#also blah blah blah clone character arc identity blah blah

[rirupadg]

oh my god @max-the-hecker​​​ ​your tags lit something within me. anyways um. i was going to go write a short story im working on and needed a writing warmup so uh,, here you go? i kinda of started a thing. ignore the fact i didn’t proofread this or anything my first draft are usually p shit x_x if i ever write this as a fic and post it to ao3 it would be so much more edited you wouldn’t Believe. also i might’ve gotten some star facts wrong don’t sue me it’s been a few years since my space obsession

heres like. 900~ words of vague thoughts. enjoy!

From Cygnus to Canes Venatici, Cassiopeia to Canis Major; he lost himself to the endless stars he admired so much. With free rein and nothing better to do, he traveled from place to place. He could now, considering he could fly and didn’t need to breathe. His obsession swelled from the attention, enthralled by the stars and planets and nebulas within reach. It’s unclear how long its been since his feet last touched the ground, but he didn’t even notice at first.

A perfect pair of stars—Mizar and Acruz to be exact, binary stars— twirled around each other. From earth they look like one big blue star, but from here? Yellow space dust nips at his heels as the two continue their dance. It’s the prettiest thing he’s ever seen. NASA would kill to see it too. Such a pretty view… Jazz would want to see it.

The thought snapped him out of his obsession.

For a moment, space is less lonely. She’d want to take a picture for him, but she’d use that stupid old phone and it’d get all messed up and look like a big light bulb. That’s when Tucker would, naturally, beg to upgrade it for her, and she’d yell at him for the hundredth time while Sam would laugh. But just as quickly as it came, the illusion shattered. His sister is back in Illinois with the rest of his friends. He’s the homeless guy in space.

Even Danny could admit that spending eternity alone in space was too much. At this point, circling back to earth might be the best option. There’s a fifty-fifty chance he’ll either feel better or more homesick, but he usually faced worse odds in fights back home, so he’ll take it.

It was sightseeing from the moon when he saw it. The Justice League's very own watchtower.

He really shouldn’t go there. Jazz would lecture him so hard if he did.

But. Well. What if he just peaked? Really quickly, he swears.

Danny mentally apologizes to Jazz (not that she would ever find out, but it’s the thought that counts). In his perfectly acceptable defense, all that time lifelessly floating through space messed with his ability to tell time.

A ‘quick peak’ became an hour— became a day, became a week, became two weeks, became a month...

Well, there’s only so much a space-bound ghost could do. It’s not like he can come to earth, right? Might as well prank some of Earth’s most notorious heroes. He’ll be careful, he swears.

Batman knew something was up when a batarang went missing on the watchtower. He, like all the primary heroes, keeps spare equipment on the Watchtower for emergencies. Every Tuesday, he checks on his gear. Every single one is accounted for (and fixed if necessary).

Until today.

He called in the emergency while checking the cameras and scouring for evidence (of which, he found none). It only confirmed his suspicions. Every Justice League member who’d visited the tower last week had shoved themselves into the meeting room.

“What’s this all about, Bats?” The flash says, nervous energy coming off him in waves, “you said there was an emergency?”

Most superheroes were liars to some extent (how else are you meant to hide the crime fighting) but that didn’t mean most were good ones. Micro expressions, body language, tone or eye contact— there were many ways to discern the truth if you were looking for it. In the time it takes him to walk into the room, Batman observes the following:

Green Lantern’s body was angled towards the door, looking ready to run— but judging by the communicator he was poorly hiding behind his back and stiff leg, he probably just finished something exhausting for the Corps. Or he just doesn’t want to be here. Nice of him to show up anyways— it’ll hopefully be quick.

Flash is avoiding eye contact— but that doesn’t mean much. The man hates eye contact sometimes, and based off of the rapid movements of his hands today was one of those days. One of the only ones that could've done it, but not likely.

Superman is one of the good liars, but the confusion on his face (most likely) isn’t faked. Not him.

Red Robin— Batman frowns and focuses on his son and his friends. He’s one of the best actors he knows, but Bruce knows his kids. The teenagers are hiding something, but they don’t know about the batarang. They’re shifty, but not nervous enough to get caught doing something. He’ll note that.

Robin has his default ‘annoyed’ face. Not that he’d ever do it. The day Damian pranks someone would be the day pigs fly. (Naturally of course, it doesn’t count if any magic or alien shenanigans or regular humans throwing them into the air caused it, Jason.)  

Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, and Superboy were all off-world on a mission with a few other heroes. He wasn’t expecting any of them to do it. None of them had the time or reason to (plus, Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Wonder Girl would definitely want to see his reaction if they did, so.)

It only leaves one option.

Batman tosses Flash a granola bar (surprised but thankful, shoulders less tense, probably not the suspect) before continuing.

“An unknown entity has infiltrated the Watchtower.”

Everyone froze. Quite literally, to Batman’s surprise. The room’s temperature dropped dramatically— he swiveled to face the intruder and finds... a terrified-looking teenager floating near the ceiling.

Well. He found the Batarang. Give it up for the world’s greatest detective. Wahoo.

(post dividers by @jayteacups​​ btw. they’re rlly cute i think so i used it lmao)

i told you the ending was bad hfgjk. if inspiration strikes you might get a part 2 haha. if that ever happens ill probs fix it up and post to ao3. neyways!

(tags by @kittymeow321​)

don’t be mean to danny ;_; he’s just a little guy ok. let him be nice sometimes </3 i gotta admit the mental image of supermans cape getting tied to batmans was too funny id draw it but every time i try it looks like a henry stickman drawing

taglist time!! i hope i got everyone: @skulld3mort-1fan​ @amercurio​​ @screamingtofillthevoid​​ @mimilikey​​ @dewdrop-gremlin​ @evediaphoenix1123​ @satanicrutialspecialist​​ @dixiwoods

au where danny haunts the justice league. one day, green lantern is stuck on monitor duty (bored out of his mind) and he hears a kid giggling. there’s no one there. he’s mindly terrified but also he’s been a green lantern for a while and ‘ghost child laughter’ is not the weirdest thing ever so he shrugs and moves on. he forgets about it. next day, the flash is using the watchtower’s computer to find info on a rouge that’s bothering him. he’s been here for hours already, and is drinking coffee (with an insane amount of caffeine considering the speedster thing) to stay awake. barry goes to grab his cup, only to find it’s not there anymore. he looks up: his cup is floating a few meters above his head. when he blinks, its back to its original spot. he thinks its a hallucination and goes home to sleep it off. it goes on like that for a while. batman finds a granola bar taped to his utility belt (with a note telling him to go home) and assumes its one of his kids. superman gets a packet of information on his latest villian and assumes its batman (considering the info borders on stalking). wonder woman comes to the watchtower one day to find all her spare armor and weapons cleaned and shined. she thinks flash got really bored during monitor duty one day. and so on.

[sawthefaeriequeen]

Top Ten Books Read In 2018

1) The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

I picked this up at a book fair, read the summary, and figured I'd surprise myself with this author I'd never heard of before. It's about the friendship between DQ, a guy with terminal cancer dealing with his complicated feelings for his estranged-but-conciliatory family, and Pancho, a guy who's biding his time until he can get revenge on the person who's killed one of his family members. I like that both boys are raw and real and people—Pancho obviously has messed up emotions, but DQ can be plenty bitter and angry too: he's not an Inspirational Cancer Patient stereotype.

2) The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope

Girl moves into her uncle's old ancestral house sometime during the 18th century and gets immersed into the past lives and loves of the ghosts that thrived there during the days of the Revolutionary War, their paths often crossing each other's. I swear I have never seen more delightful ghost characters in my entire life.

3) The Unbound by V.E. Schwab

So by the time I'd picked this up, I was having mixed feelings about V.E. Schwab – on one hand, she'd always written worlds that engage me almost instantly with their creativity. On the other hand, I'd just recently been horribly disappointed by the ending to what's been her most popular series so far: I thought her final Shades of Magic book did a most spectacular job on dropping the balls on everything good about it. Up to reading it, I'd thought the author's hype was deserved. But after, well…

So when I picked this up, it was with much trepidation. I'd loved the previous book, The Archived: the big old house setting, the grim closed-off girl/sweet sunny boy dynamic the lonesome warrior setup, all were like catnip to my id. I didn't want it ruined by a bad sequel. Fortunately, this book took everything I loved about the book and turned it up to eleven. It upped the stakes, it intensified the relationships, and it also added a mental illness angle that I personally found very meaningful.

The author is still kiiinda on notice so I'm not sure I want a third book. If there is one, dear God, please be good. *crosses fingers*

4) Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

I remember thinking, as I was reading this: this is really, really working for me but will it work for someone neurotypical? 2018 was hell and I was just so desperate for the people in my life to get it, and so I kept hopping on trains of thought like this.

Anyway, this book was spot on in what goes on in the wirings of my anxious brain. Green's usual turns of phrase took an incredibly frenetic turn at times, which, I know, is exactly what it's like to have a mental illness. This is not a book about "this is what to do" it's about how it IS or how it can GET.

I'm still really grateful for that quote about the spiral – how it tightens, but also how it eternally widens. When I first saw the cover, I thought it was kind of blah; now I look at that spiral and see something different. I see the hope of creating a new 'normal'.

5) The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This was so readable it surprised me. I thought I'd go slow on it because: war story where it's a foregone conclusion that it ends tragically for the leads? Yeah, I'm not in a rush to reach the end of that. But I blazed right through this book. There's something really addictive about Madeline Miller's storytelling and how she brings her characters together and follows their blossomings and downfalls through the years. And then, the course of the Iliad and the inevitable sadness for Achilles, Patroclus, and Briseis was more like the slow turning of the tide rather than getting hit with a tidal wave. Anyway, not only was it readable but I'm finding myself eager to re-read it.

6 ) The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Part of my Read Everything Robin McKinley Writes mission that began last year. I'd liked the sheer escapism and the desert setting in The Blue Sword, but that whole white savior thing kinda put me off from enjoying Harry and the book more fully than I would've liked.

It was not so for this book, thankfully! Who knew that reading about the nitty-gritty of slaying big scaly beasts could be so satisfying? That's classic Robin McKinley, as I'm learning – you love what the protag loves. And then I really dug how the dead dragon's ghost haunting Aerin acts as a metaphor for mental illness.

(As I continue to wrestle with my diagnosis, I continually appreciate all the depression/anxiety metaphors I encounter in media. Maybe one day I'll make a post about it) AND ALSO: a love triangle that's actually well done and that serves our heroine's identity and character rather than taking away from it? Yes. Yes, thank you.

7) A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Yeah so, this book killed me. It's about two twenty-something ghosts with unfinished business who find themselves in the bodies of two teenagers whose souls appear to have completely vacated theirs. They find themselves falling for each other and trying to find out what happened to their 'hosts' and what went on in their past lives. They also find themselves battling to survive the hostile home lives that their 'hosts' left behind. It's all very beautiful and kind of twisted and also a love letter to words and probably my most unexpected book of the year. And I have NO idea to rec it to people. "Read this, it's kind of fucked up but gorgeous but also can get triggery so step warily?" Uh.

8) Deerskin by Robin McKinley

See warnings above. Oh God. But really, I totally respect Robin McKinley for going full-out faithful to how utterly fucked up fairy tales can be while still creating a survival story. I'm not just talking about Lissar surviving spoilers incestual rape and miscarriage (indeed, I'm not qualified to talk about it) but how hers is a story of healing: by surviving the elements, by nursing living things back into life, by building herself up into a legend without even knowing it.

9) Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

Just an incredibly satisfying ending to a duology that at the same time echoes that quote from Michael Ende's The Neverending Story: "but that is another story and shall be told another time." I love when something ends with that sense of: "there are even more stories and adventures for our beloved characters out there than you can possibly fathom, and you are now free to make up them yourself."

10) Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

I was intrigued by the premise: a half-Jewish guy and a Mormon guy fall for each other over the course of a writing class. And upon starting it, I could tell straight (heh, straight) away that it was going to be a favorite. It's an unabashedly kilig romance about falling for the wonderfulness in each other,and both mains are fucking adorable, and made me want to give them both a ton of hugs. Oh, and this book further reinforced my belief that the key to first-person writing is having a good voice.

Another thing is, I basically never see YA books that deal with growing up in a religion and actually-loving it and having it be an inextricable part of your identity… and then having to deal with the darker, prejudiced sides that you really wish would be excised from it altogether especially if they are opposed to who you are. To deal with it sensitively and touchingly, not only in a YA book but in an m/m romance? Well done.

honorable mention!

-The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I was reading this on the bus on the way home to the province for Christmas and I could not stop laughing and I had no idea to explain to my very curious sister that it was because half the protagonists were high as a kite at the funeral of the friend that they all killed and one of them had just very noisily killed a bee in the church vestibule and it made the loudest sound on the planet and they're all gonna have to ~aesthetically grieve and pallbear now even though THEY killed their friend and w o w it's like Nuwanda from Dead Poets Society was cloned five times.

Sometimes "pretentious people murder someone and somehow it is hilarious" is just exactly my cup of tea.

and a couple of series binges!

Almost 10 years ago (god, what the hell), I had a "YA Paranormal Romances I Might Actually Like" list, and the two trilogies below were on it. There's something gratifying about finally crossing off books on your TBR that have been there for ages:

-The Shade Trilogy by Jeri Smith-Ready (Shade, Shift, Shine) This series came out on the tail of the Great YA Paranormal Romance boom and I really wish I'd picked it up then (I also really wish some of the covers it got weren't so damn off-putting. It's like Animorphs all over again) because it's such cut above so many of the books that were being churned out in those days.

The premise is: what if there was a global paranormal event that left the portion of the population born after a certain year with the ability to see ghosts? I really like that the author thought this out thoroughly – it's not just a oooh spooky ghosties gimmick. Everything is affected: the educational system, the police force, politics, technology, travel, you name it.

The heroine was smart and truth-seeking and had nuancedrelationships with lots of female characters (bff, mentor, aunt who raised her, mom who died… ), the Betty love interest was a total sweetheart who also didn't seem too good to be true and who was capable of making major teenage fuck-ups, and the Veronica love interest was a rock-and-roll ghost who had the post-life character arc that I sadly wish Maggie Stiefvater had given Noah Czerny. I kind of loved them all a lot and one of the reasons I wish I'd read these books as they came out was so I could've been un-jaded just a little bit about Those Pesky Love Triangles.

(Someday I…really ought to make an analysis about why I dislike love triangles in general and what exactly was up with the ones that DID work for me.)

-Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater

I read the whole series toward the year's end. It was precisely the cold-weather binge I was craving. I may have my quarrels with some of her writing decision, but really few people can do atmospheric, poetic writing the way Maggie Stiefvater does. The romances were a bit too YA for me in this one, but I ended up really sympathizing with every single POV character anyway. And I mean, cold and poetry and family and books and wolves-as-family*.

(*One day, I'll have the emotional armor to watch Wolf's Rain again. )

[ironinkpen]

"Lance and Keith, Neck and Neck”

Alternatively Titled: Here’s How Black Paladin Lance Can Still Win Lmao

Before you ask, no. No I do not have anything better to do.

This meta is going to be stupidly long (like... 4k words.... yikes.....) so tl;dr before we start: I think that 1. Lance is going to pilot the Black Lion at some point, 2. Keith is going to pilot Red again at some point, and 3. they miiiight share lions? Blah blah blah, general disclaimer, I’m probably wrong but whatever.

Alright, now strap the hell in:

I know it seems kind of silly to write a meta for what appears to be a done deal. Like Coran says, the Black Lion has to decide who her pilot is, and she did. it’s Keith. And Lance is Red’s, and Allura is Blue’s. That’s it, we’re done, here are our new team dynamics, let’s move forward now.

But I think there were hints throughout the season that the lion swap isn’t... complete yet. That we’re still waiting for some other shoe to drop when it comes to the Black and Red Lions. Because Lance and Keith’s swaps into them were just plain weird.

There are three major components of Allura’s transition into Blue: Lance’s goodbye, the “passing of the baton,” so to speak, and a Moment of Realization. 

After being locked out by Blue and finding himself seated in the Red Lion’s chair instead, Lance takes a (really bittersweet and fuck i’m still crying) moment after the battle to say goodbye to Blue. This scene has two important functions: 1. it sets the scene for when Allura comes in (in her badass new paladin armor) and the two talk and 2. it gives both Lance and the viewer closure about his partnership with Blue. Lance reflects on their adventures, on how he wishes he could say with her but knows that he can’t, and then just. Lets go.

Keith does not get a scene like this with Red.

In fact, not only does Keith not say goodbye to Red-- he barely interacts with her at all this season, other than when he flies her around to look for Shiro in the first episode. There’s no sense of closure. Just last season, Red activated - independently - twice to save Keith (both in the episode where he and Allura run away from the castle and the one with the Blades of Marmora), something none of the other lions have done for their paladins, and now we’re supposed to buy that their relationship is just over, with no goodbye necessary?

It’s just. Weird. And I think this weirdness is on purpose. It would have been easy to have a concurrent “Keith says goodbye to Red" scene while Lance said goodbye to Blue. But, not only did they not include it, later on in the season when Lance goes to talk to Keith about the whole “six paladins” situation, he says that when Shiro returns to the Black Lion,

“Your Red Lion.” And Keith doesn’t once deny this assertion that Red is his during this conversation. He doesn’t deny wanting to go back to her.

Moving on:

There’s this. Right after Lance says goodbye to Blue, he and Allura have a talk, and Lance hands Allura his bayard. This scene is significant for loads of reasons, but one of the coolest things about it is the focus on their hands. It’s framed like a passing of a baton. Lance quite literally passes on his Blue Paladin position to Allura by handing off his bayard. It feels permanent.

But, again, there is no such scene between Keith and Lance. We never see Keith giving him the red bayard, and the two don’t talk about it like Allura and Lance do. There’s no passing of the baton when it comes to the Red Paladin role. 

And, for that matter, we don’t really see Keith picking up the black bayard for the first time either. The Black Paladin’s bayard has carried so much narrative weight these past two seasons. And... it’s Shiro’s bayard, Keith says so himself in season 2. There was a lot about Keith struggling with Shiro’s loss this season, but why leave the black bayard out of the equation? Shouldn’t there have at least been a scene where Keith activates it for the first time? Or something?

Keith’s arc thus far has been all about identity and learning about who he is. Like, just look at the scene above where he unlocks the blade of marmora and discovers his Galra heritage. If we’re really supposed to buy that a big part of Keith’s identity is "being a leader,” shouldn’t there have been a similarly dramatic scene when he became black paladin? We see both Lance and Keith using their new bayards, but nothing about them unlocking them (and Lance has apparently unlocked a new form!! What the heck!!!). The scene we get, with Keith sitting in the Black Lion is just... sad. Mournful. When I watch it, I don’t see a leader taking his rightful place, I see a boy who’s been shoved into a job he doesn’t want and just misses his friend.

Even when “Shiro” (pssst he’s a clone) comes back and is rejected by the Black Lion, the conversation the two of them have about the passing on of responsibility doesn’t have the same air to it as Lance and Allura’s about Blue. Allura takes the bayard (and the responsibility) with determination. Meanwhile, Keith, despite having lead Voltron for several weeks(?) at the point of “Shiro’s” return, still seems resistant to the idea. He hasn’t settled into his new role.

We don’t get the sense of Keith really taking the baton he’s been handed by Shiro yet.

The final way Lance and Keith’s transitions to new lions differ from Allura’s is in a moment of understanding. During episode 3, Allura really “locks in” her position as the Blue Paladin by connecting with Blue on an emotional level. This is the scene where Allura realizes what her and Blue’s partnership is going to be built on-- a willingness to open up and rely on others. We see similar scenes in earlier seasons with Hunk (who is able to unlock the Yellow Lion’s ability after realizing that he wants to fight with for the sake of other people, like Shay) and Pidge (who is able to wake up a shorted out Green Lion after realizing how connected she is to others via Green’s element, the forest). 

And - you guessed it - we don’t get any scenes like this in season 3 for Lance and Keith.

We don’t see Lance take Red’s controls for the first time. We don’t see Keith have any real moment of connection to Black, besides when the two of them find “Shiro”. Neither of the new Paladin-Lion pairs seems to interact at all, besides when Keith begs Black not to make him her paladin and Red growls at Lance to be her paladin.

As of yet, neither has seemed to really “click” with their new lion, unlike Allura, whose transition into Blue Paladin gives us a) a moment of goodbye between the old lion-paladin pair b) a moment where the responsibility is passed from the original paladin to the other and c) a moment where the lion and the paladin connect. Again, the keyword here is “closure.” Her transition into Blue feels official, for lack of better word. When that particle barrier drops in episode 2, we really get the sense that “oh, this is where she belongs.”

We... don’t really get that with Lance and Keith. When Lance took the Red Lion, I didn’t get this triumphant moment of “oh, this was his true place all along.” And the same goes for Keith. The two of them don’t seem like “The New Red Paladin” or “The New Black Paladin.” They almost exist in a sort of limbo, without official roles.

Lance, for his part, seems to recognize this.

He doesn’t see himself as having a rightful place within the team. When “Shiro” (clone clone clone) comes back, he expresses concern about this. Lance sees Allura as the full fledged Blue Paladin. Meanwhile, he doesn’t see himself as belonging in Red or Blue. And while he views Keith as belonging in Red (again, “your Red Lion”), he also addresses Keith as the leader (a trait belonging to Black). Keith appears to be caught between roles, while Lance seems to see himself as just not having one.

Even in-universe, the characters seem to acknowledge that something’s fishy about their swap.

This problem seems to resolve itself when the Black Lion rejects Shiro. Of course they’re in their rightful places-- if Black rejected Shiro for Keith, then clearly Keith’s the true Black Paladin. Which means that Lance has to be the red one by process of elimination.

But, as I maintain that the “Shiro” that Black rejected is actually a clone, I don’t think we’ve genuinely gotten a scene where Black chooses Keith over the real Shiro as leader. Which means that Lance and Keith’s positions on the team are still up in the air.

What does this have to do with Lance in Black? And Keith in Red? And lion sharing? Lance tried to pilot Black already, and he was rejected. He’s not meant to be leader. It’s a done deal.

But... is it?

When the team all present themselves to the Black Lion to see who’ll become the next Black Paladin, Allura puts her hands on the controls and kinda kicks off a humorous montage of she, Pidge, and Hunk trying their hand at activating Black. Allura makes a face, Pidge struggles to reach the controls, Hunk sits down and is immediately like “nope,” all while happy, campy music plays in the background.

And then, Lance sits down. And there’s a complete tonal shift. The music stops. Things get really quiet. There’s a real focus on him.

We as viewers are meant to take Lance’s attempt at piloting Black seriously. With Allura, Pidge, and Hunk, there’s this underlying feeling of “oh, they already have a place (or, in Allura’s case, she’s meant to be somewhere else), so none of them are going to pilot Black,” hence the silliness. But Lance... Lance sits down and it’s not funny. He’s genuinely trying to be Black’s paladin.

But he gets rejected. Why?

You could argue that he’s not qualified (I’ll get into that later because that’s false), but the main reason I think that Black chose Keith over Lance here is that a) at this moment Lance wanted to be her paladin for the wrong reasons (ie to prove himself) and b) Keith and Black’s goals line up. They both want to save Shiro. 

Take a look at the scene where Keith pilots Black for the first time. Nothing in this scene is really about “being a born leader” or whatever. It’s about Keith and Black working together for a common goal: protecting Shiro. 

Is it that far a stretch to say that Black has chosen to work with Keith again for the same reason?

Keith is the only paladin that we see actively search for Shiro after he disappears. Everyone else seems to be trying to move on at the point that season 3 starts. But, Keith isn’t. And I think that that’s what he and Black’s partnership is built upon. Because the main moment of connection between Keith and Black in season 3 is-

-when they look for and find “Shiro.”

Keith, along with being one of, if not the most, competent fighters of the team, is also the paladin that wants the most to bring Shiro back. Which seems to be what Black wants, as well.

But, like I said earlier, there’s this sense that Keith isn’t Black’s One True Paladin, or that the lion swap is as clear cut as it seems. And it all comes back to Lance:

This line was a whammy to me, and I think it sums up the impression I've gotten throughout the series: we’re still waiting for Lance’s “moment,” so to speak. While every other character has had an arc that helped really define that character - Pidge learns that she has to help others on her journey to find her missing family (both in s1 when Lance gets hurt and in s2 with the Olkari), Hunk realizes that he wants to keep fighting with Voltron to protect people like Shay, Keith learns about his heritage via the Blade of Marmora and realizes that it doesn’t define who he is now, and Allura realizes that she needs the help of others to save the universe and that she can’t do it alone (her “I need your help” to Blue in s3 was just. wow) - I don’t really think Lance has had such an arc yet. We haven’t really had a moment where something about his character really snaps into place for the viewer.

Maybe we just need to see more of Lance in Red for things to really click together. But, I genuinely think what we’re really waiting for is for Black to respond to Lance.

Like I said, I think the main reason that Black rejects Lance, besides the whole finding Shiro thing, is because, when Lance put his hands on those controls, he wanted to pilot her for the wrong reasons. Lance was treating piloting the Black Lion as “his moment.” He's a guy who’s really tied to his ego, and what he wanted was to prove that he could be a leader. But, that’s not reason enough to become a leader. So Black turned him away.

But immediately after that? He changes his tune. He throws his full support behind Keith, counsels him, encourages him and the others (notably Allura), and keeps the team together (in fact, he’s quite literally the character that keeps the team together in s3ep3, when he argues with Keith about him separating the team). 

And I think that that’s what makes him leadership material.

Allura says differently, telling Lance that his decision to support Keith and become his right hand man makes him,

But I’d argue that Lance isn’t really all that similar to Alfor. Or, at least, not in that way. Unlike Alfor, Lance wants to be Black Paladin. And while Alfor steps down because he acknowledges Zarkon as a better military leader, Lance steps down because a) the Black Lion chose Keith and he respects that decision and b) recognizes that being the Black paladin isn’t about having “your moment”-- it’s about leading the team, and pursuing Black for that purpose was wrong. 

Keith parallels Alfor more than Lance does, in my opinion. 

Running ahead of the group? 

Does that sound like anybody we know lmao?

Not only that, but Keith and Alfor each show an unwillingness to be Black Paladin, both arguing that they’re not suited for the position. And, the real whammy:

And:

The sword is. Literally the Red Paladin’s weapon. All of this, combined with Keith and Red’s close bond (she! saved! him! twice! last! season!), Keith’s compatibility with the Red Paladin’s traits (”temperamental,” “fastest and most agile,” “unstable” (see the entire first half of season 3 lol), etc.) the weird lack of closure between Keith and Red during the lion swap, Keith having some trouble flying Black and finding her too slow for him (and Lance finding Red too fast... hm....), and Lance referring to Red as ‘Keith’s lion’ makes me think that Red and Keith’s story together isn’t finished yet.

As for Lance? Despite his initial rejection by the Black Lion, I still think we’re going to see him pilot her in some capacity at some point in this series, even if I’m wrong about everything else in this meta lmao. Season 3 was characterized by what I think was Lance quietly taking on some of the responsibilities of leadership that Shiro left behind.

He’s the character that stresses the importance of teamwork throughout the season. Keith, whom I love to bits, is more inclined to want to hit hard and fast, hence his aggressive pursuit of Lotor in this episode. It’s Lance that gets him to step back and slow down so as to not leave his team behind. And when Keith runs ahead-

It’s Lance who gets everyone to stick together.

Lance is also the character we see most supporting and encouraging others in season 3, most notably Keith and Allura. He tells Allura that he’s honored to have lost Blue to her and, adorably, apparently tried to mentor her on how to fly Blue-

-which didn’t go well because she yelled at him too haha. As for Keith, Lance is the one who really pushes him to accept his position as Black Paladin. But he also falls into the role of being Keith’s voice of reason. He’s arguably Keith’s biggest supporter, but he’s also Keith’s greatest critic if need be, which we see in episode 3. 

I think this scene really sums it up:

When Keith realizes he fucked up, Lance does two really cool things: he says “lol yeah you did” and then he says “but now we gotta fix it.” We. Lance shows an ability to call other people out on their mistakes while also saying “but I’m still in your corner, no matter what.”

The maturity he displays here, and in other spots throughout the season (specifically his acceptance of Black’s decision and his passing of Blue to Allura), really screams “leader” to me. 

And then there’s arguably the most important leaderly thing Lance brings to the table: his ability to communicate.

Just... honestly take a look at the entirety of this fight sequence. It’s so organized. Lance is the social guy, and it really works to his advantage when it comes to coordinating with others. Hunk voices a concern? Lance offers an explanation for his actions. He’s also a really clever guy, coming up with interesting work-around solutions to problems (flipping the blue lion to make that shot in this fight, and then later on in the season shooting the control panel to keep more guards from coming into the room they’re in).

And when he can’t find a solution to a problem himself?

He asks for the opinions of others. Lance takes charge in this scene, and the battle is characterized by communication with and listening to the people he’s working with. Which is a problem the team later runs into during episode 3 against Lotor on the gas planet. If you compare the two fights, this one is the more cohesive one, for the sole reason that it involves more communication between team members.

Because, if there’s anything that definitely characterizes Lance, it’s that he’s the one we see talking to people the most out of the rest of team Voltron. And that’s good for a leader. He makes sure everyone’s okay (”Allura, are you doing alright in Blue?”), offers support, voices concerns and often asks questions, gives frequent warnings to others in battle (”Hunk you’ve got a fighter on your six” “Guys! Fighter!”), and asks them for ideas when he’s lost.

Lance is the character who facilitates communication between the others. He’s also the one who “assembles Voltron” for the first time, so to speak. He drags Hunk over to Pidge, and then Hunk and Pidge over to Keith and Shiro. He’s the one who brings the team to the Castle, and is the first to interact with Allura and Coran. He’s, in a way, the social center of the group, and the character who was the first to form connections with most of the others.

And the rest of the team kinda seems to acknowledge this on some level. He’s the one they look to when Keith’s having trouble. They naturally expect him to handle the situation. 

When Allura describes the black paladin, she talks about a “born leader that is in control at all times.” Someone, she says, “whose men will follow without hesitation.” And I think that Lance, after being rejected by Black, begins to fall into that role. He shows maturity and stability in the face of this lion change. Others look to him for help. They actually listen to him when he tells them what to do (re: “Keith, don’t do this!”). 

He really just had to make that initial choice between his “need for glory” and the team, and then he like. Started to slowly become the leader Voltron needed.

So, where does lion sharing fit into all of this?

Well, for one, I don’t think we should necessarily count Keith out as Black Paladin yet. Black did choose him-- I just think we’re waiting for another shoe to drop, the shoe being Lance. Keith does begin to take charge and fit into his new role towards the end of the season, bringing everyone together to form Voltron, comforting Allura after the loss of the comet, trying (and arguably failing but eh) to comfort Lance over the whole “six paladins” thing (including trying to stay behind on the mission so that Lance can pilot Red!), etc. Plus, the scene in episode 6 where Keith maneuvers Voltron out of the way of the laser really had me feeling some leadership Keith vibes. Ultimately, I think that Lance and Keith are two different types of leaders. Lance is good at strategy and communication, while Keith has good instincts and fighting skill. So... I think we might be looking at a coleadership situation.

Lance’s somewhat delusional rambling about Keith being his Garrison rival here sets a precedent: Lance and Keith are “neck and neck.” Wherever one is, the other isn’t far behind. And this holds up narratively. Keith’s a fighter pilot? Lance takes Keith’s spot when he drops out. Keith goes to rescue Shiro? Lance goes to rescue Shiro. Lance becomes a paladin? Keith becomes a paladin. Keith becomes the red paladin? Lance becomes the red paladin. Keith becomes the black paladin...? 

Hm.

Lance and Keith, since their introduction, have been coded as two halves of a pair. At first that relationship begins as slightly antagonistic (tbh the better word would probably be petty lmao), but then:

They’re a team. 

The inclusion of this little moment between Keith and Lance means something. Their partnership is emphasized here. The background is purple, a combination of their two established colors, red and blue.

The same thing happens here:

In this scene, which is arguably the turning point in season 3, blue and red come together in the middle to make purple. This is the scene where Keith and Lance finally strike their balance, Lance getting Keith to stop his pursuit of Lotor in order to look out for the team. It’s in the purple area of the shot that Lance and Keith are having their conversation-- literally meeting in the middle.

And, you know, the Black Lion’s quintessence is purple, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. The two of them need each other to properly lead the team, no matter what lion each is in. Just take another look at that shot where Keith and Lance are carrying Shiro-- it’s the two of them, blue and red, holding up Shiro, purple, between the two of them. And they do it together.

So, why wouldn’t Lance also carry half of the burden of the Black Lion with Keith?

Honestly, though, even if he doesn’t and I’m totally wrong, I don’t really mind. Black Paladin Keith has been fun so far, and has opened the door to some really cool team dynamics. Lance and Keith have already fallen into a sort of coleadership, so if things progress as they are, I can see it being just as compelling and interesting. But, I do still think that we’ll see Lance in Black at least once.

Anyway, this is long as fucking balls so I’ll stop here (got another Black Paladin Lance post if you wanna hear more rambling though lol). But, as a parting shot, I’ll leave you with this:

In the scene where Allura is assigning the lions, both Keith and Lance are shown in the shot with the Red Lion, seemingly foreshadowing Lance’s future role as the Red Lion’s paladin. And in the shot where she assigns the Black Lion, we can see Shiro, Keith, and, just barely-

-Lance.