Naliara

Naliara
GENERAL
The Lion King
Character	Nala
Character	Kiara
Canonical?	Canon
Status of Relationship	Mother and daughter
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Family
Also Known As	Kianala

Naliara is the family ship between Nala and Kiara from the The Lion King fandom.

Canon

1994 continuity

Nala and Kiara are seen interacting throughout The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride and The Lion Guard.

In the film, Nala carries an infant Kiara to her presentation ceremony. After Kiara has been presented, she smiles at her mother, and Nala nuzzles her daughter affectionately. When Kiara is somewhat older, Nala is amused by her interactions with Simba, and instructs her daughter to listen to him. Kiara agrees, and is then allowed out on a solo outing, with Nala expressing confidence that she’ll be all right. Later, Nala appears with Simba and several others to find Kiara after she’s traveled into the Outlands and returned.

When Kiara is threatened by stampeding gazelles in The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, Nala looked on in fear. Fortunately, Kiara’s brother and Nala’s son Kion intervenes with the aid of his newly formed Lion Guard. Afterwards, Nala greets Kiara in relief at her safety. In “Just Can’t Wait to Be Queen”, Kiara would greet Nala and Simba when they returned from the funeral of an elephant leader. Nala reports on the visit and asks how Kiara’s tenure as acting queen had been, leaving Kiara flustered.

In “The Kupatana Celebration”, Kiara stands beside Nala during and after the titular event. In “Fuli’s New Family”, Nala oversees Kiara practicing for her first hunt, and then calls her and her friends Tiifu and Zuri to follow her. In “Bunga and the King”, Nala hurries both Kiara and Kion along to attend a concert being put on by the elephants. When the ground begins to give way on their journey, Nala directs Kiara to safety. Nala was later relieved when Kiara was saved from another mishap, and later continued on to the concert with her daughter at Simba’s insistence. Mother and daughter would later join in performing a rendition of Hakuna Matata alongside Simba, Kion, Timon, Pumbaa, and the rest of the Lion Guard.

In “Baboons!”, Nala is mentioned as having tasked Kiara with presiding at the Royal Buffalo Wallow. In “The Trail to Udugu”, Nala leads both Kiara and Kion in taking part in a royal tradition of finding Udugu. She would be forced to warn her children and come to their aid when their competitiveness nearly led to disaster. After leading the pair to a thorn patch, Nala secretly left them as part of the tradition. Kiara reacted with concern, and was able to put aside her desire to show up Kion in order to work with him to find their mother. In the process, the two found Udugu-a connection rather than a place-and received Nala’s praise for their efforts.

In “Timon and Pumbaa’s Christmas”, Nala and Kiara take part in festivities for the titular event. In The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar, Nala expresses approval at the idea that Kiara should learn to work with Rafiki’s apprentice Makini. Nala also invites Tiifu and Zuri to spend the day with her, presumably so as to keep them out of Kiara’s hair. Nala would later join the various animals observing as Kiara and the elephant leader Ma Tembo searched for a new water source.

In “Let Sleeping Crocs Lie”, Nala and Kiara stand together to observe a contest of leadership between crocodiles. The two also sit and stand together during the titular event in “The Ukumbusho Tradition.” The two also stand together during a ceremony in “The Scorpion’s Sting” and remain together at Simba’s side after he is poisoned. In “The Underground Adventure”, Nala arrives with Kiara after Tiifu and Zuri send a false alarm to the Lion Guard. When the three younger lionesses plan to visit the mud pits, Nala cautions Kiara due to remoteness of the location. At her prompting, both Kion and Bunga accompany Kiara and her two friends.

In “The Fall of Mizimu Grove”, Nala and Kiara are seen together several times. In “Battle for the Pride Lands”, the two and Simba are together when Pride Rock is surrounded by fire. Nala watches anxiously as Anga the eagle flies Kiara to safety, and the two later stand together after Simba and Nala are also rescued. After the episode’s titular battle, Nala and Kiara stand together with Simba as injures sustained by Kion and Ono are discussed and the Lion Guard decides to depart for the Tree of Life. When Kion’s group departs, Nala expresses the hope that they’ll return before Kiara’s first hunt.

Returning to the events of Simba’s Pride, Nala warmly greets Kiara as her daughter prepares to leave on her first hunt, nudging her in a lion’s embrace and expressing confidence in her daughter. Afterwards, she joins a party to go to Kiara’s rescue when a fire is spotted. Upon finding Kiara unharmed, Nala expresses obvious relief and once again embraces her daughter. When Kovu, who rescued Kiara-though secretly as part of a plan against Simba-asks to be allowed to join their pride, Nala speaks up on his behalf because of his role in rescuing her daughter.

Like Simba, Nala later observes the signs of growing affection between Kiara and Kovu, but doesn’t share Simba’s concern. Nala and Kiara both tend to Simba after he’s attacked by the Outsiders. During the battle between the prides, Vitani antagonizes Nala by mockingly asking where Kiara is. After Kiara’s failed attempt to rescue Zira, Kiara and Nala greet each other and embrace in obvious relief, with Simba then joining in. Later, Nala looks on fondly as Kiara and Kovu are married.

In “Return to the Pride Lands”, Nala and Kiara stand together between Simba and Kovu as the royal family, including the newly returned Kion, commune with the spirit of Mufasa. They later repeat this arrangement at the Tree of Life as they attend Kion’s wedding and coronation as king of the Tree of Life.

2019 continuity

In Mufasa: The Lion King, Nala has given birth to Kiara some time prior to the film and is now about to bear a second cub. Kiara longs to accompany her parents to the birthing grounds, but is forced to remain behind at Pride Rock. Despite being watched over by Timon and Pumbaa, Kiara longs for her mother and father, particularly as a storm passes over the Pride Lands. She later expresses longing for her parents to Rafiki, who fortunately proves a much more capable sitter for the young lioness.

Rafiki assures her that all is well with her family, and about to be even better. Kiara later sees Nala and Simba returning to Pride Rock, and ran to meet them. Nala introduced Kiara to her newborn brother. As Kiara greeted her new sibling and began to share the story of their grandfather Mufasa with him, Nala observed them with obvious pleasure.

Fanon

Reception to The Lion King II and The Lion Guard, and the character of Kiara, is somewhat mixed among The Lion King fans, and thus her relationship with Nala isn't universally popular. For those who support these additions, The Lion King II is somewhat lacking in content for the relationship, with more emphasis being placed on Kiara’s relationship with her father and romance. Nala and Kiara’s relationship is somewhat more prominent in The Lion Guard, though it isn’t often a major focus due to the prominence of characters exclusive to that series.

On AO3, the relationship is tagged in 5 works.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Kiara & Nala tag on AO3

Trivia

• Nala is seen having given birth to a cub at the conclusion of both the 1994 and 2019 versions of The Lion King. However, whether this cub should be considered to be Kiara is a matter of some debate:
  • It was certainly not the intention of the original film’s makers, with different versions of the film script either identifying the unnamed cub as male or leaving their gender unclear.
    • There are clear differences in the presentation ceremony at the end of The Lion King and the one at the beginning of The Lion King II, and the two cubs are also visually dissimilar.
    • At one point in development of The Lion King II Kiara was to have a brother, who may have been intended as the cub from the first film before being discarded.
  • Various books, including the novelization of the 2019 remake , identify the cub as male. However, a number of other details from this novelization were later contradicted by Mufasa: The Lion King.