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What would you say are biggest differences between the Galra in GoLion and how they were written in Voltron? I know a lot of violence as edited out, like slaves getting ripped apart and stuff.
Yeah, GoLion’s Galra are way more brutal than their DoTU counterparts, the Drules. It’s not just a matter of editing out gore and violence either. In DoTU the brand of evil committed by the Doomites/Drules is more generic and vague, I guess? They invade worlds, enslave people…all that bad stuff. GoLion goes into a lot more gruesome detail about the horrors the Galra commit.
For example, let’s take a look at how the Galra treat slaves vs the Drule. Drules are cruel to their slaves, they whip them, force them to do hard labor, and have them fight robeasts in the arena. However, GoLion goes into much more detail. For example, the Galra butcher weak and sickly slaves into feed for Deathblack Beastmen (robeasts).
Drule Character Bios
I’ve discussed the Drules as a people on this blog before but haven’t talk about the individual characters very much besides Hazar and Dorma. Therefore I’ve written some brief biographies about some of the Drules in the Vehicle Voltron season of Voltron: Defender of the Universe. Keep in mind this is not a complete list of all the Drule characters. There are A LOT of them, so I’ve narrowed it down to the ones who either played a major role in the series or who I personally found memorable. I might add more characters to this list later but for now I think I’ve covered most of the notable Drules.
Name: Emperor Zeppo
Dairugger Name: Emperor Corsair
About: A greedy, power hungry schemer. He manages to avoid capture by promising Hazar he’ll give up his war making ways if the rebels let him go. However, upon escape he makes for planet Dema where he’s secretly building up a new army to resume his conquests.
Episode to shine: Zeppo’s role isn’t nearly as large as you’d think. He doesn’t get much screen time until late in the series.
Name: Grand Viceroy Throk
Dairugger Name: Supreme Commander Al Caponero
About: Throk is one of the most power hungry, prideful, and outspoken members of the Supreme Council. He’s vocally opposed any sort of cooperation with the Galaxy Alliance, seeing them as invaders out to steal planets that rightly belong to the Drule Empire. Not only that, but sees making peace with the Alliance as an insult to the Drule’s honor, something he ties strongly to their military might and conquests, and pride. He absolutely hates Hazar for his attempts at peacemaking and, it’s implied, is jealous of Hazar’s power. At one point Throk imprisons Hazar in his palace.
At the end of Vehicle Voltron he and a few other members of the council flee planet Drule and presumably joins Emperor Zeppo on planet Dema.
Episode to shine: Plays a major role in many episodes, but if I had to pick one I’d go with “It’s Anybody’s World.”
Can you tell me anything else about Doomite culture? The Doomite royal family? PLEASE!
Sadly, there’s not a whole lot else to know that I haven’t already stated in previous posts. But I’ll try. Some of this leans into speculation territory, though.
For one, the concept of “might makes right” appears to be central to Doomite culture. There’s one episode where Lotor invokes “Right of Might” on Zarkon, which is the right of the royal heir to challenge the current ruler to a duel to the death for the throne. There’s also an episode where Romelle tells Lotor he has no right to destroy Arus, only for him say that his power gives him the right to do so.
Zarkon mentions dark gods, implying Doomite religion is polytheistic. Haggar draws at least some of her magical power from entities she refers to as the Dark Spirits (which, according to her, rule the netherworld). However, these Dark Spirits might not be part of the Doomite pantheon, given how neither Lotor or Zarkon take her talk of them particularly seriously.
As for the Doomite royal family…uh..
Well, Lotor does mention have nephews. Since Zarkon states Lotor is his only son, maybe Lotor has a sister somewhere?
But, yeah, WEP wasn’t big on world building. They did try creating some lore in the American produced season, but most of that centered around Arus or the wider galaxy.
The Coup
I’ve mentioned in previous posts how the Drule Supreme Council from the Vehicle Voltron series backed a coup to overthrow Zarkon and place Lotor on the throne of Planet Doom. These events take place in the episode “Zarkon Becomes a Robeast.” The episode begins with Zarkon ordering Lotor’s imprisonment, stating that their laws demand all those who lose in battle be punished. Haggar points that the many worlds Lotor conquered might revolt if their conqueror is simply thrown in prison, so she suggests inviting the leaders of said worlds to the prince’s court marshal so they can see how fair Zarkon is and swear allegiance to him. And with that Lotor is locked up while Zarkon heads to Arus to conquer it personally.
The Supreme Council is shocked by the news of Lotor’s imprisonment and, at first, many members wonder if it’s true. Marshal Keezor, one of the highest ranking members of the council, arrives to confirm this turn of events.
Keezor: “Yes it’s true that King Zarkon has removed Prince Lotor from command of his forces and placed him prison. And it may be for the best. Lotor has failed time after time to capture minor planets and bring them into the Drule Empire. Now Zarkon is taking over and if he can do no better, it may be time to dispose of him as well.”
So it seems Keezor isn’t exactly a fan of either Zarkon or Lotor. However, after Zarkon is defeated by Voltron, he changes his mind about Lotor and it’s by his command Lotor is freed.
Captain Nerok: “I’m afraid I bring you very bad news from Planet Doom.”
Keezor: “Bah! Nerok, when have we ever had good news from that planet?!”
Nerok: “Zarkon has lost.” Keezor: “I feared as much. And he tried to blame his son, Prince Lotor, on all their miserable failures.”
Nerok: “Huh?”
Keezor: “Well, Zarkon has had his chance and I now believe it’s because of him Lotor didn’t do better. Well, we’ll correct that. Have our agents on Planet Doom secure Lotor’s release. And when Zarkon returns, tell Lotor he must punish him in any manner that may amuse him.”
Mogor, the Doomite fleet commander, busts Lotor out of the slammer. When Zarkon returns to Doom, Lotor has him arrested and orders Haggar to craft a robeast fit for an ex-king.
The GoLion version of this episode “The Great Storming of Galra” doesn’t have this extra political intrigue. Daibazaal (Zarkon) orders Sincline’s (Lotor’s) execution. However, Honerva (Haggar) points out Sincline’s followers might revolt, so she suggests inviting the leaders of the worlds Sincline conquered to personally witness his execution, believing this will keep them in line. Daibazaal finds this suggestion very amusing and has Sincline locked up. While Daibazaal is away on Altea (Arus), Sincline’s followers free him.
I wanted to go into a bit more detail about this because it illustrates how much more how influential the footage taken from Dairugger was on the Lion Voltron series than the other way around. In Vehicle Voltron they make the occasional reference to places and characters from the Lion Voltron series, but that’s the extent of it. The may be because localizing GoLion was, really, something of an afterthought while Dairugger was what originally caught WEP’s eye.
Oldtron People and Places: The Drules
The Drules are Voltron: Defender of the Universe’s equivalent of VLD’s Galra. However, as with many of aspects of DoTU, the original version of the Galra/Drules are very different from what current Voltron fans are familiar with. One of the greatest differences is, unlike the Galra Empire, the Galra/Drule Empire is not ruled by Zarkon, but rather is composed of nine vassal kingdoms, including Zarkon’s, who ultimately answer to Emperor Zeppo and the Supreme Drule Council. They also aren’t a single unified race or culture. But the differences run deeper than that. How do the Drules depicted in Lion Voltron compare to those in Vehicle Voltron? What was the relationship between them like? What were the politics of the empire like? What problems did they face? To answer these questions, I’ll start by discussing Drules from Vehicle Voltron then move on to the ones in Lion Voltron.
Captain Twila
Captain Twila is a recurring Vehicle Voltron character who appears in three episodes: “Hazar Bucks the Empire”, “The Red Moon People”, and “This World’s For the Birds”. Like Stride, I don’t expect her to appear in VLD, so I’m not going to make any speculations about a VLD version her of character. I’m writing this because I found her role in “This World’s For the Birds” an interesting one and want to write about it.
Also, if you’re completely unfamiliar with Vehicle Voltron, I suggest reading this post to learn the basics.
Twila is the Drule’s/Galra’s top scientist but she’s hell bent on proving herself as both a leader and warrior at almost any cost. This desire, along with her stubbornness, loyalty to the empire, and pride, shapes her motivations throughout “This World’s For the Birds” and nearly gets herself and dozens of others killed.
The episode opens with the Galaxy Alliance and Commander Hazar agreeing to a peaceful joint exploration of Planet Nestor, with Twila in charge of leading the Drule/Galra forces. However Twila and another Drule officer, Commander Borgam, have conspired behind Hazar’s back to attack the Alliance forces and put an end to Hazar’s peace efforts. Twila agreed to the plan hoping to prove her value to the empire once and for all.
Things quickly go awry when she’s badly inquired by the local wildlife and then abandoned by her own forces after fighting breaks out between the Drule and the Vehicle Voltron Force. After the Drules are chased off, the Voltron Force spot the wounded Twila and take her aboard the Explorer for treatment. Commander Hawkins attempts to convince her the Galaxy Alliance doesn’t desire war and that together they can make the first steps towards peace. When Twila demands to know how he can ask her to choose between her world and his, Hawkins tells her it’s not a matter of choosing one world over the other, but choosing peace over war. He then leaves her to rest and consider his words.
However, when Drule forces attack the Explorer, Twila steals a spacecraft and escapes. More determined than ever to prove herself and bring glory to the Drule Empire, she takes command of the forces battling the Alliance. Hawkins again tries to reason with her, asking her to stop fighting and join him in bringing peace to the universe. Twila ignores him even as her fleet and robeast are both destroyed by Voltron. In a last desperate attempt to claim victory, she sets her command ship on a collision course with the Explorer, fully intending to destroy the Alliance forces and die a martyr. Hawkins, realizing he has no other choice, orders Voltron to destroy her command ship.Thankfully Twila comes to her senses and escapes in the nick of time.
I wish there was more to her story but we never see Twila again because her DaiRugger counterpart, Emma, died. Still, I found her story a sad one and wish the dynamic between her and Hawkins could have been developed more.
I know a bit of fanon I've heard for DOTU is the differences in the Drules of Doom & Planet Drule is due to the drule colonists intermingling with all the aliens on Doom, called Doomites, such as the guys in Zarkon's council or Mogor's rival, Karp. Personally I think its a fairly sensible explanation.
Yep. That was one of the theories floating around the fandom to explain why Doomites varied so much in appearance and, for the most part, looked so unlike homeworld Drules.
Some people, though, question whether Doomites are actually Drules/self identify as Drule. While speaking to Throk in “The Fleet of Doom” Zarkon tells him “I hope you Drules can keep up your end of the bargain.” That’s an odd thing to say if Zarkon considers himself a Drule. It’s possible that the races composing the empire’s vassel kingdoms don’t consider themselves one people despite any shared Drule ancestry, but outsiders don’t realize this so they just refer to them all as Drules.
Then again pretty much all the information put out by WEP has referred to Zarkon and pals as Drules, so who knows.