honour bound

Keith’s motives and honour has never changed or faltered. However, leaving the team is concerning for many reasons. Firstly, no longer being a paladin of Voltron has proven to Keith that he can be replaced in this mission. It’s not a case of whether people WANT that to happen or how they’ll feel about it. If we’re talking about stuff from an objective standpoint the fact is from what he’s seen in terms of forming Voltron and being Voltron they can carry on without him.

So the most important thing now is getting the mission done and seeing it through to the end.

Thace’s words to Keith and Ulaz’s words are really wrecking me up and unsettling to me because “as a member of Voltron you have a bigger mission” / “Voltron is too valuable”. Thace is explaining why he needs to stay to save the mission, and why Keith needs to get out of here. We see the same thing with Ulaz, prioritising Voltron over himself.

We even see how Keith can be in making sure others understand their worth to the team:

And we also see how Keith can be in terms of reminding everyone that the mission is bigger than all of them:

(A Few Examples not every single one. also we’re not gonna talk about S3E1 “tell them to fight for themselves, Voltron is gone” bc this is a deviation of the pattern for many reasons and also we’re trying to discuss something else rn. It’s important to acknowledge this anyway, though)

Now a few people have told him something close to “we need you” before. But acknowledging the context of this and noting how Keith responds to it is important:

His body language and responses indicate he just cannot comprehend that being true for himself based on everything he’s seen become true, what he thinks and so much more.

There’s also another thing coming into play and that’s all the times people have told him they need him it’s because of a higher purpose and the mission. Both of the times he’s been told explicitly that he’s needed are when Voltron is concerned. Even if there have been some implications of it being personal and emotional too, the overall situation has been rooted in the mission and Voltron.

So it’s not a surprise given how Keith is and how he operates that he has tied his worth to this.

It’s not self-depreciative in the sense of ‘i hate myself and i deserve to just die’ it’s really more ‘I am just one person Voltron is bigger than me than any of us but keeping Voltron safe and the mission alive is the most important thing and it has to come first above anything if it comes to it even myself’

Keith isn’t a paladin anymore in the literal sense, which is exactly why this choice in 04x06 was so painfully logical for him to make. Because he’s seen others do it before and he understands this, he truly does he admits as much:

The universe needs Voltron. Realistically and logically speaking, the universe doesn’t need Keith - this is Keith’s mindset. Allura said so herself the blades had survived thousands of years without him, which is true. He will always do whatever it takes for the mission. That is ever more alarming now that if it comes down the mission and greater good leaving Voltron in jeopardy because of his actions is off the cards.

And yes I use that word deliberately bc as if that hasn’t been constantly drilled into him, how every single action and choice he makes could well impede the team:

(just a few examples, not all of them. but we need to note both occasions mentioned where he did these things, he was doing it for the over all greater good: removing himself from voltron to check if he was behind the group being tracked and putting them and voltron in danger (02x06) and going on an important mission to ascertain the nature of the new quintessence that poses a great danger to the universe and in turn voltron’s ability to defend it (04x01). The execution of these things we can discuss another time, bc that’s not the focus here!)

But now, there is no way he runs the risk of putting the team in jeopardy.

In the literal sense right now, Voltron is able to continue without him too. Keith was right when it was about Pidge, because without Pidge they were a lion down and there was no proof anybody else could pilot the green lion, then Voltron would be inoperable:

But with Keith leaving, he lays it out very clearly himself:

They can do it. They can form Voltron and complete the bigger mission without him here. And nobody questions him on that or tells him otherwise, because it’s true.

Now, you think I’m done but I’m not lmao. Do you want to see something that wedges the knife in real deep? Sure thing. How about Keith’s mindscape? Let’s go back there, where it’s affirmed to him by him I know who I am, I know what I stand for and that Voltron needs him and so do the people.

Literally in the mindscape he is prepared to give up the blade and leave his own questions behind for the sake of Voltron, the mission. Because he is a paladin and he knows that the mission comes above anything else. 

The mindscape finishes with Keith affirming his place on the team as a paladin of Voltron, regardless of his past regardless of what is in his blood.

Here, this is the most wonderful Symbolism set against all of S4: