i have a great past, so i'm totally fine

Alright so, I think the best way to look at this is to cover it the same way I did for Keith–which is to say, where does Shiro’s anger come from? We know Shiro’s changed dramatically since Kerberos. Joaquim has described Keith as someone whose “experienced loss in his life, in his childhood.” Keith’s been shaped by that loss since a young age. But it seems that Shiro’s been in fairly good mental health prior to Kerberos. He was the garrison golden boy, someone cadets looked up to as their hero. The pioneer of a new era in space exploration. He was held in high esteem by his colleagues–until mission failure was scrolling across every TV screen. 

And while there is the notable absence of any parents or siblings–I personally believe he must be estranged from his family–I don’t think it had the same impact on Shiro that being orphaned had on Keith. Shiro was able to reach out to others and still make connections. Others saw him as approachable and amicable. He doesn’t live in constant fear of abandonment. While I do believe he’s a private person who maintains his own walls, he doesn’t shut people out entirely for fear of rejection the way Keith does. He’s more like someone who will put on a facade that everything’s fine and he’s got his life together. But yeah, I certainly don’t think there’s anything that points to him being anything but sweet, friendly, honest and compassionate.

These fits of “anger” don’t start until after Kerberos, so let’s take a look at why. The two common themes for Takashi’s outbursts are due to either 1) lashing out because people he cares about are in danger 

or 2) frustration about what the galra have done to him and all consuming fear that he’s turning into the monster they tried to make him. It’s this loss of autonomy that makes him break down 

And because Shiro identifies so closely with the Black lion, seeing Zarkon try to control her as well makes him furious. It’s not just a matter of fighting Zarkon because he’s the Bad Guy–this is very much a personal fight. “You’re no paladin.” Shiro’s not going to let her be made into a weapon against her will the way he was. “No one commands the Black Lion.” I’d also like to point out in season 3 Keith says “Shiro’s the Black Lion,” and there’s so much truth to that. It might be his lion Shiro’s defending, but the lesson here also boils down to No one commands me. He’s defying Zarkon and breaking free in this scene just like Black 

It’s also important to remember that, just like Keith has his high intensity emotions and abandonment issues, Shiro has PTSD. He was a prisoner of war for a year, and that leaves more scars than just the one on his face. He’s been through a lot, and healing isn’t always going to be soft smiles and perfect temperament. It’s not being able to drag yourself out of bed and constantly berating yourself for being useless. It’s believing you’re your symptoms and you’re just a horrible person. It’s having nervous breakdowns and screaming or crying or punching something in a sudden rage. It’s acting on impulse and doing something you immediately regret. It’s ugly and it’s hard and I’m glad with Shiro’s character arc we still get to see that. It’s not something you should just gloss over.

So again, I don’t think it’s that Shiro has a lot of anger in him or anything. He’s not someone who goes looking for a fight. I think he’s just someone dealing with his trauma and struggling with low self-worth. He’s also fiercely over protective, and that’s where a lot of his “rage” comes from. He’s an incredibly good person, but he’s wiling to act up a bit if it means protecting the people he loves–attacking Matt to save him, throwing away the alliance to rescue Keith, ect. 

i really appreciate everything that was said here and and think this was all worded very kindly and in a thorough way, but i do also think it's important to note (as i think someone was mentioning in the tags actually) that to say shiro was in "fairly good mental health prior to kerberos" seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

any person who suffers from a disability or a chronic illness, especially a hidden one like myself, knows all too well the feeling of wanting and needing to prove to yourself that you are capable of accomplishing things without anyone else's help, even if that means you push yourself past your limits just because you want to feel normal and prove to yourself that you can do it. we see that prior to the kerberos mission; both iverson and sanda were persistent in their belief that shiro is "too sick" and therefore shouldn't have been allowed to take part in the mission, especially with it being the farthest and arguably most important mission in the history of the GG. adam even agrees with them when he and shiro discuss it, telling him it might be for the better because he would "only be putting [himself] at risk". shiro's response? "it's worth the risk. you don't need to protect me. this is something i need to do for myself."

this is already proof that shiro not only struggles with self-esteem issues but that he kind of has it ingrained in his brain that despite being the star student and the leader of the GG in a way, he's not yet proven to himself that he's good enough or strong enough or capable enough. the kerberos mission is truly a shining goal in saying to not just the people around him, but to himself more than anyone that despite his growing illness, he wants to persevere with the time he does have left, especially alongside people like sam and matt, people that he loves and who understand him for him. he knows that risk better than anyone. what he says to keith after his conversation with adam is proof of that:

via voltrontranscript

someone in the replies also mentioned something along the lines of the fact that shiro likely would not have developed PTSD (which he most certainly has) in the span of only one year, and i think that's another important thing to note. OP acknowledged that having PTSD (something i also myself deal with) really does affect your mannerisms, behavior, and way of thinking, in my opinion more than other people realize (especially those you are closest with) and that definitely manifests in shiro to me. i really enjoyed reading this analysis from @ganymedesclock (and i encourage you to read the whole thing because there's a million things i could reference from their writings) but this part in particular seems to corroborate that idea that his time at the GG was absolutely resulting in residual trauma

particularly this third paragraph which talks about the walls he has built; that concept of not even realizing when you are pushing everything away to be that pillar of support and take action in a dire situation, at least in my personal experience, is absolutely reminiscent of the things PTSD does to your mind and how you go about facing a crisis or situation that needs a grounding force.

i also believe that's why it's so easy for kuron to slip into patterns of aggressiveness and almost hostility towards the other paladins when he's around. shiro's brain is constantly on survival mode, not only after what was drilled into his head about how to act and how much he needed to set an example/fulfill an expectation at the GG, but especially after the torture he endured at the hands of the galra. you don't just move on from that. there's no doubt he was already facing issues of feeling like a prisoner in his own body due to being disabled and from the pressure of the admirals, so of course zarkon's treatment of dehumanizing him and literally physically torturing him absolutely affected how he interacts with the paladins and skews his self-image even farther. this goes hand-in-hand to me with the idea that OP mentioned where the frustration and anger is partially rooted in that lack of being in control/having autonomy, because he needs to prove that he can be the strong soldier that not only everyone expects him to be, but that he feels he needs to live up to.

hi yelyah fans!! i was at nyc n2 and planned to give out/trade a bunch of stickers but unfortunately the venue did not allow them. that being said, i thought it'd be fun to send a sticker or two to anyone who requests one!

here is the form to submit your request! stickers are FCFS, and unfortunately i can only ship within the US. this offer is open until i run out of stock! more info is listed in the form description.