| This article is about the prince of the Galra Empire as he appears in Legendary Defender. For a list of other meanings, see Lotor (disambiguation). |
Emperor Lotor was one of the major antagonists of Voltron: Legendary Defender. He serves as the main antagonist of seasons 3-6 and posthumous antagonist of seasons 7-8.
He was the emperor and former prince of the Galra Empire and the son of Emperor Zarkon and High Priestess Haggar. After dying, his body was retrieved by Haggar, then going by Honerva once again and his legacy was continued by his mother.
Birth[]
Lotor was born as the only son of Galra Emperor Zarkon and his wife, the then Altean Alchemist Empress Honerva. When Lotor was conceieved, his parents rejoiced that the empire would have an heir. While Honerva was still in her early pregnancy stage, she and her husband decided on names with Zarkon suggesting "Koltor", the name of a Galra conqueror though Honerva wished to name her son "Lotarius" after an Altean explorer, struggling to choose which name to decide on, the two combined their choices and named their son, Lotor.
After years of being exposed to a major amount of Quintessence, Honerva fell gravely ill and in a final attempt to save their son's life, Honerva and Zarkon entered the Rift which seemingly killed them. After some time, the two returned though corrupted by the Quintessence. Despite his parents now corrupted, Lotor was born in good shape and healthy, though Honerva, now amnesic, refused to acknowledge her son as her own kin and Zarkon coldly commanded the doctor to take his crying, infant son away.
Childhood[]
Once Lotor became slightly older, a Galra named Dayak assumed the role of Governess for many of Lotor's young years. As his sessions with the Governess went on, Lotor would be presented to his father for progress updates, during which, the young Galra would ask Zarkon where his mother was, still cold and distance, Zarkon would always tell his son that his mother was gone. Eventually, Lotor began forming a bond with Kova, a cat that once belonged to his mother.
Later years[]
Then old enough to act as a Galra commander, Lotor was given a mission which involved him taking over a planet to harvest its Quintessence. Unlike his father, Lotor believed that working alongside its inhabitants would be much healthier and efficient for both sides, after Zarkon and Haggar arrived to foresee the progress, Zarkon became furious at the idea of his son wanting to ally himself with another species, Honerva, now known by Haggar, stunned the young prince and after waking up, Lotor watched as the planet had already been destroyed and drained with no survivors, furious by what he saw, Lotor yelled at Zarkon and as a result, his father banished him from the Galra Empire.
Banishment[]
After being banished, Lotor went around the universe and eventually met four hybrids who had Galran blood in them, Acxa, Zethrid, Ezor and Narti, who was blind, during his exile, Lotor and his new generals, started an Altean Colony which seemingly acted as a safe haven for Alteans. However, an Altean named Romelle discovered the truth after finding her brother, Bandor, in a crater and drained of his Quintessence, part of Lotor's cause included accepting Alteans to the Colony whom he believed were fit enough and who he deemed as acceptable.
Return to the Empire[]
After his father was critically injured by Voltron, Lotor was brought back to the empire to assume his role as heir to the throne. To prove he was worthy of taking over, Lotor was ordered to fight within a ring in front of an audience where Lotor challenged Throk, a Galra who looked down on Lotor for how he fought, despite winning his fight and having the opportunity to kill Throk, Lotor spared him and instead offered his opponent a chance to stand beside him whilst making a speech to his citizens on how backstabbing got their race nowhere and because of that, he himself would change it. After walking away from the fight, Lotor, now out of earshot of Throk, commanded his generals to leave the opponent on a desserted planet after they asked him what to do about him.
After testing Voltron, Lotor deemed them unworthy and plotted to steal their lions and instead moved his focus on acquiring tbe Trans-Reality comet, after being forced retiring from his role of temporary ruler of the Galran empire, Lotor returned to seemingly side with his supposed enemies and was hunted down by the empire and his father. After killing Narti, Lotor and the surviving generals split apart, he then went on to ally himself with Voltron after saving the Coalition from being fatally attacked by Haggar.
Allying with Voltron and killing Zarkon[]
Though presenting himself as an ally, the Paladins did not trust the Prince and kept him secured in a cell in the Castle of Lions. Only after the trade that involved Zarkon trading Samuel Holt back to his children so long as Lotor was given to the empire, Lotor was almost sent back to his father but killed him in battle after he noticed that the Sam present was in fact a hologram, during the battle, Lotor successfully killed his father and allowed the real Sam to re-unite with his son and daughter. Soon after, Lotor warned his new allies of the Kral Zera, an even that included strong, worthy Galra fighting against each other in order to obtain the throne, something which Lotor explained would result in further genocide, despite objections and not wanting to be involved, Shiro, though the clone of him, escorted Lotor to the Kral Zera, Lotor then won and officially resumed his role as rightful heir to his late father's throne.
The Truth[]
As Emperor, Lotor commanded that Quintessence should be harnessed from the Rift so that it could be given to Zarkon's former commanders. During this, he managed to convinced Princess Allura to travel to the planet Oriande with him so the two could gain secrets and knowledge, despite failing the test, Lotor continued to be adamant on his plans, as their journey came to an end, Lotor, along with Allura, journeyed into the Rift and harnessed a purer form of Quintessence, after returning to the castle, Lotor and Allura began getting closer only to be cut short once Lotor was confronted by the Paladins, and an angry Romelle about his past history on what he had done with the Alteans on the colonies.
Capture and Death[]
After being captured by his former generals who were on orders given to them by Haggar, Lotor was returned to his mother whom attempted to apologize for her actions, Lotor cut her short in response, Lotor then admitted to Ezor and Zethrid that his split from them was only a ruse so that he could easily ally himself with Voltron. During an attack, Lotor declared his idea to obliterate all his enemies, which included the Galra, after combining all the Sincline ships into one, Lotor engaged in his final battle with Voltron after attempting to enter the Quintessence Field, Voltron succedded and Lotor was killed, his body became a decomposing, melting corpse that was recovered by Haggar, who then when by her original name, Honerva, who declared to avenge her son.
Aftermath and Legacy[]
After Honerva entered a reality in which she had died long ago, she discovered her husband and son were alive and well. In the reality, Lotor was still a young boy who was loved deeply by Zarkon and who excelled in his Altean studies. When Honerva attempted to reunite with the young boy, Lotor seemingly became excited to see his mother but after noting that the woman in front of him was not his mother by saying his real mother was dead, Honerva experienced a heart-break and had a psychotic break. After Honerva and Allura sacrificed themselves to save the universe, a young Lotor eventually welcomed Honerva into his life.
Appearance and Ability(s)[]
Lotor was a Galran-Altean hybrid, he had longer limbs than that of an average Galra, he had lavender purple skin with yellow sclera, his silvery-white high was slicked back over his shoulders with a few strands hanging in front of his face. Unlike most Galrans however, he had pupils rather than purely yellow. When piloting, his hair was kept back under a helmet, his ears resembled that of an Altean, upon his trip to Oriande, Lotor's face lit up with markings showing his Altean heritage.
When in armour, Lotor wore a custom suit that had a similar appearance to that of his generals, his suit was black, dark-indigo with blue and orange accents.
Despite his lean build, Lotor possessed great strength and was able to easily de-arm Throk during their battle.
Personality[]
Lotor was originally someone who wished to obtain resources through moral matters and did not want to commit genocide in order to take things forcefully. Upon his alliance with Voltron, Lotor became of use when warning the team of the Kral Zera, though in reality he hid the other side of his personality where he showed no remorse to what he was doing to the Alteans of his colony, after engaging in his last battle, Lotor became insane and was prepared to kill anyone, even his own species.
Other Abilities[]
Intellect[]
Lotor demonstrated great intellectual knowledge and was a cunning strategist.
Swordsmanship[]
Lotor was good in swordsmanship, relying on his opponent to waste their strength rather wasting his own.
Piloting[]
Lotor was a skilled pilot such as being talented enough to fly the Sincline Mech.
Superhuman strength[]
Despite his lean appearance, Lotor possessed great strength like most Galra.
Notes[]
- According to series staff, Lotor is 10,000 years old because he was already conceived by the time Honerva entered the rift on Daibazaal.[1] He was born after she became Haggar and admits to living several centuries' worth of time. The exposure to Quintessence of the rift, which has become part of his DNA, allows him to retain a youthful appearance, as his body ages at a much slower rate than other Galra.[1]
- Allura was born before Lotor, but because she was put in a stasis sleep for 10,000 years and he instead experienced those 10,000 years' worth of time, Lotor is older than her.
- Lotor was double-jointed in his shoulders, allowing him to easily move them freely even when cuffed.
- Unlike his original counterpart, Lotor shows no obsession towards Allura. His love for her is treated as genuine, as confirmed by series staff.[2]
- Lotor was likely the one who gave Kova to Narti, as he was the one to own the cat before Narti
- According to Montgomery, the main reason why Lotor became the person he is now was his traumatic upbringing: Abandoned by his biological parents, Lotor was forced to survive on his own, even if it means manipulating others to get what he wanted. She further elaborated that had Lotor raised by genuinely loving parental figures like Allura, Lotor would likely grow into a much better person.[3]
- Both Montgomery and Dos Santos also added that in this way, both Lotor and Keith's upbringings are indirectly parallel to each other (in Keith's case, he never met his mother until events of Bloodlines and lost his father at a young age). In fact, had Shiro never enter his life and supported him, Keith would likely ended up become as bad as Lotor.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 AfterBuzzTV: Voltron Legendary Defender Season 5 Episodes 1 & 2 Review & Reaction with Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery - 00:13:00 -
Transcript:
Lauren: "Being in her womb as she was being exposed to all this quintessence it's like, it's part of his DNA. It almost puts him on a level with Allura who—In which her quintessence is definitely part of her DNA. So it's uh, interesting to see."
Joaquim: "And it's allowed him to stay so beautifully young this entire time."
Lauren: "Yes, beautifully young. He's aged at a much slower rate than your average Galra." - ↑ Den of Geek: "Voltron’s Message of Love", June 2018
- ↑ Voltron: The Ultimate Downfall of Lotor