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galraluver · 3 years ago

Note

Also I’d like to request A-Z fluff headcanons for Trigel please💚

And have a nice summer time ( ´ ▿ ` )

Sure thing 😄. And I hope that you're having a good summer too ^^

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A = affection (how affectionate are they in day to day life? Do they show affection publicly or keep that more private?)

~ Trigel is affectionate with you, but sometimes she's a little hesitant to show affection because she once had her heart broken by someone she loved long before she met you

~ She knows that you would never betray her, but she's been emotionally scarred and emotional scars last for a long time

~ You're patient and understanding, so you show your affectionate for her in any way you can

~ Trigel doesn't mind holding your hand in public, but that's as far as she's willing to go as far as pda

~ Behind closed doors, she's definitely more affectionate with you; expect lots of gentle kisses and cuddling

B = best memory (what is the best memory they have with you)

~ Trigel's best memory with you is when you both sat on a blanket, on a grassy hill at night and you showed her the different star constellations in the sky

C = cat or dog person (this is pretty obvious)

~ Trigel's more of a cat person than a dog person, but she doesn't mind dogs who don't bark very often

D = dreams (How do they picture their future with their s/o?)

~ Trigel wants to live with you on her home planet in the Dalterion Belt and maybe adopt a few kids someday

~ She also wants to take you on vacations on various different planets she's been to

E = evenings (how do they spend their evening? Do they go out?)

~ It really depends on the weather; if it's nice outside, you both go out and if it's not, you both stay in

~ You both enjoy going out on dates, but you and Trigel also enjoy going out on walks

~ Taking a bath together, watching a movie together, cooking dinner together and even reading together are also things that she likes doing with you during the evening

F = first date (what was it like?)

~ For your first date with Trigel, you took her to trivia night that was being held at the community center in the town/city you live in/near

~ By that time, Trigel knew quite a bit about Earthen culture and traditions bc you taught her about it

~ You let Trigel answer the questions she knew the answers to while you answered the rest

~ Your first date with her was really fun and you both had a lot of fun together

G = Greetings (what was their first meeting like?)

~ Your first meeting was kind of unexpected, and by kind of, I mean that it was very unexpected

~ Coran and Allura thought that the original Paladins had been killed; they weren't expecting them to be found in stasis pods that were hidden on the farthest corners of the universe

~ You were the first person Trigel saw in more than ten thousand years and even then, before you got to know each other, you both knew that there was something special between the two of you

H = hugs (do they like hugs? What kind of hugs do they give?)

~ Trigel really loves hugging you and she loves hugging you extra tight, making sure you feel all of the love she has for you

~ She's been touch starved for a long time, and hugging you makes her feel safe and loved

~ She also loves gentle hugs, too

I = instrument (do they play an instrument?)

~ Trigel can play the Dalterion version of the lute really well

J = joy (what brings them joy in life?)

~ Being alive and having you as her significant other are the two things that bring Trigel the most joy in her life

K = kisses (what kind of kisser are they? Shy? Passionate?)

~ Trigel is definitely more of a shy kisser

~ That doesn't mean that she can't be a passionate kisser at times, because she can, but it's not too often that she is

~ Trigel also loves lightly kissing your forehead

~ She also likes it when you kiss the base of her neck

L = love (how do they act when they have a crush)

~ Back when Trigel had a crush on you, she kind of distanced herself from you

~ She was emotionally hurt by someone she loved once, so at the time, she was hesitant to have feelings for her

~ So, before you both became a couple, you were the one who made the first move and everything turned out alright

M = movie (what’s their favorite movie to watch with you?)

~ Trigel's favorite movie to watch with you is Avatar

N = no (what is their pet peeve?)

~ Trigel can't stand it when people repetitively tap something

O = organization (are they clean or messy?)

~ Trigel is usually very clean, but sometimes if she's been doing something late at night and she's tired, she may leave a small mess; she cleans it up the next morning, though

P = Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

~ Trigel's pet names for you are sunshine and angel

Q = questions (do they believe in the supernatural? Aliens? Anything along those lines)

~ Trigel often wonders if alicorns are real

R = romantic (are they romantic during the relationship?)

~ Trigel might have been hurt during her first relationship, but with you, she's a little overly romantic

~ She spoils you all the time, is incredibly affectionate and tells you how much she loves you at every opportunity she gets

~ Expect plenty of forehead kisses, warm hugs and the occasional gift as a token of her affection

S = smile (what makes them smile without fail)

~ When you hug her, cuddling with you or when you tell her how much you love her makes Trigel smile without fail

T = together (how clingy are they? How long do you two spend together per day on average)

~ You and Trigel spend most of the day together, but if either one of you needs some alone time, you both respect that

~ Trigel's actually very clingy with you because she's afraid that if she's not affectionate enough with you, you'll leave her

~ You would never leave her for anything or anyone, so you're always understanding

U = unbearable (what habit do they have that’s unbearable?)

~ Trigel has a bad habit of not getting up to eat and drink something when she's caught up in a good book

V = videos (do they take lots of videos or photos during your relationship?)

~ Trigel takes pictures of you and her during important moments and maybe a quick video or two, depending on the situation

W = Wild Card (a random fluff headcanon)

~ Trigel loves wearing matching pajamas with you, especially during winter

X = eXtra (what’s an interesting fact about them that they don’t tell anyone about?)

~ Trigel has a way with wild animals similar to a Disney princess, but she's chosen not to tell anyone about it

Y = yuck (what do they hate? Could be a food, sent, word anything)

~ Trigel hates the feeling of spiderwebs on her skin, especially when it's the season where baby spiders fly around on their webs

Z = zzzz (how heavy of a sleeper are they? How do they sleep? What mood do they wake up in? Really any sleeping headcanons)

~ Trigel's somewhere in between a light sleeper and a heavy sleeper.

~ If she hears a strange sound, she'll wake up and make sure that it's not serious before falling asleep again

~ Trigel is a fairly early riser, and she wakes up in a good mood, but sometimes she'll just lay in bed for a while so that you can get a little extra sleep

~ She rarely has nightmares, but that's because sleeping next to you comforts her

~ There have been a few instances where the two of you wake up on opposite sides of the bed; neither of you know how it happens, so you both don't question it

#Trigel x Reader #Trigel #VLD Trigel #Queen Trigel #Lady Trigel #VLD Queen Trigel #VLD Lady Trigel #A-Z Fluff Headcanons #Headcanons #SFW Headcanons #SFW #Trigel x Reader Headcanons #VLD #Voltron #Voltron Legendary Defender

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metalotaku-da · 5 years ago

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new shance idea

Damnit I got another au idea. And I already have so much to work on.

It’s a slave rescue au. In all the ones I've read, it’s usually slave Lance who is rescued or bought, and lotor is the bad guy in some way. So I got this idea for Shiro to be the slave to be rescued by Lance. With lotor as a supporting character.

Shiro being a gladiator slave champion who gained an injury that will be costly and time consuming to deal with before he is lucrative again (arm loss). It makes sendak (his owner) not see him as lucrative in the ring. And a waste of resources. Lotor and another high ranking galra (thace) convince him to sell him out as a stud or gladiator trainer at auction. To spare his life.

Lotor attends the auction with Lance (adopted son of blaytz and his galra servant husband)the half altean nalquad is friends with the half altean galra. Lotor sneaks him into the auctions disguised as a unknown rich hobbyist. (it looks bad if your ally’s heir dispises your culture and laws. hence his disguise incase caught) Lance uses it to purchase up would be or have been abused animals. To shelter or set free. It’s the first auction lotor takes him to with sentient prisoners and slaves selling also.

Lotor tries to dissuade Lance from buying Shiro. He has seen his gladiator matches and believes he would be a danger to Lance. He knows how his friend is, and thinks with his heart before his head, and with the small or baby animals he isn’t in terrible danger. And knows his limits. However the “champion” has killed many and attacks his handlers often. Killing and destroying a few.

Lance doesn’t heed the request, and buys Shiro. He’s appualed by sendaks comments and the choice to display the man naked and chained at the auction. Sendak reconizes lance, but doesn’t snitch, tries to blackmail him with it later. Lance also purchases a rare endangered bird and a dragon like creature that is a baby. Often used similar to lions in the arenas when an adult.

When his purchases are brought to his ship lance does the one thing lotor told him not to do, and turns off Shiro's bindings. While trying to explain how he’s not going to Hurt him and wants to help him.he is still shifted to look like a half galra. Shiro doesn’t really listen he just goes straight to what he knows since his capture, fight or flight. And he attacks. He cuts off Lance's ability to breathe. And Lance changes back to his Tru.e look. Much smaller than his disguise. Before he is killed blue attacks Shiro. She is a scaled reptilian like cat, or fish cat. One of the first creatures he rescued and raised. Lance pulls blue off Shiro, but he attacks again. Lance manages to call lotor for help and he and the generals come to the rescue. At least two of them.

They subdue Shiro, rebind him and lock him up in a room on Lance's ship. Lotor scolds Lance. One of the generals stays with Lance to help fly his ship and deal with Shiro while Lance takes care of his other purchases. Lance has to spend sometime I water to deal with his injuries but also tries to talk to Shiro and reassure him he’ll be OK and ask him not to Hurt them. He tries several times to release Shiro, but they end kinda poorly at first.

that’s what I have so far. But I'd plan to have others show up in the story. Thace as Keith's unckle. The mamora loyal to lotor, as a guard in the galra ranks. Who believe in an empire without slavery. Lotor and Keith are best friends. Keith would sneak food rashions to Shiro in the arena when we had to go. Allura is the crown princess of altea so she is friends with them. Pidge being the daughter of trigel and her olkarion mother along with her brother Matt. Matt being the crown prince. Hunk being a ballmerian who gryagan took in froma a dieing balmera. The Voltron alliance us a thing, but no lions.

#voltron #shance #lance #prince lance #shiro #slave shiro #good lotor

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sp4c3-0ddity · 7 years ago

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cliche “what I would do differently in season 8″ post

Warning: contains plance and some kallura bias

Disclaimer: my memory on the season (especially some details and the order of certain events) is already rather hazy, and this is more focused on characters and relationships than on plot, with which i was mostly pleased (and it’s probably crap besides)

all right here we go:

first of all when Hunk gives Lance the run-down of the Voltron tv show and mentions that it hints at romance between Keith and Allura, Lance doesn’t react except to maybe look uncomfortable. Hunk is surprised he doesn’t have anything else to say about it and wonders why he’s unusually subdued, and Lance admits Veronica (not Hunk, who’s more aware of the dynamics within the team) is encouraging him to ask Allura out. Hunk wonders what’s stopping him and Lance, still a little cagey about it, says he doesn’t know but decides he’s gonna...so he does and Allura accepts reluctantly with Romelle’s encouragement as portrayed

Pidge still agrees to go shopping with Allura but when it comes to bartering for the dress the Unilu fixates on her glasses as a “Voltron collectible”. she’s reluctant for a good second before admitting she never needed them anyway (implied they were an emotional crutch while her family was missing more than anything else) and handing them over

Coran still puts Lance through his paces but in a less humorous and more uncomfortable fashion that implies he might be a little out of his depth

after the mall Pidge, not wanting to return to her “imprisonment” on the eve of leaving Earth again, goes off to watch the sunset. Lance finds her, and at first she’s a little stiff until he teases her about her “appreciation” for something so mundane (to her). Pidge muses it’s not so mundane if it could be the last time she ever sees it, then wonders what he’s doing with her when he should be getting ready for his date, but before he answers Keith interrupts. Pidge takes the opportunity to leave (she’s still grounded and Romelle and/or Rizavi have probably suffered for covering for her). Lance properly apologizes to Keith for his antagonism

the date isn’t awkward, Lance’s family still likes Allura and she appreciates their warmth, but something is still wrong and, when they’re off alone. Allura looks like she’s on the brink of saying something (after the tree healing incident) when Lance confesses he’d liked her for a long time and had a good time with her that night but that he realizes they’re better as friends. Allura breathes a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to break his heart because she agrees and doesn’t really have time to dabble in a romance anyway and they share an amiable hug

Krolia (because i missed her) is in “Battle Scars” and makes the realization that they’re dealing with Ranveig’s monster and communicates a warning seconds before Keith does

in the Olkarion episode Pidge’s grief bonds her more strongly to the Green Lion, which is how she connects with the planet enough to view its last moments. Lance and Hunk show a bit more concern for her and both comfort her (Allura’s still with her most of the time and insists she’ll be safe with her when they go with Keith to deter the weblum). also the Olkari refugees contact the Coalition after the fact and Pidge (and the Holts) greets them and they all mourn Ryner and the rest that didn’t survive their planet’s destruction. Pidge carries the anger with her for most of the rest of the season (so she now has another personal stake in seeing Honerva defeated)

the team splits as Lance/Pidge and Allura/Hunk. Ezor is actually dead and Acxa made the whole thing up to get Zethrid to surrender, but the Olkari guy does repent after Pidge and Keith “chat” with him about his choices (i.e. survivor’s guilt when he learns Olkarion was destroyed) so he still saves the ATLAS’ crew’s butts later

Honerva doesn’t drain the Guardian but rather takes it hostage to siphon off its quintessence. she still retrieves Lotor’s body and Sincline and they’re still on the verge of slicing the Red Lion (i.e. Lance) - made more meaningful since they’re explicitly friends and not romantically entangled - when Allura’s about to spear Honerva

rather than Lance, Keith gives Allura reassurance (and there’s no “romantic” mush but Kinkade still rebukes Rizavi for spying on a private conversation). also Krolia is interviewed alongside Kolivan, ostensibly to remind him of things he might’ve forgotten. she’s also shown reacting to Coran’s...excessiveness; there’s a brief glimpse of Pidge and Lance playing the new game while Rizavi observes they’re at it again and wonders if they’ll let her play seeing as she helped Pidge procure it, right in time for Hunk to interrupt and ask if they’ll taste something for him

Allura says that, after some rest, she’ll remove the “entities” from the other Altean colonists (she never does because...the one she removed from Tova ends up in her). all of them (especially Coran) are reluctant to leave her for the Clear Day carnival but she insists they go (Keith maybe gives her one last look before agreeing). alongside Lotor she hallucinates versions of Keith (who says he senses no hostile intent from it and that Lotor did have good intentions so maybe she should trust him), Shiro (who reminds her that he once had a direct link to Haggar’s mind, but if she knows about it she can use it to her advantage), and Coran (who tells her she’d be honoring her father’s memory experimenting with something he once did) in turn. Allura, despite her skepticism because she knows this isn’t real, sees no recourse and promises them that she’ll give it up as soon as they no longer need it

meanwhile at the carnival Hunk and Keith still get stuck on the ride (it was a Highlight). callback to “Space Mall”, Lance and Pidge go off together. when she doesn’t get enough tickets to earn the “best” prize, Lance cheers her up by challenging her to a pricey and rigged carnival game that he almost wins...which is when Pidge suffers the family portrait for more tokens. they retry, Lance wins and relinquishes his prize to Pidge, who may or may not blush only to observe he might be a good sharpshooter after all

(Pidge and Hunk both question how Shiro won at arm-wrestling without an elbow)

Coran is the most adamant about Allura not using the entity, though the others are still doubtful. Keith confronts her properly about it after the meeting, but Allura shuts his protests down by saying they need to defeat Honerva even at the cost of one of their lives (possibly alludes to his near-sacrifice at Naxzela)

Lance has a “wtf” moment when his bayard turns into the sword. he and Alfor only talk briefly about his appreciation for Allura before telling him he really should train in using that thing

Alfor to Allura about Keith: why is the red one in the Black Lion??

(possibly he also comments on his quintessence-sense...because someone should)

Trigel lowkey chides Pidge for neglecting her connections with people outside her family while also commenting on her kinda adoption of the Olkari

when Alfor is incredulous about Allura’s use of the entity (even Zarkon reminds her of the damage it caused) she insists it was the only way (Keith, internally: i told her so); the Paladins, horrified, stop her from tormenting a younger Zarkon with the memories of what his older/possessed self did, and she has a moment where she’s incredulous about what she’s doing/what she’s become; she promises that she’ll happily destroy the entity once they reach the end of the line

Allura admits to Coran that she saw her father while in Honerva’s mindscape. Coran begs her one last time to release the entity only for her to admit she’ll need someone else’s help

and when she’s recovering (when was that in the season?? can’t remember) everyone visits her, but it’s Lance reassuring Keith that Allura will be all right rather than the other way around...and he admits to remembering the “bonding moment”, Keith is like i knew it and rubs it in Lance’s face while still seeming troubled

Pidge still assists Slav and Sam but Trigel’s (and Slav’s hehe) reprimand sort of sticks with her and before they do battle she tells her teammates how much they all mean to her (maybe prefaces it with “i’m not good with people but you guys taught me how to be better”). there’s a group hug, but Lance lingers and they hug properly while she tells him that he’ll do great and he says that he knows (and he means it)

Battle proceeds. Maybe a little trimmed down so Lance, at some point, can “properly” bond with the Red Lion

Allura shows Honerva her work and tells her they can fix it if only she releases the Guardian. Honerva agrees, but it’s not enough and Allura reluctantly admits a life must be given too (and that the entity must be destroyed), at which point her teammates (Keith’s loudest, again bringing up his near-sacrifice at Naxzela as the wrong answer) protest...and Honerva offers something, that she started this and that she’ll finish it too and that Allura should live the life she never got to. she even uses the last of her power to take back the entity

“one year later”, Allura is shown mourning the person Honerva (and Zarkon) was by erecting a memorial to Alfor and to the Alteans that perished when Zarkon destroyed the planet and when Lotor harvested the colonists’ quintessence. she mentions to a few former colonists that they should never forget the mistakes of the past but learn from them, and she’s shown with Romelle and Coran, who begins briefing her on what Keith’s been up to with the Galra...

Pidge is with Matt, finishing up Chip (eh might as well keep it). he teases her about being late to her “date”, but Pidge insists it’s not a date (because all her other ex-teammates will be there)

the seven of them reminisce

Pidge works with her family but she’s also an ambassador spreading science ideas around the universe. Lance is an instructor at the Garrison (he basically has Iverson’s old job probably), and they’re implied to be happily in a relationship. Keith’s fate is pretty much the same but it’s mentioned he gets inspiration from Allura and her memories of old Altea. ditto Hunk

the show ends with Allura’s coronation as queen rather than Shiro’s wedding (though it can be implied he, attending wearing his black Garrison uniform, met Someone at the celebration afterward), and the Lions flying their separate ways, ostensibly to return when the universe needs Voltron again

#probably too neat and tidy but whatever i don't really care #allura deserved a neat and tidy ending #and better characterization #salt the earth #vld 8 #voltron spoilers #plance #kallura #voltron

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velkynkarma · 6 years ago

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We only have 3/10 books of the series so far ... but what do you think about a Stormlight Archive AU for the 5+ headcanons?

Oh my goodness yes if there’s one thing I am absolutely certain about it’s Brandon Sanderson novels always make great Voltron Crossover AU’s. This is longer than 5 for sure, so I’m putting in a cut because it’s Long and I Can’t Stop Myself.

I hope all 2 people who understand this enjoy it

Highprince Alfor is one of the ten Alethi highprinces leading an assault on the Shattered Plains, alongside several others, including Highprinces Zarkon, Blaytz, and Gyrgan. Trigel is also a leading force behind her own army and the Dalterion princedom, but due to the gendred nature of Alethkar and war and combat being considered a man’s profession, she is basically the power behind the highprince’s throne but uses a male figurehead to do the actual warring.

Highprince Alfor is considered rather...unfashionable and perhaps a little scandalous for an Alethi highprince.

Although like many of his countrymen he is brash enough to rush into battle sometimes without thinking, or considering overall strategy, he also does not fit the Alethi mold completely. He fights alongside his men despite having a shardblade and shardplate, rather than letting them be cannon fodder before he takes on the weakened enemies for the final kills.

He’s been witnessed treating darkeyes with respect and camaraderie, even as a brightlord and a highprince.

And perhaps most scandalous of all, there are rumors that he can read, despite it being a distinctly female skill, and that he finds interests in other female areas of study like sciences.

As a result he’s something of a joke amongst many of the other highprinces, although he remains good friends with Blaytz, Gyrgan and Trigel.

He and Zarkon used to be good friends and once worked together to unify a great deal of the land into modern Alethkar, but have grown apart after Alfor found Zarkon growing too bloodthirsty even for an Alethi highprince.

Alfor’s daughter, Brightlady Allura, is much like her father.

Refusing to conform completely to Alethi practice, she does not hesitate to speak her mind about the foolishness of continuing the battle on the Shattered Plains for more than ten years. The games for the gemhearts are ridiculous in her opinion; they should strike quickly and efficiently as a full military force to actually win the battle. Her thoughts on military strategy are often disregarded, as it is not considered a female practice, although Alfor respects her intelligence when it comes to military combat considerably.

Allura has of course mastered most feminine arts required of her as a Brightlady, including fashion, arts (though she is somewhat lacking here), sciences (her favorite), scholarship, history, music, language, writing, and logic, and she scribes for her father personally. But there are rumors that, like her father, she scandalously disregards Vorin tradition and actually trains in weapons in her spare time, behind closed doors. And not even lighteyed weapons like swords! She trains with common darkeyed things like spears! Allura maintains perfect poise and composure in public, but even so, by now the rumors surrounding House Altea make more than one person regard them like they have no head.

When intrigue in the warcamps grows stronger and strange things begin happening, Allura begins to attract the attention of certain...otherworldly, conceptual beings.

Realistically speaking, Allura’s Voltron powers would suggest she would be either an Edgedancer or a Truthwatcher, since either one has access to the surge of Progression, which grants healing and growth powers. Of those, Truthwatcher would probably match more, as it also grants illusion and sometimes future sight, and its spren appears like a shaft or glimmer of light.

That said, I also adore the idea of Allura being a Bondsmith because can you just fucking imagine her bonding the Stormfather, forming spiritual connections with others, literally doing what she does in canon by bonding large groups into a cohesive whole for one united purpose, and also fucking refueling everyone with Stormlight/Quintessence when they’re on empty like the badass woman she is.

Like seriously just look at the bondsmith ideals. “I will unite instead of divide. I will bring men together.” “I will take responsibility for what I have done. If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” Allura as bondsmith, yes plz.

I like to reforge a little of a story when I do these AU crossovers but honestly, Kaladin’s story is a near perfect match for what I’d do with Shiro, anyway.

Shiro originally joins the army so he has opportunity to leave his little farming village. Although most assume his Calling is that of a soldier, which is a perfectly respectable male Calling, what he actually wants to do is explore and see the world beyond his village. Joining the army will let him see other places and earn enough spheres to travel on his own once his enlistment is up.

Unfortunately he is captured in a border skirmish and through increasing bouts of bad luck, ends up as a slave in House Daibazaal’s army. Bridge FourFivebecauseofthelionsgetit is not a great place to be and most people end up as canon fodder during the battles for the gemhearts.

Despite things looking really, really bad, Shiro is still determined to get out of this situation. Alive. With as many people as possible. Running is no good; the soldiers keep a good eye on the slaves. Nobody gives a damn about them; they’re just bridge slaves destined to be used as bait during the gemheart strikes. But Shiro has a way about him of encouraging people to do their best. He looks out for his fellow bridge crew even if they don’t care much about him in return, at first. People just feel like they can live through something if he’s leading them. They trust him. More and more slaves rally to his call and listen to his orders. They start calling him their Champion. Not everyone makes it every time, but more survive than anticipated. A sense of camaraderie starts to form. And even though it would be really easy to give up and abandon them all, or just stop caring every time somebody dies, Shiro doesn’t let himself.

Because of his actions, Shiro starts attracting honorspren, and eventually bonds to one. Because Shiro needs to fly, damn it, and I can’t see him being a Skybreaker; they’re a little too Law and Order levels of paladin. Shiro is definitely a Windrunner. Just look at those oaths! “I will protect those who cannot protect themselves” is literally what he does in canon against Myzax. “I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right.” Shiro’s done this too in canon; he’s worked with people who had previously been enemies or protected characters that have clearly irritated him.

Keith is originally an orphan who ended up joining the army mostly so he wouldn’t starve to death. He originally is recruited as a page/runner, but in a particularly bad border skirmish he ends up getting put on the front lines, despite having very little training with spears.

(He does actually have some weapons training, with swords and knives, but he’s a darkeyes, so nobody is supposed to know that. ‘Don’t tell anyone you know how to do this,’ his mother and father repeatedly told him, while he was still alive. ‘They will wonder what rules you broke and you will get in trouble. Don’t ever trust a lighteyes).

Keith is positive he’s going to die that day, but Shiro actually saves his life on the battlefield. Afterwards, Shiro looks out for him for the six months or so they’re both in the same army together. It’s the first time anybody has ever cared about Keith at all since his parents died and he grows incredibly loyal to Shiro because of it.

When Shiro is captured Keith is devastated and basically tries to go AWOL. He’s caught and reprimanded repeatedly but keeps trying to run, until he’s eventually stripped of rank and cast into slavery. He’s a rebellious slave even then, constantly trying to run, and not worth the time of most slavers, so he eventually gets shipped out to the Shattered Plains where he won’t be able to escape and will probably die as fodder anyway

This ends up working out well for Keith, as he ends up stuck in Bridge Five where the lowest of the low slaves go, and finds Shiro again. He’s immediately OK with it. Bridge Five is awful but he trusts Shiro and he’ll do whatever is needed to support him. Keith is one of Shiro’s first real supporters on Bridge Five and the one that not-so-subtly encourages/forces others to listen to Shiro as well, or at least tries. Shiro usually tells him to back off a little because a team can’t be forced. But others do see that loyalty and that protection and learn to trust Shiro in part because they observe Keith.

Keith also has a secret he hasn’t even told Shiro, at least not right away: Keith owns a Shardblade. It used to be his mother’s (again, very strange for a woman), but when she disappeared the blade was left behind, bond broken. His father took it up, but made Keith promise to bond it and showed him how, in the event that his father died. Keith did as ordered when his father died, hiding the blade away inside his soul before any lighteyes could take it, but he’s very careful to never, ever reveal that he has one.

Keith doesn’t trust lighteyes at all and is extremely suspicious of them

He actually is the first to recognize the strange things happening around Shiro may, just maybe, be because of Surgebinding. His mother used to tell stories, whenever she showed him her knife, of the Knights Radiant and the old powers they had. He thought they were just stories, but when Shiro starts unconsciously doing these things, he tells Shiro about the knife and starts trying to help him figure out what’s going on.

Once Shiro’s ideals and his strength with his honorspren gets strong enough that the rest of Bridge Five starts developing Windrunner squires in his presence, Keith struggles to come to terms with the fact that he appears untouched by Shiro’s abilities. An Honorspren is a lot to live up to and Keith is afraid he can’t do it. Especially when, as time passes, every time he summons his shardblade he swears he hears screaming...

I would love it if Keith actually gets a similar storyline to Adolin instead, wherein he actually starts to awaken the spren in his inherited shardblade and bonds with whatever type that is instead. Because the knife feels like an extension of him and a partner. It’s the reason other honorspren wouldn’t try to bond with him, though, and the reason he can’t inherit Shiro’s powers when around him. (This would also be a nod to Keith struggling to live up to Shiro as a leader and forming his own way of doing things in canon)

Lance also inadvertently ends up on Bridge Five

Like many lowborn darkeyes, Lance had romantic dreams of going to battle, defeating a shardbearer, and getting to rise to nobility as he became a lighteyes through the shard bond. He planned to take good care of his family after that and never have to work a farm again. So he joins House Daibazaal’s army, for his region.

This didn’t work out out in practice as it turns out shardbearers are terrifying on the field and nobody in their right mind could ever take one down. Lance is suddenly brought to terms with his own morality and tries to desert. Unfortunately he gets caught and ends up as a slave on the Shattered Plains, shunted into Bridge Five. Where people go to die, basically, so he’s terrified.

That’s when he meets Shiro, who he looks up to almost right away. Because Shiro is just good at taking care of everyone on Bridge Five, and makes him feel like maybe, just maybe, he could live through this and see his family again.

That’s also when he meets Keith who he hates because what is this guy’s deal he’s a jerk. (But they do eventually learn to get along)

Lance is forced to come to grips with his own initial cowardice and he initially hates himself for it. He resolves to be stronger and do better, especially with a role model like Shiro to look up to. Even if they’re in the absolute pit of humanity they don’t have to act like it. They can still do their best. He’s also a little jealous of Keith at first, who never seems to be scared of anything even down here as a bridge slave, which sparks his rivalry with him to start.

When Shiro starts developing powers and the rest of Bridge Five starts inheriting dregs of them as squires, Lance is also seemingly incapable of getting those powers. It’s actually one of the ways he manages to bond better with Keith, when they both commiserate over being unable to do what Shiro can even though they’re both trying so hard in their own ways.

In actuality Lance is just destined to bond with a different kind of spren, but he has to realize who he really is first and what his Ideals actually are before he can recognize that or be recognized by a spren in turn.

I kind of like the idea of him being an Edgedancer, but Willshapers are described as having a “love of adventure, novelty, or oddity" and that they are "capricious, frustrating, and unreliable,” which could also match Lance. Although it’s hard to say since we haven’t seen their powers in action yet soooo...maybe it wouldn’t be a good match.

Pidge is another one that has a lot of parallels to Shallan to the point when half the story is going to be the same despite my best efforts, really

Pidge used to be a dutiful daughter and acted as the scribe for her father and brother, who did a lot of exploration and traveling work. However they mysteriously disappear in one of the cities, at the same time a lot of other people start to go missing

Pidge, alarmed but suspicious, starts doing more research and starts finding some frightening details that are curiously relevant between the disappearances and some terrifying lore from old stories.

No one believes her but she is convinced that a lot of weird things happening indicate some seriously dangerous turn of events with some very dark and evil beings. She even begins to suspect the battle at the Shattered Plains might not be what it seems; in fact, it might be a distraction from the real purpose.

She determines to head for the Shattered Plains. That seems to be the heart of everything, based on her research. One way or another, going there will help her find her brother and father again, and she can warn people there that dangerous things are coming.

People aren’t willing to believe her (or her newfound friend, Hunk) when she goes there at first, especially because she’s lowborn. However, Brightlady Allura takes a keen interest in what she has to say and gives her a place to stay, and Highprince Alfor takes her seriously.

While digging into the darker things and researching into some very unsettling information, Pidge attracts the wrong sort of crowd with the Ghostbloods.

She also attracts a spren of her own, and honestly I can’t see her being anything other than a Lightweaver like Shallan, because c’mon. Illusions? The ability to restructure things into other things? Pidge spends half her time in canon pretending to be somebody else, sneaking around, and messing around with science. This is absolutely up her alley. Lightweaving also commonly gifts an extraordinary memory or aptitude for precise details, which Pidge has displayed in spades.

Hunk has always had an interest in distinctly ‘female’ skills and pursuits, like cooking, sciences, and general academia, while he never shown particular interest in more masculine pursuits, like politics or combat. As such, Hunk eventually choses to join the Ardentia, which traditionally grants its members a genderless position in society and the right to pursue skills traditional to both genders.

Hunk isn’t actually all that religious--he just really wanted to learn cooking (and to be able to try sweet female foods as much as spicy male foods), and to study sciences. He also enjoys reading and writing and just learning in general.

Hunk is originally content just working at the temples and getting to learn cooking and to study to his heart’s content in his spare time. It’s a nice, safe, easy life and he gets to enjoy it.

Unfortunately once a young woman named Pidge starts entering the temples asking some very dangerous, on-the-edge-of-blasphemy questions about the Unmade and general theological debate, and insinuating some dangerous things about the war in the Shattered Plains, things start to get less comfortable.

Despite everything Hunk can see Pidge has some good points. She’s sharp, good at logic and makes for decent conversation about all sorts of topics. Her arguments aren’t unfounded even if they are uncomfortable. When she points out that this could be dangerous for all of Roshar, including his family and anyone he might ever care about, he grudgingly agrees to help her try to make her case. So he travels to the Shattered Plains with her.

Once on the Shattered Plains he ends up becoming an ardent specifically tied to House Altea, so he’s under their protection, since some of the edge-of-blasphemy questions he asks (or supports Pidge on) get him in a bit of trouble with the order. It’s okay though, everyone else here is so scandalous or unconventional he feels like he fits right in.

The full team does eventually meet up in the middle of a battle and Bridge Five does eventually join House Altea, though I have no idea under what circumstances. It’s honestly hard to top Kaladin’s rescue in The Way of Kings.

Ask me for AU Headcanons!

#did I just spend 2.5 hours writing up a stupidly long AU that only like three people are gonna get?#I sure did!#Velkynkarma answers #Velkynkarma memes #Voltron #Cosmere #Stormlight Archive #satsukifowl

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kcwcommentary · 6 years ago

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VLD3x07 – “The Legend Begins”

3x07 – “The Legend Begins”

This is another really long critique. I have so many problems with this episode. The biggest problem is that this episode expects me to have sympathy for unsympathetic characters.

Haggar, citing the Empire needing him, touches Zarkon on sides of his head and a series of images flash. Haggar recoils at the image of a smiling Altean woman.

Team Voltron is trying to figure out where Lotor might be and what his plan is. Pidge poses the question: “Why was Voltron made out of the same material as that comet? What’s so special about it?” I can’t believe they wrote Pidge to ask that question about the “comet” since she already knows the answer: It can punch holes from one reality through to another. Allura says that Alfor found another “comet” like this one, and Coran specifies that it was Alfor and Zarkon who found it back before Voltron was made. Allura’s and Coran’s statements coming after Pidge’s comment is odd. Their comment makes it sound like it’s a revelation that Voltron was made out of the first “comet” that Alfor found, but Pidge literally just said that it’s made out of the same material.

Coran begins to tell them some history. The original Paladins were first leaders of their respective species/cultures. Cultures that “in some cases had been warring for generations,” he says while an image of Blaytz fighting some Galra sentries is shown. Are we to understand from this that the Galra had been at war with Blaytz’s people? That sounds significant and should be clarified and explained.

The five original Paladins made some “formal agreement” to protect their common interests. If they had been at war with one another, what common interests would they have that would cause them to go from war to cooperation? That’s significant and should be clarified and explained. They developed a “true friendship” from working “together […] to rid their system of those who would do it harm.” Their system? As in solar system? All five species evolved and existed within the same solar system? That is incredibly unlikely.

There’s a shot of Daibazaal, still looking like not a planet. On the surface, they’re having a relatively exclusive meal together. Coran goes over the roster. Zarkon from Daibazaal. Alfor from Altea. Gyrgan from Rygnirath (I really like his visual design, though his character is little different than an alien version of Hunk). Trigel of the Dalterion Belt. And Blaytz from Nalquod. The latter three don’t have much of a presence and are more to fill the roster than to be actual characters, especially Trigel.

Blaytz’s reaction to the server bringing him something to drink has been interpreted by a lot of people as Blaytz flirting with him. I guess it counts. It’s rather blink and you’ll miss it. I expect more for queer inclusion in stories. Zarkon displays his strict preference for hierarchal social structure, telling Blaytz, “You know that fraternizing with the servant class is not permitted. It erodes discipline.” So, Zarkon has always been severe, prejudiced, and cruel. One, Blaytz is not Galra, so even if it is uncouth for a high ranking Galra to talk to someone in “the servant class,” that does not apply to Blaytz. Two, this reaffirms what we’ve seen of Zarkon already in this show: that he stands aloof from those he leads because he thinks he’s superior to them. This is one point of contention between him and Lotor.

While at dinner, the “comet” crashes into the surface of Daibazaal. In the amount of time it takes Zarkon to evacuate the area near the crater, Alfor has set up a lab, started studying the “comet,” and already knows that it’s made of a material that can pass between realities. The show tries to handwave the fact that such a scientific determination would take more time for study than the timeframe Zarkon’s evacuation comment would allow. Alfor says they found a yellow, glowing area underneath where the “comet” had crashed. Just because the area’s there doesn’t mean that the “comet” caused it to happen. But this his hardly the only jump in logic characters are written to make in this episode.

This brings up an issue I have with this “comet” being able to pass from one reality to another: How? I don’t ask that wanting an actual science reason, but I ask what, in-story, causes it to transit from one reality to another? Why has it stopped in this reality? Some change has to occur to make the “comet” transit from one reality to another, otherwise it would be constantly transiting and would not be stable enough for them to do anything but watch it disappear into a rift. Yet they made Voltron out of it. This seems like more of the show’s magic system having never been properly defined.

Zarkon freaks out over a cat (Kova, the same cat Narti uses to see). Zarkon then meets Honerva, to whom Kova belongs. Alfor describes Honvera as the best alchemist from Altea. Alfor asked Honerva to come to Daibazaal to lead the investigation. With Altea and Daibazaal in the same solar system, I guess it isn’t unreasonable that given the timeframe of Zarkon’s evacuation comment that Honerva could have come from one planet to another.

Honerva expresses excitement about studying the “comet.” Zarkon is socially awkward around her, which is clearly to be interpreted as he’s attracted to her. Given Zarkon’s opinions on Galra superiority, it’s odd that he would be attracted to her, but whatever. She remained on Daibazaal studying the rift, while Alfor studied the “comet” on Altea. Coran’s narration says that this study took years.

Alfor introduces Zarkon to baby Allura, and Zarkon gives her a Galra helmet. Also, Zarkon has married Honerva. Alfor goes to thank Honerva for the gift, which she dismisses as nothing more than a “customary gesture.” In later seasons, the show claims that Honerva loses her maternal capacity due to excessive exposure to quintessence from within the rift. But here, where she could demonstrate the necessary warmth of personality needed for maternal capacity by commenting affectionately about baby Allura, she does not. This to me says that Honerva was never a motherly type of person, nothing was taken from her despite the show’s later retcon.

She’s been running an experiment on quintessence, one drop powering some machine for a year. Quintessence has been shown to be some kind of glowing energy until it’s somehow processed into liquid, so I guess they’ve developed a refining process in order for Alfor to refer to it as a “drop?” This would have been the perfect episode to explain what quintessence is.. We’ve been previously told that quintessence is supposedly life energy, but then how is there so much quintessence in the rift? Again, it’s supposed to be life energy, but then how is it poisonous? What kind of statement is this show making by saying that life energy can poison you into becoming maniacal and cruel?

Alfor says that “the ships I’m creating for us work on the same principle.” What principle is that? He hasn’t stated any kind of principle, he’s only said that quintessence is a potent energy source. That’s a terribly written transition. “The ore from the comet practically engineers itself,” he also says. That’s not how engineering works. The material might be easy to work with, but that’s not the same thing as the ore creating design schematics on its own. I don’t think the writers of this show know what engineering is.

Zarkon instantly thinks about “endlessly powerful ships for the Galra Empire.” So, Altea and Galra are in the same solar system, but the Galra have an Empire already. Are we to assume that this Empire is currently just isolated on Daibazaal? If they’re already an Empire, I’m kind of surprised they haven’t already tried to conquer Altea. Maybe they’re supposed to be two of the warring factions mentioned at the beginning of the episode? Again, that sounds significant and should be clarified and explained. Regardless, Zarkon here reveals that he is very much a war-minded person. The later idea that he turns cruel because of excessive exposure to quintessence from within the rift doesn’t work for me because he’s being shown to think the same before as he does after.

Alfor observes some glowing purple blob floating in a forcefield. Honerva explains that she “sent some signals into the neighboring reality and this creature answered the call. Nothing from our universe has been able to survive the passage through the rift. But somehow, he arrived unharmed.” She seems fascinated by the creature, even holding out a hand to the forcefield like she wishes she could touch the blob. Alfor comments, “I thought we discussed this. We must exercise caution. We have no idea what is out there.”

And here we have another demonstration of Honerva’s normal, unaffected personality well before she became poisoned by quintessence and turned into Haggar. “The ancients thought that lightning was shot from the bows of the gods until science proved otherwise. We must always push into dangerous territory in pursuit of knowledge.” Honerva is not some person whose warmth was taken from her. She is a driven person who has the same insatiable desire for power that Zarkon has. She views the tool of science as how she can acquire that power. She does not care about the consequences of her behavior. She does not care if anyone gets hurt in the process.

The blob screeches and more of the blob creatures erupt from the rift. Alfor and Honerva put a spherical forcefield around the area to contain the blobs.

“Alfor’s project will save us,” Honerva says. I have a lot of complaints about Voltron Legendary Defender, but there are some things I really like. Scientific illiteracies aside, I think the animation is really nice. I love the music. And usually, I think the voice acting is really good. But what in the world is with Honerva’s voice?

Alfor introduces the five original Paladins to the Lions. “I made them from the quintessence-infused ore of the comet, which provides them with an endless supply of power,” Alfor says. How is metal able to be infused with life energy? Also, this show has shown the Lions losing power many times, so clearly, they do not have an endless supply of power.

“In testing my ship, I started to feel some sort of psychic link. […] The ship wasn’t just reading my mind, it was communicating with me. They seem to be evolving,” Alfor says. The Lions’ minds literally come out of nowhere. There’s no explanation to why the ships are sentient. Alfor created these ships. He had to design and build them. They should have no capabilities that he did not design. So where do the Lions’ consciousnesses come from? The show never thinks it’s necessary to answer that. For Alfor to take them from raw materials to ships with consciousnesses, it’s not acceptable for him to not be able to explain that. That’s not how engineering works.

Zarkon’s concerned about his people being harmed by “dark creatures from another realm.” Well Zarkon, it’s your wife’s fault.

“You do not pick the beast. The beast will choose you,” Alfor says. How convenient that the beasts all choose the five members of this group and that they all happen to be here together.

This is comparatively a minor problem, but the character designs of the species of the Paladins bothers me specifically when it comes to their Paladin armors’ helmets. Their helmets are not designed for their respective head-shapes. How the impossibility of stuffing all the stuff hanging off their respective heads into helmets shaped for a human head-shape didn’t register to the artists doing the character design, I don’t know. It’s like they didn’t bother to think through the realities of the head-shapes and the helmets. Not thinking things through is kind of standard for this show’s production though.

“Perhaps you should lead the formation, Alfor. You have a greater understanding of the vessels than anyone,” Zarkon says. I’m surprised he’d be willing to let someone else be the leader. Alfor, however, has not impressed me with his understanding of the vessels. Their having an unexplained consciousness that he didn’t give them and him having no idea where it came from does not sound like understanding. “I’m a better alchemist than military leader, Zarkon. I’ll stick with being your right hand.” It’s interesting that Alfor specifies the leadership as specifically military. There are a lot of different kinds of leadership, and leadership is not inherently militaristic. But Alfor, by his comment, wants Voltron to be a military group, not diplomatic, not humanitarian.

The rift creatures break free and form into a giant single body. Zarkon leads them into battle against it. Red psychically tells Alfor that they have to fly in a formation, and they turn into Voltron. Alfor designed and built the Lions, but he didn’t design them to be able to turn into Voltron. This is not how engineering works.

“Am I a leg?” Gyrgan says.

They continue to fight. Red reveals to Alfor the slot for the bayard. So, the ability to use bayards to create weapons and additional abilities is also something that Alfor did not design the Lions to be able to do.

Having the Lions be some advanced technology they just happened to have found out in space somewhere, rather than something Alfor built while having no idea what he was building, would have at least not been absurd. Or if Alfor had been influenced by some alien consciousness into building the Lions, that would have worked too.

Voltron forms sword and they stab the body of the collective rift creatures, and it explodes. It doesn’t really make any sense why that would happen, but it does.

Alfor says they need to find a way to seal the rift. Honerva reacts, yelling, “Seal the rift? Why?” Again, she’s a person who does not care about the consequences of her actions; that’s very much antithetical to being a motherly person. Despite having freaked out about the danger to his people a few scenes ago, Zarkon now doesn’t care about the risk. Citing the power of the Lions, Zarkon is eager to continue looking to turn the rift into more power.

“I’ll decide what’s enough on my planet!” Zarkon yells at Alfor. Zarkon is already a megalomaniacal dictator, no quintessence poisoning required.

Coran narrates, “Honerva continued her experiments on the rift. Despite their differences, Zarkon and Alfor, along with the other Paladins, established a new era of peace and prosperity.” Some of the blame for what has happened has to go to Alfor then. If he could have had that conversation with Honerva and Zarkon and still go along with them, then he is complicit. Also, I don’t like the writing of this narration. The way Coran goes without transition from Honerva continued her proven dangerous experiments to everyone got along and everything was great is so significantly dissonant. The juxtaposition of the two scenes also results in tonal whiplash. We literally just saw Zarkon yell about his hunger for power, and then we’re told everything was great.

Time passes. Daibazaal has been experiencing earthquakes that Alfor says are indicating the planet is fracturing. Zarkon again screams at Alfor, “I can’t stop Honerva’s work now. She’s discovering more every day.” Alfor indicates that it’s been quite some time since he last talked with Honerva, and literally the first thing out of her mouth is, “I hope you haven’t come to try to shut down my work. There’s more hidden knowledge and power in this tiny fissure than you can possibly understand.” Still, as from the beginning, they’re both power-mad.

Kova is still alive, despite significant age, due to Honerva treating him with quintessence. “Quintessence is so much more than you can understand,” Honerva says. That’s in part because the writers of this show never actually define the parameters of quintessence, so it becomes whatever they want it to be in any given moment.

Alfor tells her that she’s gone too far, and she reacts strongly, “You’ve always been a coward. You wish to close off our gateway to enlightenment. We should be expanding it.” Zarkon wants to use Voltron to enlarge the opening to the rift.

“It’s madness. This prolonged exposure to quintessence has poisoned your minds,” Alfor says. Again, if quintessence is life energy, then how does it poison? Maybe Alfor is supposed to be irrational right now and desperately looking for an excuse for their behavior, but Zarkon and Honerva’s behavior is not coming out of nowhere. The qualities of personality that are resulting in this behavior are their natural qualities that they have demonstrated from the beginning of this episode. The only time that the personalities they’re showing right now weren’t the same as how they’ve been depicted in the rest of the episode was when Zarkon was freaked out by the cat and when Zarkon was nervous out of being attracted to Honerva.

Alfor walks way. Zarkon yells, “I lead the Paladins. I command you.” He’s always been a dictator. The Galra form of governance has always been an empire, after all. It’s not like Zarkon accidentally or tragically slipped into becoming emperor.

Honerva passes out. I literally do not care. If a character is going to faint in a story, that change in state of consciousness should produce an emotional response for the reader/viewer. The story has created literally zero sympathy for Honerva, so I don’t care about her wellbeing. Her character was not written to make us care about her. It seems more that the writers assumed that we automatically would care about her without them having to write her in a way to get us to care.

“Quintessence is life,” Honerva rambles while in bed. If the show had left quintessence as just some energy and not tried to say that it’s life, maybe it wouldn’t bother me so much. But as I’ve said so many times: How would life energy cause something like this to happen to a person?

“Alfor tried to warn me, but I would not listen,” Zarkon says. He asks the Paladins to help him close the rift. It’s obvious that he’s deceiving them.

“Honerva told me the only way to close the rift is to use the power of the quintessence. We must make the opening bigger first to gather the power,” Zarkon tells them as they stand in Voltron over the rift. No one finds his statement suspicious. He is literally saying the exact same thing he did that made Alfor walk out on him before. Make the rift bigger. More quintessence. Alfor goes right along with it this time, telling them how to make the rift bigger. This isn’t just Alfor trusting a friend who was deceiving him. Zarkon’s not really deceiving Alfor at this point. What Alfor previously said no to doing, he’s now going to do.

Somehow, Voltron goes from stabbing the ground to floating in endless light. They’re in the rift now. Zarkon has left the Black Lion and he’s holding Honerva. It’s not really a form of betrayal at this point. Maybe there’s a bit of Zarkon’s behavior that’s love for Honerva, but it seems far more likely given how he’s talked this whole episode that Zarkon’s more interested in what power he can gain from Honerva’s research of quintessence.

The rift creatures come swarming toward them, engulfing them. Honerva and Zarkon scream. Zarkon’s eyes glow purple. Voltron grabs Honerva and Zarkon and they fire their thrusters to leave (I don’t know how they know what direction to go to get out since everything looks the same regardless of which direction you look).

Coran narrates, “Zarkon’s attempt to save Honerva was in vain. They both succumbed to overexposure to quintessence. The Paladins had been deceived by Zarkon. They had unwittingly enlarged the rift, which further destabilized planet Daibazaal.” Are you kidding me? They were deceived? They were unwitting? Alfor, Gyrgan, Trigel, and Blaytz must be terrible leaders to have been incapable of understanding that when Zarkon told them to enlarge the rift that that would mean that they would be enlarging the rift. And Alfor is especially bad since he had already said no to the idea of enlarging the rift.

Coran says that Alfor evacuated Daibazaal. How? Alfor is not a member of the Galra government, literally what power does he have to order a planetary evacuation? Alfor also blew up Daibazaal. Again, he’s not a member of the Galra government. How would any of them let him make the decisions for them? This is not realistic.

Alfor then holds a huge funeral for Zarkon and Honerva. Surprise (of course it’s no surprise whatsoever), they’re not dead. Do the writers honestly think it’s dramatic to pretend they were dead? Why wouldn’t the Galra conduct the funeral? Why is this episode acting like Zarkon is the only Galra in the universe? Despite the funeral Alfor conducts, Zarkon and Honerva’s bodies are on a Galra ship. They come to and have glowing eyes.

Zarkon starts a transmission, “My fellow Galra. King Alfor of Altea has destroyed our planet.” Considering all the Galra evacuated Daibazaal and let him blow up the planet, they already know that. If they don’t know, then Alfor would have been acting without the Galra government’s permission. Are we to think that Alfor hid his destroying the planet from all the Galra except for the one who told Zarkon?

This is one of the multitudinous problems with the writing of this episode. These major events of the evacuation and destruction of Daibazaal are glossed over with very little thought. No thought was paid to what the governmental structure of the Galra Empire is like. The writers exclusively invested the entirety of the government in Zarkon because it’s cheap, easy writing. Realistically, even if they are an empire, there are still contingency plans for a continuity of governance should something happen to Zarkon. Even with Zarkon as the emperor, there are other people who would be responsible for various functions of the government.

Coran continues to narrate, “Zarkon had become pure evil.” How do the writers expect me to think of Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar as anything other than boring, cartoonish villains when they write phrases like “pure evil” to describe them? Coran says Zarkon was “obsessed only with quintessence.” So then, nothing has changed for him. Out of wanting to open a new rift, Zarkon needed Voltron, and went to war to try to get it. “The Galra immediately responded to their leader and attacked.” But they were completely non-present in decision making about their own world before then and somehow oblivious to what was going on?

“The peaceful planets of our system were not prepared, but soon they had all fallen except for Altea.” So, all the planets had poorly run militaries? And there were multiple planets that were inhabited, and they couldn’t unite against one culture who no longer had the stability of a home base? Alfor separated and sent the Lions away. Zarkon killed Alfor then blew up Altea. The Galra, who had been evacuated from their planet and no longer had a home base still had the capacity to blow up a planet? It’s so hard to believe any of this.

Back to now. Pidge says, “So that’s Lotor’s plan: Cross into other universes and get the purest quintessence possible.” Slightly too far there, Pidge: They didn’t get quintessence from another universe, they got it from the rift. Also, that is a major assumption. Just because the story of the creation of Voltron was all about quintessence doesn’t mean that that’s what Lotor is trying to get. He could actually be trying to get something or someone from another universe, not from the rift. Or he could just want a weapon to match Voltron. This show writes characters to take major leaps in logic to arrive at conclusions mostly just because those are the conclusions that the writers are writing toward, not because it makes sense for a character to make such conclusions.

Back to Haggar. “Husband, how could I have forgotten?” Mostly because the writers just decided to make you forget because they thought it would be interesting or dramatic or something. The episode ends with Zarkon opening his eyes.

For an episode that is supposed to explain and advance understanding of the antagonists’ motivations, I don’t end this with any new perspective on these characters beyond knowing that their personalities have always been that of power-mad dictators. It’s just that now the narrative wants to absolve them of their behavior by saying everything they’ve done for the past 10,000 years is because of quintessence poisoning. I guess the episode thought it was creating sympathy for the antagonists, but I don’t sympathize with them whatsoever.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #vld season 3 #vld 3x07 #commentary

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ao3feed-safeklance · 6 years ago

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VLD S8 Rewrite

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2TeuvCI

by FaqehaQureshi

Waddup, Paladudes! This is just a rewrite I'm doing of how I think Season 8 could've played out without DreamWorks getting in the way of everything. :^) So yeah, like 30% of this will be direct lines from the actual episodes, but the other 70% is based on original concepts/theories I've thought of or heard about on Tumblr.

***

After saving the Earth, the Paladins embark to prevent Honerva from setting into motion her deadliest plan yet. It’s a race against the clock as the Voltron Coalition gathers from the corners of the galaxy to defend the universe once and for all.

Words: 74, Chapters: 1/15, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Lotor (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron), Matt Holt, Sam Holt, Colleen Holt, Acxa (Voltron), Veronica (Voltron), Zethrid (Voltron), Ryan Kinkade, Nadia Rizavi, Ina Leifsdottir, James Griffin (Voltron), Krolia (Voltron), Kolivan (Voltron), Haggar (Voltron), Zarkon (Voltron), Alfor (Voltron), Blaytz (Voltron), Gyrgan (Voltron), Trigel (Voltron), Slav (Voltron), Curtis (Voltron), Adam (Voltron), Nyma (Voltron), Beezer (Voltron), Ryner (Voltron), Bae Bae (Voltron), Keith's Wolf (Voltron), Romelle (Voltron), Allura's Mother (Voltron), Beta Traz Warden, Ezor (Voltron), Laika (Voltron), Ozar (Voltron), Lahn (Voltron), Narti (Voltron), White Lion (Voltron), Klaizap (Voltron), Kaltenecker (Voltron), Keith's Father (Voltron), Lance's Family (Voltron), Shay (Voltron), Tavo (Voltron), Sven (Voltron), Hira (Voltron), Space Mice (Voltron), Dayak (Voltron), Iverson (Voltron), Olia (Voltron), Bi Boh Bi (Voltron), Bandor (Voltron), Moxilous (Voltron), Luka (Voltron), Merla (Voltron), Android Chip (Voltron), Rolo (Voltron), Kuron (Voltron), Sylvio (Voltron), Nadia (Voltron)

Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Lance & Shiro (Voltron), Acxa/Veronica (Voltron), Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Matt Holt & Lance, Lance & Lotor (Voltron), Acxa & Keith (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Dayak & Lotor (Voltron), Past Voltron Paladins & Voltron Paladins, Lance & Red Lion (Voltron), Allura & White Lion (Voltron), Shiro & White Lion (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Fix-It, Episode Fix-it, Season 8 Rewrite, S8 rewrite, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Quantum Abyss (Voltron), Time Travel, Alternate Reality, Keith's Quintessence Sensitivity (Voltron), Lotor Redemption Arc (Voltron), Added 2 Episodes, Voltron Lion to Paladin Psychic Bond, Foreshadowing, Kuron (Voltron) Lives, Corruption, Oriande Isn't Destroyed, Klance Fight, Astral Plane, Pining Lance (Voltron), Allura vs Haggar (Voltron), Shiro vs Haggar (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Plays With Children, Keith (Voltron) Sorta Dies But Comes Back, purple paladin, Narti (Voltron) is the Superweapon, Matt (Voltron) Dies, Krolia (Voltron) Dies, Kolivan (Voltron) Dies, Team-Games Filler for Day 47, Rolo (Voltron) is Dead, Adam (Voltron) is Dead, Ezor (Voltron) is Dead, Shiro and Keith (Voltron) Talk About Their Fight, Shiro and Lance (Voltron) Bonding, Honerva (Voltron) Doesn't Kill the White Lion, Bae Bae and Cosmo (Voltron) Are Best Buds, Acxa (Voltron) Is Used As a Trap, Slav (Voltron) Says Some Quantum-Physics Bullshit, Kaltenecker (Voltron) Gets the Love She Deserves, Allura (Voltron) Doesn't Die, Sincline Returns, Dayak and Coran (Voltron) Bonding, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Humor

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2TeuvCI

#ao3feed #fanfic #voltron #klance

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khellamendrawrites · 6 years ago

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Want You By My Side

Blaytz finds Daibazaal to be so boring except for a particular servant that’s caught his eye. Now if only he could find him before the new deca-phoeb starts.

Pairing: Blaytz x Galra Servant

It was all so unbelievably monotone. Purple and red decorated nearly every part of Daibazaal including the very planet itself. The whole place was so uniform and so militaristic. Sometimes Blaytz wanted to throw random color capsules everywhere just to see what would happen. Probably cause a riot or something knowing these people, they wouldn’t know how to handle that much fun. Sure Zarkon was nice but even he had a certain controlled mannerism to him as if he was afraid to let go or didn’t know how to. He seemed the most animated around Honerva. The Nalquodian only hoped she brought out a real personality in the guy. Alfor was so different that he didn’t know how his friend did it other than having the patience of a Weblum.

Looking across the room, he watched the servants as they moved about their various tasks. Eyes watched one in particular, the same one he remembered from his first visit to Daizabaal after becoming a Paladin.

Eyes met his own and Blaytz was about to wink at him before Alfor decided to lean forward, right in his line of sight, the biggest smile on his face. “What do you think Blaytz?” Glancing around the table, everyone was staring at him now, waiting for an answer to a question he hadn’t even heard. Eyes flitted to where the servant had been but there was nothing but empty space now.

“Uh yeah, I think it’s a great idea.” Shrugging, he caught that knowing look from Trigel that he ignored. The king had already turned back to Zarkon, crossing his arms with a look of satisfaction.

“You see? Everyone wants you to be there. You cannot miss the annual Capho Festival." He said firmly. "We shall welcome the new deca-phoeb together. As Paladins-in-arms and as friends. You cannot possibly say no.” Blaytz put an arm over his chair, slouching as he tuned the conversation out again.

When he caught movement out of his peripheral again he followed the arm up to see the same servant he had been watching a moment ago. Eyes meeting again, Blaytz smiled and tipped his head in a silent thanks. The blush was almost invisible against pale violet skin but he still caught it along with the smile before the servant walked away.

As soon as the meeting ended, they all separated with a promise to meet up in a couple of quintant for the Festival. It would be going on for an entire movement as per tradition. The new deca-phoeb would be starting at the end of the first quintant of it.

Blaytz lingered, telling himself it was only because Alfor was and he liked to watch his friend’s back. They all knew it wasn’t because of a lack of trust in the Galra. Alfor had done it for Blaytz when it had mattered the most. Blaytz had spent his life doing the same until it became something of a habit.

Leaning on the balcony he watched his friend visit with Honerva. Zarkon walking ahead to give them time to themselves.

“Is everything alright?” Trigel joined him, watching Alfor gestured animatedly about something while Honerva laughed. “You seemed distracted during the meeting.”

“Hey you know me, I find those meetings boring more often than not. The atmosphere does that to me. It’s so dry here.” Shrugging, he turned around and leaned against the railing. “You know me, I love excitement this is-” He gestured with a hand. “So not it.”

“It is different from home, I must admit though I do find it fascinating. I believe there is one in particular that you also find fascinating.” She said, gesturing with her head again. Glancing back, he smiled without meaning to. The soft laugh signaled he had was caught and he gave her a sour look. “I overheard Alfor ask if it would be alright to have some of the servant class assist with preparation and service for the Capho festival. I may have mentioned to the Staff Captain that we want only the best and that there is a particular set of servants that have more than proven themselves.”

Trigel didn’t believe in the Galran’s hierarchy either but unlike him, she was better at playing the system. Looking back at the servant, he grinned. “Thanks Tri.”

-------------------------

Everything was a flurry of activity but Blaytz loved it. Altea was a planet he could spend all of his time on, it was so full of color and life. Throw everything underwater and it might have been almost exactly like Nalquod. Granted he had long since grown to enjoy the warmth of the sun against skin.

Dodging children he wrapped an arm around Coran without stopping, watching him check things off a list. “Yo Coran the gorgeous man don’t suppose the rest of the Pirate Polychoral are going to show up to the festival? I haven’t gotten to hear you guys in ages.” Twirling a mustache, Coran pretended to think it over as if he hadn’t known the answer phoebs ago.

“The gang is rather busy these days but.” He looked from side to side, leaning into Blaytz. “We might be able to get everyone together for a show or two.” He hinted. Patting the Altean heartily on the back blue paladin laughed.

“Well, I’ll make sure to keep an ear out then. Wouldn’t want to miss that for anything. To the new deca-phoeb friend!” Strolling down the street, he didn’t even hesitate to walk into the castle. Even more, people were working diligently to get everything ready. They would be getting guests within a few varga and everyone was excited.

The galra servants were the ones that stood out like sore thumbs and not just because of their looks. They seemed almost perplexed by the relaxed nature of everything. He didn’t see who he was really interested in but Trigel had assured him the man was here somewhere.

“Blaytz!” He turned just in time to be pulled into a crushing hug by the overly friendly Rygnirathian.

“ Gyrgan! Good to see you too. Kinda crushing my chest though, do you mind?” He said with a slight wheeze. Even if he didn’t quite need the air, the yellow paladin always seemed to forget his own strength. Thankfully he didn’t have as squishy of an anatomy like Alteans did.

Speaking of Alteans, he waved at Alfor as he joined them with the rest of their party. Opening his arms to give another hug, Zarkon was quick to extend a hand. Accepting the gesture without question, they clasped arms before he put a hand on Trigel’s shoulder as she bowed slightly to him. Alfor tried to do what Zarkon had but Gyrgan didn’t give him the chance to get out of the hug. At least this one didn’t sound too painful.

“Always a great pleasure to see you too Gyrgan. Truly your heart is as strong as your muscles.” Alfor said, not without the same slight wheeze Blaytz had. The Nalquodian noted with some amusement that Alfor was actually more so out of breath as he straightened clothing out once back on the ground.

“Getting old are we?” He teased as Alfor cleared his throat.

“Looking for someone before we arrived, dear friend?” Alfor asked casually as he fixed his sleeve. It turned into a smug grin at the look of shock on a blue face.

“Quiznack does everyone know?” He asked, rubbing his head.

“I don’t know. Are we waiting for someone else?” Gyrgan asked and Zarkon looked just as confused.

“I am afraid I too do not know. What are you talking about Alfor?” He asked as Blaytz desperately make gestures behind him to shut it. Alfor for his part laughed it off.

“It is nothing, I am merely teasing him and he knows it. Come let us leave these people to their work. I must show you some things I have been working on while I still can. Once the festival starts Melenor will never forgive me if I try to work during it.”

They only managed to escape because the queen came into the hanger and dragged Alfor away. They all knew that was their signal to disperse and enjoy what Altea had to offer.

If it was lively before it was even more so now with music and laughter both in and outside of the palace. As much as he wanted to stay in the palace, Blaytz had always been a paladin of the people. He wasn’t royalty like Alfor or Zarkon nor a leader like Gyrgan was for his tribe. Even Trigel was a royal researcher. He was just a regular guy that had accidentally saved and befriended a then prince turned king. Out in the square and down the side streets with the kids and commoners, that was where he felt the most comfortable.

As the suns set lower in the sky, he knew he needed to find the person he wanted to see the most. Considering he hadn’t seen any of the Galran servants around they most likely had been stuck at the palace. That was probably a big improvement from what they had to deal with so that gave him some comfort.

The mood inside the palace was far more formal, filled with the higher-ups from various allied planets. At least Zarkon was dancing. From the look on his face, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the activity. Every time he looked at Honerva’s smiling face, his own would soften and he’d keep going. Maybe she was bringing out a personality in him after all.

Continuing he walked into the kitchen which confused the Galra staff who didn’t expect anyone but other servants or staff to be in there. Hys smacked his hand with a spoon when he reached for one of the desserts. “Oh no you don’t, you know the rules. Not until the new deca-phoeb starts are you getting one of those. Shoo before I smack you again.” She said as he rubbed his poor hand.

“Man I can’t believe at your age you still have reflexes like that. Woah!” Dodge the spoon, he made a break for it before she could make good on her promise. He hadn’t seen the person he wanted in there anyway. In fact, he couldn’t seem to find him anywhere. The more time that passed the more disappointed he was until he had to give up.

Slipping away from the party he found a balcony to sulk on. Looking down at the lights, he could hear the sounds of the celebration. It brought a slight smile to his face to see the people so happy and knowing he was helping to protect that.

“E-excuse me.”

The voice was so soft he almost missed it but it caught his attention all the same. Standing shyly was the one person he had wanted to see this entire time. “I apologize but Ms. Trigel asked me to bring these to you. I’m will leave it for you and your guest.”

“Guest?” Looking at the tray, he realized it had two glasses on it. Trigel was a smart one and he owed her so much. Taking the glasses, he set one down on the railing before gently catching the man’s arm. “Actually, I….what’s your name?” Surprised, the man hesitated on if he should answer and Blaytz was almost afraid he wouldn’t.

“Bakki. My name is Bakki.”

“Bakki. I like it. Bakki I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind being my guest?” He asked, holding out the glass to the man. “Honestly I have been all over this place looking for you. I know this might seem weird and all but-”

“I would love to.”

“-but I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while and...what?” A hand gently took the glass from his hand as a tray was set aside.

“You were the first person to talk to me, to notice me. To continue to notice me.” He said, that blush back on violet cheeks. “I know I’m here because you asked for me to be and I’m grateful for that. It’s so nice here. Not at all like back home. There it’s so-”

“Dry?” Blatyz asked, feeling a warmth in his chest at the soft laugh that earned.

“Yes, dry.”

The sudden cheer of the people caught both of their attention as they looked over the balcony at the set up below. Alfor and Melenor had appeared, both of them smiling and waving to the adoring citizens.

“To those who come from beyond our planet, we thank you for joining us in bringing in a new deca-phoeb. It has not been without its troubles and its pains but it has also brought much to be happy and thankful for. We mourn those that could not be with us this night and take comfort in those we can. We will never forget them, but we will move forward as we always do and continue to bring peace and prosperity. Through unity and through friendship, we will achieve this goal. We are all very different and yet similar beings in a universe much bigger than ourselves. Beings trying to do our best. May this deca-phoeb be even better than the last and may we never lose sight of who we are!”

“He’s an impressive leader,” Bakki said with a small smile.

“He sure is. Looks like the new deca-phoeb will be here soon.” Blaytz said, noticing Gyrgan and Trigel below them, sitting beside one another. He knew she liked him but Gyrgan wasn’t ready for another relationship, not as he still mourned the one he had lost. “What do you hope to see in the coming one?”

“Honesty, I would like freedom for my people. Being here, it makes me want that even more. Emperor Zarkon is a good man but the classism is something that needs to be removed. My people deserve to be as happy as the Alteans and your own. I admit I don’t know anything about your people. Still, from watching you, seeing you among the citizens here, I have a feeling they are very happy people. Oh, the countdown is starting.”The both of them looked at the large clock counting down the ticks.

As it was about to hit the last number, Blaytz leaned in and pressed a kiss to Bakki’s cheek, catching the man off guard. The crowd cheers as Alfor did the same to Melenor though she wasn’t so quick to let him get away. “Run away with me then. Change doesn’t come overnight but it’s like he said, we achieve it through unity. Let me help you.”

Looking out at the crowd as the sky lit up with lights, Bakki didn't need to think about it for long before he nodded. “To the new deca-phoeb, whatever it may bring I’ll face it with you.”

#voltron #blaytz #galra servant #zarkon

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ganymedesclock · 7 years ago

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I think one of my biggest issues with a certain amount of fanon around Lotor is that even if you count Lotor as an antagonist- which you can make a good argument for- he’s clearly measured with a different standard than other antagonists.

For example people really like to use the term “murderer” when they’re trying to shut down any insinuation that Lotor could be a good person. In my experience this often involves ascribing kills to Lotor that he didn’t actually do or that are very shaky.

For example? Zethrid’s comment that they tried to send ships into the rift, and the vessels exploded, which was “fun for me, not fun for your pilots.” I’ve seen this interpreted as “Lotor sent people into the rift to their deaths.”

We have to consider with very rare exceptions, the smaller fighter ships that both the empire and Lotor uses? Are piloted by robots. And what we see of Lotor’s subordinates in s4e3 shows us mostly drones- maybe a handful of actual flesh-and-blood galra. And it’s fair to assume it’s not those galra who are being sent out in fighter ships by Lotor- otherwise in s3e2 the paladins committed a massacre and they are our Y7 show heroes so that’s not a thing.

And even if I was a fan of your conclusion, you have to recognize that “these ships that we have a single line of reference to definitely contained real people when it’s very likely in this setting they didn’t, and Lotor definitely sent a large number of those people to their death when he’s not known to attempt the same thing futilely over and over and he doesn’t appear to have that many followers to sacrifice.”

You could make a much better argument for the two fleets that Acxa called in at the end of s3e3 to cover Lotor’s escape, which we know were manned by living people, but even then, given Voltron was the killing weapon, I’d hesitate to make that your triumphant stand of “this proves that Acxa’s a rotten person and by connection, Lotor”.

Yes, Lotor has killed. Raht, Narti, and Zarkon. (it’s also possible that he killed his first opponent in the gladiatorial ring in s3e1) All three individuals, to his understanding, posed an immediate threat to his own life.

The most ambiguous and nasty case in this one is definitely Narti- there are other ways Lotor could have handled that situation. Narti was not a willing spy- Haggar set her up and Lotor cut her down. S5e6 analyzes this thinking, however, and frames it as:

Lotor tends to self-sabotage...

...Via his incredible difficulty trusting others and tendency to assume that anything opposing him at the moment must hate him and want him to die...

...Which is almost definitely rooted in the trauma he disclosed to Allura that would mean he doesn’t have healthy emotional connections to draw from the idea that people don’t all inevitably hate him.

As an audience, a certain amount of us do have a reflex of “C’mon dude, Narti is your friend. She wouldn’t do that to you. Can’t you see that she needs help, not your sword in her chest?” because we’re detached, we have more information than he does, and we have an emotional investment in seeing Narti get that help.

And the white lion is used narratively to show us that it’s not an isolated incident and it had nothing to do with Narti personally- it’s Lotor’s problem. When the point of the lion trial is you have to realize the attacking beast won’t hurt you and isn’t your enemy, Lotor literally can’t win because everything he has ever known has taught him that he doesn’t have friends. At best, he has people who he’s useful to, and as soon as he’s not useful, they will turn on him.

And I feel like this is about the point people’s eyes glaze over because “come on Clockie I don’t care about Lotor’s sad backstory I care about the fact that he killed someone” but my point is these things are relevant.

Because otherwise it sure looks weird and inconsistent how after Narti and Zarkon both, Lotor goes really quiet, nearly unresponsive, and in the case of Narti, spends a long time genuinely not planning for his future at all that we can tell.

For me, the entirety of s4e5 and s4e6 is a huge red flag that Lotor didn’t want to do that. He did it, yes, because see the three points that are clarified for us in s5e6- but there’s a lot of difference between Lotor killing Narti and the way that Zarkon has Prorok disposed of in s2e1.

Lotor versus Narti, the team is in danger, he has seconds to make up his mind because if he’s wrong they’ll never shake their pursuers and any safe haven they seek out is going to be compromised, they’re on a ship under attack and everybody is panicking.

Zarkon versus Prorok, nothing is going on, it’s an ordinary Tuesday at the office, there is no pressure besides the vague, if he doesn’t catch a spy it might happen again, and there’s also no misunderstanding- Prorok immediately and clearly protests, and by the time Haggar’s carrying out his execution in s2e3, they know that Prorok isn’t even the guilty party. And Haggar makes it clear she just really doesn’t care.

And I mean there’s also the fact that we can list three people that Lotor killed (or had killed, in Raht’s case, the torn edge on his severed prosthetic suggest to me that Zethrid was at least involved) by name.

It’s flat-out disingenuous to insist Lotor’s three-man kill count is directly comparable to, oh, say, the two different inhabited planets Zarkon has been attributed with razing and conducting genocide on the inhabitants of (Altea in s1e1, the unnamed colony in s5e6) and his policies of torture, imprisonment in awful conditions, extended slavery, and carelessly disposing of his subordinates for, again, crimes they didn’t commit, would tell us that there are a huge number of other deaths on Zarkon’s head.

When, surprise surprise, all of those systems are things that Lotor would either have no need of the way he operates, or is shown to actively dislike. Taking new planets? He’d rather talk to them and even if he’s taking what he wants at swordpoint, he genuinely didn’t want to hurt the Puigians any more than bare minimum necessary and his soldiers went in under orders to kill no one. They didn’t even cause any property damage.

The system imperialism which relies on the galra owning everybody else? Lotor wants to dismantle it by giving power back to the occupied people (s3e1 and s3e2).

(I have. seen too many people call Lotor an unapologetic imperialist when the one time he confesses he was interested in keeping a colony, he was put in charge of it by Zarkon and did everything he could to familiarize himself with the local culture and create good diplomatic rapport and not hurt their planet for his own exploitation.

And Zarkon said “no” and burnt it down and didn’t put Lotor in power again, in which case it doesn’t matter how sincere Lotor is, the reason why Lotor hasn’t made progress dismantling the empire in the last ten thousand years was because Zarkon was using his much greater influence and power to make sure Lotor had nothing to show for his work)

Even the racism at the heart of the empire’s destructive policies, a point is made time and time again that Lotor very strongly lives and perceives himself as a mixed-race galra first. Most of his public appearances to the empire’s elite (s3e1 and s5e4) come with people hurling slurs, racist rhetoric, and death threats at him.

Even Lotor’s interest in the rift has a very different context than Zarkon and Honerva’s fascination with it if you consider the latter were experimenting with it in the heart of a populated planet that withered and died because of their work, they not only left it wide open but worked to make it bigger, and ignored the dangerous creatures living in there as well as the averse effect that it was having on, again, the heartland of the galra empire.

Lotor’s interest in the rift is as a way to decisively break the imperial system once and for all by basically flooding the market with so much quintessence nobody will ever need to forcibly take it from other planets and Zarkon’s system will be financially worthless. Which might sound callous unless you consider Lotor is going to need a callous argument since you can’t take someone like Throk and sit them down through the annotated power point of “Today, I will explain to you why you should care if other people are suffering.”

And the first thing Lotor does with the rift is basically put such a dense mechanical lock on it that he can’t actually figure out how to get in there himself. He’s building countermeasures for things that he quite possibly doesn’t even know about (the rift creature) with this.

But not only does Zarkon have a massive kill count, if you look at Zarkon killing Alfor, Trigel, Gyrgan and Blaytz, and compare that to Lotor killing Narti...

Lotor struck Narti down quickly under duress, and when it became clear the other generals were also betraying him, Lotor specifically chose not to kill them as well even though that left him in a very bad place tactically- it ended up meaning that now Haggar has one of the two Sincline ships, the one that had tested and proven itself as able to hold off Voltron in single combat, and the generals know about the rift gate, and they’re all devastatingly powerful fighters.

Sure, Acxa and Ezor might have been able to fight him off, but Lotor could have at least shot Zethrid off the hull of the first Sincline ship and they wouldn’t have been able to do anything to stop him. But Lotor even basically tells them to take care of themselves before he leaves and has shown no interest hunting them down afterwards.

Because “hunting them down” is exactly what Zarkon did to his old team. Even when the only threat Alfor posed to him was that if he insisted on continuing to selfishly chase the rift that he didn’t need (Honerva was alive again, so even his initial reason wasn’t there)- and Zarkon’s basic first act of reanimation was to declare war on Altea.

Which is contrasted by this shot, which would sure seem to suggest that the reason why his people were still alive and there to hear him was because Altea took them in as refugees after the destruction of Daibazaal.

Zarkon planned, carefully, and made up his mind and went and hunted down all four paladins and killed them. If there’s barely a handful of living Alteans left after the destruction of its home planet, even though they were advanced spacefaring people, it’d suggest that Zarkon deliberately hunted down the survivors, and both his attitudes towards Allura in s1e1 and the way he talks about being able to wipe Lotor out in s5e2 would sure line up with that.

So like... can we not suggest that the three people Lotor killed when two of the three of them he’s shown to be unhappy about are somehow analogous to Zarkon’s multiple counts of systematic genocide?

Even if you think Lotor’s an antagonist, he’s not as bad as Zarkon and he’s definitely not worse than Zarkon. And when most of our main antagonists in the setting are much closer to Zarkon’s level (Haggar’s also a planet-killer via the Komar and her plan at Naxzela would have wiped out a large number of inhabited planets, Sendak makes a comment about invading Earth specifically because of the paladins’ resistance against him) Lotor stands out as a guy who’s moral enough that the paladins, including Shiro- a man of very potent personal morals- find him palatable company.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Lotor #Zarkon #readmore

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ao3feed-klance · 6 years ago

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VLD S8 Rewrite

read it on AO3 at http://bit.ly/2TeuvCI

by FaqehaQureshi

***

Words: 74, Chapters: 1/15, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

read it on AO3 at http://bit.ly/2TeuvCI

#ao3feed #ao3feed klance

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chibi-pix · 5 years ago

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Altean Born, Olkari Raised

Another set of notes/headcanons/ideas/whatever you want to call them! This time pre-Olkari notes! Things may not align with artwork/writing, past and future, because my memory sucks and sometimes my mind decides to change things. Go figure. Well, without further ado! You can find the notes and doodles with them in the “keep reading” below. Assuming I know what I’m doing.

If you’re curious, here be the other one.

Known as Pidge in the present timeline, Katie is born to Sam and Colleen Holt.

Katie is born in the castle due to her parents’ work there and close work with King Alfor.

From the moment Katie could crawl, she perfected it so she could seek out the green lion.

Katie always knew whenever Trigel was at the castle with Green due to a connection she already forged.

Even before she could crawl, Katie had seen the lions when someone would take her there.

Katie was perfect evidence that the lions would most likely accept new paladins one day.

Katie is a menace to hair, especially facial hair.

Anyone with long hair or facial hair had to pick Katie up with caution.

Once Katie had a grip, you had to be patient until she decided to let go.

Usually Trigel saying “let’s go see Green” got her to let go.

Matt was raised in the castle up until he was hidden with his sister and the green lion.

Matt may have been young, but he remembered a fair amount about Altea.

He doesn’t talk about it with Pidge later one due to the sad memories.

He later regrets showing Pidge the picture of their parents since she has no memory of them and was often curious.

Matt had been in four out of five lions during his time on Altea.

Due to Zarkon and Alfor’s strained relationship, he had not been in the black lion.

Blaytz is his favourite paladin.

He feels Blaytz tells the best stories.

Whether those stories were from Blaytz’s experience or imagination, Matt would never know.

He likes Trigel, too, because she always indulges in his curiosities.

If Coran ever decided to cook, he would refuse to eat.

Coran isn’t bad at cooking, but some dishes are an acquired taste.

He usually only accepted anything Colleen or Gyrgan would make.

Matt sees Allura like an older sister.

Trigel is something akin to a godmother to the Holt siblings.

This started after Pidge showed signs of being connected to the green lion.

Of course, Trigel was always fond of the children, even before this.

If Matt wasn’t asking Coran questions, he would go to Trigel for her knowledge.

Trigel was unsurprisingly the first to notice Katie’s bond with Green.

She was the first to find Katie the first time the baby went missing in search of Green.

Katie put the Castle under lock down when she crawled off and went missing.

Blaytz was the only one amused once they found Katie.

Around the time that Trigel had to hide the green lion, Sam and Colleen were away on a very important mission.

It was a unanimous decision among Blaytz, Gyrgan, Alfor, and herself that Pidge should remain with Green due to their bond.

Without question, it was decided that Matt should be with her.

Alfor suggested setting up the pod in Green, just in case.

Trigel knew of Olkarion very well and felt it was the best place for the kids to be.

She felt it was safest and, should anything go wrong, they could be raised the best there when the time came.

Before fleeing with Green, Trigel had sustained serious injuries.

When Blaytz and Gyrgan went to Olkarion to find her and get her back to Altea so they could defend it with Alfor, Trigel had no strength to return with them.

She succumbed to her injuries on Olkarion.

Due to circumstances, Green kept her consciousness within her vessel, allowing the green paladin to watch over the children.

Allura is much like an older sister to the Holt siblings.

Allura had babysat Katie before.

Partially out of liking the kid, partially out of her father suggesting it.

In the present timeline, Allura quickly recognizes Pidge as Katie.

This is due to her quintessence and that she looks so much like Matt.

Coran is also quick to recognizing Pidge as Katie.

When Allura sees Pidge after ten thousand years, she’s shocked, saddened, and amazed at how much the baby she once knew grew up.

It’s hard for Allura to come to terms with how different Pidge turned out to be than she expected, but she does adjust.

In the present timeline, Allura is a little put out that Pidge doesn’t always go to her with questions, but she knows it would take time for them both.

Allura’s favourite memory of babysitting Katie was the last summer berry festival they got to hold before Zarkon waged war.

She loved the way Katie’s eyes lit up when set down in a patch of flowers.

Colleen is a skilled researcher and part-time alchemist alongside her husband.

She is very strong willed and stubborn.

Her children get this from her.

Coran mentions this a number of times in the present timeline.

He probably constantly reminded her in the past on Altea, too.

“She knows what she wants and she’ll crawl all day just to get it. She gets it from you, Colleen.”

As much as Colleen wanted to stay with her children when Zarkon waged war, she knew she had another task at hand in hopes to keep the war from worsening.

Colleen was on site and helped with the research of the Trans Reality Comet.

When Allura was a baby, Colleen had helped babysit her several times.

Colleen felt that this helped her when she one day would have children.

Like his wife, Sam was a researcher and part-time alchemist.

He was on site during the study of the Trans Reality Comet.

Sam was always excited to be studying the comet.

On occasion, Sam had gone to Daibazaal to assist Honerva in studying the rift.

Thankfully he didn’t stay around it as much or for as long and didn’t have the same problems Honerva started to experience.

Sam often said that Katie’s markings being green must have been fate with her connection to Green.

Sam had hoped his children would go into researching and alchemy one day, but he didn’t care what they did as long as they were happy.

Sam always worried that Matt would run away and stay with Blaytz for an adventure.

“Sorry, Sam, looks like the kid likes me... sorry.”

“It’s okay. He’s as strong willed as his mother... just... check the cargo hold before you leave? Every time?”

“Yeah, that may be best...”

Well! I hope y’all enjoyed this! And I hope you enjoyed the doodles, too. It’s really like being in school again with drawing on my notes and homework. Well! Until my next... whatever I do! Ciao!

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