VOLTRON IS A LOVE STORY AND I CAN PROVE IT
INTRODUCTION
Remember when I posted this? [3]
Well, I bet you thought I was joking, but now I’m gonna put my money where my mouth is.
I remember when Voltron premiered, a lot of people gravitated towards it because season one seemed to present a lot of themes relating to the much beloved found family trope. People were drawing parallels between Voltron and the Legend of Korra (LOK) a lot, even Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) to some extent, and I don’t blame them, I can see some of the influence there. In fact, Joaquim Dos Santos (JDS) and Lauren Montgomery (LM) even talk about how they came fresh off of LOK directly into the production of Voltron [1], so I do believe they brought along with them some of their experiences from LOK.
I, personally, wouldn’t exactly call LOK a found family show, but it is the sequel to an actual found family show, namely: ATLA. And throughout this whole analysis, I am going to be talking a LOT about ATLA specifically, because this is one of the experiences that JDS and LM brought with them into Voltron and the one that is arguably the closest to its themes and plot, and so there are going to be a lot of similarities present in production, but also in their way of storytelling. This last point, especially, is going to deal a lot with the lead writer of Voltron, Tim Hedrick, who is another LOK and ATLA veteran, so discussing these shows is VERY relevant to our analysis of Voltron.
A few years ago, I made a very shoddily-put-together analysis that I am going to be using the general outline of in the first section of this analysis. I made it kind of in a rush, purely from what I remembered about the show from 7 years ago [2]. There’s a lot I would change about my analysis. First of all, I would spend more time on it, lol. But second, I regret my bad-faith conclusions. I was approaching this idea and the show with some prejudiced opinions about the showrunners, the crew and their ability to tell a story. I regret that now, and I sincerely apologize.
I believe that a good analysis does not dismiss certain choices that the analyst doesn’t like as simply bad writing. I believe that it is a lazy and mean-spirited way of engaging with art. So, I get to do this all over again, removing my previous biases and preconceived notions of what I thought was going on behind the scenes, when in fact I really had no clue, and I am going to try and look at this with fresh, unbiased eyes. And to be honest, I still don’t really have a clue what happened behind the scenes, because I wasn’t there! BUT, I think I made some great points overall, that I am going to add on to here, because on my rewatch I found a LOT more evidence than I initially provided.
It’s gonna take a while, so strap in, get a snack, take breaks if that’s what you need, but we’re gonna do this. I’m going to prove that Voltron is first and foremost about love, but not just any love. Voltron is a love story between Lance and Keith. And I can prove it.
WHY LANCE AND KEITH ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF VOLTRON
How to Introduce a Main Character
Okay, before we get into anything, let’s talk about how exactly one would go about introducing and conveying who the main character is in a story with multiple main characters.
In storytelling, there are a number of literary devices that authors and writers use to communicate to the audience who the main character is (usually the protagonist, but not always) and who they should root for. Traditionally this is done by either starting the story from their perspective and having them be the first one to appear or a little later on once the story has laid down the world building (where are we? What time is it? What are the rules? Etc.).
To use a very famous and classic example, let’s look at the manga, Naruto. Naruto starts with its titular main character, Naruto, vandalising the great statues of the leaders of the village he lives in. He is shown at a distance, the first character to be presented to the viewer and he is named on the following page by a side character, giving us the first name of the manga. He is pretty memorably introduced as a troublemaker, and it’s amazing that Kishimoto manages to do this purely through 6 panels spanning two pages.
.
[Naruto, Chapter 001: Uzumaki Naruto, pp. 1-2]
Naruto is not only introduced first, but every recurring character after this is introduced through him, or in relation to him.
Hogake-sama is the leader of the village Naruto lives in.
[Naruto, Chapter 001: Uzumaki Naruto, p. 3]
Iruka is introduced as Naruto’s teacher, and he becomes a very important authority figure to Naruto.
[Naruto, Chapter 002: Konohamaru, p. 21]
[Naruto, Chapter 003: Uchiha Sasuke, p. 5]
Sakura is introduced as someone Naruto has a crush on. Her personality is immediately memorable because of her dismissal of Naruto.
[Naruto, Chapter 003: Uchiha Sasuke, p. 6]
and Sasuke is introduced as someone Naruto thinks is cool, but he hates him. A rival of sorts. Naruto also seems to have a pretty strong reaction to him, answering back with a hostile tone when Sasuke talks to him:
[Naruto, Chapter 003: Uchiha Sasuke, p. 6]
How is Sasuke memorable? He just sits there. Well, his importance is a little bit emphasised and foreshadowed by this very famous panel:
[Naruto, Chapter 003: Uchiha Sasuke, p. 9]
These are a few examples, but it clearly shows the general rule of establishing a main character. Introduce them first, and then introduce everyone else in relation to them. Sometimes, this rule is bent a little bit, or changed. Let’s take an example that the crew actually worked on: ATLA
ATLA starts with a prologue of sorts, narrated by Katara, one of the main characters of ATLA,
[ATLA, Season 1, Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg, 00:03]
but she is not the titular main character, the one the series is named after. So, when we meet Katara, the title seems to imply that there’s someone else we’re waiting to meet. Prologues often depict characters who are important for the main character or the plot, to set up exposition before introducing the main character themself. In ATLA, this is used to establish the world building (something called waterbending exists), and Katara and Sokka’s sibling relationship and their personalities, before they meet Aang in the iceberg.
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg, 02:13-02:55]
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg, 05:15]
Katara and Sokka are immediately conveyed to be important to Aang from then on, especially Katara, who is implied to be a love interest for Aang, through this sequence:
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 1:The Boy in the Iceberg, 07:08]
You can also tell that they are important because the writers made sure to make their first impressions memorable, through their personalities. Sokka is kind of a macho, protective and goofy kind of character, and Katara is a passionate, strong-willed girl with mystical powers.
The other recurring characters of season 1 are introduced through Aang: Abba is Aang's animal best friend, Zuko is someone hunting Aang
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg, 05:40]
and Momo is the last living being in the air temple that he is from:
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 3: The Southern Air Temple, 21:57]
(Side note about Zuko: interestingly Zuko is the only other character in ATLA who is used to introduce characters. Iroh is introduced through him as his uncle/mentor, and so is Admiral Zhao as his antagonist. An antagonist’s antagonist, very interesting…)
Aang is also the one to catalyse the plot, since it’s the light emitting from his iceberg that leads Zuko to him. (But interestingly, Katara is also a catalyst for the plot, since it was her decision to break the iceberg to begin with…)
Korra is introduced much the same way in LOK. Here we meet the three sages coming to Korra’s house after reports that the new Avatar has been born.
[LOK, Book One: Air, Episode 1: Welcome to Republic City, 01:17]
When we meet the other characters, these are also introduced through their relation to Korra. Tenzin is Korra’s airbending teacher. Naga is Korra’s animal best friend. Mako is Korra’s love interest and Bolin is Korra’s friend/teammate in pro-bending. Even the antagonist is introduced through Korra, interacting with a rally as she passes by.
[LOK, Book One: Air, Episode 1: Welcome to Republic City, 13:09]
Curiously, the only recurring character who isn’t introduced through Korra is Asami, who we all know to be Korra’s endgame. I know that the team had trouble with planning properly over the whole show, since Nickelodeon only commissioned the show one season at a time, so I wonder if they had ever even planned to keep Asami. I know that they didn’t plan for Korrasami, but rather saw the natural progression of their relationship while they were developing s3-4, something JDS and LM mention in this Afterbuzz TV podcast [1]. But anyway, we see a pretty clear pattern here, from previous projects JDS and LM have been working on.
Korra also catalyses the plot when she decides to sneak aboard a ship on the way to Republic City.
[LOK, Book One: Air, Episode 1: Welcome to Republic City, 09:57]
Who is the main character of Voltron?
Now that we’ve established a pattern, let’s talk about who our main characters actually are in Voltron. Who seems to have a running through-line, who seems to be at the center of most of the plot, progression and character arcs? Let’s look at who is presented first.
[Voltron, Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 00:40]
Okay, it’s Shiro, Matt and Pidge’s dad, but this seems to take inspiration from ATLA, where their mini prologue is used more for exposition and worldbuilding than to introduce the main character, because in this scene, several things are established: We are in the future (humans are on Kerberos, a moon of Pluto, which hasn’t happened to this day), aliens exist (there’s a foreign space ship the humans don’t recognise coming in) and these aliens in particular belong to an empire (they mention Emperor Zarkon). So, this scene is very exposition heavy, more so than establishing important characters and their personalities, since they all seem pretty bland as far as we have seen them, and neither Matt nor Commander Holt is named in this scene. Then, right after that, we cut immediately to Lance.
Lance is the first voice we hear right after the exposition, and his personality, along with the personalities of the characters he’s present with, are immediately introduced and memorable, signalling that they are important.
[02:16]
So, first name we get after the prologue is Lance. Then Lance names both Hunk and Pidge:
[02:25; 02:41]
We also get introduced to Iverson, through Lance, as Lance’s teacher/superior.
[04:55]
Okay, before we move on, I have to talk about this, because it is so essential to Lance’s whole character. A lot is revealed here. First of all, that Lance is a fighter pilot because someone else “flunked out”, implying that Lance didn’t “earn” his place there. I think this is the origin of Lance’s insecurities, and why he wants to prove himself so bad. He’s probably been reminded of this every time he failed at something. No wonder he feels like a fraud. I mean, look at his face! He looks crushed!
Second of all, I think this is also the origin of Lance’s rivalry with Keith specifically. Iverson here is saying “the best pilot in your class flunked out”, which is later confirmed by Lance to be about Keith, when he says, “Not [a cargo pilot] anymore [...] thanks to you washing out.” [11:04].
So, Lance has been compared to Keith probably multiple times before this. If not by Iverson, then by Lance himself, because Lance literally took his spot. No wonder Lance feels so strongly about Keith when he sees him. He was just reminded of how he can never measure up to Keith, reminded again that he hasn’t earned Keith’s spot, because he isn’t as good as him.
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 09:58]
Firstly, it’s ironic that Lance says this, because we all know that Lance was the one who ended up being a cargo pilot, not Keith. But secondly, this flashback informs us much more on why than you might think. In the flashback, we see Lance flying in formation and keeping it straight, not veering away from the instructions he receives. This is very interesting because the first we see of Lance is a complete contrast to this. He is pulling much the same stunt in the first episode that Keith is pulling here, which is what makes him crash the simulator and draw Iverson’s ire. Possibly, Lance was copying Keith’s flying style. Was Iverson reminded of Keith while Lance was flying in the simulator? Is that why Iverson compared him to Keith? And told him not to follow in his footsteps? Because that’s what Lance did?? Did Lance start copying Keith’s flying after this incident in the flashback???
I literally can’t stop thinking about this interaction, because it informs so much about Lance and his relationship not only to himself but to Keith.
[08:48]
Now, this is damning, because not only was Shiro in the prologue, but Pidge knows who he is, having investigated her family’s mission to Kerberos. There’s no way she doesn’t know who he is. If she had introduced him, said something along the lines of: “That’s Shiro, the pilot! But where is the rest of the crew?” it would have easily foreshadowed her family arc, and the reveal later in the episode that Commander Holt and Matt are her family. But they chose to have Lance introduce him as his hero, almost as if it’s more important to have his connection to Lance, rather than Pidge, whose family arc fills quite a lot of the plot, and her motivation as a character.
Not only that, but Hunk knows him, too, has heard about him:
[08:52]
“I guess he’s not dead in space, after all.” See, Hunk could have easily introduced Shiro here as well, if they wanted to establish all three of them as main characters, said something like: “That’s Shiro! I thought he died in space!” but he didn’t. Instead, Lance introduced him as his hero, drawing a personal connection to him.
And need I remind you that the only actual connection Shiro has is with Keith, so why wasn’t he introduced through Keith?? Why was it more important to have Lance introduce him first? To have our first impression of Shiro be that Lance looks up to him? Hmm….
Which brings me to Keith. Keith is named as Lance’s rival.
[10:05]
Okay, many things I need to point out here before we move on.
Firstly, this is super-duper damning as well, because Keith is usually the main character in all the iterations of Voltron. And Keith is the one who eventually becomes the leader in this iteration too, so why is he being introduced through Lance? Why wasn’t he introduced independently?? Why didn’t we open on him investigating the mystery markings? Making a plan to break into the Garrison? Why did we have to hear about him from Lance???
Secondly, again, we have Lance establishing his connection to a new character, immediately conveying his importance: “That guy is always trying to one-up me”. Okay, so there is some measuring up here. Already, it is kinda hinted that this is who Iverson compares him to, before Lance confirms it in the tent.
Thirdly, I need to point this out again, Hunk knows who he is. When Lance names him, Hunk says, “Are you sure?” and not “Who?” like Pidge. So Hunk knows who Keith is, but we have just seen that Iverson has it out for Lance, and compares him to Keith, so it makes more sense that Lance introduces him. He is arguably the one who has the strongest connection to him. But still… Hunk could have said, “Hey that’s Keith! I thought he dropped out.” or something to that effect. But no. We get a close-up of Lance specifically, when Iverson compares him to him, conveying that this beef is with Lance, only.
Fourthly, I have to point out “Oh, I’d recognise that mullet anywhere!” just because it implies a lot of things that Lance probably doesn’t want to admit. One: That he can recognise him from very far away through binoculars for Christ's sake, probably having spent a long time looking at him. Two: That Lance has been looking at the back of his head a lot. He says “Mullet”, which is notoriously on the back of the head, and not “Jacket” or just a vague “him”, which is interesting. It serves to establish Keith as someone Lance looks at the back of a lot, someone who is always one step ahead, or as Lance says, someone who always “one-ups” him. Usually, when characters look at the back of someone else, they are admiring them.
See here an example of Sokka admiring Aang in ATLA:
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 14: The Fortuneteller, 21:57]
And Naruto admiring Sasuke:
[Naruto, Chapter 227: Chidori vs. Rasengan!! p. 16]
And in fact his admiration is confirmed when Lance says this in season 2:
[Season 2, Episode 10: Escape from Beta Traz, 13:49]
So, Lance admires Keith, but his insecurities are also fueled by Keith, because watching the back of his head a lot means that Keith has never faced him, as an equal. Keith doesn’t even know who he is, until Lance reminds him, meaning Keith didn’t measure himself against Lance the same way Lance did. The rivalry is one-sided, most likely because Keith had his own issues to deal with. So, Lance looks at the back of Keith’s head because Keith never faces him, establishing him as someone he admires and is perhaps following, echoing Iverson’s words, “don’t follow in his footsteps.” Yet again ironic, because that’s literally what he’s doing as soon as Keith is introduced.
BRO! Do you understand how clever this is??? This is incredible! So much history and nuance packed into just under 10 minutes. Brilliant!
Okay, moving on before I lose my mind.
So, main five are all introduced through Lance. That’s already a lot of coincidences. And what follows is no coincidence either. Lance is the catalyst of the plot. He is the one who decides to look for Pidge, when Shiro crashes. He is the one who decides to follow Keith to the tent, and he is the one who shakes hands with Shiro first, with a very lingering frame on their hands clasped:
[13:46]
Lots of things here. Firstly, how does Shiro know Lance’s name? Did he hear it half-consciously when he told Keith? Did Keith tell him? Did Lance reintroduce himself when Shiro woke up? I don’t know if we’ll ever know. But it’s very important that Shiro singles Lance out first. Not only that, but this lingering frame very clearly is meant to convey something important. Almost like it’s foreshadowing of some kind… more on that later.
Lance’s meeting with Shiro is very significant compared to his meeting with Pidge, especially because Pidge also shakes his hand, but she doesn’t get a lingering frame, even though Shiro went on a mission with her family, and therefore arguably having a stronger connection to Pidge than Lance. Pidge also introduces herself, as well as Hunk, but Shiro knew Lance’s name, already, contrasting the two meetings.
[13:56]
Almost as if Shiro’s connection to Lance is more important… I wonder why. Also note that Lance hesitates a bit here, which is strange. Shiro is his hero, right? He should be over enthusiastic. But he’s a little bit apprehensive, seeing Shiro’s Galra arm. It speaks massively to his character.
(side note: I can’t fully explain why he hesitates. Some said this was foreshadowing to the clone arc, but I disagree, because the first episode lays the groundwork for the story they wanted to tell, it was one of the very first episodes they ever made. We know at this point that they hadn’t intended to keep Shiro past season 2, so I doubt that’s what they were foreshadowing here. But they were foreshadowing something… Again, more on that later.)
Not only that, but it also turns out that they find Lance’s Lion first. It could have been any of the Lions, it could even have been Keith’s own Lion, explaining why he was drawn to it in the first place, because he is its paladin. In fact, it would have really emphasised Keith’s importance to the narrative, and would have set up nicely for his eventual ascension to the Black Lion. But they chose to have him drawn to the Blue Lion. Which is a very interesting choice.
Look at this:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 17:02]
Only Keith and Lance are inside the barrier when the Blue Lion awakens, effectively separating them from the others! What an interesting choice! If this show was about all of them shooting off into space, why not have them all inside the barrier when they get the vision of Voltron, like they did here, when the blue markings activated?
[15:57]
Why specifically Keith and Lance? Well, Lance obviously, because he is her pilot. But why Keith? Because he’s the one who’s been looking for the Blue Lion? That is also an interesting choice. Having Keith find Lance’s lion. It could have been any other lion, it could even have been his own, but it wasn’t. It was Lance’s, effectively connecting his character to Lance’s character as well.
Now look at this frame:
[17:05]
Lance is focused on right before the vision of Voltron. I think they could have easily shown all of them getting the vision, if they wanted to establish them all as main characters. But they didn’t. They even zoom in on Lance’s eyes before they show Voltron, signifying his importance to it.
[17:05]
The next few characters that we meet are the rest of our main characters cast, Allura and Coran, respectively, and both interact with Lance as the first person:
[26:10]
Allura is literally caught in Lance’s arms, and is immediately conveyed to be a potential love interest for him. Usually, the hero of the story is the one who gets a love interest. See again ATLA and LOK who follow the same formula. (these shots are a literal allusion to ATLA…)
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg, 06:54]
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg, 07:15]
(side note: Notice here how Voltron focuses on Lance to convey his feelings, whereas ATLA focuses on Katara to convey Aang’s feelings… almost as if they wanted to emphasise that Lance’s feelings are a bit shallow and one sided…)
When Coran wakes, the first person he interacts with is, again, Lance, further establishing Lance as the main character
[27:10]
I mean, come on. This could have easily been Hunk or Shiro or even Keith.
Actually. Why isn’t it Keith? Keith is the one who is meant to inherit the leader role, why doesn’t Keith have more of a present role in catalysing the plot? He did have a small role, he was the one who sensed the Blue Lion after all, kicking them all into space. But again, it wasn’t his own lion, it was Lance’s, effectively making his role more supportive to Lance’s take-off. Which is a very interesting choice. Almost like it’s foreshadowing of some kind…
One thing I’d like to mention before I wrap this up is, I came across this post very randomly as I was scrolling through the tag, and one thing they mentioned in the post is that Lance is our audience proxy [4]. I am going to insert here what they said exactly, because I think they explain it a lot better than I can:
“He's our audience proxy. We are supposed to identify with him! He's the everyman in this 5 man band, the heart, as it were. The blue lion is the lion with the strongest connection to earth, Lance is a character with a big urge to get back home, he mentions it often!”
This is very interesting to me, because LM said something similar, in that she sees a lot of herself in Lance [1] and that’s why he’s her favorite character.
So, to reiterate all of our findings: Lance’s voice is the first we hear after the expositional prologue, he is the first character named, he names all other characters introduced in the series, he catalyses the plot, his lion is the first one found, and he gets a potential love interest usually reserved for the hero of the story. Comparing this to their previous projects, it is very obviously all pointing to the fact that Lance is the main character, in the first half.
Wait what? who said that.
No, it’s true. Lance is established as the main character in the first half of VLD. But then… something odd happens in season 3. His main character traits are less consistent and well… I have to show you, to properly explain it.
What about Keith?
Remember when I asked why Keith didn’t have a more present role in Voltron to establish him as the ultimate main character? Well, this question has become a lot more relevant as we dive into season 3, where he seems to step up as a main character, because of his ascension to the Black Lion. But let’s examine his status as a main character a little bit closer.
In my first attempt at this analysis, I said that Keith’s “debut” as a main character came first in season 4, but I actually think it happens as early as season 3, due to one reason:
Lotor is introduced.
[Season 3 Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 16:50]
Lotor, like Keith, is also half-galra, both step up to a legacy left behind for them in s3, both have dead fathers, both have an absentee mother, and both have been rejected/cast-out. This effectively establishes them as foils.
Keith has the one thing Lance doesn’t have. An antagonist.
This season also starts with showing us Keith first, looking for Shiro.
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 01:07]
Okay… opening on the main character: check. Antagonist: Check.
What about characters? Are any characters introduced through Keith in season 3? As a matter of fact, new characters were introduced in relation to him in season 2, The Blade of Marmora agents, who reveal to him that he is half-Galra. Technically the organisation itself was introduced independently, and was properly introduced through Shiro in Season 2, Episode 3, but the recurring character, Kolivan, was introduced through Keith’s identity arc. And in Season 3, Lotor is introduced as a new antagonist at the same time that Keith is supposed to ascend to the Black Lion. After that we have a long period of time where Keith is absent from the screen, but when he shows up again, he shows up with a new recurring cast, in his second “debut” in season 6.
Krolia, his mother; Romelle, an Altean he rescued; and Kosmo, his animal best friend.
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:17]
And in season 7, the leader of the MFE squadron, James, is introduced through his past with Keith.
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 03:13 ; 10:54]
So, introducing new characters in relation to him: check, though over a longer period of time.
Well, what else is there? Did he get a love interest? (i mean… a more obvious, non-subtextual one…) No.
What about any plot changes? Do any of his decisions change the plot in any significant way? Well, no. Keith doesn’t catalyse much of anything the same way Lance did. In fact, the most significant change was the lion swap, which was catalysed by Shiro. Or rather, his absence. None of Keith’s choices really change anything in the plot, because he doesn’t actually decide anything. Rather, he spends much of his “debut season” rejecting certain decisions:
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing on the Guard, 10:04]
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 05:46]
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 10:04 ]
But his rejections don’t change the outcome. Shiro is still missing, and he is still the new pilot of the Black Lion, aka the “leader”. This is an interesting contrast between Lance being an active protagonist and Keith being a passive protagonist. More on that later.
So, Keith is more or less forced into the main character role here, forced into his “debut” as it were. The decision almost seems made for him, much like his ascension to the Black Lion.
In fact, he doesn’t decide much of anything, the same way Lance does, until season 4. Now, here is a true decision by Keith with an impact. When he decides to join the Blade of Marmora for good, withdrawing himself from Voltron completely.
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 20:50]
Keith’s decision to withdraw from Voltron puts Shiro back in charge. But other than that, it doesn’t catalyse any major plot point, in fact it delays his own ascension by three seasons, which is a major plot point…
So, to summarise:
Antagonist: check.
Opening on the main character in his (first) “debut”: check.
New characters related to main character: check
Love interest: No.
Catalyst: No.
He seems to check almost all of the boxes, except for two, well three, because though Lotor is introduced as Keith’s antagonist, I wouldn’t count it, but I’ll explain why later.
So, what do we have here, at the end? An antagonist (???), a bunch of new characters (from second debut…), most of which don’t have any significant relation to him, specifically, after their plot is realized, except for his mother (who also doesn’t show up much after season 7) and his wolf. And one single decision by him.
What does this tell us? Lance is the character with the most clear signs that he is supposed to be the main character of the series. Keith seems to share some of the similar tropes associated with being a main character, but most of them seem more like decisions made for him rather than appearing from his decisions. Remember, Keith is not a new character, he was first introduced through Lance, in season 1, episode 1. Most of his main character traits don’t start appearing until effectively halfway through the series.
Which is what’s curious about this whole thing. They presented his debut in this way somewhere in the middle of the story, rather than from the beginning. Keith’s rather lackluster main character presentation makes me believe that he wasn’t intended to become the main character from the start.
Which brings me to the next section.
IS VOLTRON A FOUND FAMILY STORY?
Okay, so we’ve established that Voltron has Lance as its main character, and also Keith to some extent. But what kind of story are they in? This one takes a bit more work to prove, so strap in, cause it’s gonna take a while.
What makes a Found Family Story?
Voltron vs. ATLA
Let’s begin by establishing what a found family actually is. Here is the definition from the TV Tropes webpage.
“Members of a Chosen Family mourn the lack of family in their lives and decide to build one of their own[.]”
Okay… we’ve definitely seen this before in one of their previous projects, ATLA.
Aang is found by Katara and Sokka, who both mourn the lack of family in their lives (their mom is dead and their father has been away to fight a war for three years). They decide to become Aang’s family very early on, when Katara says this:
“Aang, I know you’re upset, and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka and I, we’re your family now.”
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 3: The Southern Air Temple, 20:28- 20:48]
Toph adds to their found family even though she has a biological family, because she ran away from them. She chose her found family (Team Avatar) over her biological one. The same goes for Zuko in season three (for obvious reasons). Suki, like Aang, is never shown to have any parents, nor does she mention having any. The closest she has to a family is the Kyoshi Warriors, but still she chooses to stay with Team Avatar after she is broken out of prison all up until the end.
What about the paladins? Can we say the same about team Voltron? No.
Most of the characters already have a family. The only ones who don’t have a family are Shiro (who was supposed to die after season 2), and Allura (who’s whole arc is about restoring her people and culture as the lone survivor). Tellingly, this is confirmed by Allura:
“When we were out there, fighting against the Galra, I somehow felt like… Like we were a family. Each of us was alone, but we were alone together. But now, here on Earth, I see that everyone already has a family. Everyone except me.”
[Voltron, Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 19:02]
Notice how Allura says almost the direct opposite of what Katara said.
This is an interesting contrast from season 1 & 2, where they kept calling each other family
[Season 1, episode 5: the Tears of Balmera, 22:33]
(Notice also how Pidge says this specifically to all the characters who don’t have a family…)
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 15:41]
[Season 2, Episode 12: Best Laid Plans, 07:04]
and it is a contrast to Pidge, Allura and Keith all choosing Team Voltron over their biological families:
[Season 1, episode 5: the Tears of Balmera, 22:33]
[Season 1, episode 9: Crystal Venom, 19:39]
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 18:19]
but curiously, it is also a fulfillment of all the paladins with a family wishing they could go back to them:
[Season 1, Episode 4: the Fall of the Castle of Lions, 05:06]
[Season 1, Episode 4: the Fall of the Castle of Lions, 08:49]
[Season 1, Episode 4: the Fall of the Castle of Lions, 09:54]
[Season 2, Episode 11: Stayin’ Alive, 22:13]
And in fact, the ones who were most distressed about Pidge leaving in season 1, episode 4 was Allura, and especially Keith:
[Season 1, Episode 4: the Fall of the Castle of Lions, 09:38]
Keith at this point hasn’t found his mom, and Pidge was just saying that Allura would do the same thing if it meant that she could have her father back, to which Allura didn’t respond, because she agreed. This is crushing to them especially, because they are the only ones without a family, which is a sore spot for them.
The episode is titled “The Fall of the Castle of Lions”, which has a double meaning. It is the fall of the castle because Sendak takes over, but it is also the team falling apart, as Allura says. This is further emphasised by the episode ending with everyone split up, and tellingly, Keith and Allura are paired, shut out from the castle and literally separated from everyone else on the team, their found family:
[Season 1, Episode 4: the Fall of the Castle of Lions, 17:55]
They show a frame of Lance and Shiro before showing Keith and Allura, separated from them by a barrier (and it’s interesting that they are also positioned exactly like them, Lance and Keith to the left, and Allura and Shiro to the right… more on that later).
So, the episode is meant to be a metaphor for their found family dynamic. The conflict starts when Pidge decides to leave them in favor of finding her biological family, choosing them over her new found family. But it is also resolved by Pidge, when she decides against leaving, letting Keith and Allura back inside to the others after she sabotages the take off. It is her sabotage that enables the mice to remove the particle barrier that separated Keith and Allura from the others. This symbolizes how her decision to stay removes the barrier that keeps them from becoming a family, and this is emphasised when she calls team Voltron like family. It is why Pidge saying this specifically to Allura and Keith is so important, because they are the ones without a family.
Again, this is meant to be a metaphor for how Team Voltron is like a makeshift found family, in which they have to choose each other over their biological family, which is essentially what Pidge does at the end of the episode. But the thing is, it doesn’t stay that way, and it can’t. Pidge’s whole arc is about finding her biological family, and Keith has a recurring one, too, which culminates in the Blade of Marmora episode in season 2, and again in the Season 5 finale, where he finds his mom. And, just as Allura said, once everyone gets back to Earth, they all go back to their biological families, including Keith. All except Allura and Shiro.
In ATLA, Aang’s arc is also about finding a new family, and showing them the devotion that families have. In fact, Aang goes through something similar to Allura, in the episode with Bato, where Aang feels separated from Katara and Sokka once they reconnect with someone from their tribe.
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 15: Bato of the Water Tribe, 05:44]
And the episode's conflict is about how Aang is scared that they will choose their biological family over him, their found family,
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 15: Bato of the Water Tribe, 08:07]
which they do at first, but later they change their mind, choosing to stay with Aang, just like Pidge. But unlike with Voltron, it stays that way, with Sokka and Katara choosing Aang over and over again.
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 15: Bato of the Water Tribe, 08:20]
[ATLA, Book Two: Earth, Episode 19: The Guru, 21:27]
[ATLA, Book Three: Fire, Episode 1: The Awakening, 17:15 ; 22:41]
[ATLA, Book Three: Fire, Episode 11: The Day of the Black Sun II, 20:24]
[ATLA, Book Three: Fire, Episode 21: Sozin’s Comet IV - Avatar Aang, 21:17]
So, Aang succeeds in his arc, because the people he finds find family in him in return.
This fulfills the Chosen Family trope as stated by the TV Tropes Page:
If this was a true found family story, Pidge’s family should have died and/or gotten lost forever, Keith shouldn’t ever have found his mom, and the team should’ve never gone back to Earth, or they should’ve gone back after everyone is dead. But this doesn’t happen at all. None of the paladins choose Allura and Coran over their own families.
Remember, JDS, LM and Tim Hedrick all worked on ATLA, and thus they know how to tell a found family story. So why are they struggling here? Well, I don’t think they’re struggling at all, I think this was intentional, because it also manifests through each of their arcs.
Character Arcs
From the moment the series begins, it establishes the ultimate character arc that each character will eventually face throughout the show. It is introduced with their characters. For Pidge it’s her family, for Shiro it’s his legacy, for Keith it’s his abandonment issues, for Allura it’s Altea and Altean people, for Hunk it’s possibly overcoming his fear and stepping up as a paladin, but it’s a bit vague, and for Lance it’s his sexuality/love-life and his self-worth. These are paid off more or less, with some obvious exceptions.
Pidge’s arc is about finding her biological family, which she does without much help from the others. In fact, none of them really help her in any way. Her arc definitely is not fulfilled by anyone on the team, because her arc is an antithesis to them. In fact, she was planning on running away to find them herself, deeming her time with Voltron less important than finding her family.
[Season 1, Episode 4: the Fall of the Castle of Lions, 10:30]
Pidge’s arc is more or less fulfilled when she finds Matt in season 4, or otherwise when she gets her dad back, in season 5.
Likewise, Hunk’s arc of overcoming his fear and embracing his role as a paladin isn’t fulfilled by anyone but himself. He receives help from Keith in season 7 as a nod to how Hunk helped Keith with his Galra arc. But otherwise, it could have been anyone helping Hunk, just as it could have been anyone helping Keith, and Hunk would get the same out of it. He would save his family, and gain more confidence as a paladin of Voltron, overcoming his fear and embracing his role as a soldier.
Notice how none of their arcs really relate to each other. They aren’t fulfilled by each other, and they aren’t meant to. The only arcs that relate to anyone else on the team is Shiro, Keith and Lance’s arcs.
Shiro’s legacy arc ties into Keith’s mini-arc of accepting a leader-role and inheriting his legacy. Even when they brought him back for s3-6, Shiro’s clone arc was still tied to Keith’s mini-arc of ascending to the Black Lion. Shiro’s arc is dependent on Keith and is fulfilled by him.
But, if this was a found family story, shouldn’t they all have been involved in this arc? On my first rewatch back in January 2019, that was exactly how I felt. I couldn’t finish the Black Paladins episode, and effectively swore off the show since, because I felt very strongly that the whole team should have been involved in the resolution of that arc, finally establishing them once and for all as a found family. So much so that I wrote a whole found family fic over the course of the next 4 years, finished finally early last year. But again, at this time, I was working under some preconceived notions of the intention of the writers and producers, and I was viewing this scene with a found family lens. I used this strong feeling, this denial of a found family, as evidence of bad writing.
But I was wrong. There is a reason only Keith is involved in the Kuron arc. Firstly because Kuron’s arc isn’t actually about saving Shiro, it’s about letting go of him (I’ll get to that in a bit), and inheriting his legacy, which only Keith can do, since he is who Shiro meant to inherit it. Secondly, because this is a found family only between Keith and Shiro.
Let’s examine how well they all actually know Shiro. Well, as pointed out by this very observant post [4], it isn’t a lot.
In season 3, when everyone tries to comfort Keith by talking about what Shiro means to them, it kinda falls flat, because they come with a bunch of reasons that sound a bit shallow.
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 21:58]
None of their experiences compare to what Shiro means to Keith, because they’re all impersonal. Shiro to Keith is the only one who looked past all his walls and took a chance on him as a kid, fostering him into a better version of himself, or at least trying to. At this point in the series, Shiro is the one person in his whole life that he has known the longest. Think about how much that speaks volumes about what Keith thinks of Shiro. Keith hasn’t had a stable presence in his life like that since his dad died. No wonder he never gives up on him, because at this point, Shiro is the only one he has in his life. After a lifetime of being alone, cast away, rejected and people leaving him, at this point in time, Shiro is the one person whose presence was the most stable.
So, when the others come with all these shallow reasons, like flight tips and being a legend… though they mean well, it just doesn’t compare at all. The show simply hasn’t shown us any other more meaningful interactions between all of the paladins and Shiro, so of course they don’t know him as well as Keith does, and therefore, they can’t come up with anything deeper than this.
This is the strongest evidence for why Voltron isn’t a found family story, because the team don’t know each other well enough to consider each other family. Shiro and Keith are the only ones who are actually like family, with Keith frequently calling Shiro his brother.
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 15:46]
[Season 6, Episode 5: The Black Paladins, 19:55]
I mean, Shiro is literally wearing his dad’s clothes and literally looks exactly like Keith’s dad, so, like, it couldn’t be more obvious. We are meant to connect Shiro to Keith’s family. Now, a found family doesn’t have to be a 1:1 family dynamic, in which there is a dad, a mom, and siblings, but rather, I think the point is to show characters who aren’t blood have the same devotion to each other as family members do. And Shiro and Keith are the only ones who show any kind of devotion to each other, or at least, Keith shows a lot of devotion to Shiro, saving him and choosing him as his family, again and again, never giving up on him.
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 10:15]
[Season 6, Episode 5: The Black Paladins, 03:31]
Okay… now why am I saying Kuron’s arc isn’t about saving Shiro, but letting go of him? Well…
I don’t think Shiro was supposed to be saved by Keith at the end of their fight. I think actually he was going to die. For good.
The Black Paladins episode is basically a reprise of Keith’s arc in season 3, which was about Keith letting go of Shiro and accepting his loss in order to ascend to the Black Lion fully. The screencaps above do a pretty good job of showing you this parallel between seasons, even though all I did was screenshot the frames. Keith says almost the exact same thing, at almost the exact same time, right before he initiates his arc. Keith, similar to in season 3, is readjusting to his new role in Voltron in season 6. He is the only one who makes it through to the other side of the wormhole, again, because this is Keith’s arc, it is not related to any of the other characters in the same way, as I’ve already argued. Keith is the only one who refused to let go of Shiro in season 3, so he is the one who has to accept his loss.
At the end of the fight, we have Keith dangling on the edge of his knife, the only point of contact that keeps him from oblivion. He is holding on for dear life, both his knife and onto Shiro’s arm.
And right after this, Keith starts getting flashbacks of how he met Shiro.
He looks incredibly sad, but resigned, and as they fall together, he sees Shiro lifeless underneath him, his expression changing, as if he realizes something. He closes his eyes, and the screen fades to white.
What vibe do you get from watching this? Doesn’t it look like he’s about to let go???? Doesn’t it look like he’s accepted his loss???
The following episode's title is further proof, because it tells us the original purpose of this arc. The full saying of “All Good Things” is, “All good things must come to an end,” which suggests that Keith’s relationship to Shiro must end here… I think the scene in the Astral Plane was supposed to be the last we see of Shiro, because he confirms that he died. I think this scene was meant to be their final goodbye
Keith’s arc in season 3 wasn’t fulfilled because he never let go of Shiro. He never accepted his loss. He found him and he brought him back, which is why he didn’t fully ascend to the Black Lion, because he was then swapped with Shiro. That’s why this is a reprise, because Keith was meant to let go. It was foreshadowed by Shiro wearing Keith’s dad’s clothes and looking exactly like him, because he was meant to parallel him in his death.
And it’s further foreshadowed by Keith running after Shiro, and meeting his dead father in a vision the Blade of Marmora gives him. Here, he accepts his Dad’s death and wishes him goodbye:
[season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 16:16]
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 18:31]
When they save Slav, he says this, which foreshadows Shiro’s death again:
[Season 2, Episode 10: Escape From Beta Traz, 09:43]
In Season 3, Shiro’s doppelganger, Sven, gets shot and is implied to die:
[Season 3, Episode 4: A Hole in the Sky, 19:22]
And in Season 6, Shiro’s alter ego in the Monsters and Mana game dies…
[Season 6, Episode 3: Monsters and Mana, 08:38]
[Season 6, Episode 3: Monsters and Mana, 16:13]
TWICE.
So, Keith was meant to accept his loss and let go of Shiro, finally fulfilling his mini-arc of accepting his role within Voltron, inheriting Shiro’s legacy. But that never happens.
I got actual chills when I rewatched their fight, because I haven’t watched it since 2019, when I started on my fic, None Walk the Earth, which was a direct response to the very strong feelings of mine that everyone should have been involved in this fight. But I was wrong, as I’ve already mentioned, because this is Keith’s arc. The point was never to save him. The point was to let him go.
Actually, this supports why this isn’t a found family story either way, even between Shiro and Keith, because if Shiro was supposed to die, then Keith loses his found family. And if Shiro wasn’t supposed to die, this still isn’t a found family story, even between just Shiro and Keith, because Keith found his mother. Krolia is the antithesis to a found family, so if this was supposed to be a found family arc between them, Keith shouldn’t have chosen her. In fact, in season 2, Keith has this exact arc, of choosing to go back to Voltron and his found family (having run after Shiro), over staying with his biological Father in the vision, and knowing where he came from and who his mother is:
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 17:12 ; 21:08]
But, interestingly, this arc is reversed, already as soon as season 2 episode 11:
[Season 2, Episode 11: Stayin’ Alive, 22:16]
“I guess I could look for [my family].” Didn’t he just choose not to know? Wasn’t that the whole point of his arc in that episode ?? And it’s reversed again, when Keith finds his mother at the end of season 5, and connects with her in season 6. Here, he chooses his biological mom over his found family, Voltron. And it is all the more made clear, when they are all out in space, and Keith says this:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 18:30]
Friends. Not family. Keith at this point has found his mom, so of course, Voltron no longer fulfills this family need in him, because he got his mom back.
So much for ‘family of choice’, am I right?
It isn’t a coincidence that Shiro and Keith’s fight happens right after he finds his biological mom and has connected to her. Keith finding his mom and reconnecting with her clashes with his relationship with Shiro as his guardian and mentor, and implies that Shiro was meant to be replaced with her. And it’s emphasised when Krolia thanks Shiro for raising him, kind of implying that she’ll take it from here:
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 07:23]
That speaks massively against any family of choice, because the one person who has some semblance of a found family, loses it, again and again, and was meant to lose it permanently. I mean, Shiro is in a literal coffin at the start of Season 7, for christ’s sake [pointed out by vldunchartedregions, 9], I don’t think they could have made it any more clear.
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 04:35]
And I find it especially telling, that right after Keith says he’ll stay with Shiro, they linger on a shot of Krolia smiling at Keith.
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 05:51]
uhhhh, what were they trying to say with this? Well, I think they were trying to tell us that Keith isn’t alone if he loses Shiro, because he has Krolia, his mother. And if Shiro doesn’t die, and he survives… then what is the point of Keith finding his mom? In a found family arc, you have to choose one over the other, but Keith never does, because both choices keep leaving him.
Let’s rewind and examine Keith’s arc. Forget for a second everything I've just said about the Black Paladins episode. At first glance, you may say that Keith’s arc is fulfilled by Shiro. He saves Shiro again and resolves his abandonment issues. But Keith already has these issues when we start the show, even though he knows Shiro and has known him for years, so why is this still a problem for him? If it was truly supposed to be resolved by Shiro, wouldn’t Keith have already been that person, the person who has resolved his abandonment issues, when we see him the first time?
Well, it can’t be fulfilled by Shiro, because he’s not a stable presence in Keith’s life. He still has those issues when we meet him for the first time, because Shiro disappeared in the Kerberos Mission. And we find out in season 7, that even if he doesn’t go on the mission, he’ll die of his disease. In fact, Shiro disappears from him multiple times throughout the show, triggering his abandonment issues again and again, forgetting for a moment that he wasn’t even supposed to come back after season 2, nor season 6 for that matter. This is something Keith confirms out loud in Season 7:
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 21:59]
Keith was always supposed to lose him. So… If this is a found family story, it seems an odd choice to have Keith’s arc unfulfilled, because Shiro keeps disappearing, and his arc is seemingly fulfilled by his biological mom, the antithesis of a chosen family.
But is it actually fulfilled by his mom?
Well, no, because she is the source of his issues to begin with,
“Maybe… I’m naturally untrusting because my mom left me? and so instead of accepting people into my life, I push them away before they reject me. I guess I have some walls up.”
[24, Keith’s vlog, 2:36].
and she is also not a stable presence in his life:
[Season 7, Episode 5: The Ruins, 21:31]
When Krolia decides to leave Team Voltron, they zoom in on Keith, because he is clearly affected by her decision. This is a direct parallel to when she left him the first time, after he was born. She is making the same choice as she did back then, leaving Keith behind to fight with the Blade of Marmora. We are meant to think, “oh, she is abandoning him again.” which is probably what Keith is thinking here. He looks kinda… hurt.
And she knows it, because she doesn’t even look at him when she makes the decision until she says this:
[Season 7, Episode 5: The Ruins, 22:04]
It’s a direct parallel.
But what I find curious though is that this seems to be a complete contrast to what she said in Season 5:
[Season 5, Episode 5: Bloodlines, 10:02]
AND in the Quantum Abyss. There, Keith said the same thing, that she left because she put the mission above everything else, but Krolia refuted this, saying that the truth is she left to protect the one she loved most: Keith.
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 18:30]
But here… that’s not what she’s doing. If she wanted to protect Keith, she would stay with him, just as she promised to do. And I think she was meant to, had Shiro died. But Shiro doesn’t die, so Krolia chooses the mission, puts the mission above all else. Krolia has gotta go.
Keith’s arc of letting go goes to Krolia instead, because he wishes her goodbye and then gives her the Marmora knife he’s had since the beginning, which is his only connection to her.
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 15:31]
[Season 7, Episode 5: The Ruins, 22:10]
He accepts here that she isn’t a stable presence in his life, and she probably never will be. He’s letting go of her. And it’s not a coincidence that it’s Shiro who calls him away.
So, this serves to establish Krolia as another unstable presence in his life, someone who also keeps leaving him, again and again, just like Shiro. And in fact, this is supported by the very next episode: The Journey Within.
Directly after Hunk talks about quitting, the camera zooms in on Keith gritting his teeth and looking really angry, right before they are “attacked” by a red cloud. The red lighting in the cloud snakes around their feet, pulling them away from each other. This is a manifestation of Keith’s fears, and a direct callback to Season 1, Episode 4: The Fall of the Castle of Lions. Just like in Season 1, someone from Team Voltron talking about quitting triggers his abandonment issues.
First, compare Keith’s expression here to his expression in Season 1, Episode 4:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 12:30]
[Season 1, Episode 4: The Fall of the Castle of Lions, 10:07]
Second, both times Hunk is the one talking about quitting right before Keith snaps.
Third, Pidge is the first to be caught by the red lightning, which parallels her being the first person to leave in season 1:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 12:35]
[Season 1, Episode 4: The Fall of the Castle of Lions, 10:10]
Fourth, Pidge is the one to fly back up to Keith, keeping him from flying off, after the cloud disappears, alluding to Pidge’s decision to stay with Team Voltron:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 13:06]
[Season 1, Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera, 22:38]
And we know that this is a manifestation of Keith’s fears, because when he mentions it, no one knows what he’s talking about. They didn’t see the red cloud, pulling them all apart. Only Keith did, meaning it’s all in Keith’s head.
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 13:11]
This is the episode right after Krolia leaves, which means that Keith’s abandonment issue is still that. An issue. The episode’s title, the Journey Within, refers to the journey the paladins each still have to make before growing fully. For Keith, here, it’s clearly about his abandonment issues. He is still scared inside that people will leave him.
That means Keith’s arc still isn’t fulfilled at all, because he still has this fear, and the people who at first glance seem to fulfill it, don’t fulfill it at all. I believe that this is why Keith and Krolia’s time on the space whale was glossed over, and that we didn’t see that development, because we weren’t meant to. The point of that wasn’t the fulfillment of Keith’s family arc, because this isn’t a found family story. Keith’s arc isn’t about either of them. It isn’t about a found family or even biological family. It is about another type of family: a partner.
Keith’s arc has to be fulfilled by someone who’s been by his side through the whole series, showing through actions (which is how Keith recognises most intentions) that there is someone who will never leave his side, a stable source of strength and comfort. And who do we know that’s stuck by Keith since the beginning?
(these are literally all taken just from the first 5 episodes bruh… they are constantly together)
Keith even confirms this himself, when he says this:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 15:06]
Actually, I would argue that his acceptance in letting other people in started with Lance, because Lance talks to him more than the others do, as pointed out by this analysis [5]. And JDS and LM confirm that Lance is Keith’s stability in the 2017 NYCC Voltron Panel, which was before the release of season 4. [18]
We know that this is true, because Keith never has to fight for Lance to stay with him, Lance does so automatically, even when Keith tries to push him away.
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:09]
Which is very interesting. When Keith comes back to the team, he immediately yells at Lance that he doesn’t have time for him, refusing a hug, which seems a bit out of character, considering Keith’s massive soft spot for Lance. It almost seems like he’s pushing him away, right? Well, what did Keith say again about pushing people away?
“I push them away before they reject me. I guess I have some walls up.”
[24, Keith’s vlog, 2:36].
Huh. Why is Keith afraid of Lance rejecting him? Last he saw Lance, Lance hugged him goodbye, jokingly asking who he was going to make fun of now, indirectly saying that he will miss his presence. He didn’t say “Good luck out there” or “Good riddance,” or anything like that, he made a direct comment about Keith’s presence in relation to himself. So, why is Keith acting like Lance has rejected him somehow? Lance is even relieved to see Keith again, when Keith takes contact to the castle after fighting Shiro:
[Season 6, Episode 6: All Good Things, 06:04]
(And this is right after he and Allura hug btw… also note the contrast between Allura and Lance’s expressions. Lance looks much happier to see Keith than Allura does, even though they both sent him through that wormhole…)
So, what’s going on here? Why does Keith think Lance is rejecting him? Well… when do we see Keith getting moody in relation to Lance? When he’s flirting with girls, and especially Allura:
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 02:17]
[Season 2, Episode 3: Shiro’s Escape, 12:45]
But… Keith has been gone for two seasons… When would he have seen Lance act any way towards Allura?
Well…we know that Keith can see the past of the people he’s with in the Quantum Abyss, since that’s how he knows why Krolia left, and how he connects with her. But we also know that he can see the future, because he sees a vision of his fight with Shiro, which comes true three episodes later.
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 07:35]
and we have this very telling expression from Keith, when he comes back:
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:32]
This is a bit harder to show through a gif, so I urge you to watch the episode for yourself, and notice how the instant Lance says Allura’s name, Keith’s expression sours. And I mean the literal instant.
So, maybe Keith saw something else in the Quantum Abyss, before he landed on the colony, which is why he responds to Lance so harshly here. Something probably related to Lance and his feelings for Allura, something he might have misunderstood, driving them further apart. This is suggested throughout the whole episode, because while Keith is having visions of the past and the future, they keep cutting back to Lance, who’s dealing with his feelings for Allura:
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 12:34]
Now, why would they choose to cut back to Lance struggling with his feelings for Allura, instead of cutting back to whatever Allura and Lotor are doing, which is more important for the plot? Why did they choose to link the episode like this? Well, because it was meant to link Keith’s journey in the Quantum Abyss with Lance’s love-life. But why?
Well, I think it was meant to foreshadow the culmination of their arcs… It was meant to foreshadow the reveal that Keith saw Lance in the Quantum Abyss and will think that Lance doesn’t reciprocate his feelings for him, because he’s in love with Allura.
And I have proof. Let’s look at their sunset scene in Season 8, Episode 1, Launch Date:
Keith congratulates Lance on getting a date with Allura,
To which Lance smiles for the first time:
Then, Lance responds with this:
That checks, he’s wearing the same expression he usually wears when he’s feeling insecure about himself:
He’s feeling very insecure about his date with Allura. And Keith recognises that, because he immediately tries to reassure Lance:
That also checks, because Keith is the only one who knows that Lance has insecurities about not being good enough. He might think here that Lance thinking he’s not a good enough paladin is bleeding into his feelings about not being good enough for Allura (which is correct), so everything checks out here.
And they talk a little bit about the sunset and leaving Earth and ending the war… and then Keith says this:
Hey Keith… weren’t you just talking about ending a war?? Why are you lifting him up again, you already did that? And what you’re saying sounds… very familiar. why are you mentioning specific points of his insecurities…? That Lance talked about with the mice ????
HELLO ???? he’s literally responding directly to what Lance told the mice in season 6. It’s so uncanny there’s no way it’s a coincidence. This is proof that Keith saw Lance confessing to the mice in the Quantum Abyss. That’s why Razor’s Edge was paired like that. Keith knows exactly what to say here, because Keith saw Lance say these things to the mice!
Directly after this scene, we cut to Lance’s date with Allura. Notice how the whole episode is about Lance’s date with Allura. The episode lays the foundation for the beginning of the culmination of both their love arcs. Keith thinks he’s lost Lance to Allura, but he is proven wrong when Lance chooses him. And in fact we already have an instance of Lance choosing Keith over Allura:
[Season 7, Episode 4: The Feud!, 19:59]
This would align well with their already frequent miscommunication problems as well, and would set up for the culmination of both of their arcs, in which they confess their feelings for each other. Which sounds… very much like a love story.
So, we can pretty confidently say that no matter what, Keith’s arc is meant to be fulfilled by Lance, because Lance is meant to break the cycle of people leaving Keith’s life, by choosing him and staying with him.
What about Lance? Lance’s arc is his love-life and self-worth, which tie in together. At first glance some may say that his arc is fulfilled by Allura as well. But once you look a bit closer, you realize that it isn’t, because she doesn’t counter his insecurities, actually she’s one of the sources of it.
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 13:11]
Look at him. He looks so angry and hurt when he talks about his feelings for her. Even when he talks about how amazing she is, he looks almost sarcastic, like he’s an idiot for even having these feelings in the first place. Why doesn’t he look the same way he did when he talked about the Future Mrs. Blue Lion?
[Season 2 Episode 2: The Depths, 04:38]
Lance doesn’t feel good enough for her, and it feeds into his lack of self-worth and his uncertainty about his place in the world. I’m not saying that it’s Allura’s job to reassure him, nor do I think she really can, because I think Lance recognises on some level that they aren’t meant to be together, but he’s in denial about it. Look at his face on their date together:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 19:00]
I’ve never seen Lance look so sad. He just confessed his love for her, but he looks like he’s heartbroken! Just like when he confessed his feelings to the mice. Clearly, confessing to her, and promising to be her family doesn’t make him feel good about himself. I think he knows deep inside that Allura doesn’t feel the same way he does about her. This is why he’s convinced that she won’t take him seriously when he does confess. And it turns out to be true, because Allura never says that she loves him, too. She never reassures him about her feelings for him. The only time she says something slightly romantic, it was about the whole team, calling them all her strength.
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 19:37]
He looks unhappy, again, when she says this, because it isn’t about him! Her calling team Voltron her strength doesn’t actually have anything to do with Lance, specifically. He still doesn’t feel good enough for her, because she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.
You know who does help him feel good about himself, though?
[The Paladin’s Handbook, Lance’s Story]
“Once I accepted Keith as the new leader of Voltron, something amazing happened.”
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 06:29]
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 15:10]
“And we’re going to do it with the Lance that’s the paladin of the Red Lion. The Lance that’s always got my back. And the Lance who knows exactly who he is and what he’s got to offer.”
When Keith compliments Lance, he says things specifically about Lance and his qualities (and things relating to himself…like the Red Lion… and having his back… Keith, you ain’t slick, I see you).
Keith makes Lance feel good about himself, judging by the fond smile Lance gives him after his speech. And Lance calls accepting Keith as the new leader amazing, because this was the time when Keith really listened to Lance, and they lead Voltron together, becoming a “really good team”, as Lance said in season 1.
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 09:52 ; 12:51; 14:49]
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 15:09]
But this changes when Keith decides to leave. Actually, let’s bring that back for a second. Let’s examine what exactly, and who, Keith’s decision impacts. What does it change?
Well, first of all, it impacts Keith’s presence, in-universe and meta-wise. He’s literally withdrawing as a character, effectively cutting his own screen-time. He isn’t around as much. That’s one change.
Second of all, Keith catalyses another “changing of the guard”, but not on a scale as big as season 3, when Shiro disappeared, because Lance is still in the Red Lion and Allura is still in the Blue Lion. The only one who’s been swapped is Keith with Shiro.
Okay… how does this impact the others, this change of who pilots the Black Lion?
Shiro doesn’t really seem to miss him when he’s gone, the person with arguably the strongest bond with him. And nothing really changes for anyone. Pidge continues her search for her family. Lotor joins Voltron, but that has nothing to do with Keith. Neither do the others, for that matter. In fact, his decision doesn’t really seem to change any of them in any way. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s just that his decision doesn’t really have anything to do with any of them, because they have Shiro to replace him. No one really seems that affected by it. Well, except for one person:
[Season 4, Episode 3: Black Site, 13:54]
Lance. Wow. Now that’s an interesting choice. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Let’s look again at how Lance reacts to Keith’s decision.
[Season 4 Episode 1, Code of Honor, 22:30]
Look at his face here. Doesn’t he look a little panicked? Almost like he’s about to cry? Feel free to call me delusional, though. But I do think there is a little bit like panic in his eyes. Compare it to this expression he made in the pilot episode.
[Season 1 Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 05:05]
It matches almost exactly, all he’s missing is the frown that he’s replaced with a forced smile.
Hmm… so Lance is unhappy, maybe even a little bit hurt, about Keith’s decision to leave, which is confirmed by himself in season 7:
[Season 7, episode 6: The Journey Within, 14:18]
Allura was the first one to bring it up in the episode, which makes sense since it’s a sore point for her. She is an orphan, so like Keith she is very sensitive to people leaving her. But why does Lance react this way, as the only other one? Lance has a family, so we know it’s not because of that. So, why does this affect Lance so much? Well, let’s look at what Shiro coming back changes for Lance.
He is not listened to, and is often dismissed:
[Season 4, Episode 6: A New Defender, 09:20]
[Season 5, Episode 3: Postmortem, 3:51]
Oof, that has to sting, especially on the back of just being Keith’s right hand, who always listened to him. and here…
[Season 5, Episode 3: Postmortem, 4:32]
But none of this has happened yet, when Keith decides to leave. It’s not like Lance was sad but understanding of Keith and then later grew to resent it, once he saw what it meant for his own role in Voltron. He was kinda panicked from the beginning. So, his unhappiness doesn’t have anything to do with the consequences of Keith’s decision, but more so Keith’s decision itself.
Notice what exactly Lance says here, in season 7:
[Season 7, episode 6: The Journey Within, 14:18]
Compare to what Allura says, “seeing as how you left us.” Left as in abandon. Again, makes sense for her character, because she sees Voltron as her family, including Keith and she is very sensitive to these kinds of things. Keith leaving translates to abandonment for her.
But what Lance says is similar, and also different at the same time. “You ran away.” not “You put us in danger” or anything relating to Shiro being a clone, or Lotor for that matter. He says, “ran away.” Well, ran away from what, exactly? We know that this isn’t about Voltron being a family to him, like it is for Allura, because he has a family back on Earth that he loves very much. So, what did Keith run away from? His role as the head of Voltron? If Lance was honest with himself, he’d realize that Keith was less than a good leader to his team, in fact he told Keith himself that he is splitting the team, literally in season 3, when Keith’s one-track-mindedness gets them all trapped and separated.
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 09:52]
He’d realize that Keith’s decision to leave isn’t unfounded, since Shiro is the better leader. And he said it himself, in Keith’s bedroom. He assumed that Shiro would go back to the Black Lion because it’s the obvious choice.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 05:48]
So, why is he so upset about it? If it’s not about Keith’s leadership skills, and it’s not about Voltron, then what is it about?
Well, it’s about Lance. Keith ran away from him.
While Keith was the pilot of the Black Lion, the team was more or less co-lead between Keith and Lance.
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 10:15]
Keith listened to Lance, as the only one might I add, and took his opinions into account:
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 01:28 ; 06:16 ; 07:46 ; 08:03 ; 08:22]
contrasted with:
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 09:52 ; 12:51 ; 14:49]
This made Lance feel more important, and gain more confidence, and it made him rely on Keith more as well, as seen when Lance comes to Keith’s room to talk about his worries.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 05:27]
Lance is being incredibly vulnerable here, confessing to Keith something he has never confessed to anyone else, not even Hunk, whom he has known the longest. Lance is putting a lot of trust in Keith, and seems to understand that they are in this together on some level.
And in fact, Lance is frequently the one to object to Keith showing up late, or volunteering for Blade missions:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 06:02 ; 08:06 ; 09:08 ; 18:50]
So, when Keith decides to leave in season 4… Well, of course Lance is hurt! He's losing his partner! Perhaps even his best friend, his confidante. Which is why he says this:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 14:48]
“Just drift off by yourself, Mr. Lone Wolf.” Lance thinks Keith leaving means that he didn’t value their partnership, which is the opposite of the truth. But he is clearly very hurt by his decision, and in fact, once Keith leaves, Lance becomes more and more isolated, having no one to rely on:
[Season 4, Episode 3: Black Site, 13:54]
Here, Lance is seen playing video games by himself, something he used to do with Pidge.
[The Paladin's Handbook, Lance's Story]
This is already soon after Keith left, and in this episode, Pidge is showing her brother, Matt, around the castle, with Hunk as company (another instance of biological family being chosen over found family…)
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 13:11]
And here, Lance is shown talking about his feelings for Allura with the mice. Right before this, we saw him try to open up to Hunk and Pidge, but they didn’t take him seriously, nor did they really listen to him or help him in any way, opting instead to make fun of him. Lance was being vulnerable with them, but in contrast to what we saw when he was being vulnerable with Keith, neither Hunk nor Pidge take him seriously, which drives him to talk to the mice of all characters.
And look at this significant page from Lance’s story:
[The Paladin’s Handbook, Lance’s Story]
We know approximately when this book would tie-in to the series, since Lance talks about piloting the Red Lion and accepting Keith as the leader, but he doesn’t mention Lotor or the fact that Keith left. So, he must have written this sometime during season 3, but before Keith finds Shiro.
Here he says, “I’m more than just a boy from Cuba.”, which is contrasted with him saying the opposite in season 6, when he talks about his feelings for Allura.
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 13:33]
This implies that not only does Keith help Lance with his insecurities in season 3, but Keith’s absence makes him regress into his insecurities, since when Lance talks to the mice, it is before Keith comes back.
How interesting that the one decision Keith makes in the show impacts Lance out of everyone. And only Lance. Because it is meant to tie into Lance’s self-worth arc. When Keith decides to leave, Lance loses his confidence. This effectively links Keith to Lance’s self-worth, and it tells us that Lance’s arc is meant to be fulfilled by Keith.
So, what can we conclude? They aren’t in a found family story, because they all choose their biological families over their found family; the one found family on the show was meant to die permanently and was replaced by a biological family member; and finally none of Team Voltron’s arcs really relate to one another, except for Lance’s arc, which can only be fulfilled by Keith, and Keith’s arc which can only be fulfilled by Lance. So, if it isn’t a found family story, then what kind of story are they in?
IS VOLTRON A WAR STORY?
Voltron vs. ATLA
Worldbuilding
At first glance some will say that they are in a war story. Let’s compare it to an actual war story, perhaps the most famous one, ATLA.
In ATLA, the world building encompasses the whole world that is explored as Team Avatar travel to different locations, being very detailed in the villages and their norms and customs. For example, there is a very clear distinction between Haru’s village and the city of Ba Sing Se, even though they are both in the Earth Kingdom.
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 6: Imprisoned; Book Two: Earth, Episode 14: City Walls and Secrets]
Voltron follows a similar plot, in which the team travels from planet to planet, meeting different people and seeing the consequences of the Galra’s reign. In Season 1, Hunk meets Shay on the Balmera, who tells him that she’s never seen the sky, and that the Galra mine the Balmera for crystals without giving the Balmera anything back, parallelling the factory of the lake town in season 3 of ATLA, in its themes of pollution and overmining for resources:
[Voltron, Season 1, Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera, 08:10]
[ATLA, Book Three: Fire, Episode 3: The Painted Lady, 03:11]
They also meet the Olkari whose technology is being used for the gain of the Galra, again paralleling the Fire Nation using the technology of the scientist from the northern air temple in season 1.
[Season 2, Episode 4: Greening the Cube, 08:30]
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 17: The Northern Air Temple, 13:41]
Okay… so far so good.
In ATLA, the fire nation is more than a nation of soldiers. An example of this is the episode with Jet and the freedom fighters, where Sokka, perhaps the most anti-Fire-Nation character in the series, becomes suspicious of Jet after they ambush an old civilian man in Fire Nation clothes.
[ATLA, Book One: Water, Episode 10: Jet, 10:41]
This is meant to convey to us that prejudice based on a person’s appearance/origin is wrong, and is meant to humanise the fire nation, as well as put more nuance into resistance against the Fire Nation.
Another example is in the episode, the Headband, where we follow Aang as he experiences the life of a normal Fire Nation child, going to school and making friends. This informs us a lot about the lives of ordinary people, the ones who aren’t soldiers, and never will be.
[ATLA, Book Three: Fire, Episode 2: The Headband, 08:54]
But the same can’t be said about the Galra. Uh-oh, we’re starting to see some cracks. The Galra were never fleshed out as more than a war group/soldiers. We never see any children, nor anyone who isn’t a soldier. We also never see their home, culture or daily life. They don’t have a planet anymore, it being destroyed by the rift, but Zarkon talks about colonization as early as season 1, so they must have taken over at least one planet to put their sick, young and old, right? Well, if they did, we never see it. The most we see is in Season 3, episode 7: The Legend Begins, where we see what Daibazaal looked like before Zarkon and Haggar were corrupted by quintessence,
[Season 3, Episode 7: The Legend Begins, 03:28]
and after that we get an episode of Lotor’s nanny (sorry, governess) teaching Hunk the history of “Vrepit Sa” and some Galran culture, in season 6.
[Season 6, episode 1: Omega Shield, 04:51]
But aside from that…? there’s nothing. This information is also all told to us by Lotor’s nanny, which makes me believe that it was more of an effort to humanise and deepen Lotor’s backstory, than to provide a true nuanced view of the Galra. We have the Blade of Marmora to tell us that all Galra aren't evil, as well as Keith for that matter, but where are the people to tell us that all Galra aren’t soldiers? Aren’t part of a war group? Are ordinary people? They use the Olkari as scientists, but rarely do we see them have scientists of their own… and unlike in ATLA, we also don’t see any nuance in resistance against the Galra.
This has been a point of criticism for a long time with, again, people comparing it to ATLA, and initially, I agreed, but if we keep our good-faith hat on, let’s assume that this was intentional. What does this tell us? Well, it tells us that developing and humanizing the Galra and their way of life wasn’t a priority for anyone on the writing team.
Well, okay, so the world-building doesn’t live up to its preceding war-story. Maybe they decided to focus on the characters and tell a war story through one of their arcs, right?
Well… Let’s take a look at the people whose arcs are related to war in the first place.
Character arcs
Lotor
Okay. We have to talk about Lotor now, I can’t ignore him any longer, no matter how much I want to.
Remember when I said that he is Keith’s antagonist? Well, funnily enough, Keith never fights Lotor one on one, the same way Shiro did with Zarkon or Allura did with Haggar. So, Keith has an antagonist that he never ends up defeating. Almost like defeating him isn’t his purpose, isn’t going to fulfill any of his arcs, the same way it does for Korra or for Aang…
I think I remember reading somewhere that Lotor is a legacy character, just like Keith. From their original creation, they were always going to be paired as protagonist/antagonist, but what I find curious is that this was never used as a plot point in this iteration of Voltron. Keith never actually interacts with Lotor alone, and as I’ve already said, he never faces him in a battle either, one-on-one, like Aang does in ATLA or Korra does in LOK every season. Almost like Lotor isn’t Keith’s true antagonist in this series, and he isn’t meant to overcome him to fulfill his arc. And he isn’t, because none of his arcs relate to Lotor in any way, and neither do any of Lotor’s arcs relate to Keith for that matter.
Keith’s arc is about letting people into his life and holding on to them instead of pushing them away. Forgetting about Lance for a second, how is defeating Lotor supposed to fulfill this arc? Lotor isn’t a character who is manipulating Keith to push people away, as I said they never even interact one-on-one. Keith’s arc is internal not external. So, there’s no actions Keith has to perform in order to fulfill his arc, only self-reflection and personal growth which is fostered by his connection with other people.
Lotor’s arc is about breaking the cycle of abuse, which is symbolised through the Galra’s imperialism. Lotor wants to put an end to the quintessence harvesting that the Galra Empire has been doing since their reign began:
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 19:26]
How would defeating Keith fulfill this arc for him? Well, it wouldn’t. In fact he needs Keith’s, and by extension Voltron’s, help with fulfilling this arc, ending the cycle of abuse. Defeating Keith would therefore be the opposite of fulfilling his arc. I know he is a direct foil to Keith, and is supposed to be his antagonist, but that’s kinda where it stops, due to all the reasons I listed above. So, the same way Keith is kind of a lackluster main character, so too is Lotor a lackluster antagonist. But if Lotor doesn’t need to defeat Keith… and Keith doesn’t need to defeat Lotor. Then, is Lotor really an antagonist? No.
Lotor is a deuteragonist.
Similar to Lance, Lotor is introduced in his “debut” independently. He isn’t introduced through anyone. He is named by Haggar, when she talks about who should take over for Zarkon,
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 11:44]
But she doesn’t introduce him the same way Lance introduces the other characters in the series, as in, Haggar doesn’t interact with Lotor when he first appears on screen. When Lotor is revealed, he introduces himself to the whole arena, and to the audience, thus making his introduction independent.
Lotor also introduces a whole new cast through him, namely his generals, all half-Galra; Zethrid, Ezor, Acxa and Narti.
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 17:48]
In season 1 of ATLA, Zuko’s antagonist seemed to be Aang, the same way Aang’s antagonist seemed to be Zuko. But in the season 1 finale, we realize that this isn’t true. Aang’s true antagonist is Firelord Ozai and Zuko’s true antagonist is his sister, Azula. Season 1 finale is when Zuko becomes a true deuteragonist to Aang.
So, Lotor is a deuteragonist. But he isn’t a deuteragonist to Keith, because Keith doesn’t check enough boxes to undeniably be his deuteragonist, nor do their arcs intertwine. And by the time Keith fully becomes the “main character” after season 6, Lotor is no longer in the plot. And we know that Lotor serves more to oppose Lance in both of their feelings for Allura, which wasn’t a real opposition, because Allura never reciprocated Lance’s feelings. The person Lotor spends the most time with and aids the most is Allura, who helps him fulfill his arc.
Actually, his arc is very similar to Zuko’s arc in ATLA. Zuko’s arc was also about breaking the cycle of abuse, which was also symbolised through the Fire Nation’s imperialism, which is why, when he gains that clarity and resolve, he joins Team Avatar to stop his father, and his sister. Lotor does the same, in canon. He explains his plans to stop the Galra in their imperialism to Voltron and they join forces, bringing together the Galra and the Voltron alliance, the same way Zuko brings together the Fire Nation and the rest of the world.
Lotor also bears a lot of similarities to Zuko from ATLA, character-wise: both are princes of their respective imperialist empires, both were exiled, both have an absent mother, both have an abusive father, both seek to put an end to their nations reign, both interrupt a crowning ceremony only to win and be chosen, and both started out as a red-herring antagonist, but ended up joining forces with the protagonists team, becoming the deuteragonist.
BUT, if this was truly a war story, they would have followed ATLA’s footsteps and deepened the lore of the Galra from the beginning, just like ATLA did with the Fire Nation. AND they would have introduced Lotor much sooner. Again, JDS, LM and Tim Hedrick all worked on ATLA. They know how to write a war story effectively, and they could have done so here. Especially if they wanted to keep Lotor as a new member of the team, or a “new defender” as they dub him in the episode title of Season 4 Episode 6, which would parallel Zuko’s redemption arc.
But they didn’t. Why? because this isn’t about Lotor. Lotor is Keith’s direct foil, and parallels a lot with Zuko from ATLA, but unlike Zuko, Lotor never faces his antagonist (both fake and true) in a fight. Okay, ATLA also wasn’t about Zuko persay… Zuko was the deuteragonist to ATLA’s protagonist, Aang. Which brings me to the next section…
Allura
Allura’s individual arc seems to be about how she doesn’t have a family, but this isn’t fulfilled by anyone on the team, as we see Allura say in Season 8, episode 1:
“When we were out there, fighting against the Galra, I somehow felt like… Like we were a family. Each of us was alone, but we were alone together. But now, here on Earth, I see that everyone already has a family. Everyone except me.”
[Voltron, Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 19:02]
even though Lance tries, promising to be her family when he confesses to her:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 20:03]
But she doesn’t reciprocate nor does she accept him, because she doesn’t feel that way about him. The closest Allura has to a found family is in Coran, which is also only mentioned in Season 2, Episode 1, where she tells him that he is like a second father to her,
[Season 2, Episode 1: Across the Universe, 19:33]
And is only kinda brought up again in season 8, when Coran admonishes Lance for not asking for his blessing, as Allura’s primary guardian.
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 10:27]
But outside of that, it’s never mentioned. And as we’ve already discussed, no one from the team chooses Allura over their own families, so, Voltron isn’t about a found family, even for Allura. Is it then a war story?
Well, let’s see.
Allura’s individual arc is a direct consequence of her plot arc, namely that she is the last survivor of her people. Allura’s arc relates to the plot, more so than her personal growth and her personality, because when we meet her, she is already competent and confident, she already has the respect of her team, she pretty much knows what she’s doing from the get go, and she accepts her father’s legacy immediately. There isn’t really any personal emotional baggage with her as there is with Keith and Lance, or even Hunk for that matter, except for the fact that she is one of the only surviving members of her people, and that is about her people and culture more so than about her as an individual.
Altea and Altean people are used as a vehicle for plot progression throughout the series, and is tied into the arc of the deuteragonist, Lotor, whose arc is about breaking the cycle of abuse, since Altea was one of the victims of said abuse, symbolised through the Galra’s imperialism and genocide. Allura and Lotor connect through discovering more of Altean culture and knowledge, and the Altean colony is used as a plot device in s6-8. So, we have a running theme throughout the series of genocide and being the last one of your kind. Hmm… that sounds awfully familiar ?
[ATLA, Season 1, Episode 3: The Southern Air Temple, 16:07]
Allura’s arc is very similar to Aang’s, and she shares a lot of other similarities with him as well. They are both the lone survivor of their people, they are both awoken after a long period of time to fight in a war, which was a legacy left for both of them, they both possess a power that no one else does and both of their eyes/markings glow when they use it.
And just like how Aang’s arc ties into Zuko’s arc, Allura’s arc ties into Lotor’s arc.
Lotor is Allura’s deuteragonist.
Haggar is Allura’s antagonist, the same way Zarkon was Shiro’s antagonist. When Shiro dies, so does Zarkon and both are revived by Haggar in season 3. Look at Zarkon’s design here in season 4 & 5:
[Season 4, Episode 3: Black Site, 05:45]
[Season 5, Episode 1: The Prisoner, 21:52]
Doesn’t he look like a robeast? Yes. And Lotor confirms this for us in Season 5, Episode 2: Blood Duel
[Season 5, Episode 2: Blood Duel, 15:09]
Zarkon is a creation of Haggar here the same way Kuron is. They both actually died in season 2, but because Shiro was revived so was Zarkon, until Zarkon is killed by Lotor, who inherited his legacy and Shiro was supposed to have been let go by Lotor’s foil, Keith, who inherited Shiro’s legacy. Also notice here how Allura, Lotor and Haggar mirror Aang, Zuko and Ozai. Zuko is the son of Ozai who is Aang’s antagonist. Likewise, Lotor is the son of Haggar, who is Allura’s antagonist.
We know that ATLA is a war story, because it’s focused on its protagonist Aang and his deuteragonist Zuko and their intertwining arcs. And since Allura and Lotor are paralleled a lot with them, does that mean Voltron is a war story, too?
Well, you’d think so, because it looks a lot like it from season 3 onward. But as I’ve already argued, the worldbuilding simply doesn’t support the themes of a war story, as we see in ATLA. And neither does the focus of the story. Let’s examine this a bit closer.
Part of Aang’s arc was to accept the responsibility that he rejected in the beginning of the story, the responsibility of being the Avatar. For Allura, something similar would have accelerated her arc even more and made it more poignant. For example, coming to terms with piloting the same lion as her genocider, and her antagonist being Altean. If she had been chosen as the Black Paladin, not Keith.
[ATLA, Book Two: Earth, Episode 19: The Guru, 12:15]
Allura could have gone through an arc in which she had to accept being the new Black Paladin, coming to terms with sitting in the seat of her genocider, who hurt a lot of people, including her own, similar to what Aang is going through here in his story.
This would have tied in very well with her contrast with Haggar, too. Haggar’s arc is about not being able to let go of the past and accept her loss. How poetic would it be if she is defeated by Allura, who is, for all intents and purposes, a better version of herself. A version of herself who learned to let go of the past and move on, through piloting the Black Lion?
“You have, indeed, felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The Air Nomads’ love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and is reborn in the form of new love.”
[ATLA, Book Two: Earth, Episode 19: The Guru, 14:07]
Allura has also felt a great loss. But her acceptance and her love for her found family is what drives her to grow, and to succeed against her antagonist, Haggar, who doesn’t have any of those things.
So, if Voltron is a war story, why wasn’t Allura chosen as the Black Paladin? This is a question I’ve asked myself multiple times over the last few years. So much in fact, that I wrote a whole fanfiction about exploring what it takes to be chosen. Let’s rehash its description.
[season 1, episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 33:05]
“the decisive head of Voltron”
Now, who, besides Shiro, has been called decisive?
[Season 3 Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 05:27]
Interesting. Could be a coincidence, though. What else does it say? “A pilot who is a born leader” hmmm… I don’t know who else this description would— Wait what’s that?
[Season 7, Episode 4: The Feud, 19:40]
Wait a minute… The Black Lion’s description seems to fit Allura almost perfectly.
Okay, so Allura fits the description of the Black Paladin pretty well, almost exactly I would say. So why wasn’t she chosen? Well, I have an idea.
I think that Shiro’s bond with the Black Lion was so strong that it influenced the Black Lion to choose his successor. Let’s look at it together shall we?
First of all, Shiro actually ends up being one of the people who connect the most with his Lion, developing possibly the strongest bond in the whole series. He was the first paladin to bond with his lion enough to see through their eyes, already in Season 1 Episode 2, for the nose-dive exercise:
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 13:42]
The Black lion is also the first to rescue their paladin without a pilot
[Season 1 Episode 3: Return of the Gladiator, 12:04]
Shiro is the first paladin to unlock a new power in his lion, independently of Voltron.
[Season 1, Episode 7: Return to the Balmera, 04:33]
In season 2, the Black Lion only allowed Keith to fly it because Shiro was in danger.
[Season 2 episode 1: Across the Universe, 17:33]
The only point in which he struggled was when he had to fight Zarkon for the bond, who was the Black Lion’s original paladin, and thus had some residual connection to it. But the Black Lion chooses Shiro, in a fight between them, declaring Shiro as her true paladin.
[Season 2, Episode 7: Space Mall, 18:33]
And in fact, their bond was so strong, that when Shiro dies the Black Lion saves his essence into itself.
[Season 6 Episode 6: All Good Things, 02:23]
So they kinda become one entity, meaning that Shiro has significant influence over the Black Lion. I believe it is the combination of their essences that allowed Keith to lead Voltron for as long as he did, because otherwise, the Black Lion isn’t stupid. It knows that Keith doesn’t have any of the qualities needed to be the leader or to be its true paladin. Shiro confirms that he wants Keith to lead Voltron in season 2:
[Season 2, Episode 1: Across the Universe, 21:09]
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 04:51]
In fact, in the opening episode of season 3, Keith foreshadows Shiro and the Black Lion becoming one entity by saying this:
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 14:11]
AND foreshadowed again here:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 03:06]
And again, when Keith is chosen, he talks to the Black Lion as if it’s Shiro, and mentions specifically that this is what Shiro wanted, before he awakens it.
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 09:01]
Allura and Shiro share a lot of qualities and they are very alike personality wise. She would make a fantastic Black Paladin. She was already the co-leader since the start. There’s a reason people shipped her with Shiro in the first two seasons, because they were co-leaders (and also Allura acted a lot more mature in the first two seasons compared with season 3 onwards, but I can’t dive into that here this shits already long enough. I expand on this in the “extra analysis” page).
Shiro becoming an entity with the Black Lion and choosing Keith could be the reason, but it isn’t an entirely satisfying explanation. If they wanted Allura to take over for Shiro, why wasn't she, again, the main character? They had just finished off a show about a dark-skinned woman being the main character. Why didn’t they open on Allura?
Because this isn’t a war story.
Haggar becomes the new main antagonist in season 3, meaning Allura should have been the new protagonist. But she isn’t, because the focus was never on her. The season didn’t open on her, introducing her arc, nor does she check any of the boxes of a main character at any point in the series. We have a character who is perfect for a war story in Allura, but it’s never quite in focus, since Allura isn’t the main character.
Remember again that Allura is not a new character. She was introduced through Lance. Why would they give Aang’s arc to someone who isn’t the main character in a story about a war and the severe consequences of it? If it was truly about war, wouldn’t it have been more impactful if Allura was the main character, just like how Aang is the main character in ATLA? If we had started the series with her? and her journey of coming to terms with the state of the world, and her role in it?
Allura isn’t the focus of the story. She never was. Because this isn’t a war story. And this is further emphasised by the deeper meaning behind specifically the Black, Blue and Red Lions, due to what they mean to their paladins.
WHAT KIND OF STORY IS VOLTRON?
The Symbolism of the Lions
We have three lions that each have had at least two different paladins to pilot them. What do the Lions each mean for the characters?
The Black Lion
What does the Black Lion mean for Allura? Let’s look at what she says when she’s in there.
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 07:10]
Oh… she doesn’t say anything… That’s an incredibly interesting choice, seeing as this is the lion whose original paladin eradicated her planet. You would think she would have some feelings sitting in here. And yet, she doesn’t say anything. Interesting. We’ll come back to this later.
For Keith, the Black Lion represents Shiro and Shiro’s legacy. The Black Lion is not only the leader of Voltron, it is also Shiro’s seat. By accepting his role as the Black Paladin, Keith has to accept that Shiro is gone, which he clearly struggles with throughout the whole season, rejecting the role as much as he can.
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 14:14]
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 05:46]
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 09:01]
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 10:01]
But this moment is also incredibly important for Lance. For Lance, the Black Lion also represents Shiro’s legacy. Shiro was introduced first as Lance’s hero afterall, and it’s clear that Lance really wants to prove himself, calling his test in the Black Lion his ‘moment’:
[Season 3, episode 2: The Red Paladin, 08:19]
And when he fails to awaken it, he is very obviously hurt:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 08:40]
It’s interesting that the people who have known him the longest, Hunk and Pidge, look sad on his behalf. Almost as if they know what he really feels here.
This moment has a significant impact on Lance, because he already feels inferior to Keith, saying that Keith is always “trying to one-up” him:
[Season 1 Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 10:08]
So, when he sees Keith coming out of the Black Lion, having been chosen, he is very disappointed, but not surprised:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 09:49]
He’s probably thinking here, “Of course Keith was chosen. Just another example of him always being one step ahead.” That is, until Lance hears Keith reject the role. He realises that Keith doesn’t view the Black Lion as proof of superiority, and I think hearing Keith reject the role of the Black Paladin, saying that he can’t replace Shiro, is what he needed to set aside his ego, and realise that the Black Lion means more than just being the leader to Keith. He realises the loss Keith truly feels, because he starts by saying this:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 10:20]
“No one can replace Shiro.” Not “congratulations,” or “it is a great honor” or “I wish I was you”. Because he knows it isn’t any of that for Keith. Lance shows immense growth in this one scene, setting aside his own wants to help Keith ascend to the Black Lion and accept his loss.
I love that this episode is called the Red Paladin. It’s about the old Red Paladin, Keith, and his struggle to accept his new role in the face of his loss, and it is about the new Red Paladin, Lance, who steps up behind him, advancing and growing past his ego and his desire to prove himself to support Keith in accepting his loss and his new role. This episode truly is about them, and their roles in Voltron. Even though Allura also gets a lion in this episode. It could have easily had the title of the first episode, called “changing of the guard”, since this is the episode where they actually physically change their roles. But they didn’t, because this episode is about Keith and Lance, specifically, and their changing relationship.
Actually, this whole season is about them, and about how they start to overcome some of their insecurities and how they help each other with that. Here, Lance helps Keith accept his loss, and Keith in turn helps Lance feel important, listening to him and taking his advice:
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 09:52 ; 12:51 ; 14:49]
and again, reassuring him when Lance feels insecure:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 06:29]
I’m not saying Keith is only doing this because Lance helps him. I don’t think that’s the case. This analysis [5] explains pretty well Keith’s motivations here, and his general soft spot for Lance throughout the first three seasons.
But isn’t it interesting that such a pivotal point in the plot centers around them…? That this is the focus?
I believe this is also why Allura doesn’t say anything while she’s in the Black Lion, because this isn’t about her, even though it very easily could have. See here how Aang feels about learning the element of fire:
If this story truly was about war, this is the moment they would have chosen to really drive home that theme. But, again, Allura isn’t chosen to be the focus of the story, because they chose instead to focus on the changing relationship between Lance and Keith, and this is evident in what the Black Lion means to each of them.
The Blue Lion
The Blue Lion also has a connection to Lance, Keith and Allura. I’m starting to sense a pattern here…
Let’s start with Keith. He is the one who sensed the Blue Lion first, investigating it in the desert after getting booted from the Garrison. For Keith, the Blue Lion represents a new purpose during a time when he felt very aimless, Shiro having gone missing, and he having been kicked out of the Garrison.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 13:10]
So the Blue Lion is pretty significant for him, guiding him in a time when he felt lost. His importance to the Blue Lion and vice versa is emphasised when Lance unlocks the particle barrier, and Keith is the only other person in frame:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 16:56]
Okay, so the Blue Lion represents a new purpose for Keith.
What does it mean for Allura?
Allura was foreshadowed to pilot the Blue Lion, when Lance interrupts her. Though, I’d like to point out something curious here. Firstly, unlike for the other lions, the Blue Lion’s image is not presented here. Secondly, when the Blue Lion is brought up, only Allura is in frame
unlike for the Red Lion, which showed both Keith and Lance,
or the Black Lion, which showed both Shiro and Keith (and Lance…).
This only happens for Pidge and Hunk, who are the only people who never change their lions in the whole show.
Now that’s interesting as well. I know I say that a lot, but I am truly so intrigued by this choice. What were they trying to say with this?
We know that Lance doesn’t stay in the Blue Lion, relinquishing the role to Allura as foreshadowed here. But, how come there isn’t any image of the Blue Lion, as there was with the others? I think it’s because the Blue Lion doesn’t have a true paladin. Lance moves on to the Red Lion and Allura dies/becomes ethereal, she is meant for a “higher purpose” so to speak, so neither of them are the Lion’s true paladin. So who is?
Well, let’s look at what the actual description of the Blue Lion is. LM said this in an interview with Hypable [10]:
“but really the Blue Lion is kind of like the mother Lion. She looks for potential in a new pilot. Something to nurture and foster. And I think she saw that in Lance. She saw someone who needed confirmation that they were valuable to this team. Even though they didn’t believe it in themselves.”
Okay… that’s kinda vague. So, it’s just anybody with potential? Well, yes. The Blue Lion is a starter spot, fitting for someone who is on uncertain ground and needs to be nurtured and fostered to grow. “a new pilot”, LM says.
That describes Allura pretty well at her state of mind in the moment that she is chosen. She had just been rejected by the Red Lion, her father’s lion, which she desperately wanted to pilot, most likely because she wanted to reestablish some kind of connection to the ones she’s lost. And I don’t blame her of course, but it wouldn’t be conducive to her arc of letting go of the past, if she was chosen, so she wasn’t a good match. AND she’s never piloted a ship like the lions before.
So the Blue Lion is meant to be grown out of. It doesn’t have a true paladin. The Blue Lion is a starter spot for Allura, a place where she can gain more confidence in her ability to be a paladin of Voltron, rather than the captain of her castle-ship.
Now, what does it mean for Lance? Oh, many things. Many, many, many things.
Let’s first look at what Lance actually says when he interrupts Allura:
Huh. Interesting… Why does he feel the need to say this here? Why did he interrupt Allura to say this?
In an Afterbuzz TV Podcast episode, LM says that Lance means a lot to her as a character, because he reminds her a lot of herself, having insecurities that she has dealt with over the years. And she says specifically, that where she covers up her insecurities with sarcasm, Lance covers it up with bravado (1). This is confirmed by Lance’s mother in Season 8:
So, Lance is acting pretty bravado in the first episode, when Allura introduces the Blue Lion, isn’t he? But why? Could he be feeling insecure, already? Yes. In fact, this is foreshadowing for Lance feeling insecure about his role in Voltron, and especially as the Blue Paladin. This comes up again in Season 2, Episode 10: Escape from Beta Traz,
[Season 2, Episode 10: Escape From Beta Traz, 13:53]
And again in, you guessed it, Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 16:52]
So, the Blue Lion seems to be a source of insecurity for Lance. And who do we know is another source of insecurity for Lance?
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 13:11]
That’s right, Allura. For Lance, the Blue Lion represents his attraction to Allura/women. This is emphasised when he literally hits on the Blue Lion using cheesy flirting lines and saying it was just a phase:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 15:26]
Wow, they really could not have been more obvious with this one. “It’s just a phase” is so often said in relation to bisexuality that it’s almost a cliché. And I think it was definitely intentional here. Lance has also frequently called the Blue Lion “she” and has given it pet names, such as in Season 2, Episode 2: The Depths, where he says, “Welcome back, Beautiful.”, and in the same episode says “Future Mrs. Blue Lion,” not “Future Mrs. Lance,” which is how you would usually say this phrase. So, he talks to the Blue Lion with feminine pronouns and nicknames, and flirts with the Blue Lion in an effort to ‘open her up’, like he would with women that he is attracted to.
The Blue Lion is pretty clearly a symbol for Lance’s attraction to women, but specifically it is a symbol for his attraction to Allura. Allura has also been flirted with by Lance, and she has frequently ignored his passes and even rejected them. She, like the Blue Lion here, shuts him out and is not receptive to his advances. The symbolism is further emphasised when Allura is chosen as the new Blue Paladin.
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 17:59]
And Lance himself associates the Blue Lion with Allura:
[Season 8, Episode 8: Clear Day, 13:33]
(Interesting that you would say this Lance. You also shared the Red Lion with Keith, but would you say that that’s your thing too? teehee. Also interesting that this is the second time that you want to bring back something sparkly for her, but you never end up doing so.)
This is what he had to say about moving on from the Blue Lion:
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 21:55]
He clearly wanted to stay there, just as he wants to be with Allura, but that’s not where he’s meant to be, just as he’s not meant to be with Allura.
So, the Blue Lion is a starter spot for Lance, a place he is meant to grow out of and move on from, and is a symbol for his attraction to Allura.
The Red Lion
Now we get to the juicy bit, because the Red Lion has so much meaning for everyone involved.
Firstly, Keith. Keith is the one person who fits the description of his lion the most.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 33:40]
Keith himself is known to be temperamental, having several outbursts in the first 3 seasons. He even calls himself temperamental in his vlog [24]. He is also notoriously “difficult to master” in the sense that he doesn’t really listen, opting to do things his own way, even if it’s the wrong thing to do:
[Season 1, Episode 11: The Black Paladin, 14:34]
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 08:22]
[season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 04:28]
He is also arguably a faster and more agile fighter than the others on the team, even Shiro.
[Season 1, Episode 9: Crystal Venom, 07:22]
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 10:34]
[season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 03:38]
And Keith relies a lot on his instincts, which is what makes him such a good fighter. However, this also makes him unreliable, mirroring the “unstable” part of the Red Lion’s description. He doesn’t always think things through before he does them.
[Season 1, Episode 7: Return to the Balmera, 07:26]
[Season 1, Episode 10: Collection And Extraction, 10:17]
[season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 03:21]
And they both take a while to open up to new people:
[Season 1, Episode 1, The Rise of Voltron, 55:54]
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 46:10]
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 21:55]
[Season 1, Episode 4: The Fall of The Castle of Lions, 04:08]
Furthermore, Keith managed to summon/connect to the Red Lion from a great distance away:
[Season 2, Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, 18:43]
The only other person who has been able to do that is Zarkon with the Black Lion. And the Red Lion goes berserk when Keith is in danger, being very protective of him, just like the Black Lion does for Shiro:
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 19:59]
And Keith clearly still associates himself with the Red Lion:
[Season 7, Episode 10: Heart of the Lion, 12:09]
(So has the Black Lion… but you don’t mention him here, Keith…)
So, I believe that Keith is the Red Lion’s true paladin, the same way Pidge is the Green Lion’s true paladin, and Hunk is the Yellow Lion’s true paladin. He is not the Black Lion’s true paladin, no matter how long he stays on a space whale in the quantum abyss. In fact, Keith doesn’t share any of the qualities that pertain to the Black Paladin, so Keith isn’t the Black Lion’s true paladin, even if he is able to pilot it. The Black Lion has already chosen its true paladin, and that was Shiro.
[Season 2, Episode 7: Space Mall, 18:33]
So, to summarise, the Red Lion to Keith is a reflection of himself. It is where he is the most confident, because it is where his qualities are best matched.
What about Allura?
As mentioned before, it is already foreshadowed here that Lance will pilot the Red Lion at one point in the series, since he’s in the frame alongside Keith, and Allura’s not.
But why Lance and not Allura? Forgetting for a second about arcs and such.
Well, I want to mention something here that caught my eye.
This post [4] makes another acute observation, namely that Allura and Keith are foils to each other. Now, this has been pointed out many times in the past, while the show was still running, but I’d like to draw your attention to it here, again.
Lotor is Keith’s foil, sharing a lot of similarities, as mentioned before. But, curiously, Allura is also foiled against Keith, and has been since the very start, even before Lotor was introduced. Both are orphans, both have a male authority figure that guides them (Coran for Allura and Shiro for Keith). They also usually have the same ideas:
Both opted for staying in season 1 episode 1, when Sendak attacked:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 45:59]
Both argued against finding the Blade of Marmora base in Season 2:
[Season 2, Episode 3: Shiro’s Escape, 10:58]
Both thought Zarkon was tracking them:
[Season 2, Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, 04:56]
Both are mistrustful
[Season 2, Episode 3: Shiro’s Escape, 14:34 ; 15:13]
Both had to inherit a legacy from someone they loved/looked up to
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 48:00]
[Season 2, Episode 1: Across the Universe, 21:09]
both had an arc about saying goodbye to their fathers
[Season 1, Episode 9: Crystal Venom, 21:24]
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 18:31]
and after season 3, both are one-track-minded and stubborn,
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 08:22]
[Season 3, Episode 4: A Hole in the Sky, 03:09 ; 14:11]
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 14:06]
Keith and Allura are further mirrored in Season 3, Episode 4: A Hole in the Sky, but inverted, when they get to a reality where the Alteans have become the oppressors, rather than the Galra:
[Season 3, Episode 4: A Hole in the Sky, 12:47]
It is no coincidence that Keith and Allura are paired here again, just like all the other times they were mirrored against each other, in season 1, episode 4, and in season 2, episode 6.
and in season 4, Allura literally stands in for Keith in the Voltron show.
[Season 4, Episode 4: The Voltron Show, 02:26 ; 13:34]
Once is a mistake twice is a coincidence but three times? Four? Yet Allura still wasn’t chosen as the Red Paladin, despite having many similar qualities to Keith…
In-universe, I think this has something to do with the Red Lion’s bond with Keith.
Remember when I argued that Keith was chosen because of Shiro’s bond with the Black Lion? Well, I believe the same thing is happening here. The Red Lion is a symbol for Keith in the same way that the Black Lion is a symbol for Shiro. Shiro chose Keith out of everyone because he knew Keith the best and the longest (not necessarily because he was the best choice…), wanting him to lead Voltron in his stead.
Similarly, Keith chose Lance to pilot his lion, because he trusts Lance the most.
And meta-wise… Well, I’ve already mentioned what the Red Lion means to Allura. It’s her father’s lion, her only connection to the past. I mentioned before that she wasn’t chosen because it wouldn’t have been conducive to her arc of letting go of the past, specifically because it is her only connection to her father. If she has to let go of the past, she has to accept his death and the death of all of Altea, meaning she has to let go of her only connection to the past. Her arc in season 3 is an extension of her arc in Season 1, where she had to sacrifice the last remnant of her father, in order to save the castle and the team.
Her arc of accepting her loss and moving on is mirrored with Keith’s arc, and both are related to a Lion that they associate with the person that they hold dear and who is gone. But where Keith has to accept his position in that Lion, Allura has to accept that she doesn’t have a position in that Lion, their arcs here yet again inverted to create a contrast between them.
The Red Lion is a symbol for Keith, so Allura being chosen by the Red Lion also wouldn’t make sense symbolically, because Keith isn’t attracted to her in any way.
[Season 2, Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, 04:47]
In fact, they oppose each other very often, clashing in their respective motivations:
[Season 3, Episode 4: A Hole in the Sky, 03:14]
So, no matter what, Allura being chosen by the Red Lion is not beneficial for her growth in any way.
And who do we know that grew a lot by being chosen to pilot the Red Lion?
“[...]something amazing happened. I took over the Red Lion[...]” [The Paladin’s Handbook, Lance’s story]
Now what does the Red Lion mean to Lance? ohohoho
Well, it’s already hinted at in the quote above. Lance’s role as the Red Paladin, the right-hand man of Voltron, is where he grows the most. Just like how Lance says that Allura progressed a lot faster in Blue than he did, Lance also progressed a lot personally. While his growth has less to do with powering up the lion like Allura, it is more so about powering up his own abilities. For example, it is his Red Bayard that has the most varied abilities of the whole team [32], switching between an energy assault rifle, a sniper rifle and an Altean broadsword.
But notice that this doesn’t have much to do with the Red Lion, itself. Lance’s growth is independent of the Red Lion, and more so dependent on his role as the Red Paladin. It is here that his insecurities are countered, due to the head, the leader (Keith) listening to him and him only. This boosts Lance’s confidence of course, because he feels like he’s finally contributing to the team by having Keith’s back:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 15:09]
Again, supported by the Paladin’s handbook:
“I didn’t know what my role was. I felt like a fifth wheel [...] But once I accepted Keith as the new leader of Voltron, something amazing happened.”
[The Paladin’s Handbook, Lance’s story]
This is in past tense, because Lance doesn’t feel that way anymore, as he said, because he stepped up to support Keith as his right-hand man.
So, the Red Lion to Lance is an opportunity to grow through the role it gave him. Which is interesting, since we know that the Red Lion is a symbol for Keith. So, it’s almost like Lance grew so exponentially, due to the role Keith gave him.
Well, yes. That’s exactly it. Because just like how Lance associates the Blue Lion with Allura, he also associates the Red Lion with Keith:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 17:09]
And again here, when he says “your lion.”
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 05:50]
Lance also refers to the Red Lion with male pronouns.
[The Paladin’s Handbook, Lance’s story]
“Red is cool too. He can be moody sometimes. No worries. I was able to tame him. I knew if anyone could do it, I’d be the one.”
(Side note: While researching this, I came across this post on amino apps, which claims that the producers confirmed the Red Lion to be male at the NYCC in 2017 [15], and the VLD wikia page says the same thing in the trivia section of the Red Lion’s page [16], but I can’t find any videos of the NYCC voltron panel in 2017.)
I love what he says here, in the handbook. Everything he just said about the Red Lion also applies to Keith, further cementing The Red Lion as a symbol for Keith:
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 02:49]
Yeah, Lance, you sure were able to tame him, alright.
So, for Lance, the Red Lion is also a symbol for Keith. Lance being shut out by the Blue Lion and then accepted by the Red Lion is meant to foreshadow his endgame. Allura rejects Lance but Keith accepts him, seeks him out even, and it’s in Keith’s love for Lance that Lance truly grows into himself, and overcomes his insecurities. Lance chooses another version of Allura, someone he never would have imagined would be his partner, being his own gender.
When Blue shuts him out, Lance thinks this means he isn’t meant to be a paladin at all, even though there is still an empty lion waiting and available, the Red Lion. He never considers the Red Lion as an option to stay within Voltron, until the Red Lion roars for him. Look at his expression:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 17:00]
He is surprised! And I’d also like to point out here how Allura doesn’t have a chance to comfort him about not being a paladin, because right after Lance says, “I guess I wasn’t even meant to be a paladin,” the Red Lion roars for him. This symbolises how when Lance is rejected by Allura, he thinks he isn’t meant to find love, because he never thought of Keith/men as an option, romantically, until Keith shows him his love for him.
And remember when he says this:
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 17:09]
This analysis [5] points out that what Lance says here also reflects what Lance thinks Keith thinks of him. Lance thinks Keith hates him, enough to “train it” to bite his head off. This is pretty clear foreshadowing for how Lance denies any feelings for Keith, because he thinks Keith hates him.
Interesting that there is this double meaning behind the Red and Blue lion, specifically, the two colors that are constantly associated with Keith and Lance up until the very end. Also interesting that Allura describes the Red Lion last, lingering on this frame between Lance and Keith.
So what do we have here at the end? One lion that seems to only have a deeper meaning to Keith and Lance (despite it being the lion of Allura’s genocider), and a very clear and consistent symbolism for a love triangle in the other lions, one which ultimately ends with Lance and Keith together. Haggar becomes the new main antagonist in season 3, meaning Allura should have been the new protagonist, should have had her “debut” in season 3. But she isn’t, and she doesn’t become one either. Because this story isn’t about Allura. It isn’t about war and genocide, like ATLA is. It never was. It’s about Lance and Keith and their relationship to each other. Just like a very famous story about two people who are rivals…
Voltron vs. Naruto
I bet you thought Naruto was just a random, classic example to start off on the main character analysis, but actually, I chose to compare it to Naruto, because Voltron’s rivalry between Lance and Keith shares a lot of similarities with the iconic rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto is perhaps the single most famous example of a rivalry, so much so that many, many, many rivalries have been inspired by them, to varying success. Sasuke and Naruto’s relationship is so iconic that people still talk about it to this day.
Keith and Lance’s rivalry is modeled very closely after Sasuke and Naruto. Lance and Keith are direct contrasts to each other, the same way Naruto and Sasuke are direct contrasts to each other, all the way down to their color palette. Naruto and Sasuke’s color palettes are yellow/orange and blue/purple which are on opposite sides of the color wheel from each other.
Naruto and Sasuke also receive sun and moon tattoos, emphasising their contrasts further:
[Naruto, Chapter 672: Night Guy…!!, p. 8]
Here are a few examples from a post I made a while ago, of the contrasts between Lance and Keith:
As well as Lance being an active protagonist vs Keith being a passive protagonist, as mentioned in the main character analysis. (still not ok to this day btw.)
And a screencap from Season 1 that pretty much sums it up:
[Season 1, Episode 7: Return to the Balmera, 18:59]
Moreover, remember, when I compared Voltron to ATLA, which is an actual war story, and found it lackluster in comparison? Well, when I compare it to Naruto’s world-building, a lot of things align.
In Naruto, we also don’t see anyone who isn’t a soldier. We know that a village exists of ordinary people, whom the soldier villages are meant to protect, just as we know ordinary people of the Galra must exist, ‘cause otherwise, how have they kept going for 10,000 years? But we never see them. Just like how we never see them in Voltron.
And another curious similarity is that Iruka, a very important authority figure to Naruto, has a scar across his nose… just like Shiro, who is a very important authority figure to Lance…
But Lance and Keith aren’t just modeled after Naruto and Sasuke concept wise. In fact, their story progression, and even some details are eerily similar to Naruto and Sasuke.
In Naruto, Sasuke is introduced as someone Naruto hates because he “acts all cool.”. But we later learn that Sasuke actually means a lot to Naruto and vice versa.
[Naruto, chapter 228: Kakashi’s Premonition, p 10]
Lance similarly introduces Keith as someone he hates, because Keith is always trying to one-up him. But we later learn that they mean a lot to each other:
[Season 8, Episode 11: Uncharted Regions, 06:38]
Another way in which Keith’s introduction is similar to Sasuke’s introduction, is that both Naruto and Lance make some sort of comment on Sasuke and Keith’s appearance…
Naruto saying Sasuke “acts like he’s cool”
[Naruto, Chapter 003: Uchiha Sasuke, p. 6]
and Lance drawing attention to Keith’s mullet
[Season 1 Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 46:00]
and again, after some time has passed:
[Naruto, chapter 285: The Person from Root!!, pp. 6-5]
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 08:04]
and both Naruto and Lance have a strong reaction to them:
[Naruto, Chapter 003: Uchiha Sasuke, p. 6]
[Season 1 Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 30:37]
Another parallel is Keith’s decision to leave, impacting Lance deeply. In Naruto, Sasuke also leaves, impacting Naruto deeply. So much in fact, that it becomes the plot of the whole last half of the manga, with Naruto chasing after him to save him from darkness.
Sasuke left because of Naruto, because he wanted to break the bond between them that he deemed as a weakness, keeping him from plunging into darkness and despair. In an effort to become stronger, he has to end all of his bonds with the people he holds most dear. This is the whole motivation behind the first Valley of the End fight, as well as the second.
[Naruto, Chapter 698: Naruto and Sasuke V, p.19]
But why did Keith leave? Let’s look again at this scene in season 4. Remember when I said this is the first decision Keith actually makes in the series? A change in the plot that he is in control of? Well… why did he choose this? What does he say exactly? And… What is implied?
Well, first he says that his absence allowed Shiro to reestablish his bond with the Black Lion, something he has been asking Shiro to do throughout the whole episode. Allura then asks this:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 21:09]
Allura is the first person to confront Keith on his missions with the Blades of Marmora. This makes sense, as she, like Keith, is very sensitive to people leaving her, being an orphan just like Keith. Watching anyone pull away from the team is a soft spot for her, which is emphasised when she is also the one to ask why Keith’s pulling away.
Keith then responds with this…
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 21:11]
Yeah, Keith, what is the other part?
Well, this is what Keith says:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 21:18]
uhh…. because of some Blade mission? wait wait wait, why is that where his mind jumped to? If Shiro goes back to the Black Lion, that doesn’t mean Keith has to go with the Blade of Marmora. The Blade of Marmora have been doing just fine without him for centuries, something Allura said literally 7 minutes ago:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 14:23]
And in fact, the whole episode has shown us that Keith isn’t compatible with their philosophy, not willing to sacrifice the individual for the mission.
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 04:28]
“This isn’t Voltron.” Why would they emphasise that Keith doesn’t fit in nor is needed with the Blade of Marmora… right before he decides to join them for good?? right before he leaves Voltron for them?
Besides that, Allura asks why he’s been pulling away from them, echoing his words from his vlog “I push people away before they can reject me,” [24], suggesting a more emotional reason. Who would be rejecting him in this instance? The Blade of Marmora mission that he goes on doesn’t have to mean that he has to pull away, he can still keep in contact with Voltron. And in fact, no one is rejecting him. They all want him on the team. We know that one emotional part is his uncertainty about being the leader and him wanting Shiro to be the leader (or is it…? more on this in a bit). But what’s the other part as Hunk asks? Well, he never really answers that, because the mission isn’t an emotional reason, it’s a practical one. So… this reason seems almost like an excuse, doesn’t it?
Hmmm that’s very interesting. Where have I seen this before?
In Naruto, Naruto also used an excuse to keep chasing Sasuke, namely his promise to Sakura. But this is a lie, a lie Naruto admits to once Sakura tries to make him break it and stop him from chasing after Sasuke. Naruto never did it for Sakura, he does it because he loves Sasuke.
[Naruto, Chapter 470: Killer B vs. Kisame!!, pp. 5-6]
Keith similarly, never left Voltron because of Shiro, or because he didn’t think he was good enough, because when he comes back from the Quantum Abyss, he goes right back to the Black Lion without complaint. Aside from that, there’s also this:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 22:07]
If it was really about Shiro, and not thinking he was good enough, shouldn’t Shiro saying that he’s proud of Keith and telling him that he’s good at being the leader encourage him?? Why does he look so sad?? Shiro is his mentor, Keith has done nothing but listen to Shiro and Shiro only… well, until he disappeared that is, and Keith started listening to someone else:
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 12:51]
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 13:40 ; 14:06]
Notice especially in the last screenshots, how Keith only looks at Lance when he’s laying down the plan… not Shiro, who is on call, nor anyone else on the team for that matter…
[14:11]
And notice again how Keith doesn’t decide to listen until after Lance says he agrees with Shiro… who says the exact same thing Lance said only a few episodes earlier:
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 10:20]
and he looks at Lance when he agrees:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 14:17]
Some thought that the Quantum Abyss was meant to accelerate Keith’s arc of accepting his responsibility as a leader, but I disagree, because it’s not related to any of his arcs. His arc is about his connection to other people rather than his personal growth, which is why we see the clone arc with Shiro for a whole episode, but we don’t see Keith growing into a more mature version of himself for more than a montage. Because the whole point of the Black Lion arc in season 3 was that Keith didn’t want to accept his loss in Shiro, he didn’t want to let him go, which culminates in the Black Paladins episode, not that he didn’t think he was good enough. So this isn’t about Shiro being a better leader, despite Keith saying that it is.
Furthermore, he didn’t leave because of some Blade mission either, because throughout the next two seasons we still see him struggle with their work ethic, so much so that Kolivan calls him out on it in season 5.
[Season 5, episode 5: Bloodlines, 04:05]
This is even more significant, because it’s a direct callback to Season 4 Episode 1 when Keith first left, and it implies that Kolivan doesn’t necessarily trust Keith to complete the mission without getting his feelings involved. If you don’t trust an individual with the mission, are they then well and truly needed? No. Keith isn’t needed in the Blade mission. Furthermore, Kolivan is calling Keith out here for thinking emotionally about things. But this is contrasted by Keith’s decision to leave, because Keith gives only practical reasons (Shiro is the better leader and there’s a mission). So, we’re meant to connect Keith’s emotions clouding his judgement to his presence in the Blade of Marmora.
Moreover, Keith gave Pidge crap for leaving the team in season 1 to find her family, so it seems even more out of character that he would do something similar for purely practical reasons. Keith is being paralleled with Pidge here, because Keith is thinking emotionally about his decision, just like Pidge did in season 1, when she chose to leave because of her family. That’s what Kolivan is telling us here. So this?
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 21:18; 21:46]
This is a lie.
So, why did he leave? Well, let’s rewind a little bit.
Remember this?
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 05:27]
Okay, Lance says a lot during this conversation, and it’s all significant, so let’s take it one sentence at a time.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 05:48]
Okay, already a few things. Firstly, Lance says, “When Shiro takes over the Black Lion”, not “If Shiro takes over the Black Lion,” meaning Lance is pretty certain that Shiro is going to pilot the Black Lion again, somehow. I think Lance knows on some level that Keith’s role as the Black Paladin is temporary, probably because he realizes, same as Keith does, and we do, that Keith doesn’t have any of the qualities of a Black Paladin.
Secondly, this is coupled with the following sentence, “you’re going to want your Red Lion back.” not “the Red Lion back”. Here, again, Lance seems pretty certain that Keith will take over the Red Lion again, most likely aware that Keith matches the qualities of the Red Lion better than he himself does, and thus is more comfortable there than he is in the Black Lion. He recognizes that he himself doesn’t really have any qualities of the Red Lion, again, same as Keith does and we do, which is implied by Keith not refuting him when he says any of this.
Thirdly, Lance also still clearly associates the Red Lion with Keith, calling it his lion. And it is his lion, as we already established in the symbolism of the Red Lion, because it is a reflection of Keith. Lance here is confirming the symbolism. He recognises the qualities inherent in both Shiro and Keith, and knows that they fit their lions almost exactly.
Then he says this:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 05:53]
He recognises Allura’s inherent qualities for the Blue Lion, how well she took to the role. I think he realizes here that he isn’t the Blue Lion’s true paladin, the same way Keith is to the Red Lion, because he didn’t progress as fast as Allura did when he was pilot of the Blue Lion. He also doesn’t use any possessive language when he talks about the Blue Lion, which he has been known to do, especially in the first two seasons.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 06:01]
Here, Keith confirms everything he just said, meaning Keith was thinking along the same lines, or at least, he can see the logic in what Lance is saying here. I think Keith also assumes that he will have to relinquish the Black Lion back to Shiro, because that was the point of finding him in the first place, which means he will go back to Red, but I don’t think he really realized or thought about where Lance fits in this equation, until Lance says this:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 06:04]
“What are you talking about?” he says, because of course it never even occurred to Keith that Lance should have to step aside. Lance is his right-hand man! His partner! Lance is the only reason the team hasn’t cracked through the middle, guiding Keith as he tries to adjust to his new role as the leader, a time when he felt very lost… (almost exactly like what the Blue Lion did for him…). Of course Lance has to stay!
Keith tells Lance that everything will work itself out, and directly after this, we see this awkward exchange between Keith and Shiro:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 08:09]
I think Keith realizes here that Lance’s prediction is coming true. And that’s why before anyone can say anything, he says this to Shiro:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 08:45]
“You’re right. You take the Black Lion.” Huh, that’s interesting. Just a second ago he was ready to take charge, yet here, Keith instantly relinquishes the Black Lion to Shiro, saying that he will stay back, making sure not to say anything about the Red Lion. I think if the creators wanted to show an awkward period between Keith and Shiro, where they struggle with who is the leader, they would have dragged it out a bit longer. And I think it would have, if Lance hadn’t talked to Keith first. Lance figured that there’d be this awkward power struggle in the team, and he figured that he would be the one who gets booted out of the equation, when in actuality, it’s Shiro who is the one paladin too many, because Shiro was supposed to die. And it was during his time in the Black Lion where Keith started really listening to Lance and growing closer to him, listening to him more than anyone else on the team, even Shiro, as we saw in Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, which was Shiro’s first day back after Keith found him, by the way… He just got Shiro back, Lance can’t leave him, too… Keith cares about Lance, and he cares about Shiro. He doesn’t want either of them to leave the team, opting instead to take himself out.
This is supported by his vlog, where he says that he pushes people away before they can reject him [24]. When Lance says he has to step aside, Keith reacts the same way as he did when Pidge was leaving, and when Shiro disappeared, instantly denying it, but the difference is here that Keith doesn’t have any excuses to keep Lance, because they can form Voltron without him, since they have Shiro. He can’t make any excuses for why Lance has to stay, but he can make excuses for why he himself has to leave.
Well, I think that’s part of it. I think Keith realizing that Lance’s prediction is coming true triggered his abandonment issues. But I think another part of it is when Keith and Krolia have this exchange, in season 6:
[Season 6 Episode 2: Razor’s Edge, 18:30]
Throughout the whole flashback sequence, Krolia was paralleled with Keith a lot, and her decision to leave behind her family is one of them, because that’s exactly what Keith did. And same as Krolia, Keith used a Blade mission as an excuse to leave. But Krolia herself denies it as a lie. She didn’t leave because of the mission. She left because of Keith. Krolia is telling us indirectly here why Keith left. And so is Allura here:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 15:34]
She looks between Keith and Lance.
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 15:34]
I made a gif here to show you better that this isn't a pausing-at-the-right-time kind of frame. She looks at Lance for a solid second, after spotting Keith. Why would she look at him? Unless… Keith was looking at him, and she was following his line of sight. Keith is shown walking away after looking at Lance. This is the show directly telling us the real reason he left.
Keith left to protect Lance, because he loves Lance and he doesn’t want Lance to leave. He doesn’t want Lance’s prediction to come true. And they hint at it again here:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 21:15]
When Allura asks if that was why Keith was pulling away, Shiro is in frame, being the subject. But when Hunk asks what’s the other part, Lance is in frame, almost as if he’s the subject, he’s the answer. Notice how just as Hunk asks this, Lance is right next to him, in between him and Allura, who was the one to ask him if he was pulling away because of Shiro.
This is clearly meant to be significant subtext, as to the unspoken reason Keith is leaving. If it wasn’t, why not have Pidge ask the question? or Coran? Why was it necessary to include Lance in the frame?
And it’s very significant that Lance is in between Allura and Hunk here. Allura is the first one to notice Keith pulling away and is the one who seems to catch on to the reason he left, looking between him and Lance. She is also the one to first bring up that Keith left in season 7, again in line with her character, since she sees team Voltron as her family, and them leaving is a soft spot for her. And Hunk is the one who says this in season 7:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 11:43]
So, so many things here it’s insane.
Firstly, when Hunk is talking about all of this, only Keith is in frame, subtly implying that this relates directly to him, and they want us to see his reaction to what Hunk says. Which he does. He does react:
Secondly, the first half of what Hunk is describing is eerily similar to what happened to Keith in the first episode. Keith met Lance on Earth, who introduced himself as a fighter pilot. The Lion Keith had been looking for, the Blue Lion, took a shine to Lance, choosing him as its paladin. But the second half describes Lance in season 3: Lance came to Keith and told him that he couldn’t take the Blue Lion from Allura, because she had progressed a lot faster than Lance had, mirroring Hunk’s “Whoa, I can’t stand between you two. The bond is strong there.” That’s literally what Lance said about the Blue Lion.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a comet, 05:53]
and remember what Lance said directly after that:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a comet, 06:04]
Keith recognises what Hunk is talking about here, because that’s literally what Lance told him just a few months (years???) ago. Notice the subtle shift in his expression when Hunk talks about the latter half:
He’s just passively listening until Hunk says, “Whoa, I can’t stand in-between you two,” and he looks at Hunk, his eyebrows raising, and his frown deepening, kinda looking like he’s thinking, “that sounds familiar…”. And it’s confirmed when he knows what Hunk is talking about, because that’s what Lance said.
Thirdly, I find it very interesting that it’s Lance who asks what Hunk is talking about. Shouldn’t he know what Hunk is talking about here, rather than Keith? After all, Lance is the one who first mentioned stepping aside. But that’s exactly what he said. “Step aside,” not “quit”. When Lance said that, he didn’t mean quitting Voltron, I think he literally just meant stepping aside, and supporting from the side-lines, like what Shiro ended up doing at the last half of season 3. That’s why Lance doesn’t understand what Hunk is talking about here, because Lance never thought about quitting. But that’s not how Keith took it. Keith understood it as quitting Voltron for good, which is confirmed by himself here:
That’s why Keith needed to go with the Blade of Marmora, despite the Blade of Marmora never needing him. Because that’s what he thought Lance was talking about, in his room!
AND THIS IS CONFIRMED BY HUNK SAYING THIS:
“No, no, no, no, not quitting. No. Just, you know, being the bigger man.” Lance is speaking through Hunk here, because that's what Lance was actually saying in Keith’s room. Lance never said he’d quit Voltron, but that’s how Keith understood it. Keith thought Lance was leaving for good, which is why he panicked and withdrew himself. But Lance never meant quitting. He just meant being the bigger man. But Keith’s understanding of what Lance said is the reason he left, which hurt Lance because he thought that meant Keith doesn’t appreciate their partnership, and didn't value it as much as Lance did. But it’s the opposite. Keith left because he valued their partnership. It’s all the opposite !! AGH!!! So much miscommunication between them, it’s crazy.
That last part, “Just stepping aside to pass the baton down to a younger generation,” also sounds eerily close to what JDS and LM wanted for Lance, originally. They said in an Afterbuzz TV podcast that they would have liked to see Lance become a flight instructor at the Garrison, teaching the next generation about space-exploration [1].
Fourthly, I also find it interesting that Hunk is the one who says this, because Hunk is the one who asked Keith what the other part of Keith’s reason is for leaving. Maybe this is foreshadowing Hunk to have some kind of role in the love story between Keith and Lance. Maybe Hunk was going to find out that Keith left because of Lance. Hunk seems to be the only other person who understands the situation, since he’s the one fantasizing about this. It would have linked beautifully to Hunk helping Keith with his Galra arc, which doubles as a sexuality metaphor, as pointed out by this analysis [5]. AND Hunk is the one who initiates, or “launches”, the love triangle, in season 8, episode 1, when he says this:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 02:58]
Regardless of Hunk’s possible involvement, and what Lance actually meant, I can pretty confidently say that Keith left because of Lance. Keith is clearly motivated by Lance, the one decision he makes through the whole show being based on what he feels for Lance.
So, Keith left because of Lance, similarly to how Sasuke left because of Naruto. And we know that Naruto is very motivated by Sasuke, because that’s the point and plot of the whole manga. But is Lance motivated by Keith? Well, what do we know Lance wants more than anything? He wants to prove himself. Specifically, he wants to prove himself worthy. And what helped spurn this on, again? That’s right. Iverson’s comparison to Keith in the very first episode.
It is in Iverson’s comparison to Keith that Lance becomes motivated to find Pidge on the roof, which catalyses the plot, because Lance wants to prove that he’s earned his spot in the fighter class. What better way to show that than to tackle the problem Iverson pointed out, their lack of teamwork. So, Lance catalyses the plot by looking for Pidge, making sure all three of them are there on the roof when Shiro crashes, which is motivated by the comparison to Keith. And he further catalyses the plot when he follows Keith to the tent. His rivalry with Keith drives him, but it also blinds him.
Let’s take the tests from the second episode as an example. Here, Lance is pretty confident in his bond with the Blue Lion, and in fact, he seems to be doing pretty well, until he starts goading Keith into going faster, being blinded by his rivalry with Keith, and his need to measure up with him. Which is very interesting. Almost like it’s foreshadowing for how Lance can’t reach his full potential until his relationship changes with Keith, and he stops measuring up with him and competing against him. And when can he do that? When he’s equal with him. Which is what started happening in season 3.
[Season 3, Episode 2: The Red Paladin, 10:20]
It wasn’t until Lance accepted Keith as the new leader and himself as his right-hand man that Lance really started to grow, as we discussed in the Red Lion section above. This is when he sets aside his own ego to strengthen the team and support Keith, and he finally opens up about his true insecurities.
But they aren’t completely equal here, because Keith is the head of Voltron, the “ultimate leader” of the team, and Lance already feels inferior to him, having taken his spot in the Garrison without having “earned it”, no matter how much Keith listens to Lance. It only takes Keith pulling rank to completely wipe away any illusion of equality between them, which is what happens with Shiro in season 5:
[Season 5, Episode 3: Postmortem, 04:14]
Similarly, Naruto is shown to compare himself a lot to Sasuke, wanting to become as good as him.
[Naruto, Chapter 010, p. 17; chapter 227, p. 16]
Just like Lance, this was also spurred on by a comparison by his teacher:
[Naruto, Chapter 003, p. 12]
And everyone sees that Naruto is purely motivated by Sasuke:
The way Naruto manages to become equal to Sasuke is by resolving to save Sasuke. His pure resolve and his pure love for Sasuke is what gives him strength to fight against him, directly contrasting Sasuke’s pure resolve to end their bond, seeing his love for Naruto as a weakness instead of as a strength.
Furthermore, Naruto is a main character without an antagonist. Think Demon King level of antagonist. There are villains he defeats, but no one villain whom he has to overcome as a part of his arc. In fact, Naruto’s wish of being accepted in the village is fulfilled already once he defeats Pain. So, why didn’t the manga end there? Because Pain isn’t Naruto’s antagonist. No one is. The closest we get to an antagonist for Naruto is Sasuke. But Naruto doesn’t want to overcome him, he wants to be equal with him, because Naruto loves him.
Huh… who else do we know in this show, who checks all the boxes of being a main character, but doesn’t have an antagonist? Lance. Man, this guy keeps showing up at the end of everything, huh?
Similarly to Naruto, the closest Lance has to an antagonist is Keith.
Remember when I said this, in Lotor’s subsection?
“In season 1 of ATLA, Zuko’s antagonist seemed to be Aang, the same way Aang’s antagonist seemed to be Zuko. But in the season 1 finale, we realize that this isn’t true. Aang’s true antagonist is Firelord Ozai and Zuko’s true antagonist is his sister, Azula. Season 1 finale is when Zuko becomes a true deuteragonist to Aang.”
Well, I argued there that this mirrors Lotor becoming Allura’s deuteragonist, after it seemed like he was Keith’s antagonist but remember, they aren’t the main characters. Lance and Keith are.
So, could Keith be a deuteragonist to Lance? No. Although Keith and Lance’s arcs are intertwined like Zuko and Aang’s are, both of their arcs are about love, unlike Zuko and Aang, but similar to Sasuke and Naruto. Keith is Lance's love-interest, the same way Sasuke is a love-interest to Naruto. Allura is a red-herring for Lance's love interest, the same way Sakura is a red-herring for Naruto, and the same way Zuko and Aang are red-herrings for each other, masking their true antagonists. In the case of Naruto and Lance, Sakura and Allura are masking their true love-interests, Sasuke and Keith, respectively.
Furthermore, Keith is a very significant part of Lance’s arc, because Keith is also one of the sources of it! This is why Allura is foiled against Keith, because of both of their significance to Lance. But unlike Allura, Keith helps Lance fulfill his arc. In Naruto, Sakura is foiled against Naruto to emphasise the contrast between Naruto’s pure selfless love for Sasuke, and Sakura’s selfish love for Sasuke, pointed out in this analysis [13]. Similarly, remember when I said that Allura and Keith were often mirrored invertedly, to emphasise a contrast between them? Well, this is the purpose. Allura is foiled against Keith to emphasise the contrast between Keith’s love for Lance and Allura’s rejection of Lance.
Naruto is a great example of a story people think is about war but is actually about love. The whole point and plot of the manga is Naruto’s love for and devotion to Sasuke and vice versa. The manga ends with Naruto and Sasuke reconciling after being apart for the whole manga, with Naruto confessing his love for Sasuke and with Sasuke happily admitting defeat to Naruto’s love for him.
[Naruto, Chapter 698: Naruto and Sasuke V, pp. 15-17]
[Naruto, Chapter 698: Naruto and Sasuke V, p. 23]
Sasuke’s resolve to end their bond lost to Naruto’s resolve to keep it.
I can confidently say that Lance and Keith are mirrored in Naruto and Sasuke. Their story progression follows that of Naruto and Sasuke almost exactly. But there’s something missing. The last big fight.
[Naruto, Chapter 698; Naruto and Sasuke V, p. 12]
Lance’s arc comes to a head and is fulfilled once he’s on equal footing with Keith. Throughout the show, Lance keeps following in his footsteps, again, to the tent, to the Blue Lion and to the Red Lion. Lance even gets a sword in season 5, which is Keith’s weapon.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron]
Even when Keith is the head, he is the one who forms the sword, even though it materializes from the Red Lion, so it should be Lance:
[Season 3, Episode 6: tailing a comet]
[Season 6, Episode 7: Defender of All Universes]
But it’s not. Again, because it’s Keith’s weapon. The show has effectively pavloved us to associate swords with Keith. So when Lance unlocks his sword form with the red bayard (Keith’s original bayard)
[Season 5, Episode 3: Postmortem, 9:16]
We are meant to be thinking of Keith. Lance activated his sword form right after Shiro yelled at him to stay out of it, which hurt Lance a lot. And he went to the training room to cope. The only other character that we’ve seen train alone in the training room is Keith, so we’re meant to associate this scene with Keith, and so does Lance. Keith was most likely on his mind while he was training, thinking about how things seemed to be better when Keith was there… which triggered the sword form. All of this combined foreshadows and suggests a fight between the two. Again, similar to how Naruto unlocks new powers every time he thinks about Sasuke, that keeps foreshadowing a fight between them.
[Naruto, Chapter 228: Kakashi’s Premonition, p. 16]
And it is further suggested by all the parallels to them.
Naruto is very famous for all the parallels to Naruto and Sasuke in its own story, their relationship mirrored across generations, but always with something slightly different, pointed out in this analysis [22].
The parallels are meant to emphasise how Naruto and Sasuke are different from previous generations. They can break the cycle, because they love each other.
Well, would you believe me if I say that Keith and Lance are also paralleled?
[Season 3, Episode 7: The Legend Begins, 22:13]
[Season 6, Episode 5: The Black Paladins, 16:38]
You don’t have to believe me, you just have to look at these screenshots. Notice how in both fights, everyone involved fought with swords, even Shiro who usually never uses a sword, opting to just use his hand instead. Even he used a sword in his fight against Keith.
Every generation of Red and Black paladins have had a standoff, except for Lance and Keith. In all the fights, one of the paladins died (well… except for Shiro but we already know he was supposed to die… until he didn’t), and Keith and Lance were supposed to break the cycle, because of their love for each other; specifically, because of Lance’s love for Keith. Instead of fighting Keith to overcome him, he fights Keith to save him.
As I’ve argued throughout this whole thing, Lance’s arcs of love and self-worth tie into each other. Similar to Naruto, Lance becomes equal to Keith once Lance has a pure resolve to save Keith through his love for him. In the showdown, both Lance’s arcs of insecurity and sexuality will be fulfilled in the fight, when he ultimately declares his love for Keith, making Keith “lose” the fight to Lance’s love, the same way Sasuke “lost” to Naruto’s love.
Voltron is a love story set in a war setting the same way Naruto is a love story in a war setting. This is the most consistent storyline throughout the whole show, and the central focus of the narrative.
“Maybe someday I will share the pool, even with Keith. His mullet isn’t so bad after all.”
[The Paladin’s Handbook: Lance’s Story]
WHAT STORY WERE THE SHOWRUNNERS TRYING TO TELL?
Okay, I can’t ignore it any longer. I HAVE to talk about all the crazy foreshadowing between Lance and Shiro.
Remember when I said this?:
“They said in an Afterbuzz TV podcast that they would have liked to see Lance become a flight instructor at the Garrison, teaching the next generation about space-exploration [1].”
Well, if that’s what they wanted, why didn’t they show us that instead of whatever the hell we got? Well, I think it’s because it ties into a whole arc that they wanted for Lance, that they have built up throughout the whole show, but they were forced to remove…
Black Paladin Lance
Episode 1 Foreshadowing
So… I've been peppering a little note about foreshadowing that I’ll get to later through this whole thing. Well, now it’s later, so let’s talk about it. I think Lance was ultimately supposed to become the Black Lion’s true paladin at the end of the series. Let’s start from just the first episode, because the first episode alone has so much foreshadowing in it, it's crazy.
Already when Lance is introduced, he is foreshadowed to have a leader role, when he is literally shown leading Hunk and Pidge in the simulator, giving them orders.
[02:41-03:25]
Already here he seems to have some leadership skills, but he fails the simulator because of his own need to show off and prove himself (also because he emulated Keith as discussed in his main character discussion…)
Foreshadowed again in this shot… Keith, Shiro and Lance are frequently lumped together in the first episode.
[10:48]
In fact, Lance’s placement during the first episode is very consistent and very telling…
Firstly, remember this gif?
You thought I was done with this, didn’t you? Look closely. What do you see as we transition from Lance’s eyes to the lions? As they zoom in on his eyes, the first lion that we see is the Black Lion, not the Blue Lion. And when they show Voltron, they show the head. If Lance was the ultimate Blue Paladin, why wouldn’t they show the Blue Lion first and then the Blue Lion’s role in Voltron as the leg?
And directly after that, look at these frames:
They are in the exact positions of Voltron, but with Shiro and Lance swapped! That has to mean something, it’s not just an error or circumstantial. Directly after seeing the formation of Voltron, they zoom out to show them all, linking them to Voltron, and standing in the exact spots that they are meant to pilot, except for Lance and Shiro. That is not an accident. It is very clear foreshadowing for Lance’s eventual role as the Black Paladin.
And look at this gif as it cuts back to them.
They zoom in on the head and zoom out from Lance’s eyes, just like when they zoomed in on Lance’s eyes at the beginning of the vision. This is very clearly meant to link the head (the Black Lion) with Lance, and this exact sequence is why Lance and Shiro’s places being swapped is so significant. If they wanted to parallel Voltron properly with them, they would have put Shiro in the middle and the vision zoomed out from Shiro’s eyes. But they didn’t. They chose to put Lance in the middle, and to have the vision zoomed out from Lance’s eyes.
Here’s another frame of them, a little bit before, as they’re actively looking for Voltron, to show you that this isn’t a coincidence:
Lance and Shiro swapped again, from their symmetrical positions…
And again here when they land in the Blue Lion’s cave… paired with Pidge asking “Is this Voltron?” to which we know the answer is yes… but again… Lance and Shiro’s positions are swapped…
In fact, their positions in the first episode are very consistent. They are almost always standing exactly like this, with Lance in the middle, and when Shiro is in the middle, Lance is directly behind/next to him, as opposed to on the other side of Keith which would mirror him to Hunk’s position as the leg.
(This one is literally from season 2, bro… like why was this so consistent…. well, we know why.)
The only time they ever stand in their proper formation positions in the first episode is when Allura assigns them their roles within Voltron, and when they finish their first battle as Voltron:
[01:06:41]
Remember, this is the literal introduction of Voltron, the very first episode, and just as in real life, first impressions are incredibly important in animation as well. Character placements and scene transitions are all carefully chosen, and are thus incredibly important indicators of what the creators are trying to convey. This simple zoom out from Lance in the gif is definitely meant to be a very subtle foreshadowing of his eventual ascension to the Black Lion. They want you to remember this, because they were going to pay this off with Lance ascending to the Black Lion.
Next, we have these interesting frames, in which Pidge looks to Lance, asking where the wormhole is going that just opened, and then Lance looking to Shiro, asking what they should do.
[21:46]
This makes sense, since as Lance says, Shiro is the senior officer here with more experience, he’s the one who’s interacted with aliens more than they have, so it’s fair to assume that Shiro would know what to do in this situation better than anyone else. But what I find incredibly interesting is that Pidge looks surprised when Lance does this, almost as if she’s surprised that Lance didn’t make the decision himself. She’s probably used to Lance giving orders at this point, so she’s surprised when Lance relinquishes that role to someone else, but why? Wouldn’t it be a given for her that Shiro, the one with more experience, should be the one to decide? Why does this surprise her? I have an inkling that Pidge believes in Lance’s leadership skills more than she lets on. Because remember when he said this:
[06:50]
Well, Pidge says almost the exact same thing when she tells them all that she’s a girl a few episodes later, after their found family arc.
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 03:35]
So, she’s internalised what he said about being a good team, and it shows, because after she’s accepted them as her team and decided to stay, this is how she shows her effort, by echoing Lance’s words. That’s certainly interesting… Could this have been foreshadowing to Pidge being the first to accept Lance as the Black Paladin? That certainly would be a surprise, considering her usual short fuse with him, and that’s why it also would carry a lot of weight. Pidge is the brain. If she accepts Lance as her leader, then everyone else doesn't really have an excuse not to, you know? She is also the one who calls Lance a goofball, implying that he can’t be leader-material because he is too unserious, but she also listens to him and finds him to be the biggest threat, when she has to fight against him…
[34, 00:23]
“Lance’s Range makes him a top priority.”
In fact, there’s a bit more foreshadowing for this here:
[Season 1, Episode 10: Collection and Extraction, 10:25]
This is both foreshadowing to season 3, where Lance is able to get Keith to listen to him and also that Lance will in fact become a paragon of leadership. Pidge saying this sarcastically was possibly meant to be used as poetic irony, when she is the one who ultimately accepts Lance as their leader and the Black Paladin. But that’s pure speculation.
Anyway, this next part is what really interests me. Shiro says they’re a team now, and that they should all decide together. Everyone is looking at Shiro but Shiro looks directly at Lance.
I have to gif the following to really properly show you what happens next.
Shiro looks directly at Lance. Right after this, a few things happen. Hunk, seeing Shiro looking at Lance, looks at Lance, too. Keith looks from Shiro to the wormhole, then to Lance, and finally, Pidge looks from Shiro to Lance, putting her hand on his shoulder, ultimately conveying that the decision lies with Lance. And then he does decide.
Bro. When I saw this, on my rewatch round, I lost my mind. I never noticed this on my first watch, nor even my second or third. But here, it is so incredibly clear foreshadowing Shiro passing the baton on to Lance, it’s insane how I ever missed it. It also shows that Lance’s leader position is going to be gradual, with some hesitation in the mix, probably due to Lance’s more immature behaviour throughout the first two seasons. But it’s going to be there. They are all going to accept Lance taking charge eventually, including Keith.
Look, if Keith was meant to inherit Shiro’s legacy, why didn’t Shiro look at him? Keith is the one who’s arguably done the most research about aliens and weird energy in the desert, so why didn’t Shiro ask Keith if he’s heard about any of this, or what Keith thinks they should do? Why did he look directly at Lance? It all has a meaning.
Next we have this iconic frame, used in many analyses, which very very clearly foreshadows Lance’s connection to the Black Lion.
I also found this part interesting.
As Allura talks about the qualities of the Black Paladin, the image of the Black Lion moves from Lance to directly in front of Shiro.
And then we also have this:
When they show the Black Paladin’s suit armour, they show Lance, Keith and Shiro before panning the camera to Hunk. But what’s most interesting is that your eye is drawn to Lance, as he takes up most of the frame…
All of these things combined clearly indicate Lance’s future position within Voltron, but it’s not just the first episode that implies this…
Shiro & Lance Parallels
I’ve already argued that Shiro has one of the strongest bonds of all the paladins with his lion, making him the Black Lion’s true paladin. Well, we know that Lance wasn’t meant to be the Blue Lion’s true paladin, because he moves on to the Red Lion and ends there, right? But as we’ve already said, Keith is mirrored in the Red Lion, matching the qualities of the Red Lion the best. Keith is the Red Lion’s true paladin, not Lance, because Lance doesn’t match any of the qualities of the Red Lion, like Keith does. And we know he’s meant to stay a paladin, unlike Allura, who is meant for a “higher purpose” so to speak, because it’s a part of his arc, finding his place in the world and within Voltron. So, if Lance isn’t the Blue Lion’s true paladin, nor the Red Lion’s true paladin, then whose true paladin is he?
Let’s forget for a moment what LM said about the Blue Lion, and see what qualities he shares with the paladins who have flown it. The one who is chosen to pilot the Blue Lion after Lance is Allura. But as we’ve already discussed, Allura shares a lot of qualities with Shiro, and matches the description of the Black Lion almost exactly. So, does that mean that Lance shares similar qualities with Shiro, too?
Let’s have a look.
What makes Shiro a good leader? Well, he makes sure that everyone works together as a team. Does Lance do that? Well…
When he decides to look for Pidge and take her to town, he does so because he knows it will make them a better team.
[05:18 ; 06:50]
So clearly, he understands that teamwork is important, and I think he even knows how a team should work, because he consistently argues against splitting the team throughout the show:
[Season 1, Episode 10: Collection and Extraction, 10:17]
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 10:20 ; 10:37]
Shiro is also usually the one who comes up with a plan, and tells the others what to do to succeed.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 45:21]
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 50:24]
Well, so is Lance… Lance is frequently the one coming up with a plan, or asking for a plan:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 09:47]
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 40:24]
Lance is in fact the first one to come up with a plan here (which isn’t bad considering their limited options) after Shiro asks for one.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 51:29]
[Season 1, Episode 3: The Return of the Gladiator, 14:04 ; 17:36 ; 19:10]
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 03:00]
[Season 1, Episode 7: Return to the Balmera, 07:41]
And again directly after Shiro asks for one, more than once…
[Season 4, Episode 6: A New Defender, 17:19]
Besides that, they also seem alike in their personality. Despite being very serious most of the time, Shiro does have a sense of humor! He joins in on the sound effects (which Lance started):
And he jokes, even though he’s injured ! Which seems like a very Lance thing to do:
[Season 2, Episode 1: Across the Universe, 14:37 ; 20:48]
Shiro is also revealed to have wanted to prove himself when he was younger, something Lance is notorious for.
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 17:36]
Lance is also usually the one most protective of his team, always being in front and being the last to put away his weapon, as pointed out by this post [33].
[Season 3, Episode 4: Hole in the Sky, 19:03]
Other than personality characteristics, they also have a lot of parallels in their reactions and things they say. As in a lot. Even more than Keith and Allura. Like so much in just the first two seasons, it’s kind of insane.
First parallel we have is this one:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 46:12]
uhhh, isn’t that almost exactly what Lance told Shiro while they were in the Blue Lion???
Yes it is.
[Season 2, Episode 4: Greening the Cube, 14:13]
Here they react the exact same way and say almost the same thing.
and HERE:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 14:11]
Shiro is literally echoing what Lance said just three episodes ago.
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 10:37]
and furthermore…
[Season 1, Episode 11: The Black Paladin, 01:28]
Shiro saying this here parallels what Lance says in season 3…
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 14:49]
Paralleled again here…
[Season 1, Episode 11: The Black Paladin, 20:54]
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing A Comet, 15:09]
And here:
[Season 2, Episode 9: The Belly of the Weblum, 01:46]
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 07:06]
AND HERE:
[Season 1, Episode 5: Eye of the Storm, 14:59]
[season 3, episode 3: The Hunted, 14:49]
This is very consistent throughout the show. All of these parallels to Shiro are clearly intentional. There are too many for them all to be accidents, mistakes or coincidences. Furthermore, I don’t believe in any of those things in animation, because everything is drawn by hand, so there is a clear intention in every single detail. That goes for writing, too. The crew wanted us to compare Lance to Shiro and recognise that he shares a lot of qualities with him.
Shiro is a more mature version of Lance. He shares a lot of similarities with him in terms of personality, as well as qualities in leadership. Shiro is who Lance has to become in order to ascend to the Black Lion, which is why Shiro is introduced as Lance’s hero, and not as Keith’s friend, because Lance was meant to be the ultimate inheritor of his legacy.
Astral Plane Foreshadowing
The foreshadowing doesn’t just stop in their parallels. We also have massive indicators from scenes in the Astral Plane throughout the show, which consistently feature two red and blue stars. This has been pointed out many times before, and I am pointing it out here, again:
[Season 2, Episode 7: Space Mall]
[Season 6, Episode 6: All Good Things]
These are all shots of Blue and Red stars consistently animated in the Astral Plane across seasons and production eras. Both of these scenes involved a fight/standoff between two Black Paladins (Zarkon vs. Shiro and Shiro vs. Keith). This foreshadows a fight between Keith and Lance, and further implies that Lance would be a Black Paladin as well for their fight/standoff in the Astral Plane.
Furthermore, Keith says this very confidently in season 4.
“I’m not meant to pilot the Black Lion.” He doesn’t say “I’m not good enough” or “I can’t pilot the Black Lion.” or whatever, because as we already discussed, Keith doesn’t lack confidence in being a leader, he just knows that’s not where he belongs. Keith is very self-assured in his own abilities and what he can bring to the team, which is why he’s so good at lifting Lance up when he’s down about himself. Just as we saw in our analysis of the bedroom scene in season 3, Keith knows that he doesn’t have any of the qualities of a true Black Paladin, because he doesn’t refute Lance when Lance assumes that he will go back to the Red Lion. And that’s what he’s confirming here. This isn’t an instance of self-doubt, because self-doubt is not in Keith’s vocabulary and would be incredibly out of character for him. This is an instance of Keith recognising where he belongs, and it is not in the Black Lion.
Now, remember when I said this:
“There’s a reason people shipped [Allura] with Shiro in the first two seasons, because they were co-leaders.”
Well, remember this gif?
Notice how they’re paired. Lance and Shiro vs. Keith and Allura. We’ve already established that Lance shares a lot of qualities with Shiro, and that Allura and Keith are foiled against each other. Well… this gif kinda proves it even more, doesn’t it? I think this sequence was meant to foreshadow that, from the show’s inception, Keith was ultimately supposed to be to Lance what Allura is to Shiro, in terms of their work relationship. Keith was supposed to co-lead with Lance from the start, but not from the position of the Black Lion. It’s so clearly foreshadowed here, it’s kinda crazy. (In the extra analysis, there’s a section where I dive into the parallels between Shiro & Allura vs. Lance & Keith, you can read that if you’d like as it makes this foiling much more evident).
Voltron: Legendary Defender is about Lance, the same way Naruto is about Naruto. Both JDS and LM stated that Lance is their favorite character [1, 10, 17], and it really shows. They wanted to give that guy everything. Lance’s arc would have been fulfilled once he was on equal footing with Keith. And the only thing missing to make that happen is becoming the Black Paladin and declaring his love for him. The foreshadowing for Black Paladin Lance is as consistent (and dare I say the only consistent thing) throughout the show as the love story between Lance and Keith.
Interviews with the cast and crew
In the introduction, I said that I remembered when Voltron premiered, a lot of people gravitated towards it because of the seemingly heavy themes of found family. But I also distinctly remember during the last couple of seasons, that people started to get frustrated with the writers, because Voltron wasn’t living up to the found family trope. It seemed like the characters were more colleagues to each other than family or even friends. Some were saying that it doesn’t seem like any of the characters actually like each other.
Some chose to use this as evidence of bad writing, but as I’ve already stated, that’s purely a lazy, mean-spirited conclusion to come to. It’s easy to dismiss choices you disagree with as bad, but it takes effort to see past your own biases and see what lies behind the choice to begin with. Their complaints about the found family trope are not unfounded, however, as I’ve already argued in the found family section, but rather than taking it as evidence of bad writing, I take it as evidence of intention. This is an interesting choice to me, because it further informs about the actual intention with the story of Voltron. Was it ever intended to be a found family story? Was it ever intended to be a war story, even?
I don’t think so.
JDS mentioned that now that they were on Netflix, they believed they had more leeway with the kind of story they wanted to tell (i.e. they could take more risks that they couldn’t on a network) and were thus more free to explore deeper subjects such as sexuality and gender [25].
Tim Hedrick was the head writer of Voltron, and LM mentions in an Afterbuzz TV podcast that he frequently had to keep her in check with regards to her habit of projecting her own agendas onto the show and the characters [1]. This tells us that Tim had a pretty clear vision for the story and the characters, as well as where they were headed. And he said this about LGBT themes in Voltron [26] back in 2017:
Remember, all of them worked on LOK, one of the most famous examples of queer relationships in cartoons, to this day.
In the Afterbuzz TV Podcast, JDS and LM both talk about having been involved with LOK, clearly taking pride in the Korrasami ending [1], and I think they were ready and willing to take it a step further than that, going into Voltron. I believe that Korrasami held hands, so that Klance could kiss on screen, or at least say “I love you” to each other, something that Korrasami was denied to keep some plausible deniability in the show [1].
Moreover, when asked directly about Klance, LM and JDS both said they understood why fans shipped them, because it seems like a natural progression of their relationship. Actually, they said that the only objection LM had was the ship name. She thought that Laith was better because it means lion [27, couldn’t find the original source, but I KNOW they said this].
Now my question is… how does she know that? And how did she have that name ready to say, unless she already had it prepared? Unless it was something she had already thought about? Something she had already planned? No one just knows that Laith means lion, first of all because it’s an Arabic word, and unless I missed something, LM is as white as they come and I doubt she knows any Arabic. That is, unless she already thought about the name and researched what it means…
I think it is also interesting that their names together mean lion, further implying that the war setting around them is meant to perpetuate their love for each other and their love story.
JDS and LM also mention in the podcast that it was more than just “the toy show” for them [1] as well as in the article above [25], which is clear from their storytelling. It is also clear in their design for the show, as suggested by this quote from Christine Bian, the Design Supervisor of Voltron:
[26] it was not a priority for them to produce this show with toys in mind.
They wanted to subvert the expectations set from the previous installments of the franchise, turning it all on its head, but they weren’t allowed to. They were barely allowed to say that Shiro was gay, and in fact, a storyboard artist of Voltron, who went by their twitter handle, Barlee, implies in their tweet that LM confirmed Shiro’s sexuality before she got explicit permission [40].
This was an incredibly bold move, considering her contract. Shiro’s epilogue was their consolation prize, as well as the fans’, because it’s clear that they wanted a queer romance as much as the fans did. The only reason they could get away with Shiro’s epilogue is because they had already confirmed Shiro’s sexuality beforehand, before the release of season 7, and it was the response of the fans that helped turn the decision in their favor.
“But!” I hear you say, “Adam died! If they wanted a queer romance, why did they kill him off?”
Look, I don’t think Adam’s death was malicious at all. The Macross Theory [6] explains pretty well what I think the intention was with his death, it’s just that they weren’t allowed to pay it off properly, so they couldn’t show you what it was all for. But, actually, there is some evidence that paralleling Macross’ love triangle was their intention (aside from all the parallels in the theory itself).
Remember the leaks back when season 7 came out and we were all waiting for season 8? That everyone desperately hoped were fake, because it would be the ultimate betrayal if they were true? Haha, well… not only were they true, but this was one of them:
I know. Major war flashbacks happening right now. But if we try to focus, and really look. What do we see? Well, we see Shiro’s epilogue, but instead of Curtis, he is getting married to a random character. But actually, this isn’t just any random character. This is Major Focker, who died in Macross, and who initiated the love confession in his death!
This is pretty clearly linking Voltron to Macross, and especially Voltron to the Macross love triangle. Not only that, but it clearly links Shiro to that love triangle. Because Shiro was meant to be the Claudia to Focker! Focker is standing in for Adam!
And in fact, this character also shows up in the first episode.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 05:32]
So we know that they planned this from the very beginning. I know that originally, Shiro was meant to die, so I wonder if they had planned to swap the roles of Claudia and Focker in Voltron originally, as in, Adam (or Focker as seen above) being the one to urge Lance/Keith to confess before the other party dies… That would make sense, since JDS and LM also mention that they planned to out Shiro as queer as early as season 2, but were forced to push it back to season 7.
Regardless, I think that when JDS and LM said in interviews that burying their gays was not their intention at all, they meant it. I don’t think they really realized how Adam’s death would come across. But as we saw, fans did not take this well. The fandom back then was already kind of accusing them of queerbaiting from the beginning, but I think that this was a bad-faith accusation at the time, mostly because the show wasn’t over yet, so no one could confidently say whether any queerbaiting had taken place, undeniably.
The “queerbaiting” that happened with Adam and Shiro (and Keith and Lance for that matter) was never intentional, but rather a product of the state of the industry, since they state in the podcast that they had to scale Adam and Shiro’s relationship massively back, because of pushback from executives [1]. They had to change their shared apartment to a common lounge at the Garrison, and they had to generalize their dialogue [1]. They had planned for a very explicit relationship between Shiro and Adam, but were forced to create “plausible deniability”, which also happened to Korrasami. I don’t think JDS and LM saw this coming, since they were convinced that Netflix would let them have free reign. And they were right, but only to a certain extent. Netflix gave them free reign, but Dreamworks didn’t, WEP didn’t, they barely went ahead with Adam as a character at all…
Ezor coming back to life might also have been the same type of olive branch that the epilogue was. I think that JDS and LM saw the strong reaction from the fans and didn’t want to make it worse, so they brought her back. I can’t really blame them, even if I think it was a poor choice. I probably would have done the same thing, had I been under as much pressure as they were.
SO… WHAT HAPPENED?
Dreamworks, She-Ra & the state of the industry
“But, Taro,” I hear you say, “If this is a love story between Lance and Keith, why didn’t we see it?”
Well… I can’t answer that. As I said in the introduction, I wasn’t in the room when they produced or released season 8. Even if I guess, it will all be speculation, because the cast and crew aren’t legally allowed to disclose information about the show's production without permission from “higher up”.
If I had to take a guess, just based on my own observations, I don’t believe that Dreamworks was the (only) issue. Two years after Voltron’s finale, She-Ra ended with a canon Sapphic relationship between its main characters, another example of a love story framed through war.
Same thing with Steven Universe, granted Steven Universe is from Cartoon Network, but still. JDS actually mentions Steven Universe specifically in the Afterbuzz TV Podcast [1] when talking about the changing state of the animation industry.
And given everything I have just argued for, it is very clear to me that the two most consistent storylines throughout the show are Lance and Keith’s relationship, as well as Lance becoming the Black Paladin. Clearly, they had a very specific story to tell, and I think it looks a lot like the one I outlined above.
So… what happened? Well, some people have made a few guesses.
In December 2018, the day after the release of the last season, Leakinghate on tumblr released a massive analysis of the Season 8 animation and story progression, and they discovered that there is a lot of evidence to indicate that both seasons 7 & 8 were edited, with season 8 having the most clear evidence, since the edits took place post-production and thus are less refined [8]. Their biggest finding is that it seems Lotor was cut completely from the season’s storyline.
Furthermore, earlier this year, vldunchartedregions on tumblr introduced themselves as a team of fans dedicated to finding all of the edits of Season 7 and Season 8, and trying to reconstruct the narrative that we were supposed to see at the end of the show. They have not released their massive analysis as of writing this analysis, and I for one am waiting very eagerly to see what they have found, if their answers to asks are any indication. I took a look at their analyses and found most of the edits myself during my rewatches for this analysis, and as you’ll see in the Extra Analysis document, I have found some evidence of my own that suggest edits as early as season 6.
TV Tropes webpage dismisses these claims using interview quotes made by JDS and LM [12]. I tried to have a look at these interviews myself, but I frequently faced a dead end link, even with the wayback machine. I think even if they said these things, we have to take it with a grain of salt. JDS and LM were both under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), as was all the rest of the crew. They legally are not allowed to confirm whether season 8 was edited or not, neither what they had originally intended with the show, nor who interfered in their vision. In their final interview with Afterbuzz TV, they said that this is the last Voltron-related thing that they will probably ever do. And they are still under NDA’s here, so they legally can’t dive into anything other than what canon shows, the final cut of Season 8.
But they do give us hints.
IPs and other legal things
In the Afterbuzz TV podcast [1] JDS and LM both mention multiple times that they weren’t allowed to do everything they wished because they received pushback from “higher up” and kept mentioning that they weren’t the owners of the Voltron IP. Now, what does this mean exactly?
[35] This source tells us that the owner of the IP is protected legally from plagiarism and/or stealing of someone’s Intellectual Property. It “enables people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create”. Basically, it means that the owner of an IP has the final say in how that IP is used, as they are the legal owners of it.
The owner of the Voltron franchise is World Events Productions (WEP), which is owned by Ted & Bob Koplar [36].
WEP collaborated with DreamWorks Animation Television to develop and release a reboot of the Voltron franchise on Netflix. The showrunners of Voltron are very familiar to us as fans of VLD: Joaquim Dos Santos, and Lauren Montgomery [37], who are also the executive producers of the show:
But look who is also the executive producers of VLD [37]:
Ted and Bob Koplar, the owners of WEP. This makes sense since they are the owners of the Voltron IP. Now, what does an executive producer do?
[38] Okay, this definition tells us that Ted and Bob Koplar were most likely involved with the legal aspects of producing VLD, which makes sense, again, because they are the owners of the Voltron IP. But… look at what is also says:
“In films, the executive producer generally contributes to the film’s budget and their involvement depends on the project, with [...] others being involved in the filmmaking process.”
Okay, so an Executive Producer is not just all legal stuff and funds. They can also be involved in the process of actual production.
And see here again what Barlee said back when Season 7 came out, and everyone were mad that Adam died [40]:
Remember when I said this?
“Tim Hedrick was the head writer of Voltron, and LM mentions in an Afterbuzz TV podcast that he frequently had to keep her in check with regards to her habit of projecting her own agendas onto the show and the characters [1]. This tells us that Tim had a pretty clear vision for the story and the characters, as well as where they were headed.”
Tim Hedrick wasn’t involved in writing the last half of Season 7, nor Season 8 [37], which is arguably the two seasons we see the most deviation from earlier seasons, both in character presentation and in terms of the tone of the show. The last half of Season 7 is an homage to mecha anime, and resembles a mecha anime much more in terms of tone and plot than anything we’ve seen in earlier seasons of Voltron. In season 8, the writing of the dialogue between characters is also odd and often out of character, and the pacing suffers greatly because of contrived plot-points (such as entering Honerva’s mind…).
This may have been due to improvisation, as suggested by Barlee [40]:
So… JDS and LM were kinda hinting to us the real reason behind the final cut of Season 8 in the podcast, weren’t they? They both said their creative vision for VLD were limited due to them not being the owners of the Voltron IP [1]. What else could it mean, but that one of the owners of the IP was meddling in production? And in fact, one particular person stands out:
They included a literal parody of Bob Koplar in Season 7’s episode 4: The Feud!, painting him as an evil show host who makes fun of the paladins and humiliates them. VLD has done this many times before, naming characters after crew members: Iverson was named after Mitch Iverson, who was a writer for the series and for the Voltron comics that tie-in to the show [37]. The cow Kaltenecker was named after their line producer, Benjamin Kaltenecker:
But none of these characters are evil, or a parody. This episode actually informs us a lot about what Bob Koplar may have thought of the characters. For example, I remember a lot of fans were annoyed that Lance kept being called dumb in this episode, but notice how he is only called dumb by Bob. All of the villains are also silly caricatures of themselves, which is played off for laughs, but may have had a deeper meaning. I believe the crew were trying to tell us a lot through this episode.
And in December 2024, Leakinghate reblogged their original analysis covering the edits of s8 to include a think piece on why they think it was edited in the first place [39]. Here’s what they say:
“As far as I can tell, the two apparently verboten topics were anything involving Lotor's redemption and anything that would potentially cast Voltron-the-robot in a negative light. These topics themselves are intertwined, because it is Lotor's redemption that proves that Team Voltron made a mistake in "defeating" him. As Lotor's VA himself said, "Lotor was framed." Revealing the truth of this would mean that Team Voltron has the potential to be NOT a unilateral force for good, and introduce a grey morality to a previously black and white situation. In essence: redeeming Lotor would tarnish Voltron's "brand".”
This is of course speculation, but it is not entirely out of reason. Bob and Ted Koplar are the only people who have the right, legally, to demand such drastic changes to a production in the film-production chain. Since they are the IP holders of the Voltron franchise, their word is final. Not even DreamWorks can do anything about it, and I don’t believe they would have, even if they wanted to, because they didn’t want to burn any bridges. That is also what JDS and LM mention in the Afterbuzz TV Podcast, that they couldn’t just walk out of the project since they had a whole crew depending on them [1], and going against such a high-standing “producer” would be “career suicide” as Leakinghate says.
So, I think this tells us the possible reason why the Klance and Black Paladin Lance storylines also never happened:
I think Bob Koplar wanted Lance removed as Black Paladin for many reasons, most likely because it was tied to a Klance arc, establishing them as canon, and he didn’t want an achillean relationship in a show he deemed as a boys show [1 mentioned multiple times]. But I think another reason is much the same as why he wanted Lotor removed. He wanted to maintain the state quo of what he saw Voltron as: Lotor as the villain, and Voltron being led by Keith, and only Keith. Keith is a legacy character, meaning that his story isn’t just up to DreamWorks, or Netflix, but it’s up to its owner, namely WEP. Keith always ends up as the Black Paladin. And that legacy would be ruined if all of a sudden Lance is now the Black Paladin. He didn’t want another character competing for the role, he wanted Keith to be the pilot of the Black Lion in the endgame.
It’s clear that the vision the showrunners had was very progressive, talking about a future where everyone is a little mixed [11] and no one cares about sexuality [1, 25]. And while the industry may have been in the process of changing in 2016, do I need to remind you what else happened in 2016?
The animation industry might have been changing internally, but the fact of the matter is that conservative policies and philosophies were on the rise (and are still rising…), making it a lot harder to justify something as progressive as a love story between two men on a TV show “for young boys”.
Everyone seems determined to forget about Voltron, erasing it from history, sweeping it under the rug where it will never see the light of day again. But I won’t allow for that. Voltron existed. People worked on it. They had a story to tell, and I think it would have been a very good story had the showrunners had the freedom to tell it the way they wanted to. I can’t tell you how many dead links I came across while researching and writing this analysis, and it hasn’t even been ten years since the show ended yet, much less premiered.
Sources
Afterbuzz TV Podcast Series Retrospective with JDS and LM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om_t8A99WJo&list=PLvnmRGeipQdMdlYSQ6R9Dr3JvyzReKcPD
Honeyspeeches Keith and Lance are the main characters of Voltron: https://www.tumblr.com/honeyspeeches/740509826237530112/ok-let-me-elaborate-on-this-cause-i-have-so-many?source=share
Honeyspeeches Voltron is a love story so jot that down: https://www.tumblr.com/honeyspeeches/779748562133204992/actually-voltron-is-a-love-story-between-lance-and?source=share
squeakyleftsneaker Watching Voltron for the First Time S3 EP 1-2 https://www.tumblr.com/squeakyleftsneaker/778924458201300992/watching-voltron-for-the-1st-time-s3-ep-1-2?source=share
Deep dive of VLD s1-3 https://archive.md/y26Q5
The New Klancetament https://bitrontheories.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-new-klancetament-voltron-season-8.html?m=1
Leakinghate Seek Truth in Darkness https://www.tumblr.com/leakinghate/183160042843/seek-truth-in-darkness
Leakinghate Chasing the Ghosts of S8 https://www.tumblr.com/leakinghate/181235921503/chasing-the-ghosts-of-season-8
vldunchartedregions: Shiro’s role in the series https://www.tumblr.com/vldunchartedregions/780625605665472512/i-see-all-these-comments-and-notes-about-changes?source=share
Hypable Interview with JDS and LM https://vld-news.tumblr.com/post/163765228392/joaquim-lance-hes-my-personal-favorite-and-i
Borderless Earth https://www.inverse.com/article/46174-voltron-legendary-defender-season-6-lance-is-cuban-borderless-earth
TV Tropes Voltron Trivia Page https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/VoltronLegendaryDefender
CaptnJackSparrow Sakura’s love vs Naruto’s Love for Sasuke https://captnjacksparrow.tumblr.com/post/668749978957709312/you-mentioned-in-one-of-your-responses-that
hgthephoenix The Red Lion’s Gender https://hgthephoenix.tumblr.com/post/178095025815/reds-gender
Amino Apps, Gender’s of the Lions, https://aminoapps.com/c/voltron-legendary-defenders/page/blog/genders-of-the-lions/jk3E_74UKu84nEodzM2ZnQ46N4ekbXbZKX
The Red Lion Wikia page https://voltron.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Lion_(Legendary_Defender)
NYCC Voltron Panel clips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHHVTIknIro
NYCC 2017 Voltron Panel Highlights https://us.blastingnews.com/showbiz-tv/2017/10/nycc-2017-voltron-panel-highlights-002078139.html (confirms that they said Lance is Keith’s stability)
The Paladin’s Handbook https://archive.org/details/paladinshandbook0000creg
Shiro and Keith Parallels https://www.tumblr.com/thevoltronpilots/177228030831/7x01-1x01?source=share
Family of Choice TV Tropes Page https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FamilyOfChoice
Captnjacksparrow women characters in Naruto https://captnjacksparrow.tumblr.com/post/672734330246823936/but-kishimoto-gave-gender-to-his-characters-and-he
Deuteragonist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteragonist
Keith’s Vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YekC99bDMtU
Polygon Voltron couldn’t have existed without Netflix https://www.polygon.com/tv/2017/1/18/14301768/voltron-legendary-defenders-season-2-netflix
DenofGeek Interview with Voltron Crew https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/creating-voltron-legendary-defender/
Blanceyblance analysis on Lance’s underrated role in Voltron https://www.tumblr.com/blanceyblance/776637526611050496/analysis-on-lances-underrated-role-on-the-team?source=share
hgthephoenix Season 7 theory https://www.tumblr.com/hgthephoenix/178649484290/pidgeonblocks-i-left-to-protect-the-person-i?source=share
LM retweets a Klance Aladdin AU https://x.com/artoflaurenm/status/774829214239293440?lang=en
thegeekiary a voltron season 8 retrospective https://web.archive.org/web/20230306233853/https://thegeekiary.com/disaster-voltron-season-8/58749
kimberly brooks talking about Allura appearing in a spin-off https://web.archive.org/web/20210201235550/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z699DXqdYw&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z699DXqdYw)
Bayards Wiki https://voltron.fandom.com/wiki/Bayard
Blanceyblance Lance’s underrated role as the Team Mom https://www.tumblr.com/blanceyblance/781356253768237056/a-study-on-lances-underrated-role-on-the-team?source=share
Voltron Comic Issue #4 The Riddle of the Sphinx Part 2 https://youtu.be/rpjHEgUdHU0
Intellectual Property Definition https://www.wipo.int/en/web/about-ip/
Voltron: Legendary Defender https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltron:_Legendary_Defender
Executive Producer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_producer
Leakinghate Chasing the ghosts of s8 reblog https://www.tumblr.com/leakinghate/769228827647934464/chasing-the-ghosts-of-season-8?source=share
Barlee’s tweets https://fayheda.tumblr.com/post/176927446629/credit-to-glaraxy-on-instagram-click-for-better
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