#probably because shes the closest to the original. even the horn is just the headpiece

[cloud-ya]

day 3 senti

[doublethetheories]

Nevy’s Story Dissected by Me: Part 1

I feel like every theory I see only has bits and pieces, or just one of the gifsets, but not the other two, and they all have conflicting opinions. So, here is my interpretation of what happened to Nevy (and her relationships with Wrathia and Pedri, along with her role in society). And yes, this is panel by panel, so the formatting is really clogged up and frustrating but bear with me.

This photo is of Wrathia and Nevy when they’re young, probably tween years or even younger. 

Nevy has a crown on in this slide, which not enough people are theorising about for my taste, but I’ll have a separate post eventually about the government/status system in their world. Wrathia also has a headpiece, but hers is thinner and more delicate, falling into the category of a diadem. 

This post mentioned their clothing colours in each slide, but I’m going to take that and go a step further by also just discussing the clothing itself. Wrathia appears to be wearing mostly Nevy-esque colours, which shows how their relationship used to have Nevy ‘leading it’, so to speak. Nevy’s clothes are also more decorative than Wrathia’s, adorned with several extra ruffles and pears and linings. 

Their positions are also important, seeing how Nevy is sort of pulling Wrathia with her, probably to show her something. And young Wrathia follows her, because they’re in the early stages of a giggly, young-love relationship. Nevy’s role isn’t manipulative or harmful though, as seen by the happiness on both of their faces. This note is important later.

The crown and clothing show that Nevy was a higher social (and political) status than Wrathia in this slide, and the colours and position show that Nevy was also more of the leader in their relationship. 

This slide is where their relationship begins to spoil. The girls are ~15 or younger here, and a lot has changed since the last slide. The post linked above mentioned that this is probably the slide where they realised they’re destined to be on opposing sides of a war, and I do agree with that being a very plausible theory, but here’s another one;

Nevy is now wearing Wrathia’s colours. Sure, her outfits tend to vary a lot in this area, but in this particular slide I think we are supposed to make that connection. Her outfit is also more simple now, no longer having the extra cheery pearls and ribbon. Along with all of this, her crown has changed to be smaller and more compatible with Wrathia’s colour.

Speaking of Wrathia, let’s dissect her outfit now. In the exact opposite direction, Wrathia’s clothes have become more fancy, even adding gold jewelry around her arms and neck. Her diadem also now has a second band. (Not that big of a change, but it is a step up.)

Now let’s look at their positions. Wrathia’s hands are holding Nevy’s face in a very.. specific way. Her fingertips are keeping Nevy’s chin up in order to captivate (trap) her attention, while her thumbs are just barely not touching Nevy’s lips in a way that keeps her alert to Wrathia and in a general daze at the same time. This position can mean a lot of things (in normal relationships, this would just be an intimate position), but in this context, I think it’s Wrathia first starting to have (and use) power over Nevy. Wrathia is now in charge of their relationship, and since they’re each other’s first love, Nevy will stand by her through whatever she does until she pushes Nevy away.

It’s unclear whether Wrathia is beginning the manipulation on purpose or on instinct, but I’m certain that she begins to actively trap and manipulate people once she rises to power.

This next slide confirms everything I have been building up to. Wrathia has finally achieved what she’s wanted for so long: Power of her own domain. This is when she starts the empire, this is when she’s upgraded to a tiara/crown, this is when she’s learned how to use her power, for herself and against others.

Her position is a stance of confidence and power, and her expression shows that she has begun to look down upon people who used to be her equals. (Like Nevy.)

Nevy isn’t in this slide because this new Wrathia has left her in the dust. (Though I still think that, even if Wrathia’s heart is no longer able to love, she has a soft spot for Nevy, her first love.)

Her horns have completely curled around by now but haven’t begun to go down yet, so she is around her early twenties in this image. This means that, chronologically, this all makes sense. A young ruler (in old royal terms) would probably ride to a higher position, and marriage, around this age. And Wrathia is ready to start looking for a husband to help her expand the Empire. 

And this, as the final slide of this gifset, portrays an early twenty year-old Nevy clutching her head and crying, probably over the loss of her closest friend and lover. Nevy and Wrathia had grown up together, causing Nevy’s feelings to be worse than a normal breakup. A piece of her heart has been ripped out by Wrathia. (And though I believe Wrathia went through the same pain, she covered it up, keeping power and expansion as her top priorities.) 

Nevy is back in her own colours as well, in this slide, showing that the two truly have separated. The heartbreak Nevy is feeling in this last picture leads us into the next gifset, filled with much more painful memories for her.

The next two gifsets will be ‘explained’ in a second and third part to this. I also might have a fourth part whenever the next update comes out, since I’m 100% sure it’ll include a Gil/Nevy pact. (And yes I’ve been nerding about all the ‘Nevy is secretly evil’ theories, I can’t stop reading them. I’d freaking LOVE to make my own, but at this point I feel like it would just be me repeating a mashup of what everyone else has said so far. Let me know if you want me to do one anyways though and I’ll try to come up with something original lol.)

[ganymedesclock]

Champion, Emperor, and King

So I went on a rambling tangent to a friend of mine and came back to something about the two Black Paladins we’ve encountered, Black Lion herself, and Shiro’s title of Champion.

First and foremost: There’s some implied themes of royalty to the Black Lion, and the paladin that stands by her side. Voltron, when in its strongest form, has five heads, and Black’s stands above the others. She is the head of Voltron, literally and figuratively, and she is, to a degree, symbolically crowned.

The other Lions all have ears that are usually a mix of gray and one other color. Black is the only one who has golden ears- noteworthy, because when Voltron itself is form, those ears transform into horns.

One of the primary stated virtues of the Black Paladin is they are someone who others “follow without question.” This does not merely suggest force of personality and a strong will, but rather, someone who others reflexively turn to. In practice, we see this with both Shiro and Zarkon, with how their respective allies acknowledge them and look to them in situations of doubt. The first time Lance turns to Shiro, no one asks him to do so, and no discussion has been made about who’s in charge. But Lance defers to Shiro. When Shiro was incapacitated on his arrival to Earth, we don’t see a decisive leader between the paladins as much as they collaborate, all piling in their ideas and input as it comes up.

While Zarkon was seemingly always king of the galra (well, he was presumably prince in the past), I would not be surprised if the Black Paladin being a figure others turn to when they are uncertain or scared was a major component in Zarkon being able to shape the galra into the empire they became- after all, the galra homeworld was destroyed. Something on that caliber happening- seemingly, in a way that cast doubt on the trustworthiness of their closest allies- it’s the perfect recipe for panic. These people would be terrified, and they’d look to their king for guidance. 

Like the Black Bayard, like many other things- it is an element of Zarkon’s capabilities and former position he has judiciously abused since then. That kingly regalia, and presence of authority- the tendency to be acknowledged in any situation. Much of Zarkon’s current very prickly relationship with others is his desire to lead and be followed, to be a leader, to be honored and even revered- conflicting harshly with his inability to accept any control besides his own, making him tyrannical and dominating.

Zarkon has moved beyond the king- he is the emperor, enthroned and weighted with ten thousand years of experience, of conquest. The other paladins were crushed and scattered, his rule is unquestioned. He has become a kind of grandiose exaggeration of the nobility of the Black Paladin. Everything belongs to him, lives for him, dies for him. When an opponent actually poses a threat, he is loathe to actually consider it so, rather being sort of surprised that this annoyance is taking longer to die than usual.

And while at a glance it just seems like villainous ego, I would argue at least where Shiro is concerned, it’s Zarkon’s fatal flaw.

Because Zarkon is the emperor- but Shiro is the Champion.

I feel like there’s some misconstruing afoot around that particular term. And sure, it is introduced to us in a very bloody light- the story of what happened to Matt Holt, and Shiro’s becoming a slave gladiator. I think that this is arguably deliberate, because Shiro has a pretty significant self-loathing problem. In particular, with this lore of royalty around the Black Lion, as a figurative sword in the stone- Shiro is someone who pulled the sword out in a moment of necessity but afterwards comes back and believes that this has to be a fluke. Someone so broken, with history so tainted, cannot deserve such an honor.

But the thing about the Champion is that it’s a kind of crown, even one that Shiro doesn’t want to acknowledge. And it was not given to him by Zarkon, by Haggar, by Sendak- by the people who were trying to subjugate him.

Who is it that identifies Shiro as the Champion- who explains what it means, who arguably tells Shiro his own legend?

The prisoners of the empire.

Shiro was one of them. Captured, defenseless, scared- marked to die for the entertainment of the empire. At the very start of the show Shiro was brought into and made a part of Zarkon’s empire at the very bottom, the lowest possible level.

But Shiro took control. Something that no prisoner under the empire would have- that a slave, and especially not a slave gladiator, would ever be allowed. He decided who was going in that ring and who wasn’t. When given a sword and effectively ordered to die, he survived and emerged victorious.

Sure- that legend also paints Shiro in a bloodthirsty, terrifying light. However... the person that identifies him as the Champion, what is his takeaway?

“If anyone can save us, he can.”

Shiro’s reputation isn’t that of a murderous beast. It’s someone who is fierce, terrifying- but honorable. Trustworthy. As dark as that legend is- to the prisoners who tell it, who seem to have coined that name for him, who otherwise familiarized themselves with this person and know Shiro by name as well as title, it’s a beacon of hope.

Ulaz, describing Shiro: “As a leader, you bring hope. Earth needs you.”

Where would he get that idea if Shiro’s only reputation was a bloodthirsty gladiator? Certainly, no more notable than Myzax, who had no distinguishing title.

Where would Ulaz even get the idea that Shiro was a leader- if he hadn’t caused some serious trouble in the past?

Basically, to the prisoners of the empire, the Champion isn’t the thing that goes bump in the night, and he’s not their grim reaper.

He’s their king.

At the lowest, desperate, most fearful level of the empire- people who had no choice but to become a part of Zarkon’s world, who would have every reason to hate and revile him- they found their own leader and turned to him. And the group rescued in s1e1? Quite implicitly- they were sent back to their original planets. They went home- and they’d carry that with them.

You know not even Zarkon could keep him hostage. You know he’s with Voltron now- he leads them.

Shiro hears that name, and that story, and all he thinks about is it’s another way of calling him a monster. But there’s reverence to the prisoner that names him. At this point, Shiro doesn’t remember what he used that title for- what he seems to have done. But it’s probably fair to guess: Shiro is driven, defiant, and if something is wrong he will chew out the person responsible and nothing will stop him. He’s not someone who can be frightened into silence.

His judgment of individuals like Lubos who abuse their position is harsh, and we see in s2e7 that verbally, Shiro utterly eviscerates Zarkon- tears into him.

Because Zarkon thinks all he needs to be worthy of the throne is strength. If he can fight Shiro down, if he can crush the other’s windpipe in his hand, he can be nothing but the rightful Black Paladin.

Shiro’s response is basically noblesse oblige. If you fail to care for anyone but yourself and your agenda, you’re no king. Literally dangling from Zarkon’s arm with the latter’s hands around his throat his defiance does not waver. 

And the situation pretty clearly favors Shiro’s stance. Zarkon, the emperor, with all of his conquest and power around him- utterly fails, because Shiro, the king in rags, is framed as the true royalty here- not by blood, but by moral character. He does not need to play Zarkon’s game and defeat him in conquest- he’s rescued by the Black Lion. Because he’s the true Black Paladin- not Zarkon- he is protected. And there’s going to be hell to pay if Zarkon tries to drag Shiro into the astral realm like that again. 

But Zarkon can’t acknowledge the idea that there is any other king- any challenge to his claim of Black Paladin. And he certainly cannot even fathom that such an individual would come from the ranks of the prisoners, people who he considers so far beneath him that they live and die purely for his enjoyment.

As someone who has rejected anything besides dominance and power- Zarkon can’t even recognize the danger posed by giving the most crestfallen people under his control a beacon of hope in the form of the Champion- of the person who would not be controlled, of the person who would not die.

Of someone who, even whisked away to an uncertain fate, held onto the armor of the Black Paladin.

Basically: Zarkon’s fucked, but he doesn’t even realize it. At this point neither Zarkon or even Shiro himself quite process the position he’s in. Because, going back to what I was saying about crowns and that symbol of royalty:

Zarkon wears a distinctive metal headpiece, a very simplified militaristic crown for someone who believes, again, in power, force, and nothing else.

Shiro has his paladin helmet, but, more significantly, the main persistent detail on the top of his head is that lone white streak in his hair- a crowning detail, and very likely a scar- specifically, it and the scar on the bridge of his nose mark the wounds that killed his GoLion counterpart.

Basically, Shiro is wearing the injuries that “should” have killed him and he spat his blood out and said “not good enough”. He’s the thing that won’t die. 

As far as I remember, I don’t think anyone in high command has acknowledged Shiro by the name “Champion”- Zarkon has not acknowledged Shiro by any name, Haggar states that Shiro should have been their weapon, and Sendak calls him a monster.

But the prisoners refer to him as Champion- and a champion can be read as “the victor”, as Shiro was victorious over Myzax- but the name carries other connotations. A champion as opposed to a soldier is implicitly one with a cause- a champion of a faith, for example.

And Shiro’s misunderstanding of the context behind the name would make perfect sense- just like he misunderstands his relationship with the Black Lion. That can’t mean anything good. He’s tainted. He doesn’t think he’s worthy.

But, time and time again- he’s proved wrong in that regard.