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leakinghate · 6 years ago

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The Depths to which We Sink

Disclaimer: This theory and analysis contradicts some points made in my previous metas, but what’s the fun of speculation if we limit ourselves to having it all gel together?

Nothing in animation is wasted: every action and expression seen on screen is something someone had to draw and something someone had to pay for. Everything is deliberate, from changes in expression to major plot events, and things which do not contribute to the overarching vision of the show will rarely, if ever, be included. Voltron Legendary Defender in particular moves so fast that they don’t have the space to include anything extraneous even when they want to. The showrunners have said in interviews that they’ve had to cut several of their comedy ideas for lack of space.

The exception to this that has always stood out to me as not fitting into the meta narrative is s2e2 'The Depths'. It's mostly plot irrelevant on the whole, with it being notable only for introducing the Blue Lion’s sonic canon. Sure it has some nice character moments for Lance, and the animation is beautiful, but it’s basically filler. It’s almost completely forgotten by the story, only brought up again once, when Lance references the mermaids in s3e2, ‘Red Paladin’.

In preparation for the fast approaching season 7 on August 10th I was attempting to re-watch the entire show up to the end of s6. Most re-watches I do I skip less plot relevant episodes like ‘The Depths’, but I wanted to go through the whole show this time.

But as I was watching this particular episode, post season six. I was struck by an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu. So what do you do when you think you’ve stumbled upon some heretofore unnoticed foreshadowing? Why, bring it to the Lotura Discord of course! We put our heads together and came up with some fascinating observations, as well as some intriguing possibilities for where the plot might be headed in the future.

On re-watching it again, post season six, 'The Depths’ contains an uncanny amount of foreshadowing to the entire colony plot.

Two of our protagonists unexpectedly stumble upon a completely isolated and hidden settlement after traveling through a strange space anomaly. They are initially greeted by a single member of a race they previously believed did not exist (anymore).

The mermaid civilization is beneath a thick layer of ice, and the Altean colony is inside a dome.

Information received from an erstwhile ally reveals an apparently sinister truth about the actions and motivations of someone in power who had previously acted as a friend. To wit: the authority figure has deceived their loyal subjects for the purpose of killing them.

The ally that provides this information readily admits that they do not know all the facts and that their conclusion is only a theory based on the facts that they do have.

Dialogue from The Depths:

Lance: But what’s the point? Why mind-control the mermaids? Blumfump: To kill them! Lance: Really? Blumfump: Well, we don’t know that for sure, but hundreds of mermaids have disappeared and never come back.

Dialogue from The Colony:

Romelle: My brother was dead. I knew the truth, or at least part of it, but I also knew that no one would believe me without proof. When Keith and Krolia arrived they were my last chance at finding it. I told them what had happened to my brother, and as it turned out, so many Alteans that had been taken before him. As they explained their mission to me, we knew there must have been a connection between the missing Alteans and the pure strain of quintessence.

One of our protagonists is compromised by an antagonist’s mind control and is used to attack and subdue his fellows. The shadows on Hunk’s face when he is under mind control even look like Shiro’s scar.

The physical appearances of several characters are also intriguing. The one character we see fall victim to the Baku, Florona, is the only red-headed mermaid in the episode. A shade of red very similar to Bandor’s hair color.

Plaxum, the most prominent of the ‘cave dwellers’ and the one who eventually directly confronts the queen, has two ponytail-like projections on her head very reminiscent of Romelle’s hairstyle. They also share very similar body language. And Plaxum’s eyes while wearing her jellyfish are the same color as Romelle’s.

In fact, both of these pairs of characters share very similar color schemes; Plaxum and Romelle are teal, pink, and yellow, while Florona and Bandor are red, golden-yellow, and green.

These are all things which have already happened; there is no speculation here, only observation.

Hilariously, this means Bandor has been metaphorically represented by a red fish.

In other words, a Red Herring.

From Wikipedia:

"A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important issue. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion."

This is exactly what we've been saying since season 6 aired. Specifically referring to Bandor’s line after his ship crashed through the dome. The one thing he manages to tell Romelle is: “Lotor... the other colony... It’s all a lie.” Which tells us exactly nothing, but is the evidence that convinces Romelle she is correct to distrust Lotor, and what sets off the chain of events that ultimately led to the s6 finale. It’s also the strongest evidence we as the audience have that Lotor has done something truly monstrous. The scene with Bandor irrefutably connects Lotor to the emaciated Alteans, even if we don’t know precisely what that connection is. It’s easy to assume the worst both in and out of universe.

In cinema characters with red hair are often made to be the red herrings. A red herring may be intentionally used by the writer to plant a false clue that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion. Bandor led Romelle to a false conclusion.

Both in and out of the show. Romelle concluded wrong. The paladins concluded wrong. The AUDIENCE concluded wrong.

What’s next? Well, the plot of ‘The Depths’ isn’t a 1-to-1 relation to the Altean Colony storyline, so it’s difficult to say exactly what aspects of the episode’s climactic fight and conclusion will turn out to be relevant. But, we can be fairly certain that the overall narrative is the same.

The apparent villain was actually being manipulated into taking the actions they took by a greater, silent threat. The few rebels our protagonists met were wrong about who was the real enemy. They were right about the issue, but wrong about the ‘why.’ The leader was not at fault because the leader had fallen prey to the creature first and was subsequently rendered powerless to stop it.

Perhaps even, and here we get into more speculation...

The real threat was something that loomed large in the background the whole time, assumed to be providing safety. Fallen from space.

The Baku is referred to as ‘the giver of life’.

That phrase is disconcertingly ominous, considering the only other time we've heard a similar phrase was in reference to Oriande. The Sages, or ‘Life Givers’, specifically.

And what is quintessence, but ‘life itself’.

JDS has previously compared Lotor to Magus from Chrono Trigger, a game I have no personal experience with, but @blackmoonbabe provides the relevant info here.

What if there's some kind of cosmic horror that Lotor's been fending off with Altean quintessence? Possibly, the only kind strong enough - apart from the rift sourced variety. Extracting it and storing the people in the hopes of eventually restoring them. Only, now that he's gone. There's nothing stopping whatever this thing is. Who knows. It might even be related to the rift creatures.

We still don't know what the Baku was or where it came from, just that it 'fell from space.' The new trailer for season 7 features a similar looking and very toothy one-eyed beastie.

When Lotor is pleading with Allura he says:

"Allura, you must understand I’ve given everything I have to plumb the depth of King Alfor’s knowledge, to unlock the mysteries of Oriande."

It might be that he found something bad while trying to unlock those mysteries.

All of this really makes you wonder why exactly Alfor kept Oriande's existence a secret.

Post season 1, there was an interview where the showrunners said that they had to kill off Alfor's AI because he knew spoilers. Which, okay, that’s fair.

Except... what exactly have we come to know now that only Alfor’s AI could have told us ahead of time?

Everything we eventually learn about Zarkon we find out through Allura and Coran. And everything surrounding Lotor and Haggar are things that Alfor’s AI wouldn’t have known about because they happened after Alfor’s death. The only outstanding piece of information that Alfor could have know was the location of and the information about Oriande. But, Allura doesn't even think to look for Oriande until mere moments before she and Lotor unlock the map to it. Certainly, the AI could have provided information of the proper way to get past the trials, but that was resolved easily enough in-episode and it was never truly portrayed as a risk that Allura and Lotor wouldn’t return before the castle ran out of oxygen.

If it was true that Alfor knew spoilers... there is something BIG concerning Altean Alchemy that we don't yet know. Not something little. Something potentially game changing.

Even knowing there was a good chance he was going to his death, and Coran and Allura would be on their own, Alfor never told Coran about Oriande. Coran and Alfor have been shown to have a particularly close, lifelong friendship - strong enough that Coran keeps at least two portraits of Alfor in his room above his bed. Alfor trusted Coran to the extent that he entrusted his beloved daughter, the Black Lion, and the future of the universe into Coran’s hands.

And yet.

Alfor didn’t tell Coran about Oriande. The one place Allura might go to strengthen her alchemic abilities and reach her potential. Alfor was faced with the possibility of letting the knowledge of Oriande and Altean Alchemy die, and he chose to risk it.

There had to be a damn good reason he didn't tell Coran about it. He might have known about something bad. It seems like he wanted Oriande forgotten; for Allura to never go there. Or at least, not until she was ready to make some tough decisions. Decisions he would rather spare her.

I’ve been feeling since around season 3 that VLD’s ultimate conclusion will be to show us that there is no true good and evil, that neither violence or pacifism is always the answer, that the world - the universe - is all shades of grey. Allura is our vehicle for that. It’s through her assumed prejudices that the show is shifting our viewpoints. She began the series believing that the Galra were all evil, the Alteans good. As time has gone on she’s improved impressively on her initial bias against the Galra, but has steadfastly refused to acknowledge her own people as capable of similar actions - her response to the alternate reality Alteans was to declare them not true Alteans instead of accepting that they’d become akin to the Galra Empire from her own reality.

It’s clear that Allura will have to face Honerva eventually, and will be forced to confront what the former greatest Altean Alchemist has become. But it’s too easy to dismiss Honerva’s corruption into Haggar as a side effect of the rift - not the willing actions of someone more concerned with knowledge than morality.

For six seasons we’ve seen Alfor as a paragon of good. His one fatal flaw being perhaps too good, too trusting, that he believed his friend’s words over his own judgement. Ultimately damning the universe to ten thousand years of being ground under the heel of a brutal dictator.

Alfor paid for that mistake with his life, with the destruction of his planet and the near extinction of his people. And so, he remains what all good in VLD is measured against, both in our - the audience’s - minds, and in Allura’s.

But just as our ultimate evil, Zarkon, was revealed to be more than just a monster, so too will our ultimate good be made more complex. In season 3 we were introduced to the younger Zarkon. A loyal friend and comrade. Awkward around an attractive woman, afraid of cats, and a dedicated and concerned ruler of his people. He was humanized, for lack of a better word, but we still see in him the man who he’d eventually become.

What better way to finally break through Allura’s idealized view of Alteans than by tainting Alfor’s image in some way? To finally see our Big Good do something morally grey? We’ve already seen it foreshadowed by the corruption of the AI, and the Alteans in the alternate reality.

The first time we’ve heard someone level legitimate criticisms against Alfor was at the end of season 6. Just after Lotor begins his breakdown he says:

"What about your father? He may have been a master engineer, but Alfor was too weak to defend his home world. I’m the one who had to step up and save our entire race. Who are you to question my tactics in bringing peace and prosperity to the universe?"

No one else criticizes Alfor for his choices. Even when they acknowledge he failed, he's always portrayed as having taken the best choice. But, what if Lotor's right? It certainly looks like he is.

If Lotor hadn’t stepped in and saved those few survivors of Altea’s destruction they would eventually have been discovered by the empire and executed. Zarkon had made it his personal mission to drive the Alteans to extinction. Alfor was weak. He surrendered to his fear of what would happen if Voltron fell into Zarkon’s hands and failed to utilize all his resources to defend Altea, his people, and his allies.

This won’t be the only fault we find out he had, mark my words.

There is something dark and unsavory lurking in the truth of Altean Alchemy.

Considering Lotor readily admits that Alteans perished in the process of his quintessence experiments, it may very well be that whatever required such vast amounts of concentrated quintessence is also something Alfor had to contend with in the past. Canonically, as stated in s3e7 ‘The Legend Begins’, quintessence was only first discovered in the course of studying the rift on Daibazaal. Alfor could not have been utilizing quintessence directly, because he didn't know it existed.

So if, whatever Lotor has been having to do with the colony, Alfor may have been having to do something similar...

He was simply sacrificing people.

It’s a lot easier to hide a handful of people going missing when you have an entire planet’s population to work with.

What if this is a thing that had always been happening, and that's why Alfor never told Coran about Oriande?

The thing is, Lotor can't know that now. Or he would have told Allura. To justify his actions, if it was something that Alfor would have dealt with as well.

Lotor didn't have Voltron. If there is some kind of Cosmic Horror beastie out there he might not have been able to fight it, let alone kill it. So he was building Sincline. Hence the urgency to get it completed even after Zarkon was gone. We know he was out of concentrated quintessence as of s4e5 ‘Begin the Blitz’. He was either going to have to access the rift imminently or harvest more people.

The powers that be keep talking about things not being black and white in this show.

Alteans can do bad things. Honerva became Haggar. Allura herself has made some morally questionable choices. Like what she did to Lotor for example.

Allura will need to realize that. The truth will rise from the depths and confront her in a way she can no longer ignore.

Alfor failed. It was up to Lotor to save the Altean people. He did what he felt he had to do, and in many respects, it will turn out he was right.

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#vld #The Depths #Allura #Lotor #Alfor #Romelle #Bandor #Plaxum #Florona #voltron legendary defender #s2e2 #Hate tries to Meta #Lotura Discord Meta #red herring #vld season 7 predictions #vld conspiracy theory #altean alchemy

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sleepyssnail · 6 years ago

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Voltron AU: Three Men and a Baby (Part Two?)

Previously

“Where’re you going?!”

Walking to the door as he patted his pockets for his wallet, Shiro yelled, “I’m going to the supermarket for some baby food! Watch her!”

As the door shut, Adam glanced down at Katie who was still screaming and shook his head, “Your daddy’s a dead man.”

18 hours earlier

“Happy birthday dear Shiro, happy birthday to you!”

Laughing as the caterer wheeled out a cake made to look like a building with a man hanging on to the edge, Shiro looked around the room full of people invited to the celebration. Veronica smiled next to him while Matt and Adam smiled smugly at their friend and roommate.

Clearing his throat, Shiro gestured to the cake and around him as he said, “I’d, um, I’d like to thank you all for coming, and I’d like to thank Adam, Matt, and Veronica for embarrassing me like this. Um…thanks for coming!”

Laughing at the speech, the crowd dispersed to mingle and continue to dance. Grabbing his hand, Veronica smiled softly and kissed Shiro’s cheek gently before making her way to the dance floor.

“So many women,” Matt commented, leaning on Adam’s shoulder as he watched a man and woman dance too close to each other.

“So little time,” Adam and Shiro finished, their own eyes trailing across other occupants of the room.

Laughing, Matt separated himself from his friends and made his way through the large apartment, conversing with several of his friends with benefits before planting himself in front of the jukebox and selecting a song. Nodding his head along to the tune that was almost drowned out by the pounding music all around him, Matt heard his name being called.

“Matt! Long time no see!”

Shaking his head at the man approaching him, Matt pushed past towards a try of liquor saying, “Rolo, I’ve told you, I don’t do commercials anymore. I’m in a big movie, you’ll have to take your business somewhere else.”

“No, I actually-”

Waving his hand as if to dismiss his former director, Matt grabbed the hands of a girl and exclaimed, “Florona! How’ve you been? You look different.”

“I’m dressed!” Florona giggled, letting Matt draw her hand to his lips for a kiss.

“That must be it!”

Releasing the woman, Matt ran a hand through his hair and felt someone grab his shoulder. Turning to see Rolo, Matt shook his head again and began to protest only to be interrupted by the lanky man.

“Matt, I’m not here to ask you to do a commercial, I need a favor.”

Pausing, Matt nodded and turned to face Rolo head on as he inquired, “What kind of favor?”

Leading Matt through the apartment by the shoulder, Rolo explained, “I have a package being delivered tomorrow, but I won’t be in town to pick it up, I’m going to be in LA for a shoot.”

Stopping, Matt felt a tinge of bitterness rise in him as he asked, “LA? Who’re you filming in LA?”

Shrugging, Rolo stated, “Bii Boh Bi.”

“You-you’re shooting with Bii?”

Rolo snorted and threw an arm around Matt’s shoulders, “I thought you didn’t do commercials anymore. Anyway, I need someone to hold onto my package for me until I can get it, do you mind if I have it delivered here? Tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Matt said, forcing a smile, “No problem.”

Waving to Rolo, Matt wandered back into the main room where he noticed Adam duck into his room with a girl.

Clearing a few papers and some of his markers off the foot of his bed, Adam motioned for the girl to sit and asked, “You ever been in an artist’s room? It’s a bit messy, but it’s home.”

Nodding, the girl smiled and picked up one of the comic strip books Adam had written and flipped through it saying, “I can’t believe you draw Lion Cats. This is…amazing.”

Sitting in his chair, Adam frowned at the sadness in her tone and asked, “Is it about David again?”

“Yeah.”

“The good-looking one?” Adam asked, sitting up straighter as an image of a man with chocolate brown curls and just as beautiful eyes flashed through his mind.

“Incredibly good looking!” The girl exclaimed, looking wistfully back down at the book, “He used to read Lion Cats to me over breakfast.”

Exhaling deeply, Adam smiled as an idea struck him, “Nothing better to cheer you up, than dancing with an artist.”

The girl’s lip wobbled as she choked back tears saying, “David is an incredible dancer! He studied ballet in France for three years!”

“Th-three years?” Adam asked weakly, trying to imagine the man. Swallowing, Adam said slowly, “I think you two are gonna get back together.”

“Would it be okay if I invited him to the party?”

“Um, sure,” Adam said, standing up and moving to the door, “You make the call, I’ll be out here.”

Sighing in defeat, Adam rejoined the mass of people dancing and drinking, his eyes locking onto Shiro and Veronica slow dancing together in a corner. A small smile crept onto Adam’s face at seeing his best friend happy with the woman before ducking into the kitchen.

As guests left and the clean up began, Shiro hummed to himself and smiled at Veronica and commented, “This was nice.”

Raising an eyebrow at the comment, Veronica stated, “You hate parties. I’m surprised you didn’t jump out a window to get out of this.”

“Stay,” Shiro stated, putting his arms around Veronica’s neck and offering a smile.

Glancing around, Veronica smiled, “You don’t need me to stay over tonight. You’ll be fine, my platonic partner.”

“You sure?” Shiro asked, motioning to the bottles of liquor on the counter, “We can talk about the stupid sexual expectations of our generation.”

Standing on her toes to press a kiss on Shiro’s scar, Veronica whispered, “I have work in the morning. Spend some time with Matt before he leaves.”

Nodding, Shiro hugged Veronica gently before wandering into the billiard room and grabbed a glass of whiskey before pulling up a stool to the pool table. Sipping on the drink, Shiro hummed to himself as Adam pulled up another stool next to him.

“Rough night? Shiro asked, offering his drink to the other who quickly took a swig.

Making a face, Adam muttered, “You could say that. Veronica go home?”

Laughing nervously, Shiro leaned on the table and stated, “Looks like we’re gonna be alone with ourselves tonight.”

“Hey guys, what do you recommend for wooing a lovely lady this late?” Matt asked, walking past and looking in the liquor cabinet.

Tuning out as Adam quickly answered, Shiro yawned and rested his chin on his hand.

“Woah, woah, what’s got you two so glum?” Matt asked, cradling a bottle of wine in his arm.

“Veronica left,” Adam stated.

Rolling his eyes, Shiro sat up and teased, “Adam saved another dying relationship.”

Snorting, Matt leaned on the pool table and snickered, “You’re never gonna get a woman if you keep becoming her big brother when you get into the bedroom.”

“I know, I know, I just feel bad,” Adam said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his nose bridge.

Pondering for a moment, Matt put down the bottle he was holding and said, “Hey I have an idea. How about I get rid of Florona–stop laughing I’m serious! I escort her out, we play a few rounds, and drink the night away.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Shiro commented, smiling at the thought of Matt refusing a woman.

“It’s my last night here, then I’m gonna be in Turkey for ten weeks filming. We should have some bro time!” Matt insisted, picking up the wine bottle again and offering a smile.

Pointing at the hallway that led to Matt’s room, Adam stated, “You go in there and have a good time, and we’ll see you in ten weeks.”

“Yeah,” Shiro echoed, “Enjoy yourself, don’t worry about us.”

Flashing a smile, Matt dashed to where Florona was waiting for him.

“Shiro? Have you seen Matt?”

“He left this morning, Florona,” Shiro called, completing his set of pushups.

Hearing the woman exit the apartment, Shiro smirked as the phone rang and the answering machine picked up. taking a breath and stretching out on the floor, Shiro listened as Matt’s voice came through the machine.

“Hey, it’s Matt! I forgot to tell you, but I’m having a package delivered today, it’s not gonna be a big deal, just set it aside and don’t worry about it. Anyway, I’ll see if I can bring you back a drumstick or something.”

“…ADAM!”

Closing the front door, Shiro turned to look at his roommate’s door, still sweaty from his run. Waiting a moment, Shiro opened the door again and looked down at the very obvious baby basket containing said baby sitting in front of the door.

Closing it again, Shiro turned and yelled, “ADAM!”

“What?” Adam asked, yawning as he slid his glasses on his face and tightened his robe.

Smiling at what had to be a joke, Shiro pointed to the door, “Look out in the hallway.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Shrugging, Adam opened the door and laughed at the little human in the basket, “It’s a baby.”

“What’s it doing there?” Shiro asked teasingly, playing along with the joke.

Staring at the kid for a moment, Adam whispered, “It’s sleeping.”

“Why’s it sleeping?”

“Oh! Shiro! There’s a little note,” bending down to pick up the piece of paper, Adam stood up straight and read the note aloud.

So…yeah I continued it. the tag for this is #three men and a katie and I’ll be posting this on my Ao3 for reading there too.