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Folks may recall a character I mentioned in Tojo and Zuri's backstory, an ill-fated lioness named Dhaifu. I did say that I would one day draw her and here she is!

As previously mentioned, Dhaifu is Scar's firstborn, one of the only two children the old fuck has, Nuka being the other. Her mother was a random lioness nothing but a sour fling Scar had in an attempt to secure an heir to the throne. Tradition demanded it, but upon seeing that he'd spawned a girl, he sneered and denied her the status of heiress. He named his firstborn babygirl Dhaifu, meaning "weakling." As seen with Dhaifu and poor Nuka ("trash"), Scar did not think highly of his own children and held little to no love for them, choosing to demean them with insulting names in order to impress his power upon them. Dhaifu's mother, hating Scar with all her might, projecting this hatred onto the little Dhaifu -- because she came out looking like a carbon copy of her old dad -- and did not stop Scar from giving her this name.

(Small note: In my fanon, "The Madness of King Scar" doesn't really happen. Scar is gay, severely closeted, and incredibly traditionally-minded, so he wouldn't prey on Nala; hell, he hardly wanted to touch Dhaifu's mother and Zira. Just a tidbit on Scar's revulsion of the empty family he builds.)

Growing up with a narcissist for a father and an absent mother, and mostly raised by the collective rather than any specific pair of parents, Dhaifu grew up naive but down-to-earth. She was socially awkward and clumsy all throughout her adolescence but she managed to grow into a kind lion due to the lionesses who did care for her, mainly Sarabi, who ached so much to fill the void that Mufasa and Simba left that she devoted a lot of time to her community, particularly helping with child-rearing.

Scar was still her father, however, and he was often quite abusive towards her. Any confident she had, he felt compelled to tear it down. Any friends she had, he was sure to insult her in front of. He did it to feel good about himself, and Dhaifu was a lion who by birthright felt obligated to stay around him. Despite his treatment of her, she did love her father. She was only a messed up kid, after all. What else could she do? But she definitely cared about him a lot more than he actually deserved.

Everything shifted when Dhaifu found herself harboring a crush for Tojo in late teenhood. He was about as clumsy as she was, but he was goofy and charming on top of that. She couldn't help but fall for him! So she started to meet him in private. She was wise enough by this age to know better than to let Scar know she was seeing a boy. Thankfully, Scar never knew.

Fast forward to the end of Scar's reign (because I cover a lot of this in my Tojo post), Dhaifu and Tojo jump into having a kid. Life's too short, after all, and growing up with Scar as a dad made Dhaifu long to have a child of her own, just to be kind to them. They agree on it -- one kid.

At first, Dhaifu is elated when she becomes pregnant -- only to her celebration to be cut short when Zira, a relative newcomer to the pride, staunch supporter of Scar, and mother of Dhaifu's younger half-brother, Nuka (who's an older cub by this point), started to visit more and more to aid her in her pregnancy. Dhaifu was glad to have her; she began to view Zira as something of a mother figure.

However, Zira's intentions were not very wholesome.

Slowly, she began to sow the seeds of doubt within Dhaifu, feeding her lies about her mate, her cousin, even about her pregnancy. Tojo is only placating you with a baby, he doesn't really want it. Simba killed your father, he's faking the kindly king act. You're young still, you don't know as much as me. You'll fail this child, if you're not careful.

Little by little, Dhaifu began to believe everything she was being told. It was all she could do. She hadn't been raised to be confident in anything, always having to listen to someone else who "knew better."

So...she believed Zira.

Her opinion on Simba soured, her relationship with Tojo dried up. Her love for her yet-unborn cub shriveled.

When the cub was born -- named Zuri by Tojo, who adored her the moment she came out -- Dhaifu rejected her. It pained her, but she was a husk by this point. Cold, unkind, unloving.

And when the time came, she chose Zira and left with her when she was exiled, leaving her former mate and child in the Pridelands for a family she believed, ironically, would never lie to her.

She changed her name in the Outlands to Dhahau, meaning "sneer," and remained a pawn of Zira till the war. As mentioned in the previously linked post, Dhahau actually fights an adult Zuri in the war between the Outlanders and the Pridelanders, but neither even realize it.

---

Not my best writing as it's quite late but maybe I'll add more later on.

I doubt I need to add design notes on Dhaifu/Dhahau. She's meant to look like Scar, a echo of his actions, a tragic tale that only exists because it was Scar that made her. But I added cheek marks that she passes down to Zuri. You mught also notice she shares a scoop nose with Nuka. You all know that I like making characters look related yet not (at least not always) too related.

Hope y'all like the backstory!

Description

Folks may recall a character I mentioned in Tojo and Zuri's backstory, an ill-fated lioness named Dhaifu. I did say that I would one day draw her and here she is!

As previously mentioned, Dhaifu is Scar's firstborn, one of the only two children the old fuck has, Nuka being the other. Her mother was a random lioness nothing but a sour fling Scar had in an attempt to secure an heir to the throne. Tradition demanded it, but upon seeing that he'd spawned a girl, he sneered and denied her the status of heiress. He named his firstborn babygirl Dhaifu, meaning "weakling." As seen with Dhaifu and poor Nuka ("trash"), Scar did not think highly of his own children and held little to no love for them, choosing to demean them with insulting names in order to impress his power upon them. Dhaifu's mother, hating Scar with all her might, projecting this hatred onto the little Dhaifu -- because she came out looking like a carbon copy of her old dad -- and did not stop Scar from giving her this name.

(Small note: In my fanon, "The Madness of King Scar" doesn't really happen. Scar is gay, severely closeted, and incredibly traditionally-minded, so he wouldn't prey on Nala; hell, he hardly wanted to touch Dhaifu's mother and Zira. Just a tidbit on Scar's revulsion of the empty family he builds.)

Growing up with a narcissist for a father and an absent mother, and mostly raised by the collective rather than any specific pair of parents, Dhaifu grew up naive but down-to-earth. She was socially awkward and clumsy all throughout her adolescence but she managed to grow into a kind lion due to the lionesses who did care for her, mainly Sarabi, who ached so much to fill the void that Mufasa and Simba left that she devoted a lot of time to her community, particularly helping with child-rearing.

Scar was still her father, however, and he was often quite abusive towards her. Any confident she had, he felt compelled to tear it down. Any friends she had, he was sure to insult her in front of. He did it to feel good about himself, and Dhaifu was a lion who by birthright felt obligated to stay around him. Despite his treatment of her, she did love her father. She was only a messed up kid, after all. What else could she do? But she definitely cared about him a lot more than he actually deserved.

Everything shifted when Dhaifu found herself harboring a crush for Tojo in late teenhood. He was about as clumsy as she was, but he was goofy and charming on top of that. She couldn't help but fall for him! So she started to meet him in private. She was wise enough by this age to know better than to let Scar know she was seeing a boy. Thankfully, Scar never knew.

Fast forward to the end of Scar's reign (because I cover a lot of this in my Tojo post), Dhaifu and Tojo jump into having a kid. Life's too short, after all, and growing up with Scar as a dad made Dhaifu long to have a child of her own, just to be kind to them. They agree on it -- one kid.

At first, Dhaifu is elated when she becomes pregnant -- only to her celebration to be cut short when Zira, a relative newcomer to the pride, staunch supporter of Scar, and mother of Dhaifu's younger half-brother, Nuka (who's an older cub by this point), started to visit more and more to aid her in her pregnancy. Dhaifu was glad to have her; she began to view Zira as something of a mother figure.

However, Zira's intentions were not very wholesome.

Slowly, she began to sow the seeds of doubt within Dhaifu, feeding her lies about her mate, her cousin, even about her pregnancy. Tojo is only placating you with a baby, he doesn't really want it. Simba killed your father, he's faking the kindly king act. You're young still, you don't know as much as me. You'll fail this child, if you're not careful.

Little by little, Dhaifu began to believe everything she was being told. It was all she could do. She hadn't been raised to be confident in anything, always having to listen to someone else who "knew better."

So...she believed Zira.

Her opinion on Simba soured, her relationship with Tojo dried up. Her love for her yet-unborn cub shriveled.

When the cub was born -- named Zuri by Tojo, who adored her the moment she came out -- Dhaifu rejected her. It pained her, but she was a husk by this point. Cold, unkind, unloving.

And when the time came, she chose Zira and left with her when she was exiled, leaving her former mate and child in the Pridelands for a family she believed, ironically, would never lie to her.

She changed her name in the Outlands to Dhahau, meaning "sneer," and remained a pawn of Zira till the war. As mentioned in the previously linked post, Dhahau actually fights an adult Zuri in the war between the Outlanders and the Pridelanders, but neither even realize it.

---

Not my best writing as it's quite late but maybe I'll add more later on.

I doubt I need to add design notes on Dhaifu/Dhahau. She's meant to look like Scar, a echo of his actions, a tragic tale that only exists because it was Scar that made her. But I added cheek marks that she passes down to Zuri. You mught also notice she shares a scoop nose with Nuka. You all know that I like making characters look related yet not (at least not always) too related.

Hope y'all like the backstory!