#dark!coran

Sam Holt was the Yellow Lion’s pilot and was killed with the other Paladins. Allura is a dedicated leader and believes she can best serve the team by piloting the castle ship. Pidge is reluctant, because of her dad’s death, but she pilots the green lion. She still goes with Shiro to get it, and the team still thinks she’s a boy. But Alteans don’t care much about gender roles, so she never really thinks to correct them.

Meanwhile, Haggar is a lot more fierce in this universe. The Galra are more ferocious and have a violent mastermind as their tactician. The team dubs him “The Chessmaster.” Overall, there’s a lot more “running and trying to establish base but constantly being hunted down” then in the main universe, because of how cunning the Chessmaster is. There’s also a mysterious figure usually in the shadows whenever Haggar is around. Shiro has memories of him but his PTSD makes it hard to recall anything useful.

Because of this, it takes longer for Shiro to get his bayard and the team to incapacitate Zarkon. It still happens, but because Pidge is an Altean pilot, she figures out the Shiro clone situation much, much sooner and Allura is able to remedy things. Also, Haggar is asked by the Galra generals if Prince Lotor should be summoned. Haggar scoffs and says that Honerva’s son is useless, but her son will be able to lead them to victory. The shadow figure steps forward and kneels, stating that he’s ready to do as his mother requires.

This universe is darker and team Voltron struggles a lot with gaining their footing. The Chessmaster spreads anti-Voltron propaganda that actually works, and the team has a hard time getting alien societies to trust them. It’s made worse by the fact that anti-Altean messages have been reinforced since Altea was destroyed, so the team tries to hide the fact that one of their pilots is Altean and not human. It’s difficult enough getting people to listen to Allura, their non-pilot Altean leader.

Lotor actually joins up with Voltron in this universe. Because of “Haggar’s Son,” he was pretty much completely cast aside by Zarkon at a young age. He had a nanny but was never given any real power and mostly grew up isolated and alone. When he became an adult, he tried to further his mother’s research in power sources, and he got trapped in the belly of a Weblum for thousands of years until Keith saved him. So basically, he has emotional baggage but he’s not crazy like his main universe counterpart.

Things go a bit better with Lotor on their side, but the sucker punch really comes when Allura and Pidge find out who the new prince and the Chessmaster are. Back when Altea was destroyed, Matt and Coran were put in the sleep pods. But they set the timers to last only a few minutes. They then snuck out, against Alfor’s orders, in a last ditch attempt to sabotage the Galra fleet and save everyone. But Haggar caught them.

Seeing Matt, a talented young man with so much potential who felt very familiar to her warped mind, she decided to take him as her son. This, of course, meant he needed many....modifications. Revisions to both his mental state and his body. It was similar with Coran, whom she had once loved like a brother. He became her Chessmaster. Their fates were worse than death, and discovering the truth crushes Allura and Pidge.