Name: Jia

Parents: Kiara and Kovu

Siblings: Chaka and Kala

Mate: Enzi

Children: Jabari, Jillian, Kya and Zuberi

Physical Description: Bright gold fur (which gave her, her name) with lighter fur around her muzzle, belly and toes. She has grey/green eyes and are very different from normal lions and a dusty pink ‘pridelander’ nose.

Personality: Jia is the quiet one of Kiara and Kovu’s cubs. She tends to keep herself to herself and only really opens up to Choga, Kala, her mother, father and grandparents. She has a very low self-esteem due to both her disability and the fact that she is not as pretty and smart as Kala or as brave and strong as Chaka.

History: Jia was the last born of Kiara and Kovu’s cubs and she was born with a horrifying disability. She was blind. This meant that she would need around-the-clock care from her parents and the pride.

For most of her cubhood she was looked after either by her mother or Kala and was often teased by Chaka. Once, Chaka played a trick on her, he left her alone in the savannah only a few feet from Priderock. Alone and scared, she couldn’t find her way back to Priderock and wandered off into the savannah where she met Choga.

Choga helped her return to Priderock by climbing onto her head and steering her in the right direction by tapping her ears. Jia begged Choga to stay with her, as she didn’t have many friends, and Choga agreed.

When Jia was a teenager, she met Enzi, the son of her aunt Vitani. When she first met him, he growled at her and terrified her but then assured her he wasn't going to hurt her when he realized she was blind. She and Enzi developed a deep friendship.

Jia grew up quickly with her siblings; Chaka eventually apologized to her and became very protective of her, although he still jokes around with her. She never really had a very high self-esteem, so when the pride began to comment on Kala’s looks, she felt that they might not think she is pretty too because she was blind.

As she grew older, Jia's feelings for her friend Enzi began to grow. Unfortunately for her, Enzi seemed to like a young lioness named Asali. Jia kept her feelings to herself but was secretly heartbroken. Then Enzi began to spend more and more time with her and, to her surprise and delight, he began to return her feelings. However, her brother Chaka seemed to think she would like another lion named Zemar more, she did like Zemar but only as a friend. 

One day, Zemar told her that he loved her but Jia responded that she loved Enzi, and that she only saw him as a friend. Zemar was crushed and Jia felt horrible for breaking his heart.

A couple of days later, Enzi's sister Dafira came to Jia and told her that Enzi had been badly beaten. Jia didn't know what had happened but from the sound of what Dafira was telling her, it was very serious. She went with Dafira to Enzi, who was being treated by Rafiki for his wounds, and Enzi told her that it was Chaka and Zemar who attacked him. Unable to believe what she was hearing, Jia went to confront her older brother.

Chaka told her that he did attack Enzi and that it was because he thought Enzi was hurting her, Jia was outraged at Chaka and yelled at him that Enzi would never hurt her, then their father Kovu stepped in and demanded the truth from both Enzi and Chaka. It was discovered that Zemar had made the whole thing up and Kovu wanted to banish him but Jia stepped up and begged him not to, because he was her friend and he had made a mistake.

When Chaka took the throne, Jia stayed with him as one of his advisors. 

Relation to TLK: Youngest daughter of Kiara and Kovu, granddaughter of Simba, Nala and Zira, great granddaughter of Mufasa, Sarabi and Zira