#Lotor and others get resurrected and redeemed?

[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.

[revengerevisited]

I’ve been really torn on this for a while now but since the Cruella movie is out I’m seeing a lot more... negativity towards sympathetic villain characters. And it’s like on the one hand I get it, sometimes a villain character is just a bad guy for the heroes to fight and doesn’t need a sympathetic backstory or redemption arc or anything like that... but I’m wondering if that only applies to ‘classic’ villains who already have a story (like Maleficent) and not newly-made ones? Because I’ve been yearning for sympathetic villain characters who get actual redemption arcs who also DON’T DIE for a long time now, and the only ones I can even think of are... Zuko, Viral from Gurren Lagann, and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who did die but then got resurrected. But every other time there’s a sympathetic villain I like, either they get redeemed but die (Kylo Ren, Greed from FMA), or are presented as sympathetic at first before suddenly being retconned revealed to be horrible murderous monsters out of nowhere therefore justifying the killing of them (Vanitas, Lotor from VLD). I guess I just want a sympathetic villain with a redemption arc that’s actually done well, and not like... I dunno whatever happened in those She-ra and Steven Universe cartoons I never watched but everyone complains about.

[neven-ebrez]

The continuing saga of narrative betrayal...

Back when SPN S13 aired I compared it a lot to Star Wars: TLJ. So I was very interested to see specifically how hand holding and touch would correspond to the final Star Wars movie. And OH BOY is the new movie a lot like SPN S15! There’s only one problem. The final Star Wars movie made a HUGE narrative betrayal. I’m on mobile so I can’t put a read more here but STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER SPOILERS BENEATH THIS PARAGRAPH!!

Touch as healing was a very important part of SW:TROS. Touch is about forging connections and mending that which has been broken. Touching, taking someone’s hand, is choosing them and choosing to care for them. We see it when Finn takes Rey’s hand in chapter 7. We see it when Rey doesn’t take Kylo Ren’s hand in chapter 8. And we see it when Rey puts her hand over Ben’s when he heals her near the end of chapter 9. At the heart of this entire series is how students become teachers. The past becomes the present then the present becomes the future. So onto narrative betrayal.

Using the Force to heal was visually introduced this week in The Mandalorian. And we now know why the episode was released early, because this ability would play a key narrative role in the final movie. Rey showcases this ability early in the film. She is rewarded when she does. Then she showcases it again after fighting Kylo Ren. She stabs him fatally then decides to save him. Two things are established: 1.) Healing is good and positive, and 2.) healing does not cost the healer their life. This is important. In typical student becomes the master format, structurally Kylo Ren (as Ben Solo/Skywalker) must then use it to save Rey. In TLJ they each saw a different future for the other. This vision of the future is experienced through the touching of hands. When Rey and Ben reach for each other a profound connection is made.

In TLJ Snoke says he forced their connection, but in TROS we see them maintain it. It’s much of the focus of the final two movies. They find each other with it. This living Force connection is said to have not been seen in a very long time. Rey teaches Kylo everything he needs to save her and then he does. And here is where our narrative betrayal comes and fortunately there’s enough of the ghost narrative here for me to make a solid enough guess why.

I believe when Carrie Fisher passed away unexpectedly that the final movie was forced to rewrite several key structural things. And one of those things is why Ben Solo had to instead die. In Dark Youth/Light Youth tales, the Dark Youth is usually saved by learning something explictly from the Light Youth. The LY is positioned to teach and the DY is positioned to redeem themselves by learning the lesson. This is sadly not what Star Wars executed. Ben touches Rey, heals her, then he kisses her and dies. It’s not *quite* as bad as what VLD did (at least Ben gets a heroic moment and we see him learn) with Lotor and Allura, but it’s the exact same relative betrayal. Ben was supposed to revive Rey in sacrifice, (maybe not kiss Rey, it doesn’t matter there one way or another; saving/redeeming =/= romance), and die temporarily but then get resurrected by all the dead Jedi. Instead we only hear the dead Jedi in one sequence when Rey fights Palpatine.

Since Leia doesn’t disappear until Ben disappears, this structurally links the change in narrative and gives it context. I think the kiss probably wasn’t in there originally but was added after the edits were made. Everything between Finn and Rey also feels edited as a result. The red flag for this is when Finn tells Rey he has something to tell her before they (almost) die in the quick sinking pit. He doesn’t get to tell her in time tho. Then! They survive. Rey prompts Finn to tell her what he was about to say but he says he can’t in front of Poe. This is never bookended. Rose is also sidelined without a real reason why. If originally they planned to continue the Rey/Finn romance on Finn’s part then this would make sense. In TLJ Rose’s structural purpose was to make Finn fight for more than just Rey. He never stops prioritizing her tho. The lack of bookend to Finn’s silenced confessional to Rey in TROS is a dead giveaway something was dropped/altered there tho. I can only guess this fragment of the final film’s ghost narrative remained in due to the fact that filming was likely already complete for this scenes and that suitable redubbing could not be made out of the plot situation they were currently in.

I just finished watching TLJ and we see Rey’s reaction to Finn caring for Rose’s injuries and she gives this a sad smile. I think originally Rose’s affection for Finn was probably more resistance hero worship and that her own arc was about learning to be her own hero. I think the romantic angle there was probably supposed to remain one sided. All this clarification seems to be dropped. Finn’s pursuit of Rey, to mimic Ben’s physical pursuit still shows up in several places tho. With the other ex-stormtrooper, Finn follows Rey across the dangerous water as she fights Ben. I think in the original script this character was likely Finn’s sister. Rey is seen protecting Finn from Ben but otherwise Finn’s physical pursuit of Rey here makes little sense unless we consider that originally it was supposed to emotionally lead into something else. Finn was always gonna be left behind whether he was on the shore or beside her.

Another thing that struck me as odd were the final bows. We see several romantic pairs. Some are unions (first queer onscreen SW kiss) while Poe’s is a story of rejection (bless). Then Poe and Finn are suddenly back in scene together for when Rey approaches. Since Poe was just left with his old flame in the shot before, this union should initially just be between Finn and Rey. Where Poe stopped, Finn kept going. So Poe being there again so quick makes no sense.

Both Finn/Rey and Ben/Rey are the last series’ key structural relationships. Equally important is Poe become a leader, a position he goes onto share with Finn. Of Rey’s two relationships one gets resolved structurally, while the other... does not. And the only good explanation I got for it is that I believe Carrie Fisher’s passing facilitated a rewrite that was unavoidable. In legacy, I believe the series decided to rewrite a good chunk of the final movie in order to focus more on Leia’s overall impact in the series as the past defined it.

For Voltron: Legendary Defender, Lance had a similar arc in the original S8 ghost narrative. Lance pursued Allura, then he was supposed to give her up to let her choose (and save) Lotor. Now. If you ask me if TROS did a better job with their editing than VLD S8 did I’d say YES. By a MILE. That doesn’t change the fact that each of these narratives ended up changing the exact same story now. And like with VLD, traces of the original remain and just couldn’t be removed at key points. If I had to guess, I’d say some Lando and Leia stuff was also removed, likely because filming never made it to that point. The awkwardness of Lando alone talking to the ex-stormtrooper girl feels strange, like some context there is otherwise missing. Earlier Lando tells Finn to give Leia his love and Finn tells Lando to tell her himself. Then he never gets the chance. It’s another missing bookend, dropped. When all the fighters are gathered for the final fight, it seems like maybe originally Leia was supposed to have gathered them through using the force to speak to them and convince them to fight. And Leia was supposed to do this by traveling with Lando.

I think originally Leia was probably supposed to teach Rey the healing, too. There is otherwise a focus on Leia as a fully trained Jedi and also on Leia as teacher. Having to drop and repurpose these plot elements, focusing on a Leia legacy narrative, over a full and complete “dead Jedi come together” narrative is reflected in the movie, again, still retaining both storylines. I think originally more dead Jedi should have appeared alongside Luke at different points. This conclusion comes from looking at the framing of Luke against unaccounted for narrative space.

And I’m going to be rewatching this movie tomorrow so I’ll try to get some photos about what I’m talking about. It’s clearly there tho. Finn being force sensitive is also dropped.

The comparison here to what VLD S8 did is uncanny. Unlike with VLD, I don’t think the narrative betrayal here was malicious. Just unfortunate and sad. Unlike with VLD, I think TROS managed to save most of itself tho. I at least enjoyed it. The trend of not letting the Dark Youth learn and redeem themselves and LIVE is a disturbing one, however. All this is just my theory btw. I knew Carrie Fisher managed to film some of the movie and I was curious going in as to how they were going to keep her in and maintain their original story. Well, obviously they couldn’t. I like all the movies, but I wouldn’t say I have a favorite character tho (except the porgs). So all of my opinion here comes without trying to see things a certain way. I have no shipping lens here. I just have an eye for things that lack narrative symmetry and/or thematic follow through.

Anyway. If you found parts of the movie to be strange or missing in some way, I think my explanation here may help fill in some blanks. And regardless of the reason the storyline exists the way it does, the trend of killing off the character that is supposed to be redeeming themselves isn’t a good look.

[EDIT] As soon as I wrote this I went looking for other opinions on this and found this Polygon article! This explains so much and explains why Leia didn’t have a new look for the movie. Her footage is repurposed from footage from Chapter 7/8. Considering everything, it’s amazing they salvaged as much of the original storyline (Leia as teacher) as they did.

I’m going to rewatch the movie assuming all this should have happened to see how much sense it now makes. This is just what I picked up on by watching one time.

[EDIT2] Okay then there’s this. It confirms what I thought. A person in the thread below this tweet mentions how Finn’s Force connection here could explain why other storm troopers put down their weapons in their respective village raids. Like, they could hear Finn’s distraught inner voice when it was all happening. It’s why Kylo Ren slowly turns and looks at Finn in chapter 7. Finn frees other stormtroopers in other words and the movie drops this off his storyline completely. First Finn runs, then he learns to be a rebel, then he frees his fellow soldiers. I still think Finn’s pursuit of Rey was originally supposed to also be romantic, but more than that she is ultimately his teacher.

I actually think the original script was probably more Finn/Poe friendly, with Finn ready to help Poe (using the Resistance) to free more stormtroopers. Poe learning Finn’s secret: his Force sensitivity, after all, is also cut, against the entire start of the movie showing them as a team. Poe was essential to Finn’s initial escape. They needed each other. Then Poe is essential to Finn’s new mission. They choose each other, completely. I believe that’s the proper bookend we should have gotten there. And it explains Oscar’s PR commentary on Disney company.

I’m.... there’s little they could have done here to salvage what I’ve pieced together of the original script. Not without Carrie. It would have looked great tho. Without her as (continual) teacher to Rey, much of the movie, the original script, sadly fell apart. Seeing how Finn/Poe as a narrative thread didn’t rely much on Carrie I think the editing here is a bit more malicious. I can’t prove that tho. I can only tell some of the outline of what originally should have happened. Finn gives up pursuit of Rey for choosing a mission with Poe. If TROS is to be compared to VLD S8, this feels like the equivalence of editing out Sheith.

[EDIT3] My bow commentary here is off. I remembered things wrong there. I’ve struck several things for my original post. I have a lot of screenshots now tho so I’ll write something more on this later once more time has past. Maybe JJ Abrams will talk about the rewrite process tho. I doubt the Finn/Poe stuff will be discussed, but I also don’t think it was ever intended to be textual, just subtextually coded. The repurposed Leia as teacher stuff tho, that may get discussed publicly. That one Hobbit actor looks to be written in to cover Leia’s intended plot explanations for why certain stuff is happening. Maz’ involvement, along with Rose’s was much regaled to this as well. Whatever their original storylines were, I believe they unfortunately got axed in the rewrite.

[larathia]

I’m just going to throw this out there.

If the S3+ Shiro is a clone, and he dies, Lotor is also quite likely to die.

The reason I say this has to do with the kind of story VLD chooses to tell. We’re not through the story yet, but we do know it’s set up as a three act narrative arc. Right now, we’re just nearing the end of Act 2.

Structurally, Act 2 is the low point for the heroes. It’s where nothing goes right, where evil seems invincible. It’s a point where what seemed a great evil is defeated only for something bigger and nastier to be found standing right behind it, and the heroes are already out of tricks.

Act 2 is spending the entire time beating Saruman only to find Sauron standing behind him. Act 2 is dealing with Death Eaters in hiding only to find out Voldemort’s just been resurrected. Act 2 is confronting Darth Vader only to discover Emperor Palpatine is now taking an interest. 

That’s where we are now. Defeating Zarkon hasn’t helped - it’s made things worse. Keith’s alone, Shiro’s losing time and made a puppet without his knowledge. Lance isn’t heard and Allura’s overruled, and the coalition and the Blades aren’t talking enough to prevent them stepping on each other’s toes.

It’s not all bad. Act 2 is also, narratively, where the elements that will ultimately bring the final victory start showing up. It’s meeting Faramir or the real Mad-Eye Moody. It’s seeing hesitation in Darth Vader. 

It’s Lance getting a sword form for his bayard, and Keith finding his mother, and Shiro’s spirit reaching out for help.

Kuron and Lotor are both in play, but currently both in doubt. Now, thus far, it’s been pretty reasonable to say VLD has a focus on redemption. The galra are culturally corrupted, but we’ve seen good galra and pretty okay galra; they’re not orcs, they can be redeemed as a people. Because of this, I’d suggest that it’s entirely possible that at the end of the series, Lotor is leading a rather diminished but reformed galra nation. Because that would be redemption for the galra people.

That doesn’t mean Lotor won’t betray the paladins, or the coalition. If you want to view it that way, it’s actually highly likely. The coalition as a whole is not out to save the empire, it’s out to destroy it. And Lotor may have as a goal saving the empire, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to have the best idea for how to do that straight out of the gate. He’s very likely to make wrong assumptions along the way.

But let’s be honest here. Take Lotor out of the picture and your best bet for a reformed Galra nation is Kolivan, and he doesn’t really do politics as such. He might be a good Trusted Adviser, but he’s not likely to wind up emperor.

However...it’s also possible that the end game of the story is in fact that the empire is destroyed. That the dominant political force in the end is the coalition, with the galra worlds either joining it or becoming a fringe unaffiliated group. And if that’s the case, there’s no need for Lotor.

Something similar, narratively, applies to the Kuron situation. Let’s just assume, for the now, that the Shiro from S3 onward is in fact a clone. What does the show do with him when he’s revealed?

Again, it all ties back to this idea of redemption. Kuron is not a bad guy. We can honestly say that, points where he’s outright controlled aside, he genuinely acts for the greater good. He’s less warm than Shiro, more a commander than team space dad, but he’s led the coalition pretty damn well. He’s got a solid string of victories under his belt. Yes, he’s also a spy for Haggar, but rather like Lotor, he’s not evil as such.

If the overall story of VLD remains focused on redemption, don’t look for Kuron to end up dead unless he chooses a ‘sacrifice self for greater good’ option. But if he does that, it’s not entirely unlikely Lotor will wind up doing something similar. Because if Kuron dies - and more specifically if Kuron is killed - the story isn’t about redemption as such. If Kuron cannot be redeemed, there’s not a whole lot of hope for the galra as a people.

Personally, I suspect Kuron will be redeemed. Hope is a strong central thread in this series; if it’s taken away it’s for a reason, and will be restored. Whether or not the ‘real’ Shiro returns, Kuron’s proven an intelligent and capable leader and the coalition can always use more of those.

Likewise...Lotor may well have the wrong end of the stick here and there, but ultimately, I think he’ll wind up at least broadly on the same side as the paladins. I mean, not that there won’t be bumps along the learning curve, but ...in the end, whether they’re friends or not, they’ll likely be allies.

[whattheklance]

The rest of my season 6 thoughts

OHMYGOSH

what a season

WHAT a season

the next chunk of writing, right below here, was from when i was on the episodes I was talking about before I finished them all

KEITH IS TALLER THAN LANCE after two years

ALSO that means Keith is 21 now, even if no time has passed for everyone else.

man. i think the only reason Lance was "oh look keith's back" was mostly his bitterness over lotor and allura. it's like that bitterness revived his original behavior around Keith from the beginning. even if keith is acting different.

I wouldn't have even thought or noticed Keith was bigger or had grown if fucking LANCE hadn't pointed it out. of course lance is the first and only one to notice. not even in person but via a screen

i also forgot about the cliffhanger already that keith and krolia had found an altean. that d&d episode kinda wiped it from my brain.

and lotor had me fooled too.

though before i started watching i had read someone's post who pointed out how much lotor always told the truth but would lie through omission. not sharing any details that would paint him in a negative light.

is the tenderness he's expressed with allura also part of the lie?? cuz that seemed so genuine.

OHHHHH MYGOSH OHMYGOSH

one of my theories was RIGHT. that the shiro who returned to earth was ALSO a clone!!!

when keith first walked into that room with pods, my FIRST thought was "are all of those Shiros????"

AND OHMYGOSH they were.

when i saw the title of this episode was "the black paladins" my first thought was "does this mean not only keith and shiro, but MULTIPLE shiros will be in this episode???" AND YES. ugh yes.

i don't care that i was right. cuz this was like one of HALF A DOZEN theories i came up with.

i think original shiro NEVER returned to earth

which possibly means that haggar let the blades release A shiro because 1) it wasn't the real one and 2)she might have always intended him to be a paladin.

but i am REALLY attached to the clone shiro we got to know and love and I PRAY that we get to see him again.

and i jumped to a conclusion too quick up there. though a theory of mine was STILL RIGHT, a slight variation on what i just said. I know I have an old post where I theorized that Shiro disappeared because he BECAME ONE WITH THE BLACK LION

AND OHMYGOSH THATS WHAT HAPPENED

it's funny. there was a huge theory going around that something like that could happen to lance and the blue lion, even though there weren't really any solid grounds to think that would happen. But that's what happened to Shiro.

After Keith talked to Shiro and truly bonded with the Black Lion thanks to him. I thought we'd have to say goodbye to Shiro it REALLY felt like he wouldn't be coming back. Like we'd lost him already back in season 2.

and then them having to sacrifice the castle of lions, their home away from home. was even more loss on top of that.

so when we got Allura putting Shiro's spirit from the Black Lion into the clone's body. My heart was swelling. I was so relieved. And I like that it turned his hair all the way white. kinda like when Gandalf the Grey "came back from the dead" as Gandalf the White.

There were SO MANY wonderful beats in this season. Lots of signs of REALLY great storytelling

But I can't help but feel like someone took the great story the team wanted to tell and condensed it way too much. You can still see the elements of what they planned, but lots of important parts felt too rushed

We already know that netflix or dreamworks mandate forced them to bring shiro back a whole season sooner than the creators wanted to. I can't help but wonder what other mandates happened that limited their plans.

The WHOLE Shiro story was a thrilling concept and had some good beats in it. But it also happened a little too fast. Like, Lance's interactions with Shiro in season 5, I felt like that should have led somewhere instead of being dismissed. Even if they wanted the betrayal to seemingly come out of nowhere and surprise the team the way it did, they could've had Lance travel a little ways towards the truth, but have something happen that causes him to dismiss it. It also would’ve amplified his grief upon the betrayal happening, like he could’ve prevented it.

hell even clone shiro. Gonna call him Kuro from now on. He suspected something was wrong. That’s why I thought we were going to get SOME kind of investigation/test, even if it was limited to one episode ANYTHING. i would’ve taken ANYTHING of that nature.

I really wanted Kuro to have some sort of agency beyond his programming. For him to possibly get redeemed or something. I mean, he resisted. He wanted to resist before Haggar forced control. But in the end he was just a device for conflict, and a deus ex machina to resurrect real Shiro. kinda bummed we didn’t get any other clone shiros beyond the sleeping ones in the pods. I liked the idea of a shiro army, good or evil. But maybe they were just empty husks to be used by haggar when one breaks.

It'd be awesome if this wasn't the end of their story, and Shiro in the new body actually had Kuro's voice in his head or something, kinda like 80's Rogue in the x-men with Ms.Marvel's voice in her head. But sadly, it kinda of feels like this is the end of the Shiro Clone Saga.

More on the whole rushing good plot points. The whole reveal of Lotor's true nature with Keith returning. It felt very abrupt, and it didn't help having the D&D episode separating the cliffhanger of Keith and Krolia finding an Altean and the reveal.

Still, even though it all happened faster than I wished, all the beats with the Keith vs Shiro, and Keith discovering real Shiro and unlocking the Black Lion, and even his two year time gap, experience with the Blade and with his mother, crafted him into a confidant fighter who could finally take the lead in voltron, vastly opposite of his pre-blade self. I feel like this character arc, even though it was still too brief init of itself, makes up for some of the lost development from when Shiro should've been gone longer. We wanted to see the new team develop more than we got to. So it was really satisfying seeing them come together now, and feeling like we really saw Keith transform since he last piloted the Black Lion. Even though we had a long keith shortage with seasons 4 and 5, they still managed to have key episodes that developed his arc that led him to who he became in the finale.

though i'm relieved we got original shiro back, i feel like his being brought back was rushed too. Like, I get how that type of scene feels right for a season finale, especially with the fight and losing the castle of lions, but I wish there was more time and development between Keith's discovery of him and his actual return at the end.

KEITH GOT THE GALRA mark from his straining to hold onto his life and Kuro's. I almost was expecting him to fully transform into a galra form of his own. Maybe that's in his future, cuz I think everyone wants to see something like that. I hope the gang comments on his mark in the next episode (did anybody get Star Trek (2009) reboot vibes in that scene?? i feel like there was a scene with Kirk and Sulu that was very similar action-wise with the whole collapsing planet-to-space structure)

Man, so this season Lance had to deal with his Allura feelings and losing her to Lotor. Then Allura had to deal with having her heart broken from falling for Lotor then learning how she was used. Ever since Lance faced his feelings he hasn't been the flirt towards Allura anymore. I hope it stays that way. I love Lance and I love Allura, but I really hope the writers don't take us a romantic route. Like if they did start to do something like that, I'd keep my fingers crossed that its purpose would be to show one or both of them that they aren't right for each other. Like, try to get together only to hilariously fail and decide against it. like Rachel and Joey in friends.

They didn't do anything with Allura presumably learning Lance's feelings from the mice. i’m surprised. i was a little worried when that happened. again, i feel like that not becoming anything could also be a sign of omitted story points.

THEY'RE FUCKING GOING HOME

and i can't help but think how we have seen neither hide nor hair of Sendak's coalition since the episode they fought and ran. They're fully functioning. a huge danger. And I remember reading a meta post after last season talking about how sendak understands better than anyone that to beat voltron is to threaten innocents lives, and to ultimately defeat voltron he'd threaten their home planet. A planet incapable of defending itself against galra tech. He even re-demonstrated those tactics AGAIN this season with the galra shield base. As if to remind us he does that...for next season. where the gang goes home only to find sendak's taken earth or something. or at least has a blockade to threaten it.

this season seriously delivered. Razor's Edge, I stand by as being the best episode of the series thus far. But man The Black Paladins episode was on par with Keith's Blade of Marmora reveal episode in season 2, which I put in the top 5.

Good season, despite the fact that possible executive mandates possibly limiting the writing all around felt VERY visible. Even if it's never confirmed for the things I felt were rushed. I feel like I can see that it’s there. I feel like I can see the story they want to tell, and then everywhere I feel was rushed was like an artificial constraint that forced them to cut something out of the story they want to tell.

Cuz it feels like, from the sheer quality of beats within the characters' arcs, anyone, who could craft what we've already seen, would understand the appropriate amount of story needed to properly depict it, and do it justice, but it's like someone who doesn't have the same understanding has told them to make it shorter, cuz reasons. And that’s how we got the end result

PS. i wonder if Kuro’s sheer blandness as Shiro playing D&D was a reflection of his programming. He couldn’t be inventive or imaginative, and his sole purpose was to be a paladin, to infiltrate, so that’s what he chose every time, constantly the same character. Cuz I feel like real Shiro wouldn’t play the same way. Of course it was funnier having that kind of character, but I really think that might’ve been for that purpose.

[myupostsheadcanons]

Dissecting Predictions I made in S4 (Dec/January 2018).... Or: How I guessed most of what was going to happen

Vrepit Sa: Waking up the Past.

The salute likely started off as a “cry for help” from what ever fragment left of Zarkon’s old self that is rattling around the back of his brain screaming at the brick wall at what had been going on. The Salute is a language nod by the writers of the show, it means “Wake Up” in Romanian. (Was he trying to tell Honerva to wake up?)

This turned out not the case. Even if the meaning of the salute in our language means one thing. The Salute in the Galra Empire meant “killing thrust” and a homage to a great battle that was won in the distant past.

Their abrupt personality change after waking from death and their total focus on gaining power and more quintessence brought forth the popular theory that the original personalities of Zarkon and Honerva are not in control. There are aspects of their original personalizes that are active, but with several of their negative traits amplified in intensity.

This is confirmed. As it is shown the dark creatures did in fact infect their bodies and change their wants/desires. We see this when Pre-Rift Ghost Zarkon is revived in the Spirit Realm, and grief over learning what had transpired between his death and being revived. His memories were frozen since his death resurrection as he was aware of what he had done up until that point.

What would cause them to and/or how would they wake up? That is up in the air.

The Zarkon that was possessed died and was basically reset with a backup from the spirit realm. Haggar went to Oriande....

“Why should they wake up?” is another question entirely. We’ve seen the “bigger bad” the creature that is part of or is the thing controlling their actions. With the introduction of their past, their previous personalities, and the creature from the rift: Zarkon and Haggar went from being straight-up the villains of the show to “antagonists only because we have no choice but to be.” This sticks them on a path that means they could be redeemed. Zarkon as the “fallen hero” and Haggar is the “atoner.”

While we have seen the rift creature return, it was in its smaller pieces. it was being used by Honerva to control the other Alteans rather than be the end-game villain.

And to go back on parallels in the story, because it was Honerva’s actions that caused Zarkon to risk their lives and the lives of billions to save her. It is likely going to mean that Haggar is going to be the one to “wake up” as Honerva first and save Zarkon from the path that he was set upon.

Kind of true. Zarkon died, so was stopped that way. Honerva did manage to “save him” in a sense that she had his uncorrupted spirit on back up in the mind-scape that did come back and help put an end to HER path of destruction.

Another thing is ‘What is going to happen after they wake up?”  Which can be broken down onto several paths and some paths can overlap:

1) They die closing the rift, destroying the rift-creatures, and saving not just their universe but the multiverse. Correcting their mistakes of the past.

The most straightforward ending, tbh. With the fewest loose ends.*** (more below)

This.... is basically what happened. yay me.

2) Allura and Keith, they are going to need help.

Allura has nobody that can help her with her powers. Alfor already stated that Honerva was the better alchemist than he was. Allura has the raw power, but not as fine control; Honerva has control, but not as much power. Honerva is also the only adult female Altean left from her era that has any knowledge about Quintessence. Allura  has to go to another universe to find any more Alteans.

And Keith is still having problems accepting command and if Shiro finally does “leave”… who else would there be to help Keith with the Black Lion?  Keith, in the end, is meant to be the better Black pilot than Shiro, and Shiro is flatly overwhelmed sometimes by how many powers Black still can unlock. Just think about how far advanced Shiro would have gotten if Zarkon wasn’t sabotaging him the entire time. Then of Keith being helped rather than hindered by that same force.

This was basically addressed in seasons 5-7. As we are introduced to Oriande and Keith spends over two-years with his mother Krolia. I basically forgot Krolia was going to be a thing when i wrote this post.

In the end all the old paladins returned to help the team. And, Shiro’s experience in the spirit realm helped them greatly when it came to connecting with Voltron and later with Haggar’s Mind.

3) Lotor kills them.

This can happen in a few ways:

-Lotor becomes corrupted by the Rift Monster around the same time Zarkon and Haggar become un-corrupted. They all go down together.

ALMOST. But rather than stop the rift creatures, it was to restore the multiverse that Honerva destroyed just because she couldn’t get her way. 

-Lotor has plans to destroy Voltron, the Rift Monster, and His Parents: taking out everybody in his way to sitting on the top of the shit pile.  If Zarkon and Honerva wake up and switch sides to help Voltron in their fight against the Rift Monster: that is only causing more of a problem for him… He pretends to be playing along only to stab them in the back, literally.

Didn’t happen. But Lotor’s goal of destroying the Galra and reviving Altea was later taken up by Haggar. So his motivations were rather clear. And he did become corrupted and died in the rift.

-Lotor can’t handle the abrupt change. He only remembered them being good and loving, but because he had spent so much time in the darkness becoming a snake-in-the-grass to just survive, their personality change creates a different conflict of interests. They don’t agree with how he does things underhandedly, which is brings him back to square one (they didn’t agree with him when they were evil, now they don’t agree with him now that they are better).

This can be exacerbated by if Zarkon and Honerva have to help out Keith and Allura. It would be plain jealousy on his part. That his redeemed parents are acting more parent-like to total strangers and inadvertently pushing him aside in the process.

Most of this is garbage. I meant to say “he never remembered them being good and loving”... but this was a very long post and i don’t have a proof reader.

Allura turned out to be quite the Knight Templar. And while her “holier than thou” attitude burned bridges with Lotor: she was able to convince Honerva to sacrifice themselves to hit the cosmic reset button.

I was making wild guesses as to what could happen at this point ... which explains the next segment:

4)  They stick around to fix the Galra Empire from the top down.

AKA: The Rainbows and Sunshine ending, or The Galra Christmas Carol. A complete subversion of what happened in GoLion and DOTU to the characters (they all died like the assholes they where). I mean, if you go by Voltron 3D Zarkon was pretending to be good for a while to save his skin. If he actually did become good, stay good, and survived that would be a slight nod to that plot line. I mean, they did borrow the Quintessence thing from the “haggarium” plot line that Voltron Force’s Lotor had.

It would’ve been nice... but wishful thinking.

“Classic Story Conventions” dictate that the First option must happen to end their story. And at the same time, it is kind of boring, over used, and everybody sees it coming from a mile away.

Yep. 

And the problem with taking out Zarkon, Honerva, and Lotor out of the story all at the same time would leave the Galra leaderless. They have spent the past 10K years at war, everybody with any claim to a piece of the Empire is Militaristic and thus would create a great Civil War with the massive power vacuum. It is why Haggar stuck Lotor on the throne in the first place, he had the most legitimate claim as Zarkon never disowned him even if they didn’t like each other and Lotor got kicked out.

This is exactly what happened. Before we even knew what a Kral Zera was. This was what was going to happen.

***Now at the same time, Lotor’s kind of a dick. He’s going to have a lot of problems if he has to fix the empire by himself, or with too much non-Galra outside help. The closest he could get is if the Blade of Mamora step up and get inserted into key command positions. Between the Blade and if he can win back his General Squad, he could have a solid power base and a buffer between him and all the zealots that exist in the current Galra chain of command. His reputation would need to be carefully maintained. As in he can’t pull off something he did with Throk… he can’t just send every Commander, General, and Captain that he disagrees with out to the asshole of the universe, and he definitely can’t just kill them: That would be worse when you are trying to keep an Empire from falling apart. He needs to be seen as merciful and fair, and not just pretend to be. He will chafe and squirm if he has to play the goodly but stern ruler for the rest of his days.

Lotor was pretending to care. And look at what that got him. But if he did everything the way he should have, we wouldn’t have had conflict in the first place.

Do you know who wouldn’t chafe and squirm under the reins and actually want to act as the goodly but stern ruler? An un-corrupted Zarkon desperate to fix what he created within the Galra Empire. Zarkon also has a lot of clout he doesn’t have to work for to get. “Just because I say so,” works much easier with him than if Lotor was in charge. He’s already got the reputation of being a hard-ass, if he wanted to replace his entire command staff on a whim few people will argue about it, nor challenge him on the issue. 

If only.

Also think about what kind of chaos would happen when all the quintessence-powered machinery suddenly stopped working? It would be a massive scaling back of military might in seconds and riots will erupt everywhere. Without some kind of centralized command center rogue factions will quickly overrun the Galra bases and what is going to stop these people from just murdering their captors? The Galra command will have to work in tandem with Voltron and Alliance in order to prevent/stop these insurgent forces from causing mass panic and spilling Galra blood in the streets.

This is what was going on. The Voltron Coalition’s plan before Honerva derailed it was to stop the Galra from fighting and conquering among themselves. But because Voltron and Lotor vanished for 3 years, they were not around to prevent it from happening.

Part of the current arc of the series is to get others (and the audience) to see the Galra as people and to show that there are Galra willing to fight against the corruption in their government. But, prejudices and the idea of “privilege” still persist and most Galra in command are still asshats that need a someone to grab them by the bootstraps and make them fall in line. Lotor isn’t going to be able to do that.

It also helps that the Galra Command basically killed themselves. Not withstanding that Haggar gathered them all together at a Kral Zera and murdered them.

The ultimate goal is to dissolve the Empire into a Republic or Democracy and scale back their territory so the local residents will be in control of their own systems. The process will have to involve finding the Galra a new home planet and a territory to call their own. They are currently spread out all over the universe, living on other people’s planets, in other people’s territories, or on base-ships in massive flotillas out in the middle of space. A lot of what spurred the Galra to rise up and fight the war was because they lost their home, they could have stopped after Altea was destroyed if they were just out after revenge, but they didn’t. Revenge didn’t fix the fact that they were now migratory and most of their society was now living on warships or on other planets as refugees. It even took the Blade of Mamora a while to go “Oh, hey, this is stupid and pointless.” before they broke off to do their own thing.

A Few THINGS:

The Empire was dissolved into a Republic/Democracy. After the command offered to give it to Keith first and he refused it.

With the cosmic reset button Daibazaal and Altea were restored. So the Galra have a home again.

Kolivan and Krolia, leaders of the Blade, are basically their President and VP now.

Food for thought.

< / meta >

GO ME. I could’ve practically wrote this show.