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Lion King OC - Malaika

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I decided to take a small break from ponies and designed my own TLK Next Gen OC. As you may have already guessed, Malaika (Swahili for 'angel') is the third child and only daughter of Kiara and Kovu. Their eldest son, Nuru, is the future king. Their middle child and youngest son, Kivuli, is leader of his generation's Lion Guard. The idea behind her design was to make her look like an Outsider version of Nala. I also tried to mix Kiara and Kovu's colors and threw in a little of Nala's fur color for Malaika's coat. I think the end result wound up making her look like the daughter of Malka and Kula or a possible sister of Nala if Scar had been Sarafina's mate. She's also supposed to have Sarafina's eyes, but they look more like Nala's original eye color.

I may get around to writing Malaika's story once I get the details worked out. Well, I finally got around to fixing up Malaika's story and how the white cub she has fits into it. What's important about the cub and his fur color revolves around this headcanon I have about white lions in the Lion King universe. Some lions, like the Pridelanders and the Outlanders, view white lions as ill omens. To them, a white lion being born is a sign that something truly horrible is about to befall their lands. Other lions, such as those from the pride Malaika marries into, see them as a great blessing, like the Great Kings of the Past are showing them favor. In fact, it's for that reason Malaika names her son Takatifu (Swahili for 'holy'). Her birth pride believed she named him that out of sheer irony, but it's really because she wanted to honor the beliefs of her dead mate and his pride, beliefs she herself had come to have faith in not long after arriving in her fiancé's homeland. It also ties into the boy's destiny, which will be covered in his story.

Anyway, as you already know, Malaika was the youngest of three cubs born to Kiara and Kovu shortly before Simba and Nala stepped down as rulers of the Pridelands. The fates of the eldest and middle children, Nuru and Kivuli, had already been decided with the former being the future king and the latter being Kion's successor as leader of the Lion Guard. Malaika was the cub who ultimately had no place in her pride aside from being a simple huntress since their traditions would make Nuru's future mate leader of the hunting party. As the cubs grew, it became apparent that Malaika's fate would've been a horrible waste of her skills since she had the makings of a great queen. Luckily, the King of a pride King Kovu recently struck a alliance with had a similar problem. His mate had given birth to twin sons (yes, they're identical) and a daughter in a single litter and said daughter's fate was just as sad as Malaika's own. The King, Machweo (Swahili for 'sunset'), wanted one of his sons to rule since he didn't trust his daughter to find a decent lion to marry if she was named his heir. He'd rather one of his sons succeed him than indulge the possibility of a disrespectful rogue becoming King, so he and Kovu struck a deal. Their daughters would marry each other's heirs. Upon reaching adolescence, Malaika was escorted to her fiancé's pride while Machweo's daughter, Muziki (Swahili for 'music'), was taken to the Pridelands to eventually marry Nuru (you'll learn more about her when I get around to posting Nuru's story). Upon arriving, Malaika met Machweo's sons, Katili (Swahili for 'cruel') and Karimu (Swahili for 'kind'). The two were immediately smitten with the Pridelander princess and their father decreed that whichever of them convinced her to marry him would be his heir. Both brothers were ideal to be the future King, so King Machweo left it to Malaika to choose who would be his successor.

Right away, the brothers began their individual advents to woo Malaika. Katili constantly used fear and intimidation, living up to his name's meaning in an effort to force Malaika to marry him. Karimu simply aimed to be her friend, believing that she'd eventually come to love him if he treated her with kindness. The lionesses saw how both brothers treated Malaika and assumed that Karimu would be the winner. They had been right. Malaika told her future father-in-law that she wished to marry Karimu, so it was decided that he would be King. Katili did not take losing both the crown and the girl well. In a fit of jealous rage, he attacked Karimu in full view of the pride. Karimu, being the stronger twin, won easily and Machweo was left with little choice but to banish Katili. The forsaken lion was then escorted out of the kingdom, but not before vowing to return to take both the throne and Malaika. Machweo and his mate later died of heartbreak. Both Karimu and Malaika were barely of age when it happened, so they weren't exactly ready for it when the pride demanded for them to marry and assume the throne. However, they lived up to their duty and did as the pride asked, giving the land the King and Queen it needed. With help from some of the pride's older members, the kingdom and the animals living in it flourished under King Karimu and Queen Malaika's reign. However, after the first year, Katili returned with his own pride to keep his promise. Sadly, he succeeded in defeating his brother this time round and killed him, making the former exile the land's new and rightful King. Ironically, Katili wasn't that bad of a ruler. He was cruel to the lionesses in his pride that remained loyal to his brother, but he also respected the Circle of Life as he was taught. The other animals of the kingdom saw he was just as wise and just as Karimu, so they accepted Katili as their King. Only half the pride felt he wasn't the rightful King, so King Katili's reign went unchallenged. There simply wasn't enough lionesses to incite a successful rebellion. Shortly after Katili became King, Malaika learned that she was carrying Karimu's cubs. With help from the lionesses still loyal to Karimu, she escaped and made her way back to the Pridelands, telling her family of how Katili returned after being exiled and killed his brother to seize control of the kingdom. While the lands didn't wither under his rule, Katili's actions reminded the Pridelanders of Scar, prompting her recently coronated brother to sever all ties with them. King Nuru refused to be allies with someone like the greatest traitor in his kingdom's history and it broke Queen Muziki's heart to know that her own brother was a kinslayer.

Soon after Malaika's escape, the mandrill shaman of Katili's pride made a prediction. An angel would deliver a holy lion to be their next King. Katili didn't believe a word of it, but the lionesses did. Since Malaika had left his lands, Katili was forced to take a more homely lioness as his mate and Queen (I'll divulge those details in Karimu and Katili's story). Later on in the Pridelands, Malaika gave birth to a single male cub with a white coat. The Pridelanders immediately wanted to kill the cub since white lions were bad omens to them, but Malaika, Muziki, and Nuru refused to let it happen. The cub was all Malaika had left of her mate and Muziki came from a pride where white lions were regarded as holy beings. To her, killing a white lion was like asking the Great Kings to bring disaster upon them. At Nuru's insistence, the pride honored Malaika and Muziki's wish to let the boy live. To honor the beliefs of Karimu and his pride, Malaika named her newborn son Takatifu. That did the boy no favors since it gave lions the opportunity to call him Taka, which means 'trash'. Malaika fell ill soon after her son was born. While she put up a good fight and lived longer than most with the sickness would have, she still succumbed and passed away. The pride sought help far too late for curing her to be a possibility. As Muziki, Nuru, and Kivuli all predicted soon after, the rest of the pride blamed Takatifu, saying that it was her punishment for not killing the boy when he was born. White lions would always be bad luck in their eyes.

That is where Malaika's story ends. I'll cover Takatifu's story later on since it officially starts right after his mother's death. As you may have already guessed (since it was horribly obvious), the prophecy made by the mandrill from Katili's kingdom was about Malaika giving birth to Takatifu.

For the record, Machweo's mate had a very kind brother ironically named Katili and insisted that they name one of their sons after him. It was out of irony that said son lived up to its meaning. ;P

I'll also get around to posting her brothers' designs. I'll describe them as best as I can for you guys for now. Nuru is basically a healthier and cleaner version of Nuka with a gold coat, red mane, a dark Pridelander nose, and Kovu's emerald green eyes. Kivuli looks more like Simba, but with a weaker build, a dark brown coat (maybe between Malaika and Kovu's coats with more gold to it), a black mane, an Outsider nose, and Kiara's red eyes.

I'll post a pic of Kivuli's Lion Guard eventually too since it has a hyena from Janja's clan in it.

One last thing: Malaika's voice actor as an adult would be Jennifer Lopez. Her overall design just reminds me of her.

Edit 1: I made Malaika's eyebrows less scruffy and added ear rims. She's supposed to have Sarafina's eyes as well as the colorless paws trait from that side of the family. It makes sense for her to also have Sarabi's ear rims.
Edit 2: I edited her colors a bit to make them look more like an in-between of her brothers' colors.


Credit for the line art goes to :iconmaisha-iris:
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Levilover10's avatar
I made a new Lion king oc, but I don't know what coloured to make her.....She has a small mane tuff, long claws, spots under both eyes, whiskers and an outsider nose.....She also has two sharp teeth poking out the front of her mouth