Power always comes with a price.  Her gift was unique, unparalleled, feared. The castle respected her out of that fear.  Uncontrollable at first, but when controlled something even greater. She learned out of necessity, and was constantly told that if she ever lost that control, everything would be destroyed.  Control became a very important thing for her to have. Over others, and herself.  The castle grew to use her a public figurehead; strong, powerful, but never quite herself. Lonely.  Had the Alteans realized this, perhaps the race could have survived.  Instead, her loneliness turned into bitterness, which spread through her like an infection. Yet she never lashed out, did what she was told, and remained as a figurehead.  She hated it. Bitterness that was sweetened by the thoughts of revenge, overruling, and to let her power loose for the first time in years.  Imagine when a Galra, not an Altean, noticed her loneliness and offered a hand. How detached she truly was from her own race to have someone else present her a chance at life.  How foolish.  The Galra boy was ambitious, respected, young, naive. It didn’t take long for her to manipulate his previously ambitious thoughts into something that resembled her own darkened desires. She fed him ideas, power, thoughts of leadership and total rule.  It would all begin with the annihilation of the Altean race. The base cause of her misery, her pain, her loneliness, how eshe ended up like this.  Zarkon did not fight this. In fact, he relished the thought of finally beating his superior, Alfor. In his feverish, controlled mind, it was all still a competition, a game, a way of showing who was better.  It wasn’t until that he saw Alfor’s horrified face that day, when Zarkon went to go slay the older man, that he realized what he had done.  Thousands of lives lost. The burning bodies that littered the once- pristine castle grounds, and the belated horror and disbelief on Alfor’s face that his once- trustable Black Paladin had turned into a monster.  Zarkon could not live with this idea, but Haggar pushed his mind. Think, she commanded. It can all end if you just destroy them all. Don’t you trust me?  His bayard sinks deep into Alfor’s chest.  Later, when Haggar found Zarkon weeping in a corner, she consoled him. Told him that it was the bravest and most noble thing he had ever done. Zarkon’s pain furthered her control of him, as she promised him unlimited power through quintessence, opening up laboratories for her experiments.  After eons of controlling her power, she let it loose. Energy so strong it enough to power up their own castle, enough energy to transform the once- noble Galra soldier into a monster everyone knew to fear and hate.  Throughout the years, Haggar stood by his side. For ten thousand years, she manipulated him and fueled him, turning him into the perfect battle machine. Zarkon no longer felt the emotions that had tied him down so long ago, and proceeded on total domination of the universe he had been promised.  His conscience was wavered when he saw the Black Lion for the first time in those ten thousand years. Something that was reawakened after being sealed away for so long, resurfacing into an ugly obsession to get what was his back.  Haggar feared Voltron. Despite spending all these years on perfecting her RoboBeasts, they were still no match for Voltron’s true power. When it was re-formed, she set out to destroy it as soon as possible. Yet her haste led to the Voltron team becoming even stronger, and when she finally noticed on how intent Zarkon was on recapturing the last thing he knew of his past, she realized.  Zarkon had not been controlled- he had been manipulated, yes, but her power fuelled his feverish desire. He wanted Voltron back because it was his last chance at finding a true family.  In all their time together, Haggar had never listened to his wishes, only used him as her figurehead. Just like the Alteans had done to her.  Perhaps that was why she stepped down a bit, and let Zarkon’s mind go. Perhaps that was why she took his orders, realizing that they were equals, and let herself follow his ideals and his goal of capturing his lion. She chose to let him lead for the first time since his reign, and it made him happy.  Did she learn to regret her decision after he died following those ambitions?  Power came with a price. Her payment of ten thousand years of control was losing the one that had taken the time to understand her. She sees history repeat itself. A lost Paladin this time, being offered a second chance in the Galran ranks. To be loved. To be appreciated. To be known.  To never be lonely again.  But Haggar also knows what happens to the misguided, the desperate, the learned malevolence that corrupts the soul. Her reluctance shows when the Prince comes to her, excited over his finding of the paladin, and the potential use they could make of him.  Haggar’s power came with a price, and her price had yet to be fully paid. ---- Have some haggar back story u fuckin nerds
