#altean culture

[hibiscusseaart]

Altean families hcs

Heya! I'm not stopping. Twi thread

Warnings: 18+ (mostly cuz biology talk), Half-altean Lance.

I am gonna start with alteans and their structure. I believe that alteans are quite matriarchal. We don’t have enough clues about it in canon, but from what I see, mothers are quite the leading power.

Honerva was unstoppable and she stopped only when SHE wanted (tho destroying realities, like she got what she wanted) and Allura talked to her. Plus she got Zarkon wrapped around her finger before going mad and even a lil after that. Imagine her not being evil. Jeez what a woman she’d be.

I believe that Melenor might be the Queen by blood and Alfor entering the family by marriage and becoming a consort. Why? One of the main reasons is that Alfor never ever wears any kind of crown, while Melenor and Allura always do. Also you can see in this screenshot, Melenor sitting next to Zarkon - the sole emperor of Daibazaal - closer than her husband, who is friends with said emperor, meaning Melenor has higher status than her husband.

Though, here, she’s standing on the side. But he is not a King for nothing right?

But it can say nothing about alteans being matriarchal. I hcs them like that, cuz it seems fitting for them to put mothers and families on a pedestal.

So, now I’ll start to explain altean process to start a family. I already explained their courting process here (вставить ссылку).

Alteans can only get pregnant when both partners want it and it can not happen by accident. Conception is actually considered a very special process and even a ritual in Altean culture and is not considered like something dirty or full of lust. It’s usually something very-very gentle. Though usual sex is kinda stigmatized and they mostly don’t talk about it. Yeah you have really slow social progress, when you live in monarchy and your population lives for more than 600 years (that’s around Coran’s age and he considered as middle aged man).

Getting back to pregnancies. At conception, a portion of quintessence from each partner is fused to form child’s. It’s a big strain for future parents cuz it’s literally part of their life force is gone to their child. Because of this, they rarely have more than 2-3 children.

This ritual is counted as the 1st day of child’s existence. So birthday counts from the conception date. Also, because of their huge life spawn, they count their age as centuries. For example, “I am 17” means that the child is 170 years old. They’re considered as a minor till their 250 birthday. Modern alteans can, basically, live forever until they’re killed (im pretty sure that they have tech to change DNA (also this shit is controversial as hell, but i will talk about it when i get to write about politics). But they can look old, like Alfor did, because of stress. Stress is their kryptonite in that case.

(also i suspect that Altea has a shorter year, being closer to it’s sun)

Oh, also, a little biology: alteans deffinetly have different sexes, looking at their bodies, they have pretty obvious sexual dimorphism. Though, knowing how advanced they are (thanks for changing DNA tech) and their abilities for shapeshifting, they probably can easily change how they like it and have a child. They might be like some kinds of fish or lizards, which can change their sex when needed. Like they’re born as hermaphrodites. but for some alteans male hormones are stronger, for some female are (and i’m pretty sure that they have their own hormones, they’re aliens after all, i’m just using this terminology for better understanding).

Anyway, mothers for alteans are the ones who bear the child and feed them later (and they def feed some kind of milk, why else would alteans have boobs? to store quintessence there?). And they are quite the heroes/heroines, cuz babies take a lot from alteans, mostly quintessence, I think. But physically too. I think that they can have longer pregnancies. The reason humans have their babies for 9 months and even then the baby is helpless and can’t even hold their head, it’s cuz the head is so big and if it’d grow more it’d be a big problem for mothers in the stretching department. But alteans don’t have that problem with shapeshifting so the babies are bigger. Maybe a lil smaller than Allura on the screenshot.

So because pregnancy is really taxing, it’s exactly why they prefer to have multiple partners, so they can help each other (looking at you, Coran). Also I think alteans could have little traditions, like giving a pregnant lady some presents or flowers, even if you don’t know her well. Pregnant one is a really precious one. Alteans if stress (kryptonite!) can easily have a miscarriage and it’s always devastating for them. So they try to avoid any bad news during pregnancies.

sidenote: it’s weird to refer to a pregnant altean solely as she/her, cuz alteans can literally alter their biology. who knows, maybe it’s alfor who gave birth to allura. we will never know.

(but, according to my hcs, we know, cuz allura calls melenor mother and that means that she was the one who was pregnant with her.)

So the next thing is really important for alteans and their families. As you well know, alteans have a deep connection with quintessence and can kind of control it. Each family has its own little “lake” of quintessence. This lake keep them all connected to each other, mostly emotionally. They can’t read each other’s minds, but it’s easy for them to sense a mood and feelings in general. I think, it’s the same how the Lions communicate and connect.

This connection is really important, because it can help all members of this lake to feel needs of altean mother and then children’s needs. It also helps them to feel their quintessence more clearly and develop empathy.

A child is accepted into family’s lake when their quintessence grows stronger and detaches from their mother’s completely (at first it’s really intertwined and helps mother to take care of their kid). They have a traditional ritual for that and it’s held by the most magically talented member of the family. But it can also happen naturally, if the kid is close with everyone in the family, tho connection will be a bit weaker, because no one leads kid’s quintessence in the right place.

The acceptance ritual usually happens at their 5-10 year (it’s really early for alteans if you remember their lifespan). If not accepted, then the child will feel unwanted, abandoned and in general will be very restless and prone to stress and depression.

If someone is not accepted, they’re not considered a real family. The marriage is all about future spouses to get this connection with each other.

This connection can weaken though, it’s not permanent and needs refreshing. Usually it’s enough to just spend time with each other. But it’s highly emotional and if someone doesn’t want to be connected, they link will break.

Now let’s talk about my baby half-altean Lance >:)

So, Luis and the others are not full siblings. Luis was born from the human, when the others were born from an altean who happened to get on Earth somehow (i know how, but i wanna save something for my long ass fic which MAY be translated if I could find a beta). That altean and Lance’s mom have had Marco and Veronica. But the altean didn’t expect that Lance’s mom would have 2 eggs. Alteans do not have that at all. A little later after Lance and Rachel were conceived, he died of the quintessence strain. On Earth no one really knew why.

But well, these two were never accepted in the lake with his father, Marco and Veronica (these two didn’t even know about being part-alien), so they grew up with diagnosed ADHD and self worth issues.

There we step into more of the AU territory, cuz Lance is known as altean much earlier, maybe before s 2. Coran and Allura are estatic. They were so used to their big families always buzzing lake, so felling only each other was really lonely. So Allura accept Lance as her own brother (yeah, Allura was that much uninterested). She did use a little too much magic because of her inexperience, so Lance got his marks and his ears started to change (cartilage are softer and can be bend easier).

He started to become more altean in general. Like he isn’t disgusted by food goo anymore for example and gets stronger easier. He can’t shapeshift, bc human bones, but he can change his skin color. It was weird af for him to feel Allura and Coran as he feels his lion, but it did helped him a lot with his ADHD and worries. Plus he got a new sister and, kind of, a new dad? Or Uncle? He’s not sure. But it’s the closest to his family he ever had since they got into space.

Thank you for reading! Hope you like it! Please let me know what hcs do you have about altean or maybe galra families!

[star-racing]

I think having all the alteans be dead at the start of Voltron was a missed opportunity tbh, I know they were going for a sole survivor thing but I think it would've been so interesting to actually see Allura as a leader of her people for literally any amount of time

[klanced]

people like to joke that keith is a mcr girlie. but i think allura would have a religious experience if she listened to ‘three cheers for sweet revenge’

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Day 6: Galra Allura

Tags: @loturaweek2024 Species swap, alien culture, Galran Empire, helping someone you dislike and hating it the whole time, deep seated propaganda/brainwashing, touch starvation

Read on AO3

Prince Lotor was an embarrassment to the Galra name and species. Everyone knew that. To even touch him was to risk being polluted by the filth that tainted his bloodline and made him soft, pathetic, vulnerable. To associate with him? Was to practically volunteer to join him at the bottom of the pecking order. He was alive only because he had half-inherited his father’s martial prowess (and how powerful was the mighty Emperor Zarkon, that even half his strength should best any Galra that challenged Lotor!) and because Galran custom forbade even Zarkon from ridding the universe of his own child.

Allura knew that.

Allura was a good, dutiful, honorable, hardworking Galra. She was proud, as all Galra were proud, she was fearsome, as all Galra were fearsome. She was cutthroat and coldhearted—and maybe that was a lie.

The smell of blood was not foreign to her. She’d spilled plenty of it, herself. His shouldn’t move her. It was good, she justified to herself, that she concerned herself with the wounds and wellbeings of other Galra, for Galra were all as one, united under their glorious emperor, and to uphold and uplift the Galra around her was to uphold the empire as a whole, she self-rationalized. But Lotor was only half Galra, his blood tainted with Altean genetics, she shouldn’t care if he bled, if he ached, if he hurt, if he gasped as he rolled himself onto his knees and hand, the other wrist too damaged to put his weight on.

Really, she would be doing him a favor just for walking by. If she just strode past him and the unconscious bodies strewn around him, hell, she should be concerned about them, not the one left standing (or, well, kneeling. Getting there).

…Maybe, since he was half Galra, it would be alright if she half-cared?

She didn’t ask or offer, simply walked up to him, got his good arm slung over her shoulders, and lifted. He growled at her, and she growled back, not exactly happy about this either (damn her soft heart! A Galra should be better!), but his anger settled into confusion when she merely pulled him to his feet.

“...To what do I owe the honor?”

“Can it,” she snarled. “Let’s just get you out of here before any of these fools wake up and try for a round two.”

Because yes, that was it, they were the fools. Everyone knew Prince Lotor inherited half the emperor’s strength, it was their fault for thinking that they could best even that.

As a group.

Against one man.

She grit her fangs. Life wasn’t fair. Of course Galra didn’t play fair. It wasn’t honorable, exactly, but she doubted this was an official challenge for anything. And how did a prince get picked on this much anyway!? It was embarrassing for him.

“I rather must admit, I had thought when you approached me you intended to finish what they’d started.”

“If you keep chatting so much, I just might,” she snapped, with less heat than she’d intended. The line of his arm across her armor was distracting (it was always distracting) (she had yet to shake off the childish need to be touched outside of battle. Shameful). It was distracting her. This was a distracting situation.

“...Thank you.”

“Please,” she muttered quietly, “don’t ever mention it.”

And, see, again, Allura was distracted, it was a distracting situation, she wasn’t thinking about where she was going, because she’d just finished her shift and had been heading back to her apartment, and in lieu of actually taking Lotor somewhere her body just. Finished the trek home.

She stopped in front of the door to her room, very clearly in one of the residential halls, very clearly embarrassed with herself, even with her downturned ears hidden by her helmet and her blush underneath her fur.

He laughed, damn him, a soft, breathy, barely-there sound. “And where, precisely, has my valiant savior taken me?” Lotor asked, teasing and very knowing and sounding quite amused, the bastard. She shoved him off of her into the wall.

“You know I’ve had about enough of your sass!” she snarled, fangs bared, and he laughed again, louder, though his eyes were sharp on her, treating her like a threat. Good. She was one.

“Forgive me,” Lotor said, still sounding amused, if cautious, “I’m afraid my mouth has played the culprit in many of my altercations. I just can’t seem to control it.”

“Perhaps you should learn.”

“Perhaps.”

She crossed her arms and huffed, then. Well. Conceded in looking away first. It bristled, to be the one to look away from Lotor, embarrassment of the Empire, but she could admit she was being just slightly ridiculous (she’d been the one to bring him here, after all), and even if he did take advantage of the deliberate show of weakness, she doubted he could do much against her, down a wrist and limping like that.

“Your breath seems caught enough,” she muttered, still turned away. “You can make your own way from here. I’m going to rest.”

She slammed her hand down on the ID pad and her door slid open for her, allowing her to storm in.

“Wait!” Lotor called, soft but urgent, and she stilled in the doorway, cocking her head to look at him and her lip lifted just enough to snarl with one fang.

“Please, at least tell me your name.”

“...Allura. Now go away.”

The door didn’t slam behind her, just neatly closed like it always did, and she found herself resenting the emotionless metal for its lack of force. Good riddance. She was supposed to be enjoying a varga or two of personal time before she slept and went back to work the next day. Not dealing with stupid princes and their stupid faces and their stupid injuries and their stupid, breathy, lilting laughs that sounded so soft and inviting and their stupid smug faces and stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

Her face burned as she stripped off her armor, flinging it roughly at the armor stand. Whatever! She hoped she never saw him again!!!

(Except she did, she did, she wanted to see him. Stupid. Pathetic. Weak Allura).

[lilflowerpot]

Hey there Flower! I hope all is well with you and that you’re having a wonderful day💜 I wanted to send in an ask because I recently had this realization and did some research and found out that the act of crying is a “uniquely human trait”. This got me thinking if the galra cry too? Let me explain a bit, so as far as I know other animals are capable of shedding tears but it’s not an emotional response so much as there might be something wrong/in their eyes.

We’ve seen that alteans can cry! But I wonder about the galra because I don’t believe we’ve seen any of them cry (not even Krolia).

I wasn’t sure if you’ve been asked this before or not and I tried my best looking to see if you have but the only post I saw relating was about the differences in galra/human anatomy and it did mention their eyes!

So with this information…can galra cry as an emotional response? If they can’t, what’s their reaction to humans doing it?

(Also please correct me if I’m wrong for any of the statements I made! I’m also aware that you’ve mentioned before that we will be seeing “Lotor tears” in the future of LB but we could say that he’s able to cry because of his altean half?)

Okay so first of all I love you for diligently scouring my blog to see if I'd already answered this question (I have not) your consideration is greatly appreciated ♡

Secondly, while I was aware than humans are the only known organism that cry from emotion, and we do indeed know that Alteans can cry as proven by s1ep09, I hadn't really considered whether or not the galra are a species were in the same boat,,, only that Lotor himself has to be because not only did I have him become teary-eyed in the most recent chapter—

“Is that enough?” the question scrapes ragged and ruinous against the silence that surrounds them. “Truthfully,” the prince admits, “I do not know.” and, with a start, Keith realises that summer-sky eyes are near as glassy as his own, “Though, if anything is to be your downfall, would you not rather it be love?” - Little Blade, chapter 24

—but I have Plans™ for his future that demand it.

That being said, when I think about it, it really doesn't make an awful lot of sense for the galra to cry from emotion due to Daibazaal having been such an arid planet that any unnecessary loss of fluid would have been a distinct evolutionary weakness for them, and so would likely have been evolved out (if ever it was something they were capable of in the first place). This, of course, begs the question: what displays of sorrow/emotional distress do the galra have?

As a direct result of this ask, I've once again expanded upon my galra body language post, adding to the "bad noises" bullet point:

Though they cannot cry tears as humans do, the galra expression of grief is—according to those who've heard it—one of the most harrowing sounds in the known universe; the drehvi is a distinctly mournful vocalisation unique to the galra people, taking the form of a raw, guttural, bellowing wail that stems from deep within the chest cavity and can be heard from up to half a league away.

If you can imagine the noise a bear might make upon suffering a sudden but mortal wound, and that sound echoing across an otherwise silent valley devoid of all life,,, that would be the drehvi.

So........... on that not-at-all-heartbreaking note, you also asked for the galra reaction to humans crying, which I am going to keep much lighter (because I am internally weeping now goddammit) so I'd have to say it's likely a mixture of confused and alarmed, because the human is,,, leaking?? Are humans supposed to do that?? Their breathing has also become remarkably erratic and hiccupy which is almost certainly Not Good if they do not regulate their oxygen intake they will DIE because humans are SMALL and FRAGILE, but they are also not currently in a state to explain themselves nor how to help??

[im-smart-i-swear]

BITCH ASS MOTHERFUCKER!!!

oh yeah have i ever mentioned that buddy is an artist? and that its a pretty imoprtrant part of their character?? yeah sorry i kinda forgot to say anything about it

this is them like 5-6 years after ‘the black paladins’ btw. hes doing ok! definetly not stellar and its gonna take a lot more time for all of them to adjust to, yknow, not livng in a fuckin cave. theyre all staying on eenek’s dad’s ship for now. its a bit crowded but it could be worse!

my loser child who works at a space walmart or somewhere like that<3

[pan-withnoplan]

No because y'all weren't kidding when you said season 8 was awful

[jimiscribif]

Do you guys ever think about how in Altean culture pink symbolises honouring fallen soldiers, so Allura being born with pink markings meant she always doomed to become a fallen solider??? cause I do and I don't like it

[hibiscusseaart]

Galra courting and relationships

Hey, I decided to make a whole article about it to get everything in one place and not just a twitter thread.

Warnings: 18+. Mentions of ruts, heats, a/b/o dynamics. Mention of almost non-con (nothing happens, but if that triggers you, I put a warning before that paragraph). Includes some of half-altean Lance hcs.

Galra counting in the nutshell: Klance relationships at the start (s. 1-2). Really competitive, rival-like, fighting all the time. Galra believe that every strong relationships starts with a hint of hate at first (kismesis *cough*)

A bit biology for the start: I consider galra, like humans, have two different sexes. One which can fertilize, one which bears kits. But it's okay for them to have same sex relationships. Couples like that considered to be one of the best nannies and every pack with kits wants at least one same sex couple with them. They're the best nannies cuz they usually don't have their own kits (if they didn't find or stole one (yeah that happens)), so have more time on them, but have all the urges to care for a kit. Unmated galra usually don't have interest in kits much.

For galra it's important that their mate would be able to protect them and their kits. And it's not only "males should protect", no, females also strive for their own strength. They need to be strong in case something happens to their mate and they need to tend them and take care of their kits. But it's hard so that's why they prefer to have a pack before having kits.

So ideally both galra should be equally strong for each other. If they are, they're considered as perfect mates. If one mate is much stronger than the other, then they're can be seen like they're using the weak one. Also the weaker one can be seen as lazy or shady.

In general, out of courting, galra fight each other a lot. It's the way they build their status and hierarchy in society (like alpha, omega and that shit, but without mpreg lol). Tho, being just strong isn't enough, they also have to be smart too, but it's a bit less important. No one listens to you if you’re weak, but smart. So weak galra search for some stronger friends or a pack (but not mates as I mentioned before) who can help them to make others listen.

Yeah, talking about a/b/o things. Galra aren't very emotional species. But they can understand other's mood with body language and scents. Keith got that part in him. He may be considered as an autistic human, but perfectly normal and even really emphatic galra.

Unmated galra show off their scent any way they can, so they can find someone who likes it and they try to start courting. Though, don’t be mistaken with abo pheromones and their sweet scents. Galra sweat and stink like humans. For some this scent would be too strong and disgusting, for others it’s sexy as hell.

When two galra like each other’s scents, they start to fight a lot, mostly physically, but a good banter is welcome, cuz it keeps relationships interesting. If one of them is weaker, the other can offer to help them. It's part of their flirt to ask to spar together and help with training.

So when they satisfied with each other they can have their final battle, sometimes with their family watching. Galra don't have weddings, though this battle can be considered as one. It's important for them to get a tie, but to show their best and not to hold back.

But it's not a must and not most of galra follow that tradition. The battle is mostly for warriors or high-status commanders. Usually galra satisfied with play-fights and just get closer as romantic partners with time.

When it's done, the pair is starting a serious relationship. And it's final. Galra mate for life and won't look at anyone else until their partner dies.

So, galra romance. They bite. A lot. They can kiss, cuddle at later stages of courting, but bites are saved only for mates. Also, they fall in love only when they are close to be mates and for them love at fist sight doesn't exist. But crush at the first fight? Hell yeah.

When they're mates, galra start to scent each other. They have big gland at the nape of hair (yeah, where the mullet is), lil glands near ear and jaw, armpits, between fingers and at their groin. So yeah a lof of places. It's important for them to smell as their mate. Scenting each other can bring them a lof of comfort and helps to de-stress.

If one is known to be mated, but doesn't smell like their mate (like after the shower or just sweated a lot) and just smell like themselves, they can be considered as a whore, who's trying to lure others with their scent.

It's mostly social thing, they don't have any instincts about it, but bc of that mated galra prefer to smell like their mate, perfume or not to smell like anything at all. Close analogy would be our rings after a wedding. Better to be there, but if not then sheesh, why are you trying to hide that you’re married?

So yeah, if you're mated galra, you better not to be smelly. But bc of that they're quite neat and thoughtful about their hygiene.

After galra mate and start regularly to scent each other, they go into the 2d puberty. Before that their body considered as a teen one. That means: not yet fully developed at their full potential and really low libido. But don't not mistake them as human teens, galra brain is almost done developing and they act adult. Though galra prefer to be mated sooner than later.

2d puberty is about starting to even have a libido and have it high, being with their mate a lot and growing larger and stronger. Also they start to have regular cycles of heats and ruts (3-5 days per 2-3 months). That's the only time when they can have a kit. Cycles are usually synchronized but if not, it can be helped with meds.

The first heats and ruts are really like in the messiest a/b/o fics, but with time and when the puberty ends, it's mellowing down and they're quite ok to control themselves and even go to work at this time (but it mostly depends on their own biology. Halves don’t have it that strong like pure-bloods). They're attracted only to their mate after all so no one really cares. The only problem is not to smell around much.

So yeah the first few years are the "honeymoon" years, when the pair have much more higher chance to have a kit if they’re common male/female pair. Same sex couples would get an urge to care for children of their pack or any baby they find.

Though even with that they're quite okay to leave their mate for long periods of time. It's caused by their evolution. Ancient galra would separate with their mate to find food for quite long time. But they are still okay with being around a lot and living together, they just don't miss each other much, don't long to be together all the time. They're quite fine knowing that the mate is alive and maybe some text messages or video calls would be good.

So separation anxiety can be ok only for kits and their parents. And openly missing your mate after like 1 week of separation would get you strange looks from galra.

That's why Krolia left her mate so easily. But it was harder for her to leave her kit (plus Keith was MUCH weaker than usual galra kit and Krolia had a lot of anxiety bc of that). Parents are much more hesitant to leave their kit even with other parent or members of their pack. Galra are very caring parents and prefer to have their kits with them most of the time. Zarkon is quite a deviant here.

So Keith and Lance would deffinetly get strange looks and Krolia would be concerned cuz "It's unhealthy to depend on each other so much". For galra their relationships would look like that annoying couple who shares accounts and goes EVERYWHERE together and are miserable and check their phone 100 times per second to see if they send them a new message.

Oh, about jealousy and cheating. Galra usually don't cheat at all, they don't have hook ups or something like that, they're extremely loyal. The problem lays with the other species who don't mate for life. If they do, galra can easily be turned into crazy yanderes and would try to remove "the problem" and get their mate back to them. Or if the mate tries to "break up", heartbroken, they can kill them and end their relationships once and for all. Yeah, they are dramatic.

Getting back to Klance.

Basically Keith and Lance already married and Keith is a REALLY jealous partner. But, we’re gonna start from the beginning.

Keith was fucking SURE that Lance was flirting with him from the day 1, but he didn't really done much with it because:

a) Lance should prove himself first;

b) Keith's shy. It's the first time when a cute boy flirts with him just in the right way after all! But that what he thinks, on Earth people were constantly flirting with him, but it went right over his head.

So when they got together, oh boy, they are fucking inseparable. Keith would cling to Lance like his life depends on it, but would be really shy at first. But when he got over it, Keith would start to bite Lance A LOT and to scent him like a mad man. Keith have smaller glands, he doesn't have a big gland oh his nape, but a few smaller ones there and near jaw, also usual ones everywhere else. But because his glands are smaller, his scent is weaker and it takes more time to build up his scent on Lance.

He always cuddles Lance when they have time and rub his face all over him. Lance is like "ok that's prob some keitn/galra (depends when they started dating) thing" and just reading something or play with his phone while Keith rubbing his face on his neck, biting it and purring the whole time.

i've got a fanart of Keith scenting Lance! thank you!!

One time Lance went to breakfast with almost fully purple-blue neck.

The team obviously panics.

"WTF DID SOMETHING BITE YOU ON THE LAST PLANET??"

"Nah, the 'thing' that bit me is hiding in his room"

"What"

"Well, Keith BETTER be sorry and embarrassed, it fucking hurts!"

Coran let Lance use a pod for 10 mins. Keith was hiding for the rest of the day.

Also Keith’s possessive af and jealous of every alien who looks at Lance the wrong way. Keith doesn't really know why he acts like that and he almost thinks that he's going crazy. But once they meet some friendly galra (or maybe Krolia) they explain to him that he's going through 2d puberty and it's only starting.

(Non-con mention here)

Yeah, Keith is actually starting to go crazy with his high ass libido and first ruts. At first, Lance is amused and quite horny too so it's perfect for him. Though, it wasn't really fun, when Keith tried to get into Lance’s pants with force once cuz his dumb hormone brain thought that Lance is playing and not trying to get Keith off. But Lance is quite capable to wrestle him down. If he didn't Keith wouldn't even got interested at the first place.

(Okay you're good now)

They talk and discuss their limits and it's quite okay next. Though Keith would deffinetly get this "I’m a monster" mindset for some time after what happened. It would take time to get comfortable with this kind of thing, cuz first ruts are quite brutal.

I won't go into any details with galra anatomy here, but Keith deffinetly have a knot (though it's not big due to human half of his biology). Lance sure is scared of that, cuz they don't have anything for this kind of sex in space, plus Lance didn't do anal before. So they stick with other activities for some time. Though who knows what they'd do next. In his rut Keith doesn't care if he's the one giving or receiving, the important thing is orgasms.

With his mate and time Keith starts growing a bit faster than in canon. He got grizzled much faster and Lance's LOVING it. Before Keith had a "teen" body, like almost none body hair. Guess what now. He can grow purple beard (he doesn't cuz it looks dumb) and has hairy legs, arms, chest. For him it's uncomfortable, just he lived without it quite fine, thank you. He prob would like to get it removed lol (Lance's against it cuz hairy bf hot and sexy).

In contrast Lance doesn't have hair on his body at all cuz of his altean heritage. Alteans, like an advanced race, just removed that shit from their DNA.

Oh, funny thing: Galran word for "mate" translates on altean as "life-partner" and that thing translates on english as "husband/wife".

Imagine the team surprise when on some meeting with Blades Keith just casually says "Oh, Lance's my husband" when they ask him about it. (For galra Keith is quite young one and marmorites are like "What? You're already mated? Isn't it a bit too soon?" so that's why the asked Keith why Lance smells so much like mated galra.)

"Wow, babe, at least give me the ring first"

"Huh? Isn't it a bit too fast?.."

"You just said that I'm your husband!"

“I said that you're my mate!"

"Well, you see, number 4, galra mate for life, so you can say, that you're already married"

"..."

"Say what now"

"Okay… but we still need a wedding for my family, they'd kill me if we don't! And I want a pretty ring! I have size 9!"

And Keith after his first embarrassment is just like "Well, I did wanted to marry you anyway..."

"JGUHGUJSHUF KEITH"

Krolia would have lose her mind (internally cuz she has a reputation) about it and def go to threaten Lance and give him a shovel talk. Not-galra mates can be not really loyal after all.

"You, human, threat him well"

"You, the mother that left him, threat him well yourself!"

Krolia thinks that she likes her son's mate.

Well, that's it, don't have anything to wrap it up. Though, I could talk about Klance and kids. Keith would def have an urge to steal some galra baby to take care of. Sometimes it'd be hard to convince him to give the baby back to their parents. Plus they're at war and Lance is like really not ready for that kind of shit.

But if this is all after s8... They could start a family with baby galra on their hands.

Thank you for reading this long text! Please don't be shy to let me know your own thoughts and hcs!

[rizavii]

me personally I think the galra Keith reveal should have led to relentless commentary from allura but not in the way you think

have you ever been around a black friend during bhm or on juneteenth? yk how everything is lightheartedly met with "really? during black history month?" can you imagine the leverage allura has to get what she wants?

"wow keith... I can't belive you would deny me this...." [places hand against forehead dramatically] "it reminds me of how..." [heavy sigh]

"allura :("

"goodness, it just reminds me of how I'm denied my home by the empire...."

"allura please :("

"you know, this phoeb actually used to be a celebration of altean culture? you'd do this to me? during Bullshit Fake Space Holiday Month?"

"allura it was a pastry please im sorry :("

trust it's all in good fun dkdjdl. but also allura totally gets everything she wants because who is Keith to deny the prettiest princess in the universe.

[kickis-conan-king]

I want a Voltron fanfic that uses the ideas of the “humans are space orcs” thing. Like why were humans of all creatures mystically chosen by the universe to be the paladins this time around when last time a different species entirely were assigned to each lion? Oh, I’ll tell you why. Humans are pursuit predators-they have perfected the kind of stamina required to hunt down a 10,000 yr old empire. As a species they managed to stick around long enough to evolve sentience not because of any particular advantage they hold over the rest of the beings on earth but bc of their sheer ability to survive. Good luck killing these guys, Zarkon. Humans are naturally primed to pack bond which is why these paladins are able to form Voltron immediately and it’s part of what makes them so dangerous. Earth is a planet of many cultures, unlike most of the planets seen in the show which for simplicity’s sake seem to have one planet wide culture. This exposure to so many different cultures makes them exceptionally good at forming alliances-perfect skill when leading a war effort. They are inventive, able to digest most anything, able to live through broken bones, and come from a hell planet. Evolution basically made the perfect kind of creatures to pilot the lions. The Alteans are also from a hell world but they developed things like shape shifting and super strength and quintessence sensitivity to beat it-humans didn’t do that. They did something else and it’s far more terrifying.

[harukamitsuki]

Okay... I am currently back on my Voltron bullshit and continuing my rewrite of Voltron. And I'm constantly reminding of HOW MUCH I HATE LANCE.

Don't get me wrong. I am still treating Lance fairly in my fic, making sure he gets screen-time and a proper character acr and stuff.

But by GODS. This man pisses me off so much and that's only made worse by his stans. I was scrolling through Keith's tag here on tumblr. I also have Kl@nce filtered out. I cannot see a single post without at least three pages of scrolling and then it's only ONE POST. AND IT'S STILL KLANCE BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN TAGGED CORRECTLY.

Anyway. Onto the actual things I hate about Lance and not just his fandom.

Lance is a fucking asshole. I mean that on the deepest level. Let's go through it chronologically because I cannot rank it from least to most assholery, because some things are on the same level.

1 - Allura wakes up from the cryopod and Lances catches her. She's confused and dazed and the first thing you should do is ask if she's alright. Oh, but Lance is above that. Instead, he flirts with her. Karma given immediately as she calls his ears hideous and puts him in a submission hold, which is why I kept that scene in my fic, but that was still wrong. I know it was played for comedic effect, but that doesn't make it not canon. It's canonically accurate that if you've awoken from a coma, Lance's first instinct is to flirt with you if you're pretty.

2 - Literally throws Hunk into the middle of a battle. I get that Hunk was supposed to leave the Lion anyway, but just shoving him out when there are lasers everywhere and Hunk has no protection? Yeah. So much for 'best friend'. Add on the fact that Lance never really treats Hunk like a friend. At all.

3 - Okay. Season 1 Lance isn't bad outside of those two examples, even if he has his dumb moments, so let's jump to Season 2. Starting shit with Keith for no reason. People can go 'oh, Keith obviously did something to him at the Garrison' but he DIDN'T. The writers themselves confirmed that Keith did nothing to Lance, he just started shit with Keith all the fucking time. Like accussing Keith of wanting Blue and cutting him off when he tried to explain what was actually happening, even though Lance is the one who was outraged initially that Keith had Red. Or how about Lance getting up in Shiro's face and screaming his head off about how Keith would rather kill people than listen to them, as if he knew Keith at all after bullying him the entire time.

4 - Okay. This one pissed me off the most and is the biggest reason I'm making this post. The fact that Lance used Shiro's death/disappearance against Keith. Keith outwardly expresses his lack of desire to become the leader and accidentally let it slip that Shiro wanted him to do it. To which Lance is all 'convenient that you say that when Shiro's gone'. What. What the fuck. Stans really say that Lance is precious but how the hell are you justifying that? A blind man could see how much Keith loves Shiro, and Lance has the fucking gall the say that Keith is USING his death/disappearance for a position he doesn't want? He didn't even apologise for it. He just told Keith to suck it up later on. This is one of the reasons I hated Lance as the Red Paladin, the others being explained in an earlier post of mine.

5 - Oh, yeah. We're not done. Because after Keith, it's Allura. Allur@nce is probably the worst ship that could have happened, apart from Kl@nce. If you wanted a straight ship, how about what was canon for the past Voltron series? Kallura? Anyway. Yeah, Lance treats Allura like a prize instead of a person. He's posessive in a way that he has no right to be because they were not together. He glares at Matt for flirting with Allura, something he only does once. He gets mad at Lotor and tries to stop them from spending time together, EVEN THOUGH LOTOR IS HELPING ALLURA AND BONDING THROUGH ALTEAN THINGS. HELPING HER KEEP IN TOUCH WITH ALTEAN CULTURE. In Season 8, he literally yells that it should be Lance and Allura?? What a fucking weirdo?? You can't claim that you're destined to be with someone without being together. That's not how healthy relationships work. That's how a stalker's mind works. Lance is constantly flirting with Allura throughout all of Voltron and she never once reciprocated until Season 8 where it's so obvious that Lance is just a rebound but the writers wanna make it so that it's 'true love' and they want Lance to be happier than anyone so they just gift her to him like some sort of trophy. Lance didn't care about loving Allura, he cared about winning her. At least Lotor actually cared for and respected her. I still don't like canon Lotor, but that's mostly because the writers didn't want to deal with gray morality. Cowards.

1 - Honestly the worst example of a leader. It's shown from episode one. Now, there is the argument of learning to become one, but Lance just never learns? He's never facing the consequences of his actions and, if he is lectured, he ignores it. Keith actually takes lessons to heart and tries to improve and he does. If Lance became the Black Paladin, the universe would have been doomed because he can't get over himself for a single moment to even bother listening to anyone else's advice.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons why Lance is an asshole. Now to make the Lance stans really pissed.

Reasons why Lance would have been a terrible leader and could never have been the Black Paladin.

Remember episode one? Remember how the hydraulic stabiliser was out in the simulator and Lance still tried to push on, even though Pidge and Hunk advised him not to? Totally great leadership qualities there. There's nothing better than a leader that refuses to listen to you. 'Oh, but Keith is stubborn and didn't listen--' yes he did. He's stubborn and unrelenting at first, but he eventually realises that they're right.

Remember episode three? Remember when Lance bragged about kicking, which made Voltron fall, then proceeded to try it again and failed again even when Keith advised him not to? Yeah. Lance does not make good decisions and does not listen to any advise. Even from the leader's right hand man.

Remember Season 1 Episode 12? Remember how they were waiting for Shiro and Allura to get back and then Keith saw someone taking quintessence so he decided to follow them? Remember how Lance said no and was ignored but did nothing more to stop Keith? He has no authority and no charisma to keep anyone at bay. Pidge herself mocks Lance for being the pinnacle for leadership. Sarcastically. Because he's far from it.

Pidge doesn't respect Lance as a leader, Keith never would considering Lance treats him like shit, Allura can't take Lance seriously with him hitting on her every ten seconds, and Hunk is always questioning Lance's decisions. If nobody respects you, you cannot be a good leader.

2 - Easily distracted. Yes, it's a very popular headcanon that Lance has ADHD, and I agree with that, but that doesn't make it okay. And he's distracted in the easiest ways. Just shove a pretty girl and he'll instantly get distracted and lead the entire team to doom. Remember Nyma and how easy it was for her to steal the Blue Lion? How he didn't even warn anyone that he was taking her out for a ride because he didn't want anyone contesting his conquest? Yeah.

Don't get me wrong. It's fine to have ADHD or get distracted easily. Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece is a great example of a leader who gets easily distracted, but the second he sets his mind on something, he blocks everything out. Lance just doesn't have the capability to do that, nor do I think he'd be able to learn how to.

3 - Gets jealous really easily. As in. Really fucking easily. He's jealous of Keith from the get-go, starting a one-sided rivalry that he's constantly on the losing side of because Keith doesn't care. He gets jealous of Matt when he flirts a bit with Allura. He gets extremely jealous of Lotor for having actual chemistry with Allura. He's constantly jealous and a good leader is only ever in competition with himself. A good leader will only strive to become better for the sake of the team, not to say that they're better than someone else, much less if they're someone that you are in charge of. It's a horrible trait to have.

Jealousy in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's when that jealousy overrides your logic and controls you, instead of you controlling your jealousy: which Lance struggles with a lot. And getting jealous over anyone who even looks at your crush is a very bad thing to do because you do not own your crush. It's okay to be jealous, but not posessively like Lance is. Not to the extent of trying to scare off any potential suitors.

4 - Nowhere near as skilled as Keith or Shiro. Sure, the writers may claim that he is better, but the proof is in the pudding. Keith and Shiro are fucking unmatched. I've defended Lance's skills in a previous post, but I also said in that post that, while he is skilled, he is nowhere near Shiro or Keith's level. I mean, Shiro was the golden child of the Garrison and set so many records. He was known as the best pilot. Keith beat those records and his flying capabilities are always, always noted. I haven't heard a single character comment on Lance's skills, other than to point out how bad they are. Keith was the only one who could have flew through the astroid field, he was the only one who could fly into the Marmora base which was in a blue star surrounded by two black holes, he was able to fly a Galra jet just by pushing the right buttons and knowing what the do, and he's the one who unlocks the warping abilities of the Black Lion. Shiro was able to connect with the Black Lion far before anyone else, able to see through Black and connect with Black to the point of his soul being saved by her.

Lance hasn't done anything spectacular. And, no. He was not 'done dirty'. He was given almost everything he wanted except the Black Lion. The writers claim he's the best pilot, but have not shown it at all. In my eyes, Keith and Shiro will always be the best.

5 - Selfish. Again. Nothing against being selfish. It's perfectly fine to be selfish, so long as it doesn't actively harm others. But for a leader? You should be as selfless as you can be. The team comes before you. And that's exactly what Lance isn't.

Lance is selfish and that's okay, but it's not leadership material. The whole reason Black rejected him is because he wanted the position out of selfish reasons. When he enters Black, he says 'Come on, Lance. You can do this'. In other words, he wants to pilot her because he wants to prove himself. He wants the acknowledgement. He wants the title of the Black Paladin and leader. Black accepted Keith, both at the start of Season 2 and Season 3, because he piloted her for purely selfless reasons. For Shiro.

Lance wants things for himself. Keith wanted things for Shiro. It was only after Shiro came back, (or so they thought), that Keith started focusing more on himself. Even then, he put everyone else before him. He distanced himself from the team so that Shiro could pilot Black again, and he was constantly risking his life for the Blades.

Lance just... isn't the type. He has put others before himself, but he expect things out of it. He expects a parade and acknowledgement. Nobody knew what Shiro went through to rid Zarkon of his connection to the Black Lion. Nobody knew what Shiro went through in his imprisonment because he doesn't want to burden anyone with that. Nobody knew what Keith went through to save Black and Shiro from Zarkon. Nobody knew what Keith went through when they were all mad at him for missing an attack. Lance doesn't withold that sort of stuff. The only thing he doesn't talk about is his insecurities, which he ends up spilling to the mice and Laika (the Yupper) anyway.

6 - Last one. Promise.

Nothing fucking happened. While Keith was gone, nothing of importance happened surrounding Voltron specifically. There was the Lion mind meld and Lotor joining, but all that served to prove was, with the mind meld, if Keith was there, he would have heard Shiro. And with Lotor joining, all it proved was how immature Lance was.

The second Keith gets back, things start happening again. Lotor gets outed as cruel and manipulative (still an ass-pull, by the way), Shiro gets outed as a clone, and so on. If Lance was leading, they all probably would have died ages ago. I'm talking Season 3 Episode 2, ages ago. Because Lance just isn't cut out for it.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons I hate Lance and why Black Paladin Lance is an awful idea. Screw the people who believe in it. It is awful.

Like I said, this won't affect my treatment of Lance in my rewrite, because I can fix those issues that come up. I don't have an issue with Season 1 Lance, it's later on that gets problematic. I just hate people building Lance up by bashing all the other characters, then claiming that Lance is the most traumatised, sad character when SHIRO AND KEITH ARE RIGHT THERE. NOT TO MENTION ALLURA, WHO LOST HER ENTIRE SPECIES, AND CORAN WHO LOST EVERYONE INCLUDING ALLURA AND NEVER GOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER.

Fuck. I hate Voltron so much but I can't help but love it.

[lilflowerpot]

If Lotor was a paladin, which lion would he pilot? Personally I think it would be black or green, though it would be really interesting for it to be yellow as well.

So for this one I'm going to first point you towards my previous post regarding the attributes of the Lions as established in canon, plus my conclusion as to what the Blue Lion actually looks for in a paladin seeing as Allura skipped over it due to Lance's interruption. By combining the information that we were given in vld s01ep01 with the wu xing (the five elements of ancient Chinese philosophy) we can draw a pretty detailed picture of the key characteristics that make someone a suitable candidate to serve as a paladin of Voltron, so the following are my thoughts on Lotor's compatibility with each Lion, from least to most likely:

Yellow (earth / 土 tǔ) - agreeableness, honesty / anxiety, joy

“Nurturing, grounded, practical, and known for their reliability; though compassionate and empathetic, when out of balance they can become obsessive, intrusive, and worry unnecessarily.”

"The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together." - Allura, Voltron: Legendary Defender, s01ep01

Though I agree that Lotor & the yellow Lion would be an interesting match, I don't necessarily think it's the most natural one; while our favourite prince is perfectly capable of being compassionate / empathetic / agreeable / honest / nurturing / grounded / practical / reliable when making a deliberate effort,,,, these aren't the traits I'd most immediately associate with him (bar practical, he's certainly that). I don't think of Lotor as being the emotional backbone nor shoulder-to-cry-on individual in any circle, as for the most part he's too sharp-tongued and perhaps wouldn't approach such matters with the preferred delicacy one would hope for. In addition to this, the negative side of tǔ lends itself to a fretful sort of anxiety, which,,,, again, just isn't Lotor.

Blue (water / 水 shuǐ) - erudition, resourcefulness, wit / fear, gentleness

“Determined, self-sufficient, and adaptable; they achieve their aims by determining the best path through a situation, but when out of balance they can be fearful, timid and indecisive.”

The Blue Lion seeks emotional intelligence and adaptability, someone who is not only good-humoured, but capable of navigating tricky situations with grace and diplomacy. - lilflowerpot, the blue lion's attribute

Blue is an interesting one, because Lotor is //absolutely// an adaptable sonovabitch: he's the type who can pivot the entire plan based on near-any variable thrown his way, and still come out on top which is Damn Impressive... but his diplomacy tends to be more a weapon than an honest attempt at compromise, and while incredibly self-aware, he is not always the most emotionally intelligent being in the room when it comes to other people—not thinking to explain to the galra girl squad why he cut Narti down without a word, for example. And again, the negative traits associated with shuǐ (fearful / timid / indecisive) are not those that best reflect Lotor when out of balance.

Red (fire / 火 huǒ) - passion, intensity / hate, resolve

“Energetic, passionate, and dramatic, they make great leaders but have a tendency to be emotionally volatile; when in balance they create intimacy and connection easily, but when out of balance they might become destructive and suffer from insomnia.”

"The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It’s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone." - Allura, Voltron: Legendary Defender, s01ep01

Lotor is actually a surprisingly strong contender for the Red Lion—I mean, passionate? Dramatic?? A great leader with a penchant for being emotionally volatile who runs the risk of becoming destructive???��both in terms of the pros and cons. His downfall in terms of this role, however, comes in the form of Lotor relying more on pragmatism than instinct; don't get me wrong, his instincts are typically very good, but if it came down to it Lotor would be infinitely more likely to make the logical call rather than that based off of a "gut feeling" (and Keith quite the opposite, which is what makes them such a good & balanced match imo).

But here's where things get interesting.

Because between Black & Green I felt it was an i n c r e d i b l y close call, and toyed with which way around I thought the best fit for quite some time. Ultimately, however, Black sits as Lotor's secondary Lion—much as she does Keith's—not because I think he's a poor leader, but because I feel the two are symbolic of Lotor's inner and outer world (something I expanded upon not only in my zodiac post but also when exploring hogwarts/ilvermorny house placements several years ago).

Black (metal / 金 jīn) - intuition, rationality, mind / grief, bravery

“Righteous, faithful, brave and gallant; a sharp intellect combined with a tendency for self-discipline can make them very successful. They like structure and tend to be organized and methodical.”

"The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation." - Allura, Voltron: Legendary Defender, s01ep01

Lotor is a born leader, no ifs ands or buts about it: he has a near-impeccable sense of self-discipline, is very goal-orientated as a person, and ultimately comes up with these very intricate and even elegant plans to achieve his objectives. His natural charisma makes people want to follow his lead and believe in the future he's forging (as clearly demonstrated by how quickly he won over the general galra populace in canon), and on top of all that his clear & constant understanding of "the greater good" makes him an exceptional candidate for a leadership role, as someone who has to make the hard calls.

Green (wood / 木 mù) - idealism, spontaneity, curiosity / anger, kindness

“Competitive, adventurous, and determined, they seek out challenges and do well under pressure, but can become driven and stressed when out of balance.”

"The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring." - Allura, Voltron: Legendary Defender, s01ep01

"So why did Green win out?" I hear you ask. Well, because while all the above regarding Lotor & Black is true, it's also his outer persona: that's not to say it's a false-self, but rather who Lotor is because he has to be- because he needs to be... but perhaps not who he wants to be. At his heart, I believe Lotor to be an intellectual, consumed with pursuits of the mind, and someone who likes to learn simply for the pleasure of it. He's a curious soul—inquisitive and idealistic and in search of a better world—which, yes, can be best implemented by his Black Paladin traits, but ultimately stems from a very pure desire to understand the universe on a deeper level simply because everything in it is fascinating to him. Lotor doesn't seek control for control's sake, but rather so that he can protect the universe that he is so unabashedly in love with- and yes, that means when out of balance he is a stressed little bean only all the more stubbornly committed to his goals (to the exclusion of all else, again, as we saw with the galra girl squad in the aftermath of Narti's death) because at his core prince Lotor believes not only that he can fix the universe,, but that it's his duty to do so.

[minamorsart]

🌌✨The Empyreal Within character designs of Lotor, Allura, and Ven'tar! I might do Honerva and Zarkon next, we'll see! This is part of an upcoming project that I am super excited about and will reveal in time!!! 💜

Explanations of the outfits below! I thought about them a LOT hehe.

18 year old Lotor: these designs I am the most pleased with! Lotor's official design in the show is very different from the rest of the Galra, which I believe is significant to him venturing further away from the precedents established by his father and cementing his own individuality. However, as an adolescent it makes sense that he would still wear Galra attire, hence the bulky armor (to make him look bigger since he is smaller than the average Galra) and red and gold colors which appear to only be worn by the royal family. I like to think that the insignia on his chest is a symbol for royalty, but is also exclusive to Lotor's identity, as no one else wears that particular insignia in the show. And despite wearing clothes specifically chosen to represent the Galra Empire, I can also picture him wanting to incorporate his own personal tastes, so there are accents of purplish-blue (as blue is part of Lotor's color scheme) and the addition of his waist cape, both of which represent his growing desire for change and independence.

Mid-20's Lotor: this is during the many years of his banishment. I imagine him hopping from planet to planet, concealing his identity as much as possible while adopting a more humble lifestyle and pursuing his passion for exploring. It is during this isolated pilgrimage that he does a lot of introspection, self-actualization, and gains self-confidence both as a man and as the Galra prince. But before that happens, the lack of identity really shows in his clothes -- lots of neutral colors (with a hint of desaturated blue), absence of any insignias or designs that would connect him to any culture, whether Galra or Altean. These clothes in particular were inspired by Jedi ponchos and Sasuke from Naruto: The Last, and perhaps are worn while Lotor is on a desert planet for a short time! And just like with his armor as seen in the show, he has started to wear gloves to cover himself up almost completely, indicating his avoidance of vulnerability and getting close to others.

Ven'tar: for her fortunately I didn't have to change much about her character design! She is Lotor's age when they meet and the only other change I made to her was to take away her big cape so that she appears younger. Since her planet and species name is not revealed in the show, I want to come up with one myself. Caelifera is the scientific name for grasshopper, so I'm thinking I could do something with that!

11 year old Lotor: this design is also taken directly from the show, so I didn't have to do much there :P The cloak he wears in the little doodle is inspired by the one adult Lotor wears in S6E4. In this case, however, it is several sizes too big for young Lotor and drags on the ground.

Allura: sadly we don't know much about Allura's life on Altea, however in S1E9 we get to see tiny snippets of different stages throughout her life and her good relationship with her father, so I used those as references! I gave her braids, short puffy sleeves, and a slightly shorter skirt to give her that innocent little princess look, and then used the colors from her dress in the show to create a cuter and more childlike aesthetic!

If you read all of that you're the best 😆🙏 I'm definitely by no means an expert in character design and have lots more to learn, but I had a lot of fun coming up with the original designs! Especially Lotor's, but no surprise there hehe. I studied many different Galra armor and clothing featured in the show worn by Lotor, Zarkon, Honerva, and Galra commanders. More than anything I just really wanted to see Lotor wearing something different for a change 😂 and then everything else took off from there!

[atla-what-is-this-site]

Fixing Voltron's magic system FT. Sanderson's Laws of Magic (and examples from various famous media)

Firstly, let's begin with what the Alteans canonically can do. As seen throughout the series, two alteans shown actually manipulate quintessence. Another has super strength but no magic. A final is shown to have none. (poor Coran). It is implied the majority (if not all,) have these abilities. 

Quintessence manipulation seems to have one small limit:  When Allura uses the magic too much, she passes out. But remember: shes powering a giant ship. We never see Team Voltron going and getting gas or whatever, which means Allura is probably the sole supplier of power for the Castle. Which is an example of how OP this ability is, even with the limit.

Then we have super strength and shapeshifting, two other abilities that all (or i guess most, since Coran never shows any signs of having them) Alteans seem to have. These abilities seem to have little plot importance besides a few certain episodes. There is nothing inherently wrong with these abilities. However, when you pile them on top of (if I'm being completely honest,) a character who's already quite over-powered, I think you can understand why I'm not the biggest fan. 

We know quite a bit about Alteans. They're one of the most important species in the series. According to Allura, they're super-ambassadors, and they use their shapeshifting to better blend in. Their culture seems very intellectual-based, with Alchemists holding high places. They mixed magic and tech to make incredible ships like The Castle. 

This is where things tend to taper off. We get brief glimpses of what could be rules: Allura always places her hands on whatever shes infusing. Clearly, you must be Altean or of Altean Heritage. 

Now, let's take a look at Brandon Sanderson's laws of magic. 

Number One: "An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic." 

This means that if we want to solve problems with magic, we need to explain how that magic can solve our problems. So, for example, Harry Potter. Every spell that Harry uses is explained beforehand so that the audience knows what he's doing. It just wouldn't work if Harry went around Lumos-ing away, making the reader guess what the spell does. 

However, in The Lord of The Rings, Gandalf doesn't need to tell us anything, because he barely ever uses his magic for plot important things. Readers don't want to read three paragraphs explaining how he made his fireworks, when the story isn't about his fireworks.

Number Two: Limitations are more important than power.

What your magic system can do doesn't make it interesting. There's no power that hasn't been thought of. Infinite power makes it impossible to come up with a plot. The character could solve anything, meaning there's no point in telling about the solution to their problem. However, when you throw in weaknesses, costs and other limitations, you get a much more original and interesting idea. 

Picture that one scene from Aladdin, where Genie tells Aladdin about the three rules. (No playing with free will, no raising the dead, no wishing for more wishes.) It's a simple and easy to follow system, with limitations that make the plot more interesting. Aladdin can't make Jasmine fall in love with him magically, so he's forced to come up with other ways. 

Rule Three: Expand what you already have before you add something new. 

This one leans more on general worldbuilding, but what he's saying here is don't shove new ideas in your reader's face. Don't create new magics out of nowhere. Build on what you already have. 

There aren't many examples of this, luckily Voltron isn't really guilty of this, so elaboration isn't really needed.

Now, we'll take these and begin perfecting the magic system. 

First, what is Quintessence? Quintessence is, essentially, the animating factor. It's what makes living things alive. It's a form of energy. 

This isn't to say nonliving objects can't have it, but most don't, unless it's given to them. 

Quintessence is energy. It can't be created, nor destroyed. However, you can transfer it from one container to another. 

There are a few things you can do with it. Firstly, giving a living being quintessence can make them stronger. This is what Haggar does with Zarkon throughout the first two seasons.

Next, taking too much quintessence from someone will "de-animate" them. A.k.a. They die from lack of life. 

There is one third thing you can do with quintessence. It takes a lot of training and a bit of energy. But I imagine you could also make these huge shockwaves that just fucken decimate everything in a 300 foot radius. However this is more after-we-get-ridiculously-good type material.

Our limits are these: 1. You must draw energy from something, whether that be your own energy or someone else's. If you use too much of your own, you could pass out and die. 2. You must maintain contact with whatever you're imbuing with energy/drawing energy from. (The only exception is the shockwave. But the shockwave comes from your hands so..?) 3. Too much quintessence can become an addiction. Specific examples can be Zarkon and Haggar. 

A little interjection: While Alteans have a lot of quintessence, it can only power a small ship for a few hours. However, Altean ships have evolved to collect quintessence from bacteria that gathers on the ship's metal. This keeps the ships sanitary and also helps with efficiency. As well, ships often use Balmera crystals as a secondary source of power. Balmera crystals hold high levels of residual quintessence.

We can construct so many different plotlines that can't be solved with quintessence, or the limits can prevent solution. What if the person who needs healing is out of Allura's reach? What if she doesn't have enough energy?

That wasn't so hard, was it, VLD team?

[voltrons-legendary-defender]

Unpopular opinion but I don't hate the Altean Colony plot. It's just another wasted plot line that could've been very interesting.

A lot of people think it ruined Lotors character but I'd argue it didn't. Him not getting a redemption did. The white lion is episode is a perfect depiction of Lotors character.

This is just an opinion, and a poorly done analysis.

Essentially, even if Lotor despises Galran culture/heritage it's clearly had an impact on him. Allura was wrong when she said he's just like his father, Lotor is exactly like his mother.

Lotor shouts at the lion "victory or death" That's all he's been taught. That's how he had to survive too, considering he's an outcast hated by his own father.

(And then Honerva takes her chances with the white lion by killing it too....she was just successful..)

Another thing is, Lotor never had the time to explain the colony to Allura. We never got to see Lotors perspective of this colony. I'm not saying Lotor is a liar, he's meticulous, manipulative but honest when it came to team Voltron and I do think his allegiance go them was true.

So...why the colony? So here's two things.

Some things are earned the hard way. If anyone knows about loss, it should be Allura. In his furious state Lotor threatened to wipe out any enemies in the way of him and his new Altean followers.

His word is true. That may be hard to accept but victory or death. I always found that so interesting about Lotor, how complex things are for him. Had he gained the secrets of Oriande or whatever would he have found another way?

Secondly, all those bodies being used. This is just a theory here because I don't know. But, none of those bodies were disposed of.

And you know what quintessence does? Well I don't know if it has the ability to ressurect but it gives you immortality. Considering the fact that the Altean bodies were still kept, Lotors promise may have been good. He could easily restore their lives, now given with immortality.

On top of that, if the Alteans are immortal, Lotors reign can last forever. That's probably what Lotor wants.

His 'death' or so doesn't make sense because last I heard Lotor had some sort of immunity to the quintessence field...(allegedly) The Altean colony plot gets left behind, Romelle is a useless character, the way his character is set up. It just makes sense honestly for him to be this anti villian. People mistake him for an anti hero. He's not.

Because Lotors reasons are understandable. His redemption arc starts with him realizing it's not always about victory or death. Too bad he died fighting that way.