#I've really been enjoying these conversations and getting an alternate perspective from someone who toughed it out in the trenches back in

[kismetconstellations]

You're right. Keith lived on his own for at least a year in an environment that isn't exactly known for being particularly hospitable. He's far from a frail, weepy, and dependent child. Which is why I hate when the fandom, including Sheith shippers, reduce him to one. Especially so when they do it while emphasizing how "small" he is next to Shiro. It almost comes across as fetishy and makes me extremely uncomfortable.

I think Keith's maturity is, however, unfortunately undercut by his quick temper and impulsivity.

His heart is in the right place. He sees this great evil that has caused unspeakable harm, ravaging and oppressing innocents all over the universe, including his best and closest friend and the only family he has, and wants to put an end to it. He didn't ask to be enlisted as a part of Voltron, but takes his new role of Paladin in stride, even throwing himself into training without being pressed to do so by either of his commanding officers. But, the single-mindedness you previously mentioned, coupled with his hot temper, leads to him lashing out at Pidge when she wants to leave to continue her search for her family.

And, even suggesting not rescuing Allura when she's been captured, because he deemed it not worth the risk to bring Voltron right to Zarkon's front door.

He tries to be pragmatic, and his ultimate end-goals are noble, but he lets his emotion take over and cloud his better judgment. This becomes especially apparent in his early days as Black Paladin after Shiro was killed. He makes rash calls, pushes his teammates when they aren't ready or prepared, and refuses to listen to any of their objections until he's landed them all in hot water and openly demonstrated their weakness in front of Lotor.

He does learn from his mistakes once Lance calls him out on them, and it's overwhelmingly clear that he's in way over his head and still in desperate need of Shiro's level head and gentle guiding hand. There was legitimate potential for something meaningful with Keith's character. Imagine if the showrunners had followed the series tradition and kept Keith and Allura as the flagship couple, how special it would have been for the last Altean princess and the Galra half-breed who never felt like he had a place in the universe until he joined her fight to topple Zarkon's empire, to come together in a romantic union, solidifying the end of the animosity and bloodshed and the beginning of peace between their people. Or, if the staff had been able to fully develop the relationship between Keith and Shiro (platonic or romantic), instead of dropping it almost entirely in the final season.

Yet... as a direct consequence of the incompetence behind the scenes, Keith's arc of growing into his "rightful" (it was always intended to be his, but Shiro fit into the role so perfectly, and worked so hard to fully attain it, risking his life to cement his bond with the Black Lion, that fans were and still are justifiably angry at him being unceremoniously replaced like the bag containing yesterday's rubbish) position of leadership was repeatedly hindered and ultimately mangled beyond belief. Because the show's staff inadvisably killed Shiro, they had to figure out a way to bring him back, hence the invention and implementation of the clone plot. Then, Keith's voice actor, Steven Yeun, had scheduling conflicts that the VLD staff somehow couldn't figure out how to work around, resulting in Keith being abruptly pulled from the story out of necessity for a significant stretch of time before he finally returns. Having been aged-up and undergone two years' worth of character development offscreen, as a lame attempt to explain him becoming Shiro-Lite.

I think Keith absolutely strived to do the best that he could with the knowledge and skills that he had. Whether it was supporting or leading a team, fighting the good fight, or reaching out to a friend. He did try, and I can't fault him that. But, while I would never make the claim that he was "done dirty" by the writers with the sheer egregiousness of the callous, irresponsible, and I'd go so far as to say hateful mishandling that Allura, Shiro, and Lotor were victim to, it's still quite clear that they failed Keith, even as they meant to uplift and lionize him.

I want to talk, for just minute, about the amount of self-disparagement in Shiro's statement, here. He's grievously injured, ailing, and trapped in a tiny cave with creatures lurking outside, waiting for their next opportunity to attack him.

Despite this, he's been repeatedly assuring Keith that he's "all right", and inquiring after Keith's well-being whenever he hears Keith struggling over the comms. Then, Keith expresses his belief that Shiro's presence and influence changed his life, and Shiro agrees. On the grounds that he's actively made Keith's life worse.

Keith's response to this extremely concerning assertion?

Nothing. He hears Shiro cough, tells him, "Stay with me, Shiro," and that's it.

This is an example of exactly what I mean when I say that Shiro has no support system. His best and closest friend hears him say something seriously disconcerting while in a state of utmost vulnerability, placing all of the blame for Keith's current predicament on himself, which is objectively not true, and does nothing to refute him. No, "Hey. Stop beating yourself up. We're gonna be just fine". Or, "How could this possibly be on you? Did you purposely eject us from the Castle?". Or even, "When we get out of here, we need to talk about why you feel like you don't matter and something completely out of your control is your fault. It's not like you asked to be here, either."

Maybe I'm expecting too much from a young adult with his own trauma whose interpersonal skills have already been shown to be lacking. I know I expected too much from a team of showrunners who believed that dark content automatically equals mature content, and insisted on shoving as much disturbing subject matter and questionable to outright deplorable messaging as they could manage to get away with into a series aimed at children. Shiro was never meant to heal from his trauma. The intention was to kill him to pave the way for Keith to take his place as The Chosen One.

But, in this fandom's determination to woobify their favorites to the extreme based on said favorites' moments of insecurity, they seem to have forgotten that the most blatantly traumatized member of the cast is the most blatantly traumatized member of the cast. Self-loathing and passive suicidal ideation are every bit as much a part of that as Shiro's flashbacks and the fear-induced paralysis that seizes him when a repressed memory resurfaces from the dark corners of his mind to drag him under. And, he, too, deserved all of the sensitivity, care, and love that they believe their favorites do, which makes it all the more abhorrent that he was repeatedly denied it in this show's canon.