#he feels the weight and burden of the crown but never the inverse

[voltrons]

you definitely already knew how the pre-crisis todd’s were going to end up but trina accidentally discovering bruce is batman being the thing to really seal her fate is sending me into a spiral. later on bruce asks dick if she can be trusted and it further drives a wedge between the two of them.

dick is routinely optimistic about others and bruce is the unconscious executioner over and over and over. each time he tries to push back against someone- he’s uncovered against his will, he benches an ally to force, he deliberately leaves someone in the dark- they pay the price in the name of seeing his grief and furthering of his cause onscreen. auGH

[ganymedesclock]

A lot of the fandom speculates that there are parallels between Zarkon/Alfor and Shiro/Keith, particularly in the friendships these groups of people had/have with each other. I can't remember if you've talked about this before, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this and what this could mean for the future of Shiro and Keith's friendship?

See I think it’s kinda natural to want to see our paladins in the prior paladins since the former we know better, but… I really hesitate to say that, because I think there’s a fundamental difference to how Shiro and Zarkon relate to the world that isn’t just not the same between them, but diametrically opposed.

Roughly, Shiro and Zarkon both value- discipline, control, self-denial.

Shiro takes these traits as things he should prescribe to himself. I talk very much about Shiro as a leader and the concept of Noblesse Oblige since what it comes back to is Shiro views vested authority, the “crown” of the Black Paladin, first and foremost as a burden and a responsibility. It’s fundamentally how he sees it.

If you are Black Paladin, you have an obligation to be a worthy person. The Black Lion has trusted you, your allies have trusted you, and their trust and loyalty is a debt that must be repaid, with earnest and continuous effort. A king is only as worthy as what he will do for his subjects- and in that sense Shiro tries to live as he thinks his position begets- he’s the guy to jump on a grenade for the team because if you’re in charge you should be that person. And this is his attitude about leadership in general.

People point out it was unlike him in s3e6 to tell Keith to let Sincline shoot him in order to destroy the cargo ship, but the thing is, in s3e6 and s4e1, Shiro’s trying to groom Keith to be in his position. He’s not oblivious to, or not upset at Keith’s pain. The thing is if it was him in that cockpit he’d make that sacrifice, take a direct hit to the Black Lion if he thought it would make it work. He can’t- he’s benched, forced to the sidelines, and because of that he tries to take control of a situation that same way, that he sees as needing that sacrifice- by projecting onto Keith.

Shiro’s only cold and demanding with people he projects himself, or his own perceived role onto. In s3e6 thru s4e1, that’s Keith- just like in s2e10 that’s Slav.

Zarkon is Shiro’s polar opposite, and was from the start. Because the thing in s3e7 that we see, is while Shiro (as he spells out in s1e4 and exemplifies later in s3e5) views leadership as a responsibility and loyalty to that leader to be a choice, that he cannot and will not lead someone who doesn’t want to follow him- Zarkon believes that entire categories of people exist naturally as followers.

Simply put, Zarkon’s classism factors immensely into his view of what it means to be a leader. There are strong people- nobility- that force their way to the top. And there are weak people- everyone else- that are fated from birth to belong to the strong. These categories are non-negotiable and fatalistic. Servants do not become kings, nor kings servants. In s2e8, the way that Zarkon talks to Shiro, in my opinion, makes it very clear that he’s basically incapable of viewing Shiro as anything other than the slave gladiator he first met him as. He characterizes Shiro as weak, when Shiro endured horrifying brutal things for an entire year without breaking.

Zarkon will not make sacrifices for his subordinates. Instead, his perspective is that the natural order is that his subordinates will sacrifice everything for him. He preaches Victory or Death but pulls back in s4e6 rather than risk his personal ship.

How does this come back to their relationships with their respective right hand?

Both of them are very close, but in completely different ways.

While we don’t know how Shiro and Keith met, we can draw some inferences. Keith states Shiro was “the one person who never gave up on me.” We know that before meeting Shiro, before coming to the Garrison, Keith was entirely on his own, and he’s still processing a lot of trauma that he perceives himself as fundamentally unlovable and unwanted.

Keith really doesn’t have a social sphere outside of Shiro. He’s coming to build one with the paladins, but slowly- he’s both clumsy with interpersonal relations and to a degree, utterly terrified of them. He’s starved for closeness and connection to such a degree that part of him can’t really believe it when it’s there.

Consider what I just said about how Shiro views leadership, and to a degree, a lot of his connections- since he’s very much a kind of natural leader who gravitates towards those positions reflexively in times of strife.

Shiro’s a mom friend. He’s a therapist friend. He commits very hard to being a shoulder to cry on, a confidant where it’s needed, a protector, a caretaker. Again, he’s the kind of guy that will jump on a grenade for his team and more than a sense of distant responsibility, it’s rooted in the fact that he just genuinely, deeply, cares. He’s charismatic and connects to people easily with his natural strength of personality but once there, he wants to tend and nurture his connections.

Keith- with his network of loneliness and trauma and isolation, would have latched onto anybody that could help him keep his head above the water. In s2e1 he says “If it weren’t for you my life would’ve been a lot different” which raises the implication he was on the precipice of… something very nasty. (considering this kid is way too comfortable throwing his life away for anything he perceives as a sufficiently worthy cause…)

But Shiro? I think Shiro latched onto Keith as someone who he wanted to take care of. He met Keith, and he saw how much Keith needed… anyone to care, and to Shiro, that simple fact that “someone has to watch out for this kid” immediately in his mind leaps to “I have to do this.”

So there’s something mentorly about their connection, and it’s definitely worth saying that Shiro does think very highly of Keith, he doesn’t just view him as a lost cause. He has a lot of faith in Keith as a person, and sees him as an amazing and talented person.

At the same time, there’s a feeling- especially with the missing year and his own newfound trauma, Shiro doesn’t really realize quite how much he means to Keith. His helping Keith out of that dark period fostered a profound desire to see Keith grow and thrive, but, as far as he’s concerned, there’s no debt here. Keith’s probably come very far since when Shiro met him, but what I don’t think Shiro quite realizes at this point is that Keith is definitely still holding onto Shiro as his comfort person. And from Keith’s perspective- the idea of not having Shiro around is the idea of going right back to the same dark place he was in before meeting Shiro.

He’s not entirely right about that, because we see in s3 that without Shiro there, Keith actually is able to move on- and the degree to which he’s able to even seems to scare him, and he reacts guiltily as if this very prospect of moving on without Shiro is repeating the hurtful things others have done to him onto Shiro.

What it boils down to is Shiro and Keith are extremely close. They’re kinda fire-forged friends because Shiro came into Keith’s life at one of its darkest chapters and helped him up, and since then, Keith has earned great esteem in Shiro’s eyes as an amazing person. If there’s anyone Shiro sees as worthy of being a leader the way that Shiro thinks is called for, it’s Keith- Keith is someone who could carry that weight, and that’s not a shallow compliment.

As far as Zarkon and Alfor…

The first thing about Alfor is he is a hell of a lot more grounded than Keith is and you can see this at a glance. Keith, again, had nobody in his life besides Shiro and his psychological landscape has some pretty deep craters as a result- while Alfor we see was a beloved leader, a family man, surrounded by his adoring wife and advisor, having a good connection with the rest of the team. We see him exploring Gyrgan’s culture, which would even suggest that Alfor may have built separate alliances with the other planets separately from his alliance with Zarkon.

Alfor is much more connected, and a lot more anchored and stable. He’s sure of himself of a way that Keith isn’t, and I think in that sense, even if he has great affection and respect for Zarkon, they’re both more distant, and more independent.

Alfor has his own world Zarkon isn’t really part of and even faced with setbacks, he tries to emphasize his self-sufficiency “I was handling myself.” The ways that we see Alfor hold Zarkon in high esteem is that he respects Zarkon’s military capability, and at least early on, he trusts Zarkon to show him his other connections- taking baby Allura to see him.

But it’s a really good thing that Alfor doesn’t really need Zarkon- because Zarkon and Keith would never have worked as a team. Because while Shiro is very much naturally drawn to people that he sees as needing nurturing or support… Zarkon, conversely, has a very clear tendency to expect his connections to keep up with him to his standards.

And part of this is entirely nonmalicious- Zarkon has no real art for connecting with people. He’s clumsy and awkward. If anything, we see kind of an inversion of Keith and Shiro’s dynamic- Alfor is the charismatic diplomat who’s able to set Zarkon up to meet new people and get him talking to them while Zarkon is the guy that has to excuse himself from the room because whoops beautiful intelligent scientist is on your planet now.

But unfortunately it’s not all benign, since… Zarkon’s social awkwardness combined with his perception that he is entitled to others’ loyalty makes him nastily possessive, and this is shown to be a problem with the paladins of old from the start.

All of the paladins are rulers, but Zarkon fundamentally views them as belonging to him. Blaytz is his to correct and scold when he thinks the others’ behavior doesn’t measure up, and they are not allowed to criticize him, considering how he retaliates even cheerful teasing with a not-so-subtle attack of “But you need me”

And this comes out big time when Alfor and Zarkon start clashing. Zarkon’s perfectly fine turning a cold shoulder on Alfor for years, but when Alfor uses that independence to hold his ground and challenge Zarkon on equal footing, Zarkon starts panicking and yelling about he commands Voltron, Alfor, where are you going, he didn’t give you permission to leave-

Young Zarkon reminds me very much of ATLA’s Azula, in her single most tragic character trait- how she takes, or, doesn’t at all, the loss of her two friends.

Zarkon is needy of other people. If there’s anybody that doesn’t have other people in his life and feels incredibly threatened by that person potentially leaving, it was Zarkon, not Alfor. And frankly… ten thousand years later, Zarkon is still not over the fact that Alfor left him.

And even Zarkon and Keith have major differences. Keith’s fear of being left behind stems from a fear of not being good enough for Shiro, the one person who stuck with him this long. The idea of being rejected by Shiro is horrifying to Keith and he sees even Shiro talking about the idea that he might not make it as horrifying, suggesting Keith’s not worth staying here for. He takes it personally and processes it on a level as his fault.

While Zarkon… I think he has that same root anxiety. It’s hard for him to make connections, and comparatively easy to lose them. I’d suspect Zarkon has a pretty troubled past of his own when it comes to connecting to people or not, especially if his whole attitude of “don’t fraternize with those beneath you” came from his parents- like Keith, I think that he comes from a very lonely background. No wonder Alfor was so pleased to see Zarkon happily married, and no wonder Zarkon latched onto Honerva with the intensity he did.

The problem with Zarkon that turns this from a sympathetic struggle to a devastating character flaw is… Zarkon refuses to accept that any failure of a relationship is his fault. He’s decided to make his loneliness his partners’ problem. If someone leaves him and he’s hurt, his response is- how dare you, that’s not how this works, you’re not allowed to leave, you- get back here right now, before he gets mad.

When Alfor turns his back on Zarkon, at a point when Zarkon’s also losing Honerva to something else- Zarkon yells, orders, threatens, and none of that works. And that’s when he panics. This is when we see Zarkon in the past at his most vulnerable and scared.

But he’s a leader. He’s not allowed to not be in control. He’s gonna take control of this situation. What does he have to do? Well… he could always lie. Alfor’s a bleeding heart. Pretend he’s changed his mind, say what they want to hear, and he has his team back, and he can get his wife back, and everything will be right where it should be.

Shiro would never do that. Keith would never do that. What happened between Alfor and Zarkon is a product of very different constructions of their mind that Shiro and Keith really don’t have. If anything, I’d think scenes of Keith holding his ground and challenging Shiro on things are heartening signs. It tells us that Keith is starting to have more of a foundation that’s not just Shiro, and more of a sense of certainty, and I think he kind of had to build that in s3 and s4. That’s the good thing that came out of the entire Shiro-gets-kidnapped-a-second-time debacle; Keith’s foundations got a particular, aggressive boost.