Please put new theories at the bottom of their respective folders. Expect spoilers throughout the page, especially in the Confirmed folder.
- Confirmed in promotional art.
- Further confirmed in the actual show.
- Confirmed. That wasn't a picture of Pidge and his girlfriend, but Pidge and her brother. And her real name is Katie Holt.
- Zarkon also noted that his fighting style was similar to that of a Galra soldier.
- He also mentions in the beginning that 'some energy' was telling him to search. You'd think he's talking about the lions, but he's the only Paladin who said something like that so far.
- Minor note; Lance does later say that being drawn to one's lion is pretty much how Keith described it.
- Personally I'm not so certain the Quintessence is a valid point. Yes, the Alteans know about the stuff, but just look at the way Coran freaks out when Keith discovers such a large supply. It gives the impression that raw Quintessence is rare and difficult to obtain without resorting to morally questionable means, at best. Look at what happened to the planet that Haggar used for her Quintessence gathering experiment. To extract and gather Quintessence, something or someone has to die. Either as a willing donor or an unwilling victim. That's probably why Altean healing pods don't use it. If anything, Keith's hand being healed might point towards how Zarkon has kept himself alive for over 10,000 years.
- Confirmed
- Considering the "Keith is part Galra" theory, maybe it's his dad or some other relative.
- Confirmed, and later revealed to be Keith's mother.
- Confirmed with Keith piloting Black Lion to save Shiro in Season 2 premiere
- Red Lion being an exception is potentially supported by the fact that Red would rather travel distances previously unheard of to rescue Keith, all so Coran doesn't have to be its temporary Paladin.
- The lines on her face are reminiscent of the face markings that the other Alteans have, only extended. Most Galrans seem reliant on technology, but the Alteans have a more magical aspect to their race, similar to the magic that the druids use. Haggar is an Altean traitor who brought their magical secrets to the Galra, hence their rapid expansion. It's possible that she and Zarkon both betrayed the Alteans together, which is why he trusts her so much.
- Confirmed as of the season 2 finale
- Though ironically she was one of the least magical and more science focused Alteans when she was alive, so that particular argument is in retrospect invalid.
- Historically "alchemy" is pseudoscience, in Legendary Defender "alchemy" = "magic".
- Alternatively, in a twist of fate, the original Bayard was integrated into his arm and Zarkon was planning to use Shiro to obtain the Black Lion all along.
- Confirmed. The Black Bayard is in Zarkon's possession until Shiro jacks it at the end of Season 2
- Alternately, as the Red Lion has fire abilities, and there are clearly more powers in each lion that they haven't unlocked yet, the Blazing Sword will be activated when Keith is more in sync with his lion.
- As seen in the last episode, the Black Bayard has its own big-ass sword weapon form. Perhaps it unlocks the Blazing Sword by itself?
- Confirmed as of season 2! All Bayards combined form the Blazing Sword.
- Or something bad has already happened to him and this Shiro has been an imposter all along.
- Maybe S3.
- Confirmed? For both season 2 and 3. Shiro makes it through most of the season, but then disappears within the last five minutes of the last episode. We then see him getting experimented on again in Season 3.
- Confirmed. They were all from different planets, and Alfor was the only Altean.
- Confirmed. Season Three ends with a Whole Episode Flashback to the origins of Voltron narrated by Coran.
- During Zarkon's tenure as the Black Paladin when he was friends with Alfor, he fell in love with a woman from Altea, perhaps even a fellow teammate. The two were Happily Married, and had one son. Her premature death may have triggered his feud against Altea, perhaps Zarkon blaming Alfor, and all of Altea. The hybrid son the two had together was Prince Lotor.
- Confirmed. It's Haggar.
- His introduction leaves this open as a possibility since he has white hair and Altean-like ears.
- Confirmed.
- Confirmed. Haggar was Zarkon's wife, and prolonged exposure to Quintessence in her research slowly drove both her and her husband insane. After their experiments forced Alfor to destroy the Galran homeworld to protect their reality, Zarkon destroys Altea in retaliation.
- Confirmed. Coran reveals everything in the Season 3 finale. Although the possibility of Zarkon not being the first to turn evil is firmly Jossed, as the previous paladins were the only generation prior to the current ones.
- Alternately, Sven will be Shiro in disguise using some kind of mask to hide his Asian features. Perhaps brainwashed by the Earth government (a'la Neo Roanoke) into helping them with their reverse-engineered Voltron.
- Confirmed, Sven appears as an alternate version of Shiro in "Hole In The Sky" in the Altean Empire Mirror Universe.
- I'm dubious. That's getting remarkably complicated for a five-color mecha animation.
- For a five-color mecha animation? Yeah that does seem complex. But in-series? It would fit with Voltron being considered the greatest weapon in the universe.
- Confirmed in Season 2. Hunk, Pidge and Keith and Lance combine to form a giant sword, and all five of the Bayards create the Flaming Sword.
- If any doubts remained, they're completely gone as of season 7. Black Bayard plus Red Bayard equals supersized wings covered in boosters for extreme speed. And Red plus Green allows for Dual Wielding of swords.
- Played with. She doesn't find either of them in season 3, but she is shown spending more time looking for them.
- Confirmed in Season 4, when she finally reunites with her brother.
- The dispute doesn't seem to last too long, but Lance does react poorly at first. He specifically points out that he never heard Shiro say anything about Keith replacing him, and it was very convenient that Keith was mentioning it now that Shiro was no longer around to say otherwise. He comes around when Black Lion chooses Keith over anyone else in their group.
- Confirmed nonetheless.
- The theory as a whole is confirmed, but the culmination of that conflict is entirely different. Rather than Lotor killing Zarkon in his coma, Haggar manages to awaken Zarkon, who promptly banishes Lotor once more in Season 4 for prioritizing his secret agenda over running the empire.
- Furthermore, the writers have stated that they fought to get a girl on the team, so they're unlikely to replace her with one of her male relatives.
- Actually, the theory is that she'd still be on the team as Blue Lion's pilot, so that wouldn't be affected. Besides, that whole claim from the writers seems like it has to be subterfuge anyways when you consider the fact that the tradition of having a female on the team is not anything new. A female being Blue Lion's replacement pilot was always part of the traditional Voltron mythos. It was the princess in both Golion and Defender of the Universe, however Allura has an entirely different role and motivation in this incarnation. Those old motivations now appear to be present in Katie instead (who is coincidentally the only female paladin). Considering how her brother Matt is already a dead-ringer for Pidge, as well as the probability of an upcoming roster change, it doesn't seem farfetched that they split the old Allura into two characters this time (sort of how they already split Arus and Altea in two different planets) and introducing Katie originally disguised as a male was actually the writers' sly way of sneaking Blue Lion's inevitable new female replacement pilot right under our noses without us noticing that this version's true incarnation of classic Pidge hadn't actually joined the team yet.
- It seems needlessly convoluted for the Paladins to play musical chairs with the lions. If Matt were to take on a lion, wouldn't he slip into the spot opened by the exiting Paladin? Allura in the 80s series became the Blue Paladin because the Blue Paladin died.
- Exactly. In the original series Allura was able to directly replace Sven (who didn't actually die, though his Japanese counterpart did) in Blue Lion because the Lions were simply vehicles anyone with the proper key could (and occasionally did) operate. Allura would logically be next in line to succeed Shiro in Black Lion, but they've instead established it as Keith (who operated Black Lion in the original). They also specifically established the Lions as being sentient and only allow certain individuals to pilot them. Why specifically restrict who can operate them here, when the original didn't? In addition to that, they also established Red Lion as has having a hot-headed personality, and being the most fickle to boot— if that didn't rule Allura out as Keith's direct replacement, then her being linked as the only one capable of running the Castleship certainly was. They also conveniently made a point of demonstrating that Coran couldn't pilot Red Lion either. So, who else has as hot-headed tendencies, plus a history of following in Keith's footsteps? Lance (again, like in the original). Furthermore, why even introduce a brother who looks just like Pidge in the first place? All of that would indeed be needlessly convoluted if they didn't have a specific purpose for it... like staying true to the original's pre-established mythology while mixing it up enough to still keep the viewer surprised. Setting up Katie to be this version's Blue lion replacement is the most logical explanation I can think of for all the restrictions the writers imposed on themselves here (and she even wears a purple dress in her flashback).
- In the classic mythos Keith wasn't a Galra so the gender swap of Pidge isn't that out there. Having a brother that looks just like her isn't that strange, they're siblings, and as mentioned above the Paladins' appearance doesn't have anything to do with how the Lions choose the Paladins. Plus, again, the writers fought for a girl on the team. Moving her around and claiming this guy we haven't seen outside of flashbacks since early Episode 1 is the true Pidge is a copout that would piss off a lot of the Pidge fans. Anybody remember the Clone Saga in Spider-Man? Also, if Keith takes over Black and Lance moves to Red, and Matt were to be the new Paladin why not have Matt step into the Blue Lion instead of Green. Blue is the most accepting of new Pilots, not Green. Plus, Pidge had an episode dedicated to deepening her bond with Green, so why rip her away from the Lion that most represents her better qualities?
- That comparison kinda feels like apples and oranges considering how that Peter Parker/Ben Reilly identity-swap was an obvious cheap forced retcon a writer used to find a way to make Spidey single again. This would be planned from the start and therefore remain organic with the story. Even if you personally don't like the idea, you shouldn't get too bent out of shape about since it's still just a theory. The writers could easily just be teasing us yet again, and end up not doing a roster change at all this time (Shiro easily could just step out of a shadow in Black Lion's cockpit and continue on as normal). Besides, come to think of it, Takashi Shirogane (Shiro) had a near identical older brother named Ryoh in Golion (presented as Sven returning in Defender of the Universe), who helped lead a resistance against the Galra and who personally killed Sincline (Lotor) in the end. Matt could easily turn out just to be this show's version of him.
- Actually, the theory is that she'd still be on the team as Blue Lion's pilot, so that wouldn't be affected. Besides, that whole claim from the writers seems like it has to be subterfuge anyways when you consider the fact that the tradition of having a female on the team is not anything new. A female being Blue Lion's replacement pilot was always part of the traditional Voltron mythos. It was the princess in both Golion and Defender of the Universe, however Allura has an entirely different role and motivation in this incarnation. Those old motivations now appear to be present in Katie instead (who is coincidentally the only female paladin). Considering how her brother Matt is already a dead-ringer for Pidge, as well as the probability of an upcoming roster change, it doesn't seem farfetched that they split the old Allura into two characters this time (sort of how they already split Arus and Altea in two different planets) and introducing Katie originally disguised as a male was actually the writers' sly way of sneaking Blue Lion's inevitable new female replacement pilot right under our noses without us noticing that this version's true incarnation of classic Pidge hadn't actually joined the team yet.
- Confirmed. Pidge is still the Green lion after 4 seasons and nothing has changed. Pidge is her brother's nickname for her.
- Confirmed.
- Despite now using the Black and Red bayards respectively, Keith and Lance still get a sword and space rifle when using their Bayards. Keith is also still the one forming Voltron's most basic sword, despite now using the Black bayard inside the Black Lion. And whatever weapon the Blue bayard may have given Voltron while Lance wielded it, it will likely now bestow a different weapon due to the Blue bayard being in Allura's hands.
- Confirmed. Not even King Alfor knew everything about what Voltron is capabaly of, and he built the lions himself.
- Confirmed by Word of God.
- At least partly confirmed? Lotor has shown some Magnificent Bastard traits so far (he easily manipulates the Galra at the gladiator match with a speech, and he does spend a lot of time observing the paladins, for example). Finding out that level of detail hasn't happened yet, though.
- Confirmed.
- Confirmed, it was Matt's nickname for her.
- Let's not forget it was his decision-making that allowed Allura to go on the mission that led to her capture, as well as to deliver Voltron straight to Zarkon by going to save her— which Keith specifically warned against (alluding to his destined promotion to leader). Keith was also the one smart enough to ignore Coran's warning and took on Zarkon in Red Lion. If Keith hadn't kept him distracted by doing so, Zarkon would have gotten to Black Lion and all would have been lost. There's little doubt in my mind that Shiro is being manipulated by the faction of the Galra that is apparently trying to prevent Zarkon from obtaining Voltron. I suspect Lotor could be behind it all, and specifically released Shiro as part of a plot to overthrow his father.
- Or Shiro could be Lotor. As we know nothing of Shiro's heritage, perhaps Zarkon visited Earth long ago, fathered a child with a human woman, and Shiro is a decedent, making him a valid heir to Zarkon's throne. The Galra faction against Zarkon discovered this fact during the experimentations performed on him and then recruited him to overthrow Zarkon and become their new emperor. As part of the plot, Shiro was specifically sent to get a hold of Voltron before Zarkon. Shiro's memories of all this were suppressed because it was known he'd have to share his mind with the other Paladins. Not only did Shiro return equipped with Galra technology built into his arm, but his hair is also turning white (like Lotor's... also, could that discoloration on his face be the early stages of his skin beginning to turn blue?). Combine that with theories of Shiro and Keith being long lost brothers and Keith being part Galra, and it all fits up perfectly. As descendants of the original Black Paladin, it would explain why Shiro, and later Keith (presumably) would be compatible with Black Lion. It also would be an interesting new spin on the conclusion of Golion in which Sincline (Lotor) is ultimately killed by Shirogane's (Shiro's) brother.
- An alternative explanation is that since Zarkon used to be the Black Paladin, he's using his connection to the Black Lion to track the Paladins' location.
- What about the scene where Commander Prorok was shown to be tracking the Paladins independently, then gave the order to capture the Lions without approval— heavily hinting at his own ulterior motives and later seemingly confirming them when the officer already shown to serve directly beneath him (Thace), sabotaged the shields allowing the Paladins to escape in the finale? While Zarkon could also be tracking via his connection with Black Lion (he later would say how he has plans that Prorok couldn't possibly comprehend), Prorok was the one who set the trap on Balmera, where the Paladins couldn't understand how they knew they were coming (which to my recollection, was the only time they actually said anything like that)— Zarkon had no involvement in that instance.
- They also mentioned that Rolo, the bounty hunter who tried to sell the Blue Lion to Prorok in the previous episode, knew where they were heading and had likely told Prorok what they knew, and by the time Zarkon had sent the Robeast to Balmera Prorok already knew where the Paladins were.
- Rolo's comment about hoping the Paladins succeeded in beating Zarkon seemed like a strong signal to the audience that they were supposed to really be good guys. Plus, it was Hunk who threw out the theory it was Rolo, which seemed like a heavy indication it was wrong since he never trusted him from the start and made such a big deal about being right when he did betray them. Not to mention, continuing to deal with Prorok and the Galra wouldn't seem likely to benefit them after they failed to deliver Blue Lion. The hints seemed pretty clear to me that something else was supposed to be going on with Prorok, and Thace's actions in the finale seemed to all but confirm that.
- Confirmed. He was tracking the Black Lion. Shiro broke the tracker by strengthening his own bond with the Lion, and forcing Zarkon out.
- What about the scene where Commander Prorok was shown to be tracking the Paladins independently, then gave the order to capture the Lions without approval— heavily hinting at his own ulterior motives and later seemingly confirming them when the officer already shown to serve directly beneath him (Thace), sabotaged the shields allowing the Paladins to escape in the finale? While Zarkon could also be tracking via his connection with Black Lion (he later would say how he has plans that Prorok couldn't possibly comprehend), Prorok was the one who set the trap on Balmera, where the Paladins couldn't understand how they knew they were coming (which to my recollection, was the only time they actually said anything like that)— Zarkon had no involvement in that instance.
- Season Three brings back the possibility, with Shiro being held captive and experimented on aboard a Galra warship. The fact that he can't remember how he got there or what happened brings up the possibility of him being a Manchurian Agent.
- Could be a clone too. He did see himself.
- Jury's still out (but it's likely not the case) for previous seasons, but Season 5 confirms that Shiro is most definitely The Mole, albeit unknowingly, as Haggar is spying through him the same way she did with Narti in Season 4.
He'll turn out to have been secretly backing the Blade of Mamora the entire time, and moreover his true motivation/plan this entire time has been to exorcise his parents. That's why he wanted the comet and the wormhole tech — he wants to reaccess the Quintessence dimension so he can somehow force the Bad Spirits out of Zarkon and Hagar. That's why he and his Quirky Miniboss Squad have been working behind the Empire's back.
... well, that, or he intends to trap them there so that he can rule the Empire on his own. So maybe not *Good* All Along, per se, but at least Less Evil.
- Confirmed, sort of. He wasn't backing the Blade of Mamora, but he's supposedly revealed to be Good All Along as of season 5.
- Hasn't happened so far. He's still referred to as Prince Lotor and his father recovers enough to return to the throne midway through Season 4, and Lotor is banished once again, this time with a death sentence hanging over his head.
- Confirmed in Season 5. despite some weird heritage rules, Lotor won the Kral Zera with Keith's help, though a fair number of Galra are none to pleased about a half-breed emperor.
- The first part is Confirmed, the Second part is Jossed. Romelle and her brother Bandor are not leaders of their people, but they are descendants of Alteans who were off-world when Altea was destroyed, and went into hiding to escape Zarkon's wrath. As he began researching his mother's culture, Lotor gathered the survivors and created a colony where the Altean refugees could start over in peace.
- Alternatively, rather than a clone, it's really Lotor who has the shape-shifting ability from being half-Altean (but because he's only half, his real hair color is starting to show through). Lotor had been plotting to overthrow his father by finding Voltron first. After discovering the Blue Lion was on Earth (and knowing it would lead to Black Lion), he took the form of Shiro as he was known as a hero on Earth whose lead the new Paladins would be sure to follow. Lotor knew of the mind-sharing process the team would have to go through, so he had the real Shiro's memories transferred into his mind, with his own temporarily being suppressed. He previously battled the real Shiro in a gladiator match, who he ultimately killed, but lost an arm in the process. The new prosthetic arm is equipped with a tracking device that's being monitored by his followers (who were the ones responsible for helping the Paladins escape in the finale), and also has the ability to awaken his true self, when the time comes.
- This part seems to be Jossed on both counts. Lotor hasn't said anything about it yet (and shows up in several scenes at the same time as Shiro), and he wasn't being tracked through his arm.
- Alternatively-alternatively, the Shiro from Seasons 1-2 is the real one, but the Shiro we see in season 3 isn't the real one. There's something very fishy about his memories and how quickly he was able to return to Voltron.
- Supporting this, his hair seems to have grown too fast in what seems to be only a month or two, his vision of himself being experimented on may not have been a hallucination, but instead seeing the real version of himself, and the Galra doing this to him refer to it as "Project Kuron," Kuron being the Japanese word for clone. His eyes also look slightly different in Seasons 3 and 4, which could just be a case of Art Shift or it could be a subtle hint of his true nature.
- It's possible that he may not even realise he's a clone. If this is true, it'll likely cause some drama should the real Shiro show up, or if he figures it out himself.
- The clone theory also explains why Shiro had difficulty getting the Black Lion to respond after he rejoined the team, and why Keith had to take over as the Black Paladin in Season 3 (although Clone!Shiro does eventually retake the mantle in Season 4).
- The part about Haggar is at least partly confirmed. It's not yet clear if she did anything to his memories, but she is spying on the Paladins through Shiro, similarly to what she did with Narti. Shiro himself also tells Lance that something seems off, which could support any number of the theories here.
- Confirmed in Season 6 Haggar takes direct control of the Clone, while the real Shiro was trapped inside the Black Lion.
- Supporting this, his hair seems to have grown too fast in what seems to be only a month or two, his vision of himself being experimented on may not have been a hallucination, but instead seeing the real version of himself, and the Galra doing this to him refer to it as "Project Kuron," Kuron being the Japanese word for clone. His eyes also look slightly different in Seasons 3 and 4, which could just be a case of Art Shift or it could be a subtle hint of his true nature.
- When he wakes up, he sees himself Strapped to an Operating Table.
- He's referred to as "Subject" in the memories, but Shiro in Galran empire flashbacks was always referred to as "Champion." The operation is noted as "Operation Kuron," which is the Japanese pronunciation for clone.
- Special attention is given to the migraine he has, indicating that something's really up with his mental state.
- Another to his voice. It sounds...off to the Shiro of season 1 and 2.
- And his interactions with Keith in Seasons 3 and 4 is very OOC compared to their interactions in the first 2 seasons.
The clone's probably around as some sort of Manchurian Agent, and this is why the Black Lion rejects him offhand. It's worth noting that Lotor does not seem to know that Shiro was gone to begin with, because he doesn't confirm that the lions changed pilots until he fights them.
- Being a clone would explain some of the Black Lion's behavior perfectly. A clone is meant to be identical to the original, so it would probably have the same bio-signals or whatever signature that allowed Black to detect him from a distance. But once Black got a good look and feel for "Shiro" up close, it was able to realize something is off. Maybe it's even fully aware that they grabbed the wrong Shiro, but of course it can't just tell the Paladins that information. Any hidden programming in the clone is probably set to trigger when he flies the Black Lion, so not activating for Shiro is Black's way of protecting everyone until they can figure out and deal with the issue. On a side note, if the team can get rid of any Manchurian Agent programming, then the Galra have pretty much just given the Paladins back their leader, since the clone seems to have most of the original's memories, along with the original's personality and skills.
- The Manchurian Agent programming may end up activating when the Paladins are inevitably pushed to a point where the Black Lion is more or less forced to let this Shiro pilot. This Shiro could hten end up making a Heroic Sacrifice in overcoming his programming to protect his team, and thus completing a Go Lion and original Voltron Mythology Gag, as that Takashi Shirogane was later replaced by a Suspiciously Similar Substitute after his death in Go Lion, who was simply Sven returned from the space hospital in Voltron. In this case it's an inversion, with the substitute dying and their place taken by the original.
- As of Season 4, Shiro's back in Black. Though it took begging and pleading with the Lion while everyone else was in danger to accomplish that. It seems Black has judged that, clone or not, this Shiro's heart is still in the right place. Whether this comes back to bite them all in the butt remains to be seen.
- As an addition to this, the original Shiro was teleported to where Matt is (a seemingly leaked production still showed the two fighting alongside each other). If the team reunites with him before this clone Shiro is potentially killed off, the two may clash or cooperate when it comes to leading.
- The part about Matt is jossed. When Pidge finally found him, he was manning a rebel spy station all by his lonesome. No Shiro to be seen.
- An additional clue to consider: Shiro was the one to pick Naxzela as the Coalition's target in the final 2 episodes of Season 4, a planet that just so happened to have been turned into a gigantic bomb by Haggar. And when things started going wrong and the shield that would trap them on the planet began to power up, he insisted the team stay on Naxzela rather than doing as Lance suggested and getting the quiznak out of there.
- This might be less important of a detail than it seems. Naxzela was the last in a line of planets that, if taken, would have solidified a wall of Voltron-allied planets and cut off a third of the Galra's empire. The choice was made on strategy, so in order for it not to be a coincidence, the Galra basically had to let them take every other planet and save Naxzela for last. But he does seem to be subconsciously sabotaging them, perhaps, as demonstrated by his refusal to listen to Lance. ...But then, if they hadn't stayed, Hunk wouldn't have been able to figure out everyone was in danger from the bomb...
- In the last scene of Season 5, Haggar is revealed to be watching the Voltron Force through Shiro's eyes, just as she was through the perceptions of the blind general Lotor killed.
- Being a clone would explain some of the Black Lion's behavior perfectly. A clone is meant to be identical to the original, so it would probably have the same bio-signals or whatever signature that allowed Black to detect him from a distance. But once Black got a good look and feel for "Shiro" up close, it was able to realize something is off. Maybe it's even fully aware that they grabbed the wrong Shiro, but of course it can't just tell the Paladins that information. Any hidden programming in the clone is probably set to trigger when he flies the Black Lion, so not activating for Shiro is Black's way of protecting everyone until they can figure out and deal with the issue. On a side note, if the team can get rid of any Manchurian Agent programming, then the Galra have pretty much just given the Paladins back their leader, since the clone seems to have most of the original's memories, along with the original's personality and skills.
- In Season 5, Shiro claims that he does not remember appearing to Lance in the Voltron mind space. Maybe that was the original Shiro calling out to him while the clone merely blacked out.
- Confirmed in Season 6.
- This works very well with all the theories surrounding Project Kuron.
- Confirmed by Season 6.
- This works very well with all the theories surrounding Project Kuron.
- More bonus points if it's a new version of the Vehicle Voltron pitting machines against beasts. Or if it used five wolves instead of lions.
- Now that's been revealed that Zarkon was the original Black Paladin, a fight against an evil or brainwashed Voltron is becoming a possibility.
- Even more possible that Lotor is actively attempting to create his own dark version of Voltron.
- Confirmed. Lotor's Sincline ships are completed in Season 6 and he combines them to fight against Voltron.
- More bonus points if it's a new version of the Vehicle Voltron pitting machines against beasts. Or if it used five wolves instead of lions.
- The show seems to be headed in this direction, as Season 4 reveals that the comet has enough ore for at least 3 trans-reality ships, and the ship that will form the legs is completed midway through that season.
- Confirmed.
- Confirmed.
- The Dark Paladins will have their own colors instead of being copies of the Paladins and will consist of at least violet, orange, and brown. Other colors may include gray, teal, burgundy, and maroon.
- Partially confirmed. Lotor has assembled an inner circle of half-Galra women, but they aren't Psycho Rangers and the dark Voltron is still under construction.
- Confirmed when the dark Voltron is finished in Season 6.
- Partially confirmed. Lotor has assembled an inner circle of half-Galra women, but they aren't Psycho Rangers and the dark Voltron is still under construction.
- Hasn't happened in Season 5 yet, but there's still time for that to change.
- Confirmed in Season 6. And then he loses it again three episodes later when he declares his intention to destroy the Galra.
- Appears unlikely. He may get a bit darker towards her in future seasons, but in Season 5, there's no actual crush, and the two appear to genuinely bond over Lotor's desire to explore his Altean heritage.
- Confirmed in Season 6. Lotor and Allura develop genuine feelings for each other, but she rejects him when she discovers that he's been using the surviving Alteans as a People Farm to harvest their quintessence.
- Appears unlikely. He may get a bit darker towards her in future seasons, but in Season 5, there's no actual crush, and the two appear to genuinely bond over Lotor's desire to explore his Altean heritage.
- Confirmed. Shots of the Season 7 trailer show the Galra attacking Garrison vehicles.
- Confirmed for both in Season 7. With Lotor gone, the power vacuum was never resolved and has since devolved into Galra warlords fighting for control of individual territories. Meanwhile, the Druids initiated The Purge against the Blade of Marmora and began a brutal counterattack against Coalition forces.
- Confirmed.
- Perhaps you're unfamiliar with the original Defender of the Universe and Golion series, but Shiro's counterparts' time on the team were only temporary. With that precedent in the mythology already set, there's no reason to assume that won't be happening again here with Keith moving up to Black Lion (the Season 2 teaser trailer already heavily hinted that). So, Shiro permanently losing an arm would actually be very good explanation for an upcoming roster change.
- Yeah, but the point of a remake is so that it's not a carbon copy of the original. We know that Shiro's missing, and Keith will most likely pilot the Black Lion, but who's to say it's permanent? Shiro's story is very different from Sven's, and it needs to be further expanded upon. Plus, it seems like something this show would do. It would be a way of saying Shiro finally caught a break and is free from the darkness holding him back. And do you really think Shiro or anyone on Team Voltron would want him to be stuck with only one arm when they have technology that can easily fix that problem?
- If we go by the theory that his arm is actually sending information out to a bunch of Shiro-clones back in the Galra base, then it would make sense that he'd want to voluntarily remove the arm. This also ties in well with the Studio Mir leaks of him having a different arm design.
- Confirmed. His arm isn't sending information to anyone, but he does lose the arm in Season 6, and is given a replacement upon returning to Earth in Season 7.
- While she hasn't done a full turn, she, Ezor, and Zethrid turned on Lotor after he kills Narti, intending to hand him over to Zarkon in exchange for a pardon. When his escape ruins that plan, Acxa remarks that they still have one option. That remark has the potential to lead to either the three generals infiltrating the Coalition to destroy it from within, or else decide to go all in and fight for the Coalition.
- She and the other generals buy themselves a pardon from Zarkon and pledge their loyalty to Haggar after his death, but she saves Keith's life when he interrupts the Kral Zera, hinting that the potential is still there.
- The Generals betraying Lotor a second time in Season 6 when he reveals that he wants to destroy the Galra adds further fuel to this.
- She and the other generals buy themselves a pardon from Zarkon and pledge their loyalty to Haggar after his death, but she saves Keith's life when he interrupts the Kral Zera, hinting that the potential is still there.
- Confirmed in Season 7. While Zethrid and Ezor turned to piracy and conquest like the former suggested back in Season 5, Acxa became The Atoner and started working as a part-time ally of the Coalition.
- Jossed. Hunk returns to Earth with the others. In fact, Vrepit Sal is shown moving to Earth at the end of Season 7.
- Maybe not so jossed. The original WMG is that Hunk will open a space-restaurant after retiring as a Paladin. In season 7, he's still a Paladin. Season 8 on the other hand has Hunk leaving Earth again, and Vrepit Sal even tags along as a cook on the IGF Atlas. While there's no indication they set up a physical location, the final episode does indeed show Hunk has started an intergalactic food business with Vrepit Sal as one of his main alien partners. Shay also appears in the background wearing the same chef uniform!
- Jossed.
- Jossed; Shiro makes it through season 1 just fine. There is, however, a lot going on in his backstory that indicates big things will happen with his character in season 2.
- Not necessarily jossed; Watch it again— his showdown with Haggar was strikingly similar to Shirogane's death scene from Golion where he was surrounded by duplicates of Honerva— only this time we see Haggar take the form of an evil Shiro with glowing eyes right before a bizarre sequence where Shiro is covered by blackness. Who's to say the Shiro who saved Keith with Black Lion wasn't a duplicate sent by Haggar to ensure Zarkon didn't get to the Black Lion first? We know there was already some kind of conspiracy going on within the Galra to help the Paladins get away, after all.
- Even if there's nothing to that, there's still the possibility from the very start that the Shiro who returned at the beginning was an imposter and the real Shiro already died.
- Double Jossed. He survives Season 2, but vanishes at the end of it.
- Then it turns out that his body died in season 2, but his mind survived in the Black Lion and eventually got downloaded into a clone.
- Not necessarily jossed; Watch it again— his showdown with Haggar was strikingly similar to Shirogane's death scene from Golion where he was surrounded by duplicates of Honerva— only this time we see Haggar take the form of an evil Shiro with glowing eyes right before a bizarre sequence where Shiro is covered by blackness. Who's to say the Shiro who saved Keith with Black Lion wasn't a duplicate sent by Haggar to ensure Zarkon didn't get to the Black Lion first? We know there was already some kind of conspiracy going on within the Galra to help the Paladins get away, after all.
- I've heard the odd coloring across Shiro's nose is supposed to be a scar, though personally it looks more like an odd Blush Sticker at times in my mind. It looks pinkish to me, not blue or purple. A scar would make sense considering he was made to fight in the gladiator pit.
- Jossed as of the season 2 finale, where Haggar orders Lotor to be summoned.
- For now, Jossed, since the season 2 trailer shows him alive and well.
- The theory was "slowly" and "ulimately" will die. Definitely not yet jossed by any stretch of the imagination.
- Definitely jossed now. He was completely healed in S 2 E 3, and seemingly vanished Ben Kenobi style at the Season 2 finale.
- The theory was "slowly" and "ulimately" will die. Definitely not yet jossed by any stretch of the imagination.
- Slight problem with that timeline. Keith was already on Earth before Shiro was captured by the Galra. It was established that the discipline issues that got Keith booted from flight school popped up after Shiro was reported "dead" from the Kerberos mission.
- I'd say you're trying too hard to make that "Keith being Galra" theory work and overlooking more obvious things. Whether that theory proves true or not, you're forgetting the whole mind sharing sequence— if Keith were a spy, he would have been exposed then. A far more likely alternative would be Shiro being Lotor. If Shiro/Lotor was was raised on Earth as a human and was unaware of his lineage, it would explain why the Galra abducted the team on Kerberos in the first place (they were specifically looking for him) and he only remembers bits and pieces because they purposely suppressed his memories knowing about the mind sharing process. I say Keith was drawn to the lion carvings because he was legitimately destined to lead to the team. Shiro was the mole specifically sent to infiltrate the team possibly by the same Galra conspirators responsible for helping the Paladins escape in the finale, to ensure Black Lion stayed out of Zarkon's grasp and conveniently arrived right before Keith managed to locate the Blue Lion (was Shiro the arrival he was waiting for, or was it really Lance, Hunk, and Pidge?). Shiro has Galra tech, his hair is turning white, (and could that discoloration on his face be the early stages of his skin beginning to turn purple?). It makes far more sense to assume Lotor would be Shiro. It would follow the same tradition already established by Zarkon being the previous Black Paladin. It also fits with the whole hallucination sequence with Sendak claiming Shiro was a monster like them, which also interestingly seems to have ended with Shiro killing Sendak (Lotor was the one who essentially killed Sendak's counterpart, Yurak, in Voltron: Defender of the Universe by sentencing him to fight Voltron as a Robeast). The whole "Keith being Galra" theory, could very well still hold water if the "Shiro and Keith are brothers" theory also ends up being correct— which would sync up with the story line from Golion where Shirogane had a brother who ultimately kills Sincline at the end. Also, slightly off point, but Sincline wasn't actually full-Galra either— he was half-Altean (they never explicitly confirmed Lotor was half-Arusian/human in Defender of the Universe but still gave enough info for the viewer to easily make that guess).
- Jossed as of Season 2. Haggar speaks of Lotor as a totally separate being that the entire Empire is aware of, ordering several soldiers to go and retrieve him after Zarkon is severely injured during the Season 2 Finale, suggesting they know exactly where he is.
- Her role in this version of being a mature sage-like figure certainly does line up with the Black Lion's personality... However, the Season 2 the season trailer (as well as the events in the season itself) seems to confirm Keith will be once again be filling that role. Not to mention the whole point of the original premise was to show a coming of age story of a young girl rising to the occasion to save her people and breaking the convention that the pilots should be male. Since another female has been introduced who already fills that same role (only this time it's her brother and father she's fighting to save instead) I tend to think this version of Allura simply isn't going to become be a Paladin at all, but we'll find out soon enough.
- It's worth noting that pink is a shade of red. (In fact, the way that men's dress shirts still come in pink is a relic of the way red and its pastel shade, pink, used to be considered too masculine a color for girls, who got to wear blue instead.) In the wake of Shiro's disappearance at the end of Season 2, it seems likely Keith will be moving up to Black and Allura will be taking over Red's reins.
- You seem to be overlooking the fact that the Lions are linked to personality types— Allura definitely isn't a match with Red Lion's hot-headedness (which is already the most choosy of its pilots to begin with). Not to mention they've already established that only she can pilot the Castleship, which heavily complicates her ability to also pilot a Lion of any color (though, if King Alfor's A.I. is any indication, there's no reason the Castleship's arc in the story couldn't just eventually reach its end). Lance on the other hand, not only does have those personality attributes, but also has a history of following in Keith's footsteps (and of course, always traditionally piloted Red in the all previous versions anyway)... Combine that with fact that Allura wears a blue gown, has patches of blue present on her uniform, and the fact that the Blue Lion's bio on the official website describes it as "the friendliest and most accepting of new pilots", if she does still pilot a Lion in this version, it's all but guaranteed to be Blue.
- Black Lion is said to like pilots who are calm, level-headed leader types. The sort whom people follow willingly and without question. Unless there is some major Character Development regarding how the team interacts, Keith doesn't qualify. They get along, yes, but Keith isn't someone the other three seem to "follow without question." Especially where Lance is concerned. Not to mention it just feels wrong to take Keith away from Red after they spent all of season two showing how deep their bond was. Allura, on the other hand, is more likely to have the trust and loyalty of the other four Paladins already.
- There's another thing Allura has that could come into play of her being the Black Lion's Paladin: her ability to shapeshift. Shiro will only be on a temporary absence and while he is, Allura will shapeshift to look like him to try and pilot the Black Lion (although by that same margin, Coran could also be a temporary paladin).
- Jossed. It's been confirmed in several season 3 trailers that Keith will pilot Black, Lance will pilot Red, Allura will pilot Blue. Just like their 80s counterparts.
- You seem to be overlooking the fact that the Lions are linked to personality types— Allura definitely isn't a match with Red Lion's hot-headedness (which is already the most choosy of its pilots to begin with). Not to mention they've already established that only she can pilot the Castleship, which heavily complicates her ability to also pilot a Lion of any color (though, if King Alfor's A.I. is any indication, there's no reason the Castleship's arc in the story couldn't just eventually reach its end). Lance on the other hand, not only does have those personality attributes, but also has a history of following in Keith's footsteps (and of course, always traditionally piloted Red in the all previous versions anyway)... Combine that with fact that Allura wears a blue gown, has patches of blue present on her uniform, and the fact that the Blue Lion's bio on the official website describes it as "the friendliest and most accepting of new pilots", if she does still pilot a Lion in this version, it's all but guaranteed to be Blue.
- If you ask me this doesn't even qualify as a true WMG since it's without a doubt what the writers were implying. Haggar mentioning Prince Lotor at the end was a confirmation that he existed, and the fact that Galra's identity was never revealed was intended to lead us to suspect was him. Now we're to think Keith's decision to save him is the sole reason the Galra Empire won't now collapse following Zarkon's defeat as it otherwise would have if he didn't have an heir. At the very least, Keith is going to go on into the next season believing that to be the case and having to deal with the guilt even if later proves not to be the case.
- There is no reason for Keith to believe that that Galra was Lotor, so he wouldn't experience the guilt. However, if it proves that that Galra had a hand in using the material it picked up to help the Galra recover from their last fight, then Keith might guilt over it. What we see as a set up should never be confused with what the characters see. That is why this definitely a WMG.
- Actually, you misunderstood— I was agreeing with the theory, not debating. All I meant was the writers have something planned and definitely wanted us to suspect that was Lotor. Therefore, we can at least expect something along the lines of like Keith suspecting that and experiencing guilt (say if Lotor is wearing the same type of Galra spacesuit when they eventually meet him). I didn't mean that literal situation specifically was inevitable— the actual possibilities are endless (Heck, it could easily turn out to be Matt or even Sendak). And again, I said "If you ask me this doesn't truly qualify"— meaning just my personal interpretation of "Wild Mass Guessing"— Sure, this theory is definitely a guess, but it's highly debatable how wild it is as it's undoubtedly what the writers intended to have us to think (I wasn't debating whether the theory belonged on this page).
- There is no reason for Keith to believe that that Galra was Lotor, so he wouldn't experience the guilt. However, if it proves that that Galra had a hand in using the material it picked up to help the Galra recover from their last fight, then Keith might guilt over it. What we see as a set up should never be confused with what the characters see. That is why this definitely a WMG.
- Seemingly confirmed by Dreamworks' April Fools clip which teased Lotor's reveal. In said clip (apparently actual Season 3 footage), a figure wearing the same outfit is announced to be Lotor then proceeds to remove the helmet revealing flowing long white hair, though the actual face is replaced by that of the cow from The Space Mall episode.
- Jossed. It's not Lotor, but it's a member of his Amazon Brigade.
- Jossed.
- And Shiro will arrive on planet the planet to rescue Keith, and will get bit in the process.
- Jossed, but that definitely would have been a cool way for Shiro to go out.
- Seems unlikely. The Altean castle—the Castle of Lions—before Allura and Coran's deep sleep was already centuries old, and Allura mentions having traveled peacefully through Galra ports in her lifetime. Why would the Galrans have been so amicable to someone who lived in a castle named for their stolen weapons?
- I just watched the first episode again, and the Galra specifically refer to "taking back Voltron", rather than "capturing" it. Also, for all we know, stealing Voltron may have been the act of war that started the conflict in the first place (perhaps after Zarkon began abusing it).
- The only Galra who is at all catlike is Sendak, who's more along the lines of a Bat Out of Hell facewise.
- Considering that Zarkon used to be the Black Paladin, and thus Voltron was once his to command, it could be that he still feels some ownership of Voltron, or at least the Black Lion. Also while it is a bit subjective, the Galra as a whole species don't seem to particularly favor any single image or animal. Some seem to mimic furred creatures (felines or bats) while some look...jester-like. (Haxus reminds me of NiGHTS.) Still some even seem more humanoid (Haggar in this incarnation) or reptilian, such as the officer who captured Shiro and his crew. Even Zarkon himself looks a bit more on the reptilian side to me.
- Jossed. Season Three reveals that Alfor created Voltron personally.
- Jossed. She's Lotor's mother.
- Possibly Jossed, while it is still a possibility, it's more likely she said that because the is Altean.
- Alternatively since Season Two shows that Alfor was responsible for creating the Black Lion. It is not out of the question that Haggar helped him and thinks that she has a claim on Voltron because of it.
- Jossed. She played no role in creating Voltron, but she still feels she has a claim to it as Zarkon's wife.
- Combine this with Haggar being her mom, and Allura is in the best position to shut down any angst over Keith's possible Galra bloodlines.
- Jossed. He's the son of Zarkon and Haggar.
- Jossed.
- Jossed. We meet both of their mothers in Season Three's Whole Episode Flashback.
- Alternatively, he was the Red Paladin. When Coran attempted to pilot the Red Lion one time, he specifically stated that he was following in Alfor's footsteps.
- Coran could simply have been referring to Alfor being a Paladin in general, rather than flying the Red Lion specifically.
- Jossed. Season Three explicitly confirms that Alfor was the Red Paladin.
- Jossed. Allura becomes the Blue Paladin.
- This is jossed, that same Galra is Lotor's Dragon.
- Pilotless Red Lion vs Pilotless Black Lion. Winner keeps Keith as its Paladin, loser is forced to find someone new.
- Jossed — while there is tension about reshuffling, it doesn't come to this.
- Jossed, Weblum Galra is Acxa, part of Lotor's inner circle.
- Jossed. The official guide book confirms he's 25.
- It could be possible that Allura was one of those chosen successors, but the Paladins eventually fled (as mentioned in S2) before these new Paladins had a chance to bond with the lions. There is, however, little evidence that supports Allura has had any Paladin training, though she does seem to have knowledge of Paladin training, since she helped train the current Paladins and seemed to have a good idea of how the lions worked.
- If Allura was a possible successor to a Paladin but never got a chance to bond with her Lion before Zarkon attacked and Alfor put her in cryo, that would help explain how she knows so much about the Lions and Paladin training. And now with Shiro gone MIA, they need at least one new Paladin for season three. (Regardless of if they shuffle who pilots what Lion or not.)
- Jossed in Season 3. The original Paladins only numbered five.
- Jossed. She found Matt and nothing has changed. Pidge turns out to be her brother's nickname for her, so there's really nothing for her to "turn back into". All she did was modify records for entry into the Garrison, not her entire personality.
- Jossed. Word of God confirms that Lotor is only slightly younger than his parents.
- And when he's found he will reveal a shocking truth about Shiro (really an imposter or traitor), that will lead to his leaving team and opening a new slot in the first place.
- Glasses are not a character trait. Hair is not a character trait. The Lions don't choose their Paladins based on appearance, they choose them based on matching personalities. Katie wouldn't stop being the person that Green Lion chose just because she stopped wearing her glasses (which she doesn't wear while piloting anyway) or let her hair grow out again.
- Yeah at this point it seems pretty clear that Pidge is Pidge. The female Pidge we all know in this iteration is meant to be just another version of the old Pidge, not a copycat or a stand-in. Matt Holt isn't going to appear and take Pidge's lion, name, or role in the team. Not plausible. He may be a part of the team but he won't be Pidge.
- Very firmly jossed in Season 4. Matt fights as an active member of the Coalition and basically moves into the castle, but the most interaction he has with the Green Lion is when Pidge needs him to be her co-pilot (because she can't pilot the Green Lion and maintain the cloaking ability for Voltron as a whole at the same time).
- Or The opposite will happen— "Shiro" will return at some point, try to subvert the team from within, "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight ensues.
- Jossed, for the first one anyway. While there is eveidence that there is something off about Shiro's return to the black lion (brainwashing or a clone are the most prominent theories), Zarkon awakens from his coma in Season 4 with no adverse affects or signs of body swapping.
- As Coran implied in "Rise of Voltron", when he commented that our five protagonists weren't the "best and brightest the universe has to offer"'; it's likely that because Altea had the most advanced technology, their people thought of themselves as the best and brightest in the universe and thus looked down on everyone else.
- Zarkon was indeed Altean; but during a mission gone wrong, Zarkon became locked in his current reptilian form. This caused him to be shunned by the rest of Altea and even his fellow paladins, all because he didn't fit their idea of perfection and was thought of less than Altean and wrong in the natural sense. Thus, he pulled a Then Let Me Be Evil; Zarkon gathered his own forces, killed the other paladins and decimated Altea as revenge. Then to 'spare' other species of being shunned, he decided to conquer the rest of the universe under a Social Darwinist logic.
- This could be great way to add more dimension to both Zarkon, Allura and even fill in the blanks of Altea's past.
- Jossed so far for the main reality, but the alternate reality Altean Empire certainly qualifies as a Crapsaccharine World.
- Jossed. The new "ally" turned out to be a Galra named Ulaz, who originally helped Shiro escape during the Season 1 events and later dies during Season 2. Prince Lotor was mentioned at the end of the last episode of Season 2, definitely alive.
- Jossed.
- This is joked about in one episode when Hunk asks to form the head, but hasn't happened as of the end of the first season.
- Yet, in the glimpse we got of Voltron during the Wondercon '17 sneak peak, something about his form seems strangley off.. or changed, at least.
- Jossed. The difference in his form at the Wondercon '17 sneak peak turns out to have been the result of a camera angle making it look like Voltron was missing a a wing.
- Yet, in the glimpse we got of Voltron during the Wondercon '17 sneak peak, something about his form seems strangley off.. or changed, at least.
- The main change Katie made was cutting off her long hair. Since hair keeps growing, all she has to do is not get it cut to return to her pre-Pidge look. Though depending on how many barber shops can be found outside of Earth, she may not have much choice...
- Also, assuming they follow the same precedent of losing Shiro (moving Keith up to Black Lion, and Lance to Red), Matt will likely take over piloting Green Lion as it will no longer accept Katie out of the "Pidge" persona. Katie will then take over piloting Blue Lion (the friendliest and most accepting of new pilots according to the official website) and wear a new a pink uniform that better fits her female body-shape.
- Pidge is literally 14 and seems to prefer baggy clothes, why on earth would she stop wearing armor?
- I'm not sure why you chose to mention her age as part of your argument, because you essentially answered your own question by doing so. She's 14— puberty. Besides, who says her new suit wouldn't also be armored?
- If the Paladin suits fit both big guy Hunk and the short fourteen-year-old, they can probably magically resize to fit anybody.
- True, but if the Black suit is lost with Shiro, they'll have to create a new one and won't necessarily be able to reproduce the same resizing technology.
- Even if she did take over as Blue's pilot, she could easily wear Lance's suit instead of getting a pink one. And besides, why does it have to be pink? If you haven't noticed, the characters are Color-Coded for Your Convenience. And Pidge's color is green, while Allura's is pink.
- A lion can't just stop accepting its Paladin. Pidge formed a powerful bond with Green and the fact that he is really a she doesn't change that. I mean, Red didn't reject Keith after The Reveal that he's Galra, so I doubt Green will reject Pidge just because she's a girl. Same goes for Lance. He can't just switch from Blue to Red just to fill the role of Red's pilot.
- They haven't established that a lion's bond is exclusive or permanent. What they have established is they choose their pilots based on personality types. If Matt is a better fit, then it's perfectly reasonable that Green Lion could abandon Pidge for him. I could easily picture a scenario where Pidge is temporarily absent and Matt has to fill in, during which a new bond is formed and Green will no longer accept Pidge. Also, Lance's personality definitely could fit with the traits Allura described for Red Lion (let's also not forget that Red Lion didn't accept Keith right away at first). Not to mention that they've already thrown in a few subtle hints that could be interpreted as allusions to a connection between Lance and Red Lion (like when Allura tells the group Keith will pilot Red Lion and Lance says "What? This guy?" and again when Keith says "I've got fire power!" Lance says "Hey, I want that!"). They also went out of their way to mention in Blue Lion's bio on the official website that it's "the friendliest and most accepting of new pilots"— there's no way that's not significant (especially considering how Allura conveniently skipped over Blue Lion's description after Lance interrupted her).
- Matt won't be a better fit. As Allura said, the Green Lion is inquisitive and daring. If anything, Matt will be too traumatized from his imprisonment to even want to fight the Galra. Besides, who said Pidge would let her brother, whom the team just saved, put himself at risk piloting her lion in the middle of an intergalactic war? Also, Pidge was able to form a deeper connection with her lion, and since Green still accepted her after her gender reveal, it won't reject her.
- Also, assuming they follow the same precedent of losing Shiro (moving Keith up to Black Lion, and Lance to Red), Matt will likely take over piloting Green Lion as it will no longer accept Katie out of the "Pidge" persona. Katie will then take over piloting Blue Lion (the friendliest and most accepting of new pilots according to the official website) and wear a new a pink uniform that better fits her female body-shape.
- Jossed. She stays the same and still pilots the green lion. Her alias is a nickname her brother used for her.
- And Thace's real name will turn out to be Hazar, the conflicted anti-villain from the Vehicle Voltron eps. Absent the awkward 'Zarkon is a vassal of the Drules' connection, Galra is all one empire in this case.
- Jossed
- Not technically jossed— we never got the full story about his father and mother. They only implied his mother was Galra and his father was human, they didn't confirm it. And they could still later elaborate more on Thace's past and establish that he was Keith's father (and even that his real name was Hazar...), of course it's highly unlikely since he clearly wasn't aware of it, making it an amazing coincidence.
- Jossed
- Whomever Keith's Galra parent was, they left their Marmora blade on Earth with their human family. Thace still has his blade. Sure he could have gotten a replacement, but I got the impression the blades are made of rare materials and the Marmorans... Well, the Marmorans seem like the sort of group that would be like "You LOST your special blade!? IDIOT! Go retrieve it before someone loyal to Zarkon finds it!" rather than "Oh, you lost your special blade? That's too bad. Here, have another!"
- In other words, between Keith clearly recognizing his dad and Thace still having his blade, it's safe to say that this theory is Jossed.
- Any lingering doubt is squashed when Keith's Galra mother is introduced in Season 5, and flashbacks in Season 6 clearly show his father as human.
- Jossed. Season 3 and beyond is an entirely different can of worms.
- Jossed. Her loyalty to Zarkon and influence over him are because she's his wife, and she has no desire to manipulate him. She only tries to keep Lotor in line so that the empire doesn't fall apart because Lotor is too busy pursuing his secret agenda to actually rule.
And then there's the other tease we get. It doesn't matter what Shiro wants. Ultimately the next Black Paladin will be chosen by the Black Lion and no one else. As Allura said in the first season, the bond between Lion and Paladin is not something that can be forced. So if Black decides that Keith isn't really its type, there's little that can be done to change that. And there are signs that Keith may not be Black's type. Black Lion is said to favor those who are natural leaders and remain calm under pressure. The sort of personality whom others willingly follow without question. Keith's well-established fiery nature means he doesn't fit this mould at all. Not without radical Character Development at least. And given his interactions with the other three Paladins, he does not seem like the sort they would "follow without question" at this point in time. They've all butted heads and gotten along on various occasions, with Lance being the biggest hurdle to Keith's potential leadership.
But aside from the fact that Black Lion has the final say over who gets to pilot him, we can't overlook Red Lion's role in all this. Red is established as the most temperamental of all the Lions. It won't let just anyone be its Paladin. It wouldn't even accept Keith right away when they first met. Even if Black did accept Keith, that brings a new problem of who to take command of the Red Lion. Sure, the Red Lion traditionally belongs to Lance and Lance has even shown a little lion-envy on occasion, but like with Black, it doesn't matter what Lance wants if Red rejects him. To top it off, Red spent most of season two showing how awesome and deep its bond with Keith has become, as mentioned above. It went into attack mode and tried to melt/rip apart the Marmora base to protect Keith. And it came to rescue a stranded Keith and Allura, from distances previously thought impossible for a Paladin and Lion to reach one another. Why would the writers spend so much time showing the deep bond of Red and Keith if they're just going to rip it all away come season three? One also has to wonder, with the whole Paladin/Lion bond thing, if Red Lion would even allow Black Lion to try and take Keith as a new Paladin. The Lions are sentient in this series. They could have an unspoken rule among themselves. Something like "No Paladin-stealing. If you need a new one, go get your own!" which would mean that Black wouldn't even consider Keith as a possible replacement. Tradition has its work cut out for it if Keith is to switch Lions.
- The writers have clearly intentionally been attempting to mislead us with numerous hints leading multiple directions to throw us off while following enough other precedents from the originals to keep us guessing. When you consider how Word of God has confirmed the beginning Season 2 of was written to be the finale of Season 1, therefore indicating we were supposed to go into Season 2 having already seen Keith Pilot Black Lion and Shiro looking likely to die from the wound he got in a showdown with the witch (exact same way Takashi Shirogane was killed in Golion) the intended result would have been a Bait-and-Switch where Shiro would recover and continue on in Season 2. Since the ideal time to kill off Shiro, if they going to do so without letting the fans get too attached, was the start of Season 2. Since that window has closed, and considering how Pidge is already the female on the team and how Allura is needed to pilot the Castleship this time around, I'd say there's about a 51% likelihood a roster change won't be occurring this time around, with the other 49% split between either the various other theories already on here or something else altogether.
- Allura isn't needed to fly the Castleship, only to power the wormholes. When she's captured toward the end of season one, Coran has no trouble managing to fly the ship on his own, including defences and weapons systems. (He's waited 10,000 years for that moment!) The only thing he couldn't do without her was power the wormholes. Technically this means that Allura could fly any of the Lions (depending on which chooses to bond with her, of course) just fine. The only trouble would be occasionally rushing back to the Castleship if the group needs a quick wormhole exit.
- Jossed. Keith became the Black Paladin in Season 3. Although he stepped down from the team in Season 4 to train with the Blade of Marmora.
- Bonus points for the Red Lion appearing in Keith's hallucinations in The Blade of Marmora, right after Keith's dad mentioned that she would be home soon.
- Jossed. Word of God confirms that the Red Lion is male, so even if a dead person's soul were stored inside the Red Lion, it wouldn't be Keith's mom.
- Jossed. Pidge finds that another rebel group broke him out, and they're reunited in Season 4.
- Alternatively, it'll be Sam Holt (their father) working for them. We've neither seen or heard about him (aside from Katie's flashback) since the very beginning as he was suspiciously absent from the gladiator pit Shiro and Matt were part of. Perhaps he'll be made into a Robeast and the Paladins will have no choice but to destroy him.
- Both firmly jossed. Despite Sam being forced to work at a research facility, neither of the missing Holts were working for the Galra willingly.
- Lance: So... are you going to chant like that all the time now?Keith: What do you mean?Lance: Seriously? (mockingly) "Form Feet and legs! Form arms and body!" That isn't ringing any bells for you?Keith (embarrassed): Uhhhh... well, I-Pidge: How is it that Lance and I form Voltron's body when your Lion makes up the torso to begin with?Allura: Half of that doesn't even apply to Voltron- that's the startup sequence for the Castle! Come to think about it, Black Lion also forms part of Voltron's legs too, so how come you only claim to form the head?Hunk: No, no, I see where he's coming from. I mean, okay sure, the Black Lion contributes a lot to Voltron, but it's not like Keith can just flip a switch and everything shifts to "Voltron Mode" or anything like that. He has to wait until we dock first, so the only thing he can actually make on his own is the head.
- Jossed, this doesn't happen, sadly enough.
- Jossed. We get a very brief glimpse of Mrs. Holt during flashbacks to Katie's life, prior to joining the Galaxy Garrison. One is a conversation mostly between Samuel and Katie during a family dinner, and the other is when Mrs. Holt and Katie first see the news report about the Kerberos mission being lost.
- Jossed. Lance is the one who notices something is off, rather than Sam.
- Jossed. According to Season 5, shapeshifting, like magic, is an ability that only certain Alteans can access.
- Still Jossed, but also either the retcon was itself retconned, or Lotor was talking out of his ass as shown by both the Alteans he "saved" and by Coran in season 7.
- It didn't happen in the season at all, and it should be noted that immediately after the scene of the guys shaking hands, she's smiling at Pidge's antics like the others. It seems the only reason she wasn't grinning was because it was a relatively serious situation, not malice or resentment.
- Firmly jossed when she fights alongside the coalition in Season 5.
- There was no way to know whether that Galra is female. It's possible that the Galra was male, since some of the Galra, which was depicted in the same previous episode you mentioned, had slightly more curved armor around their chest, which suggests they were female. However, the Galra might be his mother, just as it might be Lotor, or someone else who will become relevant in S3.
- Not confirmed yet, but promo art for season three reveals that the mystery Galra's custom outfit is the uniform of Lotor's all-female Quirky Miniboss Squad. This seems to confirm that the Galra is female. Whether it's Keith's mother remains to be seen.
- Firmly jossed. He meets his mother in Season 5.
- Not confirmed yet, but promo art for season three reveals that the mystery Galra's custom outfit is the uniform of Lotor's all-female Quirky Miniboss Squad. This seems to confirm that the Galra is female. Whether it's Keith's mother remains to be seen.
- Jossed. After the events of Season 2, the show changes to the original 1980s configuration.
- On the other hand, the pod's Magitek. So who knows.
- Firmly Jossed by the trailer for Season 5.
- But true as of the end of Season 7.
- From Earth?
- Knows Shiro is Japanese?
- Hasn't been seen outside of flashbacks since the pilot?
- Judging by his comments about how his life's work involves discovering alien life, plus the other two spots of the standard Garrison pilot-engineer-comm spec trio being filled by Shiro and Matt, is both a biologist and an engineer?
- This appears to be Jossed by Season 5. Sam was one of a number of scientifically-minded prisoners being forced to work in a lab. Since Sam never mentions anything in the entire season about it, it's safe to say that if he did have a hand in it, he did so without knowing what he was working on.
- Alternately, he's been away because he's a Sheltered Aristocrat. Having grown up never expecting to take his father's place as king. He'll have lived a life sheltered from the everyday trivialities like having to work for a living. He'll be good-looking and charming (and know how to use that to his advantage), while also being an irresponsible adventure seeker. Meaning he exiled himself out of boredom.
- Partially confirmed? Lotor is a Dragon with an Agenda, and Zarkon ends up exiling him again, specifically because of that, at the end of Season 4. It's entirely plausible that his first banishment was for something similar.
- Jossed. Season 5 reveals that he was banished for being pragmatic with his quintessence harvesting and defying his father's orders to destroy a planet when he isn't striping all it's quintessence at once and leaving it to die.
- Jossed. Season 5 reveals that he was born after the destruction of Altea.
- The Weblum Galra was revealed to be Acxa, part of Lotor's inner circle. Wehther or not she's his mother has yet to be revealed.
- Jossed. His mother is Krolia, a Blade of Marmora agent introduced in Season 5.
- Jossed. His mother is a completely different character.
From a Watsonian perspective, within canon there are also many signs that point to Pidge being trans.
- She still is mistaken for male by strangers
- There is a throwaway joke in Season 2 where she has difficulty deciding which bathroom to pick
- Her family consistently reaffirms her identity by using her name "Katie" very often.
- The showrunners and Pidge's VA have repeatedly Jossed this theory at conventions, stating there is no merit to it.
- I grew up in the '80s where it was relatively easy to tell who was what gender by physical appearance: girls had long hair and wore earrings. The norms changed, they changed. Sure the aliens my have some out of date ideas about human gender norms, but other than that, Katie "Pidge" Holt has owned being female and even Coran says "gentle lady". She pretended to be Matt to get into the Garrison after being banned and that's it.
- Jossed. It is indeed a gaming session, but a preview clip establishes that Coran is the GM, while Lotor is busy dealing with some of his obligations as emperor.
- Seems to be pretty strongly Jossed as of Season 5. Zarkon is dead, and the disguise never happened.
- ...Probably confirmed? While it's still unclear if Zarkon had anything to do with it, Shiro is back in Galra custody in Season 3. Though given the implications of "Project Kuron," it remains to be seen if that was the Shiro who escaped, or simply a Shiro.
- Jossed. The Shiro in Seasons 3-6 is a clone. The real Shiro's body was disintegrated by Zarkon's attack, and his spirit merged with the Black Lion.
- Seems to be partially confirmed in episodes 9 and 11, although this plot hook is left for Season 2.
- Or whoever is behind the conspiracy inside the Galra that allowed the Paladins to escape in the finale (Lotor?) is using him to keep Voltron out of Zarkon's grasp. It certainly would make sense as Shiro conveniently made it back to Black Lion just before Zarkon did, and the shields were dropped immediately after.
- Jossed.
- Season Three adds some doubt to that. Since he can't remember how he went from the Black Lion to being experimented on by the Galra again, he might still be a Manchurian Agent for some faction within the Galra Empire.
- Firmly Jossed by Season 6 The Shiro seen in Season Three was a clone sent to infiltrate the team, and the real Shiro was trapped inside the Black Lion.
- He has Shiro's memories and his own affection for the team. The idea the whole reason for his existence is to hurt or kill them will horrify him and he will try to ensure that he can never hurt them.
- Alternately he'll take it upon himself to rescue the real Shiro in a suicide mission.
- Jossed. Clone!Shiro is reduced to an Empty Shell after an intense battle with Keith that destroyed the cloning facility. And since the real Shiro was trapped in the astral plane, Allura uses Altean magic to transfer the real Shiro's consciousness into the clone body.
- Alternately he'll take it upon himself to rescue the real Shiro in a suicide mission.
- Season 4 may have jossed this. Acxa reveals in the third episode of Season 4 that the comet is large enough for them to make a total of three ships out of it. The first ship seaon in Season 3 appear to be the arms of a Dark Voltron, while the second ship developed in Season 4 is the legs.
- Jossed. Lotor's ships create their own Combining Mecha named Sincline.
- Jossed. Zarkon dies before he gets to use the comet, but Lotor manages to finish the third ship and combine them to create his own mech.
My Theory is that it bears the Galran royal seal and is a heirloom brought along with the Blue Lion by his family. Thace will turn out to belong to a Resistance of royal loyal's and will reveal Keiths heritage. The Endgame for the Paladins will become reinstating Keith as ruler of the Galra Empire, to end their conquest, since the empire is most likely to big to fall otherwise.
- The thing about the dagger being connected to royalty is Jossed, but it's still possible his mother is part of the royal family. The finale may involve him and Allura becoming an Official Couple and uniting the Altean and Galra royal lines.
- Jossed. There is no real royal family of the Galra. Lotor was Prince because he was son of the Emperor, but when his father died, half a dozen officials with no blood ties to Zarkon made their own play for the throne, and had any of them completed the Kral Zera, they would have legally been the Emperor, and Lotor would have been nobody.
- Jossed. The ships are completed, Keith becomes a Paladin again, and Lotor pulls a Face–Heel Turn. To add insult to injury, his generals betray him again right after he convinced them to split from Haggar.
- Jossed.
- Jossed. Lotor and Allura develop a mutual attraction to each other.
- Jossed. Fans on Tumblr have compared the maps Keith showed the time in the pilot episode to real world maps of the US, and discovered that the Garrison is located in Arizona, with the Blue Lion specifically hidden underneath the grand canyon.
- Jossed. Romelle is an entirely separate character.
- Adding on with this, Allura will stay a paladin via one of two ways.
- Somehow, the comet material will be used to create a sixth lion; the Pink/White Lion. It'll become additional armor/weapons for Voltron, allowing it to form a sort of Super Mode; much like how a Megazord from Power Rangers would do the same with the addition of the Sixth Ranger's Zord.
- It looks like Lotor may have already turned the comet into some sort of fighter ship, albeit a very interestingly-shaped one. Still, we've already seen two comets made from this stuff. They might be crazy-rare, but we can't rule out the possibility of another comet showing up and providing the raw materials for new Lions or other special ships.
- It's still possible even with the original comet. Season 4 reveals that the comet is large enough and has enough ore for Lotor to have at least three ships made from it, and the third one hasn't been built yet.
- Since Sven has already appeared as the alternate reality version of Shiro, the clone might instead take the name 'Ryou', after Shiro's twin brother from Go Lion.
- Somehow, the comet material will be used to create a sixth lion; the Pink/White Lion. It'll become additional armor/weapons for Voltron, allowing it to form a sort of Super Mode; much like how a Megazord from Power Rangers would do the same with the addition of the Sixth Ranger's Zord.
- Jossed. The clone is rendered brain dead, so the Real Shiro's spirit is transferred into the clone body.
- So far mostly Jossed. The surviving Alteans aren't introduced until well after The Alliance is formed. The part about Romelle and Allura not being cousins in this continuity is confirmed, however.
Hence, it seems likely at some point some or all of Voltron Paladins will end up back on Earth (perhaps as a result of falling out of the destabilized wormhole at the end of Season 1) and come into conflict with the Earth government, with the silver-haired officer as The Dragon. This might even lead to the chance for Allura to go undercover via shape-shifting into her eighties form, as suggested below.
- Well, the Paladins do decide to head back to Earth at the end of Season 6, and Pidge's dad had gone back earlier to deliver the news of what was going on to the Galaxy Garrison... so who knows where that could go. It's considerably later than what you had hoped, but you may just be onto something here.
- Jossed. While Sam Holt does come into conflict with Admiral Sanda, the leader of the Galaxy Garrison, over the knowledge that Galra are about to attack, the conflict is resolved when the citizens/governments of Earth decide to help the Garrison in creating defences against the Galra. By the time the Paladins arrive on Earth, there are no governments left, as Sendak has conquered Earth, and only the Galaxy Garrison remains standing.
Because she just would. Whether her mom gets them or not is up for grabs, especially if she mentions finding Matt.
- Jossed in Season 7. Colleen and Samuel Holt have had no contact with their children for three years. Pidge is a very naughty girl.
- Jossed. Zarkon is killed in Season 5, and Sendak's invasion of Earth is thwarted by the end of season 7.
- Jossed
- That seems very unlikely considering he needs two arms to pilot the Black Lion.
- Jossed. He loses his Galra-tech arm in Season 6, and gets a new, Earth-tech design in Season 7.
- Jossed. While the Voltron force does defer to the Garrison in matters relating to intelligence on the state of Earth and Sendak's conquest of it, there are no attempts to swap out pilots or put a trusted senior officer in charge.
- Jossed. It's part of Sincline, Lotor's attempt to create an Evil Coutnerpart of Voltron.
- Given the strong implications and foreshadowing that the Shiro seen in Seasons 3 and 4 is a clone and Lotor offering an Enemy Mine with the Voltron Coalition at the end of Season 4, it's entirely possible that Lotor may be the one to discover this and kill the clone, destroying his tenuous alliance with Team Voltron.
- Jossed, Shiro (while under Mind Control) actually rescues Lotor from the Paladins when they learn of his various crimes.
- Jossed. Zethrid and Ezor follow Zethrid's suggestion from S 5 E 6 and stake out their own territory amid the empire's power vacuum, while Acxa pulls a Heel–Face Turn and joins the Coalition.
- Wouldn't that undermine the "not all Galra are bad" thing?
- Firmly Jossed by this point.
- Partially jossed? Season 3 gives us the details of Daibaazal being destroyed. Alfor did it to seal off the quintessence portal and stop all of the creatures from invading, so the planet itself didn't get its quintessence drained. That said, that planet still could be Daibaazal.
- Jossed. The present-day ruins of Daibazaal are shown in Season 4, and they look nothing like the planet seen in 'The Belly of the Weblum'. That doesn't rule out those planets being victims of Quintessence draining.
Unsorted
- Alternately, the cadets will be a trio of Earth kids that assist the Voltron Paladins while they're hiding on Earth from the Galaxy Garrison. They'll have to pilot the Black, Blue and Green Lions to get them to their Paladins, foreshadowing their future as Paladins after the time-frame of the show and redeeming them in (some of) the fandom.
- One final alternative, they end up piloting Vehicle Voltron and/or Gladiator Voltron, complete with Age Lift and appropriate increase in badass levels to justify them fighting the Paladins on an even keel.. Most notably, Daniel will gain Hot Blooded Sideburns.
- Jossed. While Academy students do show up, they have nothing in common with the cadet trio.
- One final alternative, they end up piloting Vehicle Voltron and/or Gladiator Voltron, complete with Age Lift and appropriate increase in badass levels to justify them fighting the Paladins on an even keel.. Most notably, Daniel will gain Hot Blooded Sideburns.
- Obviously, he cannot let the daughter of that mission's commander get away with breaking into his office to use his access to the classified network to find the truth. However barring her from the installation is rather mild compared to... well he probably could not get away with shooting young Ms. Holt out of hand but he could justify holding her incommunicado in 'Club Fed' level conditions. Any suspicions 'Pidge Gundarsson' aroused during 'his' enrollment/infiltration, such as nobody on the medical staff recalling giving the twerp the physicals that are on record, would of course be brought to his attention. He in turn would never get around to investigating or ordering an investigation of the much shorter dead ringer for Matt Holt because he had more important things to deal with.
- Once the Paladins return to Earth, if the government and Galaxy Garrison prove clueless, hostile, or both; he will prove a useful mole.
- While it never got to these levels, he was certainly more receptive to the plans of Samuel Holt, Shiro, and the paladins than Admiral Sanda was and fought bravely against Sendak.
- There's been a huge focus on Allura and Alfor's relationship, but no mention of her mother, which seems conspicuous. She could just have died before the war with the Galra (especially since, looking at AtLA and LoK, Studio Mir LOVES dead mothers), or she could still be alive and kicking somewhere.
- And while they're on this shattered Earth fighting to free it from the Galra, we'll meet Nanny— Katie Holt's childhood babysitter who won't approve of her being a Paladin and will give her a hard time over it.
- That last part is Jossed. The VLD incarnation of Nanny is introduced in Season 6 as Lotor's governess Dayak.
- Zarkon had nothing to do with it, but a Galra fleet does invade Earth in Season 7.
- Other than the use of the name Sven, Season 3 and 4 have been hitting viewers over the head with hints that the Shiro seen in those seasons is not the real one, so this is still possible in some form.
- Keith is openly a member of the Blade of Marmora, so he's doing a piss poor job if he's trying to hide that he has Galra blood. How can he be exposed if he isn't keeping it secret? And if the Coalition is willing to work with full blooded Galra, it's unlikely that they'll decide to disband the Coalition or go to war with one another because one person on their side is part Galra. Hell, they don't even object much to the presence of Lotor.
- Despite the reactions of the Puigians, the Coalition as a whole seems to be perfectly fine working with the Blade of Marmora, or at the very least the various members decided to put aside their reluctance to avoid escalating the situation into the We ARE Struggling Together trope.
- Additionally, Lance has always been "just behind" Keith in terms of the actions he takes (fighter pilot, right leg to Keith's right arm, second-in-command, team loner) so he might continue to follow in Keith's footsteps and leave the team.
- An Altean-powered Mecha shows up out of nowhere at the end of Season 7, following the reveal that the Colony Alteans and Honerva herself have been Chekhov M.I.A. since the end of Season 6. The Mecha's abilities are repeatedly compared to the Komar, which was Haggar's invention, and with the knowledge she got from Oriande, Honerva is the only person besides the mirror universe Alteans capable of building that thing.
- Likely confirmed since the NYCC 2018 poster showed her with the colonial Alteans.
- Acxa officially pulling a Heel–Face Turn in Season 7 lends support to this theory, especially since the ambiguous fates of Zethrid and Ezor in Season 7 means that she's the only one of Lotor's generals confirmed to still be alive.
Other than that, when the lions are shown crashing back to Earth after the Altean mecha self-destructs, three of the lions simply crash with nobody around to witness. The only shots with people in them for that scene are Hunk's family looking at the Yellow Lion lying in the desert, and a clearly male Unknown Character standing next to a Garrison cruiser while gazing up at the Black Lion as it falls through the atmosphere. This character, if you look closely has the same hair and eye color as Adam. There's nothing that definitively confirms that it's him, but Shiro and Hunk were the ones who had the most backstory flashbacks in Season 7, and even though Shiro isn't piloting the Black Lion, he's still thematically associated with it. So who else but Adam would be important enough to be given a reaction shot alongside Hunk's family when none of the other lion shots have people in them?
Two years passed between the initial invasion and Voltron's arrival, so what happened to Adam in the interrim is anyone's guess. He could have been captured and taken to a work camp on the opposite side of the continent from the Garrison HQ. Or he could have joined up with the rebel cell nearest to his crash site.
Alternatively, since the mystery man was seen next to a Garrison rover, he could have gone to one of the other Garrison bases in the US, since Veronica's battle reports indicate that there's one on the east coast, and a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the pilot puts the main headquarters in Arizona.
To build on this, it's likely that the "Lion Goddess" revered by the Arusians in Season 1 is Legendary Defender's incarnation of GoLion's "Space Goddess". While the focus at the time was on Allura telling the Arusians that she was not a goddess, we get no proof that the Goddess doesn't exist. It's possible that the Lion Goddess is the voice Allura hears in Oriande after passing the White Lion's test. In addition, a Freeze-Frame Bonus reveals that the trans-reality comets originated in Oriande. Combine that with Oriande's guardian spirit being a lion, and it appears very likely that the comets were deliberately sent out into the universe by the Lion Goddess.
- Alternately and additionally, from what we saw in the post-credit scene of "The End is the Beginning", Allura became the "Space Goddess".
- Preview images and footage of Season 8 supports this, showing aliens from the Coalition serving aboard the Atlas in Garrison uniforms.
Despite what the show wants us to believe, we know he's not dead. After he gets out of the Quintessance field, he'll find both colonies empty and know exactly who did it. In a moment of "it's been nice flying with you", he'll save Team Voltron by killing Honerva, but he will die as well.
- Most likely Jossed. Lance is just fine, and has bonded even more with the Blue Lion.
- He has (briefly) discussed his confidence issues with Keith, and Lance seems to have gotten a bit more mature in general, which Allura acknowledges in Season 5. This seems pretty likely; he just needs to discuss his issues with the rest of the Paladins to fully fix things.
- This seems to be canon, or at least close to it. We know he's a capable mechanic by the way he handles various issues around the ship, and he gets several Big Damn Heroes moments. Coran is definitely smarter than he seems; the real question is whether he's more along the lines of a Genius Ditz or Obfuscating Stupidity.
- I think it's more like Coran is trying to act normally instead of giving into grief- and normal!Coran is a Genius Ditz. Whether he's at the Space Mall trying to negotiate with "pirates", fixing the Teladuv lenses before they all die, or trying to get the Red Lion to accept him as a pilot, Coran is a mix of goofy and genius. If he was just playing up his buffoonery we'd see less of it when he's away from the rest of the crew.
- How about it turns out they're Newtypes?
- Though, if this were the case, Allura should be able to tell whether or not they are actually animals through her mental link. Usually people who knew their native or birth language will speak that language in their heads until they lose the ability use that language, and since the mice can communicate with each other pretty well I doubt they have lost their ability to communicate using Altean words. Allura doesn't seem to react as if they are mentally-speaking Altean, but she can understand them. That said, there is one instance where the mice have told her they intended to put on a 'show' and she understood them perfectly, plus the news about Pidge during the first season. There is a lot of evidence supporting this theory, but it could just be really intelligent mice. I just have a had time believing Allura wouldn't recognize them right away as Alteans through the mental link.
- The Paladin part at least is Jossed.
- Well she can’t be a princess on account of being dead.
- Definitely a strong theory, but I couldn't help but get the impression from the finale's events which appeared to reveal a rogue faction of Galra aiding the Paladins, that they were telling us that Shiro was being watched over and being assisted from within all along. I'm thinking Shiro was freed and sent on a mission to find Voltron all in an effort to help them overthrow Zarkon (now partially confirmed). With that in mind, I tend to think they were monitoring him the whole time via the arm and just activated the weapon capabilities for him when they saw he needed it. Let's not forget, it practically appeared to activated itself without him knowing how he was even doing it. Not to mention, there's really no reason I can see for them not to be straight forward about it if he was indeed overriding a shock-collar function.
- He does pilot the Black Lion to protect a wounded Shiro from the local wildlife when they crashed into a planet at the start of Season Two. And then went right back to flying Red.
- Jossed... for now. Black not only accepts Keith, but rejects Shiro when he comes back.
- And then comes up again during Season 4. With Shiro back, Keith feels unworthy of being leader of Voltron, and Shiro's susiciously out-of-character behavior results in him constantly second-guessing himself and doubting his decisions. This results in Keith taking a leave of absence to train with the Blade of Mamora full time. He may still end up as the Black Paladin again later on, but for now, Shiro's back in the pilot seat.
- In season 6, Shiro is revealed to be a clone controlled by Haggar, so Keith takes back the Black Lion. whether the original Shiro is even fit to pilot is sort of up in the air right now.
- Well, Season 4 does confirm that the glasses were Matt's. The haircut seems to be mostly to help her pass for a boy, but it's certainly possible with that in mind that she specifically got her new clothes out of Matt's closet.
Much like human-looking part-Galra Keith, in the Voltron universe, others on Earth might have space alien blood in them too...more specifically, it's possible that Lance is part-Altean. In the first part of the two-episodes-in-one S1EP1, Lance is set up as the focal character who winds up a Spanner in the Works, and if VLD had been part of a regular broadcast, and S1EP1 split into traditional episodes, he might've even been seen as a Decoy Protagonist. During the entire episode, though, after they come across the room holding Allura and Coran, the focus is explicitly on him as their pods rise up out of the Castle, and it's him who stands closest, rushing out to catch Allura. Not long after, he starts one of his and Keith's first arguments, muttering "I bet it's Keith's fault [that the Galra have found them]" (a nod to a plot point in S2, which was initially envisioned part of a whole season with S1), to which Keith angrily responds it's Lance's fault that they wound up stuck on the other side of a wormhole, and Lance yells back, "I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Considering the unspoken and implied hints throughout S1 regarding Keith's background (aside from Zarkon's blunt "You fight like a Galra soldier."), all these moments could work as subtle hints towards Lance having Altean heritage.
Now, after he catches Allura, she points out that his human-shaped ears are "hideous," which he takes offense to, and unlike how she recognizes Haggar to be Altean due to their ears, doesn't assume anything of the like of Lance... But as mentioned above, Keith doesn't have any noticeable characteristics that give away his Galran heritage, and much like the Alteans, Lance at the very least has blue eyes, if not the purple speckles in his pupils...
But to assume that Lance is an Altean capable of powering and opening wormholes like Allura would be to assume he's aware of his ability to do so, since whenever Allura creates a wormhole, we're shown that it takes concentration and energy on her part (and causes a soft glow to appear upon her—as the Blue Lion's inner lighting is the same color, however, that could explain why it's not noticeable on Lance). That'd throw a lot of his dialogue and actions in S1EP1 into question; for example, "Blue wants us to go through there," which, if it's assumed he consciously opened the wormhole, would mean he's omitting part of the truth. It'd also raise the question of if he wasn't a simple Spanner in the Works, and thus whether he's offended about his ears being pointed out for another reason...
- The problem with this theory is that not just any Altean can open the wormhole. In season 1 when Allura is captured, the ship is only able to jump to Zarkon's base because they have enough of her energy still lingering in the system. But once they use that energy? Coran, an Altean, is unable to power a wormhole without her. It suggests something unique to the royal bloodline allows them to power wormholes. Or maybe just female Alteans. Or those born with certain mystical abilities that Coran lacks. If it is only royal Alteans that can power wormholes, that may have some Unfortunate Implications for Lance's romance attempts. On the other hand, Blue Lion could simply have been given a battery that stored enough Altean energy to generate exactly one wormhole once it found five potential new Paladins.
- The wormholes are very likely an Altean royalty thing, as a couple of other things Allura does (for example, the Balmera rejuvenation ceremony) are stated to be possible/easier thanks to her royal lineage. On the other hand, since Lance lack the pointy Altean ears, as mentioned above, if he is Altean it's probably far enough back that it wouldn't be too awkward for him to get a crush on Allura.
- It's possible that, if Lance is part-Altean, he opened the wormhole by accident. That could explain why he thinks Blue did it. Though, he does seem to know who his family is, as shown by the picture in the memory simulator thing that the paladins do early on, unlike Keith (whose Galra parent was conveniently the one he has little to no memories of), so, again, it'd have to be fairly far back for him.
- Yeah, even then, being half something else still caused some noticeable differences in some of them, such as Lotor getting pointy Altean ears, and Ezor is bright pink/orange and yellow. They do have clear Galra traits, but their other species still show up somehow in them. So it's pretty safe to say that the same would apply to aliens breeding with humans, too; Keith would probably be purple-skinned, for example, if he was as much as half-Galra. I feel like much less than 1/8 would be less likely to "count" as close enough to use Galra tech, but around 1/8 or 1/4 sounds like a good guess.
- This is also only taking into account the external appearance of hybrid genetics. Not only does Keith look fully human on the outside, there's also nothing on the inside that would set off alarm bells for a military-grade health exam. No odd lumps that turn out to be vestigial poison glands or anything else freaky like that. Perhaps Galran bio-metrics simply scan for a certain DNA sequence unique to Galrans, which would allow Keith to be more human as long as he retains that one gene.
- Supported by the fact that his mother Krolia appears to be a half-Galra herself.
- Keep in mind that these same medical exams apparently couldn't tell a boy from a girl.
- This is also only taking into account the external appearance of hybrid genetics. Not only does Keith look fully human on the outside, there's also nothing on the inside that would set off alarm bells for a military-grade health exam. No odd lumps that turn out to be vestigial poison glands or anything else freaky like that. Perhaps Galran bio-metrics simply scan for a certain DNA sequence unique to Galrans, which would allow Keith to be more human as long as he retains that one gene.
- The Olkari leader even commented on Pidge's natural tech abilities herself, and Pidge seems to feel a special connection to the Olkari after that. Both of those seem like nice little touches that could imply this, though it'd probably be fairly far back.
- Also, this would make Sam and Matt's interest in meeting aliens kind of Heartwarming in Hindsight.
I believe it was stated somewhere that all characters in voltron are mixed race. Given that Shiro has a scandinavian name and accent in an alternate reality it isn't a far stretch to think one of his parents was a Swede. With his surname being japanese it was possibly his father who was the Japanese one.
Basically Mr. Shirogane visited Sweden once and ran into Miss Holgersson. Romance blossomed and soon they married and had a son, naming him Takashi Sven Shirogane.
- "Sven" was possibly raised by a single mother, which would explain his accent.
During his fight with Kuron!Shiro, Keith's eyes become Galra cat-eyes at certain points in the fight. Keith inherited Altean shapeshifting from Krolia. Galran genes do seem to be recessive to human genes though, so he wasn't subconsciously using it to look human.
- When Klaizap is convinced that Allura is the Lion Goddess, he does not question why Allura looks different from the carving, implying that the goddess can take A Form You Are Comfortable With. Added to that is the Strong Family Resemblance between Allura and her mother, when all of the other characters avert the trope with their own parents. Meaning if her mother is indeed the actual Lion Goddess, the Arusians assumed Allura was a goddess because of her resemblance to her mother.
- The Arusians associate the castle with the Lion Goddess, despite the fact that the only lion around was the Black Lion, and the only way the Arusians could have known the castle had anything to do with lions would be if they'd gone inside, which would have woken Allura and Coran up early.
- Allura's mother has only appeared twice. Once shortly after Allura's birth, and once at the banquet before the comet lands on Daibazaal. And isn't it convenient that the comet just happened to crash land near five people with the right attributes to become the first Paladins, on a planet when four of them wouldn't normally be there? Also of note is that none of the other future Paladins have spouses at the table, but Alfor's wife is still included in a place of importance.
- Additionally, Allura's mother is The Voiceless, and if the Lion Goddess is the same entity that speaks to Allura at Oriande, then she is conveniently The Voice.
- Allura's mother remains a case of No Name Given, and the audience still doesn't know what happened to her. She was clearly alive in Allura's childhood, going by a comment Allura made about her in Crystal Venom. But between that time and the destruction of Altea there's no mention of her fate.
- A tie-in book reveals that Allura's mother is Queen Melinor, but her fate remains unclear.
- Allura mentions piloting the castle for over half her life. But this would suggest that someone else piloted it before her. With Alfor serving as the Red Paladin and Coran unable to operate the Teludav, it's likely that Allura's mother filled the same role on the Castle of Lions that Allura herself did in Seasons 1-2.
- The powers that Allura gained from Oriande are implied to far outstrip what Alfor could do, as evidenced by the fact that Allura has been able to bring Shiro Back from the Dead, while her father couldn't bring back Zarkon and Honerva.
- Since we haven't seen anyone else pass Oriande's final trial onscreen, there's no way to tell if The Voice in Oriande says "There's no need for you to kneel here, you are home" to everyone, or it was specifically intended for Allura. If it is indeed the Lion Goddess, it's noteworthy that she would tell Allura not to kneel.
- Allura's crown, which her mother is seen wearing in The Legend Begins, is shaped like the V on Voltron's chest, and is repeated on both of their dresses. Notably, Allura's mother is seen wearing that symbol before the lions are created.
- Allura's mom wears a similar pink and white color scheme as her daughter. While fans joke that with pink being a mourning color on Altea, Allura's mom was probably the Altean equivalent of a goth, Pink and white are also heavily associated with Oriande: The White Lion, the White Hole, the pink skies...
- When Haggar senses "Altean energy" in the pilot, she and Zarkon immediately act as if it's a given that it's Allura, never once acknowledging that she isn't the only Altean, and Haggar didn't appear to be able to sense other Alteans this way because she couldn't track Lotor this way and never found the Altean Colony, even though some of them clearly possessed high enough natural energy reserves that she should have been able to sense them.
All of the above points to Allura's mother being a goddess in Altean form, and the reason that Allura's Altean Alchemy continues to grown more powerful and allow her to pull off greater and greater feats is because she's unconsciously learning how to use the gifts she inherited from her mother.
- Sadly, no. But there's room for Season 3.
- Still Jossed as of Season 6, sadly. But, hey, they're going back to Earth next season, so... maybe the paladins will end up meeting someone working on Vehicle Voltron at the Garrison?
Namely, it will have three pilots, a Hot Blooded psychopath, an ex-con, and Pidge's brother
- This Troper fully supports this theory, if only because he loves him some Getter Robo.
- Jossed. Not only did it never show up, the showrunners admitted to never having heard of Vehicle Voltron.
- Jossed. While there are four Garrison cadets and one officer who are set up as potential pilots of Vehicle Voltron, none of them were part of the crowd in the first episode.
- Alternately ProtoV-Voltron forms just fine, but without synchronization technology...and Voltron promptly takes it school for that very reason...
- Close! No new forms have been shown yet, but Pidge does get the cloaking to work for all of Voltron in Season 4.
- Jossed. No upgrade of any sort appears in the show, although Voltron combines with the Atlas for the final battle.
- She does fill this role from time to time, but most of the other parts of this theory are Jossed. Shiro's amnesia is the result of suffering a concusion during his escape from captivity, and the reason she makes so many of Zarkon's decision for him is because she's his wife.
- No mention of Castle Galra thus far as of season 4, and Zarkon's central command center seems to fill the same function.
- Or they might be some other race we haven't discovered yet. I get the feeling they are actually gaseous creatures who are in the form of a humanoid, since we only see black in their cloak where their neck should be.
- It would make a lot of sense for them to all be Altean like Haggar.
- At least partially Jossed. In Season 7 we see a Druid without his mask and he appears to be Galra. It's plausible that other Druids might not be Galra.
- So far Jossed. He does get a few scenes with Allura in Season 5 that could be seen as Ship Tease, but Lotor hasn't been creepy about it yet.
- Jossed. Lotor outright admits the Galra Empire is dependent on Quintessence. He also seems honest about extracting only as much as can be replenished.
- That doesn't appear to be the case as of Season 4. Haggar is still interrogating him and Lotor doesn't appear to have any interest in having more Robeasts made.
- The second half of this seems highly likely. Narti used Cova to see in the first place; why would Haggar use her to "see" when she could've used one of the other three? (This does bring up the question of why she didn't just do that sooner, but it explains the latter part of Season 4 well enough, at least.)
Drule have not been introduced, but Acxa's greyish-blue skin/fur is the closest we've come to the Drule of DotU.
Lotor expressed in 'White Lion' that the destruction of that first mining colony was what prompted him to study his Altean heritage, which lead him to finding the surviving Alteans. With that experience behind him, Lotor would know that if Zarkon ever found out that there were more Alteans still alive, he would wipe them out. So when Haggar finds the Colony, they cut a deal. He gives her the Colony's magically inclined Alteans, and in return, she keeps its existence a secret from Zarkon.
Going by Sendak's comments, Blaytz, Gurgan, and Trigel's people all surrendered after their leaders were killed, as only Altea resisted to the point of destruction. In the early days with Daibazaal destroyed, the Galra population would have been dispersed among the other four planets of the solar system, and the native inhabitants would have been absorbed into the empire following their surrender.
While Zarkon was focused on stabilizing the newly conquered territory, the four races mingled until they were genetically indistinguishable from each other, and by the time Zarkon began expanding the empire beyond its existing territory, the four species were functionally one race. In order to motivate his subjects without alienating them, Zarkon likely moved the goalpost on what it meant to be pure Galra in order to justify his conquest of the universe, placing all of his subjects under the cultural identity of being Galra, while everyone they conquered from that point forward was not-Galra.
- Hasn't happened in Seasons 2, 3, or 4, but the show is still halfway through its 78 episode order, so there's still time.
- Jossed. Voltron ultimately fights seven Robeasts during the series run, and none of them resemble the robots of the Robot Romance Trilogy.
- Most of the major villains of prior Voltron series have been introduced, even Viceory Throk (or rather, Throk) as seen in Season 3. Everyone except Zeppo. In keeping with the radical re-designs of characters, Zeppo will be a Dimension Lord or some sort of Eldritch Abomination capable of controlling an entire empire through fear.
- With the discovery of an alternate dimension where the Quintessence seems to originate from, as well as malevolent monsters, it could be theorized that is the dimension Zeppo originated from.
- more likely now that multiverse is confirmed, as Dracotron originally came from an alternate reality, it will either be the Alt-Alteans version of voltron made after seeing what the real deal can do, or be made of the commit taken from that universe, with the commit ship just being the first of 5.
- Or Keith and Lance will hook up with each other.
- Or Keith will realize he has feelings for Allura, but he'll think that she and Shiro have feelings for each other. And he'll keep away from Allura out of respect for Shiro.
- Shiro is an openly gay man so that's impossible.
- Or writers will decide to be more obvious this time and we'll have Keith and Lance as official gay couple.
- Funny enough, most of the production crew already ship Shiro and Keith much like they did Korra and Asami. It's possible.
- I think Sheith is pretty much Jossed after Keith told Shiro he was like a brother to him. But there's still a possibility for Klance.
- Sadly, with all the controversy surrounding Sheith, this probably won't be possible without rabid fans throwing a tantrum.
- Considering the controversial things the more hardcore shippers of Klance have done I really doubt they will happen. Also the creators said that while shipping and headcanons are fine and they encourage fans to do it, Keith and Lance are not going to be a couple. Go to 3:46.
- Heading in this direction so far, as the only interaction they've had has been in dogfights and never face to face, with the closes thing being Lotor considering her a Worthy Opponent.
- As of Season 5 there's no crush (at least in the creepy way); instead there appears to be mutual admiration for each other, bonding over their Altean heritage, and a lot of Ship Tease.
- Their plot will parallel the romance between Lotor's parents, especially with their desire to bring peace through unlimited Quintessence - but unlike them, Lotor and Allura will realize they're going too far before it's too late. Lotor in particular will make this decision once he discovers and/or accepts that Honerva and Haggar are one of the same (and seeing what overexposure to Quintessence can do to someone.
- Lotor will admit his feelings first but, unlike his 80s counterpart, he thinks that Allura will never feel the same way and accepts that. Allura is uncertain at first but eventually returns his feelings.
- Jossed. They developed feelings for each other, but once Allura learned more about Lotor's true colors, things went downhill really fast.
- That's debatable. Farla's feelings for Kogane were unrequited in Golion and that largely carried over into season 1 of DotU. Granted, the completely original second season awkwardly, and completely out of the blue, had them talk about getting married at one point, but those episodes were somewhat disputable as canon.
- No, the entry said Voltron. Golion does not count. All pieces of Voltron media have depicted Keith and Allura as romantically linked in some way.
- Romelle has been introduced as of Season 6, but while such a dynamic could be made possible in future seasons (though she didn't even really talk to Shiro when she appeared), Keith and Allura haven't gotten anything resembling a Ship Tease, at least not the way the show suggests some things, and it might be kind of awkward to throw that in after several seasons of them not showing an interest in each other.
- Shiro/Romelle is now sunk with the confirmation that Shiro is gay. Although now that we have alternate realities, it is completely possible for Romelle to end up with Sven himself after all.
- Word of God has confirmed that Keith/Allura had Ship Tease moments in the series as a Shout-Out to previous iterations of the series where they were the Official Couple but in VLD they are not.
- Allura ends up in a relationship with Lance but it doesn't last because she dies. The only Official Couple of the series is Shiro and Curtis, who get married in the final episode.
- Keith's mom is definitely not Merla (as confirmed by Season 5), but the possibility of Keith and Acxa being siblings is still there.
- Krolia does have some resemblance to Acxa, particularly similar eye shape and eyelashes.
- Jossed. Joshua Hamilton has confirmed in a Let's Voltron podcast that Acxa are Keith are not related.
- While it is entirely possible for Shiro and Romelle to become close friends there is no chance of a romance happening since Shiro is gay.
A cousin, perhaps? Math genius, literal minded most of the time.
- There might even be a big final battle with multiple Voltrons fighting side-by-side like the one near the end of the Turtles Forever movie.
- It's early on in Season 1, but Zarkon has a line that could support this.
- Makes sense, considering that the Paladins didn't stick around long enough to actually see if he died. Plus, it does seem a tad suspicious that the writers would introduce the Altean Empire and just leave it hanging there... It sounds way too perfect as an excuse to tie both things together.
We all know alternate realities exist in this Voltron. Kolivan and the Blade of Marmora never found Romelle's colony. That's no surprise. Point 1. Alternate realities are canon., Point 2. The temporal abyss distorts time. Romelle is likely from the Evil Altean Empire Reality from a time period where the Galra were still active, and *her* Lotor did do those things. Unfortunately, she got *our* Lotor murdered.
And she's running interference behind the scenes a la Quantum Leap to make sure the other pilots can get away with Shiro. I had thought that seemed like a bit of a stretch even for a Wild Mass Guess, but I took a couple of screencaps comparing her with a later shot from episode 1 of Allura with her hair back in a bun, and the similarities are suggestive. It's hard to tell whether the faces are identical but for skin color, given the constraints of anime-style character design, but it could be the same. The hairstyles seem remarkably similar—they have the same bang shape, it's just that Allura's bangs continue back around behind her head while the officer's cut off. And silver isn't a hair color commonly seen among humans. Also, Lance was immediately attracted to both of them at first sight.
Whether Dragon or secret Allura, one thing's for sure—the writers had to have a reason for explicitly calling our attention to that blink-and-you-missed-her officer woman. In animation, where everything has to be drawn in intentionally, nothing happens by accident.
- This seems extremely sketchy considering it's almost entirely based on the assertion that she has silver hair, despite the fact that she's only ever seen through a green filter making the color impossible to determine. Also, if they could achieve time travel, why wouldn't they go back 10,000+ years and prevent the whole Zarkon situation in the first place? If it is some kind of Chekhov's Gunman, considering the time and location of her appearance, it seems more logical to conclude she'd be a spy infiltrating the Garrison who arrived on the same ship with Shiro.
- And yet, given the way the filter affects the rest of the colors, her hair could well be silver. And no other character in the show has that precise distinctive bang shape. By Occam's Razor, it has to be Allura somehow. It doesn't make sense for there to be a different character with those precise similarities that the writers specifically wanted to make sure we noticed, though she was only on-screen for about two seconds. In any event, we'll find out soon enough.
- Invoking Occam's Razor makes it being Allura even less likely, since at this point in the story she's in cryosleep in the Castle of Lions. It's more likely that she's a character that will become important in season 2. If you were really using the razor her existence may just be a joke to show Lance's personality more.
- That actually was supported by the claim that she had time-traveled— the implication being that she came from the future in which she had already been revived and met the Paladins. As flimsy as the theory feels to me, the logic to the time-travel premise being proposed here does indeed back it up.
- The fact that the first episode of season two involves a "temporal rift" and a time loop seems to back up the idea that time travel is possible in the Voltron universe.
- Alternately, she could be a red herring. Or meant to show off Lance's personality and attraction to the ladies. Hunk kept trying to redirect them to the kitchen during that sequence after all. (Yes I'm going to be the wet blanket here.)
- Yeah, it was most likely Lance being Lance. She doesn't really get that much attention, so it was probably just there to establish his flirty nature.
- In the episode itself, Lance's reaction was thrown in to make sure viewers noticed to that woman—even though she only got about three seconds on camera, and has never been seen since. It really feels like the writers were making sure viewers noticed her, because they planned to do something with her later.
- There's the fact that her voice is very similar to Allura's.
- Her voice? What voice? She was only on screen for a few seconds. We never heard her talk.
- Watch Rise of Voltron again, she only speaks one sentence, but she does speak.
- The girl you're thinking of was one of the cadets outside the simulator, who had brown hair, not silver.
- Her voice? What voice? She was only on screen for a few seconds. We never heard her talk.
- The most likely example when going undercover on Earth with the Paladins who are all wanted fugitives after helping Shiro escape. She'll also try to drop the accent and sound close to DOTU Allura. At least one of the pilots (probably Lance) will comment that he misses the original one.
In the same vein, Zarkon and the Galra have also spread Translator Microbes around the universe. Because it's easier to get the enslaved people to obey you when they understand what you're ordering them to do. It beats having to pantomime the actions to a confused slave, and potentially shooting an otherwise-useful slave in frustration. Or wasting resources forcefully invading a planet that was trying to surrender.
- This would make a lot of sense; it definitely explains away the Fridge Logic between being able to speak but not read certain languages. I'd lean more towards the idea of the Translator Microbes being a part of the castle or the paladin suits, but being a part of the lions would make sense, too.
- It can't be from the suits. No one would have been able to understand Allura and Coran prior to getting their suits if that was the source. (Granted, Shiro might have had Translator Microbes from the Galra, but that doesn't account for the other four Paladins.) What we see is that all five are able to understand spoken Altean as soon as Allura starts making comments about Lance's ears. Being infected inside Blue Lion would give the Translator Microbes time to take effect. Though it's not impossible they got the microbes when the castle ship scanned them and registered their identities upon entering, either.
- Good point. The idea of the suits having Translator Microbes isn't necessarily jossed, but there would still have to be at least one other source for them.
- It can't be from the suits. No one would have been able to understand Allura and Coran prior to getting their suits if that was the source. (Granted, Shiro might have had Translator Microbes from the Galra, but that doesn't account for the other four Paladins.) What we see is that all five are able to understand spoken Altean as soon as Allura starts making comments about Lance's ears. Being infected inside Blue Lion would give the Translator Microbes time to take effect. Though it's not impossible they got the microbes when the castle ship scanned them and registered their identities upon entering, either.
- It seems likely that the aliens actually are speaking English. Rise of Voltron has a galra cruiser right by Earth, plus these societies are even more advanced than Earth in whatever century it's supposed to be. It would also explain why Coran has to explain some Altean words. As the castle ship knew where Earth was, it's likely that the identity scan triggered something in Allura and Coran that said "speak English". Regarding the Galra, not being able to speak your slaves' language may mean wasting an otherwise useful laborer under a language barrier misunderstanding.
- Coran having to explain some Altean words could just be a case that certain concepts don't have a perfect 1:1 translation in English, necessitating an explanation for what they mean. Sloven-day-ho could have a very specific context and use to it that Coran simply condensed into "gone" so the humans would get the point.
- Or maybe it's just that Rule of Funny is in effect? This show has an awful lot of silly one-off gags.
- Alternatively, the alien could be a Phoenix-type of alien, with short lifespans before combustion and reformation, and is just exaggerating to make fun of Hunk. Sure, it's a long shot, comes completely out of left field, but we really know nothing about this alien.
The bard because he sees himself telling Altea's story, the Paladin because he sees himself as a savior.
In season 8, we do see the flashback of Lotor working with the planet. Had Bandor not escaped, Lotor could have recharged his quintessence and kept him alive.
In Season 2, Shiro's body was destroyed, but his spirit was preserved in the Black Lion. In a similar way, Lotor's physical body died, but Allura's attack fused his essence with his mech. This would explain why he didn't kill her on Oriande despite having a clear shot, and also how he was able to contact her through the rift entity. He was trying to help her take down Honerva because while Honerva was exploiting and controlling Sincline, Lotor couldn't pass on to the afterlife.
But the Paladins don't know that. Voltron actually is transported to a kind of pocket dimension where time stands still while it forms, so doing so from a non-Voltron perspective is instantaneous. But the Paladins perceive that it takes them a minute or more to form Voltron, leading them to believe, in a crucial battle, that they have to distract the enemy before they can spend the time to form Voltron. Note that Voltron is formed in several other time-critical instances, and the length of time the transformation sequence takes never results in unpleasant consequences there.
- They'll also meet the Golion team, and Shorty (Golion's version of Pidge) will be confused that he's the only one whose counterpart is a girl.
- Jossed. Three Super Robot Wars games came out during the run of the series, and none of them featured Voltron.