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KOPA
Born to a wanderlust mother passing through the Pridelands at the wrong time, Kopa and his siblings entered the world during harsh times. Prey and water were still around, but the blight of Scar's rule was beginning to show in earnest from the cracked earth, dried grass and wildfires that wracked the once fertile lands. Kopa's mother did her best to hold the fort until they were of age to travel and leave the dying plains, but it was not enough. Fields burned too quickly, prey spotted her too easily, and the gluttonous cackle of hyenas never far behind from every kill she made. One by one, be it sickness, hunger, or thirst, the lights that were her children flickered out. Until only one was left: Kopa. Desperate to protect her last child and show him the beauty of the world beyond this dusty bowl, she poured all her resources into him.
And it worked. Kopa lived. Stayed fed. Thrived, even. Until the day came to leave and they didn't. By putting everything into her son, Kopa's mother had sacrificed herself, and she collapsed and faded away on their way out of the Pridelands. Lost, broken, and alone, Kopa was now at the mercy of the hyenas.
And he would have become their dinner, too, if it weren't for the return of the rightful king and a generous paw reached out to provide him a place to call home.
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TL;DR / Trivia
- Kopa is an orphaned cheetah, born during a waning but still somewhat livable Pridelands drought.
- His mother does his best to raise him and his siblings until they are old enough to leave the dying Pridelands, but it simply is not enough. He winds up being the only one left, and on the day they finally leave, his mother succumbs to starvation brought on by the sacrifice made to keep her one remaining child, the heart of her life, healthy.
- In my head he's like 6 months / 13-14ish when Simba retakes the throne.
- Simba sees himself in Kopa, and so takes him in, in the same way Pumbaa and Timon took him in when he needed assistance. It winds up being a lesson in parenthood to Simba, and they both learn from it.
- By the time Kiara and Kion are around, Kopa is an adult. He's like a high school/college aged older brother to them. Plays with them, babysits them, listens to their worries and helps them out where he can.
- There's a weird, one-sided rivalry going on between Kopa and Nuka, since they're of similar age. Before the Exile, the two of them were playmates, though Nuka would often bully and harass Kopa in attempt to get approval from his mother Zira.
- There's 2 different AUs I have with him:
- First: The concept of "King" in the Pridelands is passed on a bit more spiritually. There's been elephant Kings, bird Kings, dung beetle Kings. The Kings of the Past therefore are not just all lions, but various creatures from the savannah that can offer guidance. In this AU, Rafiki was a former King, and when observing the lands for a successor saw potential in a pair of lion brothers. He chose one of them as the next King: Mufasa. Mufasa then entertains the idea of succession to his young son Simba, who quickly gets a bit of an inflated ego over it, despite it not being guaranteed. However, unfortunate events unfold, and through a twist of fate and spiritual necessity, Simba winds up taking up the task to rule and restore the lands his uncle Scar ruined before the next proper King can take the mantle. There is an implication that the King title staying in a family line is to right past wrongs, so Kiara's woes of it is more like being Queen is taking on a curse of burdens she isn't really interested in. When the title instead - in the end - gets passed down to Kopa the Cheetah, things click back into place and that delicate balance is restored (and there is a noticeable weight taken off the shoulders of the pride).
- Second: Much more aligned with the events in the movies and TLG, Kopa is a general presence that serves for several story arcs. He is a 'first' child (though adopted) of Simba and Nala, and was old enough to interact with much of Zira's exiled pride - such as Nuka and some lionesses that shared their age group.
