Two Brothers Under the Sun

Two Brothers Under the Sun is an Ultimate Universe-style fanfiction between Tarzan, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book by Greystoke Household. Conceptualized as a Recursive Fanfiction to Finmonster's Kings and Khans, Two Brothers Under the Sun takes several aspects from each work's various incarnations and supplementary/deleted materials and brings them all together in a (mostly) cohesive setting.

A young 'man-cub' is orphaned in the jungles of Bukuvu by the leopardess Sabor at the orders of Shere Khan, Great Khan of the Tiger Khanate. The boy is taken in by Kala, the matriarch of the Mangani gorilla troop whose mate Kerchak has united their kin in a war against the Tigers over the killing of their infant son, and receives the name 'Tarzan' from her. Simba, a lion prince from the Pride Lands goes into exile following his father's death and eventually finds himself in the jungle, where he meets Tarzan and the two of them form a powerful bond, accompanying each other through adventures and reverie. Together, with the help of their friends in the jungle, the two will become strong and wise so that one day they can defeat Shere Khan.

It can be read at fanfiction.net here.

It can be read at Archive of Our Own here.

It can be read at Deviantart here.

Bukuvian Book Arc: introduces the world, characters, and the story's main conflict. After a close-call encounter with the murderous leopardess Sabor, the "man-cub" Tarzan finds himself separated from his gorilla family for the first time in his young life and meets a lion cub named Simba, who will soon become his best friend and companion.

Tigers at the Gates Arc: With the advent of the Dry Season, the Great Troop makes its annual visit to the Theluji Mountains for some rest and recreation, including first-timer Tarzan along with Simba and Baloo. But the trip is cut short when Kerchak has to attend to some business with the mountain community at the same time old enemies start gathering across the treacherous mountain passes.

The Man-Cub and The Golden Lion Arc: A clan of dholes, hundreds strong, settles in the area by Baloo's dwellings and Bundo their leader begins an antagonistic relationship with Bagheera after trying to cull the cubs. Sensing a new battle on the horizon, the panther takes Simba as his new apprentice and trains him and Tarzan to face this new threat.

Secret of the Blue Flower Arc: The brothers have come of age and find themselves struggling with their new responsibilities. Tarzan drifts closer to Monkey City. Simba faces Makuu. Bagheera is haunted by the shadows of his past. King Louie makes a move. Sabor grows tired of being nice. Shere Khan crosses the Dirisha. An old friend returns to the Bukuvu. And a secret lies buried underneath the Ancient Ruins.

Tropes used in Two Brothers Under the Sun include:

• Accidental Truth: At the Floodplains, Tarzan spooks Sabor by imitating an elephant call, the vultures adding that the Colonel is coming with the herd. Later, Hathi arrives with the Jungle Patrol to chase away the tigers.
• Action Prologue: The first chapter opens with a battle between the gorillas of the Great Troop and the tigers of the Khanate.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Tigers at the Gates mini-arc can be seen as this for Kerchak, with emphasis on his relationship with Kala and Sokwe.
• Adaptation Amalgamation: The story combines various bits and pieces from all kinds of adapatations and spin-offs of the three main franchises, along with stuff from other works.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The Wakalu (the strongest tree in the jungle) was merely a landmark in Tarzan 2, here she is the gorillas' power base.
  • "Pride Lands" is an umbrella term for the territory that roughly corresponds to the African Savannah (from the Sahel to the Great Escarpment and from the jungles to the Great Rift Valley), where the lion prides reign.
  • The Theluji Mountains get a mini-arc centered around them.
  • Every animal has their own Safe Words, which they use to identify each other's group and share with friends to extend protection to them.
  • The Mashindano is a universal concept and can be called by animals of different species.
  • The Red Dogs have a full-blown story arc with them as the main antagonists.
  • Udugu is a formal ceremonial process in which two or more individuals pledge a Blood Oath and form a bond akin to that of family.
• Adaptation Species Change:
  • The Donlumangani are gorillas instead of pygmy cave people.
  • Bundo and Lala are dholes instead of wolves.
  • Since he is Dizzy in this continuity, Chil is a vulture.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In canon, Basi and his pod were forced out of Hippo Springs by the crocodiles; here, he is one of the most powerful creatures in the whole jungle, second to Hathi and his elephants and equal to Herr Rhino and his crash. Definitely not someone to get on the bad side of.
  • Zugor was Chief of the Donlumangani troop and King of the Theluji Mountains, famous for choosing to uphold his pact with the mountain community even after the troops left for the jungle.
  • The Bandar-log can take on a freaking army of pythons!
  • Unlike in the original novels, Hathi has the dholes move aside from his line.
  • In The Lion Guard, Pua essentially retired in peace after losing to Makuu; here, he remained active in the jungle, hunting for his own sustenance, helping Bagheera in his attempts to maintain the peace, and gladly stepping in to fight off the dholes' invasion.
  • Herman leads his own herd.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • The narrative gives good focus to Kerchak's best traits, such as his devotion to the troop, his love for his home, his qualities as a leader, and his relationship with Kala and Sokwe.
  • Mzingo, ironically, by virtue of being a lackey of Shere Khan, who is a leader beholden to the Great Circle of Life, unlike Janja.
  • Makuu's antagonism is aimed at the dhole clan, a large group of new predators whose presence poses a possible threat to the float since they can overtake their food source. His conflict with Pua also stems from a disagreement about how they should deal with the sudden influx of competition rather than just his Blood Knight tendencies.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Makuu and his crocodiles suffer from this since the story's adherence to Reality Ensues means that they are mostly confined to the wetlands.
  • The lions are lower in Africa's hierarchy, behind the likes of the pachyderms. Although they still represent a powerful force, being the most successful hunters of the Pride Lands.
• Adapted Out: As stated by the author, Jane won't appear in the story.
• Adult Fear:
  • Bagheera and Kala get worried when Tarzan goes missing while Sabor is on the loose.
  • When Tarzan and Simba get stranded in Shere Khan's territory, Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa join Bagheera and the search party to rescue them.
  • Little Kimyo finds herself stranded from her family in the middle of a battlefield.
  • Bundo and his clan break Sacred Hospitality and attack Tarzan and Simba near the latter's new home.
  • In full view of his teacher and guardians, Simba vanishes in a wildebeest stampede as it is crossing the Waingunga River.
  • A wildebeest calf gets caught in the current and almost becomes lunch for a group of crocodiles until the group intervened.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Baloo refers to both Simba and Tarzan as "Little Britches".
  • Terk refers to Bagheera as "Uncle Baggy".
• The Alliance: The Great Troop of Bukuvu.
• Alternate Universe Fic:
• Always a Bigger Fish: Colonel Hathi and his Jungle Patrol are the biggest and strongest group in all the Bukuvu, being able to drive out an entire platoon of tigers and get the likes of Tublat and Bundo to back down with their presence alone. Basi and Herr Rhino aren't too far behind with their groups and, while he is the only bear left in the jungle, Baloo still is, in his own words, "the scariest thing" within miles of Hakuna Matata Falls.
• Animal Talk: All animals (and Tarzan) can talk to one another, but they each have their own language which they use to make Safe Words.
• Ascended Extra: The vultures (Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy, and Dizzy/Chil have a more prominent role in the first arc than they did in the original film.
• Asskicking Equals Authority: Virtually all animals determine their leader by fighting and only the strongest amongst all inhabitants of an area can truly call themselves a king.
• Audience Surrogate:
  • Simba is the newest inhabitant of the jungle and has a lot to learn about his new home and those who already live there.
  • Tarzan also qualifies as he still is just a student himself.
• Author Appeal: The fic's author Greystoke Household loves Worldbuilding and Military History, which is shown in his crafting of the setting and the storyline being highly focused on the conflict between the heroes and the villains.
• Badass Baritone: Shere Khan.
• Badass Battle Sequence: Plenty of those:
  • In the Action Prologue, the last battle between the Great Troop of Bukuvu and Tiger Khanate certainly counts.
  • Two-thirds into Bukuvian Book the Siege of Monkey City fills out this role quite nicely.
  • The Clash at the Floodplains, which serves as the climax of the first arc, has the troop's search party, joined by Baloo and Bagheera, facing off against Shere Khan, his tigers, and Hista.
  • The last chapter of the Tigers at the Gates mini-arc is almost entirely centered on the gorillas' escort group battling against the ambushing snow leopards led by Tublat.
  • The decisive Battle of the Honey Cliffs between the Commune's ragtag army of the east and the Dhole Clan.
  • The Battle at the Bowels of the Theluji, where Kerchak engages Tublat in a death battle and Tarzan and Simba come together to fight Bundo while the gorillas battle to drive out the tigers out of their territory for a second time.
• Bad Boss: Bundo has jeopardized the safety and prosperity of his clan twice by picking up fights and his refusal to compromise or admit defeat eventually causes his daughter to abandon him.
• Bait and Switch:
  • At first, it seems there is going to be a confrontation between the heroes and the monkeys (which happened in the original novels and in most adaptations of the source material, including Disney's). Then, it turns out that Baloo and Louie are good friends (alluding to their relationship in Talespin and Jungle Cubs) and the heroes end up fighting alongside the monkeys against Hista and his pythons.
  • The conclusion to the "Trial of the Cat": the dholes looked like they were going to win but they don't; then when Hathi is about to punish them, Baloo intervenes.
• Balance of Power: Atop the jungle's hierarchy stands the elephants and their fellow pachyderm allies, the rhinos and the hippos. Below them, Shere Khan controls the largest hunting grounds of the Bukuvu, the Great Troop in the northeast keeps him from expanding northwards while the Bandar-log monkeys have quite the sway in the jungle's northwestern edge.
  • Authority in the Theluji Mountains is alternated between the Great Troop and Chirin's herd depending on the season. Although Shere Khan's subjugation of the snow leopards has upset the balance..
• Beneath the Earth: The underground cave network underneath the Theluji Mountains.
• Big Bad: Shere Khan, Great Khan of the Tiger Khanate.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Colonel Hathi and the Jungle Patrol driving away the tigers and saving the gorillas during the Clash at the Floodplains.
  • Pua saving Simba from a river-crossing stampede.
  • Simba, Tarzan, Timon, and Pumbaa save a wildebeest calf from drowning while Pua, Bagheera, and Baloo distract an incoming group of crocodiles.
  • Herman and his gnus swing (quite literally) the Battle of the Honey Cliffs in favor of the Commune.
• Big Good: Colonel Hathi, King of the Jungle and upholder of the Jungle Law.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Timon and Pumbaa. For general examples, we have plovers and tick birds to crocodiles and mammals respectively.
• Big Brother Instinct: Tarzan is developing this towards Simba. Later culminates with them actually becoming Blood Brothers.
• Black Comedy: The vultures have a very macabre sense of humor. Apparently applies to most carnivores.
• Blood Brothers: Tarzan and Simba officially become this after performing the Blood Oath mentioned below.
• Blood Oath: The Udugu.
• Bloodier and Gorier: The battle and fight descriptions can be pretty graphic.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Shere Khan, of course, wants to kill Tarzan because he doesn't want the boy to grow up to be another hunter. While threatening harm to a child isn't the best way to go about it, and is clear that he fears the boy will grow to threaten his supremacy someday, Shere Khan's fear of man's gun and man's fire is a reasonable one, especially considering that he fought against the humans who first lived in the Bukuvu.
• Bulungi: The Bukuvu jungle is based on the Congo rainforest and its name comes from "Bukavu", a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Cats Are Mean: Played straight by Shere Khan, the tigers from the Khanate, and Taken Up to Eleven by Sabor, who's a straight-up Ax Crazy infant killer. Subverted by Bagheera and Simba.
• Chekhov's Gun: The interlaced vines Tarzan used to save Kala in the first arc play an important role in the climax of the second.
• Chekhov's Skill: Tarzan's ability to imitate the trumpet of an elephant, it ends up saving him and Simba from Sabor.
• Colonel Badass: Colonel Hathi more than ever.
• Composite Character:
  • Tarzan is basically Mowgli, making Kala his Mother Wolf.
  • Simba is Jad-bal-ja.
  • Tantor is Hathi, Jr.
  • Dizzy is Chil.
  • Bagheera is a Won-tolla.
  • Herr Rhino is Booto (the leader of the rhino herd in the Disney cartoon).
  • Bundo is the leader of the dholes, shares his name and narrative role with the main wolf antagonist from Shonen Mowgli, came to the jungle for the same reasons as Vermillion did in the anime, and has Sandah's personal hatred of men.
  • Considering the relationship he has with Tarzan and Simba, as well as his death following the battle against the dholes, Pua can be considered a stand-in for Akela.
  • Kaa has some inspirations from Bakuwai, a Starter Villain from the original Tarzan novels of all people.
  • In fact, most of the characters from the three main source materials incorporate characteristics from their various incarnations.
• Cool Old Guy: Pua.
• Cowardly Lion:
  • Timon and Pumbaa.
  • The vultures are terrified of Sabor, but that doesn't stop them from landing a small hand to help Tarzan and Simba when she comes after them.
• Crossover Alternate Universe:
• Curb Stomp Battle: Shere Khan wipes the floor with Tarzan and Simba in their first fight.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • Downplayed with Bagheera, who always lived on his own, traveling without a place to call home for most of his younger years, and is the only solitary leopard left in the jungle but he wasn't really unsatisfied with that life, despite being happier with his current one. Nor does he mind his solitude since the other leopards are followers of Sabor.
  • Surprisingly played straight with Baloo. His father was a king who split the crown between Baloo and his siblings, only for the two other brothers to start a civil war that doomed their kingdom, catapulted Shere Khan's power in the jungle, and left Baloo as the only bear left in the Bukuvu.
• Darkest Africa: A necessity in a Tarzan story.
• A Dog Named "Dog": All of the three original works are guilty of this (albeit in different languages), and this fic is no different.
• Duels Decide Everything: The Mashindano.
• The Empire: Shere Khan's Tiger Khanate has shades of this.
• Escort Mission: Kerchak and Sokwe escort Yuki's troop through the Theluji Mountains to find a new home for them.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: The first arc has Tarzan being shown to the denizens of the jungle for the first time, where he is taken in by the gorillas and Bagheera assumes the role of his teacher. Years later, he meets Simba, Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa.
• Everything Is an Instrument: The Bandar-log can get a surprisingly catchy beat from thumping on rocky ruins and trees.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • Bundo's plan to frame Bagheera for stealing food from his clan fell apart when he tried to expand the blame to Tarzan, unaware that humans don't eat raw meat, something that is common knowledge to the other animals of the jungle.
  • He was also apparently oblivious of the fact that Louie's not Tarzan's guardian and neither is he Bagghera's liege.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: The Three Styles (Grappling, Rushdown, and Spacer).
• Fartillery: Pumbaa as per canon. It plays a pivotal role in the Siege of Monkey City.
• The Federation: The Bukuvu jungle is a patchwork of several territories under the control of different animal groups with near-autonomous control over their own affairs. Making Hathi the king of what is essentially a confederate monarchy.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • Tarzan and Simba; they saved each other from a group of hungry crocodiles, and they have been together ever since.
  • Subverted with Kerchak and Sokwe as they were friends long before the war with the tigers.
  • Bagheera and Baloo; whom first came together to defend the cubs from Shere Khan and his lackeys.
• Flashback:
  • In the second part of chapter 19, we learn how Bundo came in contact with Berdan and the Khanate.
  • The second one appears in chapter 25, and shows the falling out between Bundo and Lala that resulted in their separation.
• A Good Way to Die: Pua succumbs to his injuries after a magnificent battle where he and his friends protected their home from a rampage of lawless invaders.
• Gray Rain of Depression: Following Pua's death.
• In Harmony with Nature: What the "Great Circle of Life" ideology, held by many creatures of the Bukuvu, is all about.
• Hakuna Matata: Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa's motto and the official philosophy of their "Commune." All about enjoying the simple Bare Necessities of life.
• Hegemonic Empire: The elephants of Zulu Falls are this to the rest of the Bukuvu. They literally and figuratively stand over all the creatures in the jungle but they don't actually want or need anything from the other denizens, only getting involved if someone's disturbing the peace or if someone breaks the Jungle Law (which they created).
• Heroic Neutral: Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa have no interest in the war between the Troop and the Khanate, until Tarzan and Simba are dragged into it.
• Heroic BSoD: After losing his father, Simba has developed a fear of wildebeests and frenzied canines, it's also implied that's psychologically blocked his ability to roar. He gets better, fortunately.
• Honorable Elephant: Colonel Hathi and his Jungle Patrol.
• Impartial Purpose-Driven Faction: Baloo's Commune, where there is no hunting and, with the exception of the above-mentioned Power Trio, none of its inhabitants want anything to do with any conflict.
• The Horde: Despite being (literally) made up of wild red dogs, the Dhole Clan fits the description.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Shere Khan and his Khanate have this attitude, as a result of living under their captivity. Which is why he wants to kill Tarzan.
• Intercontinuity Crossover
• Intergenerational Friendship: Tarzan, Simba, and Terk with Bagheera, Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa.
• Interspecies Romance: Lara, a gazelle, and Herman, a wildebeest, as they were in Timon and Pumbaa.
• Irony: During the Siege of Monkey City, the heroes and the Bandar-log fight together against an invading army of pythons. In Kipling's original story, Bagheera and Baloo assaulted the monkeys' lairs alongside a python.
• Jungle Drums: Courtesy of Louie and his Bandar-log.
• Jungle Opera: A given considering two of its main source materials.
• Kids' Wilderness Epic: The first arc Bukuvian Book.
• Killed Off For Real:
  • Chuluun by Shere Khan.
  • Tublat by Kerchak.
  • Bundo by Simba and Tarzan.
• Killer Gorilla: Tublat.
• Load-Bearing Hero: King Louie is stuck holding up the ruins of the palace while Baloo keeps Hista busy. (Though he might count more as a Load-Bearing Boss).
• Loincloth: Tarzan, naturally.
• Maniac Monkeys: Averted by the gorillas of the Great Troop, subverted by King Louie and his Bandar-log.
• The Maze: The "Bowels" of the Theluji.
• Might Makes Right: Bundo's mindset, which he kept from his time as the top predator of the highlands, despite no longer having the power and influence he used to have.
• Mildly Military: The Jungle Patrol.
• Misplaced Wildlife: A justified case; the "man-tribe" that lived in the jungle engaged in wildlife smuggling.
• Mythology Gag:
  • An unlikely friendship blossoms between two cubs after they save each other from crocodiles.
  • Baloo is the last of a decadent line of powerful bears and is good friends with Louie.
  • Some of Sokwe's lines are taken from Sallah and Gimli.
  • Pua often compares Tarzan to a frog, the literal translation of Mowgli's name.
  • He has also called Simba, Tarzan's best friend, "Little Golden Lion".
  • The first part of the "Won-tolla" two-parter is called: The Cat Who Walks By Himself.
  • Pua is an Undertaker.
  • Baloo's backstory is obviously based on the story of King Lear written by William Shakespeare, who also wrote Hamlet, which's plot was adapted to make the Lion King.
  • The Udugu Oath is taken straight from "Brothers of All", a deleted song from Disney's 1967 adaptation of The Jungle Book.
• Nature Is Not Nice: The fic doesn't shy away from showing the roles each animal plays in nature, with special mention to the carnivores. Baloo's Commune is the exception.
• Neutral No Longer: Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa have pretty much joined the Troop's side in the war.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Somewhat subverted with Makuu and mostly averted with Pua, as long as you are a friend.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Baloo's story lifted some of the suspicions off of the Dhole Clan, keeping the peace... and allowing the red dogs to stay in the jungle even after the elephants left.
  • Justified: If the dholes had been banished, they might have attempted to attack from the north and west or even reached out to the Khanate. By allowing them to stay, the heroes knew their forces would have to come from the western plains.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Bundo's framing of Bagheera mentioned above on Failed a Spot Check; it also served to clue in the protagonists that he didn't intend to leave them in peace, leading to them preparing themselves for the inevitable battle.
• Odd Couple: Tarzan (a 'man-cub' taken in by gorillas and taught by a panther) and Simba (an exiled lion prince from outside the jungle).
• Odd Friendship: Bagheera and Baloo.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Timon calling out the troop's search party to get them to rescue Tarzan.
• Off with His Head!: How Bundo dies.
• Panthera Awesome: Shere Khan, Bagheera, Berdan, and Sabor; Simba aspires to become this someday.
• Papa Wolf: Bagheera and Baloo, they are both formidable beasts in their own right and will gladly show it to anyone who attacks the cubs, even Shere Khan.
• Parental Substitute: Bagheera and Baloo toward Tarzan and Simba.
• Partially-Civilized Animal: As this is a crossover between Kipling's The Jungle Book and the Lion King, the author tries to portray the Bukuvu Jungle as close as an ecosystem can get to resembling an actual state (albeit a decentralized, tribalistic one) with its own laws while still more or less being the ecosystem it's based on. The royal elephant family is clearly in charge but needs to delegate power to the local leaders and kings to maintain things under control; All animals have "jobs" they are supposed to perform to maintain the Great Circle; The animals interact with each other in complex ways such as using secret passwords and oath-taking; They have organized events such as the Water Truce and Great Migrations; They can solve problems creatively like herbivores stockpiling food in hay piles through the Dry Season and large animals clearing sections of forest to make more pasture for the herds. But when you look past all these human-like elements, you still have a recognizable African jungle ecosystem that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of The Lion Guard.
• Power Trio: Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa.
• Pragmatic Adaptation:
  • The Bukuvu Jungle adheres to the more complex, pseudo-realistic organizations from the Lion King (The Lion Guard especially) and the original Jungle Book novel instead of the more simplistic ones seen in Tarzan.
  • Due to Reality Ensues, the pachyderms (elephants, rhinos, and hippos) are on top of Africa's hierarchy, followed by the apex predators and the strongest prey animals such as gorillas and buffalos.
  • In a war-torn jungle, the best way to live a carefree life is by being friends with one of the biggest animals around, who also shares your worldview.
  • Since animals in real life do constantly fight each other (even against those of their species), the Mashindano is a universal concept.
  • Instead of all jungle animals sharing the same Safe Word, each group has its own password to identify their own and those under their protection.
• Raised by Gorillas: Tarzan, as usual.
• Recursive Fanfiction: Of Finmonster's Kings and Khans.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Baloo is Red and Bagheera is Blue.
• Related in the Adaptation: As in Kings and Khans, Tantor is Hathi's son.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Pua averts this while some of the crocodiles (including Makuu to an extent) and Hista's pythons play this trope straight.
• Rhino Rampage: Herr Rhino and his crash into one of the jungle's most powerful groups, second only to Hathi and his elephants and equal to Basi and his pod.
• The Rival:
  • Kerchak and Tublat for leadership of the Great Troop.
  • Bagheera and Bundo are two of the most influential predators in the north Bukuvu and the latter wants to claim all the northern hunting grounds for himself and his fellow red dogs.
• The Runt at the End: Tantor, who brings up the end of his father's marching column
• Scatting: Apparently, the Bandar-log invented it.
• Scavengers Are Scum: Like in the movie, the vultures avert this. They're good-natured, somewhat affable individuals who later help Tarzan and Simba by diverting Sabor away.
• Shout Out:
  • Tigers at the Gates:
    • The "Tigers at the Gates" mini-arc is named after a DLC for Total War: Rome II.
    • The plot of the arc itself is based on Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, which the aforementioned DLC is also based on.
    • Its last chapter is also a reference to the epic poem Song of Roland.
  • The "Three Styles" are modeled after those of TierZoo's "Four Animal Combat Styles".
  • The story of the "Dreaded" (Baloo's backstory) is obviously based on the story of King Lear.
• Sound Off: "Colonel Hathi's March".
• Spanner in the Works:
  • The vultures diverting Sabor away from Tarzan and Simba.
  • Later, Timon hinders Share Khan's plans to dispose of Tarzan by getting the Troop's search party to cross the river.
  • And afterward, he and Pumbaa find the trapped man-cub, spelling the beginning of the end to Tublat's conspiracy.
• Spiritual Successor: To Simba the King Lion of all things: we have Simba being raised in a jungle alongside his surrogate brother from a different species (who also happens to be an orphan), they are taught by Bagheera and Baloo, and the two of them are destined to one day fight Shere Khan and his army. The author has even referenced STKL as an inspiration.
• Story Arc: The fanfic's narrative is built around those ala a Shōnen Manga.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Shere Khan and Bundo. The tiger sends his minions to kill Tarzan, while Bundo attacks him moments after promising he wouldn't threaten anyone, sneaks around the crowd gathered for the Mashindano to assassinate him incognito, led a wildebeest stampede in his direction, and tries to frame him and Bagheera with the intention of eliminating at least one of them. But both predators are out to kill him for being human rather than hunting him for food.
• Take That:
  • In Chapter 14, Simba gobbles down the "Ugly Caterpillars" from Simba the King Lion.
  • In the last chapter of the Won-tolla two-parter, Bundo rants about the threat of men in an attempt to discredit Tarzan, using similar words to the ones used by Sandah, even referring to his own group as "peace-loving dogs". Timon immediately assumes the heat is melting his brain.
• Tranquil Fury: Shere Khan: he claws his 'throne' after learning Hathi's patrols rallied and thus will keep him from crossing the river to hunt Tarzan.
• True Companions:
  • The main group including Tarzan, Simba, Bagheera, Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa (especially by the end of the second arc), possibly extending to Kala, Terk, and Tantor as well.
  • Kerchak and Sokwe.
• Ultimate Universe: Takes most of its elements from all different kinds of Tarzan, Jungle Book, and Lion King media.
• Those Two Guys:
  • Even when they are not hanging out with Baloo, Timon and Pumbaa are always seen together.
  • Flynt and Mungo, the Donlumangani princes.
• Undertaker: The crocodiles have the claim over all dead bodies found in the river. All scavengers technically qualify as well.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Shere Khan's second-in-command is his brother Berdan.
  • The Nomad King of the Theluji is called Chirin Son of Wolf.
  • More of an unexpected nickname/reference to an obscure character. The red dogs, while not as recognizable as Shere Khan or the Bandar-log, are known to some Jungle Book fans and do pop up in an adaptation here and there as antagonists. The same cannot be said about Won-tolla, a wolf from the original novels who lost his family to the dholes, informed Mowgli's wolf pack they're heading toward the jungle and perished in the final battle after taking out the dhole leader. Here, Won-tolla (which means 'Outlier') is not a name, but the general term for an animal without a group to call his own, like Bagheera.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Tarzan's attempts to catch an elephant's hair result in a stampede that compromises the coordination of the Jungle Petrol long enough for Sabor to sneak to the other side of the river, kicking off the first arc's main plot.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Recognizable fighting moves are employed during the fight scenes.
• Wild Child: Guess who?
• Wild Wilderness: The fic's main setting.
• Witch Doctor: Kaa.
• The Worf Effect: The buffalos are introduced as the 'Masters of the Plains' and, as in Real Life, are one the most dangerous animals in Africa. A few chapters later, we see that Berdan has killed one with relative ease in the Flashback.
• X Meets Y: The story can pretty much be described as Shonen Mowgli meets Simba the King Lion meets Tarzan meets The Lion Guard.