Giza (The Lion King: Next Generation)

Giza is the youngest son of Kiara and Kovu, as well as the only one that died early (in teen years). He became a Great Lion of the Past, but prefers to stay in his full body form than be a ‘head in the clouds’.

Background
Giza is seen as the minor sibling several times, up to his death. He doesn’t appear again until Part 2, where he gives Simba advice.

Personality
As a cub, Giza is seen as a coward, as noted several times by Kidogo and Akili. As he gets older, into a teen, he starts to be independent, spending most of his time chasing zebra. After his death at the hands of Kidogo, Giza becomes a Great Lion of the Past and becomes more wiser, often watching his family’s decisions. He mainly talks to young Simba, and helps him make decisions.

Physical Appearance
Giza is red, with a peachy muzzle, and a black short mane. His tail tip is black and his eyes are blue.

History
In Chapter 3, “Unexpected Controversy”, there’s a flashback to before Giza was born, and Kidogo and Akili were excited to meet him. When he was born, the two were disappointed. Akili wanted a sister and Kidogo wanted another brown lion cub, not red! The two had a little hatred for the cub since then.

Giza is explained as a coward very early in the story and the hatred for the poor cub just grew and grew. One day, Akili dared Kidogo and Giza to come to the Elephant Graveyard. Kidogo went gladly, but Giza was shy about it. Akili dragged him on eventually. In the end, Giza chickened out and tried to run back home, where he ran into a hyena. The hyena started to try to kill him, however Kovu appeared and got the cubs to safety. He scarred Kidogo, which Giza tried not to smile about.

Kidogo went outside of Pride Rock that night, and Giza followed, confused. He saw that Kidogo was talking to a hyena, who was feeding him lies about his family. Giza kept this a secret.

As a teen, Giza confronted Kidogo about this. There ended up being a fight, ending with Giza stuck on the gorge ledge. As he begged for mercy, that he would help him, Kidogo smiled and said, “Empty words, no bite, no bark.... useless little thing.” Giza fell off the ledge and died from the fall.

In the end, Giza became a Great Lion of the Past, due to overcoming his nerves and believing in himself. Years later, Akili had a son called Simba, named after the recently deceased old king. Giza watched over the newborn ceremony, smiling at his sister, who managed to save Kidogo. Giza later gave advice to Simba. who had recently became injured due to a hyena pack and two Outlander lions. The two lions began to talk to each other a lot, becoming fond of each other. When Simba encountered the hyenas again, he followed Giza’s advice and calmly tried to negotiate. It actually worked, and the hyenas went away.

Later, Simba and Giza talked on Pride Rock, where Simba met his namesake, the great lion he was named after. He truly lived in the Little Prince, and, after conversing, Simba left.

Trivia

 * Giza’s original name was Roho, which means Spirit. This name was adopted by one of the hyenas.

His catchphrase is “ Ada yangu ni chaguo langu.” which translates to; “My fate is my choice.”
 * Giza’s death was originally planned to be by the combat, but after thinking that Kidogo’s plan was a lot like Scar’s, I decided it was only fitting to do the ending the same.