Acxa Serrano-Mcclain

I’ve been floating this theory for a while now (since s2 actually) but when i post about it it’s usually submerged in other theories so im gonna talk about it on its own.

I think Keith is half human, a quarter galra and a quarter altean (or polluxian but I’m gonna keep saying altean because its easier than “altean or polluxian” and I think the two races would be similar enough to have the same features and abilities).

Where is this theory coming from?

Well the first thing that strikes me as off is Keith’s appearance. He is part galra and yet bears no likeness to any galra we’ve seen, especially now that we’ve seen 5 part galra characters, all of whom display at least some galra traits.

I don’t believe that human genes are so dominant as to completely overpower galra genes, so this can be explained by two possibilities:

His galra blood comes from a very distant ancestor and as such is very diluted with human. I find this unlikely, due to his family and history still being such a big mystery/plot point.

His true appearance is hidden in some way.

When it comes to alteration of appearance, we know one way this is possible - alteans shapeshifting ability. This is by no means the only possible explanation for alteration of appearance in vld, as Haggar was able to take on Shiro’s appearance at the end of season 1 in “The Black Paladin”. We don’t know how she did this however, whether that was an altean power or a druid power, or she was just in Shiro’s head. Considering the uncertainty around this, it is easier to focus on the explained altean shapeshifting.

When we first learn of the altean shapeshifting ability, Allura uses it to appear more galra by changing her skin to purple and growing taller in “Collection and Extraction”. After this episode, it is never mentioned again.

In this episode, however, Keith goes face to face (face to mask?) with a druid and is struck by the druids magic. This damages his glove and injures his hand, giving it a sort of burned appearance, except the burns are purple. Before season 2 this was taken as evidence for the galra!keith theory, which was proven to be true.

But galra do not react this way to druid magic strikes. In season 2, “Best Laid Plans”, Thace is struck by druid magic and his injury is a glowing wound. When Shiro is struck by Haggar in “The Black Paladin” his injury is also a glowing wound. This shows that humans and galra have the same reaction to druid strikes, so if Keith only has human and galra heritage, why does he not react like them?

We have seen a different reaction to such a strike, though. When Allura is struck by Haggar in “Blackout”, she absorbs the energy and is able to use it herself. 

Now, Allura is obviously a very special case as even Haggar was not expecting this to happen. But in the wondercon panel in April, Lauren Montgomery said that a lot of Alteans have a close connection to quintessence (23:53). Perhaps Keith’s unique reaction is due to altean blood enabling him to absorb some of the energy.

In the same panel, a fan asked about why Keith could sense the blue lion and could fly the black lion, despite being the RED paladin. JDS replied that they went into those storylines knowing that Keith was “sort of going above and beyond maybe some of the abilities of the other paladins” (25:40). Tim Hedrick added on that the season, for Keith, is about “unlocking new powers, finding more about who he is” (25:58). This certainly seems to suggest that there is a lot unexplained about Keith’s abilities that is to do with his heritage. (It’s also worth mentioning that when asking the question, the fan referred to Lauren’s previous point of Alteans and their affinity for quintessence, and when answering the question, none of them denied/discouraged that there could be a connection there. The whole thing was huge spoilers territory and they had a really hard time answering lol)

Speaking of Keith sensing the blue lion, we saw someone else that was able to do this without necessarily having any sort of connection or bond to the blue lion.

Haggar, who is also altean (although, disclaimer: it might just be that she was informed of the blue lion’s return by the galra that gave chase).

Going forward, when Keith is revealed as galra he’s never actually referred to as half galra. The BoM simply say that galra blood runs through his veins. In fact, in the very next episode, “Belly of the Weblum” Hunk lampshades this by asking Keith, “was your mom the galra? your grandpa? how galra are you?” to which keith replies that he doesn’t know. 

I don’t think this was a throwaway line - I think it was very deliberately included. Upon finding out that Keith is galra, the audience’s default assumption is that he is half and half. If it were as simple as that, I don’t think attention would have been drawn to the fact that we don’t know this for fact and neither does he. Even in the paladin guidebook, he is described as “part human, part galra”, not half.

We’re probably all aware at this point that Keith’s original design had him have white hair that he dyed and fangs that he filed. Who do we know with white hair and fangs?

both of whom have altean blood (SPOILERS: Lotor confirms his mother to be Honerva in a recently relesed clip from season 4). Haggar obviously did not look like this originally, but it is likely that Lotor does.

So to tie everything up, my theory is that Keith’s mother is half galra, half altean. A member of the BoM, she came to Earth on a mission, where she met Keith’s father. Using her shapeshifting abilities, she blended in with the local population and lived as a human. Eventually, she got pregnant.

This is where it becomes mainly speculative.

She has twins: Keith and Acxa. With Keith, he inherited enough of his father’s genes (round ears, white sclera) to pass as human. He was purple, but his parents managed to get him to shapeshift at a very young age, giving him a human skin tone. Acxa however, inherited more of their mother’s alien features (pointy ears, yellow sclera) and could not pass as human. To protect her, their parents decided to separate, with Keith and their father staying on Earth and Acxa and their mother returning into space. Their mother left her blade as a token.

you are not an emperor.

you are a man, and the child that cowers in his shadow. you are the light of your forbears, and the darkness that seeks to forget them. you are the sword that smites the wicked, but the blade that breaks the lost. you have found who you are only to lose him; you never doubt, and yet you are forged from fear. you are your own self. you are your mother.

you are not an emperor–you are so much more, and so much less. you look at the sky, see your face in the stars; when you look at yourself, you see the pitch of the earth. you reach back to your ancestors, the children of dead planets, but you will never feel their grasp though your heart beats in time with theirs. adrift among billions, you are alone. you live on love’s warmth, and so you are cold. 

you speak of a time when all thoughts turn to peace, when every heart blooms like a flower and every soul opens to the infinite multiverse its own world of life and hope. 

the great oceans try in vain to wash your lips clean of blood.

                                  - a tragedy spun by 天

“Maybe you should adopt another wolf?”

For @keithxlanceforever

k babe i’m ready to pretend vld canon doesn’t exist so here’s some hashtag canon allurance facts i just made up! 💕

they hold a celebration on the one-year anniversary of altea’s return and allura’s heroic restoration of all realities. lance picked that evening to propose. allura also picked that evening to propose. to this day no one knows if they were crying from laughter or sheer happiness

they live in altea castle, designed by coran and modelled after allura’s childhood home (with the addition of a large pool because hi lance). they don’t really know what to do with all the extra space and invite basically everyone in constantly, just to hang out. they make the surviving alteans dinner thrice weekly

they also have a library mostly filled with carefully selected altean books and tomes and artefacts that were taken by the galra and figures like lotor. lance spends a surprising amount of time in there reading up on altean history and culture, being their new king and all, but he finds he learns better when allura tells him the stories herself, eyes alight with memories

in return for lance’s efforts to learn about altea, allura starts to learn spanish to be a bit more accommodating when he gets tired of english. she’s a bit self-conscious at first, but lance’s completely over-the-top excitement whenever she manages to say one sentence right is a big affirmation and a powerful motivator

lance introduces allura to the fantastic world of earth video games. they’re surprisingly evenly matched at mario kart, so they use 200cc frantic mode to settle who does the dishes

lance tells allura he loves her constantly apropos of nothing because he’s sappy like that. like she’ll do one thing for him and he goes “my wife, my life, my love, i adore you with every ounce of my being and i would rob all the stars from the sky and to make you happy.” it tends to develop into them trying to out-compliment each other. allura usually ends up on top here because she has a poet’s heart and lance is very susceptible to flattery.

allura takes lance on little expeditions through altea to show him all its beauty and wonders. in return, lance takes her to veradero beach and shows her all the places of his youth, takes her to all his favourite restaurants and leads her through his favourite walking routes. those vacations always take forever because they get recognised so often. they’ve got planned out couple poses for impromptu photoshoots.

lance learns to switch from calling allura “princess” to calling her “my queen” when he wants something. works like a charm.

lance’s markings are basically a symbol of his love for allura, so they light up whenever he’s feeling particularly smitten. sometimes when he’s asleep she’ll see his marks glow because he’s dreaming about her.

they show up to every party dressed to the nines and with matching outfits, outdoing and out-cuting every other person and couple present. allura has the decency to look slightly apologetic about it. lance very much does not.

they pick up each other’s habits sometimes - allura might find herself over-acting her reactions like lance always does, or lance winds up laughing into his hand like allura. they get teased about it a lot

allura smiles through menial tasks because lance will be sitting with her rambling to her, singing to her, leaning against her as he dozes off after a long day, just offering his warmth and affection because he wants to and he can

they get their own ship (castleship 2.0, smaller this time) and travel frequently to collect scattered remnants of altea and offer their skills wherever needed. allura pilots most of the time and lance is her right-hand man, handling charts, communications etc., so they fill most of their travel time with conversation and playful banter. sometimes the other paladins hitch a ride because castleship 2.0 is fancy as hell. nothing but the best for queen allura.

allura finds out she really likes earth music from the 80s. and celia cruz. she and lance have little dance parties together and lance gets really into it

allura’s always liked to establish connection via touch, and once she got comfortable in her relationship with lance this got upgraded to her being shamelessly touchy-feely with him. she gets into the habit of just grabbing onto lance whenever she’s feeling frustrated. the first time this happened lance.exe stopped working, but nowadays he just gives her a smile and a “rough day?”

allura stops stifling her laughs when lance acts silly because she wants him to know he makes her happy

they’ll be married for ten years and still blushing like schoolgirls whenever they get particularly cute with each other because they’re Awful and so in love

WRITING PROMPTS FOR DAYS Feel free to request any of these for any character.

╔═══°∴,*⋅✲══〖✰〗══✲⋅*,∴°═══╗

@iridisxmeam

Since the Atlas crew was taking a little break,Allura decided to check on the others. First,she checked on the paladins and Shiro, the MFE pilots, the Alteans, and now she was going to see Acxa. Allura thought of places where she would be so the first place she wenr would go to the training deck. Once she got there,she found someone there and decided to check to see if it was Acxa.

“Acxa,are you here?”

“We are the Crystal Gems We’ll always save the day! And if you think we can’t We’ll always find a way! That’s why the people of this world believe in Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl and…

If you’re staring with your giant eyes You can see that there’s more of us Than four of us. And each one of our new friends completes us We’ll get together and go out for pizzas!

There’s no way this theory will end up being legitimate, but because Lotor’s proven time and time again that all of his actions have a purpose, even if the true purpose is masked, it seems like a theory worth considering. So, bear with me (despite the length). 

Regarding Lotor’s plans, we only really know the basics. He’s seeking a method to enter the rift to obtain quintessence, likely for the good of the universe. Lotor is also ancient (and maybe possessed), so we can assume that he’s probably been working on this particular plan for centuries and revising it constantly to fit his circumstances.

At some point, however, Lotor would have realized that he couldn’t open the rift without material from the other reality, ie. the comet. He couldn’t obtain the trans-reality comet without Voltron, but if he could get his hands on Voltron, even for a short period of time, he wouldn’t necessarily need the comet.

So, Lotor ultimately needs Voltron for the success of his plan, but he doesn’t need to be the one to find the lions––Zarkon has already invested all of his time and resources in that project. Lotor just needs to patiently wait and prepare to form Voltron (and also plot out how he’ll double-cross his dad and steal the lions––an unfortunate inevitability).

Now, here the theory really begins. If you had to prepare to form Voltron, what would be the first step? To find pilots for each of the lions. And if you were Lotor and didn’t necessarily know that the lions were picky about their paladins and select them based on consistent personality traits, how would you reasonably assume paladins were chosen?

Genetics.

Furthermore, if you were the son of the original black paladin and felt confident in your ability to lead Voltron and realize your dreams, wouldn’t that reinforce your logic?

So, my unlikely theory is that Lotor selected each of his (ex-)generals not because they were female or because they were Galra half-breeds like himself, but because they were the descendants of the original paladins.

Sounds crazy? Let’s break it down: first, by appearance as an indicator of potential genetic match, and second, by overlapping personality features.

Red paladin: Alfor & Acxa

I highly doubt that Acxa is Alfor’s direct descendant, because Alfor doesn’t mess around with the ladies and Allura, obviously, never had any children. However, if Lotor believed that the Altean royal line had ended at his father’s hands, perhaps he decided that a distant offshoot would suffice. So, imagine that Axca is actually a descendant of (or is) Romelle (Allura’s cousin in DotU). This is a nice concept because it could lend a hand to explaining the weird archer Allura preview, and it doesn’t eliminate the possibility of Acxa and Keith being related. In fact, it makes it cooler, because it would also suggest that Keith and Allura are distant cousins.

Appearance-wise, look at Acxa next to Alfor. They have the exact same ear shape. They have similar bangs and jawlines. Even their posture is similar (and not just in these screenshots). Mix a little Galra into Alfor’s family line and Acxa is a totally reasonable outcome.

Personality-wise, Alfor was Zarkon’s right hand paladin and loyal friend, even when given great reason to doubt. Acxa was Lotor’s top general and his most loyal follower, even after he killed Narti. Both Alfor and Acxa are capable of acting independently, but prefer to follow a more qualified leader. Both of them are also capable “scientists” and are shown to have a good understanding of the power of the comet and the value/ risks of the other reality. Alfor and Acxa also act as the straight man stock character, at least in comparison to their teammates. 

Green paladin: Trigel & Narti

Appearance-wise, Narti and Trigel have very similar mouth and nose shapes––in fact, their noses are identical and Narti’s mouth is just a scarier upgrade of Trigel’s. Beneath her hood Narti’s “hairline” of sorts creates a nearly identical widow’s peak to Trigel’s. They also share similar physical builds, and both lack eyebrows.

Personality-wise, Trigel, as the green lion, would have served as Zarkon’s “left hand,” and would have been third in the chain of command, after Alfor. Despite killing her in a moment of fear, Lotor uses Narti almost as often as Acxa and more visibly than his other two generals. He sends her on independent missions and selects her specifically to accompany him to Zarkon’s ship when he’s been called in, leaving Acxa in charge in his stead.

Blue paladin: Blaytz & Ezor

Appearance-wise, the “V” like facial marks on Ezor’s forehead mirror the shape of Blaytz’s, and they both have a form of antennae––the former’s is her one, long, ponytail-esque feature and the latter’s are his two swoopy, moth-like protrusions. Though their physical similarities seem to end here, we do see Blaytz flirting with a Galra servant in this very screencapped scene. If you take a second to consider the Galra’s appearance, you’ll notice that their ears are the exact same shape as Ezor’s. I ship Blaytz’s forbidden Galra love.

Personality-wise, both Blaytz and Ezor act as comic relief stock characters in roughly the same vein that Lance does, and they both push boundaries when it comes to interacting with others. Their personalities lend themselves to a flirtatious nature, and it seems they both enjoy toying with the emotions and reactions of other, though likely only to stroke their own egos.

Yellow paladin: Gyrgan & Zethrid

Appearance-wise, Gyrgan and Zethrid are extremely similar. Consider their physical stature as a starting point, but then look at their eyes. They have a glossier, rounder eye shape than most alien races we’ve seen. Furthermore, both of their facial marks consistently appear in symmetrical pairs and are focused around their eyes and cheeks. In fact, it seems they both have marks above their eyes in lieu of eyebrows.

Personality-wise, Gyrgan and Zethrid also act as comic relief stock characters, like the oft-unfairly depicted “Humorous Hunk.” Gyrgan has a blatant and absurd appetite for food and Zethrid has a blatant and absurd appetite for violence. Both of them also share a slightly wry sense of humor, and both are consistently genuine in the simplicity of their emotions. They also both stick to their beliefs––Gyrgan’s religion and Zethrid’s aggression. 

So, I’m sure this theory sounds absurd at first, but just take a minute to mull it over. The original paladins in VLD all have obvious similarities to the modern paladins and intentionally so, but both groups of paladins share similarities with another group too––Lotor and his (ex-)generals––and understanding any one group helps us better understand the others.

Finally, I like this theory because it fits Lotor’s behavior, which often can’t be explained but is rarely happenstance. He’s gathered his potential paladins but he’s also helped them become great generals, so they serve a purpose either way. The discovery of and bonding with the lions by the new paladins would have definitely thrown a wrench in Lotor’s original plans, but we see him shift to manipulating the proper paladins almost immediately––if he can’t have Voltron, he’ll get the comet. His murder of Narti feels foolish if he needed her to pilot a lion, but less so when you consider that he’s already got (in theory), a way to enter the rift without Voltron. Plus, what does Lotor immediately do when his rift theories have been disproven and his team betrays him? He swoops in to win over Voltron, and returns to a version of his original plan.