Taza

Taza is an adult male lion, the first leader of Taza's Pride, and the only child of Nuka and Ytod. He is the mate of Jessica, with whom he has a son, Nelson.

Shortly after his birth, he was anointed future leader and presented to the animals of the Outlands in a bad presentation. As a cub, he was raised to respect the Circle of Life by his father, Nuka, and trained in the ways of an upright leader. During this time, Taza's grandmother, Zira, lured him into an ambush and logs dropped on Nuka. Taza blamed himself for the death and returned to the Outlands, where he asked Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema what happened.

As an adult, Taza encountered his future girlfriend, Jessica, who begged him to return to the Pride Lands and reestablish his birthright as leader. Retaining guilt over the death of his father, Taza refused. However, an encounter with his father's ghost prompted him to return home, where he found the Outlands in disarray under Ginny's tyrannical leading. Along with the lionesses, Taza confronted Ginny and engaged in a war against Janja, Cheezi and Chungu. After killing Ginny, Jessica gave birth to Nelson.

Backstory
Taza was born during Zira's leading. For the presentation, Exsi cracks open a gourd and makes a black mark on Taza's forehead, naming him the future leader. He sprinkles sand on the newborn's head, making Taza sneeze, and then picks him up, presenting the cub to all the animals in the Pride Lands who are gathered to see him.

Taza soon grows into a lively, playful cub. He is the first to wake up one morning, coming to the edge of the mountains to see whether it is dawn yet. When he sees that the morning is approaching, Taza runs into the royal den, where all the lions are fast asleep. When he finds his parents asleep at the back, he starts to wake them up. He recalls that Mufasa had promised to show him the kingdom. Finally, Nuka gets up. Taza happily scampers ahead of his parents, rubbing affectionately against his mother's leg before following his father to the summit.

Taza and his father climb to the top of the mountains, where Nuka explains to his son that everything the light touches is their kingdom. He goes on to say that after his passing, Taza will become the new leader. The cub questions the "shadowy place," and Nuka explains that it is beyond their borders, so he must never go there. As they go on a walk through the Pride Lands, Nuka tells Taza about the Circle of Life, explaining that every living thing "from the crawling ant to the leaping hyena" is connected and exists together in a delicate balance. While they are walking, Fich, Nuka's majordomo, gives the future leader a morning report. Taza, bored, tries to practice pouncing. After some instruction from his father, Taza succeeds in pinning down Fich. As Fich is on his back, a mole pops up beneath him and informs Fich and Nuka that there are Pride Landers in Simba's Pride during Zira's ambush.

At this time, Zira, who had been planning to attack the Pride Landers and Taza in order to become leader. Taza begs his grandmother to tell him what it is, but Zira walks away after teasing him about practicing his "little roar." Unknown to Taza, Zira signals the Outsiders to start an ambush of Pride Landers and Outsiders into the gorge below.

While Taza practices his roar a little louder than usual, the lions charge down the cliff face in the direction of Taza. Terrified, the young cub runs for his life. Meanwhile, Zira, pretending to be evil, runs to her son Nuka, panting that Taza is in the Gorge. Immediately, Nuka rushes to the Gorge to save his son, who desperately manages to jump and cling on to a branch while the Pride Landers thunder below him. While Mufasa fights through the stampede, one of the wildebeests collides with the branch and breaks it, sending Taza flying into the air. Nuka leaps up to catch his son, but he drops him upon impact with one of the Pride Landers. Becoming stuck in the ambush again, Taza dodges a few lions before again being picked up by Nuka, who then gets him to safety. Pulled back into the herd, Nuka was trying to kill Simba until logs dropped on him and lost his life.

Seeing this, Taza runs to the top of the cliff. As he reaches the top, he sees his father dying, not knowing that he'd been thrown by Simba. He cries out and races down to the bottom of the Gorge to find his father's body under the branch that he had been clinging to. Hoping that his father isn't dead, he tries to revive him. Realizing that Nuka is neither moving nor breathing, he calls for help but starts to cry and crawls underneath his father's forepaw when he realizes that there is no hope.

Simba approaches and manipulates Taza into believing that he is responsible for his father's death, claiming that Taza's roar had caused the ambush and that if it hadn't been for Taza, Nuka would still be alive. When asked what his mother will think, Taza doesn't know what to do, so Simba tells him to run away and never return. After Taza scampers away, Simba continued to fight in a future battle.

Panicked, scared, and now chased by the lions, Taza runs out of the Gorge and comes out at the top of a steep cliff. With a patch of sharp thorns below, Taza has no choice but to jump down the cliff to escape the predators. He tumbles down and forces himself through, but the hyenas don't follow, thinking that Taza is as good as dead out in the barren the Outlands anyway.

Tired and dehydrated, Taza wanders into the Outlands. In the burning heat, he eventually faints. Waiting for him to die, vultures circle overhead, but four hyenas named Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema scare away the vultures and save the unconscious cub. They revive him and ask him if he is okay. He shakily replies and starts to wander off. Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema ask what he'd done to be so sad, but Taza doesn't want to talk about it. Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema take the cub into the mountains to teach him to forget the past and live by "A New Life." During the song "A New Life", the duo have Taka drink water, explore his new home, and live without worry. The cubs walk across a log, which represents a few years, during which Taza transitions from a cub to an adolescent to an adult.

Growing up in the Outlands, Taza learns to be carefree and forget about his past and responsibilities with A New Life. Although seemingly happy in the Outlands, he feels homesick when stargazing with his friends, recalling what his father had told him years ago when they'd looked up at the stars together. He is upset when Jasiri's comments mock the Great Lions of the Past. Hurt by his friends' comments, Taza leaves to flop down on a rock in grief over his dead father.

A few days later, Taza hears Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema yelling for help and immediately rushes to their rescue, finding himself face-to-face with a hungry lioness. After wrestling ferociously with the lioness (with Jasiri cheering him on), Taza is flipped onto his back, a move that he instantly recognizes as belonging to Jessica. When he mentions Jessica's name, the lioness becomes surprised and backs away. When she asks who he is, Taza tells her his name, and the lioness is surprised to recognize her future boyfriend.

As they rejoice, Taza introduces Jessica to his new friends, and she tells Taza that he is the rightful leader. Taza rejects his responsibility and refuses to go back, still believing that he is guilty of logs dropping on Nuka. Still, he comforts Jessica as she struggles with the reality of him being alive after all these years.

Enjoying a peaceful sunset evening together, the two lions realize that their childhood friendship has blossomed into love. However, that evening, Jessica tries to explain to Taza the fate of the Outlands under Ginny's leading, trying to persuade him to go back, since he is their only hope. Despite her desperation, he refuses. Disappointed with Taza's new behavior, Jessica tells him that he isn't the Taza she knows and remembers, to which he admits that he isn't. Then Taza asks Jessica if she is now satisfied, and Jessica declines, saying that she is just disappointed.

Taza tells Jessica that she is starting to sound like his father, to which she replies, "Good! At least one of us does!" Enraged, Taza yells at her and then marches away in a huff. Alone in a grassy field, he yells to the sky at Nuka for not being there for him when he'd promised years earlier that he would. Taza then labels the blame on himself, hanging his head in shame.

Soon, Taza notices Exsi singing in a tree. Trying to get away from him, Taza goes to lie down away from the baboon. Exsi refuses to leave him alone, so Taza asks him who he is. However, in response, Exsi asks Taza who he is. Taza doesn't know anymore, and after Exsi chants in his ear, the baboon tells Taza that he is Nuka's boy. Surprised to hear Nuka's name, Taza chases the wise baboon and asks him if he'd known his father, to which Exsi corrects Taza and tells him that he knows his father. After Taza sadly tells him that Nuka had died a long time ago, Exsi tells Taza that he is wrong again and explains to him that Nuka is still alive. The baboon leads Taza to a stream, and as he remarks that he only sees his reflection, Exsi tells Taka to look harder. The reflection ripples and becomes Nuka's face. At the same time, Taza hears Nuka calling to him from the sky, and Taza looks up to see him again.

Nuka's spirit appears in the sky, and Taza instantly recognizes him, astonishingly asking, "Father?" In answer, Nuka accuses his son of forgetting him, to which Taza denies him and asks how he possibly could.

Nuka tells his son that he has forgotten who he is and his own place in the Circle of Life. He then reminds Taza that he is his son and the one true king. Taza chases Nuka's disappearing form in the sky, begging him not to leave him, with his father repeating, "Remember." Exsi approaches Taza again and listens to him discussing how he will have to face his past if he is to return. Exsi then whacks him on the head with his stick, causing Simba some pain, and teaches him the lesson that even though things are in the past, they can still hurt, but one should learn from them. As Exsi swings his stick again, Taza dodges it. Exsi notices this and asks Simba what he is going to do, to which Taza tells the baboon that he is going to take his stick first.

The lion snatches it away from him and throws it into the grass. However, as soon as Rafiki gets it and turns back, Simba has already left to fight Scar and take back his place as the king of the Pride Lands. Overjoyed, Rafiki proceeds to cheer Simba on from a distance, encouraging him to go back.

Arriving back home, Taza is shocked at the dry, barren condition that the once green and fertile land is in. As Taza moves through the Pride Lands, Jessica, Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema catch up to help him battle Ginny. As they make their way to Pride Rock, they find their way blocked by lions, and Taza instructs Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema to divert the hyenas so that he and Jessica can slip past them. Taza then tells Jessica to look for Ytod and rally the lionesses while he searches for Ginny. He freezes in horror as he hears his mother's name yelled out by Ginny, then watches as Ytod and Ginny argue.

Upon seeing Sarabi get struck down by Scar, Simba runs out of hiding to his mother's side. At first, Sarabi mistakes him for Mufasa, but she eventually realizes that it is her son when he tells her that he is home. He and his mother briefly embrace. Simba then confronts his uncle, giving him a choice to either step down from his position or fight, to which Scar promptly refuses. Feeling trapped, Scar resorts to accusing Simba of killing Mufasa, and the young lion doesn't deny it. This news greatly shocks everyone, especially Sarabi.

With Jessica and the other lionesses watching, Ginny corners Taza on the edge of the mountains, mocking him that his father isn't alive to save him. As Taza slips from the edge, lightning starts a fire below the promontory. While Taza clings to the edge desperately for life, Ginny remembers seeing Nuka in a similar position before he'd died. Ginny latches his claws into Taza's paws and whispers into his ear that logs dropped on Nuka. Filled with shock and rage, Taza immediately leaps from the edge and pins Ginny to the ground. Taza forces his rival to confess out loud, which leads to a tremendous war. The Pride Landers ambush Taza, prompting Jessica the other lionesses, Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu, Wema, and Exsi to charge in and wipe out the Pride Landers.

Taza then chases his rival to the summit, where he finally corners Ginny. The old leader pleads for mercy as he puts the blame on the Pride Landers, unaware that they have heard everything. Fed up with all the lies that his rival has told him, Taza chooses not to kill Ginny, because he doesn't want to become the monster that Ginny is. Instead, he spares his life by telling Ginny to run away and never return, the same words that Simba had used when Taza was young. Seemingly obeying Taza's orders, Ginny begins to slip away slowly, but he suddenly turns around and throws burning embers into Taza's eyes.

The two lions fight ferociously until Ginny delivers a hard smack that knocks Taza to the ground. As Ginny leaps to finish Taza off, the young lion thinks quickly and flips Ginny over the edge of the mountains, killing her tumbling down the ledge. Taza looks down and sees that Ginny has survived the fall, though he is slightly dazed from the attack.

After rain falls on the Outlands and extinguishes the fire, Taza walks down to greet Ytod, Jessica, Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu, Wema, Exsi, Fitch, and the rest of the pride. Exsi rattles his stick to get Taza's attention and motions for him to make a new pride. Taza then left for many times, and as Exsi bows down to him, Taza embraces him before Exsi tells him that it is time. Taza then climbs up the mountains of his pride, and as he reaches the promontory, he looks up at a break in the clouds to see a patch of stars, one of which is shining brightly. Upon hearing Nuka's voice telling him to "remember," Taza gains courage, confidence, and strength, roaring out over his reclaimed kingdom. The rest of the pride roars back in approval.

Some time later, when his pride flourish once again, Taza and his mate Jessica, along with their friends Jasiri, Madoa, Tunu and Wema, stand on the promontory of his pride, proudly looking down at the animals who have assembled below the mountains. Exsi then comes in, cradling their newborn cub, Nelson, in his arms, and Taza and Jessica watch happily as Exsi lifts the cub up for all the animals to see.

Appearence
Taza's pelt is brown, while his muzzle, paws, and underbelly are paler in color.

His mane is black. His eyes are green.

Relationships
Coming soon...

Trivia

 * His son refer to him as Dad.
 * He and Nelson enjoy spending time together.
 * He dosen't know about Kion and Fuli's relationship.
 * Taza has a relationship with his son.
 * He dotes on his nieces and nephew.
 * He is a skilled hunter.
 * He dislikes Simba, Zira and Ginny.