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Fluffy was the placeholder name for Simba and Nala's newborn cub.
Appearance
Almost identical to his/her father when he was an infant, Fluffy is slight and soft-featured with chubby paws and a small patch of messy fur on his/her head. The cub's fur is colored a rich gold like his/her father's, and his/her ears are rimmed with brown, also like his/her father's when he was a cub. His/Her muzzle, paws, and underbelly are a pale tan as opposed to gold, and his/her tail is tipped with brownish fur.
Information
The Lion King
Fluffy's presentation
Under the reign of Simba, the Pride Lands return to their former glory, expelling the terrible imprint of Scar's poor rule. With Simba and Nala watching proudly alongside their friends Timon and Pumbaa, Fluffy is carried to the peak of Pride Rock by Rafiki, who, after exchanging looks with the cub's parents, lifts the new monarch high above the gathered animals, welcoming another cub to the great circle of life.
An audio commentary track for the Laserdisc release of the film was recorded by the film's creators, who merely identified the cub as "Fluffy." No gender was given.
The Different Identities of Fluffy
Original Intent
Because the gender of the cub is never officially cited by its creators, the question often arises whether the filmmakers intended Fluffy to be a boy or a girl. Chances are they did not bother to decide its gender, because they indeed didn't announce any such decision on the commentary track and even gave it a unisex nickname. This chance is supported by how they reveal in the making-of documentaries that they initially didn't believe in the film's success (calling it a "B-movie" during production), which supports the chance that no sequel was intended, and thus the filmmakers didn't bother to decide a gender for the cub.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The most commonly accepted identity of Fluffy is Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala who makes her debut in the 1998 sequel, which had a completely different crew than the first film. Despite the cub being used in the official film trailer, the ceremony in the first film is significantly different from the ceremony in the sequel. One major difference is the way the cub is carried to the peak of Pride Rock, for in the first film, Fluffy is carried to the promontory by Rafiki, while in the sequel, Kiara is carried by her mother instead.
During production, Simba had two cubs rather than one, a daughter named Shani (who later became Kiara) and a son named Chaka. Only Kiara made the final cut. Though one magazine article states that Chaka was one of Kiara's working names, Tad Stones, who wrote, created, and directed numerous Disney Afternoon shows and was a writer for Simba's Pride in its early stages, says that Chaka and Shani were going to be two separate characters.[1][2][3]
The Lion King: Six New Adventures
In a 1994 series of books inspired by the film, Fluffy is identified as a male cub named Kopa. Though his presentation is not shown, Kopa is the only cub of Simba and Nala in this book series, and no mention of Kiara is made. This is most likely because the sequel film came out after The Lion King: Six New Adventures. This series of books was not written by any of the film's creators but rather an outside source that merely got permission from Disney to write a spin-off.
Various Books
Various storybooks that were inspired by The Lion King give their own gender to the cub. While some books follow the sequel, identifying Fluffy as "daughter" or "princess," other books call the cub a "son" or "prince."
Trivia
Fluffy in Kingdom Hearts II
- The cub from the end of the first film is in the sequel's official trailer.[4]
- Fluffy was originally intended to be a boy, as s/he is specifically mentioned as male in the first draft of the film.[5]
- In the end credits of Kingdom Hearts II, Fluffy can be seen being presented to the animals of the Pride Lands.[6]