so im thinking about how AGAIN one of keith’s major storylines this season was centred around quintessence. but god. guys…. im really sure it’s coming. something big w keith and quintessence soon.
to surmise very briefly and quickly:
S1:
1.01 after being booted from the garrison following the kerberos crash, keith “can’t explain it really” but something called him out there to the desert. he starts meticulous research on the energy, tracking it down. it’s the blue lion.
is the only paladin who has no aid to find their lion. no map or directions and signs. keith relies solely on “feeling” the red lion to find it. by comparison, everybody else had visual cues and some kind of guidance.
1.10 is compelled to follow ‘that scary dude’ right into where quintessence is being bottled up and shipped out. he’s compelled to steal some of it.
when he gets hit by the druid, his hand turns purple and the yellow quintessence seems to restore it. as if he kind of absorbs it??
even when shiro and other characters have been hit by druids/haggar/magic their marks have never looked like keith’s did.
1.11 immediately senses when shiro and also by extension the black lion is in trouble. which had everything to do with zarkon trying to take control and the quintessence of the lion is bound to have been affected (especially as allura says in pilot the quintessence of a pilot is mirrored).
S2:
2.09 “something tells me they died an unnatural death” . we’re looking at dead planets that have been harvested by the komar, this is in the absence of quintessence. and look how deeply troubled his expression is. i think about this line all the god damn time.
2.12 keith declares that he will go on the mission once it seems thace may be apprehended. co-incidentally, keith is also walking right into where the druids and haggar are.
keith gets hit directly in the chest by a druid.
let’s compare:
also, just watch the way he moves in this fight. he doesn’t ever predict the druids, but at times he knows exactly when to move and it’s just really eerie. that will take too long for this post though, it’s on my bigger one.
2.13 when voltron was hit with pure quintessence, keith’s face is the only face we do not see.
S3:
3.02 before lance speaks through the comms and makes his presence known, literally when the spec of the red lion is in the distance, keith has already turned his head towards it and has sensed something approaching.
3.03 it’s literally pointed out to us so many times that thayserix seriously disturbs communications and navigation. on multiple occasions, keith is able to figure out where lotor is.
“i know he’s here” *is literally right there*
at one point the team rely on keith to sense where lotor is. and he finds/senses lotor every time.
3.06 is able to sense exactly when they’re going to get hit in voltron and manoeuvres them out the way.
Overall in S3, keith is hellbent on following Lotor and pursuing him. Keith has always been driven the cause and the mission, but this is near a restless obsession. As we learn later in the season, Lotor’s work entirely revolves around quintessence.
S4:
4.01 whilst looking for clues for lotor - who just so happens to be…. surprise surprise working and dealing with harvesting….. QUINTESSENCE and working with the comet - entire BOM missions are focused around tracking supply lines of a new form of …… quintessence. keith is insistent he has to be on that final mission.
4.06 “i can’t explain it” but keith knows there is something terribly wrong. he automatically senses where they need to be, what they need to attack. it’s not his sharp instincts and intuition coming into play here, it’s too precise and eerie. it’s the same innate ability he demonstrates time and time again to just know and be completely 100% right about a ‘feeling he can’t explain’.
S5:
5.04 there’s not any indication the other blades had picked up on the black lion’s arrival. and they were all inside planting bombs. but keith is right there and he’s frantic and desperate in his endeavours to get there and piece it together (latter has less to do w quintessence. we don’t know for sure if keith was able to hear the roar from where he was originally. but given how he’s sensed the black, red and blue lion before many times - it’s not at all a stretch to suggest that could’ve been the case here):
5.05 even if we then focused more on the person he meets on this mission, the mission has everything to do with quintessence. a weapon/creature created by quintessence and experiments with quintessence.
TLDR: this is definitely heading somewhere it has to be. and considering THIS and the current shift in quintessence in the story, i am excited and afraid.
not to mention this
on that new promo posted….. which arguably looks an awful lot like the mark on keith’s hand in 1.10 tbqh.
I’d like to add my two cents to this theory…
It’s been bothering me for a while that Keith’s been written out of the Voltron crew. Not in a ‘I don’t like this put them back’ kind of way, but rather ‘why as a writer do this?’ Keith hasn’t really done anything of note as a member of the Blade that couldn’t have as easily been done as a member of Voltron. There’s no reason to go through that much effort.
And this season, I think I have the answer.
Remember when Alura and Lotor got all glowy, proving their worth or whatever, but Coran and the rest of the paladins decidedly did not?
They could’ve just pulled some BS about how only Alteans could enter the white hole, and left Coran behind as the only one who knew how the castle worked to try to fix it and all would be well. But they emphasized the marks on their faces.
I’ll put money down that if Keith were on the Castle of Lions during that scene, his face would glow as well. Meaning on top of being part Galra, he’s also Altean. (God, why are you doing this writers?)
I expect that with that scene out of the way, Keith will soon rejoin Voltron, and the blade subplot might go the way of the Galra/robot doors.
