#the incongruity trips them up as much as their imminent deaths

[roughentumble]

ive seen posts that are like "geralt's pet names for jaskier"(very very good) but i havent seen nearly enough that are like "jaskier's pet names for geralt"(incredible unexplored concept)

[nomadicism]

Double Standard Setting

Regardless of antagonist or protagonist, villain or hero, and the tropes used to characterize them: it doesn't sit well with me for a story to present a character whose goals (which we are told are noble/good) are impossibly high given the setting and challenges that face them, and then for that character to be held to an incredibly high standard (relative to the setting) by other characters that the narrative has expressly given the easy path to by virtue of possessing the one thing that makes this impossible goal obtainable while those characters also benefit from the work of the one being held to the high standard (again relative to the setting) who is also paying the price.

Within the confines of VLD’s setting—a hellscape where there are no good options to change things for the better unless one has ultimate power—Lotor pays a heavy karmic price for a setting-imposed “no good options” decision; while also paying the price of a future lost with the one that we are being told outside of the story that he genuinely loved (while the show itself both tells us that he was using Allura and also implying love), in addition to failing to realize his impossible goal of peace.

Meanwhile, the protagonists (excluding Keith and Shiro to an extent) have been coasting through on easy mode while reaping the rewards of Lotor's work without paying the karmic price that he did in order to reach the point where his work could make the impact that it did. Additionally, Lotor’s work was centuries (thousands of years even) in the making, and Allura and Voltron slept right through it.

Examples of Lotor’s work: (1) put the Empire in a heavily weakened position by preventing the destruction of Naxcela which could have destroyed Voltron in the process; (2) killed Zarkon; (3) was right about Kral Zera, and beating Sendak kept Haggar away from the power of the Empire; (4) took Allura to Oriande (she would not have been able to save Lance or Shiro without her new powers). One could extend this list further, but these are the highlights.

Voltron and the Coalition would likely be at a stalemate (or potentially worse) if Lotor hadn’t taken action against Zarkon. Lotor didn’t have to do any of that. He didn’t have to return from exile. He could have set up some additional defense for his Altean Harvesting Utopia and remain hidden there, never leaving, and been worshipped until the end of the time (pretty sure that Zarkon would have given no fucks about that). It actually cost Lotor more (and in the end, everything) to pursue the impossible goal of bringing peace to the universe.

Easy Mode:

Voltron shows up, 10k years after the fact, with game-changing power in hand, and their victory really isn’t all that unassured. Their victory was a matter of when (and how many more lives are lost in the process) and not if. Strategy, diplomacy, and team-work are necessary to use Voltron’s power wisely. So yes, it’s not just a matter of Voltron itself, but who is in command of it. But they are still moving through the setting on easy mode because having Voltron means that they do not have to make terrible choices by having enough power to nearly always avoid being placed in a no-win/no-good options situation.

The few hard challenges (nearly no-win situations) that the protagonists have faced where death (for themselves) was imminent, were either avoided by another character’s in-the-nick-of-time action or sacrifice (Thace, Ulaz, Lotor, etc), or were remedied by Allura’s magic (healing the Balmera, trapped on Naxcela, healing Lance, healing Shiro). Thus, “easy mode” still applies.

Keith and Shiro are the only ones who have had to make some hard choices imposed by the setting and circumstances, but even then, neither were put into a situation where the only choices where “sacrifice these hundreds to save these millions—and no—self-sacrifice is not an option”. The closest we get is during Keith's work with the BoM, we see him (thanks plot armor) skirt a version of this kind of choice when he runs back for Regress and manages to save both Regress and the data they were after. While the fight between Keith and Kuron amidst the all the clones definitely counts as “welcome to the hellscape!”, Keith’s options were to either leave or try to save Kuron at risk to his own life. That’s a hard choice, but still not on the level that I’m talking about here.

Choices Have Consequences For Thee But Not For Me:

By destroying the gate, and then attacking Lotor, and then leaving him in the Quintessence Field; Voltron has lost the chance for peace, plunged the universe into even deeper uncertainty, and without the Castleship they cannot protect those who depended upon them (e.g. the Coalition).

Surely some aspect of this is going to come up?

Can't have it both ways and be convincing.

Now that Lotor is gone…what is going to prevent Sendak and/or Honerva (now that she is no longer Haggar) from taking control of the Empire and putting things nearly right back where everyone started before Lotor showed up?

No Castleship equals no zipping around the universe to aid the Coalition or prevent the Empire from rebuilding itself under the rule of someone just as bad (or worse) as Zarkon.

Destroying the Castleship was a choice: close the reality tears, or maintain possession of a vital weapon and mobility resource.

In a setting that applies logic evenly (e.g. realistic outcomes/consequences and challenges for BOTH antagonists and protagonists), the destruction of the Castleship should have serious consequences for Voltron, as—logically—the war or other events regarding the Empire and the Coalition should continue without them being available. Hypothetically, Voltron's return trip to Earth is going to take a lot of time.

The following questions are raised:

How is the Coalition supposed to defend against Sendak or Honerva without Voltron?

Who from the Empire is going to take that Coalition intel that was synced by Kuron at Galra HQ and make use of it?

Is Sendak going to wait around to make good on his threat (in S1) to go after Earth?

Will the protagonists finally have to make a hard decision to protect one planet that is under attack versus another?

And when they make that choice, surely, the other planet will be a smoldering wasteland when they arrive too late?

Will it be Earth or Olkarion?

Without the Castleship, Voltron can’t arrive at the last minute to save more than one planet. The fact that this hasn’t even come up yet (b/c even with the Castleship Voltron still can’t be in more than one place at one time) has bothered me, but it’s going to be an even bigger problem if this kind of challenge (one that is logically demanded of the setting) isn’t set before the protagonists while they do not have access to wormhole transport (Castleship-generated or otherwise).

And while the protagonists do not have access to wormhole transport, Honerva does.

Is she really going to wait around till Voltron catches back up to challenge her?

10k Years of Consequences:

Assuming that Honerva doesn’t get there first…what happens when the protagonists go to The Colony?

Will Allura and Voltron be welcomed and celebrated?

Will the Alteans care (or even know) that Voltron attacked their god-king-savior and left him for dead in the Quintessence Field?

In a setting that applies logic evenly, those Alteans should be angry when the protagonists arrive. From their sheltered/socially-engineered perspective, it seems highly incongruous that the protagonists would be seen as heroes or saviors as they are seen when liberating planets from the Galra. The Alteans should be angry either from the death/disappearance of Lotor (their god-king-savior), or just the simple fact that Allura (and thus Voltron) slept for 10k years while the Alteans were hunted and had to be hidden away while the rest of the universe was conquered by Zarkon.

In a setting that applies logic evenly, are the Alteans really going to be ready to throw a parade for the daughter of the king who may as well have abandoned them?

Within this context, Alfor’s decision to divide and hide Voltron (and his daughter) doesn’t reflect well on him. Presumably he must have ordered some evacuation of Altea, but he still made the decision to prioritize his daughter, friend, and Voltron by dividing and sending them far away and put them in stasis indefinitely. If the right people hadn’t chanced upon the Blue Lion then how much longer would Allura and Coran have been asleep? The Galra found the Red Lion and nearly got the Blue Lion, great plan Alfor.

Alfor had the power—the ultimate power that allows the protagonists to coast through the Hellscape of No Good Choices—to do something and he didn’t use it. He made a choice that left his people defenseless, and still ended up creating a risk that the power would fall into the hands of Zarkon (or even someone worse). There is also the ethics of binding Allura’s quintessence to Voltron to consider.

If anything, that sets up Alfor's decision to be similar to Lotor’s decision, in that sacrifices had to be made for what either perceived as the greater good.

To recap: why is there this dark and terrible setting that left Lotor with no good options for bringing peace but somehow that setting never forces the protagonists into a corner where they have to make a legitimately terrible choice with no better options?

Especially with antagonists like Sendak and Honerva who—by any reasonable logic—would be in a position and mindset to create situations in which there are no options other than terrible ones that carry a karmic/moral price.

We’ve already gotten a hint of this with what Honerva did with Kuron and Keith, and with what Sendak did with the Arusians.

Clearly, the reason that this setting is inherently more punishing for the antagonists (and anyone who isn’t the protagonists) comes down to who has Voltron in their possession (regardless of strategy and team work). And that’s believable to a point.

In a setting that applies logic evenly, if the difference between Lotor not being able to make a better choice within the confines of the setting really boils down to Lotor not being Allura (with her magic) nor having Voltron at his disposal then…it seems like that choice was already made by Alfor, and the consequences of that choice have been felt by the universe for 10k years, and someone should call that out in-story.

So will the writing continue to gloss over consequences and/or never place the protagonists into a moral choice trap?

I’m not holding my breath. The plot armor within this double-standard setting is very heavy, and should that continue, it's going to kill what little desire I have to finish out the series.