I have been confused over who the cub at the end of TLK is and I know I'm not the only one.  There have been many articles concering this issue and many theories on why he wasn't in the movies.  The animators have noted that "Fluffy" is the same cub as Kiara, the only difference being his gender.

This is where the animators got lazy though.

As you can see, the cubs look different.  Fluffy has fur similar to Simba, Kiara's is slightly lighter.  Fluffy's eyes are light green and Kiara's are red.  Fluffy is relaxed and observing his surroundings while Kiara is squirming around, trying to play. 

Both presentations are portrayed differently too.  The first one starts out with Simba, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa overlooking the crowd, followed by Rafiki entering the scene carrying baby Fluffy.  The second starts ot with Rafiki overlooking the crowd and then Simba and Nala enter the scene while Nala carries baby Kiara. 

These are obviously not the same cubs.

But then who is Fluffy?

Six New Adventures explains that Fluffy is Simba and Nala's son whom they name Kopa. Strangely enough, Kopa doesn't appear in TLK2.  Fans have their own explanations for this, some of the most popular stories include Kopa becoming rogue or running away, I even read an article where the author thought that Kopa was born sometime after Kiara.  However, the most accurate theory I have come across is that Zira murdered him.

This explaination covers a lot of ground, such as the reason of Zira and her pride's exile and the reason why Simba's so overprotective of his daughter.  Zira most likely killed him for the same reason why she wanted to kill Simba: to make Kovu king.  

In the begginning of the movie, it's Kiara's first time wandering out in the Pridelands on her own, she is soon stopped by her father to be lectured about where her boundaries are.  The following conversation takes place:

Simba: ...and stay away from the Outlands.

Zazu: Nothing there but a bunch or backstabbing, murderous outsiders.

Simba: Zazu's right, you can't turn you're back on them.

Kiara: Really how come?

Simba: *sigh* nevermind, just run along now...

Notice how Zazu says the word murderous and that Simba avoids the rest of the conversation.  I think Simba gave the outlanders a second chance and let them stay in the Pridelands, but Zira backstabbed him by murdering his son and was therefore exiled to the Outlands. Simba probably didn't want to talk about the tragedy of his son or felt that Kiara wasn't ready to learn about a brother she never got to have, or maybe a combination of both.  Either way, I find it most believable if Kopa was murdered.

Similar articles :

• The Cub at the end of The Lion King
• New Theory on Kopa's birth

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Last comments

TheLionK ingLover	April 14, 2010
	Ffffff :D

Interesting. If you could rate these things, I'd give it a 5 out of 5. I am a follower of the 'Zira killing Kopa' theory big time. Good job. And like Seth said, he did have many names. I've seen these alot: Kopa, Fluffy, Tanabi, Chaka, one person even combined the names, except for Fluffy, and made this: Chakopanabi.

Rockingi rl8	February 19, 2010
	I Has a Stick!

who's fluffy?

Deleted member 16154	February 03, 2010

i agree with the article but they probably called them murderous because they were the followers of scar who killed simbas father

Stella Cullen	January 06, 2010
	Twilight Falls Gemma

Very interesting........

Seth2208	November 17, 2009

That sums theory I am with. I just couldn't go pass the differences of the cubs. And when I first time watched TLK2, I was wandering what happened to Kopa, because I knew about him before from TLK:6NA. Nice article. That cub had many names. Here I found some picture someone made about all major names Simbas cub had: http://www.mylionking.com/forum/download/file.php?id=2&mode=view