me when Lance and Keith’s connections with the blue and red lions gives them a BOND *wink* *wink* that connects to their growth as characters. me when Lance and Keith’s discovery of the blue lion mirror Keith’s parents. me when Keith’s initial closed off persona opened up after meeting Lance and lances initial need to be a great pilot like Keith grew into a talent of supporting his crew (including Keith) and developing a role in which he can support the team without trying to one up someone else’s talent (sharpshooter instead of pilot), which set both of them up for their roles as the leader and his right hand man.
SO. Let’s start at the beginning. Lance, in attempting to find the glory he’s been failing to achieve, directly piggybacks on Keith’s plan in order to save Shiro because he could not come up with a plan of his own. These characterizations allude to the fact that…
1. Lance is incompetent in everything he’s tried up to this point. His dreams of being a legendary fighter pilot are crumbling around him because he simply is not naturally talented in flying planes. Of course, he could practice and work hard to improve, which he does later in the series (which we’ll talk about later), but after he became a cargo pilot, he decided he had nothing to offer. Consequently, he began to put up an overconfident front, really the only thing he excelled in. Confidence. Even though he had achieved fighter class, his overcompensating confidence prevented him from making sound decisions and overall improving as a pilot. Lance doesn’t trust himself to make decisions in a situation as important as saving his hero, so he used Keith’s already established plan to involve himself as a savior of his hero.
2. According to Iverson, the only major authoritative figure in lances life at this point, Lance is only a fighter pilot because Keith, the best pilot, had a discipline issue. Lance knows Keith as an amazing pilot that got him where he wanted to be. While Lance would rather do anything but have to work with Keith to achieve the glory he so desperately desires, he knows that since Keith is not loved by the garrison, so Lance can take more credit for the rescue. In lances mind, he got him where he wanted once, he can do it again.
Later, we learn about Keith’s investigation of the blue lion. He’s been trying to find this thing for ages and you know who magically reveals clues Keith has never been able to access before? LANCE. He enters Keith’s life and changes EVERYTHING. Keith’s search for the blue lion gave him a sense of purpose after losing Shiro and the garrison. Just before Shiro returned he sort of hit rock bottom in terms of that investigation. When lances connection to the blue lion guided the paladins to the blue lion, Lance helped Keith discover something new, something he had never seen before. Keith had been living the past few months or even years without doing anything meaningful or developing any meaningful relationships with people his age or discovering anything new. Lance brought a spark into his life, allowing him to use his talents to explore the stretches of space and help others. Yes, the other paladins were there when they found the blue lion, but no one was as connected as Lance and Keith to each other and the blue lion. Pidge and Shiro were more involved with investigating/informing others about the galra, not the lions. Hunk did absolutely nothing (ironic considering his character was never developed in the show to the extent of the others and was fairly useless to the team, unfortunately - he deserved better). If I remember correctly, it was Allura who said that the connection Keith felt to the blue lion was present in order to bring the paladins together, or rather Lance to his lion. Quite literally, the magical connection from keith and Lance to the blue lion (an exact match to lances personality at the time) helped both of them to discover themselves and live happier lives that ultimately brought the team and sort of the universe together???
When Lance became the paladin of the red lion and keith became the paladin of the black lion, their official roles within the team accurately matched the personalities and unofficial roles that they had finally gained through their character development. Lances early journey centered around learning he didn’t have to be the best pilot in the galaxy, but instead could be a pretty good gunman and a major support pillar for the team emotionally and tactically. The journey mirrored his transition from the “confident and friendly” blue lion to the “instinctual and fiery” red lion. The blue lion, said by the dreamworks team to be the lion most accepting of its pilots, typically paladins who it/she see potential in and intend to nurture towards growth. While the red lions descriptions don’t necessarily match lances personality because the descriptions were written to match Keith, its paladin must earn the respect of the red lion in order to pilot it/her. Once he becomes the paladin of the blue lion, the confidence Lance had been parading about became more rooted in his actual skills as he finds himself useful to the team with his sharpshooting abilities. By the time he takes up the mantle of the red paladin, Lance has matured in personality and skill, allowing him to act on instinct and match the role of Keith’s right hand man (HIS INVISIBLE RIVALRY TURNED INTO ADMIRATION AND LOVE). His acts for the team and universe have proved him worthy to be the red paladin.
Keith’s struggle with accepting his new role as the black paladin was displayed much more overtly in the show. Scared of losing Shiro again and feeling unready to lead a team after a life of isolation and struggle with people, Keith was extremely skeptical about becoming the black paladin. His journey focused on learning to work with as well as lead others and develop meaningful connections with his teammates. While keith piloted the red lion, he didn’t need to work with anyone because of the sheer talent him and his lion exhibited in combat and flight. However, Shiro’s guidance in forming relationships with his teammates helped him to use his strengths to boost the team. When he became the black paladin, keith had to officially adopt the role he had unofficially grown into through the bonds he made with the paladins and the tactical knowledge he used to guide the team. The “unstable” red paladin of the beginning of the show accepted and understood the importance of adopting a major leadership position, despite his own insecurities and fears.
Lance and Keith’s shared connection to the blue and red lions, their connection to shiro, and their willingness to reveal their deepest values and emotions to each other have established them as having one of the most powerfully bonded relationships in the series. Lance and Keith have been through a lot, but despite it all, they have always been devastatingly, meaningfully, and compassionately intertwined, to the deepest internal themes of their characters and storylines.