fire to kill them all. Fortunately, Kion and his friends escape through the water tunnel in their den while Anga and Hadithi saved the royal family.
When Jasiri arrives with the reformed Janja, Simba is skeptical to listen to the latter, but Kion is willing to forgive Janja because of his trust in Jasiri. After Janja informs them of the way how to supposedly beat Scar, Kion and the others rest for the night to prepare for tomorrow's final battle. The next day, Kion leads his Guard and the army of Pridelanders to attack Scar's army. While the Pridelanders and Jasiri and Janja's clans fights against the Outlanders, Kion and the Guard goes into the volcano. Confronting Scar, Kion is prepared to use the Roar, but is bitten by Ushari, giving him a scar over his left eye similar to Scar and infecting him with Ushari's toxic venom.
To make it worse, for a moment, Kion finds it difficult to think properly due to Ushari's venom inside his body. Kion almost uses his Roar against Scar until he recalls Mufasa's words not to fight fire with fire. Kion chooses to forgive Scar and invokes the Great Lions of the Past to cause rainfall that destroys Scar once and for all. Ushari tries to attack Kion in retaliation to strengthen his venom by biting him again, but Bunga comes to Kion's defense and tackles Ushari into the crater. Bunga is rescued thanks to Ono, at the cost of Ono being blinded by the volcanic fumes and toxic air, but Ushari meets his own demise being immolated in the magma.
Despite their victory, Ushari's venom inside Kion causes him to lose control of his Roar, causing him to Roar at Bunga by accident. Kion goes to Rafiki for help, and ease his condition through eating tuliza blossoms. This, however, only temporarily calms him and there's no cure for Kion in the Pride Lands. Rafiki suggests that he goes to the Tree of Life to get the cure for his condition. Kion is reluctant to go with his entire Guard, but Simba gives his permission and assures him that they'll be fine. Kion relents and the next day, together with the Guard and Makini, begins their travel to the Tree of Life to cure the venom inside Kion and to restore Ono's eyesight from infectious volcanic fumes.
Throughout their journey to find the Tree of Life, Kion's condition worsened due to the venom, frequently losing his temper and became more impatient to the point he prefers to use quickest and easiest way to solve some problems they run into, resulting in him jeopardizing their safety. This also caused Makini to constantly having to provide Kion with tuliza blossoms and quickly runs out with Anga always looking for new ones. Once he realized this, Kion entrusts Fuli with the leadership of the Guard until he heals.
Unknown to Kion and the Guard, they are followed by their old enemy, the leopard Makucha. Makucha intends to let the Guard unwillingly lead him to the Tree of Life, so he can feast on all the rare animals that can be found there and also exact revenge against Kion and his friends for his numerous humiliating defeats against them. And to make things even worse, Makucha, while following the Guard, allies with the snow leopard Chuluun, the Komodo dragon Ora, and Mama Binturong, three new foes that the Lion Guard defeated and humiliated on their way to the Tree of Life, promising them revenge against the heroes.
When they're almost arrive at the Tree of Life, Kion and his friends are mistaken as hostile animals by the guardians of the tree, the Night Pride, which is led by a lioness named Rani. The two groups were at odds until Rani informs her grandmother and the Queen of the Tree of Life, Janna, about Kion's Roar of the Elders. Janna insists that the Lion Guard be allowed into the Tree of Life, allowing Kion to clear up the misunderstanding. After a while, Ono is able to regain his sight, but Kion needs more time to recover from Ushari's venom.
At the same time, Makucha and his group continuously try to attack the animals in the Tree of Life, which is thwarted by the Lion Guard and the Night Pride. During his recovery, Kion grows closer with Rani, and the two gradually develops feelings for each other.
He was with the Night Pride as Queen Janna, having reached the end of her life span, peacefully passes away in her sleep with her family in attendance, leaving them heartbroken and naming Rani, as Janna's granddaughter, heir to becoming the Queen of the Tree of Life. After Rani accepts her new title, she continues to help Kion recover from Ushari's venom.
Nearing the end of his healing, he becomes unsure of leading the Guard without the Roar because he can't control it like he used to. His friends help him realize that neither the scar, nor the Roar, makes him who he is and Kion was already a great leader before he even had the Roar. Confident that he can continue becoming a great leader even without the Roar like Mufasa, Kion believes he should let the power go.
Following Mufasa's instructions, Kion goes to meet Askari, the leader of the first Lion Guard. Kion is ready to return the Roar to the Tree of Life, but Askari then tells him that because Kion is ready to let it go, he is finally ready to learn everything about the Roar. Under Askari's guidance, Kion trains to use his Roar in various ways until he had fully mastered it. Just as he finished mastering the Roar, Kion assists his friends in defeating Makucha and the other predators attacking the Tree of Life, blowing them far away with the Roar, never to be seen again.
With Kion fully recovered, he and his friends are ready to return to the Pride Lands. However, Kion's feelings for Rani and her offer for them to stay as guardians of the Tree of Life makes Kion hesitant to return, especially after Rani proposed to him. Kion decides to return to Pride Lands after Jasiri and Janja, escorted by Azaad, arrive at the Tree of Life to inform him that Zira is planning to attack the Pride Lands. Makini, however, decides to stay in the Tree of Life. Using the Roar, Kion and his friends are able to return at a faster rate to the Pride Lands.
At the Outlands, together with several Outlanders, the Lion Guard confronts Vitani and her team, thinking they're part of Zira's attack. Before Kion could use the Roar on them, Kiara arrives with Kovu and reveals Zira's pride has joined their pride, except Zira herself, who had died, completing her journey in the Circle of Life. Kion thanks Jasiri for all her help, and they nuzzle each other affectionately before the hyenas and vultures depart. Kiara and Kovu take the Lion Guard back to Pride Rock and after Kion reunites with Simba and Nala, they explain everything that had happened that led to the merging of the two prides while the Lion Guard was away. Having cleared up the misunderstanding, the rest of the Lion Guard goes home to reunite with their families and friends and Kion spends the rest of the day with Simba, Nala, Kiara and Kovu.
That night, after the royal family spends some time talking with Mufasa, Kion then confides with Kiara about Rani and how he misses her, and Kiara assures him that he'll be able to go to the Tree of Life again. The next day, the Lion Guard discovers that Vitani has formed her own Lion Guard in their absence. The two Guards competes for the position and reach a tie. When it comes to Kion and Vitani's turn, she calls for a Mashindano, surprising Kion, who reminds her that he has the Roar. However, after seeing Vitani fully believes that she's fierce enough to lead the Lion Guard even without the Roar and bravely challenges him despite knowing the disadvantage, Kion finally understands Askari's words and approves of Vitani's Lion Guard, giving Vitani and her team the position as the Lion Guard in their place. He bestows Vitani the Mark of the Guard and the Roar of the Elders then bears witness as Vitani tests out the Roar, and successfully pulls it off, officially marking her the new leader of the Lion Guard with her lionesses.
Askari then appears and proudly commends Kion for his decision, though Kion is confused of why he still has the Roar even though he is no longer the leader of the Lion Guard. Askari reminds Kion that he can use the Roar to protect the Tree of Life. Remembering that both Queen Janna and Rani had acknowledged them to become protectors of the Tree of Life before they departed, Kion and his friends decide to become just that, gaining the Mark of the Night Pride. When Vitani asks about how Kion has mastered the Roar after overhearing Askari explaining it, Kion is able to, to the amazement of his family and friends, along with Vitani and her Lion Guard, use the Roar to levitate Pride Rock into the air for several seconds before setting it back down, causing Vitani to say in amazement Kion's catchphrase of "Hevi kabisa". Kion returns to the Tree of Life where he marries Rani, officially being crowned as King of the Tree of Life with his family and friends celebrating their union as Mufasa, Janna, and Askari smile down proudly from the heavens as the Great Kings roar in celebration.
Relationships
Gallery
Trivia
- His name is pronounced "Kai-on".
- Kion's name comes from "Kiongozi" which is Swahili for "leader".
- Kion is the second-born cub of Simba and Nala, after Kiara, who is his only official sibling.[1]
- Interestingly, all of Simba and Nala's children's names begin with "K" (Kopa, Kiara, Kion), though Kopa is their unofficial son, while Kiara and Kion are their official children. This trait is shared by their son-in-law, Kovu.
- Other than his coloring, Kion physically resembles Kopa, Simba's cub in a number of The Lion King: Six New Adventures books.
- The mark on his left shoulder was going to be a paw print, but a sizzle reel showed that this was swapped out for the current lion head.
- Kion is the only member of the main royal family whose name doesn't end with A, but ends with a consonant (excluding his paternal grandmother or great-uncle).
- He is also not only the only lion in his guard, but its only member whose name ends in a consonant.
- It is currently unknown what the age gap between Kion and Kiara is. In the episode "Lions of the Outlands", when meeting Kovu, Kion is shown to be surprised that he knows Kiara, to which Kovu says that they met "a while ago". This could mean that Kion was either not born yet or was an infant when Kiara and Kovu met in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. In the final episode, Kion is an adolescent whilst Kiara is shown to be a young adult, indicating a significant gap in age between the two siblings.
- Despite being the youngest of Simba and Nala's children, Kion is shown to be slightly larger than Kiara. This could be because in real life, male lions are larger than females.
- Though not outright mentioned, in the episode "Paintings and Predictions", it is revealed that Kion had a great-great uncle who led The Lion Guard that rescued his maternal grandfather when he was a cub.
- Every time the Lion Guard faces their enemies, Kion will constantly jump on the leader of the group (ex: Janja, Makuu, Kiburi, and Reirei).
- Kion's main catchphrase Hevi kabisa means "Totally intense" in Swahili.
- Kion's secondary catchphrase is "What in the Pride Lands?"
- Unlike his older sister (who went to the Outlands where she was not allowed to go to) and his father with his mother (who went to the Elephant Graveyard where Mufasa told the former not to go), Kion is the obedient cub. Although, there is one time Kion defied his father's order by going out playing with Bunga despite being told to stay put, which led to the two of them almost getting eaten by Pua and his float if not for Zazu's interference.
- Second to Kit Secord of The Rocketeer, Kion has the second fewest amount of songs sung in the series out of every other Disney Junior protagonist.
- As of "Battle for the Pride Lands", Kion is the fourth known lion to have a scar on his face, following the Strange Lion Scar met in a flashback during "When I Led the Guard", Scar himself, and Kovu. Interestingly, both Scar and Kion got their scars from cobra bites whereas Kovu got his from a scratch. In chronological order, Kion had his scar before Kovu.
- Kion is the first known leader of the Lion Guard to retire from the role voluntarily.
- Kion is the youngest member of the royal family to get married and be crowned.
- As a younger cub, Kion spoke with a lisp.
External links
- Kion on Heroes Wiki
References
- ↑ Mitovich, Matt Webb. "Disney Junior to Unleash Lion King Sequel Series". TV Line. Accessed 11 June 2014.
![]() |
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the The Lion King Wiki. The list of authors can be seen in the page revision history (view authors). As with Disney Wiki, the text of The Lion King Wiki is available under the CC-by-SA Free Documentation License. |
v - e - d | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|