Random thoughts about Shiro/Keith in S8
It’s Black Friday, so maybe that’s why I’m inspired to take a few moments to blab and ramble, blamble if you will, about these dorks and what I hope for S8, particularly in regards to Shiro coming to a fully realized relationship with Keith
First, what we know: Keith symbolizes the right arm, right? The sword, specifically. He began his paladin career as Voltron’s blade– as Shiro’s blade. Shiro’s right hand. This relationship shows consistently throughout the series, and IMO even reflects in the corrupted nature of Shiro’s Galran arm, and reaches its current height when Keith confesses his true feelings and finally cuts off that arm in BP (in what I see as an act of his own purification, but that’s for another essay).
This is also why it is so fitting that he goes on to deal the final blow Sendak in S7 rather than Shiro, because that’s who Keith is supposed to be. He is Shiro’s death dealer. He’s the finisher. The avenger. The final cut.
It’s also readily apparent that Keith also meant to symbolize in the red wings of the Black Lion and Voltron. He’s the propulsion, the drive. And sometimes of course, a shield.
So if Keith is the sword arm, the shield, and the drive, then what is Shiro? What has Shiro almost always been representative of, relative to Keith?
Shiro began his paladin journey as the head and trunk of Voltron, and like Keith, this role has reflected in his relationship with Keith throughout the series. He gives Keith a reference point. Direction. Purpose. A cause. What good is a sword if it’s not used in the right way? Someone still has to put it in the right spot. Likewise, a shield is meaningless without something to protect. Wings are useless without something to propel.
Shiro also connects him, and has always been the tether Keith has to not just the rest of the team and his family, but to his true self, and to higher causes, ever since Shiro reached out to him at the Garrison. This was underscored in Blade of Marmora, where interestingly, Shiro shows up on the right the majority of the episode, i.e. in Keith’s usual spot:
That’s because while Keith’s skills and instincts are suited to struggles against others, Shiro’s skills and instincts are better suited for the struggles within the self. This has been distilled into his mantra, patience yield focus. This is why the Black Lion represents him and he has the greatest affinity to the astral realm. Keith may always be the one to defend Shiro from the outside world i.e. in reality, but Shiro’s domain will always be that inner battlefield, where meaning and purpose come from. Where self-doubt and fear live. Where Keith has always had his weakness. These intangible yet powerful forces that are represented by the astral plane, IMO.
Then there’s the part where the power of Shiro’s bayard reflects in Voltron’s sword. Look at that this is why Keith can pilot Black because heart and soul they are one and the fucking same I mean wow just get married already
Side note: what do you know. Keith is still the one delivering the actual kill.
But like the black bayard to Voltron’s sword, Shiro is the one who gives Keith his fire. He inspires all the paladins, but it has its greatest representation in Keith.
This relationship takes on a new appearance with Shiro being Captain of Atlas and Keith as Head of Voltron, but I think this basic element to their relationship remains the same. Shiro points, Keith executes.
(could we be more symbolic here pls)
So if the height of Keith’s feelings is symbolized in the severance and subsequent reforging of Shiro’s right arm, then my hope is that Shiro’s height will show in demonstrating an equal commitment to his role. Maybe a struggle to keep Keith together, versus slicing him apart? Or that, plus a struggle to reignite a fire that goes out? To restart a dying heart?
This goes into my little pet theory about how Sheith will overcome Zarkon, since they are the only two paladins to have faced Zarkon directly in their respective realms, but who knows? These are my hopes, but I know I can count on Voltron delivering surprises that still somehow make sense for these characters.
TL;DR: Hurry up Season 8 I’m fucking dying here
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