Voltron (Legendary Defender)

This article is about the super robot formed by five lions and legendary defender as it appears in Voltron: Legendary Defender-related interpretations. For a list of other meanings, see Voltron (disambiguation).

Pilot	Shiro and Keith (Black Lion pilots) Pidge(Green Lion) Lance (Blue Lion pilot) Hunk (Yellow Lion pilot) Keith (Red Lion pilot) Zarkon (Original Black Lion pilot) Trigel (Original Green Lion pilot) Blaytz (Original Blue Lion pilot) Gyrgan (Original Yellow Lion pilot) Alfor(Original Red Lion}
Weapons	Wing Shield Hand-mounted lasers Eye lasers Rocket-propelled fists Bayard-manifested weapons (Blazing sword, Shoulder cannon, Arm Cannon,Twin Short Swords)

Voltron is the legendary defender. He is made up of the five Lions that were hidden away from Emperor Zarkon 10,000 years ago by King Alfor. The five Lions are the Black Lion, the Red Lion, the Blue Lion, the Green Lion, and the Yellow Lion. They were piloted by Shiro, Keith, Lance, Allura, Pidge, and Hunk respectively.

Biography

In the beginning, a comet composed of trans-dimensional properties crashed on planet Daibazaal, creating an interdimensional rift into another reality. King Alfor brought the comet back to Altea, where he began experimenting on it in his lab, creating five robotic ships in the form of lions. Each lion embodies one of five elemental forces: water, land, fire, sky, and forest.

When Daibazaal was threatened by a massive transdimensional alien that emerged from the rift, Alfor introduced the lions to his fellow monarchs, Emperor Zarkon of Daibazaal, Lady Trigel of the Dalterion Belt, Blaytz of Nalquod and Gyrgan of Rygnirath, where they instantly bonded with the Red, Black, Green, Blue and Yellow Lions, and took on the mantle of Paladins. The Paladins then took their lions into battle against alien entity but were hard pressed to defeat it. Suddenly, Alfor had a vision of a mighty robot composed of all five lions combined and he spoke its name: Voltron. Forming Voltron, the Paladins were able to destroy the alien entity. From then onwards, as their alliance explored the universe, Voltron became known as the Defender of the Universe.

Eventually, Zarkon called on his fellow Paladins to use Voltron to close the rift on Daibazaal. But instead of sealing it, Voltron merely enlarged it and fell into the rift into the other reality, where Zarkon revealed his true goal to expose his dying wife, Honerva, to quintessence to save her. When the alien creatures responded to Voltron's intrusion, forcing Alfor to lead Voltron back to their reality. Being exposed to an overdose of quintessence, Zarkon and Honerva had apparently perished, so Alfor was forced to evacuate Daibazaal and destroy the planet to seal the rift.

Later, it turned out that Zarkon and Honerva were made immortal and pure evil. Desiring Voltron to reopen the rift into the quintessence reality, Zarkon led the Galra Empire against his former allies, catching them off guard. When Altea was the last planet left standing, Princess Allura pleaded with her father to reform Voltron to fight back, but Alfor refused to let the lions fall into Zarkon's hands, so he placed his daughter in cryogenic stasis and linked the lions to her lifeforces. He then locked the Black Lion in the Castle of Lions and scattered the remaining lions to the far corners of the universe, as bringing them together would remove the lock. Alfor then faked Voltron's destruction as he fell in battle against Zarkon, as the Castle of Lions flew to planet Arus. For ten-thousand years the lions waited until the arrival of five new Paladins: five pilots from planet Earth.

Components of Voltron

While each lion is unique, they each have a few shared abilities. Each lion is equipped with a variety of common functions and abilities. These include speeders that allow them to be accessed from the hangars or used as swift mobile transports in areas inaccessible to the lions, as well as a mouth cannon and a tail laser. Each lion also automatically emits a force field when parked outside the hangars. The force fields are only able to be bypassed by the lion's respective Paladin and their allies. Each Lion is also capable of a degree of sapience, able to communicate with their Paladin via a psychic-like link, revealing their capabilities to them consistently during the heat of combat. Each lion is also capable of superluminal speeds, allowing them to travel unmeasured quantities faster than light.

The Lions' intelligence is such that regardless of strength in a Paladin, the Lion itself can weaken a less worthy Paladin's connection to it. This was the case when Shiro deepened his bond with the Black Lion, acknowledging it as his friend and equal partner. This acknowledgment as a sentient being is what influenced Black into suppressing Zarkon's hold on it, as Zarkon did not see Black as a life form, but as a weapon to be mastered and used to dominate all who stood in his way and nothing more. This shows that the Lions actually have more in common with living beings than mere machines, including possessing emotions such as pride, anger, friendship, and loyalty. Suffice it to say that the Artificial Interactive Consciousness of the Lions is arguably one of their most impressive traits, making them more dangerous than unthinking chunks of metal. The Lions will rescue their Paladins if they believe they are worthy enough, such as when the Black Lion saved Keith after his battle with the clone and when the Lions arrived for the Paladins stranded in space.

The consciousness of each Lion is capable of uploading the mind of its Paladin in extreme circumstances, such as imminent death. This was witnessed when the Black Lion brought Shiro's mind into its own when Shiro was killed during the battle against Zarkon's mech suit in the Season Two finale. The consciousness can then be transferred by an Altean sorcerer (if they have the skill) into a compatible host body, as Allura did by transferring Shiro's mind into the body of one of his clones.

In addition of basic weaponry in form of hand-mounted lasers and shield, Voltron possesses a bayard system which enable it to materialize much more powerful weapons. As demonstrated by Alfor, by inserting a Bayard into any of Lions' bayard slot, Voltron would materialize weapons which depends on the Paladin wielding the Bayard, not the Bayard or Lion itself. When multiple Bayards are combined with respective Lions, the materialized weapon is upgraded into a more powerful form. As the weapons materializes in bluish white light, they are suggestively comprised of Quintessence. Though not all manifested weapons are necessarily alike, the bayard system, coupled with lions' sentience is another testament of Voltron being the greatest and indisputable defender of the universe, with only a few that can challenge its might.

Black Lion

Paladin(s):

• Zarkon (Original pilot,formerly, deceased)
• Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane (formerly)
• Shiro's clone (formerly)
• Keith (formerly)
  Location on Voltron: The head and torso
  Ability: When fused with Voltron, the Black Lion has the ability to create a shield and therefore be used as a defence when in battle, when amplified by the power of its respective bayard, it creates a sword that attacks with a heated energy source.

Notes:

• Unlike the other lions, the black one was kept on the Castle of Lions and could only be accessed once the other four had been found and returned to the castle.
• It can form a jaw blade.
• It is also capable of enhancing its blades into wings that allow Voltron to move more swiftly and efficiently and is able to destroy a vast amount of enemy ships within seconds.

Red Lion

Paladin(s)

• King Alfor of Altea (Original pilot, formerly, deceased)
• Keith (formerly)
• Lance (formerly)
  Location on Voltron: Right arm
  Ability: The ability to create a blazing sword for battle.

Notes

• It was the fourth lion to be found
• Like its elemental affiliation, the Red Lion can blast fire and beams of plasma from its mouth.
• It can also create a three-pronged canon on its back that inflicted great destruction upon impact, such as when it hit Zarkon's central hub ship.

Green Lion

Paladin(s)

• Trigel (Original, formerly, deceased)
• Katie "Pidge" Holt (formerly)
  Location on Voltron: Left arm
  Ability: Arm Cannon

Notes

• The Green Lion is seemingly the third lion to be found, though it is unclear if it was founded before or after Hunk located the Yellow Lion.
• It is the most adaptative of all five lions which lead Pidge to install a cloaking device in its systems.
• The Green Lion can manifest a back-mounted cannon which fires constricting vines that grow from the point of impact and ensnare the target.

Blue Lion

Paladin(s):

• Blaytz (Original pilot, formerly, deceased)
• Lance (formerly)
• Princess Allura of Altea (formerly)
  Location on Voltron: Right leg
  Ability: While unknown what weapon it creates for Voltron, the Blue Lion has the specific special ability to freeze things in place.

Notes

• Out of the five lions, the blue one was founded first and was located on Earth.
• It can manifest a sonic canon on the back area which acts as a sensory device and is most effective when underwater, such as when it was effective against the Baku.

Yellow Lion

Paladin(s):

• Gyrgan (Original, formerly, deceased)
• Hunk (formerly)
  Location on Voltron: Left leg
  Ability: Shoulder-mounted canon

• It is most likely the second lion to be founded, whether it was before or after Pidge founded the Green Lion is unknown.
• The Yellow Lion is the slowest out of the five and focuses on melee attacks.
• It can also create durable armour to withstand attacks from stronger foes.

Combined with the IGF-Atlas

During when Honerva emerged to attempt to destroy every reality. Voltron merged with the IGF-Atlas, with help from the Balmerans, when fused, the new robot created a larger sword for combat.

Notes

• Unlike other adaptations, the wings are able to be turned into a shield.
• The lions are all capable of flying at greater speeds than average ships on Earth
• It is possible that the Altean magic within it is what causes the Paladins to safely fly in them without being killed due to high speeds.
• Despite the five robots being labeled as lions, the roar they emit is actually that of a tiger.
• It is stated that all Paladins must have a team bond together so that Voltron can be formed.
• After Shiro died, Keith took on being the Black Paladin with Lance assuming role as the Red Paladin and Princess Allura becoming the Blue Lion's new pilot until her own death after Honerva was stopped.