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TLG: Jasiri and Madoa's Parents

Happy 10th Anniversary to TLG becoming a series!

Two episodes came out that same day in 2016: Never Judge a Hyena by its Spots and The Rise of Makuu. I've provided a backstory for Makuu already in Episode 28 of Vitani's Guard, but now, it's Jasiri and Madoa's turn!

Say hello to Tawala (Swahili for "dominance", "rule") and Dhārī (Punjabi for "stripe"). Why one spotted hyena and one striped hyena? Because I found Jasiri and Madoa's spots to be a rather oddly linear, and their colors/patterns are unlike other hyenas in TLK (which is just how Disney just distinguishes the good and bad hyenas but I wanted to overthink it lol).

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Design:

Tawala is definitely based on existing hyenas from the TLK movie, and is the reason Madoa has a more brown palette and why Jasiri has pupilless eyes/long, flowing hair.

Dhārī provides Jasiri's more purplish palette and protruding fangs, Madoa's spiky hairstyle, and striped manes for both daughters (when designing a striped hyena, I just HAD to go with a punk design/personality for him because IRL striped hyenas have insane spiked-up manes lol).

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Backstory:

Tawala was once a subordinate female hyena in Shenzi's clan. As a believer of the old ways of the clan's ancestors, she began to feel she and her clan were taking more than their share once the herds' numbers were dwindling rapidly, and suggested that the clan slow down and consider the Circle of Life.

She found herself arguing with Shenzi often over their different ideas of how hyenas should act. Tawala's words touched more members of the clan, and said clan was becoming divided as a result. Scar quickly ended the division by ordering Shenzi and her followers to personally oust Tawala and her own followers for their opposition.

Tawala's offshot clan ran off to the Outlands during a time in the Outlands were there had been enough for a small clan to sustain themselves. Because resources became limited, Tawala's clan had stuck to mostly scavenging over hunting. This is what fuelled Jasiri's belief that hyenas were the "cleanup crew" in the ecosystem.

A lone passerby, an unusual striped hyena, had made his way to the Outlands from the Tree of Life. Tawala was originally cautious of the newcomer, but overridden by curiosity of his strange pattern for a hyena. When she learned he'd come from a land known for healing, Tawala asked if he could help in any way to keep her small clan protected. When he saw Tawala was a good hyena looking out for the wellbeing of her family, Dhārī showed great respect, and told her, "Sisi ni Sawa", a term he'd heard used by residents of the Tree of Life who originated from the Pridelands. His attitude about uniting over a good cause had strengthened their clan.

After Shenzi's clan devoured the traitorous Scar, they briefly settled in the Outlands in order to remain out of Simba's sight. A few hyenas stuck in their old ways began to compete with and harass Tawala's clan, starting a civil war. Dhārī's teachings to resist and stay true to one's beliefs stuck with Tawala, and the couple were determined to stand their ground as they fought off the violent members of Shenzi's clan.

Dhārī, firm in his beliefs and willing to take risks following what he believed in, gave his life in a particularly violent standoff. Shenzi, still figuring out the true leader she was meant to be without Scar's influence, commanded her clan to back out of the fight and ultimately leave the Outlands to Tawala, as she found the tragedy over a loss of life unnecessary, and that things could only turn worse from there if they stayed.

Shenzi changed that day, worrying for the wellbeing of her clan throughout their nomadic journey as far away from the Pridelands as possible. During their nomadic journey, new generations came, and Shenzi told her son Janja about her life. Amongst this new generation, many male cubs were born and would eventually join a young Janja on his ambitious journey back to the Pridelands to reclaim it in order to impress his parents. He and his rag-tag clan had only made it as far as the Outlands, and were taken in by Mzingo and his parliament.

It turned out Shenzi and Tawala had been pregnant around the same time. Jasiri and her sister Madoa were born not long after Janja was, and not long after civil war ending in their father's death. Their birth had taken a toll on Tawala, and she raised them for as long as they could until she grew especially weak from the low resources in the Outlands. During the short time she had with her daughters, Tawala told them about meeting Scar when he'd lost the Mark of the Guard (explaining Jasiri's knowledge of said mark) and her old clan becoming manipulated by him, and she taught them all the important beliefs that influence their way of thinking today, which was to break the cycle of the previous hyena generation's ways and to always respect the Circle of Life. Jasiri, Madoa, and the remaining members of her clan never forgot that lesson.

Jasiri, being the eldest daughter of Tawala, naturally earned her place as the new matriarch of the clan. Jasiri spent her life protecting the Outlands, so it was of course the only place she knew and was therefore her destiny to rebuild it. Her beliefs to change things instead of destroying them or abandoning them are why she influenced Janja to simply change from the type of hyena she couldn't stand, rather than flat-out defeat or give up on him.

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