Jillian. (it's the name that lion-o kept mentioning in "study time")
buckle up everynyan, this will be a trip. all this info is copy-pasted from my messages to other people so bear with me here, i'm gonna try to highlight the names in color so things are not AS confusing 🙏
leona was a middle class thunderian woman with a bit of a rowdy past. she's rebellious in nature and often did dangerous things just for the thrill of it. as she grew older though, she tried to get her shit together and mellow herself out (cus that kind of behavior doesn't get you anywhere on a planet like thundera). prior to meeting claudus, she worked at a pawn shop.
she encountered claudus during one of her shifts, who took interest in her immediately. she, like many women in the past, fell for his charisma and it didn't take that long for them to get married. it was only after their little honeymoon that she saw claudus's true colors. it was already too late tho cus she had just conceived lion-s.
in contrast, leondra was a peasant ((more specifically a serf, but thunderians won't tell you that,,,)). she spent a majority of her life working just so she can continue living under a roof. her payment practically WAS her home. her pale fur color is due to malnutrition; she's barely able to feed herself, and whenever she does get food, she ends up giving it away to those she believes needs it more than her.
she's extremely selfless at the cost of her own health, and most poorer thunderians know her for her kindness. claudus being claudus, he wandered into the slums of thundera and met her while she was off from work for once. SHE TOO FALLS FOR HIS STUPID CHARISMA!!! that night, claudus falsely promised her a new life where she doesn't have to work as hard anymore. it was everything she could've ever wanted,,,, but he left before she woke up. leondra conceived lion-o around the same time that lion-s was conceived by leona.
jillian started off as a low class thunderian woman who had to work her way to the top. she and leondra grew up in the slums together. jillian might be the only person who can get leondra to care for herself for once, BUT ANYWAYZ,,
jillian's sweet and compassionate, yet she has a very scary understanding of people which has helped her maneuver through life quite easily. she had been building up her resume as a maid, being passed around from one high class family to another ((fun fact: she worked for tygra's family at some point)). eventually, she got a job for the royal family WOWOWOOWOWOWW!!! claudus pisses her off, but she gets paid decently!
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ORDER OF EVENTS:
lion-s and lion-o are born, both in vastly different settings
leondra struggles to provide for lion-o, so she consults jillian for advice
jillian agrees to take lion-o and care for him at the castle so long as claudus approves ((he didn't gaf soooo,,, technically that's a yes?))
leona, WHO CLEARLY SEES THAT LION-O LOOKS SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE CLAUDUS, confronts claudus
leona begrudgingly accepts that lion-o is here now, and they snap a cutesy lil photo of lion-s and lion-o together while they're still babies (you'll see it at the end of episode 38 "claudus")
claudus spends all his time watching tv and eating food instead of raising his children + accidentally calls leona "leondra" once -> leona divorce !!!!!!!
leona takes custody of lion-s and moves to the south of thundera to hang low
jillian tends to the castle and raises lion-o! she'll go on later to raise kit and kat as well. she still visits leondra whenever she's free to give updates on her child
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all his life, lion-o was under the impression that JILLIAN was his mother. he kinda just forgot that that was her name??? which is why he fsr kept bringing it up in that one episode? jillian herself never told him the truth because it went against leondra's wishes; leondra didn't want him to find out and then try looking for her cus she feared it would only get him into trouble. he was far too young to remember lion-s and leona.
tygra, cheetara, and panthro know MOST of this from jaga. and it wasn't like they were actively keeping it from lion-o,,? they wanted to wait until he'd ask tho. TOOK HIM FOREVER BUT ERM,,, HE FOUND OUT LATER IN HIS ADULTHOOD YEY!!!
anywayz leondra and her status is soooo so so important cus she was quite literally everything that claudus was not! she is where lion-o gets his big ol heart from. while claudus sits and marinates in his greed and fortune, leondra did everything in her power to give and provide for the people despite her own situation. she's stubborn in that sense! outside of the slums, most thunderians believed that leona was lion-o's mama.
i'll shut up now, here's some extra art i have of the mamas
