A while ago I examined Keith's feelings for Lance after his return, since this is when he seemed to be the most hostile against Lance to the casual viewer. This analysis establishes a very clear pattern of Keith having a soft spot for Lance in the first three seasons, and so off the back of that, I examined the rest of the seasons by scrutinizing all of Keith's interactions with Lance. Not only did I find that Keith continues to have a soft spot for Lance, but I found the reason behind his hostility. Keith is in love with Lance, and he is hurt, because he thinks Lance doesn't reciprocate his feelings for him. But is this true? Are Keith's feelings one-sided? To determine that, we first need to answer the following question:
What are Lance's feelings for Keith?
That is what we are going to examine in this analysis. But unlike for Keith, this isn't going to be a 3 season affair. Oh no. We will have to examine the whole series bby, and it is going to take a while. So strap in and get comfortable as we scrutinize this boy from Cuba and his feelings for his rival.
SEASON 1-2
Let's start from the very beginning, as in the veryyyyy beginning. I already examined some of Lance's feelings towards Keith here, but let's go through it again, and let's go through it thoroughly.
We have to start here, at the Garrison flashback from season 7, because it fits better chronologically here and
it informs us a lot about Lance and how he sees Keith.
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 09:58]
In the flashback, we see Lance flying in formation and keeping it straight, not veering away from the instructions he receives, and he even admonishes Keith for veering away from the instructions, saying Keith will get stuck as a cargo pilot if he keeps it up. 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:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 02:24]
[Season 7, Episode 1: A Little Adventure, 10:03]
Which is what makes him crash the simulator and draw Iverson's ire:
[04:26]
[10:19]
So, Lance is literally copying what Keith did when they first met. This is why Iverson tells Lance the following:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 04:55]
(very interesting that Keith is subtextually a part of Lance's introduction... but anyway)
I am going to insert here what I wrote in the main analysis (additions marked in orange):
"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. 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, 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, "I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out." [11:04]. Iverson said "best pilot" implying that Lance does not meet that standard, Lance is nowhere near the "best pilot" in his class. 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."
Iverson here is breeding Lance's animosity towards Keith, most likely unknowingly and feeds into Lance's inferiority complex. But we know now, thanks to the flashback, that Lance copied Keith, which means, he admired his flying skills, even though he expressed otherwise. You don't copy someone you aren't impressed by. So mostly, Lance's comparison is fuelled by himself, because he admires him.
This is confirmed by Keith's introduction through Lance, where he says this:
[10:05]
As I said in the main analysis, "That guy is always trying to one-up me." is Lance directly telling us that he compares himself to Keith a lot, that there is a lot of measuring up here, since he says "always", right? And as I also said in the main analysis, only Lance feels this way about Keith, because only Lance is focused on when Iverson compares him to Keith. We know now, thanks to the flashback, that it's because Lance copied Keith. Lance is the only one who is measuring up with Keith.
Furthermore, Lance says this: "Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!" which tells us everything about Lance and how he feels about Keith. This is what I said in the main analysis:
"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 in front of him, 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]
In fact, Lance's 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 him, because watching the back of his head a lot means that Keith has never faced him as an equal."
Lance hasn't lived up to him yet either, and that is why Keith hasn't faced him yet, because they aren't the same level at this point. This is what informs most of his hostility towards Keith. It also establishes the rivalry as one-sided, because Keith never considered Lance his rival or his competition. And Lance lashes out once he realizes this, because he thinks that Keith doesn't see him as his equal:
[10:59]
He reminds Keith that he "washed out", quite derogatorily as well, which we know Keith actually does care about, because he says he felt lost after being booted from the Garrison. So, we start to see the pattern here of Lance lashing out when he is reminded that he doesn't measure up to Keith and that Keith doesn't see him as an equal.
This is a pattern that we see a lot throughout the first two seasons, and at first I thought that this was the pattern that occurred the most, and that was why it leaves such a strong(er) impression, but I was wrong. These are all the times Lance lashes out at Keith and why:
[30:39]
[31:30]
Lance is lashing out a lot here, because Keith simply correcting Lance makes Lance feel incredibly insecure. Keith correcting Lance reminds Lance that he isn't as good as him, and triggers his insecurities of not being "good enough" to fill his shoes.
In the below screencap, Lance thinks the Red Lion is very cool, and I think even to some extent he wants to be its pilot, but when Keith is assigned the Red Lion, Lance's face drops, almost as if he's thinking like, "Wait what?? KEITH?? not ME?" which he also says out loud:
Here, Lance is lashing out because Keith is arguing against leaving Arus, the opposite of what Lance suggested. This makes Lance feel insecure, again, because he thinks that Keith thinks that he's better than Lance, and Lance sees Keith arguing against him as confirmation of that.
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 11:36]
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 18:31]
Interestingly he doesn't really lash out that much after their team-bonding exercise in episode 2: Some Assembly Required. Even here, in episode 7, Keith corrects Lance, even sarcastically, but Lance doesn't lash out, unlike when we saw him in episode 1, when Keith also corrected Lance and that time it wasn't even sarcastic:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 30:39]
[Season 1, episode 7: Return of the Balmera, 13:32]
Next time Lance lashes out isn't until Season 2, Episode 5: Eye of the Storm:
[Season 2, Episode 5: Eye of the Storm, 02:00]
And we see that this is because Keith pushes him aside and literally "one-ups him", which suggests there might have been some truth to what Lance said in the first episode...
Next is here:
[Season 2, Episode 4: Greening the Cube, 03:57]
Okay, there's a lot here. First of all, this ties into the Blue Lion being a symbol for Lance's attraction to Allura that I established here. Second of all, Lance is being defensive here because he somehow thinks that Keith asking about the Blue Lion means he wants to take Lance's role as the Blue Paladin. This is because Lance is already very insecure about his place in Voltron as the Blue Paladin, also established here; so Lance hearing any potential threat to his status is triggering his insecurities, especially if it comes from Keith. At least here, though, he doesn't insult him by calling him names like he did in the first episode, he is just being very defensive.
Next is here:
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 01:45]
Just as when he lashes out in episode one, when they were discussing what to do, Lance lashes out here, because he thinks Keith telling them to focus is coming from a place of "superiority". That's why he's mocking him here. He's kinda acting like "who do you think you are?" (That's 10 "lashing out" moments btw, even counting the ones where I said they didn't qualify. Just for arguments sake, I included them in this count.)
So, Lance feels a bit inferior to Keith, which makes sense, right, 'cause he literally took his spot at the Garrison, but he also admires him, because he calls him cool and copied his flying style once he made it to Fighter Pilot class.
But their
interaction in the tent also establishes something else that I didn't
touch on in the main analysis, that Lance wants to impress Keith, he
wants him to acknowledge him back.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 10:46]
Here,
Lance clearly expected Keith to know his name, and was even hoping that
he would recognize him and see Lance as his rival. After all, a rival
is someone you are on equal footing with, because you match in skill.
And we see more evidence of him wanting to impress Keith here. He doesn't lash out, but he does frown when Keith doesn't seem impressed by his brag:
[Season 1, Episode 3: Return of the Gladiator, 01:56]
So, he also wants to impress Keith... Well, we now know that he admires him, because he copied his flying style from when they were kids, right? And also Lance thinks the Red Lion is cool, and as we all know the Red Lion is a symbol for Keith, as I established
here.
So, to summarise our findings so far, when we are introduced to their dynamic, we see that Lance admires Keith a lot and looks up to him in a way, emulating his flying style, and he wants to be acknowledged, remembered by, and impress him. He compares himself a lot to Keith as well, which feeds his insecurities. Iverson breeds Lance's animosity by comparing him directly to Keith and telling him that he's a failure and that he didn't earn the spot Keith left vacant. So, whenever Lance is reminded of this, Lance lashes out at Keith. He feels inferior to him and he is hurt when Keith doesn't remember him, because he thinks this is confirmation for Keith not seeing Lance as his equal. This is pretty much the general impression most casual viewers (and fans back in the day) got while watching Voltron, and is what informs our opinions of their dynamic in future seasons.
But... there's actually a lot more to their dynamic, but it's all a bit more subtextual. Let me show you.
First of all, Lance wanting to be acknowledged by Keith is confirmed by how frequently Lance puts himself next to him.
But the frequency of his proximity to Keith also implies that he's drawn to him in some way... since every time he's standing next to Keith, he is not always trying to impress him.
As I said in Voltron is a Love Story, character placements, especially in the first two seasons, are incredibly important and intentional. Lance and Keith being paired is very consistent, even on the promotional posters they made for the show, as I showed in this tumblr post.
And especially in the first two seasons, Lance is constantly and consistently standing next to Keith.
AND... okay I kinda implied this in Voltron is a Love Story, but the Blue Lion to Keith is a symbol for Lance before Allura is chosen as its pilot in season 3. There I said that the Blue Lion represented a new purpose in a time where he felt very lost, which Keith says himself. Well... this is foreshadowing for how Lance guides Keith and gives him a new purpose in season 3, when Shiro dies (the first time...) and Keith ascends the Black Lion. All that to say, the Blue Lion is also often used as a symbol for Lance before season 3, and in episode 1, we see something
very interesting...
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 16:47]
The Blue Lions eye shines as Keith is looking up at it. Usually, this means that the object whose eye shines is taking an interest in the person it is looking at. Now, Lance just said that he feels like the Lion is looking at him, so it could be for Lance, BUT we clearly see only KEITH looking up at the Blue Lion before its eye starts shining. That means the Blue Lion is shining its eye at Keith. Now... that's odd, because Keith isn't chosen as its pilot, Lance is. So why does its eye shine at Keith? Why did the Blue Lion call out to Keith? Well... because the Blue Lion is a symbol for Lance. This is symbolism for Lance taking an interest in Keith when he first sees him, and in fact, it is seeing Keith outside the tent that drives Lance to saving Shiro AND to taking them off into space, kickstarting the plot. And it's actually confirmed by Lance's reaction to the description of the Red Lion.
When Allura describes the qualities of the Red Lion, Lance has a very peculiar facial expression:
[34:03]
He looks... kinda like he does in Season 2, Episode 10, when he talks about how cool Keith is:
[Season 2, Episode 10: Escape from Beta Traz, 13:49]
So, Lance here thinks the Red Lion is cool, and he wants to pilot it, which is why his face drops when Keith is chosen instead of him. Well, he's already foreshadowed to pilot it at some point here, but I think it's very
interesting that just as the Blue Lion is taking an interest in Keith...
here we have confirmation of that symbolism, since Lance is
clearly taking an interest in the Red Lion... who I've established multiple times is a symbol for Keith (
here and
here).
We also see another interesting interaction between them:
[23:17]
Lance is teasing Keith, and kinda egging him on. He's even smiling. I think some part of this is again Lance comparing himself to Keith, because he's kinda indirectly saying "I'm not scared". But even when Keith kinda insults him, Lance is still smiling:
[23:22]
Hmm... so Lance enjoys teasing Keith and egging him on. He's not offended here even though Keith shoots back at him, because Keith took the bait.
But what I find curious is that... we see this face again, a few minutes later... HERE:
[26:19]
umm... okay. So, we know that Lance is flirting here with Allura, because he is wearing the same face with Allura while he is actually flirting with her a bit later in the episode, here:
[45:08]
But... that looks a lot like the face we just saw him wear with Keith, doesn't it? So.. he's also flirting with Keith here:
[23:22]
And in fact this is very consistent. Lance has a very consistent flirting face:
and Lance is
very often seen wearing his flirting face around Keith when he is teasing/baiting him, also listed
here:
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 50:12]
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 05:52]
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 12:52]
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 13:08]
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 19:45]
(and Keith flirting back here... starting to mirror Lance's flirting face...)
[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 21:54]
[Season 1, Episode 3: Return of the Gladiator, 01:50]
[Season 1, Episode 4: The Fall of the Castle of Lions, 02:16]
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 02:42]
(yup even when he was denying the bonding moment... he was flirting... 'cause he's teasing Keith here)
and by the way, he didn't flirt with Allura (or anyone else for that matter) at
any point in any of these episodes (except episode 1 ofc) UNTIL episode
6: Taking Flight, which is the episode after his "bonding moment" with Keith...
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 02:16]
I'm going to place all of his flirting moments (both with Keith and with girls) in chronological order from here on out to establish the general pattern of him mostly flirting with Keith as opposed to girls...
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 09:40]
Lance teased Keith earlier that episode, pretending not to remember the bonding moment, and Keith teases him back later that episode... wearing Lance's exact flirting face...
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 21:53]
Anyway, here Lance is flirting with Keith again...
[Season 1, Episode 7: Return of the Balmera, 01:19]
[Season 1, Episode 7: Return of the Balmera, 07:43]
[Season 2, Episode 10: Escape From Beta Traz, 13:49]
Lance never shows this face around anyone else through both season 1 and season 2 (or the rest of the show....). But what I found most interesting is that Lance never shows Keith this face again after the bonding moment, either, only in times when he knows he can't see him or he isn't around.
Huh... could Lance be hiding his feelings for Keith behind his flirting? Could Lance be using flirting... as a mask?? Well, here I establish that Lance's flirting is often viewed as inappropriate because he is being unserious in a serious situation. That is why Shiro often tells him off, not because Lance's flirting is inappropriate in and of itself, but because it's situationally inappropriate. Well... the thing is, the show has kinda pavloved us to associate Lance being unserious with his flirting, due to Allura and Shiro's response to it, since it's almost always during a serious situation. So, that means we're meant to think that when Lance flirts, he's not really being serious, his feelings aren't really that deep.
So, when Lance flirts with Keith, even then he's not really being that serious... UNTIL everything changes for him here:
[Season 1, Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera, 21:29]
Because here we see an entirely new face reserved only for Keith. A face that is a bit more fond. A face which doesn't include any bravado, only sincerity... which reveals Lance's true self... Uh-oh. All of a sudden, Lance's feelings are a bit deeper. They are a bit more serious. And that scares him. So he hides.
Remember when I said Keith isn't good at hiding, he's better at running away? Well, Lance is the opposite (again, further emphasising their contrasts). Lance doesn't do running away, he
hides. He hides his insecurities behind bravado, and he hides his feelings for Keith behind flirting, and especially flirting with girls. Notice how Lance flirts with only Keith
until their bonding moment in Season 1, episode 5, and then all of a sudden we see him flirt a
lot with Allura and other girls. In fact, the minute he wakes up from the med pod, he
immediately flirts with Allura, with the last thing he remembers being cradled in Keith's arms (that we never saw on screen... but is also
referenced by JDS when talking about Klance as a ship...). Doesn't it kinda seem like... Lance is using flirting with girls as a
defense mechanism?? as a
mask? It did to me... so I started digging every time I saw him flirting with girls and started wondering if there was a pattern there (apart from what I already found).
So, as I said, first time this happens is after the bonding moment, in Episode 6: Taking Flight. Lance and Keith bond --> Lance wakes up and flirts with Allura. Keith reminds Lance of the bonding moment --> Lance denies remembering it and flirts excessively with Nyma when he meets her. Nyma brings Keith up to make Lance jealous (of who is unclear... left ambiguous...) --> Lance panics and fulfills Nyma's request of flying around in the lion, even though he didn't think it was a good idea.
So... next time isn't actually a flirting moment... but we do see this pattern again here:
[Season 1, Episode 10: Collection and Extraction, 10:15]
[12:30]
Keith goes rogue even though Lance tells him not to --> Lance asks if Allura ever talks about him.
This is also the second time he is punished for doing so. When he flirts with Nyma to hide from his feelings for Keith, he ends up getting his lion stolen (which is saved by Keith). And here, in Episode 10, when Lance asks if Allura ever asks about him, the robot smacks him in the face. So Lance is also frequently punished for hiding his feelings.
Next time he flirts with girls is in season 2, Episode 2: The Depths. The first episode Lance is very briefly with everyone else (including Keith) when the season opens on the last scene of season 1, when they all get separated. But... we hear something we didn't hear at the end of season 1. We hear Lance calling out to Keith first, when Keith disappears in the wormhole:
[Season 2, Episode 1: Across the Universe, 01:55]
So, when we get to Lance in episode 2 and he starts flirting with the mermaids, it is directly after he has just yelled out to Keith first, being worried about him. This continues the pattern established from Season 1, Episode 6. Lance is worried about Keith --> Lance flirts with mermaids. and wouldn't you know it, he's punished by ending up in a mermaid town that brainwashes him and threatens his and Hunks life.
The next time he flirts, is with Allura in Season 2, Episode 3. And well... he did have a moment with Keith right before he flirts with Allura:
[Season 2, Episode 3: Shiro's Escape, 11:09]
Not a big moment... but a moment nonetheless... so, Lance agrees with Keith --> Lance says he'll stay behind with Allura and flirts with her, saying he'll "protect" her. There's no punishment for this one that I could observe.
But the pattern continues. Next time he flirts is in Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, at 01:57. Well... just the previous episode, which is a very short while before the start of this episode... Lance spent the whole day bonding with Keith half-naked...
[Season 2, Episode 5: The Eye of the Storm, 08:00]
Lance bonds with Keith and sees him half-naked --> Lance flirts with Allura saying he would travel across the galaxy to find her (while pointing at Keith LMAO)
And next time is in episode 7: Space Mall, where he flirts with girls a lot. Well... the previous episode he was jealous a lot... (again language left ambiguous...)
[Season 2, Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, 05:28]
[Season 2, Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, 19:27]
But he does mention Keith first... and when he asks whether they're together, he asks Keith... so make of that what you will. Lance gets jealous around Keith, twice --> next episode Lance flirts twice, once with Allura and once with girls at the mall. (side note: also interesting that Keith's expression changes here very subtly, clearing up a little bit. As I state here, Keith's expression changes means that he reacts to what is being said, which means that he reacts to Lance's jealousy. He doesn't answer, but he does smile more genuinely.)
umm.... yeah. That's a pattern alright. A pattern that shows us that Lance is using flirting (especially flirting with girls, including Allura) as a mask to hide his developing feelings for Keith.
This is very clever and subtle writing. For the casual viewer, this would totally fly over their heads, because the average casual viewer is most likely watching this show with a heteronormative lens. Spats between young boys are common, both in entertainment media and in real life, but flirting and deeper feelings are not. If one of them was a girl though, I have no doubt more people would have picked up on these subtle clues, because they are more often seen in entertainment media and in real life between men and women.
Not only that, but he also shows something else much more frequently with Keith than with anyone else: worry
[Season 2, Episode 1: Across the Universe, 01:55]
[Season 2, Episode 8: The Blade of Marmora, 18:43 ; 20:15 ; 21:47]
[Season 2, Episode 9: Belly of the Weblum, 03:33]
Yup, Lance is looking at Keith here, because when Hunk looks at him, he shifts his eyes, meaning he wasn't looking at Hunk or near him...
[Season 2, Episode 9: Belly of the Weblum, 03:33]
His eyes also get smaller, which usually means strain/stress in animation. So Lance didn't mean to get caught staring at Keith and he's afraid Hunk caught him staring.
So... subtext shows us that Lance takes an interest in Keith when he spots him outside the tent the first time. From then on, he flirts a lot with him, teasing him and egging him on, much more frequently than with girls; and he cares a lot about him, because he is worried a lot for his safety, much more frequently than for the others. But after their bonding moment, Lance hides his feelings for Keith behind his flirting, using especially his flirting with Allura to mask for his (much) deeper feelings for Keith.
And just to remind everyone about this post I posted a while ago on tumblr, subtext IS canon.
Things put in the subtext are purposeful and intentional. So, everything that I have just established (Lance flirting with Keith and Lance masking his deep feelings for Keith with flirting) is canon.
SEASON 3
This season changes everythingggggg for Lance. Let's get into it!
First we see of Lance is him fighting with the Blade of Marmora, and taking pictures with girls:
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 05:59]
wearing his flirting face... but he doesn't hit on anyone. Still, this is the first time we see his flirting face around girls since Season 2, Episode 7. But this episode continues Lance's trend of being worried about Keith:
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 21:39]
Not only that, but Lance approaches Keith and comforts him on his own! Even though everyone looks to him, he doesn't look back at them at all. He approaches Keith and comforts him because he wants to. And we also see another reappearance, Lance's soft face which was only reserved for Keith in the first two seasons:
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 21:52]
and it still is here...
Whatever Lance felt for Keith in the previous seasons, he is still feeling here.
And the next episode we see a return of Lance lashing out at Keith as well...
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 05:19]
Which, again, is triggered by Keith "one-upping" him. Lance looks up a lot to Shiro, calling him his hero in his introduction, and he believes that whoever the Black Lion chooses is a "moment of truth" so to speak, a chance for Lance to prove himself. So the thought of Keith being chosen instead of him to pilot the Black Lion stings. A lot. I also talked about this here.
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 09:49]
As I said in Voltron is a Love story, Lance is disappointed, but not surprised. He's probably thinking here, "of course Keith was chosen. another example of how I can never measure up to him."
BUT then Keith rejects the role, saying he can never replace Shiro, and Lance finally understands the magnitude of his loss. He finally realizes that the Black Lion means more to him than just being "the leader" and he steps forward to comfort him, and accept his new role, by accepting it himself:
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 10:19]
Lance grows immensely from this one moment. And we know that it was actually very important to him, thanks to his handbook, calling his acceptance of Keith being the leader and piloting the Red Lion "amazing":
[The Paladin's Handbook, Lance's Story]
There is a reason that we don't see any bravado from Lance after he accepts Keith as the leader, nor do we see any flirting (or any lashing out for that matter). When Lance speaks against Keith in the following episodes, he is not doing so out of any insecurities, but rather because he is pointing out Keith's blindspots, his inability to work in a team. He is trying to make him a better leader by pointing out when he's wrong, and it works.
It is also very important to note that Lance helps and supports Keith before Keith is chosen as the Black Lion AND BEFORE Keith starts listening only to him. So, Lance wanted to help Keith, both times. No one told him to do this and nothing forced him to either. The product of this is a sense of peace and growth within Lance. Notice how he doesn't antagonize Keith at all after he accepts him as his leader. Not for the rest of the show. At all.
But Lance is still hiding... because in episode 6, we see him look at Keith through an instrument again, just like he did in Season 1, Episode 1, signifying taking interest but from a distance.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 01:18]
We also never get his facial expression for what he sees, but we already know that Lance admires Keith a lot from the first two seasons, and it is emphasised when he literally tracks Keith's movements and watches him as he fights. And... it is also further emphasised when he reacts to Allura fighting. Remember that I said that the show uses Lance's reactions to girls (especially Allura) to tell us how he feels about Keith. Which means that what he feels here:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 02:02]
is the same as what he felt, when he watched Keith here:
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 01:18]
Interestingly, though, when we see Allura fight, we are no longer looking through his sniper view. We are no longer seeing Allura fight through Lance's POV, but rather we get a lot of different shots and angles, as if from a camera, like how the show is normally shot. We are quite literally removed from Lance's point of view as we watch Allura fight.
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 01:38]
This signifies how Lance's feelings for Allura are a bit more removed than his feelings for Keith. Again, they are not as deep as they are for Keith. Lance admires Allura, yes, but not as much as he admires Keith.
Their roles within Voltron are also very telling of their dynamic. Only Lance can be the leg to Keith, because only Lance can provide this sense of stability to Keith. Likewise, only Lance can be the right-hand man to Keith, because Lance is the only one who can get him to listen and Keith trusts Lance the most. As we've seen until now, this is because Lance approaches Keith the most frequently throughout the show and talks to him and kinda nags him to open up. Lance is Keith's first friend aside from Shiro (who isn't really a friend, but more of a mentor.) And when Lance (was supposed to) become the Black Paladin, only Keith, again, can be his right-hand man, because only Keith listens to him and reassures him when he's doubting himself. Keith is not Lance's first friend, but he is his closest. Lance feels safe around Keith, enough to open up about his insecurities with him, worries he's never even talked with Hunk about, whom he's known the longest (and was his first friend) !
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 05:30]
As I said, Lance is still hiding, because he says he comes to Keith because he's "the leader now". Well, it's just not very convincing, because if that was really the case, why didn't Lance go to Shiro about his insecurities in season 2, when Shiro was the leader? And if it's because he feels it's a bit inappropriate or he doesn't want to bother him, why didn't he go to Hunk, his longest friend?? Why did he come to KEITH?? Well, because Keith is the first one on the team who's actually listened to Lance (also mentioned here and here), and takes him seriously.
[Season 3, Episode 1: Changing of the Guard, 22:18]
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 10:26]
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 09:52 ; 12:51 ; 14:49]
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 3:37 ; 14:04 ; 14:12]
This is very consistent across the whole season, so when we get here:
We understand that Lance came to Keith because that's who he's closest to. Lance confides in Keith here, because he knows he can, and that he'll be taken seriously and listened to. But he doesn't want to admit that any of that actually means something to him. However, as we see, throughout this season, Lance becomes a much more serious character, and he stops hiding behind his flirting. But he doesn't stop hiding. He's hiding behind excuses here when he comes to Keith and talks to him. Instead of telling the truth about how much Keith listening to him means to him, he uses the "leader" excuse.
SEASON 4-6
I'm putting all these seasons together, because these are the seasons
when Keith is most absent, and we don't see Lance and Keith interact a
lot, but the most interesting episode, episode 1, we do see a lot of interactions, and what we see is very fascinating.
Remember
here, when I talked about how Keith's decision to leave impacted Lance? Let's see what I said back then.
"Lance is [most] frequently the one to object to Keith showing up late, or volunteering for Blade missions."
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 06:02]
This frame is very interesting to me, because Hunk and Pidge both look pissed, but Lance doesn't. He looks more worried or hurt. Compare to these facial expressions, which he's only shown in relation to Keith:
And he objects again here... using an excuse.
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 08:05]
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 09:08]
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 18:49]
No one mentions Keith here except Lance.
In season 4, he is still hiding behind excuses (well makes sense, since this was originally the last half of season 3). When he is directly objecting to Keith's absence, he is using the show/performance as an excuse. But we know that it's not about the parades or the performance, because Lance has grown exponentially since season 3, and he's become much more serious. The frequency of his objection to Keith's absence also tells us that it has more to do with Keith being absent in and of itself than anything else. In the first frame, Lance is the only one still looking at Keith when Keith apologizes. He is also the only one looking worried. In the last screencap, Lance is the only one who mentions Keith by name.
And here we clearly see that Keith's decision to leave hurt Lance, just from his facial expression alone:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 22:29]
But he's hiding behind a fake smile, and his excuse of making fun of him.... which he hasn't done since season 2...
and even here, Lance is hiding behind a fake smile as he's looking at Keith:
[Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor, 22:40]
which we know is fake, because Keith's smile drops as well, indicating that his smile is fake too:
We also know that Keith is looking at Lance here, because Keith only matches
Lance's expression.
Here Shiro and Allura's expressions match more with each other than they each match with Keith:
But for Keith and Lance, only the two of them have their eyebrows upturned like this.
Until now, we've seen Keith mirror Lance's facial expressions a lot throughout the show, meaning that they are feeling the same thing. So, Keith mirroring Lance's smile here is meant to tell us that Lance's smile was fake, too, and they are both sad to be separated.
As I said in Voltron is a Love Story, Keith's decision to leave impacts Lance massively. He becomes more and more isolated, as well as more and more insecure. However, having said that, although Lance starts to regress a little bit, what's most funny is that Lance does not flirt with Allura at all. You'd think that now that Keith is gone, he'd be all over Allura, but he isn't. Again, this is thanks to his growth in Season 3. Even though he regresses, he does not regress enough to start flirting again, with anyone. What we do see between Lance and Allura, though, is very fascinating. First, this instance:
[Season 4, Episode 4: Black Site, 04:14]
As I said
here, this is the first time Lance has ever shown jealousy
only around Allura, as in without any involvement from Keith. This jealousy is also very
aggressive, which may lend to his depleting self-confidence as a result of Keith's absence. Lance has never been
this aggressive before in his jealousy, not even around Keith. The only times we've seen Lance be kind of aggressive is when he is feeling insecure. That means Lance's jealousy here is mostly informed by his insecurities, which we
know that he's regressed on due to Keith's absence, as I established
here.
The next interesting moment is here:
[Season 4, Episode 6: A New Defender, 18:55]
I already talked about this
here. To quote myself:
"When he gives Allura the 'heart of Voltron' speech, he does so in a dire situation, and to give her encouragement in her doubt, not because he wants to 'win her over' in any sense. Their expressions also match exactly[.] We know that Allura doesn't feel romantically inclined towards Lance at all, so Lance matching her expression tells us that he is feeling what she's feeling, which is affection and pride for his friend [and teammate]. Furthermore, when Lance checks up on her here:
[Season 4, Episode 6: A New Defender, 13:12]
He also doesn't seem particularly doting, but rather concerned for his friend and teammate, who got the worst of the electricity that zapped them all."
What's most fascinating to me about these two moments specifically is that they directly mirror the two most impactful moments that Lance had with Keith:
[Season 1, Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera, 21:25]
[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 21:50]
The difference is that with Allura and Lance, we don't get a lingering stare between them, nor is the mood calm to signify any romantic undertones. In fact, we can glean from Allura's expression that it's entirely platonic, because she doesn't have any romantic feelings for him at all, and their expressions match exactly. Furthermore, Lance doesn't use the speech as an oppertunity to flirt with Allura, unlike Keith, who followed up their soft looks with flirting and teasing him.
and in fact, we have more moments between Lance and Allura that are direct callbacks to Lance and Keith:
[Season 6, Episode 1: Omega Shield, 17:04]
[Season 1, Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera, 21:29]
The difference here is that, Lance was being very sincere and genuine with Keith and said this in a time when he was very vulnerable, letting all masks fall away to reveal his true self and his true feelings. But with Allura, he is weirdly rambling, nervous and... a bit insecure. He looks unsure/nervous when he says "I think we make a great team" to Allura, unlike with Keith where he sounded and looked very sure/genuine; "We are a good team." he says, with that inflection.
Furthermore, Allura doesn't respond/reciprocate Lance's comment, the same way Keith did. Keith smiled back at Lance, very genuinely, but we never see Allura's expression, we only hear her say "Let's go, Lance." This moment is again meant to signify the contrast between the two. Keith and Lance's moment is after they've won the day, but Lance and Allura's moment is in the middle of a high intensive operation. All of this again signifies that any romantic moment between Lance and Allura is misplaced, awkward and forced, unlike the romantic moments between Keith and Lance.
This is emphasised when Allura saves Lance's life, because, again, their expressions match exactly:
[Season 6, Episode 1: Omega Shield, 21:38]
Meaning they are feeling the same thing here. Again, we know that Allura doesn't have any romantic feelings for Lance, because in the next episode Allura looks sad when hearing about Lance's confession from the mice, and she kisses Lotor two episodes after that (which, cartoon logic states you can only kiss your one true love, and also confess your love directly to your one true love, neither of which Lance does... well until s8 but I'll get to that).
And here's something else interesting that I noted
here.
"[Lance] doesn't flirt with her or show any sort of feelings for her,
until Lotor tries to get closer to Allura, which is the only other time
he acts jealous outside of Keith:
[Season 5, Episode 2: Blood Duel, 05:02]
Here, he is aggressive, because at this point, Lotor is still an enemy of Voltron, someone they all still don't trust. In the previous episode, Allura also acted quite aggressive with him, so I don't think his reaction here is entirely jealousy, especially because the next time he shows jealousy, it's here:
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 03:49]
[where] he seems more sad than aggressive like he was with Matt, and we know that this is because their connection makes him feel insecure:
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 13:33]
This is a contrast to when he acts jealous around Keith. Usually, the underlying theme in his jealousy around Keith is 'don't get there before I do.' if you know what I mean, unlike with Allura, which is 'I'm not good enough.'"
This tells us that Keith and Lance's moments are subtextually romantic, but Lance and Allura's moments are
not. (again, the show using the mirroring of Keith and Allura to emphasise the
contrast in their dynamic with Lance which I have established
here).
It's also very important to point out here that Lance doesn't take any opportunity to approach Allura in any way in season 3, 4, 5 or 6, like he did with Keith (or Allura herself) in seasons 1-2.
For example, in season 5, when Lance unlocks his broadsword form for his bayard, it was Allura who approached Lance, and not the other way around:
[Season 5, Episode 3: Postmortem, 09:15]
Even when she puts her arms around him, showing him a sword stance, she did that all on her own.
[Season 5, Episode 3: Postmortem, 10:18]
And what's
very curious is that Lance doesn't blush at all, or seem like he likes being that close to her. He seems rather a little bit panicked or uncomfortable, which is
very strange, because if he was
truly in love with her, he would be ecstatic to have her that close to him. But he doesn't, because Lance was thinking about Keith in this scene, as I established
here. To quote myself:
"Lance even gets a sword in season 5, which is Keith's weapon.
[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 49:30]
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, 18:41]
[Season 6, Episode 7: Defender of All Universes, 02:03]
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) [...] 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, [being surrounded by all of Keith's elements], thinking about how things seemed to be better when Keith was there... which triggered the sword form."
So, Lance was thinking about Keith in this scene and is what had him unlock the sword. So, when Allura comes in, and approaches him, and they have a sweet moment together, his mind is so far from any potential feelings he might have had for her before, because he was just reminded of Keith. This is because, as I established earlier, Lance's feelings for Allura aren't as deep as they are for Keith.
Anyway,
to circle back to my point, Lance doesn't approach Allura the same way
he approaches Keith, as in at all. Lance is weirdly very
passive when it comes to his feelings for Allura, which is a contrast from his usually very
active personality and drive, out of character if you will (in a
watsonian sense; see
Voltron is a Love Story
where I establish Lance as an active character, rather than a passive
character, like Keith is). And you know what's the funniest? It's not
even because Lance is a more serious, passive character now, cause GUESS
WHAT HAPPENS THE INSTANT KEITH COMES BACK:
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:00]
He APPROACHES Keith, just like he's always done!! Bro, are you seeing this?? I can't make this shit uppppp. Lance is still an active character, he just chooses not to approach Allura. He even opens his arms to hug Keith, whom he frowns at when Keith ignores him ToT
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:08]
He
is SO excited that Keith's back, he can't contain himself. Look at his
smile !! look at his worried pout when Keith ignores him and talks about
Lotor. Aaa Lance you can't hide from me. I
SEE you. I see RIGHT
through you. Lance missed Keith a LOT, and again, he pays a LOT of
attention towards him, because he comments on his appearance when Keith
arrives, and how different he seems, as the only one, by the way. And we
also see him talk to Keith a
lot, and start conversations with
him a lot, to which Keith doesn't respond, which I dived into
here.
Lance uses his attraction to her as a mask to hide his feelings for Keith, because he isn't ready to face them. But Lance isn't the only one who does this. As we've just seen, so does the show. The show maintains this pattern of masking Lance's feelings for Keith with Allura all the way into season 5, as evidenced by the scene in Season 5, episode 3: Postmortem.
And actually... this happens again in Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, here, right before Keith comes back:
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 08:26]
The language here is intentionally ambiguous again... every other time the language has been ambiguous like this has always involved Keith in some way. "[N]ot daydreaming about you" he says... "I mean her", he says. He corrects himself here, even though Hunk was impersonating Allura. Even if he said "you" it wouldn't be entirely wrong... so why is he so embarrassed??? Well... Lance is only half-listening when Hunk impersonates Allura, so when he answers, he's responding to whoever he's thinking about. So, again, it's not wrong of Lance to say "you" if Allura's who Lance was thinking about, yet he still felt the need to correct himself.
Well, the opposite of "her" is "him". Lance is blushing a lot, because he almost outed himself here. Lance isn't lying about who he's thinking about, but he is intentionally hiding behind the ambiguity of language. And we know he's hiding, because that's what he's physically doing. Lance is hiding his blush from us, the audience, behind the blue screen. It's almost unnoticeable, and it definitely would be overlooked by a casual viewer. But we're not casual viewers, are we, dear reader? No. There's nothing casual about us. And if we zoom in on Lance's face behind the screen there, we see very clearly that Lance is still blushing, a lot.
Lance never blushes when he talks about Allura, not even when she put her arms around him in season 5! Like, even all the other times where he wonders out loud if Allura ever thinks about him or whether she's okay, he doesn't blush at all.
[Season 1, Episode 10: Collection and Extraction, 12:30]
[Season 5, Episode 6: The White Lion, 12:28]
Not even when he talks about his feelings for her in the next scene, point blank:
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 13:14]
The only time he blushes around her (before season 7...), is here:
[Season 6, Episode 1: Omega Shield, 17:10]
But this is right after Allura cuts his rambling off, so I think he's mostly just embarrassed about his rambling, which is in line with his nervous expressions throughout his rambling. Because later he hugs himself again, presumably thinking about Allura saving his life, and he is not blushing.
[Season 6, Episode 1: Omega Shield, 21:54]
And notice how he's also not wearing his fond expression for Keith....
NOR do their expressions match, which means they are NOT feeling the same thing... again, because Allura doesn't reciprocate his feelings...
He is furthermore not known for hiding his feelings for Allura at all. So, why would he do that here?
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 08:26]
Especially if we've just witnessed supposed romantic moments between them? Well, he isn't. Because you know who he is known for hiding his feelings for? Yup, we've already talked about it. He's not hiding his feelings for Allura here. He's hiding his feelings for Keith. And he (and the show) is YET AGAIN using Allura to mask his true feelings for Keith.
Lance is embarrassed because he almost revealed himself to have been
thinking about Keith, and he uses Allura to mask his feelings for him, or rather, he
lets Pidge and Hunk's assumptions of his feelings for Allura mask his
true feelings for Keith. But it is
much more subtle than in season 1-2, because we don't actually
see an interaction between them like we did in season 1-2, and we can't, 'cause they're not in proximity to each other... but we DO see the show cut directly from Keith's plot to
Lance's plot, effectively tying them together, just as I said
here.
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 07:55]
It is not a coincidence that the episode is paired like this, between Keith's journey in discovering his mother's past, and Lance's journey in his romantic feelings. The episode's title further emphasises this:
This is especially relevant for Lance's journey, because "a critical predicament where a small mistake could lead to serious consequences" describes what happens in this episode and Lance's internal struggle perfectly. Lance is on the very precipice of realizing that he has super-duper-deep romantic feelings for Keith and that it is just not the same with Allura. He's on the very razor's edge of deciding on his growth, where tipping one way or another could have massive consequences for his future, just as the definition says.
And what happens in the rest of the scene tells us exactly where he's tipping (originally...):
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 08:38]
Look at his face here after Hunk says Allura and Lotor are gonna have babies. He looks disappointed but not surprised... he kinda looks like he did here, in season 3:
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 09:49]
Not kinda. He looks almost exactly as he did then. This was the moment when Keith was chosen as the Black Lion instead of him, and he felt like this confirmed something about him, until he accepted Keith as the new leader and "something amazing happened" as Lance says in the handbook. Well, we don't see him reach the acceptance stage in the next scene in the episode from season 6 episode 2, but we do see it later, in episode 6: All Good Things.
Lance never approached Allura while Keith was gone because, well, she isn't Keith. His feelings for her aren't as deep as they are for Keith, but he's hiding it. And I'd say he's hiding it very well. But not well enough. 'Cause we're onto him. And... I think he's even on to himself. Because look at the very next moment he has with Allura, that mirrors another moment Lance had with Keith:
[Season 6, Episode 6: All Good Things, 05:41]
[Season 3, Episode 3: The Hunted, 14:46]
But notice again the difference, the contrast. Lance with Allura diffuses the responsibility of the outcome with Lotor to everyone on the team, including himself: "It wasn't just you who trusted Lotor, we all did." but when he talks about making things right, he uses the singular person pronoun "you", and he no longer diffuses the responsibility of correcting the "mistake"; "all you can do is get up and try to make it right".
But with Keith, it's the opposite. Lance doesn't diffuse the responsibility of the outcome with Keith (which also involved Lotor), using the singular person pronoun with him when he's "placing blame" for lack of a better phrase, "yeah, you kinda did". But when he talks about correcting the "mistake" he does diffuse the responsibility to include himself, "now we gotta fix it."
One part of the conversation is focused on the past "It wasn't just you who trusted Lotor, we all did." and "yeah, you kinda did." while the last part is focused on the future. "All you can do is get up and try to make it right." and "But now we gotta fix it." For Keith, Lance included himself in the future-focused part of their conversation, but for Allura, he removes himself. Keith has only been back for like 5 minutes, and Lance is already moving on from his feelings for Allura here. He is very subtly removing himself from a future with Allura (which again is just BRILLIANT writing! Like I am actually kind of in awe).
Look at his face here too!
Does that look anything like he thinks this is a romantic moment at all? NO! he looks resigned... almost as if he is in the process of acceptance. In fact, we’ve seen this face before! Here in season 3:
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 16:53]
And remember what happened directly after this?
[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 17:00]
The Red Lion roared for him! That scene in season 3 was meant to foreshadow this very moment in season 6! 'Cause remember what happens directly after their hug in season 6? That’s right, Keith hails the castle and Lance looks ecstatic, looking the happiest he's ever been since season 2:
[Season 6, Episode 6: All Good Things, 06:05]
I don't remember the last time Lance looked that happy. And notice again that Lance wasn't the one who initiated the hug. Allura was. AGAIN.
This is a turning point for Lance. As the episode title suggests, "All good things come to an end", referring not only to Keith's relationship Shiro coming to an end, because Shiro dies (originally...), but also that Lance's feelings for Allura are coming to an end. Lance here is completely letting go of her and moving on from his shallow feelings for her. As we saw in season 3, that scene of him accepting his role as the Red Paladin foreshadowed this very moment. Just like then, Lance is moving on and realizing his true love interest. He is ready to stop hiding. He is ready to come out.
This moment is the start of the culmination of Lance's love arc. Lance has now spent a long time without Keith by his side and a long time with Allura, even experiencing several moments with her that would otherwise have been romantic, but weren't. All their moments together are moments Lance already had with Keith. But they aren't the same, one: because Allura doesn't reciprocate his feelings for her, and two: Lance's feelings for Allura aren't as deep as they are for Keith. And that's what Lance realises here. Lance realises that he never loved Allura. They aren't meant to be together, because Lance loves someone else. Here, Lance realises that he loves Keith.
and from here on out, Lance is locked in on Keith.
SEASON 7
The thing is, it's a bit hard for me to talk about this season and the next, because they were edited quite heavily, as I found
here,
here and
here, even after they amended the
original story from season 3 onward. But from the parts they
didn't edit, we still see Lance approaching Keith and talking to him, but receiving no response as I found
here.
In that analysis, I pointed specifically to Episode 2: The Road Home, where Lance and Keith talking about Kaltenecker is symbolic, since the animals are all used as symbols in this episode for their respective owners. Lance doesn't let Keith push him away, saying "Keith, you're keeping the cow."
[Season 7, Episode 2: The Road Home, 04:28]
Again... implies that Keith has had the cow up until now... even though last we saw him he was with Lance... which implies Lance gave Kaltenecker to Keith at some point... but we didn't see it...
Well, I already talked about all of that in Keith's analysis. But
here, I get to talk about Lance and Lance's decisions. Why did he choose the animals to go with whomever they ended up with?
Well... just as Keith showed his soft spot by allowing Lance to decide... Lance is showing his soft spot by listening to Keith and putting the mice with Hunk instead of Allura...
[04:36]
He listened to Keith's objection rather than Allura's wishes... again, choosing Keith over Allura, just as he does a few episodes later... BUT, he didn't listen to Keith by putting the wolf with him, again, because Lance wants Keith to keep the cow, and thereby symbolically keep him, and Coran said that the cow can't ride with the wolf, because wolves eat cows, so he puts the wolf with Allura instead, even though Allura does not like it, again putting Keith's wishes, and even his own wishes, above Allura's.
What's interesting though is that Lance puts Coran with Keith as well, even though Coran isn't an animal passenger, nor is Romelle. Well... my theory is that Lance is very suspicious of Romelle, and he wants to keep her away from Allura, but he doesn't want to arouse suspicion, so he puts Coran somewhere else, too. And it's very telling again that Lance gives Coran, whom he is most fond of of the two Alteans, to Keith, but he keeps Romelle for himself, whom he is most annoyed by and is suspicious of. And later, when Keith's animal symbol, Kosmo, starts teleporting passengers away from Pidge during their battle, he puts Coran back to Keith, signifying again Keith listening to Lance, and valuing his input.
Anyway, point is, Lance listens to Keith's wishes over Allura's, which maintains Lance moving on from Allura at the end of season 6 and choosing Keith over and over again. He also talks much more frequently with Keith throughout the whole season, compared to Allura, even though Keith doesn't respond to him much in the first half. He also decides to follow Keith when they split in the caves, rather than Allura:
[17:34]
So we have Lance choosing Keith, listening to him and talking to him much more frequently than he does with Allura until now.
And in the next episode I saw something veryyyy interesting:
[Season 7, Episode 3: The Way Forward, 15:03]
When Keith asks about Acxa, Lance reacts, his eyebrows drawing closer together.
That's certainly interesting... this is just like what we saw in Keith's analysis, where we saw him react multiple times to what Lance was saying, but not responding. And it's interesting here that Lance is reacting specifically to Keith asking about Acxa... just like how Keith reacted to Lance talking about Allura...
Well, as I said in Keith's analysis, this frame parallels their iconic first meeting frame in season 1, but here their roles are switched:
"Keith's just had his debut as the main character, where he introduced a
new cast of recurring characters through him, as discussed
here and the first episode of season 7, he introduced a new character through his history with him, James. But another character is
reintroduced
through him in this episode as well: Acxa. This episode also has a lot
of characters commenting on the relationship between them as potentially
romantic, as well as some shots of them that would usually imply
romantic undertones... BUT Keith doesn't show any interest in Acxa
("can't we just fight??" lol ok Keith you don't have to sound so
offended) and in fact we know that once Acxa returns to Earth in season
8, she grows much closer to Veronica than she ever does with Keith. So,
Acxa is a red-herring love-interest for Keith the same way Allura is a
red-herring love-interest for Lance. Keith and Lance really
did switch places in more ways than one."
And shortly after this, we see something interesting which has been discussed many times before, when Keith tells Lance to lead in his stead:
[Season 7, Episode 3: The Way Forward, 17:00]
As I said in Keith's analysis, Lance is NOT happy with this. Although, we already see him looking unhappy before Keith tells him it's to save Acxa, coupled with his reaction in the previous scene, Lance is most likely unhappy for multiple reasons here: one, that Keith is leaving at all and two, he's leaving to save Acxa. He also looks very worried, which matches his previous expressions where he's looked worried:
But here, he doesn't hide it at all, unlike in seasons 1-3, again, because at the end of season 6, Lance is done hiding. He is making it very clear both to us and to Keith that not only does he not like the order 'cause it's splitting Keith from the team, but also that he's very worried about it. He is worried that this is going to be a repeat of when Keith left the team in season 4, which hurt Lance deeply, as we've already talked about, and he's possibly worried that Keith might have feelings for someone else, namely Acxa.
As I said in Keith's analysis, this episode sets up Acxa to be a red-herring love interest for Keith, meant to mask his true love-interest, Lance, because as we see in Season 8 Episode 5: The Grudge, Acxa's true love-interest is revealed to be Veronica when she is saved by her, just as Keith's true love interest should have been revealed to be Lance, when he is (supposed to be) saved by Lance.
So as I said, Lance is done hiding, and nothing shows us this more than the next episode, Episode 4: The Feud!. When they have to choose who to send home, Lance looks briefly to both sides of the spectrum, looking first towards Allura's end, then to Keith's end, before looking serious:
[19:19]
Which again, is very purposeful, and is consistent with the pattern we've seen throughout the show. In fact, the whole show has told us again and again who Lance will choose between them.
So that when we get here:
[Season 7, Episode 4: The Feud!, 19:59]
It really shouldn't be a surprise, because Lance has chosen Keith very consistently, throughout the whole show.
But COMPARED to the rest of the show, when we see his choice, we see something VERY interesting:
You see that face?? you see it??? huh, where have we seen that face before...? OH YEAH
This is his "I love Keith" face that he is not only showing in front of Keith, but in front of everyone, while he's being completely sincere and complimenting Keith. As we've seen, every other time Lance has worn this face, he has worn it at times when he knows not only that Keith can't see his face, but no one else can. Every other time Lance has worn this face, he was hiding. But not here. Lance is done hiding his feelings for Keith, and he is actually being very genuine and open about it.
[20:16]
So... you're
probably wondering why I didn't talk about Lance confessing to the
mice that he has feelings for Allura. Well, that is because I've found
evidence that that scene (among many others in season 6) were added/edited
post/mid-production, and I'm mostly trying to establish here what the original
story was going to be about and where it was leading, because I am
going to reference this later in another upcoming analysis of mine,
because it ties into the thesis of that analysis.
But because it ties into the story that we see from mid-season 7 onward, I will talk about it here.
Well, as I've already said
here and
here, Lance's confession to the mice is what drives him and Keith further away from each other, because
Keith saw it while he was in the Quantum Abyss:
[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:34]
[Season 7, Episode 2: The Road Home, 04:37]
[Season 6, Episode 2: Razor's Edge, 13:26 ; Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 14:39]
Keith thinks Lance doesn't reciprocate his feelings for him, as I found
here.
How he saw it, I don't know. Maybe they're soulmates lol. Maybe Keith
was thinking of Lance while he travelled and his energy connected to
Lance's energy somehow, idk, I'm not gonna try to explain it, I just
know it happened, alright. So, Lance tipping the way towards Allura by confessing to the mice has a
huge, negative consequence between his relationship with Keith, since we see Keith come back and yell immediately at Lance.
The thing is, I can't really talk about the rest without talking about what happened to the crew during production. As I said
here, Episode 4: The Feud! is one of the last episodes Tim Hedrick ever wrote for Voltron, coupled with (what was supposed to be) the next episode, Episode 6: The Journey Within, where Keith decides to
stop running. These episodes are paired, because episode 4: The Feud! is about Lance and Lance deciding to stop hiding, being very open about what he feels for Keith when he chooses
him to go home; and episode 6 is about Keith, and Keith working through his inner emotional turmoil about his feelings for Lance, but in the end deciding to stop running away from them. They are also both clearly rewarded for their growth. Lance's decision to stop hiding saves them from Bob's show, and Keith's decision to stop running enables them to form the wings of Voltron and arrive on Earth. As I said in Keith's analysis, on the surface, they shouldn't have been able to form the wings, because they just had one of the biggest fights of their relationship, with Lance pushing back at Keith after Keith has pushed him away all season. But they do, because now they both have clarity about their feelings for each other. Both of them have realized what the other means to them, and they have accepted them now. So when they face the wormhole (which contains only
their colors, red, blue and purple as I also pointed out in Keith's analysis), both of them are called to form the wings of Voltron, which helps them win the day in the season finale:
[Season 7, Episode 6: The Journey Within, 21:21]
They don't exchange any words, because they don't need to. Both of these episodes (episode 4 and episode 6) are very clearly amping up for their big confession to each other, establishing them as canon, because now they are both ready to do it.
HOWEVER, shortly after producing these episodes, Tim Hedrick, the lead writer and story editor, leaves the project, already during the production of Episode 8: The Last Stand PT. II, since Joshua Hamilton is promoted as Story Editor to replace Tim Hedrick. As I also stated
here, this was most likely because Tim was fed up with all the meddling to the story, since it must have been at this point that the IP holder also told them to remove Black Paladin Lance. And as I've said multiple times, Lance's ascension to the Black Lion is inherently tied to his love arc and realizing his feelings for Keith. He is ready now more than ever to ascend to the Black Lion. But he never does, because they cut it out, as I also discussed
here. Lance confessing to the mice and everything that comes after that is the writers trying to rework his love arc, by having him regress (several times) in order to fit the new story (hmmm that sounds familiar? sounds exactly like what they did to Allura that I talked about
here).
That is why in the following episodes, while they are on Earth, we all of a sudden see Allura reciprocating Lance's feelings,
[Season 7, Episode 9: Know Your Enemy, 13:20]
because at this point, without Tim Hedrick, the rest of the crew improvised and reworked the love triangle and Lance's love arc. They could no longer reward Lance with the Black Lion, so they had to find another way to culminate and fulfill his love arc. Well, the showrunners mention multiple times in
this interview that their greatest inspiration for the later seasons was Macross, and in Macross, the love triangle follows the plot of VLD's Season 8 very closely, as others have found
here. So they rewrote the love triangle to include Allura's feelings for Lance, but this regresses both Lance's self-confidence AND his acceptance of his feelings for Keith. This is emphasised when, directly after Allura shows some kind of reciprocation for Lance's feelings, Lance struggles massively with connecting to the Red Lion, as others have pointed out many times before:
[15:43]
He is punished for this regression, too. His connection to the Red Lion (symbol for Keith) weakens significantly, and he is almost killed in battle because of it, until he is saved by the Red Lion (symbol for Keith) in the last second.
[15:52 ; 18:54]
This is also clearly foreshadowing for Keith saving Lance in a future plot, as I found inklings of
here. Lance can no longer save Keith, because it would tie in too much with his ascension to the Black Lion, so they give the saving plot to Keith instead, and foreshadow it here, as part of the new story.
SEASON 8
Well, I also know
that all the scenes of Allura blushing around Lance and indicating
reciprocation was added, because it is inconsistent with her reaction to
his dinner date invitation in season 8:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 05:21; 05:44]
ummm, sorry, but if she was literally blushing JUST from telling Lance to be careful last season, wouldn't she be more excited about talking to him? Why would she blow him off here, why does she need Romelle to convince her to say yes, AND why would she look like she's always done throughout the whole show, if her feelings for him has changed? Well, because they haven't. All those scenes of Allura blushing while looking at him were added, they were NOT a part of the original storyline. I think when they revised the scripts both for season 7 and for season 8 and reworked the love triangle, they added those scenes pre/mid-production as a misdirect/red-herring to make Keith and Lance's confession sweeter/bigger. They had to show some kind of reciprocation from Allura's side, otherwise them dating wouldn't make any sense (well, it would make a lot
less sense). But again, just like with season 7, this season was
massively edited post-production as well, so it is a bit hard to talk about. But Season 8 is where we see the new story come into effect.
Lance asks Allura out, but he feels very insecure about his date, so he goes to Keith for comfort, just like he did in season 3:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 14:17]
[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 05:23]
Again, choosing to seek out Keith and approaching him over Allura, just like every other time. Even when he asks Allura out, he doesn't do it of his own accord, Hunk has to literally push him to do it.
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 05:33]
Unlike with Keith, where he actively seeks him out of his own accord, as implied by his line, "You can be a real hard guy to find when you wanna be." indicating that Lance looked for him for a long time, really wanting to talk to him.
And in the scene with Keith, we see Lance's "I love Keith" face again, after Keith reassures him about his date with Allura:
[Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date, 15:14]
Which he never shows Allura even once during their date... looking instead incredibly sad, even while he "confesses" to her.
Guys, I'm gonna say something here. I say "confess" because I have a very strong suspicion that this whole scene was edited as well, and that Lance was never supposed to tell Allura that he loves her here.
As I said earlier, Cartoon Logic states that you can only declare your love for your one true love, your endgame, and as we've seen across all of my analyses, including this one, everything points to Keith being Lance's endgame, not Allura. Lance's face here furthermore doesn't match his confession at all. He should be over the moon declaring his love for Allura, not depressed as hell. He should look like he does when he looks at/talks about Keith, not whatever the hell this is (which looks exactly like he did in season 6 episode 6, when he lets go of his feelings for her).
So, I think in the original cut, Lance was going to tell Allura here that they are not meant for each other, and he loves someone else. He would be reminded throughout the date why they don't work together at all. Now he's tried to go on a date with Allura, he's tried the real thing, and still, it can't measure up with the way he feels about Keith, just like we saw during seasons 4-6. It would also tie perfectly into Lance coming fresh off of talking with Keith and being reminded of how much he actually loves Keith, again, showing his "I love Keith" face
right before the date starts. It is also
during the date that we hear
Lance being incredibly jealous around Keith, unambiguously, revealing where his
true jealousy lies.
So, in the original cut of season 8, Lance and Allura were never meant to be together past episode 1. But then they had to change the story when they got pushback from IP holders and they put them together, all up until the end. They might have gone ahead with the pairing and then tried to split them up again later in the season, as I found
here, but ultimately, Lance and Allura were never meant to end up together in the endgame, no matter what.
And we do see a few clues and remnants of the old story, especially in the next episode, Episode 3: Prisoner's Dilemma. As I said in Keith's analysis, this episode contains Lance mostly talking to Keith rather than Allura, which maintains the pattern we saw from (the first half of) season 7, even though supposedly Lance and Allura are dating at this point. Well, not only do we see Lance speaking mostly to Keith, we also see Lance smiling at Keith very proudly after they form the wings together (again) to save the day:
[Season 8, Episode 3: Prisoner's Dilemma, 04:53]
and also wearing his typical flirting face...
And we see him defend Keith, after Lahn attacks Keith's intentions:
[Season 8, Episode 3: Prisoner's Dilemma, 18:04]
AND we see him panic when Keith is locked on the other side with Lahn and the monster, shooting wildly at the door while yelling (as the only one) in a desperate effort to save him.
[Season 8, Episode 3: Prisoner's Dilemma, 19:07]
So like, in this episode, not only is Lance locked in on Keith, as he also was in season 7 before his and Allura's date, but Lance and Allura don't act anything like a couple in this episode, they hardly speak to one another, and Lance is most frequently seen beside Keith and focusing on Keith.
The next episode is much the same, except Lance and Allura do have a little "spat" between them in their lions on the way to Olkarion, that I already talked about in Keith's analysis. But apart from that scene, they hardly speak at all or act anything like a couple. Again, Lance hardly talks to Allura and vice versa.
The only time they actually seem anything like a couple is in Episode 5: the Grudge, when Allura saves Lance, calls him genius, and all the episodes after that; but as I said, most likely these were additions made when they revised the scripts for season 8 when they were told to remove Black Paladin Lance from the story, and they had to change basically everything.
So, here at the end, what can we conclude about Lance? what is the answer to our question?
What are Lance's feelings for Keith? Lance is in love with Keith, not Allura and he knows it. Undeniably.
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