One of the reasons I love klance so much and why I think they were meant to get together from the beginning is because they have complementary arcs that could really work well together if the writers don’t, like massively mess it up.
Keith’s Arc
If we look at Keith, he’s described as a “loner” (s3e2) and in his vlog, he admits that he’s “naturally untrusting because my mom left me so instead of accepting people into my life I push them away before they reject me. I guess I have some walls up.” In s1e4 he gets angry at Pidge for prioritizing her brother and father over the universe and in s1e11 he even suggests that it might be a bad idea to save Allura because it could compromise Voltron. Once again, Keith values the macro over the micro. The macro is important, of course, but Keith is specifically unbalanced in his priorities over each. He throws himself into missions and training, without really cultivating his interpersonal relationships.
In s4e1 we see Keith pulling away from the team, gravitating towards the Blade of Marmora who emphasize a similar value to his own “the mission is more important than the individual” which is then paralleled to Voltron, who would save a team member even if it is not in the mission’s best interest. On Team Voltron, every team member is important and valued.
Taking this into account, it’s clear to see that Keith’s arc is about him allowing himself to be vulnerable enough to be loved and to love others. It’s about taking that risk to let others into his life, even though he might lose them, which, Keith frequently has (see: his mom, his dad, and Shiro). He has walls up to protect himself from caring, so his arc will involve breaking down those walls and letting others be close to him.
So I don’t know if anyone’s touched on this before, but it has always seemed obvious to me and I’ve never seen any metas on it so I thought I’d lay down dome FACTS.
In my opinion, the Blue Lion is representing Allura and the Red Lion is Keith, respectively.
In Season 3 Episode 2, Blue starts rejecting Lance. The canonly-female lion won’t open up for Lance, and is not responding to any of Lance’s pleas.
He then begins to try various tactics, saying him taking an interest the Black Lion (canonly male lion, Keith’s current lion) was just a phase.
This may just be a cute joke, but in my opinion it has a lot of internalized-biphobia connotation. Bisexual people are constantly told/may even believe that their sexuality is just an “experiment” or “just a phase”, that doesn’t mean anything. I truly think this has significance for Lance and his sexuality, and this joke was put in for a reason. Bi Lance foreshadowing, anyone?
Then, Lance starts flirting with the lion, trying his best pick up lines to get Blue to open up. But none of these work.
Hm. What does that remind you of?
Lance constantly flirts with Allura, trying everything he can to get her to notice him and reciprocate feelings. But she doesn’t respond, and it has never worked on her. In this sense, she is the Blue Lion. And in a few minutes after Lance gives up trying, Allura walks in and literally becomes the paladin of Blue. This scene has always seemed very platonic to me, but that’s another meta. The point is, Allura is now the pilot of the Blue Lion, which only further draws the parallels between Allura and Blue. Lance resigns in his position and platonically hands over his job to Allura.
Personally, this whole scene seems like a foreshadowing for Lance giving up on Allura and moving on. This is something he should have done a long time ago, because Allura never reciprocated his feelings, but Lance is persistent. Even so, I think eventually Lance will resign because Allura just isn’t responding to him, like Blue.
We see the Red Lion call out to Lance. Allura sees it as the canonly male lion calling to Lance. Lance’s immediate reaction is to think that Keith trained his lion to bite his head off. But Allura assures him otherwise, and helps him accept that this is his role now.
In a way, I think the whole “Maybe its roaring for you” is a jab at Ka//ura, where many fans wrongly think it will be canon because of the 80s version. But that’s just a further stretch.
Anyway, this may parallel a conversation or an event in the future. Lance inherently thinks that Keith doesn’t like him, based on their rivalry and general relationship up to this point, despite the bonding moment and Lance communicating with Keith in this season. Could this be holding Lance back from realizing his crush on Keith? I think so, yes. He’s only extending their rivalry further, using it as an excuse for why he shouldn’t have feelings for Keith, because they are enemies and Keith hates him and would never like him back. But is this true? No, we all know that Keith is fond of Lance and they do have a connection.
I could see a scene in the future where Lance goes to Allura with his feelings for Keith, and she reassures him that Keith doesn’t hate him and this is part of who he is now, just like with the Red Lion. It may be a reach but it’s plausible. What’s even more plausible, however, is how Lance assuming Keith’s previous position in Red is foreshadowing his crush on Keith and their eventual relationship. Lance gave up on Blue and was pulled in an entirely different direction, not what he wanted (Blue) but to what he needed (Red). And what does this already parallel? Lauren’s description of Lance’s future love interest: someone he needed not someone he wants, ending up in a different place than where he started.
Lance even looks back at Blue, what he’s used to wanting and is comfortable with (Allura, women) before moving on to something that is different and more of a risk, but he needs right now (Keith, men). It’s a reach, I know. But it’s quite cinematic if you think about it.
I could go on and on about this, but I think you get the jist.
Alternatively Titled: Here’s How Black Paladin Lance Can Still Win Lmao
Before you ask, no. No I do not have anything better to do.
This meta is going to be stupidly long (like… 4k words…. yikes…..) so tl;dr before we start: I think that 1. Lance is going to pilot the Black Lion at some point, 2. Keith is going to pilot Red again at some point, and 3. they miiiight share lions? Blah blah blah, general disclaimer, I’m probably wrong but whatever.
Alright, now strap the hell in:
I know it seems kind of silly to write a meta for what appears to be a done deal. Like Coran says, the Black Lion has to decide who her pilot is, and she did. it’s Keith. And Lance is Red’s, and Allura is Blue’s. That’s it, we’re done, here are our new team dynamics, let’s move forward now.
But I think there were hints throughout the season that the lion swap isn’t… complete yet. That we’re still waiting for some other shoe to drop when it comes to the Black and Red Lions. Because Lance and Keith’s swaps into them were just plain weird.
There are three major components of Allura’s transition into Blue: Lance’s goodbye, the “passing of the baton,” so to speak, and a Moment of Realization.
After being locked out by Blue and finding himself seated in the Red Lion’s chair instead, Lance takes a (really bittersweet and fuck i’m still crying) moment after the battle to say goodbye to Blue. This scene has two important functions: 1. it sets the scene for when Allura comes in (in her badass new paladin armor) and the two talk and 2. it gives both Lance and the viewer closure about his partnership with Blue. Lance reflects on their adventures, on how he wishes he could say with her but knows that he can’t, and then just. Lets go.
