Name: Beren

Meaning: strong, clever, well-known

Pronunciation: Beh-wren

Gender: Female

Parents: Unknown; Tiifu and Zuri (adopted)

Pride: Kiara’s / The Pride Lands

Crush: Otis © -WildFire- 

Distinct Features: Beren has two different colored eyes; her muzzle fur color doesn’t match the rest of her underfur. She has very large pointed ears of a lighter color. Her nose is marbled with two colors. She has a darker strip of fur going down her neck and back; her neck fluff sticks up at an angle. Beren has hair tufts on the side of her two front legs the same color as her tail tuft. Her tail tuft extends further up her tail than most lions and is much longer than most typical tail-tufts. She has a strip of lighter fur underneath the beginning of her tail.

Personality: Beren is an extremely well-organized and somewhat neurotic lioness. She is very much a control freak who fears all things that are out of her control or that don’t go according to her plan. Due to her past, Beren is extremely cautious and dislikes opening up to others as she often fears that she might lose them someday. Despite this, Beren is a very loving lioness who goes out of her way to make sure that everyone is safe and happy. She is very much a peacemaker, ensuring that everyone is made happy in a situation. She can’t stand the idea of death, and as such is fairly incapable of hunting, as she finds it a sickening experience. Beren is a do-gooder at heart, and always sees the good in everyone, no matter how “bad” they might be. She believes that everyone is capable of change. Beren is a curious lioness who yearns to see the world but is very afraid of its dangers. She has a bad habit of being judgmental and hypercritical, especially if she believes that there was a better path that a lion could have chosen. She has a lovely voice and is very good at singing, though most lions don’t know of her talent because she keeps it a secret. She can always be found humming tunes of birds under her breath.

Story: Beren was found in the pridelands as a newborn cub by Vitani’s lion guard, with no family around and no memory of what had happened to her. She was brought back to the king and queen who decided to have the cub be raised in the pride. Tiifu felt that the cub resembled her and her sister Zuri in particular, and so she took the cub with the idea of raising her as if Beren was a niece or a cousin. Because Beren was so young, she grew up believing to be related to the two lionesses. The sisters raised her as if she were a friend instead of a daughter, and Beren adores them both with all of her heart.

Even as a cub, Beren always respected the rules and was very much a “goody-two shoes”, which resulted in her being slightly outcast by the other cubs. The young lioness didn’t mind this too much, as she preferred to spend time around grown ups anyway, especially Tiifu and Zuri. She felt the other cubs were foolish and troublesome, and she preferred the quiet peace of a lazy day. While everyone else was getting into trouble, Beren found herself in the company of other animals. She loved birds, both for their beautiful songs and for their ability to fly, which she was utterly fascinated by. Beren eventually befriended some birds and spent much time with them when Zuri and Tiifu were away. She learned their songs and heard about all of the wonderful places they’d seen on their flights.

Beren also grew up hearing many stories from Zuri about the many troubles the Pride Landers had found themselves in over the years. She heard tales of the terrifying reign of Scar, and the battle between his followers and the pride landers several years after, among many other stories that scared the cub. Beren wanted a carefree life where she wouldn’t have to worry about watching her every move, and thus the cub began to design a plan by which she would live her life. She made sure to never even come close to the borders of the pridelands, and never left the immediate vicinity of pride rock without the company of one of her pride mates. While she craved adventure and to see the world deep down, Beren convinced herself that this would be enough.

As she reached her adolescent years, Beren was tasked with performing a hunt like all of the other lionesses. This, however, did not go as planned. Because she had spent so much time befriending other animals in her younger years, Beren was incapable of willingly harming others. At her first attempt of hunting, the young lioness cornered a gazelle, but before she could go in for the kill, the gazelle pleaded for its life, and Beren was so heartbroken that she let it go. Another attempt at getting her to become a huntress was made by Tiifu and Zuri. They had brought down an okapi and waited for Beren to deliver the killing blow, but she could not. Instead, the young lioness fainted after seeing the okapi killed. If she wasn’t an outcast before, she certainly was now: most of the lions found her too strange and she was relentlessly teased by the cubs of the king and queen, who taunted her and claimed that she was useless. Despite this backlash, Beren kept her head high. She found other ways to be useful, whether that was cub-sitting or aiding the lion guard. Because of her gentle disposition and known kindness, Beren was often called upon to speak to some of the more skittish animals that the lion guard needed to deal with, and of course she still had her birds to keep her company.

As a slightly older lioness, Beren was tasked by both King Kovu and Queen Kiara to act as an ambassador for the pridelands to another pride that seemed to be undergoing some troubles. Beren reluctantly agreed, as she had never set foot outside of the pridelands for her whole life. She travelled to the pride in question, and thanks to her peace-maker nature was able to help them resolve their border troubles. When she returned to the pride lands, Beren was guilt ridden. After getting a taste of the rest of the world, she wanted to see more, but felt she was betraying her loved ones by doing so. Beren once again reasoned herself out of living her life to the fullest by convincing herself that her life was already perfectly full. Whenever she felt the need to travel, she spoke to the birds of their adventures and that seemed to be enough to quell her urges for a time. 

After many years of peace, the Pride Lands appeared to be in some danger again. The hunting parties were bringing down prey only to have it stolen, and a rumor of a dark rogue terrorizing the outskirts of the land began to spread. Beren was especially wary, as she had no interest in landing herself in danger. While she never travelled away from pride rock without an escort of some sort, on one particular night she was restless and so she decided to visit her friends the birds. On her way to their nest, Beren fell into a very deep mud hole that she couldn’t climb her way out of. After a few moments, Beren was terrified to learn that she wasn’t alone in the pit: there was a viper with her. The lioness shouted for help at the top of her lungs, and to her amazement help did arrive- unfortunately, it was in the form of the dark rogue that she’d heard stories about. Taking her chances, Beren kindly asked if he would help her out of her predicament, to which the lion made fun of. It was only after the viper had awakened and was getting ready to attack that the lion ceased his joking and helped Beren. He dragged a long stick that he threw to her, which she grabbed onto whilst he pulled her out of the pit.

Beren was furious that it had taken him so long to save her, but the lion, Otis, claimed that she owed him. Being respectful of the rules of the pride lands, Beren begrudgingly led the lion back to pride rock where she explained his supposedly good intentions to the king and queen, who agreed to let him stay in the pride lands for a time so long as he ceased his troubles with the hunting party. Otis and Beren did not interact too much after this initial experience, but Beren was always curious to know more, and she hated the fact that she found him so intriguing.

Eventually, Beren and Otis crossed pathes again. The lioness was asked to get his help in an investigation of missing prey, to which he begrudgingly agreed to help. The two lions went back and forth in this manner for some time- one seeking out the other for a little while but then going back to acting as if they didn't care. Beren's solution to beginning to care for the outlaw was to cover up their connection with hostility. The lioness simply could not bring herself to abandon her home and family in order to travel alongside a lion she barely knew. Otis decided to leave the pridelands for good after a particularly heated argument with Beren. The lioness spent much time rethinking her decisions and eventually she realized that she didn't want to stay put in the pride lands forever. After this revelation, Beren enlisted the help of her bird friends in tracking down Otis. She found that he was ill in the savannah, and all alone. Beren rushed to his aid and had to beg the King and Queen to save Otis's life. When the lion finally recovered, Beren hesitantly admitted that she would like to see the world with him, so long as they could return to her home so she may see Tiifu and Zuri. 

Relation to TLK: Beren was raised by Tiifu and Zuri in the pridelands.

Original images and background © Disney

Beren and Renders © me