HOME | DD

Description

(btw if you find the title weird, it's entirely on you. also any sexual comments and it's block city.)

and kovu thought kiara was a daddy's girl.

so i headcanon tojo as zuri's pops, and a single father at that. for the longest time, the fandom liked to make jokes about how tojo ends up single/just likes to be with his bird friendos because there was no semi-canon lioness to ship with (again, i roll my eyes at you, fandom), so having absorbed that, i like to think of him as being somewhere on the ace spectrum.

tojo was always seen as the odd one out of the gaggle of cubs living at pride rock. he was goofy, eccentric, and clumsy as all hell. because of these things as well, there was a charm to him that some of his peers couldn't deny (chumvi and tama included, both having short-lived crushes on him); however, he wasn't all that interested in reciprocating. in fact, relationships never really crossed his mind too much, the way it did for his friends.

however, just because he's ace and doesn't think much of relationships like his friends does not necessarily mean he can't fall in love. such was the case with zuri's mother, a lioness named dhaifu (meaning "weakling").

tojo, unlike chumvi, remained at pride rock and endured scar's reign from cubhood to young adulthood. being one of the few male lions in the pride, he had it tough. he was often met with scar's ire as he grew into a much larger male than the scrawny old king. being far from the belligerent type -- probably the most pacifistic lion anyone would ever meet -- this treatment made him awfully timid and quiet. he was the last lion to even think of overthrowing scar! but as tojo grew into an adult, he would become strangely remiscent of mufasa with his stature (though not related to him in any way, mind you), only enraging scar further.

the one bright spot for tojo, aside from the company of his family and friends, tama, kula, mheetu, and nala, was dhaifu. she would later become a part of zira's army and her name and former identity would be stripped from her and replaced with the name dhahau (meaning "sneer"), but at this point she was scar's unworthy spawn, one of the only two he would ever have (i think you already know who the other one is). now, scar was never nice to his kids, as proven by his degrading naming of them. he didn't like the idea of handing off the crown to some incompetent brat. so neither of his children were at all destined for the crown; he planned ruin everyone's lives to the point of his perceived incompetency, to die and take the crown with him, so to speak.

though dhaifu loved her father, as a child only can sometimes, she was more than happy to spend time away from him and with the others. especially the ever-goofy tojo. they took a liking to each other in their teens and began to meet each other in secret. dhaifu found his clumsiness and sensitive nature charming and tojo, finding her down-to-earth despite coming from scar's "raising", was head over heels. scar (thankfully) never knew about the relationship.

after simba took the throne, the two were finally able to be together publicly! but, during the restoration of the pridelands, zira and the rest of scar's "former" followers were granted clemency in the pridelands under the assumption that they were in the same boat as the rest of the lions in the pride, that they were manipulated and now see the truth about scar. simba had no reason to believe that anyone living under scar's reign was fully in support of him, at any point. bad choice, because zira, bitter that her former lover (more like former fling that she was still obsessing over) her usurped and killed, covertly started to manipulate the lionesses into a revolt, and this included scar's daughter, dhaifu.

what threw a wrench into zira's plan was dhaifu becoming pregnant with tojo's child, after lengthy discussions about it. tojo figured he'd never have cubs but if he were to ever have any, dhaifu was the one he wanted it to be with.

dhaifu's happiness over becoming a mother was dashed by zira's needling. she fed her lie after lie about simba and tojo, twisting the truth to make it seem like her long-lost cousin simba was the dictator, more malicious than her father with his kindly king act, and like tojo was simply appeasing her with the cub.

dhaifu, vulnerable from her childhood with an abusive father, fell for it all. tojo remained completely oblivious, more concerned with doting on her and the unborn cub.

by the time their cub was born, dhaifu was cold-hearted and reclusive, so much so that she didn't say much as tojo doted over the little thing, naming her zuri, "beautiful" and "lovely." it was almost enough to see him as genuine but her heart had been hardened too much. eventually, she'd come to reject zuri and refuse to nurse her.

one day, zira makes a planned assassination attempt on simba, but is easily overpowered. this was expecte, whoever. the attempt earns her banishment, and as zira planned, her followers, previously masking their support of her, voice their objection and, when simba stands her ground, leave with her, dealing the blow of the pride shrinking significantly and showing simba that a) he's not as supported as he thought and b) he can't trust any lion so easily. this is one of many factors in making simba the untrusting curmudgeon in simba's pride. he should've known, he thought. he couldn't even trust scar, his own uncle, and it was the same with dhaifu. sometimes, you can't even trust family.

and with them, dhaifu disappears.

tojo is heartbroken, anxious, frantic. dhaifu hadn't even said anything! not even a goodbye! what's he to do for cub that cries for her mother's warmth and milk?

luckily for him, kiara is born soon after, and nala is happy to nurse zuri as well.

with time and the constant, loving support from the pride, tojo is able to take his mind off of his lost love and focus solely on his daughter. providing love and care is all he knows how to do and he swears from then on that he will make sure that zuri feels loved and important and confident.

she's his little princess, after all.

(zuri would later face off against her own mother in the war, but neither are even aware of the fact.)

---

soooo, yeah. zuri is scar's granddaughter, simba's 1st cousin once removed, and kiara's 2nd cousin. and yes, i need a cousin calculator for that, which is a thing that apparently exists. kiara is not aware of the relation until adulthood, and simba, whose adoptive gay dads are a meerkat and a warthog and whose fucking adoptive brother is a honey badger has seen weirder family conditions.

unpopular opinion, but i'm not fond of the zuri hate in the fandom. i may not have watched every single episode of the lion guard, but it's pretty easy to get the gist of her character -- vain, prissy, feminine, kinda stuck up. but yall act like she's victoria chase or something, when she's more similar to rarity from mlp? idk, i just see too much art of zuri as a villain and it's weird considering how minor of a character she is compared to others.

so i wanted to give her a backstory that felt grounded but still explains why she is how she is. she's got one dad and he spoils the shit out of her. he tells her she's pretty and like a diamond to him, teaches her how to groom properly, and tries to nudge her away from fighting and the like, being a pacifist, which is why she's disinterested in hunting. he dotes on her to a fault but that's about it. he also teaches her to be as fiercely loyal as she is in canon, especially for distant cousin, kiara.

now onto tojo:

i wanted to make him a hunky type of lion, because i think it's funny that he was the clumsy kid but grew up into This. out of simba's gen, tojo is the largest, the second being chumvi, with simba grumpily sitting at third, and kula following VERY closely behind. (then it's nala, tama, mheetu, then malka hehe.) he's also the most jacked. healing after the restoration did him good!

also this is the first time i actually did a background for one of these myself! it was rough but i'm pretty satisfied with it.

---

cub grid open: www.deviantart.com/sleuthdraws…

adoptables still available: www.deviantart.com/sleuthdraws…

if ya like what i do, please consider throwin some coins my way via my ko-fi!

DO NOT EDIT, TRACE, SAVE, OR REDISTRUBUTE.

Description

(btw if you find the title weird, it's entirely on you. also any sexual comments and it's block city.)

and kovu thought kiara was a daddy's girl.

so i headcanon tojo as zuri's pops, and a single father at that. for the longest time, the fandom liked to make jokes about how tojo ends up single/just likes to be with his bird friendos because there was no semi-canon lioness to ship with (again, i roll my eyes at you, fandom), so having absorbed that, i like to think of him as being somewhere on the ace spectrum.

tojo was always seen as the odd one out of the gaggle of cubs living at pride rock. he was goofy, eccentric, and clumsy as all hell. because of these things as well, there was a charm to him that some of his peers couldn't deny (chumvi and tama included, both having short-lived crushes on him); however, he wasn't all that interested in reciprocating. in fact, relationships never really crossed his mind too much, the way it did for his friends.

however, just because he's ace and doesn't think much of relationships like his friends does not necessarily mean he can't fall in love. such was the case with zuri's mother, a lioness named dhaifu (meaning "weakling").

tojo, unlike chumvi, remained at pride rock and endured scar's reign from cubhood to young adulthood. being one of the few male lions in the pride, he had it tough. he was often met with scar's ire as he grew into a much larger male than the scrawny old king. being far from the belligerent type -- probably the most pacifistic lion anyone would ever meet -- this treatment made him awfully timid and quiet. he was the last lion to even think of overthrowing scar! but as tojo grew into an adult, he would become strangely remiscent of mufasa with his stature (though not related to him in any way, mind you), only enraging scar further.

the one bright spot for tojo, aside from the company of his family and friends, tama, kula, mheetu, and nala, was dhaifu. she would later become a part of zira's army and her name and former identity would be stripped from her and replaced with the name dhahau (meaning "sneer"), but at this point she was scar's unworthy spawn, one of the only two he would ever have (i think you already know who the other one is). now, scar was never nice to his kids, as proven by his degrading naming of them. he didn't like the idea of handing off the crown to some incompetent brat. so neither of his children were at all destined for the crown; he planned ruin everyone's lives to the point of his perceived incompetency, to die and take the crown with him, so to speak.

though dhaifu loved her father, as a child only can sometimes, she was more than happy to spend time away from him and with the others. especially the ever-goofy tojo. they took a liking to each other in their teens and began to meet each other in secret. dhaifu found his clumsiness and sensitive nature charming and tojo, finding her down-to-earth despite coming from scar's "raising", was head over heels. scar (thankfully) never knew about the relationship.

after simba took the throne, the two were finally able to be together publicly! but, during the restoration of the pridelands, zira and the rest of scar's "former" followers were granted clemency in the pridelands under the assumption that they were in the same boat as the rest of the lions in the pride, that they were manipulated and now see the truth about scar. simba had no reason to believe that anyone living under scar's reign was fully in support of him, at any point. bad choice, because zira, bitter that her former lover (more like former fling that she was still obsessing over) her usurped and killed, covertly started to manipulate the lionesses into a revolt, and this included scar's daughter, dhaifu.

what threw a wrench into zira's plan was dhaifu becoming pregnant with tojo's child, after lengthy discussions about it. tojo figured he'd never have cubs but if he were to ever have any, dhaifu was the one he wanted it to be with.

dhaifu's happiness over becoming a mother was dashed by zira's needling. she fed her lie after lie about simba and tojo, twisting the truth to make it seem like her long-lost cousin simba was the dictator, more malicious than her father with his kindly king act, and like tojo was simply appeasing her with the cub.

dhaifu, vulnerable from her childhood with an abusive father, fell for it all. tojo remained completely oblivious, more concerned with doting on her and the unborn cub.

by the time their cub was born, dhaifu was cold-hearted and reclusive, so much so that she didn't say much as tojo doted over the little thing, naming her zuri, "beautiful" and "lovely." it was almost enough to see him as genuine but her heart had been hardened too much. eventually, she'd come to reject zuri and refuse to nurse her.

one day, zira makes a planned assassination attempt on simba, but is easily overpowered. this was expecte, whoever. the attempt earns her banishment, and as zira planned, her followers, previously masking their support of her, voice their objection and, when simba stands her ground, leave with her, dealing the blow of the pride shrinking significantly and showing simba that a) he's not as supported as he thought and b) he can't trust any lion so easily. this is one of many factors in making simba the untrusting curmudgeon in simba's pride. he should've known, he thought. he couldn't even trust scar, his own uncle, and it was the same with dhaifu. sometimes, you can't even trust family.

and with them, dhaifu disappears.

tojo is heartbroken, anxious, frantic. dhaifu hadn't even said anything! not even a goodbye! what's he to do for cub that cries for her mother's warmth and milk?

luckily for him, kiara is born soon after, and nala is happy to nurse zuri as well.

with time and the constant, loving support from the pride, tojo is able to take his mind off of his lost love and focus solely on his daughter. providing love and care is all he knows how to do and he swears from then on that he will make sure that zuri feels loved and important and confident.

she's his little princess, after all.

(zuri would later face off against her own mother in the war, but neither are even aware of the fact.)

---

soooo, yeah. zuri is scar's granddaughter, simba's 1st cousin once removed, and kiara's 2nd cousin. and yes, i need a cousin calculator for that, which is a thing that apparently exists. kiara is not aware of the relation until adulthood, and simba, whose adoptive gay dads are a meerkat and a warthog and whose fucking adoptive brother is a honey badger has seen weirder family conditions.

unpopular opinion, but i'm not fond of the zuri hate in the fandom. i may not have watched every single episode of the lion guard, but it's pretty easy to get the gist of her character -- vain, prissy, feminine, kinda stuck up. but yall act like she's victoria chase or something, when she's more similar to rarity from mlp? idk, i just see too much art of zuri as a villain and it's weird considering how minor of a character she is compared to others.

so i wanted to give her a backstory that felt grounded but still explains why she is how she is. she's got one dad and he spoils the shit out of her. he tells her she's pretty and like a diamond to him, teaches her how to groom properly, and tries to nudge her away from fighting and the like, being a pacifist, which is why she's disinterested in hunting. he dotes on her to a fault but that's about it. he also teaches her to be as fiercely loyal as she is in canon, especially for distant cousin, kiara.

now onto tojo:

i wanted to make him a hunky type of lion, because i think it's funny that he was the clumsy kid but grew up into This. out of simba's gen, tojo is the largest, the second being chumvi, with simba grumpily sitting at third, and kula following VERY closely behind. (then it's nala, tama, mheetu, then malka hehe.) he's also the most jacked. healing after the restoration did him good!

also this is the first time i actually did a background for one of these myself! it was rough but i'm pretty satisfied with it.

---

cub grid open: www.deviantart.com/sleuthdraws…

adoptables still available: www.deviantart.com/sleuthdraws…

if ya like what i do, please consider throwin some coins my way via my ko-fi!

DO NOT EDIT, TRACE, SAVE, OR REDISTRUBUTE.