kcgane:

secrettriostuffidk:

kcgane:

highkey one of my absolute fav visual parallels for lotor & keith 

Tbh I kind of love the implication here that when Team Voltron walks up and starts talking about Shiro in the abstract—he’s a hero, he’s a legend, like he’s anything besides a person who Keith loves (platonically or otherwise) who’s lost and could be hurt—and encourage Keith to give up on him, it’s a betrayal all the same

!! you really put that eloquently thanks for voicing what i’ve struggled to articulate for a long time about this scene because i think about this scene so much in terms of how keith’s grief was handled. the team may think they’re doing a good job in consoling him but it’s very clear looking at keith it just is everything he does not want to hear right now. to him shiro isn’t some grand hero, a legend - shiro has always been his dear friend the most important person to him, someone who literally changed his life and really means so much. 

i wrote a bit about this scene briefly over here, but there’s way more to say this scene is such a telling one. notably, keith remains pretty damn unresponsive and visibly on edge until Allura steps in and brings up the fact that shiro is completely irreplaceable. it’s only at that point he actually seems to be receptive and considers their words. 

from where keith is standing in his outlook of this situation, this is how things look, he pretty much makes it clear what he thinks about all of this prior too:

and it says a lot the the team seem utterly baffled and puzzled at the start of the black lion scene on how to approach keith and why he’s behaving this way - it really is of the same tone as acxa ezor and zethrid watching lotor who is also detached and: “uh so what the heck do we do?” - they really cannot seem to comprehend that keith is deeply grieving the loss of someone close to him. 

take it a step further and bring in another interesting parallel - take a look visually and also verbally how the team offer their condolences and comfort to Allura in a period of grief having parted with her father in 01x09 (that’s for another time though - too much to say on that haha) the circumstances are different in some respects, but at the nexus of it is the same thing: someone is hurting because they have lost someone close to them. 

we should consider that at this stage in S3 honestly, it’s p clear that they are not really expecting shiro to return. allura herself kind of confirms what keith suspects in 03x01 - that keith really is the only one still hanging onto shreds of belief that they will actually find shiro - by already honouring shiro as basically a fallen warrior: 

S1x09: we all are sorry about YOUR loss allura

S3x01: we all miss shiro* it’s not just you but come on keith we have things to do so you need to get out of this funk 

*- i can understand the “we all do” was probably intended to be comforting and inclusionary, and no this is not an attack on any of the team just an assessment of how effective their methods were overall to keith. and it’s p clear from keith’s reactions it just doesn’t translate the way they think it will to him. not with what he’s seen and the way the team are pushing on and from where he’s stood pushing any real consideration for his emotions and shiro being gone aside too. this is all about perception!!!!! between keith + the team, between keith + himself, perception is such a big thing. 

mm yea anyway all of this really puts a massive spotlight on that gaping disparity of understanding and emotional communication between keith + the team that stretches and comes to a head in 4x01 (for whatever reasons…. lots going on - but not going into that here lol).