#merla

[popplebot-art]

Merla returns! But something seems.. unusual about her...

Bluesky

[lory78blog]

Foto inedite! La merla! ❤️

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Yes they got married. Yes they're divorced by the end of the episode

[minamorsart]

Enter Merla: Queen of Darkness!!! 🖤✨

I was pretty disappointed when VLD didn't explore the culture and politics of the Galra Empire more, especially after Lotor took the throne, and I was also quite disappointed with Merla's cameo. So I decided to take a crack at her design myself! Some backstory below!!

I made her Acxa's twin sister because while I don't believe it was confirmed, I always thought that 80's Merla's character must have been divided into the four women who became Lotor's generals in VLD, so why not make Merla and Acxa related? Plus in every piece of fiction you need to have at least one set of twins ;) That's just da rules babeyy~

Acxa and Merla are from Planet Drule (a loyal territory of the Galra Empire) and are half-Galra and half-Drule. They are not of royal descent, and since they were children they were looked down on because they are half-breeds. As the oldest, Acxa takes on the responsibility of looking after Merla, who over the years begins to grow restless with the two of them settling for low-ranking positions in the army and living a less than satisfying life.

One day exiled Prince Lotor comes to oversee the planet just as Merla is planning a coup to overthrow the corrupt Drule king. The coup fails, and wanting to protect her sister, Acxa takes the blame even though she had nothing to do with it. When she is sentenced to death, Lotor, seeing the potential and skill Acxa possesses, offers to pardon her in exchange for her loyalty to him, thus saving her life (it is my personal headcanon that Acxa is the first of the generals to be recruited). She accepts and tries to convince Merla to come with her, but Merla refuses and insists on staying, saying that she wants to change things on Drule, and that by leaving Acxa is abandoning her. The two part ways on bad terms, and do not see each other for many years.

Merla eventually succeeds in taking the throne, her followers assassinate the king, and she becomes queen of Drule. She and Acxa have the occasional run-in, which is how Lotor and the other generals get to know her more. There is still lingering resentment between the two sisters, however, particularly on Merla's part. The events of VLD proceed as normal up until the end of season 5, and I personally would like to take out Lotor killing Narti and the generals turning against him. Now emperor, Lotor works tirelessly to unite his people and deal with the growing Galra factions which plot to rise up against him.

News of Lotor's ascent to the throne spreads throughout the universe, and soon Queen Merla is paying a visit to the Empire and demanding an audience with him. She knows all about the Galra factions, including Sendak's Fire of Purification, and proposes that she and Lotor marry in order to combine the forces of both the Galra Empire and Planet Drule. If Lotor accepts, the two nations will become stronger than ever and no one will dare stand against them. If he refuses, Merla will merely seek support from the factions, perhaps even form an alliance with Sendak, who will eventually try to take the Galra throne himself.

What can this mean for not only the Galra Empire, but for Voltron and the Coalition as well?? What can this mean for Lotor and Allura's developing relationship??? For those who haven't seen the 80's show, Queen Merla debuts in the US-made 2nd season. She and Lotor are actually engaged for a time! Merla is cold, cunning, and calculating like Lotor, and perhaps even a little more manipulative. She enjoys being entertained and can on occasion be condescending.

And this is not meant to create any unnecessary love triangle between Merla, Lotor, and Allura. While Merla has people in her life she cares for and she respects Lotor, her first priority is maintaining her seat on the throne and looking after her people, so she really only sees Lotor as a means to gain more power. Lotor recognizes this, because he mostly shares the same mindset as her and can see the benefits of marrying her, regardless of his own feelings. And how does Allura feel about this whole matter?? 👀 Only time will tell, though it is also likely that the princess may be too proud to ever reveal how she truly feels. At the end of the day, I just think it would be fascinating to explore more of the politics of the VLD universe and the complications that come with ruling an entire empire whilst trying to keep alliances and territories intact. Plus it would make for some fun drama! Particularly in the romance category hehe.

[chibi-pix]

TOOK LONG ENOUGH! So I spent about two weeks at my dad's for Thanksgiving and couldn't exactly draw. So I read manga. Including the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess manga. And let's just say that Midna gave me new vibes and ideas for Merla. And I'm now thinking of this being her look for when she eventually shows up in Witch, Please! I've also upgraded her pet's look to give him a more alien look. And I love how things turned out.

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this one! Commissions are open and available on my Ko-fi. Until next time!

[fictional-gods-tournament]

Comeback Round

The 4 with the most votes will be on round 2

Ankarna (Dimension 20: Fantasy High)

Merla (Gods of Inthya)

Phoenix Force (Marvel comics)

The Firebird (Fantasia)

Lord of Nightmares (Slayers)

The Shadow (Supernatural)

The Leviathan (The Unwritten)

Voting ended onMar 7, 2025

Characters' info under the cut

Ankarna (wiki)

Domains: Corrupted form represents rage, fire and conquest. Uncorrupted form represents justice, summer and harvest. Also dawn but the mod isn't sure in which form.

Propaganda:

(SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH: JUNIOR YEAR) LETS GO LESBIANS!!!!! She was corrupted by worshippers for hundreds of years. She deserves nice things like winning tournaments. Vote for her Again: LESBIAN GODDESS She had her name ERASED FROM ALL LANGUAGE so that the colonizers' god could rise. Her followers turned on her and tricked her. Gods are reflections of their followers and they corrupted her and then sealed her away to rot forever without dying. And then the person who tried to bring her back was only trying to usurp her and become the god of rage himself. AND she's married to another goddess in these polls (Cassandra)!!!

Merla

Domains: the sea

Phoenix Force (wiki)

Domain: Life, Death, Rebirth

Propaganda:

It is the multiversal source of all life, the host of Jean Grey, and is one of the few fictional characters that can come back from true existence erasure, it also is a giant flaming phoenix.

The Firebird (wiki)

Domain: Destruction

Lord of Nightmares (wiki)

Domains: She is the creator God of the entire world of Slayers & Lost Universe; Everything.

Propaganda:

THE hands-off ultimate God QUEEN!!!!! She made this world, and she is not going to help any more than that <3 Also she's just awesome :3

The Shadow (wiki)

Domains: The Void / The Empty, the afterlife for Angels and Demons

Propaganda:

He predates all the others beings in the show including God

The Leviathan (link provided didn't work)

Domains: The collective consciousness of everyone who experiences stories

Propaganda:

It is an entity that feeds on the words and stories made by people and contains all of human consciousness to make up stories

[who-do-i-know-this-man-s3revived]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

Round 1

Mephisto Barto Dertov Reffert Lark Kucabara (Defense Devil)

Merla (Voltron Legendary Defender)

I know both/neither

Voting ended onJun 21, 2025

[depressocafe]

Would Lotor have ended up with Merla at the end of Voltron?

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Summery: in the original story, Lotor is married of to a pinning woman named Merla by order of Zarkon. Merla does exist in Legendary defender so taking this and Lotor's psychology and personality into consideration, would they gave been end game?

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This is an odd question In and of itself and one I don't have a definitive awnser to, however I do find it fascinating enough to consider.

Let's start with explaining the existence of Merla In the Voltron universe.

Original Merla (to my knowledge) first appeared in season 2 of Voltron: Defender of The Universe. She is portrayed with pink hair and light blue skin (there may be a purple tint to her skin depending on the series)

She is a character who appears seemingly out of nowhere as explained by Haggar and brings with her a legendary group of physic women known as the Muses of Norn. She then begins Pining for Lotor in the series however, these actions may have some ulterior motives to them.

Merla is an queen all her own, having conquered and built up an empire herself, her primary capital (planet) is unnamed and men are forbidden to step foot on it. Haggar is fond of her and it's not surprising considering Merla has some supernatural power of her own. Like Narti, Merla can control minds and have a bonded animal companion (Merla has a bird). That being said her power is not as powerful as Narti's but does have its own upside. Merla can't fully control a person's actions, more so, she can plant suggestions in their mind. But she benefits where Narti's power falters in that she does not have to physically touch her victims for her power to work.

And finally, personality wise, she's nothing to write home about. "Merla is sophisticated, snooty, often petty, power hungry and determined to get what she wants by any means. While not as blatantly cruel as Zarkon or Lotor, she’s not a nice person; most people are pawns or obstacles to her. She also enjoys humiliating those she dislikes and uses her powers to do so." A statement taken from a wonderful Voltron fan account on Tumbler who goes further in depth to the character's behavior and understanding.

And cruel she is. Humiliating Lotor, alienating everyone except Zarkon (who's caught the feels) insulting Haggar's appearance and powers, attempting to kill and torture Allura, ect. As stated by "The Voltron Fandom Hag" she does soften quite a bit by the end of the series and even alies with the Voltron Force to save Lotor after she finds he is to be executed (this is due to her growng love for him) Eventually Merla does succeed I'm marrying Lotor, however, the marriage is annulled soon after.

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Now Original Merla doesn't seem like anyone VLD Lotor would have an infatuation with. But remember she does exist in Legendary Defender as a much nicer person.

Vld Merla first appeared in season 8 episode 2 when we see Honerva's path from Priestess to Empress and her motives behind her actions.

Her features have been heavily changed (similarly with what was done with haggar) and she is now Altean with a slight redder tint to her hair, tan skin and violet eyes. She has a particular fondness to Lotor (for being the savior) and Honerva (for being his mother). She's fiercely loyal, respectful, stronghearted, and has good instincts, recognizing immediately upon Lotor's return that something is wrong. Eventually by the end of the series Merla redeems herself and even earns her place as Coran's Royal Adviser once he's taken the throne.

This version of Merla is not only a good person with a personal love for Lotor, but she also has qualities that are similar to Allura and Lotor's other love interest in the series, Ven'tar. That being said, while I loved the romantic relationship between Lotor and Allura, I couldn't help the idea that perhaps this relationship wasn't as healthy as it actually could be. The reason being, did Lotor actually love Allura in that regard, or did he think he did when in actually she was simply connected to something he had always wanted, the alteans.

It wouldn't be false to say Lotor has chased after everything having to do with Altea and his mother, which only worsened as his animosity with his father and his people grew. This leads me to believe that while Allura is a wonderful person and has many qualities Lotor would find attractive, she may not actually be someone he'd pine for if he had the ability (and sanity) to choose. This makes me question if the altean's were never genocided nor was his mother deceased, would he have chosen Merla? Naturally so considering that allura would have been an adult by the time of his birth, but we're not gonna take that into consideration right now.

Personally, I'd say Merla is a perfect match for Lotor, given the examples and information in the post, but despite that, I don't really have an awnser to give other than my own opinion. This is why I feel this post to be more debatable than anything. There is no groundbreaking proof of my argument while there's also not much (to my research) that could debunk it. It's mainly an opinionated point that can be debated or agreed upon but never considered true or false. So my question stands. If he hadn't died, would Lotor have ended up with Merla and the end of Voltron?

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Extra: This post isn't my best, but I still hope you enjoyed it.🖤💜❤️✨️