#if she had more episodes we could have seen more prominent and solidifying growth but again i feel like the 'mayfly bug' which dies

[witchingrey]

late thoughts about my favorite pink princess. warning, it is gently critical analysis of euphemia, since she’s one of my favorites, but also painfully lacking in screen time + development .

honestly, while i want to say euphie / euphy garners softening feelings by nature, c.c. i think would not coddle her like cornelia if in some really odd universe her plans coincided with her half-brother. which...we all know how that went. the princess is an angel but her flaw is in a sense...exactly that. her naivety / impulsiveness , and while this would be more okay if she wasn’t in a position of power? she is in a position of power. so c.c. naturally would be very blunt with her which really..could go either way. 

because life isn’t so ‘simple’ and frankly her going back to her good days with lelouch and nunnally is already ‘not possible’ due to lelouch’s choices since deciding their contract , the barbarism of the royal family manipulating / abandoning two orphaned children, and the power struggle for emperor / empress among its heirs. sadly, i don’t want to say euphy / euphie isn’t meant to be in this show...but in a sense she isn’t, because her outlook / state of being can’t survive, and while she’s capable of growth we were  robbed of? i feel honestly more like i’m watching a child than i am a teenage girl . more under the cut. again, gently critical. there isn’t a character in this franchise that isn’t someone i have critical thoughts about because i love this compiliation / franchise and when you love something you analyze it  like crazy.

she’s designated to be this way, and i wish so much more was done with her, since it seems like another ‘fridge the girl’ story but . . . her story is also a harsh example of someone who really needed to acquaintance herself far more ( and she tried! ) with what she set out to do because beginning the work of SAZ isn’t something you do in a few months, much less announce at a school. she should have continued her studies, she should have lived more years, she should have witnessed things more clearly - because i am far from hating euphemia in any capacity, she’s someone i adore, but i’ve watched her do the same impulsive actions over and over and realize that a lot of things she brings on herself, and this isn’t pitting c.c. vs euphy . i’m saying c.c. would be completely open to pointing this entire point out to her without fear.

there is nothing wrong with being innocent, pure, naive and but the writers ultimately paint euphy into a tragedy that cannot be undone instead of showing what i wish was more a rise and build of people all around her giving her solid criticism instead of coddling (cornelia) , omitting (darlton) , manipulation (schneizel). i won’t say anything about suzaku because i do believe while he genuinely loved her, and she truly loved him, that’s a realm that really hits the tragedy home because i think one of the best written things about her is her trying to understand japan through suzaku / their expeditions but not necessarily enough to make her a suitable viceroy, much less a sub-viceroy if we all actually followed the britannian system in the show.

instead euphy remains a solid, tragic ‘what if ‘ and ‘could have been’, never fully allowed to grow , see error, or be free of endless coddling and omitting of truths. combining all of this, her own shortcomings, the stage upon which everything is set, and lelouch’s entire ambition itself, and you ultimately lead to a very tragic, very nasty, almost inevitable end. basically she deserved better, yes, but also being the way she is did not help her and shows if its too far on one spectrum it can be potentially harmful and a set up for inevitable tragedy / destruction. 

[strixmoonwing]

Theory on Princess Romelle, Altea, and Surviving Alteans

With the new season of Voltron only just aired a few days ago, I’ve been having some thoughts about what we might expect in season 5 and future seasons- more prominently the ideas of an existing Altea and surving Alteans.

NOTE THIS POST CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4 SO DON’T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED IT YET.

With that being said, let’s get on to my thoughts regarding Princess Romelle, Atlea, and the chance of surviving Atleans. I think almost all of the Voltron is low-key expecting some surviving (non different reality) Alteans to show up in later season, especially Princess Romelle the cousin of Allura and future wife of Sven (the original Shiro), who was a very prominent character in the original (also a favorite of Lauren Montgomery it seems so there’s that). 

If the Shiro/Kuron clone theory is true, maybe Kuron can settle for bring a Atlean Prince rather than Black Paladin. *Wink wink.** Nudge Nudge.*

Now in regards to Prince Romelle, I’ve seen that a popular headcanon is that she will appear as a possible rebel leader, and through we did not see her this season among the rebels, it’s still a very plausible theory. Even in the original series, when she is introduced, her planet Pollux is enslaved and she and Sven team up to free it so she definitely comes from rebel roots.

And I love the idea of a rebel princess. BUT what I’m hoping to see is Princess Romelle not just being a rebel against the Galra empire, but also a rebel against the current Altea.

Confused? I bet. So let me explain.

First off, let’s get it out that in no way do I think the surviving Alteans would be anything like the Atleans shown in the reality that was featured in episode 4 of season 3 “Hole in the Sky”. Not at all. However, I do think the episode might be a hinting that the surviving Altean race will not be wholly good. And to help better prepare Allura for such a revelation.

Now let’s get to why there’s surviving Alteans still around. Well,it’s just logical. That’s it really. Let’s go over the clues. 

First off, it’s been stated that Alteans were space explorers so you can’t honestly say that every single Atlean was on the planet Altea when Zarkon destroyed it. Of course, one could argue that Zarkon would have tried to hunt down every Altean which he could have, but we’re shown that Atleans are shape-shifters that can blend into different environments so the odds of Zarkon being able to find every single one is highly improbable. Also, Zarkon literally broadcasted to the entire universe that he was going to go after Alfor and Altea for revenge mere minutes after he came back from the dead.  You can’t tell me that King Alfor, with all his advance technology, did not immediately start evacuating as many Alteans as he could to a safer location the same way he did to the entire Galra race before their own planet was blown up?

My best friend came back from the dead. The space zombie apocalypse has begun. Begin evacuating all Alteans!

But, you the reader, are asking, why having any Alteans shown up then if they’ve survived for this long, especially since Voltron and Princess Allura are now becoming well-known around the galaxies.

Well, dear reader, the answer is quite simple.

New Altea  is now the space Switzerland.

But which I mean that New Altea and all the surviving Alteans are neutral. They have completely isolated themselves from the war, from the Galra Empire, and from Voltron.

I mean think about it- a powerful emperor that is able to command one of the universe’s most powerful weapons (the Black Lion) and controls one largest and more powerful empires has literally just risen from DEATH ITSELF (and all Altea saw the body since Alfor was the one that held the funeral) and has declare war on your planet. And has destroyed your plaent. And your King. And now will most likely come after your entire race.

You are homeless. You have no leader. Your greatest weapons have been sent away and hidden across the universe.

What do you do?

Do you stand and fight against Zarkon to avenge your fallen king and planet?

FUCK NO. YOU GET THE QUIZNAK OUT OF THERE AND HOPE THIS UNDEAD, ALL POWERFUL CORPSE AND HIS ARMY WILL NEVER FIND YOU.

And that is what the surviving Alteans did. They left, found a new uninhabitated planet, called it their own, set up a new ruling monarch, and used their advance technology(the same kind that the Blade of Mamora uses to hide their bases) to completely isolate themselves for 10,000 years.

If that is the case, then imagine how much Atleans themselves would change after all that time. From Allura and Coran’s descriptions, and from flashbacks, it’s clear that Alteans were a proud race of warriors, explorers, and diplomats willing to befriend and help other races. Imagine that 10,000 years of isolation would make them lose their warrior edge and become quite vain and self-centered, only caring about keeping their planet safe even at the cost of other races and planets suffering.

Now with the Coalition making Voltron well known, I imagine Princess Romelle and her brother Prince Bandor would hear about Princess Allura and the paladins. I think Princess Romelle will be the one to reach out and try to contact Allura. 

Allura, of course, would be excited and overjoyed at seeing hearing that there are more Atleans. She’d immediately want them to be part of the Voltron Coalition and have Romelle be the guide to lead them there. Imagine Allura finally being able to bring Voltron, her father’s legacy, back to her people and asking them to join her in bringing the Galra Empire down once and for all.

And then imagine her disappointment and heartbreak when Prince Bandor and the people of New Altea absolutely refuse.

Not only would a twist like this be a nice contrast to the Blade of Mamora (Galra who will willingly fight against Zarkon while there are Alteans who won’t lift a finger to help), but it would solidify an key issue that Allura has been facing since the very beginning of the series.

Her desire to bring back the past and everything’s she’s lost. 

Time and time again throughout the series from Allura allowing a corrupted AI of her father to almost lead her and the paladins to death because of a promise to find Altea...

To risking the lives of the paladins and Voltron to go through a wormhole to another reality to find more Alteans and almost letting these Atleans screw them over.

               Yeah fuck this guy.

                                     And FUCK this guy. (in the good way)

So yeah, our girl Allura hasn’t really had a good time.

          “Sorry your race is basically the Galra but worst in another reality.”

       “You’re the reason everyone likes Allurance more than Kallura, Keith.”

All joking aside, I think a big part of Allura’s growth in later seasons (and has been in the earliest season with Allura’s acceptance of Keith and of the Red Lion’s rejections) is that the past can’t be changed. This new Altea will never be the Altea that she once knew. 

But it can be changed. And if Romelle is as much as a rebel she was in the original series, I think she will play a key part in helping Allura and the new Atleans change and get them to help team Voltron in the war.

Also, here’s hoping we get to see her make this face once more:

        Romelle, the Altean Princess and Sister/Cousin Allura deserves to bond with.

[odrseasonone]

Episode Emphases???

i thought it might be useful to sort of note the sort of like ~themes or emphases i’m seeing coming out of each of our eps now, in terms of sort of pumping them out into 60-min eps, etc, so i thought i’d write this down and we can discuss our thoughts on this when we get a chance!  (if we like this, if we don’t, etc)

EPISODE 1 

note: so this one’s a bit different bc its obv a pilot buT i did notice some things about it

dragons are a major focus of this ep which is GREAT!! and exactly as it should be!! but also the power that comes w them - a power all-but gone in aragoth now but clearly v desired!!!

guy is the protagonist but that also works out really well ((still forever laughing that he’s actually guy now lasjdlfkjdsjkf))

guin is also big which is important bc she bridges the gap we’ve got between two of our three main locations in the ep (1 - court, 2 - guy’s town, 3 - resistance camp)

house fontaine also takes a front seat in the action, w guin as the protagonist of their subplot

((im laughing at those poor ppl who’ll be watching this ep imagining that guin and guy are the main characters and will fall in love etc and then BOOM #angstslutalways))

cedric is big in this, actually???? but that’s great bc he only has 8 eps total so *thumbs up*

cassius is clearly the main antagonist in this ep which is another great thing

this ep is action-heavy which is great!!

also, weirdly loving that the pilot ep is technically a tragedy bc the bad guy wins in the end bc im a sick person???????? #empirestrikesback

EPISODE 2

so obv helena is the protagonist of this ep!! i feel like, the next major character in this ep may actually be lynessa!

w charles and alex figuring strongly

the main action of this ep is the ball, itself

we also learn more about aragoth’s history which helps worldbuild 

but mostly we get to see how the nobility lives in stark contrast to how the peasants live

also features house beaumont (as a whole) pr heavily in this ep!! i also like that we see them both individually and as a whole

we even already have establishing character moments planned out for half of them!!

lynessa and celia are the focus of this house in this ep which i think is good since there’s a lot going on - evie and avelina figure more prominently next ep

we also get our first hints of the godiva vs arrington thing but aren’t drowned in it which’s a really strong way to go!!

it raises questions and draws us into the next ep and does NOT clobber us!!

EPISODE 3

roran and charles sort of share this ep!! like they share everything <3 v degrey, much dragonrider

w cassius as the antagonist

speaking of which, this one sort of solidifies what dragonriders can do and thus sets the stage in terms of dragonrider worldbuilding for the rest of the series!!

also, since this one’s gonna be exposition heavy and therefore maybe a lil confusing, it’s great that we have helena’s dreams going on in the prev. ep to literally illustrate what we’re talking about

speaking of which, i wanna find a few movies or eps of smth to watch to analyze ~how they handle heavy exposition

like, if we get a really strong charles actor, it will be fine but...if we don’T we wanna make sure it still flows...

i also feel like this is really our first good look at rowena!!

on the court side of this one, tho, this is really alex’s ep and through him we meet the other two beaumonts - in avelina’s case we get to know her better than anyone really wants to know her ;DDDD

this is also where it’s most natural to delve into the godiva/arrington thing a bit more, since avelina will mostly rave about it ;D

it would also be a good place to develop the dmitrei/avelina and lay the groundwork for general #teambeaumont stuff

EPISODE 4

note: so far, this is the least developed ep!! bc of this, i was actually thinking maybe we should move the alex/avelina confrontation and therefore the godiva/arrington backstory to this ep?? it would also cut down on the amount of exposition in the prev ep which i think would be good

i feel like james and guin are at the forefront of this ep

this one is action heavy and also explores the theme of what we’re willing to do when pushed to extremes 

the resistance faced w the starvation of the ppl, james faced w a literal volcano ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

it’s also v much a ‘passage of time’ ep as roran and arya train and james learns how to eat mangoes the right way ;D

also w the alex/guin plot, we have lots of opportunities to strengthen the suspense of her entire...situation

and wrap up anything we need wrapped up at house fontaine before jon arrives

also the fontaines prepping for jon’s arrival

also, if we haven’t before, here would be a good place to firmly establish arthur’s connection to the two elder fontaines so we know he’s in ~deep before jon arrives...and stiLL does nothing when he does

EPISODE 5

this is a big beaumont ep!! i feel like the big dynamics in this ep are celion and team beaumont

i also feel like it’ll be interesting to watch those develop in conjunction esp since celia gets her rude awakening soon

dezod also figures prominently for the first time so this might be a good place to learn more about him

jon is the main/obv antagonist of this ep - dezod is also but its not yet clear he’s an antagonist yet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also, lots of sorcerers in this ep, what w the whole #dezodclassreunion thing going on

in fact, this may be where we learn rowena’s a witch, once and for all, tho im sure we’ve had many hints before now, if not a definite confirmation

either way, this is a good time to talk about magic

if we wanna do avelina’s dabbling in sorcery in season 1, this might be a good place to put it

this might also be where we learn about the prophecy?????

EPISODE 6

this is really a fontaine-centric ep

actually, in a way, lord fontaine is the central character tho also not ;D he’s sort of the macguffin, if you will hahaha

i feel like this is a good place to further explore each of the fontaines and their various relationships both together and w others

the other major set of characters here is the pirates - including james

w jon firmly in place as an antagonist and the compare/contrast w the various fontaine courtship styles going on, i feel like this is where we more fully explore the softer side of cassius which we’ve been developing the whole time

we also get the interplay between lynessa’s feelings vs the demands of her ambition - tho its not necessarily written in such clear terms yet 

we see diff vers of her firmly set w 3 diff men: cassius, jon, and joseph

we also see team beaumont actually at work as they lay a trap for jon and thus seal lord fontaine’s fate

EPISODE 7

so obv the big four here are isabella, ophelia, roran, and cedric

also we should show whatever the other resistance members are doing as well, esp if we can come up w a plot for charles and alaric and arya

a theme here could be unity/faith - the having thereof as seen in cedric and roran and the lack of it as seen in the fontaine household and the appearance of it as seen in cassius and guin and the betrayal of it as seen by isabella against roran and cedric

it’s also about the pov of the peasantry vs the nobility that we’ve been seeing so much of

since there’s only one plotline here atm i don’t have a whole lot more to analyze about fluffing out this ep atm hahaha

EPISODE 8

this could be a big alaric ep, given that a lot of the plot revolves around the plans and actions of the resistance

we could fill in about his past here - his rearing as a lord, his seat on the council, his imprisonment

potentially we could juxtapose alaric to arthur, here, since we see some of arthur in present and would, if we decide to do flashbacks, see him there

and next week arthur’s own past actions and choices will be revealed

in any case, this or the next ep could be a good place for jon and arthur to fight (tho it takes on much more significance in the final ep so this one might be better)

that way, it was last season so he’s not as big a suspect as cassius and alex who fight w him in s2 but their dislike is still firmly established

we also see that roran has not learned anything from the past two eps - reinforcing his growth when he does after cedric’s death

stopping the enforcer and taking the castle are the main action of the ep

also we could def have some wedding prep in this ep

possibly avelina and lynessa extract a promise from jon/his men to retrieve celia asap

EPISODE 9

obv this is rowena’s big ep where we get our answers about her and she takes her place as a fully-fledged (but sympathetic) villain

that being said, she’s technically a protagonist of this ep

this one’s also action-heavy, what w the whole siege of the castle

we should also give each member of the resistance a hero moment that sort of closes out their character arc for the season and points them towards next season’s arc or at least gives the viewer whose fav character they are some sense of closure for the season ;D

we also have to give our other plotlines for the season some sense of closure tho not necessarily resolution

for example, we have to do something w the lynessa plotline even tho we know she marries jon in the v next ep so there’s no resolution - for example, maybe joseph admits his feelings to her or smth

so yeah we need to do smth momentous for each of our key characters:

lynessa

celia 

the thieves thing + kiss will serve for celion

cedric 

obv he dies heroically

roran 

fights cassius w charles and arya and learns the dire consequences of recklessness, etc.

charles 

finally takes up arms against cassius for the first time since cassius murdered his bro and all their friends ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but only to protect roran #iweep

dezod - actually im not sure he needs anything but isabella and ophelia may

guin

james 

the thieves thing + kiss will serve for celion

rowena 

learns there’s a new dragonrider and she’s noT safe

helena

alexandir

cassius 

learns that there’s a new dragonrider - his bff’s kid - and fights both him and charles

alaric

jon