#and he's /still/ having people in fairly low positions actively disobey his orders to protect their subordinates

[ganymedesclock]

so you've done a lot of posts about galra physiology, what are your theories on galra culture?

I talked a little bit about culture here, mostly in the sense that it seems like galra culture was devastated along with their home planet and it’s something that they rebuilt relying heavily on Zarkon. It’s important to consider that Zarkon has been alive and in control for ten thousand years, and what that means as far as how he’s been able to doctor history and information to suit his agenda. There’s a pretty terrifying propaganda machine and it’s blatantly centered on Zarkon himself.

As funny as Varkon’s poster is- Zarkon is very nearly a god to his people and he’s set it up that way. He’s basically the last fragment of their homeland that they’ve got left and groups like the Blade of Marmora are seemingly staking a lot of their claim to oppose him on having something else- and trying to take that legitimacy away from him (a lot of how Kolivan talks about Zarkon suggests Zarkon is a bane on the name of the galra as a species in Kolivan’s eyes)

A lot of what we’ve heard paints a very bleak, militaristic image. Morvok’s lines in s2e6 echo very closely to what Zarkon says in s1e1 with “weakness” being a disease he intends to wipe from his empire.

But what’s interesting is that Zarkon’s adamant creed of loyalty to no one and nothing besides him and his orders- of domination by superior power, might makes right- seems contrary to the nature of the galra themselves.

Almost everything about the galra suggest that they are, if anything, a hypersocial species. Consider the warden of Beta Traz whose accommodations for his pet were just as extensive as those for his top-profile prisoner, and who would consider it a good day even failing at his mission as long as Laika was okay.

Even Zarkon himself, clearly, was not always the way he is, and remains very close to Haggar for the most part.

So I feel like Zarkon has built up this heavy military culture to try and make his species behave how he thinks they should. At the same time- the, what I would venture to say inherent nature of the galra is that they tend to lean social- and Zarkon isn’t squashing that because he’s simultaneously trying to exploit it. What Ulaz suggests is that most galra look to the empire, and Zarkon, because they want stability.

What we see of this, is people like Sal. It’s made pretty unambiguously clear that Sal has never made someone happy with his food. But, when Hunk takes over cooking- when Sal’s restaurant becomes a hot spot with people eagerly cuing up for a bite- this is something Sal sees as remarkable and amazing- that Hunk is a genius.

My personal headcanon is the pre-sentient or early-sentient ancestors of the galra were pack hunters comparable to wolves or hyena, and probably structured similarly- family units and socialization are matters of utmost importance. A lone galra is a starving galra. And, many years and generations later- that’s the set of instincts that stays with them.

So I like to imagine galra culture basically operates on the idea of loyalty to a set of nested spheres. Family to clan to colony to empire. It’s entirely possible Zarkon has tried to establish himself as a sort of god-ancestor, given his age and connection to the lost galra homeland, which is probably a subject of some mysticism. It’d certainly explain the way Zarkon’s image is almost enshrined in Varkon’s workstation, but also the very personal way Varkon talks to that image.

Other than that… most of what we’ve seen is the fleets, and that both Haggar and Zarkon are people who have zero qualms accumulating resources any way possible. So I’d guess that resources to the civilians are probably rationed to better accommodate Zarkon’s massive military. Frugality might be considered a virtue but it’s more likely that it’s probably just plain a way of life. We don’t know if there’s much of a galra middle class- the mall is within the empire, but, we see almost no galra patrons.

GoLion and Defender Of The Universe- eighties Voltron- depicted lavishly dressed galra aristocrats as spectators for the gladiator ring, and Zarkon himself as very dressed up. 

In contrast, VLD Zarkon wears a cape sometimes and that’s about the only thing he has that isn’t basically rigidly practical, vaguely decorative armor- and we see those same spectator boxes are filled with mostly non-galra civilians, and galra commanders and fleet members. Quite possibly, galra aristocracy is purely military- which might suggest that many of the galra soldiers we encounter become soldiers because they’re at a loss for a lot of other careers.

But of course- there are exceptions. Varkon and Sal tell us there are civilian galra, and probably a fair amount of them. But we see those civilian galra in contexts where they mesh closely with other species, which probably suggests on the civilian level, as opposed to the military level- there’s probably a whole lot of cultural exchange between the galra and other races.

Now, it’s possible, even likely, that Sal and Varkon are the exception, not the rule- that there are more dense galra population centers, and from there we can get a clearer idea of how the average civilian galra lives their life- and of course, we wouldn’t see them because I feel like even a lot of our otherwise callous-seeming antagonist commanders would figuratively blanch at the idea of the deadliest weapon in the galaxy being spotted near a galra population center.

(After all, they assume their way of doing things is just The Way Of The Universe. They aren’t going to expect Voltron to have more restraint than they do)

Even with the idea of major, predominantly-galra areas, I think that there would probably be a lot of exchange from other cultures. Given that most of the nationalism Zarkon seems to inspire is focused on the military, there’s probably a lot of propaganda about that- but I have to wonder how much emphasis is placed on the arts.

In the interest of humanizing the galra- which is probably the context that large-scale civilian galra would be brought up- I’d guess that they probably have a fairly lively culture, albeit one suffering because, as Ulaz points out- the popular sentiment is that Zarkon is keeping them all safe by creating this glorious empire but really Zarkon is only in it for himself and he’s not particularly good at hiding that. I think the only saving grace that keeps Zarkon so high in the public’s esteem is they very rarely actually see him.

Lotor’s whole voiceover in the trailer would suggest that Lotor means business but it also suggests that the empire at large- and either Lotor himself, or he’s simply further selling the idea to an audience who is- is profoundly misled about the actual influence they have on the galaxy.