Sorry for the lateness anon, but I really had to digest the show as a whole before I could crank this one out.
They’re foils of one another. Think of it sort of like how in many shows and movies, how the protagonist has a rival, a dark version of themselves. This rival shares many of the traits the protagonist has – such as certain flaws or quirks or even virtues – but instead of using them for good, it’s for evil, or in Acxa’s case, morally questionable shade of gray.
But it becomes more interesting when you take the show as a whole into account. Every major arc (26 episodes or so, 24 for in the first cause of the 3-in-1 first episode in s1) has a main rivalry between the main arc villain and the focus character in question, with a particular shared theme in mind. (This is gonna be long but bear with me)
In the first arc, this particular character is Shiro vs. Zarkon. Like Shiro, Zarkon was the Black Paladin. He led his team on many victories and was a natural born leader just like how Allura described Shiro in s1ep1. And it’s very telling how both of respond to this leadership – Zarkon defines himself as the Black Paladin cause that’s how he sees himself and defines his autonomy. Shiro defines himself as the leader of Voltron, Mr. “I want to be a Paladin again”. And that’s the special history between the Shiro-Zarkon rivalry. But also the source of conflict between the two of em
The reason why the rivalry exists is cause they’re the Black Paladins, and Zarkon wants the Black Lion back. They’re essentially fighting over the same lion. Shiro’s and Zarkon’s theme is fighting over the Black Lion.
Arc 2′s focus rivalry is Allura and Lotor, and their shared theme is Altean history. But not only Altean history, their shared history also is cause of their mirror parents heritages.
Lotor and Allura have a “bond” over how they’re the “last” Alteans left and are both connected essentially, to the old Altea. Allura is the Princess of the time, and Lotor is the son of the Galra Empire, Altea’s major ally at the time. Their rivalry is different from Zarkon’s and Shiro’s – cause in a way, it ends in a “romance.” It’s a much more peaceful, but more insidious cause Lotor not only was lying bout the whole thing, but also actively using Allura for his own purposes. Allura thought he was a good person, but ultimately was a guy with twisted methods and perverted morality.
Now we’re at the cusp of arc 3. I’m almost certain the rivalry in this season is gonna be Keith with Acxa. And we’ve gotten the build up since season 2. Their theme is one of mirrors.
If you were to look at Acxa’s arc in the second arc, you will realize that it’s a lot like Keith’s from the first one. She acts solely as Lotor’s second-in-command, obeying and executing his orders as he sees fit. She goes along with a plan that sacrifices one of her teammates and lies to the other. That kind of loyalty mirrors Keith’s loyalty to Shiro , whose loyalty got him to set down from being a paladin not once, but twice, in s3ep6 and in s4ep1. Acxa in the second arc, would of done the same given the same scenario.
And here’s where that connection lies – they’re mirrors cause they’re the step-ups to the previous leaders in their factions. What Acxa went through in arc 2 is a mirror to arc 1 Keith. But unlike Keith, whose leader he was loyal to was a genuine, kind guy who was there for him, Acxa had Lotor, who couldn’t care less at all.
Shiro’s a clone here, but at least he tries to comfort Keith here as best as he could. He cared, even if he didn’t understand the true bond Keith and the OG Shiro had. Lotor doesn’t care for Acxa, he just wants results and blames her when he doesn’t get the ones he wants. And Acxa realizes this, which is why she cuts ties with Lotor in the end.
This is a contrast to how in forever and always, Keith was never gonna give up on Shiro, cause Shiro never gave up on him. Acxa gave up on Lotor cause he never gave her a chance.
And that brings us to season 6. Shiro is not the Black paladin and the leader anymore. Keith has grown into his role, and recognizes who he is. He’s synergized with the rest of team voltron, and grew into it, with the help of his spending time with his mom and with Shiro.
Acxa is too, the new leader of her team, but for the opposite reasons. She cut Lotor off cause he was terrible and her and her team were ejected into space for it. All her calls and leadership has gotten her and her team nothing but pain. Acxa has lied to Ezor and Zethrid, something we haven’t seen Acxa apologize for. If Narti’s alive then Acxa is in some major hot water cause unless Narti was in on the plan, Acxa agreed to sacrifice her for it. They have no ship, no faith in her leadership, and no plan. She’s just like season 3 Keith, only arguably worst off.
But here’s where I think the connection will head. Acxa will have to re-adapt to her team again, cause not only does she have to reprove her worth, she has to learn to manage things without Lotor’s help. She doesn’t even have his guidance here either, he genuinely doesn’t care and is gone to boot. She’s gonna have to do things differently, that includes bending into the wishes of her allies where she didn’t approve before.
But of course, in order to rebuild all of that, Acxa needs time and experience, something she can’t really get if Voltron is hot on her tail. But as I pointed out before, Voltron is gone and busy on their own thing at the moment, which gives Acxa the well needed time.
Am I saying Acxa is gonna be the final boss for Voltron? No, I don’t think so. Cause there’s another factor that we have to consider besides Acxa as main threat. That threat is Haggar. Again, Acxa really screwed herself over big time in the second arc, and one of those fuck-ups was breaking ties completely with Haggar. Cause the same way OG Voltron team had their own Oriande-blessed Altean (Alfor), and team Voltron has their own Oriande blessed Altean (Allura), Acxa doesn’t have that cause she tried to shoot at Haggar, the only other blessed Altean we know of. And Haggar has her own plans indeed.
To get to the main meat of the question – Acxa’s main deal with Keith is that she’s his rival enemy in the same vein Zarkon was to Shiro and Lotor was to Allura. We don’t know the source of the conflict of course, nor Acxa’s whole deal, cause it wasn’t her time yet. And it’s why I have been adamant on why she’s not gonna get a redemption arc – if one at all. All rivals in this show are tragic evil villains, and their downfalls have all been their own doing in the end. Acxa is most likely gonna have that choice to change, but Zarkon and Lotor before her, is gonna turn it away.
I’m trying to remember which post was yours as there was quite a bit of well-deserved Honerva love on my dash.
I’m assuming her motivations or role is final boss/greater scope villain, but there may not be a final boss/greater scope villain and instead there is some catastrophic reality destroying event on the horizon and thus she’s playing some other kind of role now.
Honerva told Lotor that he had completed her work (which may or may not have been the trans-reality gate), and now that the gate is destroyed, I assume that she’ll go after Voltron in a big way. But Lotor told her that the “end is near” like some kind of Prophet of Doom (hah hah DotU reference); and all that foreshadowing from the Monsters and Mana episode “You’ll never guess who the dragon was working for!” (or whatever that line was).
I’m wondering if Honerva’s pupils always had that inner purple area, or if this is a new trait due to whatever went down in Oriande. It looks like she’s always had it, it’s just much more noticeable now. Definitely one of my favorite things about her character design.
Glad everyone is appreciating the chilling Oriande healing scene. I really need to know what that theme is called, because it played during her transformation in black site and confrontation with Lotor. One more interesting thing about her eyes now, they shifted. Her eyes now resemble that of her husband and son, she has lizard/cat eyes as well!
Her eyes got more narrow and sharp, and her pupils here interestingly are shockingly similar to Lotor’s, right down to the hair over them.
I used Lotor’s when he was full on quintessence madness shot because it’s more fitting. Normally Lotor’s eyes resemble Zarkon’s original ones.
For reference, the one time we saw Zarkon’s eyes truly again post corruption was here
So it seems that even with Oriande “healing” her, the affect of the rift is still there. Not to mention that regardless of possession, she is still very immoral, showing pride in what Lotor did and the heights he reached. So we are in for a scary, scary villain next season and we should all be excited.
I really adore how Voltron took the demeaning aspects of OG Allura and gave them to Lotor instead. A nanny with a habit of humiliating and spanking
Constantly kidnapped and manhandled -seriously like once a season-
I love this shot with his head down in shame and defeat. Satisfying.
And objectified
“There goes our bargaining chip”
“Give me my son, Lotor”
“Deliver the package to Honerva”
“We’ll take it from here”
This is, really interesting when you take into account his god complex. He wants, needs to be worshipped and acknowledged as this great leader. But how he is treated is constantly like an object stolen, i.e. “Shiro is escaping with Lotor” “Show me Lotor” “The Shiro that took Lotor” and treated like a possession. I love this so much.
can we talk about this small moment here? Haggar sounds like such an exasperated mom. Everything, from the way she says “enough” to the tone when she tells Lotor that he can’t lead, heck even how the generals stand round back of her like kids behind their mom just makes this scene.
The way he instantly looks up at enough too you know that’s a 10K years worth of incoming scolding he’s prepared for.
Status Post #5259 (reblog): Here’s hoping that Lotor finally realises that Haggar is his mother.
But to draw from canon, the scene that people often used as evidence that he doesn’t know is actually evidence of the opposite. Cause if you look at his interactions with Allura here
he cuts her off. A typical thing people do when they’re confronted by the reality of something they know or have thought of before but don’t like, is often to cut another person up when they mention it. Lotor’s doing that here. He’s in denial, he doesnt like the idea of Honerva, his mother, as corrupted and different from the person he idealizes. He hates it, but he knows that’s the truth.
And before when Lotor looks through the logs, there’s a sense of sadness that he does them in. He points out how her research has become erratic and paranoid – that line ain’t for naught. It’s said by a person who knows his mother has changed, and changed so much that she appears completely different from long ago. It’s a sad mournful response to loss.
Even when he’s in denial like in here, you can see it on his face that even he doesn’t really believe it himself. He knows and it deeply troubles him. And afterwards, when Allura returns to searching, Lotor keeps scrolling through the log, mourning was what was.
So yeah, he knows. The only reason he so big on denying the truth is cause he doesn’t want to think about it. And it serves as a way to justify his antagonism to towards the current Haggar while simultaneously justifying her actions towards him in his mind. His mom can’t hurt him if her form now is not her, right?
One of my first posts here was about User Interface Design in Voltron Legendary Defender and Season 5 has given more UI hints to follow up on and speculate about. The first part of this post is about the different UIs, and the rest is some speculation and meta.
When I first looked at all the UIs from Seasons 1–4, one of the interesting things that I noticed about the different UIs is how well and predictably they adhere to color palettes that can be associated with use (Galra military vs Galra admin) or faction/entity (Rebels vs Alteans vs each Lion).
Altean, Galra Base, Galra Military, Rebels.
The UI of the lions all display the Altean language, but each has a color palette based upon the lion’s color.
But the UI palettes that really caught my attention were: Honerva’s console UI, Lotor/Kova UI, and the UI of the Sincline ships.
Honestly? I think Team Sincline are gonna change suits of armor for a very specific reason: as they are right now, they don’t look like a team.
Cause you if you look at the team sincline suits as of right now –
they don’t really match.Lotor’s suit has notably less orange and more gray+blue than the girls’ armor. And the girls don’t have a skirt like he does. While there are some elements that differ each of the generals armor from one another, they’re pretty much a matched set, which doesn’t really match Lotor’s. With Acxa’s armor with the large shoulder pads making her the leader of the generals. Makes sense since she is as of s5. She’s the leader of Haggar’s generals and reports directly to her. From that alone we can reason that once Haggar finishes the sincline ships, she’d make suits to match the whole of Team Sincline.
OH and another thing. The helmets of the armor. While Lotor’s helmet resembles that of the paladins
the generals’ helmets don’t.
in fact the generals helmets resemble more like
Allura’s helmet, which isn’t a paladin’s helmet by any means. In fact, Commodore Trayling used to wear similar armor
meaning that this style is very much standard Altean armor, not paladin armor. And Lotor’s suit itself looks more like galra scientist armor than official paladin armor
So what I’m saying? Most likely in s6 when Haggar gets the Sincline ships up and running again she’s gonna make suits of armor more resembling the paladins, but also a matched set for all of them. Cause of s6, Team Sincline is gonna be a team, either by their own will or by force (in Lotor’s case).
The following is a collection of articles, essays, and books on Palestine. These are not introduction texts to the question of Palestine or the Palestinain-Israeli “conflict”. If you need one read The Palestine-Israel Conflict by Gregory Harms and Todd Fery. Further, this is not an “unbiased” or “neutral” readng list. Everything listed below is counter-hegemonic. I feel absolutely no need to provide anything from the Zionist or Israeli point-of-view when that is the dominant narrative. With that said, I believe this provides a diverse, but in no means comprehensive, overview of the discourse on Palestine. A continuously updated page of this list can be found here.
Lotor as the maiden in a DnD episode would be hilarious.
I’ve generally read his character design as act of defiance on his part—a decidedly Altean-themed look combined with elements of Galran scientist uniforms—it’s his “fuck you dad I’ll grow my hair out if I want to,” while also doubling as subverting tropes applied to female characters. He definitely has shades of “dark action girl who really needed the heroine to be her friend” going on.
At the risk of a rambly-word-vomit: there are three things that have always broke a Voltron sequel/alt-continuity/reboot/etc for me: (1) art style; (2) the treatment of Allura; and (3) Lotor’s characterization. (I’ve included some in-line links to my other Lotor meta posts that I think are relevant).
When it was announced that DreamWorks was going to create a new Voltron series, I was incredibly pessimistic because all prior attempts were broken for me based on those three criteria. Excluding the Robotech/Voltron crossover and Vol 2 of the DDP comics, the characterization of Lotor just could never rise beyond the limitations of Voltron DotU (and those two continuities still had issues).
I love Sincline as a villain within the setting of Golion because he’s completely appropriate for the type of story that Golion was telling. I can’t blame the non-Japanese speaking DotU writers who were given raw Golion tapes (while expecting Daltanius tapes instead) and no script to work from for giving us “Problematic 80s Lotor”, and not being able to wipe out the misogyny towards Allura that was baked into the animation—however—successive series/continuities had no damn excuse for not trying to do better by both of those characters.
I have a complex about both Lotor and Allura and how—as much as I love 80s Voltron and can laugh at it now—that show really affected me as a child and gave me a high bar for any form of fiction that portrayed similar characters, for as you so eloquently put it—“suffering through” the kinds of scenes that continuously happen to female characters—have their start in 80s Voltron for me and I had to stop watching/reading a lot of fiction for a while, as I waited for writers to catch the fuck up with the times. So that’s the baggage that I sat down with when VLD first dropped.
The bar has been low for so long, that I was overjoyed that there was no Lotor at the start of VLD, and after the first few episodes I was so pleased with how so many content/context problems that have plagued the franchise were being inverted, fixed, played with, and solved, that I was excited but anxious to see what they would do with Lotor. It was clear that we weren’t going to get another iteration of Stalker-Space-Barbarian-Lotor, but I was anxious that his characterization wouldn’t break the show for me as it has in the past.
Needless to say, I’m thrilled with the way both Lotor and Allura are written and designed and I can even enjoy a Lotura ship which I certainly never did before. I’m ship agnostic, but always down for ships that subvert tropes or do something otherwise unexpected in a story.
But, like you said, “Lady of War Lotor”: I’m loving it.
That is such a great lens with which to view this iteration of his character. The scene in Oriande really gave me Magical Girl show vibes (Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Revolutionary Girl Utena, etc) but more on the Utena side of things for the gender inversion. I’m totally down for Allura playing the protector role (e.g. princess saves the prince), because in any other concept of Allura x Lotor, it would be assumed that he would be her Knight Protector, but in that scene, she’s the one doing the protecting, and he’s the “smart nerdy plot device” that is Allura’s vehicle for her story fulfillment and not the other way around like it usually is.
That was the conclusion that I came to in my answer to @blackmoonbabe ’s question about lotura, when thinking about how the writers handled their dynamic. I still think that we might see this revisited on the flip side, with Lotor doing something to protect Allura, but it’s better that she’s the one who gets that scene first. I don’t think that we’ve seen the last of magical girl show moments with those two.
And that slave comment from Sendak was really interesting because it reveals another layer of how Lotor has been viewed by other Galra, especially those with power. In a way, that’s always been a part of his characterization in prior continuities, in that Zarkon views him as a “tool of the empire” or “instrument of evil.” We’ve just never seen that objectification taken to this level before.
You really nailed that comparison to how that’s never a comment directed at a man by another man. Even with Lotor’s feminine qualities, it’s not a stretch to assume both Sendak and Lotor are coded as cis-gender and straight.
Additionally, Zarkon’s line in Blacksite, referring to Lotor as “my wayward son” really struck me as something that a strict, 1950s father in-denial would say about their not-quite-closeted gay son. I wonder if that was an intentional connection to make—especially with Zarkon’s “my darkest shame” comment in Blood Duel (which can also be read in multiple ways).
To me it feels like Lotor is a byronic archetype that has these gender trope inversions applied (which works very well for byronic archetypes), I’m not sure if he’s meant as a faux action girl, but I can see where that’s coming from.
All iterations of Lotor usually end up having predictable paths to failure based on his obsessions and over-confidence, and that’s mostly how I viewed the times where he’s come up short. His losses definitely makes for a better story because if he won all the time (and he does have wins) then there wouldn’t be any challenge. A character can be competent and still come up short, and in the past this was usually only seen with female characters and some male villains.
The writers still pull from prior continuities (not just DotU), and core concepts behind Lotor’s character remain, but VLD Lotor is a really fresh take on it, and those gender trope inversions you’ve identified are a key part of that.
Excellent addition! There isn’t much to say since you nailed all of the points, especially the dark action girl part, and expanding on the objectification Lotor suffers through. Allura and Lotor also really struck me as a light feminine, dark feminine trope when they were together. Right down to their color schemes.
Even the classic dark action girl is tall and graceful and aloof, but the heroic action girl defrosts her, and it’s a trope only ever found in anime, since most western media has them end up frienemies.
There is also the incredibly possessive manner Zarkon regards him. He could have just let anyone kill him, but instead he chases him to the sun and goes through the trouble of arranging a hostage exchange. The way he growls certain lines also interests me. When he’s chasing Lotor into the sun Trugg tells him they can’t navigate and Zarkon’s response was to assert a line already spoken once
Again when confronting the paladins, the way he constantly says *my son* and Lotor, it’s the same way he speaks of the black lion, as a possession rightfully his and he kindly wants it back.
Lotor’s defiance against his father always comes in forms of passive aggressiveness, and as for Zarkon’s greatest shame speech being read multiple ways, I can see it, but I also see Zarkon as someone who honestly cannot care less what you are as long as you can get the job done, but his own son is the exception for that. The generals coming to work under Zarkon for example.
In OG Zarkon did arrange a marriage deal for Lotor twice, and forced him into the second one. I wouldn’t put it past this Zarkon to not see Lotor as an heir but rather someone to be married of to the strongest warrior who will be an heir.
Lotor and Allura really do come across as magical girls especially with their abilities, and Lotor very much inherits Haggar’s dark magic.
You know I never doubted the show or worried about Lotor being anything like previous incarnations, because I never doubted Lauren for one second. She is the one who pushed for Allura to be in blue, no doubt for Pidge to be a girl and for Haggar to be complex and with many layers. And she has constantly made comments about how we have moved on from bad guys who just want to kidnap the main girl and called OG Lotor creepy.
For the DnD episode I would not be surprised if his reveal as the maiden is him in a red gown similar to this.
Lotor as the maiden in a DnD episode would be hilarious.
I’ve generally read his character design as act of defiance on his part—a decidedly Altean-themed look combined with elements of Galran scientist uniforms—it’s his “fuck you dad I’ll grow my hair out if I want to,” while also doubling as subverting tropes applied to female characters. He definitely has shades of “dark action girl who really needed the heroine to be her friend” going on.
At the risk of a rambly-word-vomit: there are three things that have always broke a Voltron sequel/alt-continuity/reboot/etc for me: (1) art style; (2) the treatment of Allura; and (3) Lotor’s characterization. (I’ve included some in-line links to my other Lotor meta posts that I think are relevant).
When it was announced that DreamWorks was going to create a new Voltron series, I was incredibly pessimistic because all prior attempts were broken for me based on those three criteria. Excluding the Robotech/Voltron crossover and Vol 2 of the DDP comics, the characterization of Lotor just could never rise beyond the limitations of Voltron DotU (and those two continuities still had issues).
I love Sincline as a villain within the setting of Golion because he’s completely appropriate for the type of story that Golion was telling. I can’t blame the non-Japanese speaking DotU writers who were given raw Golion tapes (while expecting Daltanius tapes instead) and no script to work from for giving us “Problematic 80s Lotor”, and not being able to wipe out the misogyny towards Allura that was baked into the animation—however—successive series/continuities had no damn excuse for not trying to do better by both of those characters.
I have a complex about both Lotor and Allura and how—as much as I love 80s Voltron and can laugh at it now—that show really affected me as a child and gave me a high bar for any form of fiction that portrayed similar characters, for as you so eloquently put it—“suffering through” the kinds of scenes that continuously happen to female characters—have their start in 80s Voltron for me and I had to stop watching/reading a lot of fiction for a while, as I waited for writers to catch the fuck up with the times. So that’s the baggage that I sat down with when VLD first dropped.
The bar has been low for so long, that I was overjoyed that there was no Lotor at the start of VLD, and after the first few episodes I was so pleased with how so many content/context problems that have plagued the franchise were being inverted, fixed, played with, and solved, that I was excited but anxious to see what they would do with Lotor. It was clear that we weren’t going to get another iteration of Stalker-Space-Barbarian-Lotor, but I was anxious that his characterization wouldn’t break the show for me as it has in the past.
Needless to say, I’m thrilled with the way both Lotor and Allura are written and designed and I can even enjoy a Lotura ship which I certainly never did before. I’m ship agnostic, but always down for ships that subvert tropes or do something otherwise unexpected in a story.
But, like you said, “Lady of War Lotor”: I’m loving it.
That is such a great lens with which to view this iteration of his character. The scene in Oriande really gave me Magical Girl show vibes (Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Revolutionary Girl Utena, etc) but more on the Utena side of things for the gender inversion. I’m totally down for Allura playing the protector role (e.g. princess saves the prince), because in any other concept of Allura x Lotor, it would be assumed that he would be her Knight Protector, but in that scene, she’s the one doing the protecting, and he’s the “smart nerdy plot device” that is Allura’s vehicle for her story fulfillment and not the other way around like it usually is.
That was the conclusion that I came to in my answer to @blackmoonbabe ’s question about lotura, when thinking about how the writers handled their dynamic. I still think that we might see this revisited on the flip side, with Lotor doing something to protect Allura, but it’s better that she’s the one who gets that scene first. I don’t think that we’ve seen the last of magical girl show moments with those two.
And that slave comment from Sendak was really interesting because it reveals another layer of how Lotor has been viewed by other Galra, especially those with power. In a way, that’s always been a part of his characterization in prior continuities, in that Zarkon views him as a “tool of the empire” or “instrument of evil.” We’ve just never seen that objectification taken to this level before.
You really nailed that comparison to how that’s never a comment directed at a man by another man. Even with Lotor’s feminine qualities, it’s not a stretch to assume both Sendak and Lotor are coded as cis-gender and straight.
Additionally, Zarkon’s line in Blacksite, referring to Lotor as “my wayward son” really struck me as something that a strict, 1950s father in-denial would say about their not-quite-closeted gay son. I wonder if that was an intentional connection to make—especially with Zarkon’s “my darkest shame” comment in Blood Duel (which can also be read in multiple ways).
To me it feels like Lotor is a byronic archetype that has these gender trope inversions applied (which works very well for byronic archetypes), I’m not sure if he’s meant as a faux action girl, but I can see where that’s coming from.
All iterations of Lotor usually end up having predictable paths to failure based on his obsessions and over-confidence, and that’s mostly how I viewed the times where he’s come up short. His losses definitely makes for a better story because if he won all the time (and he does have wins) then there wouldn’t be any challenge. A character can be competent and still come up short, and in the past this was usually only seen with female characters and some male villains.
The writers still pull from prior continuities (not just DotU), and core concepts behind Lotor’s character remain, but VLD Lotor is a really fresh take on it, and those gender trope inversions you’ve identified are a key part of that.
Excellent addition! There isn’t much to say since you nailed all of the points, especially the dark action girl part, and expanding on the objectification Lotor suffers through. Allura and Lotor also really struck me as a light feminine, dark feminine trope when they were together. Right down to their color schemes.
Even the classic dark action girl is tall and graceful and aloof, but the heroic action girl defrosts her, and it’s a trope only ever found in anime, since most western media has them end up frienemies.
There is also the incredibly possessive manner Zarkon regards him. He could have just let anyone kill him, but instead he chases him to the sun and goes through the trouble of arranging a hostage exchange. The way he growls certain lines also interests me. When he’s chasing Lotor into the sun Trugg tells him they can’t navigate and Zarkon’s response was to assert a line already spoken once
Again when confronting the paladins, the way he constantly says *my son* and Lotor, it’s the same way he speaks of the black lion, as a possession rightfully his and he kindly wants it back.
Lotor’s defiance against his father always comes in forms of passive aggressiveness, and as for Zarkon’s greatest shame speech being read multiple ways, I can see it, but I also see Zarkon as someone who honestly cannot care less what you are as long as you can get the job done, but his own son is the exception for that. The generals coming to work under Zarkon for example.
In OG Zarkon did arrange a marriage deal for Lotor twice, and forced him into the second one. I wouldn’t put it past this Zarkon to not see Lotor as an heir but rather someone to be married of to the strongest warrior who will be an heir.
Lotor and Allura really do come across as magical girls especially with their abilities, and Lotor very much inherits Haggar’s dark magic.
You know I never doubted the show or worried about Lotor being anything like previous incarnations, because I never doubted Lauren for one second. She is the one who pushed for Allura to be in blue, no doubt for Pidge to be a girl and for Haggar to be complex and with many layers. And she has constantly made comments about how we have moved on from bad guys who just want to kidnap the main girl and called OG Lotor creepy.
who fulfills galra ideal so zarkon isnt much focused and resentful at Lotor and is okay with him being spy/ druid support/marriage bait.
Well with the line of succession being decided by who’s the strongest warrior, who is to say that Zarkon and Haggar would not have arranged for Lotor to be married off to said warrior. Since we’re on the topic of said tropes, it’s interesting that the faux action trope, where the badass girl needs to be saved in the fight and has her plans fail no matter how much the narrative says she’s awesome, applies to Lotor.
Lost his fight against Zarkon until the paladins came to his rescue, plus the messy hair and position on the floor. My whole childhood is plagued by images of women in my cartoons looking like this. Heck even LoK is guilty of this.
Rescued by Keith and practically princess carried out of the way in the middle of his fight with Sendak
This image is powerful to me. I think we all know and recall how this is always gender inverted in mainstream media. We have suffered through many scenes of the reverse. I’m not saying Lotor is fully incompetent, but it is refreshing to see these tropes played with with not just any male character, but one who had rather unfortunate origins in the 80s.
This is not including how Lotor is depicted in show. At first, we’re introduced to a very competent Lotor. In the first 5 episodes of season 3, the paladins are no match for his tactics.
But come “Tailing a Comet,” the paladins, particularly Keith, school him and his plans. And specifically it was when Lotor himself got involved in the battle between the mecha. Beforehand, Acxa was leading the team just fine and arguably won fight against Team Voltron one-on-one. It was Lotor’s involvement and direction that costed them that victory (even if he blames Acxa for it).
And this continues in s4. There just as Lotor believes he’s at a good spot after duping his parents, Haggar causes shit by spying on hm. She tells Zarkon of the comet and they rush to attack Lotor and Lotor cut down Narti and split the team. And in s4ep5, the girls were more than willing to trade him in for their lives.
And in s5, we have all the good content. Lotor wins against Zarkon, but at great personal cost to him – the same with the Galra throne. In the Oriande arc, Lotor doesn’t succeed in getting the blessing, and again ruins it for himself.
What’s the common denominator? Lotor’s competence waivers a lot on this show – as did for many female characters in the past. Despite the initial presentation of competence, Lotor almost always lose when it matters to him – or his victories are not easily won. These sort of tropes are very commonly given to female characters.
And it’s also quite interesting that Lotor’s own failures are mainly a result of his own actions.
Let’s take it a step further. The way he is constantly treated as an object by everyone around him. A bargaining ship twice now in a hero version of I have your daughter, and a possessive father who treats him like property.
The way he’s tossed around also reminds me of all of my childhood heroines
There’s also his earlier interactions with Zarkon. They depended on him putting up a submissive facade in order to get what he wants.
Yes I picked the daddy edit. There’s also this shot
Which again, child me suffered so much seeing this shit over and over again with women. And finally, he gets the threat all of my childhood heroines got that even Lauren hated with OG Lotor.
In short Lotor is faux action girl/Strong Female Character that Lauren and we suffered through in childhood.
Honestly what fascinated me about him this season was the relationship between Haggar and Lotor
we have seen again and again that the one person that can make
Lotor
lose his composure, and bring out nothing but disgust and seething hatred in him is
Haggar. He held hatred towards Zarkon too, but those emotions were fueled by pure anger. His feelings towards
Haggar
come from places of genuine disgust, loathing and fear.
And that’s understandable. Haggar, throughout the show, has earned her reputation for being a cold heartless demon who almost feels a sense of joy in experimenting, torturing and controlling people whom she considers nothing more than “test subjects” (look at how much fun she was having tormenting Shiro in the season 1 finale). It’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that
Lotor
fell victim to her experiments as well.
Lotor acts extremely violently anytime he is faced with the possibility of Haggar spying on him, maybe even controlling him. He murdered the galran soldier
Haggar sent, ripping off his arm and throwing it at
Haggar’s feet and he decapitated Narti in a split second. And for a guy who’s able to maintain his composure for the most part? Those are pretty severe reactions.
So i think it’s safe to say that
Haggar
has a history of spying on
Lotor
and maybe even controlling him (almost like a twisted version of a helicopter mother), and it’s also clear that these breaches of privacy have made
Lotor an extremely cautious person to the point where he’s able to switch between emotions in a second depending on his surroundings.
now HOW will
Haggar
ruin his bond with team voltron? Through shiro. If
Lotor
ever figures out Shiro is a spy as well, i honestly don’t know if he’ll still be able to maintain his composure or let his trauma get the best of him. And at that point you have to wonder, what is the last straw? When does
Lotor
lose faith in everyone around him? When does his mind fall victim to extreme paranoia, murdering and destroying anything he even suspects to be linked to
Haggar? And if this is bothering him so much, why doesn’t he just kill the source itself?
Lotor has had several opportunities to kill
Haggar. He could have had her disappear during his reign and make it seem like an accident, and he could have killed her during kral zera when she was right there but he didn’t. Lotor had no problem killing his own father, but that was because he was certain that there were no remnants of the real Zarkon left in that body. But with
Haggar, as much as he denies it, i think
Lotor’s subconscious knows Honerva is still in there, and that thought scares him.
Lotor, as much as he would like to, cannot kill his own mother. She is the only part of his life that truly inspires him and gives him hope. And at the same time
Haggar can’t kill
Lotor
because he’s the only part of her life that hasn’t been corrupted by the being in the rift. And yet at the same time,
Lotor
wants to stay out of
Haggar’s reach, and
Haggar wants to control the last undefiled
part of her family.
TL;DR: Lotor has no reason to betray team voltron but Haggar is Lotor’s biggest weakness and if he finds out Shiro’s true purpose it’s gonna go downhill really fast, not only for the alliance, but for Lotor’s mental health too
superheroladies 