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the-lightning-strikes-again · 4 years ago

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I was curious if I was the only one who kinda enjoyed the battle between the paladins and Lotor in s6? Well at least at first I did until it was never further explored in later seasons. I honestly thought for sure Lotor would come back after s6 and there'd be more to the colony. But it's all kind of just forgotten about so they can move on to the next thing. Anyway hope I'm not bothering you. Sorry for my rambling. haha

Hi, anon! Thanks for the note! And no, you’re not bothering me at all; I appreciate the chance to chat! For the record, I know you’re not the only one who genuinely enjoyed s6. I even know people who enjoyed s1-s8 entirely, lol. As for myself, the animation and acting involved in the s6 battle was really great, and I loved the Sincline mecha. It is honestly one of my favorite designed mechas out of all the mecha shows I’ve seen. So s6 wasn’t a total loss for me. And I actually would not at all have minded a genuine villain!Lotor if they’d properly set up for that. As it is, though, the reason for the battle in s6 is what bothers me and sours my enjoyment. Ultimately, I think the show had to compromise very important story components to result in this battle, and that kills my enjoyment.

I can try to explain what story components I felt got compromised in s6, if you’re interested. But this could get a lil salty, haha. I’ll put it under a Keep Reading line:

The show had a subtle through-line of showing a duplicitous, distrustful Lotor go from hunting down the paladins and throwing several people under the bus for a personal gain (s3-s4), to being actually scared in s5 when he thought Zarkon was going to kill the paladins, to being willing to share his entire intelligence network and information of unfathomable power with his new allies (s5), to allowing the paladins to actually order him around and actively change his moral priorities (s6, ep1)—which is very, very different than the relationship he had with his own generals. So the show had Lotor on a development arc regarding his distrust—and even a redemption arc regarding a fault in his morals, even though the show very plainly stated (multiple times throughout s3-s5) that he longed to get to the quintessence field to stop the Galran empire’s feasting on planets.

That’s part of what bothers me with s6—it reverses this subtle through-line of development and then punishes Lotor for an understandably disturbing de-valuing of life that…1) likely wasn’t even his worst or most extensive crime, 2) was something he was actively learning to overcome and get away from in the present time, and 3) was based on a moral problem paladins had seen within him and previously still accepted their alliance.

Lotor wasn’t a saint to start in this show, and he had a perspective where it didn’t bother him for some people to die if it meant his larger goal of peace was obtained. The weird thing about s6 is we saw the paladins experience that with him already, well before the s6 colony twist. In S6, Lotor places the value of obtaining unlimited quintessence over the safety of an entire Galran planet, and Allura admonishes him and reminds him of his innocent subjects. In s6 ep1, Lotor is very directly challenged by the morality of Allura, who despite being a victim of Galrans, desires that no one should die. That these innocent subjects and Galran soldiers are still just as valuable as everyone else.

So by this moment in s6, Lotor has identified the paladins as valuable enough to risk his life for them…but he hasn’t assigned that same value to the average Galran soldier or citizen he’s still deemed expendable/not worthy of saving compared to his grand agenda of peace. If he had assigned them such value, he would not have initially tried to argue with Allura on going to save them. It’s the one time that Allura gets huffy with him post-alliance and directly contradicts him. And Lotor looks…almost mournful or ashamed? He submits to her, regardless, allowing for his personal missions to go on hold for the first time in interest of other people.

His submission here shows another switch had been flipped in his character, for the better. Prior to Allura and the paladins, he had no difficulty assassinating Narti or leaving his generals for dead after they realized they were in fact expendable. S6 ep1 shows Lotor submitting to save even Galran soldiers that he likely knew were not Emperor Lotor fans.

So going back to the big colony twist, the paladins actively should have known that Lotor had a slightly bent perspective about the expendability of people, because they’d seen it before in season 6 episode 1 and even back in season 3. Clearly, he’s done not good things in the past at the expense of others “for a greater good,” so I don’t know why it’s such a shocker that he would apply the same perspective to Alteans. They literally saw him de-value his own people before, in real-time.

It gets weird too because we see that Lotor had very quickly changed his tactics for obtaining pure quintessence after he realizes Allura and team Voltron are the path of least resistance and least collateral damage. We see him relenting to protect all of his innocent subjects. So ultimately, he ends up being punished for having a problematic perspective that he was slowly beginning to decouple from at the time of his accusation, which the paladins were also witnessing. As it is, the show punishes Lotor for his past crimes precisely after the paladins had already seen this behavior in him, and also after his perspective had started to change for the better. The narrative then pushes him back down into a behavior where he instead expands the list of people and things he accepts as expendable.

I feel that the subliminal messaging behind this particular construction is a little screwy and disheartening. The colony twist would have been better if the show had presented Lotor in s5 and s6 episode 1 as not being ashamed—not submitting—and even getting irritated that Voltron cared about one labor planet in the face of what Lotor felt was a higher calling for peace. It would have been interesting to show Lotor as inherently unconcerned or even approving that the paladins almost died while he and Allura were out in Oriande. There needed to be a more solid through-line of a very troubling, uncontrollable fault that would undermine the alliance and peace itself.

Next, to even get Lotor to go insane or to have him reliant on harvesting Altean quintessence, the show had to contradict its own worldbuilding in early seasons. Lotor was fully infused with massive amounts of quintessence prior to birth that EPs once stated put him on pretty much the same level as Allura, and that he was immune to quintessence. So…s6 heavily contradicts Lotor’s incredibly dynamic behavior and even his moral interest in not killing planets by making him go insane to nearly kill the entire universe. And canon accomplishes this in a way that canonically shouldn’t have been possible, per his in-utero quintessence exposure.

And then I’m bothered that if all he wanted was pure quintessence, there were canonically several other ways to obtain it, including for example that Balmera planets were known for harboring pure quintessence, even pure quintessence offered by living beings like Alteans, and that Balmeras were capable of offering up such power willingly in exchange for a slight token from the asker—or that Weblums happened to be concentrated quintessence manufacturers just floating around…

And I’m bothered that in various places, the show uplifts Alteans as inherently different in their life force/quintessence from all other living things. It contradicts the basic worldbuilding around what quintessence even is according to earlier seasons and creates some…idk, really squicky master race vibes, in ways that other fantasy space shows like Star Wars desperately have tried to avoid by showing diversity among the Jedi and Sith ranks. In VLD, it’s as if to say that Lotor couldn’t have possibly accomplished his goal without specifically sacrificing the life force of one particular race.

And while what Lotor did doesn’t by definition count as genocide (he still preserved the race and its culture), this messaging in later seasons about inherent racial reasons to sacrifice people is the same problematic thinking people use to perpetuate genocides in real life. And I just…I have a real problem with that. According to the later seasons, the colony Alteans are victims of Lotor’s experiments for specifically being born Altean. It’s even more squicky that the show could have rejected the bad message of “we must sacrifice a race because of their inherent properties” and fleshed out the minimal cues that other races could be just as powerful and helpful—but didn’t.

(For example, the show presents Keith with Princess Leia-like quintessence sensitivity, Coran and Balmera people with the ability to interface with and accept quintessence storages, the Balmera people themselves infusing the Balmera with their quintessence, the Weblums harboring mass stores of concentrated quintessence in their bellies, the very non-Altean Druids like Macidus manipulating mass quintessence into magic, and even a sea serpent/The Baku in season 2 using quintessence to mind-control an entire species. This show could have very easily pulled a Star Wars and at least fleshed out that hey, Midi-chlorians don’t discriminate and that any species can harbor a great Jedi…or Sith.)

But no—instead of presenting a diverse front of magical capabilities coming together to save the universe, the show champions in s8 its own horrific implications in s6, by having two Alteans sacrifice their lives in the end…because of course no other race could learn or manipulate the deep secrets of the universe? No one else could help share the load so that no one would have to actually die? I get that war means sacrifice, but like...why are we always sacrificing specifically along racial lines? So actually, after that s6 morality tantrum, the show approves of Lotor’s tactics by sacrificing the few Alteans to save the many because those few are somehow inherently different? And isn’t it wild that ultimately the federal figurehead of Alteans, Princess Allura, exonerates Lotor for sacrificing Alteans for their power in the name of larger peace…shortly before pulling a Lotor and sacrificing herself in the name of peace? So even in the final moments, the show is trying to argue with me that sometimes it’s necessary to sacrifice a specific race by virtue of their inherent nature.

So…I guess I’ve rambled. I really wouldn’t have minded a villainous Lotor or a big Voltron vs. Sincline battle. There were things I genuinely did like about s6, and I applaud the animators and VAs for their performance in that season. But I think there were a million and one ways to produce that plot, and the way s6 gets to these points makes me feel disquieted. It feels contradictory to previous worldbuilding and to character arcs, it undermines the morality being argued throughout the show, and it just feels like a cheap bait-and-switch if I think about it too long. Instead of relying on an old crime and a known character fault as a justification for battle, it would have been far better if Lotor had done something to specifically betray Voltron and the newly minted alliance or proved himself incapable of submitting to moral choices. And that’s only if they wanted a truly villainous Lotor. There were ways he could betray Voltron without actually turning into a comic book villain...even ways that he could outwardly play a betrayal while still functioning as an agent for Voltron’s aims to stop a loose Haggar/Honerva...

I guess, in retrospect, s6 is a really good example of a plot-driven season. It presented some really fantastic animation and battles and angst…but what did it cost the show to get there?

I think VLD itself should have taken its own advice—that one cannot place a lesser value on one component in the name of achieving a desired end goal. The season ultimately sacrificed world building and character development to achieve a stunning, angsty, heart-stopping robot fight. And that sacrifice undermined so many other things about the show and tainted my enjoyment. Sort of like mixing poop into a cake, I guess, lol.

#Voltron #VLD #Lotor #Allura #Quintessence #VLD s6 #Altean colony #thanks for the note anon!#Idk how to not ramble?#catch lightning on da soap box again #lol #but oh man yeah #so much to love about s6 but also so much that frustrates me too

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justanartsysideblog · 8 years ago

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Could I ask for all of the questions in the Companion Ask meme for Sylmae? This is totally not the anon that was asking about her earlier.

Your thirst is strong, anon. Well done. XD

Under the cut for length!

1. If not for the Conclave, what would drive your character to join the Inquisition?

Alright so...I’ll expand on an answer I gave before in a previous ask (that was definitely not you). Sylmae’s clan lived in the Hunterhorn Mountains, migrating from the higher peaks near the Anderfells, to The Tirashan forest, often disappearing into the wilds to escape from humans, including the Seekers who are currently moving in closer to the area. Sylmae’s wife, Nimronyn, was the Keeper of their clan originally, before their clan was attacked by religious zealots of the Anderfells, and Nimronyn and many others were slaughtered.

Sylmae took the remains of the clan deeper into the Hunterhorns, until the rifts began to appear in the sky, and she noticed something odd was beginning to happen with the Grey Wardens in the Anderfells. Her people, while reclusive, were known to trade with the Grey Wardens if they entered into the clan’s territories.

Sylmae decided that with these current events, the best course of action would be to seek aid from the Inquisition, in exchange for information, and Sylmae’s skills. Most of the clan that remained were the young or the old, who are easy prey and cannot fight, aside from a small group of younger hunters and mages, and Sylmae offers her services in exchange for their protection.

2. How would they meet the Inquisitor?

Sylmae would likely send one of her scouts with a message, first, to ask for aid from the Inquisition. If it is granted, Sylmae and her clan will come and join the Inquisition. This will boost the Secrets perk area at the War Table, as Sylmae offers young scouts and spies. There are also several magical healers, as the ‘three mages to a clan’ rule is bullshit in Sylmae’s clan does not follow it.

If the Inquisitor says no, Sylmae’s clan will disappear into the Tirashan, and reappear later as agents for Fen’Harel, giving Solas a large boost in his forces in regards to magic.

3. What would some of their cutscenes look like?

Likely it would center around the aravels near the stables, where Sylmae’s clan has settled. Usually they would involve Sylmae helping repair an aravel, or groom the halla and harts, or teaching the younger clan members magic or hunting and survival skills.

4. What would their romance route look like? Would they be romanceable?

Yes, Sylmae would be romanceable by any female inquisitor. It would be a very, very slow burn, as Sylmae was previously married to Nimronyn, who died several years earlier. Sylmae wants to protect her clan above all else, and so is focused on that task. Therefore she is less inclined to begin an romantic relationships initially, as she feels she has too much on her plate.

Initially, an elf inquisitor would have the most positive reception in regards to initiating a romance, simply because her clan is so reclusive and wary of non-elves. Dwarven and Vashoth women would be next, with a human female having the hardest time gaining Sylmae’s trust, as the humans of the Anderfells were responsible for the slaughter of her clan and the death of her wife. She has a much more positive reception to humans who are Grey Wardens, though, as they dealt with them from time to time.

The romance route would mostly be the Inquisitor flirting, and suggesting an interest, and Sylmae initially being blunt and honest about her focus on her clan, and fixing the rifts. If the Inquisitor gains high approval, however, and continues to speak with Sylmae and form a companionship, romance options will eventually appear that would end in some beautiful, emotional kisses and probably some nice sexy scenes. XD

5. If they romanced someone as Inquisitor, would they still fall for that person as a companion? How would that play out? How would they react to that person being romanced by the “new” Inquisitor?

I’ve never thought of Sylmae AS anything other than a companion...and I don’t think she’d ever be in this situation, because Sylmae trusts the Chantry about...-100 so there is no way she’d come to the Conclave without all of the rifts appearing first and the Inquisition already forming.

But if the Inquisitor does not romance Sylmae, it will be mentioned offhand in conversations that Keeper Sylmae and 'one of the Dalish scouts’ are quite close (*coughcough*Elalas?*coughcough*). Whether this relationship is romantic or not will never be fully confirmed.

6. Write some of their party banter (in reaction to major events, scenery dialogue, or just shitting around. Askers can specify for which character/event, or leave it up to the writer).

I’m going to make a big post, maybe, with lots of banter because this post is WAY TOO LONG. So stay tuned for that!

7. What would be on their tombstone in the fade (what is their greatest fear)? Oathbreaker. Sylmae swore to Nimronyn she would protect the clan, so breaking that promise and having them all perish is her greatest fear.

8. What kind of Inquisitor would drive them to leave the Inquisition/confront them about their actions (what gets their approval low? what does that scene look like)? A pro-templar, anti-mage, anti-elf Inquisitor is going to be the type of person that will get Sylmae to take her clan and leave. Any banter that involves any of the aforementioned topics will lead to disapproval from her. Or a very pro-Andrastian Inquisitor who continually talks to her about the religion.

She is not an outwardly emotional person, usually, so there would be not big explosive anger. Likely after the argument, there would be a cutscene of Sylmae’s clan packing their aravels, and the Inquisitor walking up and asking what they are doing, and Sylmae would tell them that her clan will take their chances with the demons and darkspawn in the Hunterhorns, as the Inquisitor has made it clear how little her people are worth.

9. Where in Skyhold would they be found? (e.g. Cole is in the tavern rafters, Leliana in the top of the tower, Varric in the throne room, etc.)

With the rest of her clan and their small aravel camp, near the stables.

10. If Inquisition operated like DA:O, what would their gift items be? What would their approval and disapproval Feast Day items be?

A gift would be...hm, something small or thoughtful that Sylmae has mentioned she enjoys: candied figs, a carving of a hart, a Dalish token the Inquisitor found.

Feast Day Approval item: a new fishing rod because her last one broke

Feast Day Disapproval item: an Orlesian compendium of Dalish culture.

11. How would they grow as a person? How would they compare at the end of the Inquisition as a companion to who they were as the Inquisitor?

Sylmae would grow more open to those who were not elves. She would be less closed off, and smile more frequently, and engaged in conversations with others more willingly.

12. Do they believe the Herald of Andraste is really the Herald of Andraste?Not at all.

13. If the Herald didn’t have them tag along to prep the trebuchets, what would they do during the battle for Haven? (bonus: would they join in on the impromptu Dawn Will Come choir practice in the camp?) Sylmae would be helping get people out of Haven, likely carrying someone who could not walk themselves. She would be one of the last out. No, she would definitely not join in the imprompty Dawn Will Come sing-a-long.

14. What nickname does Varric give them? Keeper

15. Without the influence of their decisions for the Inquisition, which of the companions do they get along with? Which ones do they bicker with? Sylmae gets along with Cole and Varric mostly, and also, surprisingly, Blackwall. Blackwall being a “grey warden” makes Sylmae more open to him than the other humans.

Solas and Sera are the type that Sylmae would talk about being Dalish with, and disagree with, but not angrily. Sylmae understands Sera’s feelings, and would want to explain but not push. If Sera had any questions she’d answer them freely. Sylmae would not be a fan of Solas’ bashing of the Dalish, what with her being a Keeper and all, but she’d be interested in his stories, and question him a lot on what he thinks and why he thinks it. Living in the Tirashan means that her clan traveled around very ancient ruins and found lots of secrets there, so she’s quite knowledgable in that area. So she wouldn’t hate Solas, but she’d definitely think he was pretentious, and certainly has a lot to say in regards to the Dalish for not being one.

She would bicker more antagonistically with Dorian and Bull, for differing reasons. She thinks both offer her people different sets of chains and nothing of merit.

She also has a rather bad relationship with Cassandra, for several reasons. The Seekers have been pushing into the Tirashan, and also Cassandra’s devout Andrastian beliefs put Sylmae on edge for reaons I’ve already mentioned. She also doesn’t agree with Leliana often, but Leliana at least doesn’t berate her with questions about her faith.

16. What would the Fear Demon say to them in the Fade to try and discourage them? Talks about failure, and the slaughter of her clan, and the promise she made to Nimronyn.

17. Where do they hang out in the Winter Palace? What’s their thoughts on the nobles/The Game? Sylmae hates The Game. She thinks it’s ridiculous, just like she thinks every single Orlesian is ridiculous. She would probably hang out with Blackwall, where it’s nice and quiet until she’s needed.

18. What’s their reaction to a dragon showing up? Welp. Time to kill a dragon, I guess, before it hurts someone. Unless we can just drive it away?

19. Once Corypheus is beaten, what do they do during the party? Do they stay with the Inquisition, or go somewhere else? What could the Inquisitor do to convince them to stay? Sylmae would probably take her clan and head back to the Tirashan. But she’d go to investigate some new ruins, because she saw something that resembled the orb Corypheus weilded in a mosaic somewhere and wants to go see if she can find some answers. But she would keep in touch with the Inquisitor, especially if she romanced her.

20. How do they react to learning abominations can retain their consciousness and identity, and even live peacefully with their spirits/demons, as seen in Stone-Bear Hold? Not surprised. Sylmae’s clan is very open to magic and inviting spirits. It definitely isn’t a big deal to her at all.

21. What do they think of the discoveries made in the Deep Roads? Do they make any comments on anything? Sylmae has lots of digging to do (no pun intended) into some ancient ruins back home now...there are too many new unanswered questions for her that she doesn’t like.

22. If you have another Inquisitor, how would those two get along, specifically? Sylmae would get along pretty swimmingly with most of my Inquisitors, I think. Olwyn would take the longest, being a human, but they share a lot of viewpoints so it wouldn’t be hard.

23. In trespasser, what “gift” would they give the Inquisitor, if any? A Dalish amulet of an eagle, as that is the shape Sylmae can shift into.

24. What are their plans for after the Exalted Council? Will the Inquisition staying in tact or being disbanded make a difference? It won’t make much of a difference if the Inquisition stays in-tact or disbands. Sylmae and her clan will likely leave the Inquisition, and return to the Tirashan and Hunterhorn Mountains, but they will keep in touch, and Sylmae is still investigating the ancient elvhen ruins she finds.

25. In the alternate reality, if they were corrupted with lyrium, how do they act? What’s their attitude about the end of the world/their inevitable death? She failed. Very morose. If she dies, she dies, that doesn’t matter to her. But it is the job of the Inquisitor to fix this, now. So the Inquisitor had better do so. And tell her past self...that she made a promise, and if she breaks it, this Sylmae will find her and make her pay.

#companion!sylmae #sylmae #wow this was long #thanks for the ask!#Anonymous

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