#soft lancelot

(For this)

Anon, I love you.

Ahhhh, where do I even start? Lancelot is such an intricate ship that comes in so many forms with so many different layers, and I have a lot of feelings about this particular ship. I mean, it’s my favorite for a reason.

It seems that the general categories are soft (both are good people who just need to learn how to communicate), redemptive (Lotor was bad or at least questionable but is getting better with Lance’s influence), traitorous (Lotor is highly questionable, but Lance joins his side anyways), and dark (Lotor is bad, Lance is pure uwu save him). There are shades between them – I’ve seen soft/redemptive, redemptive/traitorous, soft with a traitorous vibe, and traitorous/dark. Of course, Lancelot content comes in other flavors, and there’s always AUs to spice things up, butthese are the general forms I’ve found.

So if someone asks why I like Lancelot, well… which version? I’ve grown to very much dislike the dark version in general because of the negativity around it and the way it portrays Lotor in a villainous light (something I came to hate even before s5 and which now stings all the more after s6 ruined s5), but every other form? I love them all.

I love how, in the soft ones, Lotor is someone who is trying his best but doesn’t always know what the ‘best’ is. And although Lance is not the most naturally patient person, he soon realizes that he needs to extend a little patience and forgiveness to Lotor in light of his blunders. I love how they learn to communicate and how they then begin to grow together. I love how it’s not only Lance helping Lotor, but also Lotor helping Lance, because each of them has what the other needs. Lance has the warmth and goodness and fun that Lotor so desperately needs in his life, and Lotor has the confidence and self-assured nature and resilience that Lance clearly needs in himself. As Lance lights up Lotor’s life, Lotor can chase away Lance’s inner demons, and they can both find solace in one another. Honestly? This is the majority of actual Lancelot content. Put filters on AO3 to get rid of all the content for other ships, and you’re left with so, so many soft and sweet stories like this. Nearly all of the human AU ones are like this – just two people who love each other despite all of the people who say that they shouldn’t.

The redemptive ones can be a little mixed for me, since if the portrayal starts with showing Lotor in too much of a negative light, I have a hard time enjoying it. But for the ones where Lotor is merely misguided, I like how Lance can help him to find a better path. Though Lance is no paragon, well… sometimes it takes someone who’s imperfect to be able to get through to those who are lost, and that perfectly describes their dynamic in these stories. And usually, Lotor is not the only one who grows from their interactions. Like in the soft stories, Lance can learn much from Lotor, and he can benefit from Lotor once Lotor decides to sincerely try to help him. Usually, the redemptive dynamic crosses over into the soft dynamic as the story goes on, which makes for a very heartwarming depiction of the ship.

Then, ahhh, the traitorous dynamic. Usually, these aren’t even dark, because many of them show Lotor as already being a decent person who just so happens to have very different goals and/or methods from Voltron. These stories, especially the ones with a softer tone, have Lance coming to see Lotor’s side and genuinely deciding to join him because he agrees with Lotor’s views, because he loves Lotor, because he fits well on Lotor’s team, or some combination of the three. And, of course, Lance in General armor always looks amazing. Mix in a bit of a “redemptive” vibe with Lotor and Lance both coming to understand each other’s views and meeting somewhere in the middle where they disagreed before, and you have a dynamic that I really adore (and try to write, though I’m not sure it always comes across well).

For those of you who like dark content, consider: Lance being the manipulator and Lotor being the victim. If any of you know where I could find content like this, please feel free to send it to me, because it’s too rare, and it’s the only “dark Lancelot” I’ll accept.

I could go on and on about what I love about this – how I believe that, at their core, they actually have a lot in common, how they complete each other, how their personalities compliment each other, how they could build a future and maybe even a family together – but then I’d be here all day because there’s so much to love.

Hello.

Just a fanart for the Lancelot shippers out there. Hope you guys enjoy it.

But honestly I have been wanting more healthy Lancelot. Especially since that’s all I want to read these last few days, but anyway I realized there aren’t a lot of soft healthy lancelot so

T A D A I wrote some //sticks out leg

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12201807

Summary -  Lance and Lotor are together. Husbands happy to be by each other's sides. But when Zarkon destroys Altea and Lotor is horrified at his husbands death, he is exiled. Lance rushes to save him, His sister and Coran in cryopods, is father by his side. They hide the lions and rush to save his husband. But when he is made to believe that Lotor is dead, he must hide the castle to keep it from Zarkon's hands. Ten thousand years later and both of them are still alive. But with neither knowing the other is still out there will they ever find each other and be happy again? With Lance having to help train a whole new team of Paladins and Lotor working to bring his father down, maybe they won't meet. Maybe they won't make it back together before one of them truly dies.

I put this link into another post, but I figured this needed its own post. So...

Do you want Lancelot fics where Lotor isn’t an evil asshole? Do you want Lancelot fics where Lancelot is the actual endgame ship? Do you want a fic rec list with recommender-added thoughts and warnings? Do you want an easily skimmable list with quick, boldface descriptions of what each fic contains so that you can skim for what looks interesting and then read the full description?

If you said yes to any of those questions, I’ve got you covered! I don‘t guarantee that every fic on this list is the greatest thing ever, but they’re all ones I found enjoyable, and I did my best to give fair warning for each about the content and characterization so that other readers can avoid ones they might not like.

Also, the whole list is sfw only. The highest-rated fic is M, and even then, it contains no smut. My apologies to anyone looking for a mixed or nsfw list.

Of course, this doesn’t contain every good Lancelot fic out there. If there’s some golden treasure that I’ve missed, please recommend it to me! I’d love to read it, and, if I enjoy it and feel comfortable recommending it, I’ll be sure to add it to the list!