Hunk is kind of an enigma in terms of background. Our earliest insight is that he’s known Lance for a long time- definitely, they were together at the Garrison. Official sources also confirm Hunk is Samoan. Other than that, we don’t know much about his family or life situation.

We do know that he’s an engineering student- and I’m willing to bet future seasons will if nothing else give us more insight into his history.

It is worth mentioning that from the design of Hunk’s arms, he’s quite athletic- seemingly, at least as muscular as Shiro, and probably more because while Shiro has every reason to have more of a “bodybuilder look” (space jail, he probably lost a lot of subdermal fat), Hunk would have a healthier musculature with more body fat reserves, so, yes, I’m fairly sure Hunk could destroy most of the team in an arm-wrestling competition. 

Cowardly lion

Hunk definitely has some problems with anxiety. This has been actively addressed at times (s2e9) but this is an element of himself that he is very aware of and is overwhelmingly used to managing. I think that many fan reads of the character often overblow his timid aspects and fail to look into the fact that this is not remotely the only side of him.

Hunk’s element is earth and his Lion is the left leg of Voltron. As the bottom left quarter, this places him at an intersection of support (leg) and defense (left side). The easiest way I can describe Hunk is that he is someone who needs a steady foundation to operate from. In contrast to Lance, who mostly embodies the “movement” element of the leg, Hunk embodies the ideal of “support”. He’s the leg that sticks on steady footing while Lance might be moving forwards to test the ground ahead.

Pulling this out of the metaphorical and more into Hunk’s personal life- Hunk’s anxiety and motion sickness are things that plague him when he doesn’t have that stable footing, figuratively or literally. He is virtually never nauseous when at the controls of his own Lion- it’s when he’s being helplessly towed along in someone else’s, or has lost control of the situation one way or another- that he starts to get sick.

Even stressed, however, it should be emphasized Hunk is no pushover- if he doesn’t like a situation he will let people know, and his willingness to let Lance tow him along into situations he doesn’t like would seem very much to be the exception, not the rule. It’s just that often said unpleasant situation is either essential, or his friends are running into it headlong anyway and more than selfishly fleeing for his own welfare, he wants to make sure they’re safe, too.

When Hunk is sure of himself, he’s not merely brave, he’s an unmovable force of willpower. This is reflected strongly in his bayard, as well- with his massive artillery piece, he probably has the greatest firepower out of any of the bayards we’ve seen, but its weight and size could probably throw even him off his feet if he wasn’t planted while using it. In general, as long as he feels pretty sure of himself- he’s not deterred by much, including things like privacy.

We have somewhat of a scenario of just how far Hunk’s fortitude can go in the story of Hunk’s predecessor, King Alfor. Because the prior team of paladins did not fall apart with the betrayal of Zarkon, their core- rather, they rallied around Alfor, who held them together. Alfor, who ultimately chose to sacrifice himself and his kingdom rather than fight a losing battle- the cautious mind of the Yellow Paladin- but also held a successful defensive line against Zarkon long enough for the Castle Ship to depart.

This would suggest by precedent alone, that Hunk with stable footing could match wills with Shiro- for whom force of personality is one of his paladin virtues- and not back down.

(Also noteworthy- Hunk’s capture during the mermaid episode appears to play into the very mechanism by which Hunk establishes his steady foundation, because the Baku’s whole trick is convincing people that it’s safe and trustworthy)

Harshness and Softness

So far with each of the paladins there are two matched and conflicting values- and Hunk is no exception.

On the one hand- Hunk is an absolute sweetheart. He enjoys taking care of others, and doesn’t want to do something that will hurt or endanger his friends. Once someone has earned his loyalty and trust, he’ll do a lot for them, even if he doesn’t think it’s a good idea, or if it puts him in a bad place- for example, he actively volunteered to go toe-to-toe with the planet-eating Weblum after knowing full well what it’s capable of. (after all, the first act of the reactivated Yellow Lion was to sling himself bodily in front of a downed Bue- this is a way that Hunk and his Lion resemble one another)

Sentimentality and compassion are big deals to Hunk. It’s no surprise that he’s a very close friend to Lance, who is also sentimental and compassionate in a lot of ways. They also have similar bayards, suited to providing cover fire for their zippy, close-range counterparts. And given a good impression, it doesn’t take very much at all for Hunk to warm up to someone, as seen by his rather ready adoption of Keith as early as s1e2. Kindness is one of his stated virtues as the Yellow Paladin, after all.

The other side of the coin is, since Hunk’s friends mean so much to him, he is easily the most skeptical of potential threats on the team. The divide between friend and foe is very stark and Hunk’s bad side is a stone wall worthy of China’s northern border.

In particular, entirely outside of slightly harsh caution- “we’ll help you but I trust you as far as I can throw you”- Hunk has a lot of enmity for people who actively betray the team, or manipulate his teammates. In particular, we see this with Hunk’s response to Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer.

(I find this very significant, concerning how Hunk is closest to Lance, and Lance’s reactions to several situations, the mermaids in particular, suggests that he’s been manipulated or tricked by people before- and Hunk has a very strong reaction to people doing just that.)

Intelligence, but simple terminology

It’s repeatedly emphasized that Hunk is every bit the technical genius Pidge is. As I mentioned on Lance’s analysis, their class was very small, and one of the first things Hunk does on an alien planet is to effortlessly hotwire a piece of mining equipment without even looking at what he’s doing most of the time. And complaining the entire time that Lance dropped him in a tense situation.

Technology is just as much of an interest to Hunk as food is, which suggests a similar pattern in Hunk- he likes things that have an element of construction and creativity, and a lot of different components to them. But compared to Pidge, who is very heavy on jargon- Hunk tends to explain things in a very accessible manner, and seems not as quick to pick up an entirely new set of technical language (see s2e4, when Hunk hesitates to try and piece together exactly what Allura and Coran are telling him, not helped that they’re arguing- while Pidge picks it up rapidly)

This would suggest that Hunk’s knowledge base, while easily as sophisticated as Pidge, tends to assert itself in a more practical manner. Hunk takes complicated topics and breaks them into simple, easily-digested components which would probably make him much better at explaining something than Pidge, who is inclined to tangents and assuming everyone knows what a Turing computer is.

It also indicates another side of why Hunk enjoys the things he does- he is probably a much bigger fan of subjects that he can engage directly, and his general inclination to get his hands all over other people’s equipment and personal belongings reflects that this is the main way he expresses his curiosity. Hunk is smart, and motivated heavily by understanding- so he intrudes, but he intrudes specifically to understand. 

When he’s not particularly interested in a subject, he’s usually not nearly so inclined to investigate- which suggests that his hassling Keith about the latter’s galra heritage is more heartwarming than one might suspect.

Unlike Lance, who is pretty much curious about people constantly, even if he doesn’t like them (much of Lance’s relationship with Keith can be summarized as “incredibly jealous of you but also seriously what is your deal”)- Hunk’s curiosity comes with a pretty firm off switch if he’s decided he doesn’t like the person first. Responding with curiosity means the situation feels safe- he’s sure of his footing.

Personal growth

I touched on the concept that Lance and Hunk embody two slightly different concepts of what it is to be a leg- movement vs. stability, but just as Lance (movement) does also offer and engage with stability, Hunk (stability) also engages with the sense of movement.

As Lance points out- for an anxious person who gets readily motion sick, Hunk is in a space exploration program at the beginning of the series. Getting into a situation where people are shooting at him and placed in mortal peril, being basically conscripted into a space war- one would expect Hunk to be the most opposed to this whole idea, and yet he was the one leading the charge to the Balmera.

Part of this is his desire to take care of others- he can’t comfortably sit by and watch Shay’s people suffer, especially when Shay herself arguably had misfortune brought upon her specifically because she helped him- but an entirely other side of this is...

Hunk, genuinely, does have a sense of adventure and curiosity. And he wants to be taken seriously on that. The fact that this is difficult and his anxiety sets him at a bit of a disadvantage is not stopping him. 

Puns

Hunk likes to make puns, this is a science fact. In general, he has quite a sense of humor and was the most enthusiastic about the squishy asteroid fight. Hunk in general is very emotional and pretty dang open about his expressions of such.

In Summary

Hunk is in some ways really the heart of the team, but his focus on protecting his allies means he’s heavily polarized in his response to allies versus perceived threats. He’s highly intelligent and wants to be respected and acknowledged, and even from his close friends, if he ever decides he’s not okay with something, he will let people know.