The Outlands

The Outlands (also known as the Shadowland) are a barren wasteland where the exiled lions of the Pride Lands live. Most of its inhabitants are lions who were banished by Simba for remaining loyal to Scar as well as Hyenas. It appears in the 1998 film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and its 2016 midquel series The Lion Guard.

Physical Features
The design of the Outlands was meant to mirror that of an actual Badlands, and it shows. The Outlands are heavily eroded with few trees and plants, little water, and few creatures living there. There are peculiar, stunted trees that dot the landscape, as shown when Vitani is attempting to bite off a branch, as well as scattered boulders. The threshold of the Outlands seems vaguely better, with an actual water source (albeit infested with crocodiles), a noticeably purple sky, and some trees and plants. The place is also covered of canyon, volcano, gorges and many caves.

The most noticeable features of the Outlands are the sky and the massive termite mound the Outsiders sleep in. The sky is limitless and by day it's a bold amber color. As the sun sets, noticeable shades of red tint the sky. The termite mound itself is distorted and internally vast (despite seeming superficially like mountains), with many pathways, knolls, and places for somewhat uncomfortable sleeping. As shown in "My Lullaby", it seems that, through various holes that the termites have burrowed into, all kinds of color from the sky and sun will pop through, and a lioness can actually burrow her way to the top, as shown when Zira knocks over a few rocks to stand at the top of her termite mound.

Nothing more is told about the Pride Lands after Zira reviews Kovu's progress, almost directly after "My Lullaby". It is implied that, over the course of the film, Zira and her family and pride still live there, but by the end of the film, the Outlands are completely abandoned by the Outsiders, and it is assumed that they never become healthy or green again.

Location
The Outlands lie beyond the Pride Lands and beyond the Elephant Graveyard. Kiara visits the Outlands as a cub while she is exploring outside of Simba's established path, but she is eventually caught by her father. At the end of the film, the Outsiders return to the Pride Lands, realizing how pointless it is to continue fighting, and possibly leave the Outlands vacant.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The Outlands are first mentioned by Simba, who warns his daughter that the Outsiders and their land are dangerous. Ignoring her father's orders to stay away from the Outlands, Kiara ventures into the Outlands herself and encounters Kovu, an Outsider cub. The two end up playing together, barely escaping a horde of crocodiles, though Kiara is later apprehended by her father, who roars her away from Kovu and his mother Zira.

Trying to appeal to Simba's soft side, Zira complains about the Outlands, mentioning its lack of food and water, but resolved to keep the Outsiders away from Pride Rock, Simba orders her away, and she carries Kovu with her back to their homeland.

Once there, Zira yells at Kovu for trying to befriend a Pridelander cub, exposing the fierce tension between the malnourished Outsiders and their much healthier enemies. While chiding Kovu, Zira comes up with a plan to kill Simba, and she and her pride sing "My Lullaby," promising the rise of Kovu as their king instead of Simba.

Years later, Kovu has grown into a young adult, and Zira prepares him for his mission to kill Simba in one of the caves in the Outlands. When Kovu proves that he is ready to avenge Scar's death, the Outsiders roar their approval, and Kovu and Zira move out to fulfill the plan.

At the end of the film, the Outsiders (aside from Zira) join Simba's side, leaving the dark days of the Outlands behind them.

Friends for Life
Since Scar's death, the hyenas have been living in the Outlands, called the "Shadowland" by the exiled hyenas. One particular hyena named Asante befriends Kopa, the son of Simba, and invites him to explore the Shadowland with her. While there, the two run into a fierce storm, which traps Kopa in a raging river. With the help of her friend Kroko, Asante frees Kopa, and the two return to the Pride Lands, where Kopa insists on introducing Asante to his parents. Thus, for the first time, an exiled hyena from the Shadowland is allowed to venture into the Pride Lands.

Fight for the Throne
Despite Asante's friendship with Kopa, the hyenas still live in the Shadowland, and a particularly bitter hyena named Fisi schemes to place Kesho, a weak-willed cheetah, on the throne of the Pride Lands in Simba's place.

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
The Outlands is a location that features in The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (which takes place during the first act of Simba's Pride). It has been revealed that a pack of hyenas live there.

When Bunga and Kion lose their baobab fruit, Bunga insists on straying into the Outlands to retrieve it, despite Kion's warnings that his father has forbidden him to go there. When Bunga at last retrieves the fruit, he is captured by two hyenas named Cheezi and Chungu (who plan to feed him to their leader Janja) until Kion's roar gives him the opportunity to escape.

The Outlands later appear when Mzingo the vulture goes there to tell Janja about Kion putting together a Lion Guard to protect The Pride Lands. Upon hearing this news, Janja tells his clan that they will attack The Pride Lands that night.

The Lion Guard
In the episode "Never Judge a Hyena by its Spots", Kion gets stuck in the Outlands and meets and befriends a female hyena named Jasiri, who unlike Janja's clan, is good natured.

In "Can't Wait to be Queen", Kiara (when temporary serving as Queen of the Pride Lands), came to the Outlands to supposedly form a peace treaty with Janja. However, this was a trick and Janja along his clan ambushed her, planning to hold her hostage until Simba handed over the Pride Lands to him. Luckily, Kion arrived with the Lion Guard just in time to save his sister.

In "The Kupatana Celebration", it is shown that besides hyenas and vultures living in the Outlands, a family of jackals led by Reirei briefly left the Outlands and entered the Pride Lands during Kupatana and tried to attack the animals there, before being forced to return there by Kion, the Lion Guard and Simba.

In "Too Many Termites", Kion mistakes a pack of aardwolves for hyenas and uses the Roar of the Elders on them to send them into the Outlands. When there, they met Reirei and Goigoi who trick them into thinking that they're friendly only to later try and eat them, but are stopped in time by the Lion Guard who bring the aardwolves back to the Pride Lands.

In "Lions of the Outlands", the Outsiders took possession of the territory of the Jasiri's Clan. After the Outsiders were chased by the Lion Guard They arrive in another part of Outlands which has an arid soil and other termite mounds.