#Allura and the paladins reunite?

[coolauntlilith]

Every now and then I replay the first episode of VLD and I wonder why I thought it be a good show lol

[ethereance]

it took me a moment to get myself together enough after reading your tags to think of what to say, but thank you SO MUCH for your kind words about my fic. i wrote that fic directly after season 8 aired, when i was so angry and upset over what canon and fandom had done to allura. it means more than i can say that you would love my work, nearly five and a half years later, enough to reread and reblog and say such kind things on top of that. THANK YOU. 💞💞💞

Asddfghjgfhj wow five and a half years. Time sure does fly. And I should be thanking you <3 <3 <3 For making something so wonderful out of something that was… uh. Well y’know

[shallurallels]

You know what I think about a lot.

The writers could’ve easily avoided the lion swap and Kuron as a whole by simply making it as if Shiro had been teleported to the Galra during those those last few seconds in the fight of 2x13.

To me that storyline would have been 10x more interesting.

Imagine Shiro being recaptured and having to figure out how to escape but we actually see his escape this time. Imagine the overarching issue for the Paladins being they can’t form Voltron in season 3 because they’re down a lion and Black doesn’t allow Keith to pilot it. They’re then forced to forge a better bond with their lions, unlocking new abilities and a greater understanding of the lions individually.

That way we still would’ve gotten the origin story of Voltron (with some major tweaking cuz I didn’t care much for the actual origin story) but it raises the stakes.

No Bp Keith. No Allura assuming a lion. None of that bs. They could’ve done so much with these storylines. Then either at the end of season 3, Shiro somehow reunites with the team, or that’ll be top of season 4. Seeing true emotions of fear, anger, sadness driving the paladins throughout the season would’ve added so much depth to each of their characters, especially Keith’s.

Lotor would still the be big bad of season 3 since Zarkon is down for the count, along with Haggar and the generals by his side. Ooouuu what if we actually got a scene where Haggar is explaining to Shiro why he could’ve been their greatest weapon.

On that note, I would’ve really liked to see more on Shiro’s ptsd. That could’ve been highlighted with him being back in the hands of the Galra. Perhaps Black was trying to teleport him to safety but Zarkon was interfering up til the very last moment? Just as Keith has suggested.

Idk I just feel like season 2 really set up season 3 to be the downfall of the show—the Lion swap specifically.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

How would you have ended Voltron ??

In particular, what would you have done with Lotor and Allura ??

Hi, anon! Oooh what an interesting question!

If I absolutely had to start with the end of s8, assuming everything before has still occurred:

The easiest option would be that Allura doesn’t die, given that her life force is tied to Voltron and the Realm of Universal Consciousness is where the living and dead exist in the same space anyway.

Instead, previous paladins of Voltron, current paladins of Voltron, Voltron itself, and others (including a willing/repentant Lotor) help Allura restore the universe so that it’s not always just mostly her doing all the heavy work, offering their spiritual energy together to accomplish this massive feat. (Because legit, we need some found family / stronger together vibes! That’s the heartbeat of Voltron!)

It’s during the restoration that the selfish and defeated Honerva gets purified / fully restored herself.

The restoration burns out the rift creatures haunting the quintessence field.

When the universe is restored, Allura realizes she can bring the previously dead with her from out of this liminal space.

All the current paladins open their Lions to take in refugees and bring them back to their restored planets.

While Allura might offer them a second chance, Honerva and Zarkon choose to stay behind, as do many of the victims of the 10,000-year war who prefer the peace they’ve found.

Cue Allura’s heartfelt convo with her parents, who like many of the elders choose to stay behind, but not before doting on their daughter and offering her something that indicates the crown of Altea has been passed down to her / replaces the circlet she lost in s7. Perhaps Allura can still call on her parents in some way if she ever needs help or guidance (as previous-franchise versions of Allura could do). (More under the cut!)

The elders (Zarkon, Alfor, Honerva, etc.) could agree to help guard the flow of quintessence in some way, so that the living have sustainable access without going insane. (Idk what the limits are of this liminal space they're in.) Or else maybe the true secret of sustainable power is revealed through them, answering the problem that started this whole war.

As the paladins are encouraging others to come back with them, Lotor hangs back in the crowd. He does not feel worthy of a second chance at life, and is possibly unsure whether he even has the energy to try. He feels shame over his past and how quintessence twisted his mind.

Out of all the paladins, Allura approaches him and holds out her hand. “We were meant for more than fear and war,” she says, voice soft. “Do not be afraid to live.”

Lotor asks something like, deeply hesitant, “What life do I have? I isolated all allies and nearly destroyed the universe in going mad.”

Allura goes silent and then tries again, still holding out her hand, “And yet, the universe is restored, and all here know you took part in this great work. Your energy and will is a part of New Daibazaal’s atmosphere, its rivers and valleys.” She manages a weak smile. “If I remember correctly, you always did want to explore.”

“And can the past be so fully undone?” he asks. “Would I even be free to explore?”

Perhaps some moment where Zarkon and Honerva take responsibility for Lotor’s screwy life. Bonus if he gets some kind of call that the Galra still need a leader to help them in this new phase of peace, and that he hasn't reached his true potential yet.

Probably, some paladins chime in, validate that the alliance is back on, and the serious moment gets broken.

Lotor grabs onto Allura’s hand. She leads him to Blue Lion, where he joins the multitudes returning to the restored universe.

The Robot that jettisoned itself off Lotor’s spaceship from S5 is part of the crowd!! Lotor reunites on-screen with his cat, Kova!

Cue silly paladin shenanigans, a few stowaway mice finding a new resting spot on Lotor’s shoulders, and Allura’s new circlet catching the light as the paladins of Voltron launch back toward their reality, away from the Realm of Universal Consciousness.

Cue a pan-out to the restored universe, where the rift is healed, and New Altea and New Daibazaal exist side-by-side as their suns rise.

I think something open-ended, in the context of several characters—focused on a theme about not being afraid to live, about reconciling the past with the present—would hype that found family / stronger-when-we’re-together / comic energy that made Voltron unique…and leave lots of possibilities for the fandom to explore this new world!

If I could roll the clocks farther back than s8, I’d massively overhaul several things about the show. But this is just where I see a way to better land what we got toward the end.

Thanks for this ask! So fun to think about!

[galraluver]

Hope you're having a good day/night

I was wondering if I could request Allura x Big Brother Reader x Kolivan

Allura having an older brother who risk his life to make sure she was safe and ended up being a prisoner of Zarkon (just a lil background idea)

He eventually meets back up with his sister but ends up falling in love with Kolivan

How will Allura feel about reuniting with her Big brother and him falling in love with a galra?

How does Kolivan feel/think when he starts having feelings for the prince of Altea?

I am, thank you 😊

I tried my best and I hope this was kind of what you were hoping for. I was supposed to have this finished in March, so I apologize for the long delay 😅

_________________________________________

Shortly before Altea got destroyed (Y/n) risked his life to save his younger sister's life, unfortunately it led to him getting captured by Zarkon which led to him being put in a stasis pod so that he couldn't escape. No one knew what happened to the prince of Altea and that mystery went on for the next ten-thousand years; his disappearance became a legend that many would pass down to their children, and after the Blades joined the fight against Zarkon with the new paladins Kolivan told Allura about the legend of her lost older brother. All Allura remembered was (Y/n) pushing her out of the way before Sendak could kill her, after that she didn't know what happened to him. She and Coran believed that (Y/n) perished on Altea and a funeral service was held for him at some point, little did she know that her brother was still alive. For the next few months everyone still believed (Y/n) had been killed until one day when an anonymous message was sent to the castle of lions; no one knew who sent the message, although they took Voltron to the rendezvous point and found a mysterious stasis pod with someone very unexpected in it.

The paladins all agreed to take the pod back to the castle with them so they could save whomever was trapped inside, and when they eventually opened the pod they all gasped. They all expected to see Shiro, but instead they saw an unfamiliar altean man; Allura and Coran recognized the man because he was none other than (Y/n), Allura's missing older brother. It should have been impossible, (Y/n) was said to be dead, and yet he was laying right there in the stasis pod that laid in the center of the infirmary. (Y/n) didn't know what happened until his vision adjusted and he breathed in some fresh air for the first time in ten thousand years, the next thing he registered was someone hugging him tightly after he sat up. Allura could hardly believe that her brother was alive and well, she couldn't prevent herself from crying when she hugged him tightly. Hunk briefly excused himself so he could whip up a snack for (Y/n) who would undoubtedly be hungry, it was the least he could do for the long lost prince.

“Allura, you're squeezing me!” (Y/n) wheezed hoarsely; he was happy to see his sister again after so long, although he wasn't expecting her to have gotten so strong.

“I can't help it, I've missed you. I was so scared when you disappeared and when Kolivan told me about your legend I truly thought you were dead.” Allura replied happily, her voice wavering as she spoke and loosened her grip on her only sibling.

“Legend? What legend? And who are these people?” (Y/n) questioned curiously despite his throat feeling dry, wondering who all the other people in the room were other than his sister and Coran.

Coran gave (Y/n) a hydration pack and cleared his throat before filling him in about what happened after his disappearance so many years prior. (Y/n) could hardly believe that Zarkon was capable of such horrible things and that Altea had been destroyed; he panicked a little when Allura told him how much time passed since his disappearance, but then she told him their father stuck her and Coran in two of the healing pods until the new paladins found them. Hearing about how the new paladins were making things right in the universe gave (Y/n) hope that everything would be okay, and after he ate and drank he got to meet four out of the five paladins. It wasn't long before he got to meet Keith, but unbeknownst to everyone else Kolivan had made an unexpected visit because he had some new information regarding a top secret galra base he needed to give to Pidge. Kolivan was very surprised to see a young altean man in the infirmary, although what surprised him even more was that the young man was none other than prince (Y/n).

“Keith, you didn't tell us that Kolivan would be stopping by.” Allura said with a surprised tone when Keith and Kolivan walked into the infirmary.

“I have some new information on a secret empire base that I wanted to give to the green paladin. Who is this?” Kolivan answered before he turned his attention towards (Y/n); he couldn't deny that the young altean man was attractive and as soon as their eyes met he felt a warm throbbing sensation in his chest.

“This is my older brother, (Y/n). He's been kept a prisoner by Zarkon all these deca-phoebs until someone sent us coordinates and we found his stasis pod.” Allura replied, giving the leader of the Blades a brief explanation as to how (Y/n) had been recovered.

Kolivan could hardly believe that (Y/n) was alive and that the legend of him he grew up with was false, and yet there he was, sitting up in the stasis pod he'd been kept in since the fall of Altea. (Y/n) felt tingly as soon as he made direct eye contact with Kolivan; he was still processing how much the universe changed and he assumed he was just low on oxygen or something, he didn't realize that he'd just met someone very important in his life. He blushed and stuttered a little when he greeted Kolivan, feeling embarrassed for his sudden inability to speak clearly as he attempted to start a conversation with the older man. Waking up only to be reunited with his younger sister, meeting the new paladins and learning that she had become a paladin was a lot for (Y/n) to take in, then he met one of the most attractive men he'd ever seen; adjusting to life would either be difficult or easy, although at the moment he wasn't sure which it would be. Lance was the only person in the room who noticed a romantic spark between Kolivan and (Y/n), but he decided not to tease them about it until the future, depending if they ever got together or not.

__________

Despite being held prisoner by Zarkon since the fall of Altea (Y/n) managed to adjust to being a part of life again; he had a difficult time getting used to all of the new technology, thankfully he got along with the paladins relatively well. Allura loved having her older brother back and sometimes she could get a little clingy with him, not that he minded since he loved his younger sister and he felt bad that he hadn't been there for her after the new paladins found her and Coran. Working alongside the Blade of Marmora was interesting as well, and after (Y/n) went out on a few missions with Kolivan they began to fall in love with each other. (Y/n) didn't have a problem with falling in love with the Marmoran leader; Kolivan might have appeared stoic, although behind all of the walls he'd built up over the years Kolivan had a kind soul. He spent as much time with the older galran man as he could and Kolivan seemed eager to be around him as well.

Kolivan was intrigued by (Y/n) and at first their relationship was purely platonic, although as more time passed and they spent more time together they developed a strong bond that slowly turned into love. When he realized that he had feelings for the altean prince he nearly panicked because he wasn't used to having feelings for anyone, nevertheless Kolivan gave in and accepted that he wanted to have (Y/n) as his lover. While they were away on one mission in particular Kolivan formally asked (Y/n) if he could court him and to his relief (Y/n) said yes, then he gave him a bottle of rare cologne as a first courtship gift. The young altean man was over the moon with happiness when Kolivan reciprocated his feelings, although at some point he would need to tell Allura that he and Kolivan were a couple. A month or so passed since he began courting him, and one afternoon (Y/n) and Kolivan decided to tell Allura; they would do it in the library where no one would disturb them, but Allura could tell that something was going on between the two of them.

“Is there something important you both needed to tell me?” Allura asked Kolivan and (Y/n) with concern when she sat at the small table with her brother and the leader of the Blades; by that point she'd learned to trust the Blades, although she was still a little wary around them.

“You could say that.” Kolivan answered gruffly, which was his way of dealing with the anxiousness he felt since he and (Y/n) were about to tell her that they were in a romantic relationship.

“Oh?” Allura queried, tilting her head slightly to the right in confusion.

Kolivan looked at (Y/n) and (Y/n) looked at him, both of them feeling nervous to tell Allura that they were together. Even though Altea no longer existed (Y/n) was still considered a prince, and as such he had certain obligations he had to hold up. Allura looked at her brother and Kolivan, wondering what they were keeping from her. Finally, (Y/n) decided to break the news to her.

“Allura, recently there's someone who's caught my attention and-” (Y/n) began to tell Allura before she cut him off, although he wasn't upset with her because she seemed excited for him.

“You're in love? That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you, (Y/n). Tell me, who is this person you've fallen in love with?” Allura interrupted her older brother when he began to tell her that he was in love with someone; she wasn't really interested in pursuing a romantic relationship yet, but she was excited for her (Y/n).

“W-well, that's the thing… I haven't fallen in love with anyone of royal descent, and we're already in a relationship. Allura, I love you and I hope you truly love me; I'm in a relationship with Kolivan.” (Y/n) answered after he took a deep breath, hoping that his younger sister wouldn't freak out.

“You- and Kolivan? (Y/n), are- are you sure that you love him? And that he actually loves you?” Allura questioned with disbelief, her eyes widening; she only wanted her brother to be happy, and she wasn't sure if he and Kolivan were a good match given their differences.

Before (Y/n) could say anything else Kolivan stepped in and defended his relationship with (Y/n); he understood that altean royalty had a lot of standards when it came to selecting a significant other and he wasn't royalty, but he and (Y/n) loved each other very much and he wanted Allura to know that he would take good care of (Y/n). Allura was surprised, and even though she was still skeptical she decided to let it go and allow them to continue being together because after what Kolivan told her she was in awe. She'd never met anyone so dedicated to being in a relationship before; it was very touching, and she didn't want to ruin the love (Y/n) and Kolivan felt for each other. (Y/n) was surprised that Allura accepted his relationship with Kolivan, albeit hesitantly; not because they were both men, but because Kolivan wasn't royalty. Until the universe was safe Kolivan and (Y/n) agreed to keep their relationship a secret from everyone else, then someday when the universe was safe they would be able to go public with it and eventually have a wedding ceremony.

[discordiansamba]

today I am thinking about him... druid Keith.

thinking about the way he doesn't even really have his own name until he's finally reunited with Krolia. He was always just a tool for Haggar, someone that she and the druids only raised because of his magical potential. how the closest thing he had to a name was just the word for scrap- because what else would he be, when even his own parents threw him out?

(they didn't, but he has no way of knowing this.)

thinking about how he's raised in the heart of the Galra Empire, under Haggar's direct control. How he's taught everything he knows about the universe from her, about how the Galra Empire is unquestionably the true ruling force of the universe because might makes right. about how he slowly starts to question this as they develop the komar... and as three aliens that look so much like his non-Galra half are brought in. about how the odd technician named Ulaz challenges so many of his beliefs, makes him think about things in a way he never has before.

about how he talks to Shiro in secret, curious about the human. about how Shiro is wary of him at first, seeing as he's a druid, but slowly realizes that the person behind the mask is a child who has never known anything but this. about how he catches Shiro in his escapes, and offers to help. about how the first time Shiro sees his face and realizes he has human blood is the first time Keith steps foot on Earth.

also thinking about how he doesn't connect with the red lion right away. He helps the paladins secure it from Sendak's ship, but as far as they know, it doesn't have a paladin. about how he's not ready to be a paladin yet, and won't be for sometime. about how he slowly has to unlearn everything he learned in the Empire, and maybe along the way, also learn that he deserves to be loved and cared for.

about how he and Allura slowly warm up to each other, talking about magic. about how awed he is when she restores the entire Balmera, and about the awful way it makes him feel about his own magic, twisted and corrupted just like every other druid. about how he tries to learn what Galran magic was like before the war, when things were different. about how he sheds his druid robes, piece by piece, and grows into the person he was always meant to be.

it's good shit!! and someday I'll get the chance to actually write it!

[ladyandherbooks]

So this week I got a sudden urge to rewatch some of Voltron (only the Lotor scenes and episodes minus the Lotura break up, Romelle's Lotor backstory and Lotor's break down, I'll never be in the mood to rewatch them) and here are some of my thoughts since its been 5 years since this shows cataclysmic end.

The Lotor vs Zarkon fight is still great 5 years on. The best fight in the show by far.

Lotor's escape from Zarkon in season 4 is also great and one of the best examples of his skills as a pilot.

Lotor really was one of the most powerful characters on this show. He went up against so many foes who had a huge advantage against him and still managed to come out on top.

The Galra civil war with Lotor and Sendak as the leaders on either side with Honerva/Haggar plotting and manipulating from the shadows should have been of the main storyline post Lotor's ascension to the throne. They could have done so much with it.

For example, the reasons why certain Galran controlled planets and Galrans would choose either Lotor or Sendak. Perhaps some half or part Galra choose to follow Sendak and the paladins try to find out why. And some Galrans may only choose Lotor because they want to be on the winning side and believe that they will be rewarded for doing so. You could see a range of reasons as why certain Galrans chose a specific side and why.

There needed to be more focus on the prejudices faced by half and part Galra and what Lotor and his generals being in power would mean for the future of the empire.

Speaking of the generals, there really should have been 2 episodes dedicated to Team Sincline's backstory. We should have seen how they all met and how they became so close. And only 1 break up between them, when they reunited in season 6 they should have stayed together.

Speaking of staying I'm now imagining a better version of Lotor's break down. Allura defeats Lotor in space, not in the quintessence field. But when they (Voltron) approach Lotor to retrieve him Lotor, injured and still in the midst of a breakdown gets one more burst of energy and he tries to take them down only to be stopped at the last second by his generals who, knowing that Lotor wasn't truly himself quickly snuck back into the Sincline mech. They subdue him, take control of Sincline and flee before the paladins can react. They then take Lotor somewhere safe to hide out and help him. You could even include the 2 year timeskip and have Lotor be in such a bad way physically, emotionally and mentally that it takes him 2 years to heal and recover. Can you imagine how great that would have been? The angst, the emotions, the friendship, the fact that Axca, Ezor and Zethrid refuse to give up on him no matter how bad he gets in those 2 years. Add in Dayak at some point and it would be great.

Also Axca, Zethrid and Ezor should have learnt about what Haggar did to Narti in season 4 and Lotor should have also provided them with an explanation as well.

We should have also have seen Team Sincline fight in their mech at least once per season.

The show really did suffer from the split seasons from seasons 3 - 5. I know that LM and JDS had a set number of episodes but these seasons would have been better if they had all been 13 eps each. That way they could have explored all their storylines without the rush.

Too many cool and interesting concepts introduced but never explained or explored e.g. Lotor using the black bayard and being able to create 2 different weapons with it.

The moment that Honerva/Haggar remembered that Lotor is her son is still a great emotional moment.

The colony was a good idea that was executed with very little planning or care. It could have been a really good plot point to create a temporary rift between Lotor and the paladins e.g. have the reveal happen at the beginning of season 6, have a season or possibly 2 of angst and then have them work together again after Lotor has atoned in some way. Lotor could provide his actual explanation of what happened to the other Altaeans, the alliance would have remained intact just with the added rift between the paladins and Lotor where the paladins would still help Lotor stop the civil war but they would keep their distance and would only meet with him in public. Then once they had all truly reunited Allura and Lotor finally become a couple.

Also have their relationship be used against them by Sendak and his supporters who believe that this is evidence that they will soon be ruled by non-Galra and the hypocrisy in this belief considering how many planets and people the Galra rule.

[seraphimfawn-fallen]

Helping Love - Character Database on Lance Altea | VLD - Omegaverse AU

SeraphimFawn-fallen Character Database/ Voltron Team - Universe.

Warnings: Abuse, Neglect, Kidnapping Mentions, Dark topics, Rape and body breakage, Mentions of Drugs, Dehydration and Mentions of Lack of eating, Mpreg.

Lance Altea - Male - Omega - Mother - Paladin, Prince, Heart of Voltron. Database Info on Lance: Lance is the youngest child and only son to King Alfor of Planet Altea and the only sibling to Allura of Altea, Lance was kidnapped as a child by a Galra commander named Yjok and was taken to a not known planet called Earth, there for 10,000 years Lance went through much torture and abuse after he was taken from his family as a 5 year old child. His supposed brother named Luis had raped him when he was 14 years old making him produce two children, they are 5 months apart, one boy and one girl that Luis then lied to his wife that they were from a surrogate while Lance was just a toy to him. Being an Omega gave him the ability to create children with his own body however, Luis had taken advantage of his heat twice and later had given birth too his first two children.

Lance, because of how he was raised from 5 years old, is short for his age at a standing 5'4, while other males are higher in height varying from 5'7 to near 6'3. Because of not being allowed to eat his growth became stunted and he did not grow much even with the small amounts of food he would eat just to prevent his cheek bones to show through his skin. His is also extremely skittish, doesn't like loud noises and flinches when someone comes into contact with him, this is the effects of PTSD he obtained as a child that followed him into his teens. Gradually his bad habits went under once he was surrounded by caring people but ultimately fell back into bad habits when he was once again kidnapped by Prince Lotor of the Galra Empire and raped once more and fell back into his old habits.

Lance considers 3 females his sisters, his biological sister Allura, his mother figure sister Veronica McClain and his last sister being Rachel McClain. He has four children, his first two being because of Luis and his last being because of Lotor, his youngest daughter was from his mate who is an Alpha, despite his bad past with Alphas, he doesn't consider Keith in that list of his bad past. He has one child that is by consent while his other three weren't by consent, but he still loves all his kids equally.

His mate is Keith, and he somehow resurrected his dead sister, Veronica from being fatally stabbed and then reunited with her in space due to both of their surprises. Lance achieved his dream of being among the stars but in reality, he just returned back to the feeling he had before he was kidnapped by Yjok.

Lance has a few scars that are the results of burns, his back was burned a bit from the explosion he prevented Coran from getting hurt but was injured in the process. His right arm at the top of his bicep, was burned by a blow torch and the same to his left thigh. He also has a few breakages, but he makes sure he doesn't overwork himself to the point he causes another breaking in his bones. He also hates being babied, Veronica used to do when he was little, and she came home from one of her many jobs and ended up finding him injured everytime.

His kids rank from oldest to youngest: Sylvio is his oldest son, Nadia and Mela are the middle children and Cole is his youngest son, however there was a time difference between Cole and Mela. At 7 months old, Mela was the oldest of Cole but because of the three year time difference, Cole who is the youngest became the second middle child and Mela the youngest.

Lance is the heart of Voltron and managed to unlock something no paladin had ever even hoped to achieve, he can feel all of the lions and the lions can feel him. They have a connection like no other, it's different from pilot to lion, it's more soul focused. If he could so much as think about it, he can see through a lions eyes and call to the lions if he much as wished.

Because he was kidnapped, Allura was forced to accept the title of next ruler of Altea but she didn't want that, she was fine with being just a princess while supporting her brother to the best of her abilities however once he recovered his memories after going to Oriande, Allura and their advisor worked a full Quintant (Day) to change everything back to the way it was before Yjok had gotten his hands on him.

Lance considers team Voltron, a certain amount of rebels (Including Matt and Veronica) and a certain amount of Blades his family.

OLD VERSION

[curveofthevalley]

Voltron Primark Universe

welcome to the primarkverse, an au in which the voltron team (and friends!) work at the primark and other shops at the local shopping centre - the paladins are all like 17/18 and shiro is in his 20s

in collaboration with my favourite children's show enabler @vanillaa-sky <3

• alfor owns primark, zarkon owns h&m

• coran is the regional manager who spends too much time in this specific store because it's his favourite and he loves the staff

• coran gives everyone lifts home in his minivan because he worries about them getting public transport late at night

• shiro is the manager and he runs that primark like it's the navy and then goes home to bitch to his husband

• curtis doesnt even work anywhere near the shopping centre but he knows all of the gossip

• keith lives with shiro and curtis because shiro drives him to work all the time, and he's not sick of how in love they are enough to move out

• keith has a second job (hmv) so he's always running late or getting his hours mixed up

• shiro tries to make keith's schedule easier because he's the best big brother

• allura's dad owns primark so she doesn't really work there but everyone lets her come in and work because honestly she's really good at it

• she's the best at dressing the mannequins

• allura refuses to be paid, plus she lets them all take home a kitten when her cat has a litter

• the kittens are all named after colours based on the colour of the collars they had as kittens to tell them apart (they have very similar patterns) and the names just stuck

• black for shiro, red for keith, blue for lance, green for pidge, yellow for hunk and white for allura

• black and keith are besties, red and lance get off to a rocky start but they bond eventually, and blue is just obsessed with allura

• keith also ends up with a wolfhound puppy (kosmo) as a reconciliation gift from his mother when they're finally reunited

• lance is kinda bad at his job but the customers really like him and he's helpful mostly so they keep him as the personality hire

• he also shows everyone pictures of his pet cow so they all bug him for more every shift <3

• lance does photoshoots of blue and kaltenecker with blue wearing a little cowboy hat and blue neckerchief and insists they're best friends

• lance is a photodump enjoyer who runs an 'anonymous' instagram account posting mugshots of the primark staff but everyone knows it's him because he forgets to post any of himself

• pidge is always on call to fix the tills when they fuck up

• she also finds a way to jack the wifi so that they actually get good signal in the break room (the game setup they all share is in there, they keep to a strict schedule of who can play when)

• matt works at game or cex to put himself through university, he's going to get an aerospace engineering degree and work with his dad one day

• pidge also plans to do this once she's through with sixth form, if it's not her allotted game time in the breakroom they're 100% studying for exams that are months away

• hunk helps and they test each other on their knowledge (they're both guaranteed all A* grades)

• shay works at a coffee shop a few stores down and practically has hunk's schedule memorised because he always comes in to buy drinks for everyone before his shift

• she remembers his order perfectly but he has to remind her of everyone else's

• hunk only goes there to see shay but he's too nervous to ask her out so they just visit each other at work a lot

• romelle worked at a different primark, with lotor, and he was so terrible at his job that he got fired

• as revenge he convinced zarkon to buy out the lot to turn it into a h&m so romelle ended up at the voltron store

• lotor and his generals (acxa, ezor, zethrid, narti) work at h&m round the corner

• lotor loves to come by and brag about being on his break but he never does any work anyway

• zarkon owns the store so lotor is a h&m nepo baby

• the generals are lovely and bring sweet treats and costa for the primark voltron team

• sometimes voltron show up at h&m to distract lotor so the girls can actually do their jobs without him being annoying

• allura had a brief thing with lotor while he worked at primark but broke up with him when he got the store closed down

• after she broke up with him the kallurance polycule formed (lance has two hands for holding both his boyfriend and his girlfriend)

the voltron brainrot has fully set in the year of our lord 2024, thank you for coming to our ted talk!

[creativekrissy]

Honestly, my theory was this:

S3-s8 was heavily edited to keep Shiro in the series because his character was very popular and at the cost of Keith’s scenes as a leader.

Keith’s hands revealing he was Galra was suppose to be the build up to fighting against Lance in the episode “the black paladins”— it would have made sense to be “the red paladins”. Why do I believe this? Frames are obviously edited and Shiro (Kuron) never had a sword and the “sword” given is highly similar to Lance’s Altean sword and I’m talking about the outline.

Shiro’s nightmares or thoughts of himself may have been imagining himself as a full out Galra and Haggar most definitely tormented him on the sidelines until the fight between the red paladins.

All the interactions of Lance and Shiro were suppose to be Keith and Lance, I say this because their interactions in confiding each other began in s3 before Keith left the group. So imagine in s6, Haggar believes she has full control of Keith or his Galra genes took over and he’s freaking out.

Either way, the whole fight ends with Lance bringing Keith back to the group fighting Lotor— it’s also possible he didn’t bring Red with him and had no chance but to pilot Black to make it home or a possible scene of he and Keith talking to make their way back.

As for s7, it would make sense why the bond between those two is on point and strong— all interactions between them is suddenly gone. They are brief and subtle.

I also believe that Pidge was meant to be in the middle of the game and Lance was beside Keith. It makes sense because there are hints of those two subtly beside each other but it was edited— just what I believe, I know many would argue. Great editing exists. That’s just me.

Anyway, Keith is probably feeling the worst because of how he fought Lance and left the team, which would make sense why Lance calls him out for being a lone wolf, he’s always trying to run away from his problems.

Plus the leaving him to be leader and grabbing Acxa, forming the wings together. If you remember— Lance is edited to suddenly be with Allura in every scene— I feel like it was suppose to be Romelle. They were suddenly close friends in s7-s8.

Now skip to Hunk finding his family. I strongly believe this was suppose to be about Lance finding his family. The flashbacks were meant to be Lance being playing with his niece and nephew— that scene we got in his reuniting was very odd and out of place.

I feel like the return to earth was suppose to build character for Lance’s confidence in himself as a Paladin. Keith helps him find his parents, Veronica found their parents with the Mfe group. All is reunited but Lance is livid for Sendak imprisoning his family.

As for the scene where Lance and Allura come together to help each other in their lions to protect earth— I feel like Allura is heavily edited from Keith’s outline. This season was suppose to show the growth of these two as a team.

S8 may have been a romantic hint or at least a build up— again why? Take it from where Allura was edited into Keith’s outline because I don’t think they were ever meant to be together. I believe she was strongly focused on moving forward and finding Lotor later in the season.

The date episode could have been everyone invited to Lance’s family dinner. The group could’ve went to find clothes appropriate for dinner since Keith doesn’t fit clothes other than the garrison fit.

Honestly it could’ve been anything but it doesn’t make sense why the Lance and Allura kissing scenes were censored and blocked. Since Keith and Lance are originally blue and red paladins— they make purple— the colour surround Allura which is pink is heavily implied on it.

Also, Allura may have cancelled dinner because of Luka waking up. Maybe Lance was suppose to try a last attempt impressing Allura since she’s not with Lotor— that would make sense and he broods about her cancelling and it brings Keith to the sunset scene. That’s my imagination or theory on the date episode.

Plus looking back at Heart of a Lion episode— Keith could’ve told Lance to be careful, his attempt at being open and vulnerable. Could be platonic— who knows, Keith is just trying to open up more and had there been more accurate interactions between the two in s6, it makes sense for Keith to talk with Lance more as a norm— the whole “got your back” trope that’s building to a strong bond. Who knows, because the studio was doing fine in naturally building same sex relationships since Shiro and Adam were confirmed for the series.

Plus apparently Shiro came back with Krolia? That was the first idea but it was scratched cause they kept him anyway. Shiro is probably making his rounds to be captain of the atlas because what else can he do?

So they leave out to space for s8. Allura finds out Lotor may be alive and investigates— she finds Lotor and brings him back to the Atlas. I believe the scene with Lance and Allura in the medical room was suppose to be Allura and Lotor. Lance’s outline is similar to Lotor and in canon, Lotor is taller than Allura. The features are very similar.

Even on the festival episode, Keith and Lance are definitely checking the place out but Keith just isn’t the type— he still can’t relax. I do believe Shiro was meant to be arm wrestling because of his arm.

So anyway, Lotor wakes up and the search for Honerva and her plans are revealed. Lance is likely to doubt the plans because she’s a dangerous woman— which could be why Keith and Lance confide in each other and pretty much announce their bond will never change or they always have each others backs.

Now if we skip to where the atlas and Voltron combine— you’ll notice one of the face slides is larger than the rest. I theorize that Lotor was meant to be there. The end is where either Lotor and Allura say goodbye to the paladins or they get their parental conclusion and say goodbye to their parents to restore and rebuild Altea than what Lotor had planned in the first place.

It’s possible Allura was saying goodbye to Lotor or that whole kissing scene was added to make sense of Allura and Lance. MAYBE both have joined their parents— possibilities because the lions leave the paladins in the end and the galaxy picture of Allura and Lotor’s body.

Maybe Adam never died and found his way in s7, could’ve been imprisoned by Sendak instead of dead. So Shiro finally marries him properly in the end. If Keith and Lance were meant to be in a relationship then it would be hinted at Keith and Lance during Shiro’s wedding.

So many possibilities.

That’s just what my brain thinks of the heavy outline edits and sudden plots inserted from s3-s8.

Regardless— I still love what VLD is in the end but my brain cannot fathom obvious edits and out of balance inserts in story or character development plots.

There I said it all! I will now leave this behind me~

[stellarfool]

So ur telling Bob who is supposedly a cosmic entity probably k n e w  about it and yet he.just.fucking.made.lotor.do.that.dance.

While Fake Lotor was being an emo teenager, Real Lotor was fucking melting in the quintessence field

Well ain’t that hilarious :)))

[tamiyne]

au where lotor was too late

keith died in his BoM suit but obviously they would want to bury him in his paladin armor 

based on this painting of achilles and patroclus

[luvendiary]

Fic Recommendations <3

some fics that i really like and if you haven't read the yet, you totally should! i will update this regularly! feel free to recommend anything so i can put it on here!

Percy Jackson

Percy

the witch and the fish: the illustrious son of the sea is spending the summer in the hamptons with his family and unbeknownst to him an old friend is his next door neighbor for this summer.

talk to me: in which (y/n) gets hurt and says a few incriminating things while in pain.

my boyfriend: in which percy is the coolest person in the world— right behind you, of course

[14:20]

Various

how they would hold your hands

attractive things they do

characters as romance tropes

How to Train Your Dragon

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

dating hiccup would include

fluff alphabet

"what's all this blood?"

Various

dragon riders christmas gift headcanons: dragon riders open up their xmas gift from their s/o and it is a very detailed wood carving of them riding their dragon.

Criminal Minds

Aaron Hotchner

these will mostly be daughter!reader, bc i have a soft spot for hotch as a father.

if we had five more minutes...: (aaron hotchner x daughter!reader) hotch wishes he had five more minutes.

hotches daughter: morgan and reid bring you down to ask you some questions on a recent case, not knowing who your father is.

why: you mourn over the death of you adoptive mother.

they'd bring you back: you’re an unsub’s latest target, but your personality is way more than he bargained for. 

Spencer Reid

how to play the game

tear me apart: based on episode 23, season 7. where the reader gets caught in a bank heist

work song

roomate!spencer coming home after no one remembered his birthday

Voltron

Keith Kogane

i'm not going anywhere: you’ve been dating keith for about six months, but you’ve only recently met his group of friends. he’s worried that they each have more to offer you than he does, and his insecurities eat away at him until you calm him down.

imagine keith kogane breaking you out of a galra prison

dating keith kogane

bf keith hcs

lucky charm: teaching lance the ways of smooth flirting are very hard , and for keith , acting as your practice dummy is even harder.

allura´s sister: being the younger sibling to Allura meant no eyes were on you, that is until Keith met your gaze.

pain: even when fueled by pure fury and determination

lance´s sister: keith kogane finds himself being questioned by one mcclain to find himself answering to the other

keith with an artistic s/o

hc keith dating allura's younger sister

the five times he didn't

runaways: in which you and Keith are both runaways who end up meeting outside of a motel – neither of you have enough money for one room, so you end up taking a risk and putting your money together, buying one room between the two of you – despite being complete strangers.  

sunshine: Keith Kogane was insufferable. An absolute nightmare to be around. So why are you getting visions of him kissing you?

change of plans: now that Keith Kogane is a rockstar, it’s become very difficult to decipher whether someone likes him for him, or for his money. So, he’s decided to just stay as far away from love as possible. 

Various

reuniting when he returns to earth

paladins accidentally hurting reader

Harry Potter

Marauders Era

Remus Lupin

the girl with the books:  james and sirius notice that it’s not the books that keep remus in the library, and are determined to know whether you – the object of remus’s affection – return his feelings.

we'll never have sex: you’re used to boys wanting one thing and one thing only from you, causing you to be thrown off when Remus Lupin kisses you, just to kiss you. based off of “We’ll Never Have Sex” by Leith Ross.

heavy handed: your debut as the marauders’ new guitarist doesn’t exactly go to plan when remus gets handsy with you on stage.

bassist!remus x reader

remus giving a sweet little message before playing the song he wrote for you.

avoiding attraction

man: the five times you called them boys and the one time you called one a man.

James Potter

we deserve this life: your beautifully regular life with your husband years after the war

james bodyguard au

the girl next door and the five times she stopped time

Golden Trio Era

Harry Potter

imagine being wolfstar's daughter and having a jily type love story with harry

crash landing: harry accidentally injures reader.

Fred Weasley

always little wolf: while y/n and Fred walk home in the snow, the simplest conversation makes Fred sure of one thing, he's going to marry that girl.

in sickness and in health

George Weasley

broken people: reader has her memory wiped and george tries so hard to get it back.

care: you’re terrified for george after he loses his ear, but he seems less than concerned.

intact: ilfe goes to hell when your mother, who happens to be bellatrix lestrange, finds out you joined the Order of the Phoenix with your boyfriend. 

Theo Nott

the only heaven i'll be sent to (is when i'm alone with you): y/n and theo get dared to spend 7 minutes in heaven and interesting conversation ensues.

last kiss

theodore nott as your boyfriend

what's it like to be theodore nott's girlfriend

MCU

Peter Parker

celestial beings: there's a reason why peter parker can't keep his eyes off of you.

something to remember me by: reader and happy visit may's grave and peter is there. you don't remember him

daddy's got a gun: (tasm!peter x hotchner!reader) in which peter meets your dad - aaron hotchner.

just barely: (tasm!peter x reader) “okay, peter. are you afraid of spiders?”  “no.”  “then can you go get the one in my apartment?”

heated

Bucky Barnes

the bet: the agents at SHIELD have not taken well to Bucky’s pardon. When he’s injured on a mission under suspicious circumstances, you take matters into your own hands.

Narnia

Peter Pevensie

the golden witch: y/n returns to narnia with the pevensies and discovers something powerful about herself.

jealous confessions: war times are complicated and feelings tent to get overwhelming. when jealousy hits peter, he doesn't know what to do, you don't know what to make of it, and you two end up… "confessing".

an unexpected turn: your night took an unexpected turn when you follow after the high king during an important ball. you certainly didn’t think the stroll would lead to a fencing lesson.

Edmund Pevensie

taking care of you: edmund sneaks in to make sure his queen is alright.

set during the events of prince caspian

hearts are beating: reader discovers that she’s pregnant and tells their s/o, edmund

doing justly: edmund x servant!reader

traditions: edmund x princess from another kingdom

hidden kisses: reader is Caspian's sister and Edmund falls for her.

paper cut: every injury your soulmate receives, you also receive. when you finally meet your soulmate, you have a few bones to pick.

Caspian X

love and war: childhood bestfriends to lovers

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

VLD S8 – The Purpose of Lance’s Altean Markings, Allura’s Canonically Inconsistent “Death,” and Voltron’s Mysterious Interstellar Road Trip in the End: Are Things Really As They Seem?

Hello dear ones, I received asks to follow up on my previous post about Allura’s capability to live a very long life if she hadn’t died in s8. I’d mentioned in this post that Alfor had connected Allura’s life force to the indestructible Voltron, and that this had significant implications for Lance’s strange Altean marks and Allura’s “death” in s8. So this is me, attempting to follow up on those requests! 

Let’s start with those strange marks. It seems like a lot of us who have watched Voltron: Legendary Defender season 8 scratched our heads over Lance receiving Altean marks at all:

This event happens when Allura and the paladins are standing in the “connected consciousness of all existence”—which is this…Mother-Brain realm for every consciousness that ever existed ever. Allura is preparing to sacrifice herself alongside Honerva, because they both have to give of their energy to regenerate the fallen multiverse. Honerva is already accepting of this and already interacting with her dead family whose minds and forms are preserved within the Mother-Brain space. It seems, even so, Honerva is still alive because she hasn’t yet completed the foretold Wild Sacrifice Move of Ultimate Alchemy alongside Allura: 

The Big Boom of Life happens after this point, so there’s something fascinatingly screwy about this realm. The typical separations between the Living and the Death are just…totally meaningless. We’re actively seeing a living Honerva physically interact with the minds and forms of her fallen son and husband. And if this Mother-Brain location truly preserves the consciousness of all existence, then I suppose it actually makes sense to me that Allura and Honerva could still be alive themselves while also being able to interact with the Dead who are preserved within this realm…

But Allura—she turns to the paladins and tells them that they’re all about to experience a massive fragmentation from her. It seems pretty heavily suggested that she’s going to die. In doing so, she kisses Lance and then gives him Altean marks: 

And the first question I have is….whyyyy the marks? What the heck was that for? Because I think it’s really weird that she’d just give Lance the most visually identifying mark for her own species. At least, I think it’s weird on the surface. The more important question may lie within Allura’s motives...and that gets into some much larger implications for ways to view those marks and the show’s ending. Some of the theories I’ve seen about those marks:

Theory 1: Lance as Trans-Species to Preserve Allura’s Species and/or Allura Giving Lance Some Unknown Gift/Power

I want to bring this up because it appears to be a largely accepted theory that I’m now heavily questioning. I’m not sure who first vocalized this understanding of canon, but Neko Chicana offers the theory in their Youtube video “Why did Lance get Altean markings!?” The theory is that in Allura’s last-minute panic about dying, she was trying to ensure The Chosen Altean vibes got passed down. This would mean that Allura infused Lance with deep Altean powers to inherently change him from being human into being a trans-species human/Altean.

But I struggle with this interpretation, because…she already had an entire colony of Alteans, many of whom clearly were presenting with high quintessence sensitivity and would have been even potentially fit for Oriande. And it’s not like Lance was going to know how to apply alchemy without learning it anyway.

In terms of the transformation itself, it’s incredibly superficial. It’s a face-lift and that’s it, as Lance never exhibits any other features of a standard Altean. And not just from a visual perspective, but also from a physiological one. He definitely is not shown suddenly freaking out over having alchemy powers. He isn’t shown connecting with anything on the astral plane. I would even posit that he appears to be aging right alongside his fellow humans, given his more adult/less baby-face facial structure in the epilogue, just like everyone else:

This article here seems to contain a similar level of skepticism about a genuinely trans-species Lance. 

And what would even be the point of converting Lance to have a token visage of Alteans, if Allura knows that his true heart and soul lies with his human family? Just by Allura’s reaction of disgust to his rounded ears in season 1, it seems pretty obvious that other Alteans would see him as “other.” If anything, a trans-species interpretation overly complicates the show here and generally can’t provide a self-contained, meaningful reason for its existence at all. 

Theory Two: The Markings as a Token of a Lost Lover/Remembrances

Another suggestion has been that Allura gives Lance such markings just as…a reminder? Of herself? But I don’t feel this at all makes sense with seven previous seasons of her character behavior.

Allura is shown consistently trying to sacrifice herself and her things at all costs, without anything in return or demanding that people remember her. She did it in season 1 to regenerate a Balmera, knowing full well she could die. But we don’t see her asking Coran to sing a pretty song for her. She sacrifices herself again for Shiro, by tossing him out of the way of Galran soldiers, without even begging that he come back for her. She sacrifices herself in Oriande to the White Lion. She sacrifices her crown in season 7 to stabilize Shiro. She even gives up her dresses and her station as a princess in order to better fit in with the humans in season 7. It’s not inherent in Allura’s character to demand anything in return for her sacrifices, much less that she be remembered for them. As a matter of fact, she’s very particular about ensuring that other people get recognized for their actions, and she’ll often place her own good work as part of a “whole” accomplished by the many. Here’s an example from season 6, episode 1:

So here we see her raising up other people and their contributions rather than demanding some offering or worship for her actions.

Princess Allura doesn’t even hold a grudge for Keith being accepted as Black Paladin or Lance as Red Paladin in s3, despite the fact that she secretly cried over it.

So, Allura wanting anything in return for what she sacrifices, or trying to intentionally drag down someone’s spirit for her own comfort, is not inherent to her character. If anything in s8, Allura consistently seems to want the paladins to move on without her:

In response to the emotional distress of the other paladins, she doesn’t give them an everlasting token to memorialize herself, but instead gives encouragement for the future:

And even Shiro! He warns her that she’s about to become the multiverse’s most anonymous hero:

And Allura’s response to this?

So Princess Allura went into this s8 self-sacrifice, fully expecting that the paladins would keep her actions totally secret. She was completely and utterly prepared to accept the very reality that Lotor had threatened her with in season 6:

So literally the only reason in s8 that anyone remembers Princess Allura…is because the paladins choose to honor her memory despite her stated sentiments against it:

So…all of this is to say, I don’t think it makes sense to assume that suddenly, Allura would want to forever keep Lance from moving on. She’s literally handed them her blessing to move on, and suggested that they even hide what she’s done. It’s the paladins who choose to remember her. So I think there’s a lot of evidence to suggest against an interpretation where Allura was intentionally trying to mark Lance to be her forever-doomed lost love. It’s completely inconsistent with other surrounding details about who Allura is.

I think there’s instead evidence to suggest a new theory about these marks. And if anyone’s suggested this before, please feel free to jump in, lol. I’m like, 1.5 years behind the times here, although I did find this article that also would seem to support the theory: 

Theory Three: Lance’s Altean Marks as a Tactical Homing/Location Beacon, Strengthened by His and Allura’s Shared Bonds With Blue Lion

Before she casually walks off to her alleged death, Allura tells Lance, “I’ll always be with you.” And then she gives him the Altean marks:

While I think this “I’ll always be with you” statement has some classic lessen the hurt of impending death vibes, Allura herself actually states she’ll always be with him. How certain are we that she’s not being actually serious? That this isn’t an intentional decision to ensure some kind of ongoing link?

So backing up here, we know from previous seasons that Altean markings can glow, unlike the rest of their body. They appear to glow in response to external stimuli. For example, in season 5, Allura and Lotor’s markings glow because they are within the vicinity of Oriande and have a deep well of quintessence within them. And this glowy activity is discriminatory, because Coran’s marks don’t glow:

Lance’s own markings initially glow when activated by Allura:

So for Lance’s markings to glow at all, that means something is happening. It means that an all-new, external stimulus is making those markings react, and that the magic of it is active. And that Lance is now housing enough magic to react.

That article I linked to earlier suggests that perhaps Allura intended to use the marks as….a communicative link with Lance. However, in a full year since Allura’s disappearance, we see no evidence that Lance has been talking to a mysterious spirit!Allura. He seems pretty depressed, and everyone seems largely accepting of the concept that Allura is dead and also is incapable of interaction.

In which case, if you did have a link to a supposedly dead person, even if you wanted to keep it secret, wouldn’t you at least look a little more…happy? That they’re not actually gone? So something’s a little screwy there too, that makes me think Lance wasn’t in some kind of interdimensional communication with Allura.

But I do think Lance’s markings, and how they glow in response to external power sources in the final episode, suggest something about Allura’s state of being.

So let’s jump in. We know that Allura’s life force is inherently tied to Voltron:

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post of mine: Right in season 1, episode 1, Coran admits that Alfor has done some pretty wild alchemy. He physically connected Allura’s essence with the essence of Voltron—the single source of self-regenerating, infinite quintessence throughout the whole of the entire universe.

I don’t know if a person’s life force being personally connected to Voltron would confer physical immortality, but I do think there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that as long as Voltron exists, Allura’s essence would be preserved within it. And as we saw in season 6, Shiro was capable of interacting with other paladins despite his physical death, because Black Lion had preserved his essence….

All of this backstory and worldbuilding means at the very least that Allura was also capable of linking some part of her quintessence to Lance as well. And that, even if she hypothetically didn’t have a body on the material plane, that she would be very active on the astral one.

So why specifically Altean marks, then?

This isn’t the first time in the show that strangely powerful bonds have been made by the touching of faces and the transfer of energy around Altean marks. As a matter of fact, we might have even seen Alfor actively bind Allura’s life-force with Voltron, right here:

In which case, Allura was simply mimicking the work of her father as she knew it, but on a much smaller scale. Because she knew from her father that it was possible to bond life-forces, and for some reason, that alchemy trick appears to involve the face or else something to do with Altean markings.

So therefore, the activation of this marking “link” and alchemical bond might help to explain why Lance actually appears to be smiling with tears in his eyes when the Voltron lions fly away:

But why even Lance specifically?? What about all the other paladins she’s made connections? What makes Lance so totally special?

It might not be unintentional that, out of all the lions possible, the one to respond to some unknown activator one year later—with massive amounts of quintessence in the bond—is Blue Lion.

Notice that while the other lions are in flight, none of them are glowing like Blue Lion. There’s something inherently special about Blue Lion right now, especially given that it’s not even the leader of the pack.

In this scene, we see the paladins rushing out per all the ruckus. Lance’s markings start to glow:

And then the lions powerfully surge off on their merry, totally unexplained way:

So…in looking back at this, it’s interesting that Lance’s marks are shown glowing in ONLY two instances: 1) When Allura first activates them, and 2) When the marks themselves mysterious activate again in response to Blue Lion glowing outrageously blue, and the lions soaring off into space as well…

Is it a mistake that Lance just so happens to be the only other living Blue Paladin in the universe?

Allura’s life force might have been connected to the full of Voltron, but season 3 shows that her communicative/mental connection to it is through Blue Lion alone. Because Black Lion certainly had nothing to say to her, at the very least.

So Allura’s life force is connected to Voltron…Blue Lion responds to an unknown source of massive, pure quintessence, and then Voltron follows…Lance’s markings start to glow....

Could it be that in order to even re-locate Voltron and the paladins again in the larger scheme of the multiverse, Allura needed Lance’s connection to Blue Lion as well? To keep Allura in spiritual/mental communion with Voltron and with that universe?

With Allura gone and the Atlas portion of Voltron totally missing from Voltron, there’s the hint that possibly the Lion Musical Chairs event has undone itself and reconfigured once more. Blue Lion has re-accepted Lance, with Keith and Shiro piloting Red and Black. The lineup in the screenshot below would suggest that Shiro’s the one in Red this time, resulting in an interesting addition to the Keith and Shiro relationship arc. It suggests that Shiro is now back on the team as an established paladin, as the right hand of the Black Paladin, and is actively supporting Keith’s ongoing growth as a leader:

But if Blue Lion were Allura’s only true connection to “speak” with and interact with Voltron on a material plane, then it would make sense that she would intentionally connect her own life-force to the last Blue Paladin.

Lance, out of all of the paladins and with respect to this lineup shown here, is the only one who would be even remotely capable of ensuring this link in their universe (notwithstanding as well that canonically, Allura was in a romantic relationship with him, which might have something to do with this too, idk).

So what does this mean for Allura’s state of being? What’s exactly happening in this moment? Why do the lions leave their paladins? Is everything truly so pointless and nihilistic?

So Lance’s markings and the exit of the Voltron lions result in what I feel are two interpretations of the entire end of Voltron. And I think one is potentially more consistent with the overall show than the other:

Theory One: Allura Really Died/Shed Her Physical Body/Was Lost to the Material Plane After a Year of Hard Work

So, we do have evidence that the work to restore the full of the multiverse began pretty quickly, and that there was an explosive event to jumpstart it:

We otherwise have no evidence to support that this image meant the work (to restore every thread and all things within the threads) was DONE. Yet. It may have taken an entire year to regenerate the multiverse, which would explain the Voltron lions suddenly reacting strangely after that span of time. If we assume that Allura really died, then this would suggest that—with the overarching multiverses finally totally restored—her energy is spent up. She’s physically dying. And per the extinguishing of her own life force, Voltron….somehow can’t exist on the material plane without her? Because let’s not forget, the whole mecha is connected to her life force. So this interpretation would suggest that in her dying/being unable to remain on the material plane, Voltron itself has to die as well. This could explain why at the end here, they activate to go be with Allura and team in the shiny afterlife party in the Mother-Brain dimension. Lance may be crying here because he feels or recognizes the last of Allura’s energy slipping away. And it’s possible I was misinterpreting his smile earlier, because it’s, idk, maybe a sob.

And there does seem to be some canon support for a potentially permanent break between Allura and the material plane, as well as for why Voltron would leave:

But I’m really struggling to understand the deathy interpretation of these events at the end of s8, from SEVERAL angles, haha.

Strike One:

This scene would appear to blatantly and outrageously contradict previous show worldbuilding. To accept a “death” interpretation, one must also accept that s8 completely rewrites the inherent properties and behavior of quintessence, as well as show details that Alteans/Altean technologies more consistently function as conduits/capacitors of external energy sources rather than as massive batteries by themselves. The true batteries, even into season 7 with Shiro and Atlas, appear to be becoming from sources external to the power-wielder. This reality largely relieves the personal cost of any alchemical action/draining oneself, just so long as you have a powerful enough battery. In which case, given the resources and deep knowledge available to Allura and Honerva even in this apocalyptic moment, any action resulting in physical death feels...unearned.

If you’re interested in more specifically about this, I have a few other posts looking at these basic worldbuilding details:

Question on Quintessence and General Worldbuilding in     VLD S8

The Search for the “Bluest Quintessence” and S6 - The Most     Unnecessary Conspiracy In VLD?

It’s entirely possible I could be missing some information that would reconcile the s8 worldbuilding contradictions about quintessence and Altean energy back to the previous seven seasons. I suppose it’s possible that this s8 regeneration trick resulted in Allura and Honerva being physically unable to handle the amount of power they were conducting. But just after casually re-watching the show, I heavily question whether this is possible or consistent with everything else, haha.

Strike Two:

The concept of Voltron not being needed in a peaceful universe is nonsensical. So this show is telling me that a gigantic mecha capable of massive construction projects and space anomaly protection services couldn’t reorganize its paladins or get new ones, and transition to a new day job? Because Voltron has to exist in a combat theater only? This is wildly myopic, especially considering that Voltron already has a team of five who could pilot it again via a little game of musical chairs…and even the final lineup shown would suggest that Shiro had already taken over Red. I guess if the Galra aren’t attacking?? This must mean that there won’t be any civilizations in need of help or in need of being protected from imminent natural disasters?? At the very least, a new day job would be an incredibly meaningful way to convert Voltron from a war machine to a champion of the people. And it would still give the paladins a reason to come back together as a team and to exercise the bonds they’ve forged together as defenders of the universe.

Strike Three:

After this s8 scene, and even assuming Allura has physically died, Voltron existed before Allura got linked to it. And it existed as a largely infinite and indestructible source of energy. Even if Allura did die, the loss of her personal quintessence was of no account to its existence. The worldbuilding of Voltron as a mecha suggests it didn’t need her to continue existing on the material plane like it had existed before their alchemical link from Alfor. And even if she’d died, taking Voltron’s life-force with her away from the material plane, then why in the world wouldn’t Voltron just…totally power down? Become completely inert with the lights fading from its eyes? But then, oh wait, according to the last seven seasons, Voltron is supposed to be indestructible and constantly self-regenerating even when temporarily drained, so how could it power down forever? Even the concept that Voltron could physically destroy/remove itself from the material world to fully join Allura on the astral plane is an oxymoron.

And even if Allura’s life force was fading out and the Voltron lions are dying too, how in the world could Lance’s Altean markings suddenly even manage to glow in response to an active and powerful external stimulus? And why would the lions themselves suddenly be lighting up and capable of expending massive amounts of energy on a sudden, random interstellar space trip?

Even if the Lions themselves longed to reunite with its dead creator or its missing piece per their Allurian life-force link (despite them clearly not caring when Alfor died or when Allura got put in stasis 10k years ago), this show would have me believe that Voltron wanted to die or give up? And...for what? To lounge about in an afterlife Cabana for Retired Mechas, sipping quintessence drinks while the universe experiences ongoing natural physical disasters or anomalies that could endanger entire galaxies? What if more trans-reality comets fell from the sky? They appear to not be an isolated incident, and where there’s one, there’s usually more…What if that causes more rifts to open? And let’s just assume for a moment that those two comets are the only two trans-reality comets in the multiverse. I guess we can all sleep tight tonight because Voltron is unconcerned that the universe still has several weak stitches between it and the quintessence field, where dark entities and rift creatures roam? Lol, what?

Lotor even confirms these weaknesses in season 4:

“Zarkon believed Alfor’s plan to blow up Daibazaal and destroy the rift between realities actually worked. No one comprehended that the experiments of my mother, Honerva, could never be undone.”

Lotor’s statement here would suggest that after everything that’s happened, it might be even easier to break open rifts. But okay cool, time for Voltron’s retirement/death, I guess. Just leave a peaceful universe to be one day swallowed up and destroyed by shadow rift creatures, dark entities, apocalyptic comets, and natural disasters…

Everything about the Allura/Voltron death theory doesn’t make sense to me and raises more questions than answers. So let’s look at another way of viewing this ending!

Theory Two: Allura Didn’t Die At All—She Just Finished Working for the Year And Needs a Ride Home

The fact that Voltron survives and is activated into movement by an external source of massive, pure quintessence suggests that Allura is likely NOT dead and is STILL ALIVE. In this case, the astronomical undertaking of regenerating a multiverse still took a full year to complete. We do know there’s no major time slippage between the paladin’s universe and the Universal Consciousness realm, because the paladins were seen right back in the heart of establishing/confirming peace when they returned to their universe. And again, s8 also shows people being able to interact on the border between the Living and the Dead, so Allura simply existing within this realm should not be enough to kill her. Because life and death are largely meaningless concepts in this space where all consciousnesses are preserved.

So, if Allura is alive and just finished her work, then oop, now she’s stuck in the middle of Space Nowhere without a certain ride home. So who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters. Voltron is the only ship that Allura has a deep psychical and life-force link to, so it would be within canonical bounds that if she just helped resurrect the multiverse, then surely one hard-working princess could use Lance’s markings (her own life force) to relocate her own universe, and then use that bond on the material plane to call Voltron from across the universe to come pick her up, lol.

I really like this re-interpretation of canon for several reasons:

One, it feels a lot more consistent with the world-building and the overall tone of the show.

Two, it suggests a much happier ending where canon confirms—sort of like the Iron Giant (1999) ending—that Allura would eventually reunite on the material plane with the paladins.

Three, it suggests that there’s been a full one-year span of time where Allura and Honerva were both working together to restore the universe…while in the presence of and even interacting with Alfor, Zarkon, and Lotor, and probably a billion other dead people they thought were gone forever, but who were preserved in form and mind within the Consciousness of the universe. I feel like there’s just LOADs of possible content someone could get out of this. Did Honerva and Zarkon reunite? Did Alfor get to hug his baby girl again? Did Allura and Lotor have a major heart-to-heart discussion about the Altean colony and his quintessence insanity, and positively reconcile? Which, regardless of however you interpret what Lotor’s accused of, Allura had already…exonerated his motives and turned him into, like, a Joan of Arc figure well before she saw him again. And she even wanted Honerva to honor his memory by doing the right thing:

So there’s some clear signs that Allura and Lotor could have reconciled now that there’s no apparent quintessence insanity or witch shenanigans afoot... And it’s very likely that Allura might have even reconciled with the true, uncorrupted Emperor Zarkon himself:

 And in the meantime, what would the paladins of old be like? Were there other victims of this war who would have found it meaningful to interact in some way to obtain justice for themselves…or to obtain something more??

And this gets into reason four of why I like this re-interpretation of the ending. So canonically, mechas created out of the trans-reality comet are infinitely regenerating and indestructible. So not just Voltron, but also the Honervian/Sincline mecha. This suggests that Allura already had a ride home.

So why would Allura need more ships?

This interpretation has the potential to reverse all the painful deaths that happened throughout the show. The original paladins, the Alteans and Galrans who perished for various reasons...Alfor, Bandor, Lotor, Kova…even deaths we didn’t see.

And in calling Voltron back to her, is Allura maybe…planning to bring some new friends with her too? If she already has the Honervian/Sincline mecha to fly home, why does she need all five lions, anyway? Who would pilot them? Who else is waiting patiently in the celestial mind/heart of the multiverse to return to reality with her?

And reason five, on a simpler and maybe less galaxy-brain note, this interpretation provides a completely different context, however apparently sorrowful, for Allura’s canonical goodbyes:

Allura’s path did end here...at least as a paladin of Voltron. Because that position was temporary anyway. Restoring the multiverse was going to be an ultimate act. And there’s probably nothing after this that Allura could perform to outdo herself in saving things, lol. This is the height of everything she is and has worked for. She intentionally identifies this as her purpose:

“It is my purpose.”

Her action in s8 is the full and total culmination of everything she has learned and grown capable of doing since s1. Everything has been leading up to this. It’s her one chance to undo all the universal pain. And through restoring the multiverse, she’d be restoring balance in her own life too—to reconnect with her fragmented past, to give those from her past a chance to live in the new universe with her….

The other paladins, though—they were still needed in the meantime to confirm peace with the Galran empire, to convert it (however questionably) to a democracy, and to establish relations between Earth and other vast galaxies of people. Allura was not wrong that their paths as paladins had not ended. Because she needed them to ensure their universe would be truly at peace while she was up in the stars, working to restore and reconcile with all that had been lost in painful war.

And all of this would ultimately suggest that she would return to the universe, to the paladins, and probably take back the piece of her life force she’d given Lance that ensured a link with Blue Lion. Because…that homing beacon wouldn’t be needed anymore. Perhaps Allura would even consider decoupling the remainder of her life-force from Voltron, to fully reconcile herself to herself. To finally be whole and just Allura again, idk.

The only major problem with the “Allura is Alive and Bringing Some Friends/Family Home” interpretation is that...lol, the development team for the show doesn’t subscribe to it, at least not in any outward way I’ve heard. Based on their March 28, 2019 interview with Let’s Voltron, the executive producers talk about Allura like she’s dead. They say that they wanted to show sacrifice, the impact of death, and how important it is to honor the memory of the dead:

And we definitely feel it. There is a massive weight of loss and memorial in the finale here. Coran looks just this side of totally broken as he remembers Allura, and he didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. He reiterates just how much Allura means to the people still alive in this universe:

“For some of us she was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, and a friend. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family.”

The EPs have suggested that, like other shows, there may be ways to resurrect Allura, and there may have been happier endings possible. But again, please see the Theory 1 statements above regarding the massive worldbuilding contradictions when assuming that Allura had to die in the first place.

In which case, hilariously, the EPs have also expressed their interest in creative works that keep going, with plot tensions that require even supposedly dead heroes to return, as in this article here: 

“You can kill Captain America a million times and he’ll always show back up.”

So creator statements are just all over the place regarding the finality of “death” or even of “separation” in this universe. We definitely don’t get a body to prove that Allura is dead. And we also know that canonically, there is a place where the rift between the Dead and Living breaks down. And oh, by the way, Allura just regenerated entire multiverse strands that had been destroyed. So even if it’s not as simple as…holding someone’s hand as they step out of the consciousness realm, what canonical detail or limitation would keep her from resurrecting them herself? It is well within Allura’s canonical range to bring back all of these people without dying herself. 

Conclusion

Regardless of creator intention, the various contradictions in the worldbuilding itself make the angst of Allura’s death, the memorial statue, the lingering pain of the characters (oof, poor Coran and Lance especially), and all the interviews talking about Allura’s death feel excessively unnecessary. And at the same time, I’ve been very fascinated by what one can do with the details about the Consciousness Realm; the inherent properties of comet-based mechas, quintessence, and alchemy; Lance’s strange marks; and even the odd, last-minute Voltron interstellar space trip surging toward the Allura in the stars, with Blue Lion in the lead:

It appears that Allura could be very much alive in the final screenshot of her in the stars. Through Lance and their shared connection via Blue Lion, she’s maintained a homing beacon for her own reality, activated Voltron to complete a massive interstellar trip to come get her and likely several others—and now, she’s faithfully waiting in the Consciousness Realm with everyone, preparing for a family trip back to their resurrected worlds, in their trusty mechas.

I watched s8 on the day it dropped. I was in a daze about all of its wild and painful messaging. I wrote some unhappy metas about the sheer nihilism of this show. It’s taken me, lol, 1.5 years to actually go back and re-watch several episodes at a time. And I don’t believe this interpretation of the ending would fix every problem in Voltron: Legendary Defender. Sometimes, trying to make sense of this show feels like trying to reconcile quantum theory with classical mechanics, haha. So I’m sure one could poke holes in this post. And to even arrive at these conclusions, I had to throw out or reinterpret some of the worldbuilding and scenes, in direct conflict with the stated perspective of the show’s development team.

But even so...I derived most everything for this interpretation from the show itself. And even if the development team didn’t intend this happy ending of resurrections and reconciliations as I’ve suggested…it seems that this finale—at least while I’m thinking about it right now—is canonically possible and an attempt at consistency with the material provided across multiple seasons. It offers resurrections, redemptions, reconciliations...

Its ultimate message even genuinely coincides with the last episode’s title.

The End Is the Beginning.

And I really like that.

[misaverawrites]

Animation Masterlist

This is my masterlist for all things animation related, anime or Western animation. Fullmetal Alchemist, Aggretsuko, Castlevania, VLD, Clone and whatever else will be here! :)

Fullmetal Alchemist

Edward Elric:

Forever

Reunited

Headlines *REQUEST*

Making Out w/ Edward *REQUEST*

Coming To An End *REQUEST*

Tables Turn *REQUEST*

Nightmare *REQUEST*

Aggretsuko

Haida:

Gimme More

Castlevania

Alucard:

“Upon The Night” Series

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Keith:

Healing Your Wounds

Small Talk

Distant *SMUT* *REQUEST*

Lance:

The Naked Time *REQUEST*

Moonlight Dance

Allura:

Night Walks

Shiro:

Domain

Lotor:

Pregnant?

Treaty *REQUEST*

Reader making Lotor ice cream when he is sad *REQUEST*

Lotor w/ an artistic S/O *REQUEST*

Lotor reacting to his S/O wearing Earth clothes

Worth

All Paladins:

Paladins, Lotor, and Matt spending their first Christmas with their S/O

Paladins, Lotor, and Matt crushing on someone who is a political activist

Paladins having an alien S/O meeting their parents

Clone High

JFK:

Jacket

When I Knew *REQUEST*

Movies & You *REQUEST*

[1102pen]

WHY DREAMWORKS CUT OFF S3

BC BASICALLY ITS ALL GONNA BE THE END OF US