Spaceship Crow's Nest

Starting a brand new blog because I'm rewatching Voltron and I have FEELINGS.

[CW: mentions of character suicide, spoilers ahead.]

Let's start with Ulaz. I've been rewatching in order and I was fine with keeping my thoughts to myself, but then I rewatched S2:E3, and I just Could Not keep this bottled up to talk with either people that were out of the fandom in forever, or people who don't know the fandom at all, so.

Ulaz. Oh, quiznark, Ulaz.

So. Ulaz is the character who freed Shiro from the Galra ship where he was prisoner, just before Shiro returned to Earth. He is the first Blade of Marmora character that the Paladins interact with (Thace being the first one we see but have no context for), and he is introduced and killed off within a very short time frame. So there's not much.

And yet, there is So Much about him.

Now, I don't remember for sure (and I'm not QUITE there yet), but I seem to recall that when the Paladins DO make contact with Kolivan and the rest of the Blades of Marmora, they mention Ulaz was 'a fool' (if you trust my memory from 7-or-8 years ago) or some other slight, considering he gave the Paladins access to a Very Secret, Very Discreet Spy Network within the Galra empire. And it makes sense; they would not have wanted Voltron to make contact on their own terms, over the Blades choosing to contact them.

Which is basically my entire point about him; Ulaz is a character made of hope.

And that is SO striking to me! Here is this fighter, this spy, this person with little to no facial expressions, for the few minutes he is on screen. And he is so undeniably filled with hope.

It's shown in him freeing Shiro (whom, I am not entirely convinced the rest of the Blades agreed to), and giving him the coordinates to, again, an incredibly secret communication base! They even wrap space-time around it to keep it hidden! And there was a risk! If Shiro had been captured, if the Druids, Haggard or Zarkon got their hands on that intel, the station was doomed! But he still gave the coordinates to Shiro.

Also, Ulaz is implied to be the only one on the station. Whether as a punishment for stepping out of line or simply as a precaution is not said, but the station had to have been manned by someone else before Ulaz got there after freeing Shiro. Possibly, the rest of the Blades left in case the station was doomed. In case they were found-- leave Ulaz to pick up after himself in a way.

And Ulaz still stayed. Alone. Quietly waiting for the time where the intel he gave over in good faith was either his downfall-- or an opportunity for a better tomorrow.

When the castle appears, again, Ulaz could have assumed the worst. Possibly, he could have recognized it as Altean in design, but it seems more likely that he did not recognize the ship, seeing as Alteans canonically have been eradicated over 10 000 years ago.

He could have reacted with paranoia. He could have destroyed the entire base on the off-chance that this was not the human he had given the coordinates to. He could have been wary.

And yet, he does not harm the Paladins. Very distinctly, they are the ones who attacked first, seeing him as an intruder, and Ulaz, for all of his fighting, barely harmed them. Even if he did not know them. Even if he did not recognize them.

And then-- and then! When he sees Shiro again, when he knows who they are without a doubt, Ulaz gives them even more information. Freely. Openly.

He mentions the Blades of Marmora. He mentions intel he has on his base about Galran prisoners. He talks about the ceremonial blade he carries when asked about it. He offers, openly, anything he could grant them from where they are. And then the robeast finds them and Ulaz assumes they are being tracked instead of thinking any ill of them.

And then he gives them his life, when they can't figure out how to defeat the robeast on their own, offering everything he can, because he trusts them, he believes in them, he hopes in them.