#shiro's escape

[spaceshipcrowsnest]

VLD Character Analysis: Ulaz

Starting a brand new blog because I'm rewatching Voltron and I have FEELINGS.

[CW: mentions of character suicide, spoilers ahead.]

Let's start with Ulaz. I've been rewatching in order and I was fine with keeping my thoughts to myself, but then I rewatched S2:E3, and I just Could Not keep this bottled up to talk with either people that were out of the fandom in forever, or people who don't know the fandom at all, so.

Ulaz. Oh, quiznark, Ulaz.

So. Ulaz is the character who freed Shiro from the Galra ship where he was prisoner, just before Shiro returned to Earth. He is the first Blade of Marmora character that the Paladins interact with (Thace being the first one we see but have no context for), and he is introduced and killed off within a very short time frame. So there's not much.

And yet, there is So Much about him.

Now, I don't remember for sure (and I'm not QUITE there yet), but I seem to recall that when the Paladins DO make contact with Kolivan and the rest of the Blades of Marmora, they mention Ulaz was 'a fool' (if you trust my memory from 7-or-8 years ago) or some other slight, considering he gave the Paladins access to a Very Secret, Very Discreet Spy Network within the Galra empire. And it makes sense; they would not have wanted Voltron to make contact on their own terms, over the Blades choosing to contact them.

Which is basically my entire point about him; Ulaz is a character made of hope.

And that is SO striking to me! Here is this fighter, this spy, this person with little to no facial expressions, for the few minutes he is on screen. And he is so undeniably filled with hope.

It's shown in him freeing Shiro (whom, I am not entirely convinced the rest of the Blades agreed to), and giving him the coordinates to, again, an incredibly secret communication base! They even wrap space-time around it to keep it hidden! And there was a risk! If Shiro had been captured, if the Druids, Haggard or Zarkon got their hands on that intel, the station was doomed! But he still gave the coordinates to Shiro.

Also, Ulaz is implied to be the only one on the station. Whether as a punishment for stepping out of line or simply as a precaution is not said, but the station had to have been manned by someone else before Ulaz got there after freeing Shiro. Possibly, the rest of the Blades left in case the station was doomed. In case they were found-- leave Ulaz to pick up after himself in a way.

And Ulaz still stayed. Alone. Quietly waiting for the time where the intel he gave over in good faith was either his downfall-- or an opportunity for a better tomorrow.

When the castle appears, again, Ulaz could have assumed the worst. Possibly, he could have recognized it as Altean in design, but it seems more likely that he did not recognize the ship, seeing as Alteans canonically have been eradicated over 10 000 years ago.

He could have reacted with paranoia. He could have destroyed the entire base on the off-chance that this was not the human he had given the coordinates to. He could have been wary.

And yet, he does not harm the Paladins. Very distinctly, they are the ones who attacked first, seeing him as an intruder, and Ulaz, for all of his fighting, barely harmed them. Even if he did not know them. Even if he did not recognize them.

And then-- and then! When he sees Shiro again, when he knows who they are without a doubt, Ulaz gives them even more information. Freely. Openly.

He mentions the Blades of Marmora. He mentions intel he has on his base about Galran prisoners. He talks about the ceremonial blade he carries when asked about it. He offers, openly, anything he could grant them from where they are. And then the robeast finds them and Ulaz assumes they are being tracked instead of thinking any ill of them.

And then he gives them his life, when they can't figure out how to defeat the robeast on their own, offering everything he can, because he trusts them, he believes in them, he hopes in them.

I just have so many feels about this one-episode character, seriously Q__Q

[neptunezo]

You hate me? Fine. *Voltrons your Jason Todd*

[onebloodsoakedlion]

What if Fire Emblem Fates had, instead of babyrealms, a timeskip much like Three Houses and you don't get to recruit the child units until the timeskip? Either that, or the parents raise their children IN the Deeprealms (if nothing else, it's a temporary escape from the war) and they end up looking like they would if we went the timeskip route.

As for justifying the timeskip:

Revelation: The player's army is forced to fight Garon because he ends up hunting down the Nohrian siblings to kill them for "treason" (real reason: it's a last ditch effort to stop the Hoshidans and Nohrians from uniting and stopping the Vallites), and THEN they try to enter Valla, but it's too late. They spend the timeskip trying to find another way in and the post-timeskip part begins when they do find a way in.

Birthright and Conquest: Timeskip occurs after the main plot and focuses on the player's army having to protect either Hoshido or Nohr from a direct assault from the Hidden Kingdom. Anankos won't be slain in either of these routes but he and his army would be repelled and unable to return for thousands of years to come.

EDIT: I really need to not post stuff like this when I'm not at home since I just keep leaving things out by accident.

[mosscreeper-ao3]

You ever see a fandom opinion that has you like

and you have to force yourself to be normal about it because it’s ultimately harmless but also jfc how did you miss the point that hard.

[transmascsunburst]

My voltron MLP designs :D I wanted to have more diverse species cause Lance is such a Griffin Keith is half Bat Pony but the traits become more noticeable after the blades arc

[discordiansamba]

(1/2) If demons are of similar nature to rift-creatures, does Keith have any level of tolerance for that kind of energy, the kind that is so dangerously corrupting to most mortal people? Are demon-contracts a safer and more stable cousin of the corrupted magic Haggar uses? Would having demons around that on occasion possess people have let humanity build defenses against that kind of energy? (If they had, Shiro would likely know about it. Would that offer any protection against Haggar's magic?..

(2/2) … and how would certain other paladins react if Shiro identified the evil they were fighting as akin to demonic power? One more reason to stay very quiet about a certain half-demon)

Great questions!

To start off, yes- Shiro does recognize that there's something... inherently familiar about the energy that clings to Haggar. He doesn't want to go so far as to say they are demons- they're in space after all, but it wouldn't surprise him if there were creatures similar to them out in the universe, a belief that is only reinforced after he meets Allura and Coran (who have more in common with humans than they have differences, at the end of the day).

And yeah, basically this is the one area where humanity's magic would actually have a leg up on Altean alchemy, because whereas the rift creatures were only 'recently' discovered (from Allura's perspective), humans have known about them for their entire history. Their entire magic system was developed around demons- both to use them and to exorcise them. I think this is something Haggar would (subconsciously) recognize, and that's part of the reason why Shiro's arm was replaced in this AU- like a shackle to hold that threat back.

(Does it stop Shiro from forging his first ever familiar contract in deep space? No. No it does not.)

I think contracts are a 'safer' way to harness the power, though 'safety' is debatable when it comes at the cost of one's soul half of the time. But generally you get what you ask for with no hidden surprises! Familiar contracts are even safer than that, giving form and physical presence to demons who otherwise cannot obtain a corporal form of their own.

Keith might be keeping secrets, but Shiro decides that this information is vital to the rest of the paladins and is honest about his own bloodline and what that has allowed him to determine about Haggar. It definitely cements Keith's decision to stay quiet, though!

(also yes, Keith can resist the rift creatures.)

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

in the time travel lance au, how much did lance tell the team/lotor? do they know hes from the future and that hes lance and how much things went to shit, or is he keeping the info from them(i mean you said hes doing that, but im curious as to how much hes actually letting them know)? also wait hold on. does the whole time travel situation mean that there are TWO lances running around now??

Pretty sure Lance tells them absolutely nothing. Just absolutely nothing. Fuck All. At best you can expect from him is vague riddles, very specific advice, and a 10-minute long call out session in Lotor's case where he drags him for every issue he ever had and after which he fucks off to do god knows what. And while Lance does try to keep his identity hidden, not to mention lets just say he is Off Putting enough to the point that the aliens do not connect him to any of the humans (except Kuron who recognized a movie reference).

And there are two Lances running around, though because of future!Lance, Shiro didnt reach Earth and instead he met Allura who got out from cryopod earlier

[mushed-kid]

i’ll be honest i don’t understand the whole shiro/kuron thing going on

[kismetconstellations]

Why are K/L shippers like this?

Is Shiro honestly so intimidating to them that they have to bash him (and obviously Allura, as well. Can't bash Shiro without the obligatory tandem Allura bashing)?

[oliveden]

When Allura opens her eyes, it's to a human face in front of her, visibly troubled.

He's Asian, she thinks, with a shock of white hair falling in his eyes and a scar across the bridge of his nose. It looks fresh.

It is that thought that spurs her into action, stepping towards him in concern. Her legs shake, and it is only with a flap of her wings that she avoids falling to the ground.

The human reaches out instinctively, voice anxious. "Are you alright?"

Allura adjusts her skirts and gives him a grateful nod. "Yes, thank you."

"You're welcome," he replies automatically. "I'm Shiro."

"I am Allura, princess of the Alteans," she responds, subtly leaning against the pod walls to steady herself. The dizziness had yet to abate.

"Nice to meet you, princess," he says, brow furrowed. "I'm sorry, but - what is Altean?"

She frowns. "How are you not aware, if you are the one who woke me?"

He flinches, and she backtracks quickly, realizing the tone of her words. "I am quite sorry. I did not intend to be rude."

Shiro shakes his head apologetically. "No, it's okay. I found myself here by opening a strange door, and I figured you were trapped like I was."

[imovyn]

HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE CLUBBB!!!!!!!!!

[klanced]

#LGBTQ #ally zarkon is so funny to me. like he'll commit heinous war crimes but he draws the line at killing gay people

I think back in 2017 I was making jokes about Zarkon being a feminist so him also being a huge ally is simply the next logical step. I think Zarkon is exactly like this Onion video:

[swagging-back-to]

naur seriously can we talk about how allura was even like 'the lions were made to be piloted by you and you alone'referring to the fact they are the only five people in the entire multiverse to have pure quintessence corresponding to the colors oftheir lions....

if one paladin is MIA then that lion should be inactive, benched. you dont simply play musical chairs with the lions. if it waa that easy then ANYONE could be the paladins at ANY time and theres no reason for the human paladins to be there at all especially if they dont want to be. but no the human paladins are NEEDED or else keith and allura would have no problem with pidge leaving in the first two episodes. nor would they mind if lance went home. but they DO mind. they PREVENT pidge from leaving and they make lance believe going back to earth isnt an option at all--that it isnt even on their iternary.

So no. i refuse to acknowledge the lion switching as canon.

[sentofight]

ooc. magic vs alchemy thread when?? aside from that, i wanna think more about older edward. traveling further and into a different direction from Al makes me cry a little bit. like, they haven't been away for a long time (lets not talk about THAT moment thank you very much). he'd most likely be defaulted to papa ed mode XD maes hughes raised him well ok?

[octochick]

i think bagi in prison becomes something of a adrenalin junkie

[discordiansamba]

you ever think about how there were multiple Shiro clones, so Haggar was fully ready to keep sending them out to die as many times as necessary until one finally reached Voltron? I do. I think about it a lot.