Upon reading some old articles revolving around famous questions about Outlanders origin, Zira, Kovu, Vitani, Nuka, their relations with Scar and with each other, I decided to write this little article. I will try to gather facts and answer those questions without mixing up semi-canon and canon and without drifting too far in fanon theories. There will be some speculations, but I will always try to back them up on canon facts.

Again, I won't even include the semi-canon here (SNA, comics) so please don't go commenting that "Zira was exiled for killing Kopa", "Vitani is TamaXTojo daughter". Comics and books are NOT a part of Lion King canon. It's okay to have your own fan theories but this is not what this article is about.

Alright, let's begin.

1. Zira was not Scar's mate.

It's confirmed that Zira is not a mate of Scar. She was originally designed as Scar's mate and Kovu was her and Scar's son, but as soon as the producers realized that Kovu and Kiara would be cousins, Kovu was changed to be an orphan and Zira was degraded to be "just a follower" to Scar.

Alos delted scene from the first movie tells us that Scar never had a queen and probably any cubs (it's the same scene that was turned into Madness Of king Scar part in Broadway musical).

"...A loving familly, a devoted queen..." - Zazu (poiting out things that Scar lacks)

"A queen! I need a queen! She will rule by my side, we'll have cubs! Little Scars running all over the place, my heir. My descendants. My lineage. I will be immortal!" - Scar

2. Kovu is not Zira's biological son.

Darrell Rooney, director of Simba's Pride made a statement on his Facebook page about Kovu being an orphan, which means that Zira couldn't be his biological mother.

3. Kovu was born in the Pridelands and Scar knew Kovu.

I think this one is rather obvious, even though Nala and Simba seemed not to know about Kovu untill they met him playing with Kiara, it's contantly hinted that Scar knew Kovu.

Firstly we have a deleted scene with Rafiki discovering that there is "another cub in the Pridelands" and it's supposed to be Kovu.

Later we have this line:

"Kovu was the last born before you exiled us to the Outlands" - Zira to Simba

there are mutliple lines about about Scar and Kovu relation:

"Scar took you in and accepted you as his own son." - Zira to Kovu (deleted scene)

"Kovu is the chosen one. We must fulfill Scar's dying wish, and train Kovu to become King." - Zira to Nuka (deleted scene)

"haven't you met my son, Kovu? He was hand-chosen by Scar to follow in his pawprints... and become King!" - Zira to Simba

And many other dialogues like that suggest that Scar knew Kovu, he adopted him and his wish was to make Kovu his heir.

4. Nuka and Vitani are most likely not Scar's children neither.

We heard that "He wasn't my father" thing from Kovu many times, so that relation is made clear, but how about Nuka and Vitani? I don't think they were Scar's children neither. Most of all, they never refer to him as "father". Why would they refer to him by name, not just father? I think if they were Scar's children, it would be made clear.

Nuka, in my opinion, and what many facts point to, is not Scar's son. In the original script Kovu and Nuka were one character (aka. Nunka) and he was Scar's son, but it was changed (see above). Again, Nuka refers to him as "Scar", not "father". He desperately wants his mother to notice him and give him a more important role, however his arguments are that he is "the oldest, I'm the strongest, I'm the smartest". It repeats from a deleted scene:

"You know, speaking of kings... I was thinking, since I am the oldest... maybe I should be King! Huh?" - Nuka to Zira (deleted scene)

Don't you think that the strongest agument would be the fact that he is Scar's true son? Yes, I think he would use it if he actually had it. Nuka thinks he's threated unfair, but mostly because he's the oldest, yet Zira ignores him and thinks him stupid. If he was Scar's son, he would surely mention it and be frustrated over the fact that orphan is placed higher than him. Obviously he's not Scar's son because if he was -he would surely mention it.

Not to mention Zira, who is obsessed with Scar, never refers to her kids as Scar's kids. Wouln't she, take pride to mother Scar's heir? Also at Nuka's death, Zira says:

"Scar... watch over my poor Nuka."

Nobody, neither Zira, Kovu or Nuka, even in their moments of despair, never say anything that could prove Scar's fatherhood of Zira's children.

That's all I could gather from scripts and official info. I hope some things have been explained to you, and please don't just go with "UR RONG!!!!1one *insert fanon theory*". I tried to explain the unclear parts of the movie as much as I could and like I said, this article is not mean for fanon speculations so keep them off the comments as well.