The Lion King: Six New Adventures is a series of six short chapter books based on the Disney film The Lion King. They were released in 1994. The books are: A Tale of Two Brothers, Nala's Dare, Vulture Shock, A Snake in the Grass, Follow the Leader, and How True, Zazu?.
Six New Adventures takes place sometime after the original film. Simba and Nala's cub, Kopa, has grown up quite a bit since the ending. Most of the stories are characters telling Kopa events that happened in the past.
The books follow a different continuity to The Lion King sequels and other extended media such as The Lion Guard, as they contain contradicting events and characters. The creators of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride were unaware of Kopa and ended up creating their own cubs instead, Chaka and Shani. Eventually Chaka was phased out and Shani was renamed to "Kiara". Fans enjoy the Canon Foreigners and Worldbuilding and thus several of the characters are frequently referenced in fanworks. The Lion Guard series gave Simba and Nala a son, but Kion is a completely different character from Kopa.
These books contain examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The books have gone into depth on things not clarified in other media, such as Scar's past, Rafiki's past, and Simba's grandparents.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Joka is a python with purple scales.
- Carnivore Confusion: Predation Is Natural but it's still an odd sight for a lion to practice pouncing with a hyrax. After all, one day, Kopa won't just be playing around.
- Free-Range Children: Subverted. Even when he's playing with his friends, Nala can watch Kopa from where she is.
- Furry Reminder: Ni, a lion from Nala's Dare, mentions that he was driven out of his pride due to reaching adulthood.
- Healing Herb: Rafiki uses herbs to heal Taka's injured face.
- Interspecies Friendship:
- Kopa is friends with a hyrax named Pimbi. He is also friends with two monkeys, Jambo and Kwaheri.
- Kopa's friend Afua (who is a lion) befriends a cheetah cub named Beba and ends up abandoning Kopa for him.
- Meaningful Rename: After receiving his scar from a cape buffalo, Taka decides to rename himself "Scar":Scar: "From now on, call me Scar."
- Misplaced Wildlife: Anteaters are mentioned. Anteaters don't live in Africa (although they did show up in "I Just Can't Wait to Be King").
- Named by the Adaptation: Kopa's name was never given in the first film, though he was referred to as "Fluffy" amongst staff.
- Remember the New Guy?:
- Most characters can be given a break due to being from the distant past, however Nala's cubhood friends, Chumvi and Kula, during Nala's Dare stand out. According to the film, Nala was the only cub in the pride during that era, but the books introduce two friends of hers.
- Vulture Shock introduces several Pridelanders by name. Quite a few, like Mega (who is an adult male), don't appear elsewhere and weren't in the original film.
- Scavengers Are Scum: Zig-zagged in Vulture Shock. Kopa is kidnapped by vultures. However, he ends up rescued by other vultures he met, a trio of rappers called the "Buzzard Boys".
- Sibling Murder: Scar attempted to kill, or at least severely injure, his brother Mufasa by having a cape buffalo bull attack him. Scar ended up getting injured himself and received his scar. But, as we all know, he would try again, and he would not fail that time…
- Snakes Are Sinister: Joka the python, who is the main villain of A Snake in the Grass.
- Start of Darkness: The Tale of Two Brothers is about Mufasa's and Scar's youth. It shows Scar as a teenager who was jealous of his father Ahadi giving his brother so much attention.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- Kopa looks a lot like his father did at his age, except that he has a Tuft of Head Fur while Simba didn't.
- Ahadi looks like either of his sons depending on what source you take into account. The imagery has him with brown eyes, a bronze-colored pelt, and a reddish mane, similar to Mufasa, however, the text mentions he has a black mane and green eyes, more like Scar (although this could still be interpreted as him still looking similar to Mufasa only with some of Scar's coloring).
- The Unfavorite: Ahadi preferred Mufasa over Scar due to how capable he was even as a cub.
- Unreliable Illustrator: Ahadi is stated in the text to have a black mane and green eyes. The artwork depicts him with a red mane and brown eyes.
