Modern scientists theorize that our universe is a big bubble, where we travel the inside walls of it, and that there are millions of universes like this. According to the theory, every single possibility exists in a separate universe; An example being if you were walking a path and had two directions to walk, if you walk one direction, there is a universe that exists where you walked a different direction. Every choice or option that exists, there is a universe for that option, and any other options that could potentially exist. There’s a lot of research papers written about this and I highly recommend checking them out, it’s so cool.

Since the multiverse is canon in Voltron, this is how I perceive these alternate universes to work. Given that travel between them is plausible, this means there is a way in the Voltron universe to pass through or ‘burst’ the bubble wall to access the other universe. With how Honerva was able to do so, it is not out of the question that someone, or something else, is able to do this as well.

Bursting of the bubble requires the use of quintessence, as the lifeforce of the universe and has been shown to be abused when its power is understood. If the universe is weak and unstable, it means that the quintessence has been abused in a manner that leads to its weakening. I interpret this as the quintessence makes up the bubble wall in itself, thus when harnessed carelessly, is drained from the bubble. Generally this is the doing of the universe itself, but outside influence from the Rift Creatures can occur as well

Thus the Rift Creatures. While most life must exist in these bubbles, the Rift Creatures exist between them; Majority of the time they are unable to burst the bubbles themselves unless the universe is unstable or something on the inside allows for them to do so. Once inside, the creatures will then consume everything within it and that universe will cease to exist, expanding the rift.The best comparison of this would be a virus entering a weak cell in the body.

I perceive the Rift Creatures as something similar to eldritch horrors; They exist beyond universes and thus have forms that living creatures are unable to understand, so their appearance is typically interpreted as an ever-shifting mass of ‘void’. Because they do not follow the laws of physics established in the universe, there is not much that can harm them aside from quintessence. While quintessence is the presence of life, the rift is the nothingness, and its creatures are an extension of that. They feel nothing, they are nothing, and yet they are everything.

I feel that attempting to understand what the Rift Creatures are more often leads to a type of madness than anything else. While unable to enter a strong universe, they can still have influence over it. As a void with no real limitations, the rift can reach inside to access and influence entities that can sabotage the universe from the inside. The compulsion to harvest and utilize quintessence, alongside the pull of the rift, leads to the corrupt nature seen in Haggar and Zarkon. Their use of quintessence would eventually lead to the universe walls collapsing and being consumed by the rift.