| “ | Matt is a communications expert and member of the Galaxy Garrison. Matt went missing, along with his father, Sam, and Shiro, during a Garrison mission to Kerberos. Later, having reunited with his sister, Pidge, Matt joined the Paladins and rebel coalition in the fight against the evil Galra Empire. | ” |
— Official Profile , Voltron: Legendary Defender Official Website | ||
Matthew Holt is the brother of Katie Holt in Voltron: Legendary Defender who went missing after being taken prisoner by the Galra Empire during the Galaxy Garrison's expedition to Kerberos. Pidge has been searching for him and her father Samuel ever since.
After being captured, he was slated to fight the alien gladiator Myzax but Shiro feigned bloodlust and attacked him. The minor injury Matt sustained meant he would not have to fight, so Shiro battled Myzax instead while Matt was taken away. His whereabouts and status remain undetermined until Pidge discovers that Matt has been rescued by a group of rebels who do not appear to have connections with the Blade of Marmora. Matt is soon located by Pidge and returns with her to the Castle of Lions to join the Voltron Coalition.
Appearance[]
Matt has the appearance of a tall older boy with pale skin, brown hair, and brown eyes; his hair is shoulder-length and messy, with his bangs cut short, just above his eyes, and sweeping to the right side of his face. Matt has a thin scar under his left eye, curving from his nose to his jawline.
His rebel fighter gear is largely concealed under a dark gray cloak comprised of two pieces of cloth secured to his body at his waist. Even without his cloak, Matt wears a dark gray cowl at his neck long enough to wear as a hood. For his rebel fighter gear, he has a mask to conceal his face.[2] Matt wears a black space suit under a white chest plate attached to orange and blue sleeves, with gray arm bracers and black gloves. Matt also wears blue pants with a large gray holster on his right hip where he stores his staff weapon in a smaller form.[3] He appears to keep his shins wrapped in white cloth and wears over-sized gray boots.
In the past, his appearance bore such heavy resemblance to Pidge that the two are still easily mistaken for each other.[4][2] Matt's hair was initially cut short and curved upwards away from his body at his neckline like his sister's, but unlike Pidge, his bangs were not gathered in a heavy cluster at the center of his face. Instead, they were very short, exposing his forehead and his thick, brown eyebrows. He had two strands of hair that sprouted from the top of her head, one slightly longer than the other, but this feature disappeared after his hair grew out. He did not have any scar on his face. Mat once wore a pair of thin-framed glasses, but his eyesight was corrected so that he no longer needs them.[5]
He has been shown wearing the standard cadet uniform of the Galaxy Garrison as well as a white and orange space suit from the same organization. As a prisoner, he wears the standard prisoner outfit of a black suit with a violet crop-top.
After returning to Earth for the first time in five years, Matt is noticeably taller, standing roughly a head above his mother. He has also grown his hair out into a thick ponytail held in place just below the base of his neck. And his facial features have matured to be longer and leaner with age.
History[]
Matt and his father were members of an expedition to Kerberos that also included Shiro, with Katie expressing a longing to join her father and brother on the mission prior to their departure. The two siblings took a photo together shortly before the launch, and Matt and his team eventually arrived on Kerberos. Sadly, they were then abducted by a battle cruiser from the Galra Empire, and due to no trace of them being left behind they were declared dead, with the official report being that pilot error had led to their untimely ends. Katie refused to accept this explanation, particularly after hacking Galaxy Garrison computers and learning the truth, and created the false identity of Pidge Gunderson in order to find out what had really happened. The look Pidge adopted for her new persona strongly resembled her brother, to the point that Hunk, upon finding the photo the two had taken before Matt's launch in Pidge's backpack, believed that Matt was Pidge and that the girl in the photo was a girlfriend.
Matt, his father, and Shiro were all held for a time aboard Commander Sendak's battle cruiser, but Matt and Shiro ended up in the Galran gladiatorial arena while Commander Holt was sent to a work camp. Faced with the prospect of going up against a monstrous gladiator, Matt was terrified, leading Shiro to take the drastic action of faking a bloodthirsty rage and injuring Matt so that Matt would be taken away while Shiro fought in the arena.
By the time the Paladins of Voltron boarded Sendak's ship in search of the Red Lion, Shiro was able to recall he and the Holts had once been held captive there. Pidge later learned where they had been sent by downloading info from Sendak's computer, and briefly considered leaving to find her missing brother and father before deciding that her duty lay with the other Paladins.
In Escape From Beta Traz, while Lance and Shiro are traversing the prison, Pidge does a search for Matt over the base's computer, and eventually finds out that Matt has been taken from the Galra by rebels. Shiro comments to Pidge that "He's still out there. Matt's a lot like you, he's a survivor."
When Pidge is on a mission, an alien named Te-osh gives her a transponder that tells her where Matt is. She follows the transponder, and panics when it leads her to a memorial for those who are fighting against the Galra Empire. Eventually it leads her to a grave with her brother's name on it, and she mourns. But she notices that Matt's birthdate was wrong, and decodes it into coordinates. She realizes that he's still alive, and follows the coordinates. She finds him in a rebel base and they share a tearful reunion that is interrupted by a bounty hunter, looking to claim the price on Matt's head as well as the reward he could reap for Pidge and the Green Lion. After they work together to take the bounty hunter down, Pidge takes Matt back with her to Olkarion, where she introduced him to Coran and the other Paladins; Matt was immediately smitten by the beautiful Princess Allura, to the jealousy of Lance. But the one person he was most happy to see was Shiro, who embraced him, and promised they will eventually find his father.
Matt later worked with Pidge and Hunk to combine the rebels' intel with Pidge's Galra tracking software, enabling the Voltron Coalition to track Galra fleet movements, as well as decrypt live transmissions, in which they learned that Zarkon was alive. Matt soon accompanied the Paladins to investigate Zarkon's target, which was revealed to be Prince Lotor, running co-pilot with Pidge to maintain Voltron's cloak. Unfortunately, Lotor's escape aboard his Sincline ships bypassed Voltron, disrupting their cloak, forcing Voltron to engage the Galra fleet before retreating.
Matt later participates in the Voltron Coalition's all-out attack to claim one-third of the Galra Empire. Running co-pilot with Captain Olia, they lead an attack squadron against planet Teq's Zaiforge Cannon in an effort to capture it. Unfortunately, the cannon was heavily shielded, preventing them from boarding and the squadron soon became overwhelmed by both the cannon and fighters, forcing them to take cover behind a large asteroid. Thankfully, Keith and the Blade of Marmora are able to take a second cannon and use it to disable the shields around Matt and Olia's target, enabling to seize control and use it against enemy target.
An approaching Galra battlecruiser remotely shut down both cannons and the Coalition lost contact with Voltron on Naxzela. Keith called on Matt and the rebels for aid, suspect the enemy cruiser was up to something. En route, they were hailed by the Paladins, who urged their friends to stop Haggar, who was turned Naxzela into a bomb powerful enough to destroy Voltron, the Coalition and the Blades. The allies attacked the cruiser, which was armed with a specialized weapon, but were unable to penetrate its shield. Matt pleaded Keith not to sacrifice himself when he attempted to ram the weapon, but thankfully, the timely save from Lotor averted that. The exiled prince then announced to the Paladins and rebels that despite their differences, they should talk.
Matt and Pidge are later informed by Shiro and Allura that Lotor had provided their father's current whereabouts, at a prison where he's forced to work for the Galra Empire with other alien scientists. Refusing to wait for reinforcements, the Holt siblings decide to mount a rescue, with Rolo, Nyma and Beezer joining them in the Green Lion. Unfortunately, they were detected approaching the prison, forcing Pidge to deal with a squadron of fighters while Matt and the other skydived. Worse yet, Matt's jetpack malfunctioned, forcing Beezer to grab him. As they then discovered the prison sentries had been destroyed and the scientists inside said that a "scary lady" had been there before them. Matt searched all the cells but sadly found no trace of his father. Frustrated, he rejoined his allies aboard a shuttle as they took off and were soon picked up by Pidge in mid-air. When they later returned to the Castle, they are hailed by Zarkon, who is revealed to be holding Sam, who was taken by Lotor's former generals, hostage and was willing to trade him for Lotor.
Shiro, Pidge and Matt went to exchange Lotor for their father, but they soon found out they were double crossed. as Zarkon used a hologram of Sam during the exchange, keeping the real one on his shuttle. As Zarkon demanded they hand over Voltron, it is revealed that Shiro had given Lotor his bayard, allowing him to surprise Zarkon. The three board the Galra shuttle while Lotor and Zarkon battle down on the ground. Shiro, Pidge and Matt had to fight Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid before ejecting the three generals off the ship. They soon were witness to Zarkon's death at Lotor's hands.
Once Lotor wins the Galra throne, Matt joins Pidge and the others to see off their father on his trip back to Earth. After this, Matt leaves the Castle of Lions to return to aiding the Voltron Coalition.
Personality[]
Much like his sister, Matt is a passionate scientist, eager to learn, teach, and discover new worlds, people, and ideas, heightening his resemblance to Pidge. Matt is quite skilled in the field of communications, making him a very analytical and perceptive young man who encoded his own grave so that only someone who knew him and knew his coding style would be able to track him down after he faked his own demise among the rebels, thus indicating that he is capable of out-thinking his enemies. Like his sister, Matt can get a bit lost in his own machinations, his mind speeding along until he obtains a solution, showing a great deal of self-discipline as well as a very single-minded focus.
Though not initially a combative person during his time as a gladiator slave, Matt eventually developed a somewhat aggressive personality, as evidenced by his actions both as a melee fighter and as a rebel pilot, clearly having no qualms with killing enemy soldiers amidst the Galra fleets.
Matt is very much in awe of everything that his sister has managed to accomplish as a Paladin of Voltron, repeatedly gasping and fawning in awe over how amazing she has become in the time she has spent away from him and their family. The two are incredibly close, bonding before and after Matt's abduction over military tech, collaborating over projects, and even taking down a Galra-hired bounty hunter with a tandem strike to the face, indicating that even their natural combat preferences are similar.
Matt is initially a young explorer excited at the prospect of meeting alien life and studying space.[4] When faced with the fate of battling Myzax after being captured, Matt becomes frantic and panics, fearful of death and never seeing his family again, causing Shiro to feign bloodlust and injure him so he would not have to fight.[6] After being broken out of prison, Matt becomes an elite rebel fighter determined to defeat the Galra Empire and retains his kind-hearted and confident personality. He is a teasing but supportive older brother to Pidge and openly praises her accomplishments;[5][7] Matt also seeks the attention of girls, notably becoming completely overcome by Allura's beauty and trying to flirt with her the instant he sees her.[7]
Abilities[]
Initially a simple scientist, Matt was immersed in the worlds beyond his own, devoting every second of his time to mastering coding algorithms, advanced technology, and hacking communications networks of military grade systems. Every inch the genius as his sister, Matt was stationed as a communications officer and spy for the rebels, developing his own take on surveillance tech that differed just enough from Pidge's that he knew enough to perfect her own network designed to predict Galra military operations and movements of key fleets and more.
Matt is a cunning young man. His use of selective misinformation regarding his own grave following his faked death where he purposely left the wrong information regarding his date of birth allowed Pidge to track him down. Given his talents as a hacker, Matt purposely left his grave marker with erroneous information with the knowledge that only someone who knew him would be able to use his own coding algorithm to track him down. Not only does this indicate a great degree of forethought, it also indicates Matt's common sense, knowing that the Galra or allies of theirs would be likely to overlook such a seemingly insignificant detail despite it being plainly accessible.
Despite being a computer and communications specialist, Matt eventually became a skilled melee fighter in his own right, able to take down a bounty hunter alongside Pidge with only his fists and initially a fighting staff that he used against his sister before realizing who she was, despite Pidge having been fighting for months on end and honing her own combat prowess. This is a huge change from the somewhat meek and scared young man he was when he was about to face Myzax in Zarkon's gladiator pit.
Trivia[]
- Matt's full name is revealed during Pidge's flashback to a television news broadcast proclaiming the Kerberos crew missing and presumed dead.[8]
- Matt is a graduate of the Galaxy Garrison.[1]
- Matt initially had poor eyesight, but his sight was corrected by the Galaxy Garrison.[5] He gave his glasses with fake lenses to Pidge before leaving for Kerberos.[5]
- Matt is responsible for giving Pidge her nickname.[5]
- Matt is likely the newest incarnation of Chip, who is the twin brother of Pidge in other incarnations of Voltron.
- Matt wore a uniform like Garrison cadets, but is described in the guidebook as being a graduate.
- Pidge's disguise is so identical to Matt's appearance that people easily mistake a photo of him for her. There are subtle differences between them that can allow a perceptive observer to tell the difference, such Matt's shoulders being broader and his hair being a few shades lighter than Pidge's.
- Matt may have a crush on Allura. When he meets her for the first time, he is overcome by her beauty and flirts with her. However, he is most likely now on friendly terms with her as of season 7 & 8 he appears to be a couple with a female android named “N-7”.
- The Holt family has a dog named Bae Bae, although it was originally named Gunther.[9] The name of the dog was changed to honor a pet dog housed at the recording studio used for the series that passed away.[citation needed]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Paladin's Handbook Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "GB1" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Season Two: Episode 4, "Greening the Cube"
- ↑ Season Four: Episode 5, "Begin the Blitz"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Season One: Episode 1, "The Rise of Voltron"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Season Four: Episode 2, "Reunion"
- ↑ Season One: Episode 3, "Return of the Gladiator"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Season Four: Episode 3, "Black Site"
- ↑ Season One: Episode 5, "Tears of the Balmera"
- ↑ Voltron: Legendary Defender Official Website Character Map