made his first public appearance in the gladiator arena, where prisoners and slaves fight for the galra’s entertainment, posing as someone of the same status and proving his combat skills in front of the empire before revealing his identity
was challenged by throk and fought for the throne
when they were chanting lotor’s name - having accepted him as leader already - he takes control of the situation by using the crowd’s fervour to his advantage (“the masses are easily manipulated”)
look how pleased he looks with himself i love him
went after team voltron next
sent narti to planet puig, effectively exploiting team voltron’s weak point to lure them in
almost to parallel sendak’s “the worst weakness of all: they value the lives of others.”
he saw how the black lion struggled and singled him out as the one least in control
realised that the paladins weren’t fighting as a unit, connected the dots immediately, retreated, and used this information to his advantage
confident that he’d have no trouble taking the lions of fucking voltron on by himself
and boi did he give them a hard time
i mean he was seeing right through them and before the paladins could comprehend what was happening they were shooting at each other
lured the paladins on planet thayserix, knowing its atmosphere would make it impossible for them to communicate and leave them even more vulnerable
proceeded to single allura out as the weakest paladin, separated her from the rest of the team
lotor knew he could never outmatch the blue lion in terms of brute strength, so he shoot at solid rock instead (uses his environment to his advantage. thayserix’s magnetic field, poisonous gas, rocks..)
was genuinely impressed when allura managed to surprise him with a freeze attack and left him unable to effectively maneuver his fighter
trapped the paladins on thayserix and distracted them while backup was on the way
basically played them against themselves - the damage they suffered was inflicted by their own weapons
i could go on forever because i love s2 e3 “the hunted” SO MUCH but for the sake of keeping this as short as possible…….. fast forward to ep 4
lures the paladins in by coding an altean distress signal
waits until they’ve retrieved the comet ore, snatches it right from under their nose
like he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty - something he’s looked down upon for - (“i heard he fights along his enlisted men like a lowly private”)
unlike zarkon. zarkon hasn’t done shit until voltron practically knocked on his front door
but at the same time lotor is so smart about getting others to (unknowingly) execute his plans for him and making them believe it’s their free choice
keep this in mind, i’m going to come back to it in a bit
took three inconspicuous radar glitches as a clear sign that they were being followed
like. this isn’t new to him, and he’s on it immediately
he trusts the galra empire about as much as he trusts his other enemies - and they’re everywhere - he’s not safe.
and of course, his suspicions were vindicated
this clearly isn’t the first time this has happened
also, before they even know for certain that someone’s after them, lotor suspects the galra empire rather than voltron - someone who has access to their radar protocols.
but this scene shows us that haggar doesn’t even attempt to deny her crimes. she doesn’t even view lotor’s words as an accusation. it also establishes that lotor most likely hasn’t had a chance to confront her about it before. sure, he’s known that he was being followed, but he had very little say in the matter.
it makes him all the more paranoid because he knows haggar isn’t going to stop invading his privacy, and if he doesn’t see it coming……
…..people are going to get hurt.
because being close to lotor isn’t safe.
i mean say about the guy what you want. but he’s an abuse victim. you can’t ignore that, especially when everything about him from the way he talks to the way he fights basically screams ‘PARANOID’.
every move is calculated. i’m serious; all we’ve ever seen of lotor is him fighting for survival. fighting throk, fighting voltron, fighting haggar and zarkon and even his own generals - had he not come out victorious in even one of those situations, he’d be dead.
and with the paladins? he had to play his cards right in order to stay alive until he figures out something else - and they still didn’t hesitate to hand him over.
he was able to control the black bayard effortlessly
lotor’s fighting style is heavily centered around evasion
he’s not aggressive at all because he knows aggression doesn’t pay off, but also because he’s almost always inferior in terms of brute strength compared to other galra
while he may be an excellent fighter and extremely efficient in close combat, his main strengths lie in tactics & endurance
he fought fucking zarkon by himself
emperor “defeated the red lion” zarkon
emperor “will fight you in the astral plane” zarkon
emperor “nearly destroyed voltron in a prototype mecha suit” zarkon
but lotor’s ultimate genius move has to be - and i’m coming back to my previous point here -
- returning voltron to the galra.
making it look like it’s a win for the voltron coalition in the paladins’ eyes, when, in the eyes of the galra empire, voltron is nothing more than a tool under lotor’s command.
like, think about that for a second. he framed things so that he’s seen as the sole conquerer of voltron. the paladins willingly sided with him and now the strongest weapon in the universe is nothing more than a symbol of power at his side.
lotor is such a well-nuanced, grey character - even us viewers never quite know where he stands. this post doesn’t have a satisfactory ending because i could literally go on forever, i love lotor a fucking lot and just wanted to remind everyone of his Best Moments. thank you
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