lmao this is a real old ask from back when we only had up to season 6 and I’ve never gotten round to answering. RIP sorry bout that Dia. At least I can write more with s7 at the least
But yeah, loyalty is a very strong sociocultural (biological as well?) element found in the galra. I think in part, the root comes from the fact that betrayal in the galra is just as common. Think back to s6ep1, and Bogh’s non-reaction to his lieutenant’s betrayal. He’s not phased at all.
It’s almost like he must experience such betrayal on the regular that shit like this doesn’t even bother him anymore. There’s also that one scout from Krolia’s flasback in s6ep2 who states matter-of-factly how Krolia’s looking for glory when she goes to attack him.
Such betrayals are expected at this point. And frankly, while I do love roasting Acxa for this, I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of betrayals she’s gone through on the show (5) is actually the norm for the average galra soldier, and not the outlier.
How does this tie back to the idea of the galra and loyalty? Well, if the galra have an ingrained culture of betrayal, to the point that it’s seen as a normal everyday thing, absolute loyalty must be considered one of the highest forms of respect and love among the galra. Imagine how hard it must be to be loyal in a culture where betraying is so internalized? You must really care for that person or people or heck, ideals, for you to give it all, no matter how internalized the opposite is.
Ezor and Zethrid are among the funnest villains on the show besides Haggar and Lotor-after-he-went-ax-crazy. i really hope we never get a moment where they’re defeated or even redeemed, they just leave or get wrecked team rocket style out of the battle field and reappear periodically to wreck the shit out of the heroes
for comparison Acxa was the worst as a villain. She was just, so bad at it. She couldn’t even do the secret evil plan thing right. Fitting that she’s space Zuko as he too, sucked at being evil.
Speaking of characters being the inverses of each other, you know one aspect of Acxa’s character no one discusses bout that’s so clearly an inverse of Keith’s? How Acxa embodies fully the ideology of “the mission over the individual.”
Think bout it. Keith despite some moments, is very much bout the people he cares bout. When Shiro was an evil clone, he followed him to the facility and got his ass handed to him fighting him in an attempt to save him. When Regris, a teammate of his, was lost, Keith went back to save him at the near cost of his life. Kolivan admonishes him for it. Keith fully embodies the idea that one’s morals do not come at the cost of other peoples’ lives.
Acxa is not like that at all. Acxa is all about her morality, and her sense of duty. She focuses solely on the mission, everyone else be damned. Think back to how in s4 with the whole Narti scenario. Even though Acxa shot Lotor in the back for doing that to poor Narti (I’m certain this was unplanned, look at Lotor’s face there he wasn’t expecting to betrayed with a near literal knife in his back.)
she still went on and did what Lotor mandated she did. That is, she went and did the trade with Sam Holt, and kept the whole thing a secret from Ezor and Zethrid. That tells us that while Acxa does have a code of honor, she follows her plans absolutely, even at the cost of her vision. She is the definition of a lawful neutral – Keith would bend the rules to see his vision fit. Acxa lost sight of her way cause she put the mission over the individual(s).
That’s what costed her her friendships with the other generals. Cause she rather focus on what she think is needed to be done, she loses sight of the people who care for her. It’s why even when they were her friends at one point, Acxa still goes on fights them regardless in s7ep3 cause the mission to save the paladins was more important than the individual (herself and her feelings regarding the subject. We know she was hurt at Ezor’s jabs, look at her face when Zethrid had the “aww it’s true” love thing. It looks hurt).
Heck one could argue that’s why she shows up at the grave scene in s7ep13. She doesn’t consider how this is an important private moment for Keith and Krolia. She has to give her support to the Coalition and rebuilding Earth even if it means intruding in on people’s private lives.
So yeah, while Acxa learned bout the whole thing with Lotor and how he was a bad person, I still think that her major vice, her narrow-minded focus on her duties at the cost of herself and her relationships to others, she hasn’t learn from it. Or at least, it’s something that she’s definitely still working at. Maybe s8 addresses it if she becomes a Blade and in particular Krolia’s apprentice. I bet it’ll bother Krolia a heck ton that Acxa solely focuses on the Blade missions at the cost of herself and their allies perhaps.
anyways tl;dr: Acxa’s not evil, she’s just a bit of selfish narrow-minded bitch.
If it turns out next season that one theory where Acxa becomes the uniter/new Queen/leader of the galra true let me just say that’s there’s gonna be a sense of fridge brilliance in how Keith was real big on taking out Zarkon and sniffing out Lotor, the two previous emperors, but saved Acxa, the new leader and gave her his support.
It goes without saying that I really love this dynamic. Not in a shippy way, but in a former-friends-turn-enemies way. Cause if you look deep at the show, especially early on and compare it to later, you’ll notice that Acxa and Ezor have seem to have a somewhat close platonic relationship with one another. Which makes Acxa’s leaving and Ezor’s mockery in s7ep3 all the more painful.
(Note this is gonna be part wise analysis, part wise theory/headcanon. just a heads up).
I have this headcanon, very much strengthen by s7, that Acxa and Ezor have been good friends for a while before s7, possibly even before Lotor recruited them. We don’t learn any backstory bout them obviously, but there’s a lot of hints here and there that suggest that they were close.
Cause from the beginning when the generals as a squad were a thing back in s3, Ezor seemed to be the one most comfortable around Acxa. Remember that scene where Ezor asked Acxa bout the Thayserix? I think it’s really telling how Ezor got very close to Acxa, so close that she was literally in Acxa’s space at the moment.
Notice how Ezor’s even crouched down and everything. Ezor’s physically very close to Acxa here, and Acxa herself seems to not bat an eye at it. This tells us that Acxa is very comfortable around Ezor, so much that she doesn’t find Ezor getting in her personal space alarming or annoying. And we know Acxa gets flustered and tense around when there’s people in her personal space. We see it when Coran gets in her face in s7ep3:
The fact that Ezor doesn’t evoke the same response from Acxa is very telling. For one, it tells us that Acxa knows Ezor very well, and knows what kind of person she is. So well that she doesn’t even move to get some more space or something.
And we see it from Ezor’s perspective as well. Note how in the same scene Ezor seems very comfortable with talking to Acxa, casually asking her questions and making jokes with her after she responds.
She’s playful with her, something we don’t see with Acxa and the other generals. Again, it implies closeness that otherwise wouldn’t be there given Acxa’s dour demeanor. If Ezor’s this playful around Acxa it tells us that they’ve had time to get along and know each other. Ezor doesn’t even fell awkward making jokes around Acxa who wouldn’t reciprocate them cause she knows Acxa’s just like that. She makes them in spite of Acxa’s lack of reaction. That really shows us that Ezor herself is comfortable round Acxa as much as Acxa is around her.
And we see this later on, in s3ep4. When Ezor makes the mistake of calling the other reality another dimension, Acxa is quick to get on her case. Ezor responds with an annoyed tone, and a very snarky attitude.
The exasperated tone Ezor has just makes it here. It’s a long suffering one, born out of dealing with Acxa’s nerdy attitude on a constant basis. The fact that her response is just repeating what she said already but with the corrected word in a sarcastic way tells us it’s an argument they’ve had before, had many times actually. Ezor doesn’t even bother with “Acxa you know what I mean,” or get sheepish when she says something wrong like she apologized to Narti. No, it’s a brat fight, one that Lotor is quick to jump in before it escalates. Acxa seems really into it too, judging by her surprised face when Lotor cuts in. this tells us that their bickering is constant, and the fact that it’s not really any more mean spirited than just basic annoyance tells it’s a bickering between friends.
superheroladies 