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This page details the main heroes of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''. For other characters, head back to the main page [[Characters/VoltronLegendaryDefender here]].
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* AnimalGenderBender: Lance refers to him as male despite the fact that he clearly has udders.
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* AnimalGenderBender: Lance refers to him "him" as male despite the fact that he "he" clearly has udders.udders. [[spoiler:Season 4 has him correct this mistake to Allura and Coran, correctly pointing out that Kaltenecker is actually female.]]
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** Season four reveals [[spoiler: Katlenecker is living peacefully inside its own part the castle, providing the team with milk for milkshakes]].
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** Season four reveals [[spoiler: Katlenecker is living peacefully inside its her own part of the castle, providing the team with milk for milkshakes]].
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** Season four reveals [[spoiler: Katlenecker is living peacefully inside its own part the castle, providing the team with milk for milkshakes]].
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* FreudianExcuse: A video released on the show's Facebook page has him believe his mother leaving him and his dad when he was young might be the cause of his issues.
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* FreudianExcuse: A video released on In his own paladin vlog, when he starts wondering why he acts the show's Facebook page has him believe way he does he believes it's due his mother leaving him and his dad when he was young might which could be the cause of his issues.
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* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Being the youngest in the group, the older paladins are very protective of her.
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* JapanesePronouns: "Boku" as Pidge Gundersson, which technically makes her a [[Bokukko]] until her reveal to the others. After the reveal, she doesn't use personal pronouns very often.
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* JapanesePronouns: "Boku" as Pidge Gundersson, which technically makes her a [[Bokukko]] {{Bokukko}} until her reveal to the others. After the reveal, she doesn't use personal pronouns very often.
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* TheConfidant: When Allura feels she can't speak to the others, the mice are usually her go to confidants.
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* RidiculouslyCuteCritters
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* RidiculouslyCuteCrittersRidiculouslyCuteCritter
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* WhatYouAreInTheDark: He reveals some insecurities when talking with who he thinks is Slav, he even compliments Keith by saying he does cool things.
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* InnocentlyInsensitive: [[spoiler: He treats Keith like a different person upon learning of his Galra heritage, annoying him greatly.]]
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* BigNo: Gives one when she realizes she can't hook up her video game anywhere.
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* MrFanservice: A lot of effort is spent detailing his muscular HeroicBuild in closeup shots, and in Season 3 his abs and pelvis are clearly visible under his [[FormFittingWardrobe outfit]] [[spoiler:as a prisoner on the run from the Galra again]]. Fans have noticed, to the point his voice actor uses the tagline "The hot guy from @Voltron" on at least one social media website.
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* FriendlySniper: His version of the Red Bayard is a futuristic SniperRifle rather than the VideoGame/MassEffect-like sci-fi automatic rifle he used at the beginning. This reflects his CharacterDevelopment, supporting his teammates from the rear as opposed to charging in guns blazing and trying to hog all the glory.
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Speculation.
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* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:"The Blade of Marmora" reveals he's part Galra. It's not revealed how much he is but it is hinted that it comes from his mother's side.]] As of season 3 [[spoiler:it's thought that Lotor's lieutenant Acxa, whom he met in the Weblum, might be his mother]].
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* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:"The Blade of Marmora" reveals he's part Galra. It's not revealed how much he is but it is hinted that it comes from his mother's side.]] As of season 3 [[spoiler:it's thought that Lotor's lieutenant Acxa, whom he met in the Weblum, might be his mother]].]]
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* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl: When it comes to manipulating quintessence Allura has no equal. From healing whole planets to powering super machines she can do it, even though doing it would kill most people it just leaves her tired for a few days. When Hagger attacks her in season two with quintessence instead of hurting Allura, the young princess instead absorbed the energy and gained a giant power boost.
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* ActionGirl: She's not afraid to go into the fray herself.
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* BadassPrincess: She was the princess of Altea, and is more than capable of handling herself in a fight. Among other things, she is strong enough to throw Shiro across a pod-bay with one arm.
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* PrettyPrincessPowerhouse: She was the princess of Altea, and is more than capable of handling herself in a fight. Among other things, she is strong enough to throw Shiro across a pod-bay with one arm. As a paladin, she's at least as tough as any of the guys who serve her.
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* FreudianExcuse: A video released on the show's Facebook page has him believe his mother leaving him and his dad when he was young might be the cause of his issues.
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** The latter is most notably demonstrated in his Paladin Vlog. [[spoiler: Underneath his prickly exterior he's incredibly self-aware of his flaws,theorizing that his Galra heritage may play a part in his temper and pinpointing his mom leaving as the main reason why he pushes people away]].
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* ParentalAbandonment: Noted in his profile to be an orphan. [[spoiler: In "The Blade of Mamora", it's revealed he has Galra blood from his mother's side while his father is human.]]
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* ParentalAbandonment: Noted in his profile to be an orphan. [[spoiler: In "The Blade of Mamora", it's revealed he has Galra blood from his mother's side while his father is human.]]]] He even notes in his vlog that maybe the reason why he's so untrusting of others and puts up so many walls around himself is because [[spoiler: his mother essentially abandoned him]].
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* TheTeam: [[BigThinShortTrio Hunk, Lance, and Pidge]] were part of the same unit at the academy. When they sneak out to investigate the crash, [[ThreePlusTwo they meet Keith as they rescue Shiro]] and the Blue Lion takes them to Arus where they awaken Allura and Coran. The two Alteans teach the five pilots to work as a team, and they all bond together to form Voltron and defend the universe. Shiro becomes TeamDad and TheLeader. Keith and Lance form a [[RedOniBlueOni rivalry]] for the "{{Lancer}}" role where the former is [[AcePilot an Ace]] IneffectualLoner and the latter is a GloryHound CasanovaWannabe. Pidge is the SmartGuy, Hunk the BigGuy, Allura is TheChick, and Coran is her OldRetainer.
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* TheTeam: [[BigThinShortTrio Hunk, Lance, and Pidge]] were part of the same unit at the academy. When they sneak out to investigate the crash, [[ThreePlusTwo they meet Keith as they rescue Shiro]] and the Blue Lion takes them to Arus where they awaken Allura and Coran. The two Alteans teach the five pilots to work as a team, and they all bond together to form Voltron and defend the universe. Shiro becomes TeamDad and TheLeader. Keith and Lance form a [[RedOniBlueOni rivalry]] for the "{{Lancer}}" role where the former is [[AcePilot an Ace]] IneffectualLoner and the latter is a GloryHound CasanovaWannabe. Pidge is the SmartGuy, Hunk the BigGuy, Allura is TheChick, TheChick and BigGood, and Coran is her OldRetainer.OldRetainer.
** As of Season 3 the Paladins become a proper FiveManBand with Keith taking over as the Leader, Lance becoming his right hand man Lancer, and Allura joining the fighting force as TheChick.
** As of Season 3 the Paladins become a proper FiveManBand with Keith taking over as the Leader, Lance becoming his right hand man Lancer, and Allura joining the fighting force as TheChick.
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* HeroesPreferSwords: His personal weapon is a sword in a universe full of laser guns. This is a nod to his status as TheLeader in most other incarnations, including ''Voltron Force'' where he had dual swords. [[spoiler: As of "The Blade of Marmora", he is in possession of ''two'' swords, though he doesn't use them together at any point.]]
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* HeroesPreferSwords: His personal weapon is a sword in a universe full of laser guns. This is a nod to his status as TheLeader in most other incarnations, including ''Voltron Force'' where he had dual swords. [[spoiler: As of "The Blade of Marmora", he is in possession of ''two'' swords, though he doesn't use them together at any point. He also takes over as TheLeader when Shiro goes MIA.]]
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* JapanesePronouns: "Ore."
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* JapanesePronouns: "Ore."
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* JapanesePronouns: "Boku" as Pidge Gundersson, which technically makes her a [[Bokukko]] until her reveal to the others. After the reveal, she doesn't use personal pronouns very often.
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* JapanesePronouns: "Ore."
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* JapanesePronouns: "Boku," in contrast to the other males of the Voltron paladins who use ore.
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* JapanesePronouns: "Watashi."
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* JapanesePronouns: "Watashi."
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* MellowFellow: As stated by Allura in the first episode, Shiro was chosen as the black paladin because he keeps his cool in almost all situations. However, Shiro is more complex than that, as his traumatic experience as a slave/prisoner of the Galra gave him some nasty psychological issues and anxieties that have frozen him in place on more than one occasion.
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* BizarreAlienBiology: He's stricken by a disease that affects Alteans later in life during one episode, causing him to secrete slippery goo all over his body.
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* TokenHeroicOrc [[spoiler: Is part Galra and very much [[TheBerserker has the fighting style to match.]]
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* TokenHeroicOrc [[spoiler: Is part Galra and very much [[TheBerserker has the fighting style to match.]]]]]]
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* TokenHeroicOrc [[spoiler: Is part Galra and very much [[TheBerserker has the fighting style to match.]]
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If that's one link too many, I can yank the second one since there's a link in the spoiler under her main entry.
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In battle, she pilots the Castle of Lions, a powerful battleship, though she can hold her own in a fight. %%She later becomes Paladin of the Blue Lion, after Keith replaces Shiro as Paladin of the Black Lion and Lance takes Keith's position as Paladin of the Red Lion.
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In battle, she pilots the Castle of Lions, a powerful battleship, though she can hold her own in a fight. %%She [[spoiler: She later becomes Paladin of the Blue Lion, after Keith replaces Shiro as Paladin of the Black Lion and Lance takes Keith's position as Paladin of the Red Lion.Lion. The Blue Lion's bayard, while transforming into a rifle for Lance, becomes something similar to an urumi[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi]] and she's surprisingly good with it.]]
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* TheCaptain: Instead of taking over the Blue Lion as in the original, Allura takes charge of the TheBattlestar, known as the Castle of Lions. [[spoiler: Due to Shiro's disappearance, she takes up the mantle of Blue Lion pilot while Lance becomes the Red Lion pilot and Keith the Black Lion Pilot. Her Bayard transforms into a whip.]]
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* TheCaptain: Instead of taking over the Blue Lion as in the original, Allura takes charge of the TheBattlestar, known as the Castle of Lions. [[spoiler: Due to Shiro's disappearance, she takes up the mantle of Blue Lion pilot while Lance becomes the Red Lion pilot and Keith the Black Lion Pilot. Her Bayard transforms into an energy-based version of a whip.flexible sword[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi]].]]
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* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: A non-fatal variation. Shiro goes missing, but there's something...off about him upon his return. Most notably, he can't pilot the Black Lion, and he complains of a strange headache.]]
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* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: A non-fatal variation. Shiro goes missing, missing at the end of season 2, but there's something...off about him upon his return.return midway through season 3. Most notably, he can't pilot the Black Lion, and he complains of a strange headache.]]
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* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: A non-fatal variation. Shiro goes missing, but there's something...off about him upon his return. Most notably, he can't pilot the Black Lion, and he complains of a strange headache.]]
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* GenerationXerox: She's a carbon copy of her mother, who was revealed in the season 3 finale. The only noticeable difference is that Allura's mother has longer hair.
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** [[spoiler: most of the season 3 episode "The Hunted" as Keith's NumberTwo]]
** [[spoiler: In "Hole in the Sky" shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]
** [[spoiler: In "Hole in the Sky" shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]
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** [[spoiler: most Most of the season 3 but especially in the episode "The Hunted" as he becomes Keith's NumberTwo]]
** [[spoiler: In "Hole in the Sky" shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]NumberTwo]]
** [[spoiler: In "Hole in the Sky" shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]
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*** [[spoiler: Earlier in the episode, he shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
!Team Voltron
[[folder: In General]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/group_shot_for_tvtropes_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "Defenders of the Universe huh? That's got a nice ring to it."]]
* AcePilot: They all develop some degree of this after becoming the Paladins.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Each member of Team Voltron expressed an interest in exploring the cosmos. Now they have the chance and the means with the unfortunate caveat that they'll also have to ''free most of it from the clutches of a massive intergalactic empire and defend what remains unconquered.''
* BodyMotifs: Lining up with their Lions' position in Voltron:
** Shiro, the leader and head of Voltron, tries to keep a cool head, and ensures that the others function as a unit, just as a brain controls the body. He's also the mediator making sure that everybody plays nice together.
** Keith and Pidge are the arms of Voltron. The first two series focus on them and their efforts to take independent action: Pidge in locating the missing Holts, and Keith in uncovering his family background. Like arms and hands, they are driven to take action...sometimes to the detriment of the team (as in, "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing"). Keith, the right arm of Voltron, is also Shiro's "right-hand man." [[spoiler: In season 3, when Keith becomes the new leader, Blue refuses to accept Lance and instead Red takes him. Allura explains that the "right hand" element of Voltron is literally true, and he was moved to Red to represent that.]]
** Lance and Hunk are the legs of Voltron. Hunk is explicitly said by Allura to provide the strength and stability of Voltron; Lance's role hasn't been explicitly stated, but balance has been mentioned. These two are team players, and prefer to act as a group (or pair) rather than go off alone. Unlike Keith, Shiro and Pidge, who regularly go off on their own quests, Hunk and Lance can generally be found where you left them, making them reliable.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Shiro -- Black, Keith -- Red, Lance -- Blue, Pidge -- Green, Hunk -- Yellow. As per promotional art, Allura -- Pink, Coran -- Purple.
* ColorCodedElements:
** Keith, with fire, is red.
** Lance, with water, is blue.
** Pidge, with forest, is green.
** Hunk, with earth, is yellow.
** Shiro, with sky, is black.
* ColorCodedSecretIdentity: Outside of their lions and armor, their casual costumes still fit their color scheme. Shiro wears a black body suit, Keith has a bright red jacket, Lance wears a blue shirt and jeans, Pidge has a green shirt, and Hunk wears a yellow shirt and bandanna. However, the "secret identity" part does not apply currently. [[spoiler:In season 3 this doesn't fully apply as the Keith and Lance keep their casual costumes while having switched lions. Although Keith does wear a black shirt under his red jacket, which might also be this trope in action.]]
* ElementNumberFive: Together with their Lions, each of the Paladins is referred to as a ''Guardian Spirit of the _______''.
* EnsembleCast: If Shiro wasn't automatically assumed to be TheProtagonist as the leader of Voltron, one would be hard-pressed to define him as such particularly for Season 1 as a whole, as it starts with Lance as the DecoyProtagonist during the first half of episode 1, then continues the rest of the season with a focus on a character/pair/the team as a whole per scene, episode, or arc. Even in season 2, which concentrates only on three characters' arcs, Shiro's being one of them, the focus shifts more and more to Keith and Allura's towards the end (and since some of Shiro's and a big part of Allura's arcs wind up tied to Keith's, really it's Keith's arc that gets a majority of the focus in S2). The promotional summary for S1 actually implies this, naming all Paladins instead of the likes of "Shiro and company." (Infamously in some circles, as it calls all the Paladins "teens," while Shiro is vaguely alluded to being an adult in his early-to-mid-20's and currently [[ShrugOfGod flip-flopped]] depending on the source). Even then, despite being unrelated to the main plots of season 2, Pidge is the only character to appear in all episodes.
* EveryoneHasASpecialMove: Each carries a RetractableWeapon called a Bayard that forms a unique weapon in person and interfaces with their Lion's cockpit to give Voltron a similar one. Shiro's Bayard was lost long before he took up the mantle, so he makes do with his robotic arm (which turns out to have a glowing charged-up mode, anyway).
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Paladins fit loosely in the following:
** Shiro: Leukine. Balances the others.
** Keith: Choleric. Hardworking, confident, and determined, but also rebellious and cynical.
** Pidge: Melancholic. Analytical, intelligent, and mild-tempered, but also blunt and inflexible.
** Lance: Sanguine. Friendly, talkative, HotBlooded, likes to think of himself as TheCharmer (but really isn't), but also rather frivolous and gullible.
** Hunk: Phlegmatic. Humble, sweet, and hardworking, but anxious and yielding.
* GenerationXerox: Owing to the inherent nature of the Lions, who supposedly favor specific personality types, we find that there are quite a few overlaps with their predecessors come Season 3. [[spoiler: Lance's forerunner, Blaytz, was a huge flirt who whooped and hollered while flying, much like Lance. Pidge's predecessor liked to tease and needle her comrades. The Black and Red pilots are apparently intrinsically linked, with the Red Paladin playing TheLancer to the Black Paladin -- whether that's Zarkon and Alfor, Shiro and Keith, or Keith and Lance]].
* ThePaladin: Not just any Paladins, but ''[[RecycledInSpace Space Paladins]]''.
* PersonalityPowers: Each Paladin is linked to an appropriate element:
** Shiro -- ranked higher than the others and looked up to by them -- is the Sky.
** Keith, the impulsive, instinct-driven hothead with a temper, is Fire.
** Lance -- adaptable, cool-headed in a crisis and secretly rather emotional -- is Water.
** Hunk -- kind, stable and fiercely loyal -- is Earth.
** Seemingly inverted with Pidge, who hates the great outdoors and would rather interact with the world via technology. However, "Greening the Cube" reveals that her adaptability and tenacity makes her a better fit with the Nature element than she expected.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: A survivor of an alien abduction, three cadets who consistently fail simulation missions, and an AcePilot with disciplinary issues are the only guys available to pilot Voltron.
* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: Allura didn't have much time to assemble a team. Fortunately for her, they may be teenagers with attitude problems and problems with teamwork but at least they're also students at a space exploration school.
* {{Sentai}}: True to their ''Anime/GoLion'' origins.
* SpaceCadet: Hunk, Pidge and Lance.
* TheTeam: [[BigThinShortTrio Hunk, Lance, and Pidge]] were part of the same unit at the academy. When they sneak out to investigate the crash, [[ThreePlusTwo they meet Keith as they rescue Shiro]] and the Blue Lion takes them to Arus where they awaken Allura and Coran. The two Alteans teach the five pilots to work as a team, and they all bond together to form Voltron and defend the universe. Shiro becomes TeamDad and TheLeader. Keith and Lance form a [[RedOniBlueOni rivalry]] for the "{{Lancer}}" role where the former is [[AcePilot an Ace]] IneffectualLoner and the latter is a GloryHound CasanovaWannabe. Pidge is the SmartGuy, Hunk the BigGuy, Allura is TheChick, and Coran is her OldRetainer.
* TechnicolorNinjas: All of their exploits without the Lions typically involve lots and lots of sneaking. This is while wearing bright white armor with primary color highlights and ''glowing panels''.
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: The bond between the paladins and their development into TrueCompanions is particularly pointed out early in the series to be of vital importance, and while all of them are implied to have become close knit friends, some interactions never really get much screentime, which is understandable with a cast of 7 main characters, but the Shiro/Hunk, Shiro/Lance and Keith/Pidge interactions have been particularly rare, the latter is surprising, since as of season two, both has as objective [[spoiler:find their families]].
* TrueCompanions: They eventually become this, to a point where would risk their lives for each other and stop at nothing to find one of their own. This is actually a major requirement for forming Voltron.
* TwoGirlsToATeam: Allura and Pidge.
* VagueAge: Up until after the third season almost nothing was known about the ages of the Paladins. [[AllThereInTheManual The Paladin Handbook]] states that Shiro is 25, Keith is 18, Lance and Hunk are 17, and Pidge is 15.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Voltron]]
The most powerful weapon in the universe, formed by combining the five individual Lions into a single fighting robot.
----
!!!Voltron as a whole
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voltron__ld.png]]
* AdaptationalWimp: Unlike in the original series, forming Voltron is not an instant solution to the team's problems. Zarkon hints that Voltron is more powerful than what has been shown. Coran also points out that the Galra have had the chance to do 10,000 years of R&D while he, Allura, and the lions were in stasis.
* {{BFG}}: Activating Hunk's bayard while as Voltron forms a powerful shoulder-mounted variant. Keith also manages to unlock a huge back-mounted cannon on the Red Lion that's far more powerful than its standard mouth-fired gun when he pulls off a HeroicSecondWind in his fight with Zarkon.
* {{BFS}}: Activating Keith's, Pidge's, Hunk's and Lance's Bayards at once creates a sword even larger than Voltron itself.
* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Now has a giant "V" on its chest.
* CombiningMecha: The Blue and Yellow Lions form the legs and the Red and Green Lions form the arms.
-->'''Shiro:''' [[MythologyGag And I'll form]] [[LeaderFormsTheHead the head]].
* FlamingSword: [[spoiler:To use it, they need Shiro's Bayard which they finally do in the second season finale.]]
* FashionableAsymmetry: Because of the Lions' DivergentCharacterEvolution, Voltron's left side (with the shielded Green Lion forming the arm and the MightyGlacier Yellow Lion forming the leg) is now more heavily armored than its right.
* HomingLasers: The lasers it fires from its {{BFG}}. At one point the lasers fly past their target in order to loop back and hit it in front.
* HumongousMecha: As per tradition. It's ''very'' tall and has the strength to match. If [[http://voltronlegendarydefender.wikia.com/wiki/File:Voltron_Size.png this]] picture is to be believed, Voltron is 100.584 meters tall. That's 330 feet!
* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: [[spoiler: Due to the material it is made from, it is capable of going between realities without being harmed. Zarkon wanted it to open up another rift like the one on Daibazaal in order to gain access to more quintessence.]]
* MagicMeteor: [[spoiler:"Space Mall" reveals that the Lions were made from a meteor that crashed on Galra homeworld.]]
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Gets new upgrades or abilities when convenient. Justified as the Paladins are still trying to figure out how to work Voltron at its maximum potential. [[spoiler: Alfor admits that even though he created the Lions, he has no idea what all their abilities are and theorised that they were evolving. Considering he didn't know the Lions could form Voltron itself until it was needed, he has a point.]] This sometimes comes up as YouNeverAsked.
* SuperToughness: Voltron's primary power seems to be a near-inability for its armor to be damaged.
* ThunderboltIron: Was forged from Quintessence-infused ore from a very unusual comet. Quintessence is a weird enough material as it is, but the Lion's appear to be at least partially sentient and can mutate new features as needed.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: [[spoiler:In "Blackout" Haggar uses the komar to absorb its Quintessence. To Haggar's horror, she realizes it's too much and nearly destroyed her. For reference, the komar is meant to absorb the Quintessence of planets.]]
* TransformationSequence: It has one, in which the five Lions combine to form Voltron.
* YouNeverAsked: The Lions don't really bother telling the paladins what they can do until the paladins literally complain about not having it. (A sword, a gun, a bigger sword...)
!!!The Lions
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voltronlions.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[CaptainObvious From left to right: Blue, Red, Black, Green, Yellow]]]]
* AdaptationalBadass: Counter to Voltron's AdaptationalWimp status, the individual lions are significantly more capable in this version, as opposed to pretty much only exist to form Voltron.
* AmbiguousGender: Pidge refers to the Green Lion as a girl, and Hunk refers to Yellow Lion as a boy. The other lions don't have stated genders. Although Lance speaks about the Blue Lion similarly to an overprotective boyfriend [[spoiler: when he thinks Keith wants to use it]].
* AnimalMecha: The Lions are functional mecha by themselves. A Type 2 example as the Lions are fully sentient and frequently communicate with their Paladins in various fashions.
* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Blue Lion has a troop transport compartment in its underbelly which Lance uses to deploy Blade of Marmora guerillas into battle in the third Season Premier.
* ConflictingLoyalties: The Black Lion due to the fact it has bonds with both Shiro and its original Paladin, [[spoiler:Zarkon]]. [[spoiler: "Space Mall" ends this with Black siding with Shiro.]]
** A very mild version of this, shows up with the Lions interacting with people other than their chosen pilots. Keith had to convince Black it was for Shiro's own good to allow him to pilot it, and Red actively ignored Coran's attempt to pilot it, in favor of rescuing Keith. : [[spoiler: Cue Season 3, and the Black Lion refuses to let a returned Shiro pilot it in favour of Keith.]]
* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: The Black Lion can form a small dual-bladed variant of these to use at close range, it has a stronger cutting force than its jaws or claws. Season 2 shows all the Lions can do this, too.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Black Lion.
* DivergentCharacterEvolution: In the original, the Lions had very few differences between each other. In this version the differences are greatly exaggerated. Most notable is Yellow, who is more likely to body tackle an opponent than use his lasers. Other differences include the discrepancy in size (with the two "leg" Lions being larger and bulkier than the two "arms," and Black as the head-and-torso being bigger than all of them) and their different facial expressions (Black, Red and Green, with "ears" on top of their head and facing forward, look alert and eager, while Blue and Yellow, with "ears" at the side of their head, look more relaxed).
* ElementalPowers: The individual Lions.
* EmpathicWeapon: The show makes a point that each of the Lions are alive and choose their pilots. Throughout the show, the Lions will react to their Paladins' emotions or guide them to unlock new powers to protect them. Notably, the Lions will also change who they allow to pilot them-[[spoiler:when Shiro is lost during season 3, the Black Lion only allows Keith to pilot it. Lance loses his bond with the Blue Lion and forms a new one with the Red Lion, even as the Blue Lion switches its allegiance to Allura.]]
* ExcaliburInTheRust: {{Downplayed}} with the Lions, whose paint jobs are starting to fade away. [[spoiler: Season 3 reveals that they looked exactly the same ''when they were new''.]]
* FragileSpeedster: Red has exceptional speed but lack in defense more than the others.
* FrickinLaserBeams: Each individual Lion has one of these as a standard weapon. They're fired from their mouths.
* GreenThumb: The Green Lion has a cannon that sprout roots.
* {{Herald}}: The Blue Lion. Keith being able to sense it and Lance being able to bond with it kickstarts the adventure.
* HotBlooded: The Red Lion is like this. Allura mentions that it is the most temperamental Lion, and it's also one of the most aggressive in protecting its Paladin.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Each Lion handles differently. [[spoiler:When several of the team members switch Lions in season 3, it takes them a while to get used to their new Lions' controls.]]
* AnIcePerson: The Blue Lion is associated with water, and it comes with a [[IceMagicIsWater freeze ray.]]
* {{Invisibility}}: Pidge modified the Green Lion with a cloaking device reverse-engineered from the Castle's training deck.
* JackOfAllStats: Both the Black and Blue Lions.
** Blue isn't as fast as Green or Red, nor does it have Yellow's immense armaments and defenses. Instead, it has a healthy mixture of all three attributes, a balance that is only dwarfed by the Black Lion and Voltron itself.
** Black is equal parts tough and maneuverable with weapons to cover all ranges of combat, as stated above, it shares this trait with Blue -- but far surpasses it in terms of overall ability.
* LevelUpAtIntimacy5: The primary explanation for NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. Forming deeper levels of trust with your lion allows you to upgrade their weaponry and unlock hidden shoulder weapons. This also allows Red Lion to sense Keith's distress from long distances.
* LightningBruiser: The Green Lion isn't quite as fast as its Red counterpart, but she hits just as hard and possesses more armor.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Pidge's Green Lion bears a highly durable shield on her back that covers Voltron's left shoulder when combined. Notably, Pidge also has control of generating Voltron's actual shield in battle.
* MakeMeWannaShout: The Blue Lion has a sonic attack, which can also be used to make sonar maps.
* ManchurianAgent: Black's bond with Zarkon is still substantial enough that he can have it disassemble Voltron and spit out Shiro via telepathic commands. Fortunately, it is not ''totally'' dominant over Shiro's own bond, as he is able to end the Emperor's fight with Keith and Red by getting Black to attack Zarkon. [[spoiler:This continues to be a problem throughout Season 2 until "Space Mall", when Shiro is able to strengthen his bond with Black while weakening Zarkon's bond.]]
* MightyGlacier: Yellow is heavily armed and armored, but is the slowest of the quintet.
* PlayingWithFire: Red has a flamethrower attack that's more powerful than its usual laser.
* ThePowerOfTrust: Season 2 has [[spoiler:Shiro and Zarkon debate over what quality the Lions demand of their Paladins when they battle over the right to pilot the Black Lion during their astral battle in "Space Mall". Zarkon believes they respect power above all else, while Shiro argues that the bond is about trust. [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Zarkon mocks him and says trust has nothing to do with it.]] [[BigDamnHeroes The Black Lion disagrees, and rejects its former Paladin... Quite violently.]]]]
* PurpleIsPowerful: When the Lions streak through the air to form Voltron, they each leave a colored trail in their wake. The other Lions' streaks match their color, but the Black Lion leaves a purple trail. The Black Lion's cockpit also glows purple as well.
* {{Teleportation}}: [[spoiler: Keith notes in Season 3 that this is one of the Black Lion’s abilities.]]
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: The Blue Lion gets a power boost underwater, which helps Lance and Hunk defeat a giant sea monster enslaving an underwater civilization.
* TrueCompanions: Season 2 dedicates more time to the nature of the bond between the Lions and their Paladins. [[spoiler: While Red gets some time to shine, most of the focus is on Black and Shiro. During an astral battle with Zarkon, Shiro's desire to bond with Black through trust rather than Zarkon's domination allowed Black to enter the astral plane and make it very clear who it considers its true Paladin. During the final battle, the depth of their bond unlocks Black's personal upgrade and allows Shiro to retrieve his Bayard.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: In a bit of irony, the second season shows the Red Lion has this for Keith. It has gone on its own to rescue its Paladin multiple times and once tried to destroy a base to reach him.
* TheWorfEffect: As it has the highest level of raw power and armor, Yellow is often the first to get smacked about by the MonsterOfTheWeek to show just how much trouble the team is in.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shiro_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Creator/JoshKeaton\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Creator/RicardoTejedo\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Kenji Sugimura
Officially titled the Guardian Spirit of the Sky, Shiro is the pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the Defenders of the Universe. He was a star pilot in the Galaxy Garrison before he, along with Pidge's father and brother, were abducted by a Galra ship on Kerberos. Shiro later became known as "Champion" after he was forced into gladiatorial combat and defeated a feared Galra warrior; he subsequently had his right arm replaced with a Galra cybernetic that can both power up Galra technology and serve as his melee weapon. Shiro escaped Galra custody and returned to Earth, where he joined his unlikely future teammates. Shiro is the most level-headed and responsible of the five pilots, and despite suffering amnesia and PTSD after escaping the Galra, he remains quite perceptive.
As the pilot of the Black Lion, he has access to the most powerful weaponry out of all the Lions. He forms the head of Voltron, and does not have access to his Bayard as it has gone missing. To supplement the missing weapon, he uses his Galra-tech arm, which is capable of heating to high temperatures and thus is able cut through the {{Mooks}} of the Galra Empire with ease.
----
* HundredPercentAdorationRating: While the rest of the team may bicker with each other, they all deeply admire and respect Shiro.
* TheAce: Everyone on the team looks up to him; he's an exceptional space explorer, adequate at close combat, and a [[TheLeader very capable leader]].
* AdaptationNameChange: A recursive example. Along with reverting Sven Holgersson [[RaceLift to his original ethnicity]] in ''Anime/GoLion'', showrunners Montgomery and Dos Santos opted to use his original Japanese name.
* AloofBigBrother: Implied to be an unwitting one by season 2 to Keith. The second time Shiro insists that Keith be his successor as leader, despite Keith's annoyance and discomfort with the idea, instead of arguing firmly as he's done with everyone else on the team, he simply avoids the subject, seeming down about not living up to Shiro's expectations.
* ArtificialLimbs: Cybernetic right arm that he gained while imprisoned by Galra.
* AscendedExtra: While Sven was written out by the sixth episode in the original Voltron and spent the second half of the show CommutingOnABus, Shiro takes the role of TheLeader.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The leader of the Voltron Paladins, the team strategist, and one of the better hand-to-hand fighters.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Besides his constant cool head, this is his primary credit towards his leadership:
** During his year as a prisoner, he was able to defeat a nigh unstoppable gladiator by recognizing the pattern to his strikes.
** He was able to escape by recognizing the prison guards are all robot drones, and after enough study, realized they ran on an exact cycle that he could exploit the openings in.
* BadassInDistress: In "Across the Universe", he's this due to injures from the previous episode.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Played mostly for laughs in "Escape from Beta Traz" as he tries to deal with Slav, but it's very clear that even TeamDad Shiro has a limit to his patience. And you do ''not'' want to be on the receiving end of that blow-up.
* BigBrotherMentor: Mixes this trope in a bit with his TeamDad tendencies, particularly with Pidge, whose father and elder brother were on his original team. Season 2 shows that this is also the case for Keith, who even calls him a brother to him.
* BrokenAce: His TheAce characteristics come with a large serving of [=PTSD=] from his time as a Galra prisoner and guilt at surviving while the fate of the rest of the Kerberos crew is unknown.
* CruelToBeKind: Shiro purposely injures Pidge's brother, Matt, and acts bloodthirsty. It's a ruse so the Galra choose him to fight in the arena, and instead send Matt to labor camp where he'd be safer.
* DarkIsNotEvil: He mostly wears black and his aura is purple. He's also a grade-A NiceGuy and the lead pilot of a mighty robot loved by good, feared by evil.
* DeadmanWalking: There are plenty of teasing moments that makes it seem like Shiro's about to kick the bucket. It doesn't help that his 80's counterpart got killed off pretty early in the series.
* EarnYourTitle: [[spoiler: Most of Shiro's character arc in Season 2 deals with him trying to strengthen his bond with the Black Lion so it doesn't fall back into Zarkon's hands (who was the former Black Paladin himself). The finale has them duking it out mano a mano, and Shiro's trust in his Lion finally results in Zarkon's bond being severed with it, making Shiro the true Black Paladin. It's even visually represented by Shiro now possessing the black bayard, which Zarkon had kept in his possession for more then 10,000 years.]]
* FailureKnight: According to Josh Keaton, Shiro's protective TeamDad streak is fueled by the loss of his first crew.
* ForeShadowing: [[spoiler: Between the promotional materials and Shiro constantly trying to prepare Keith to lead Voltron in his stead throughout Season 2 it really seems like Shiro is going to bite it before the season is through. In the end, it's a mystery if he's dead or not. See NeverFoundTheBody below.]]
** While he's [[spoiler: confirmed alive come season 3, there are many hints that something is wrong- his second escape appears to have been planned by the Galra, the Black Lion rejects him despite him being the better leader between Keith and himself, and he complains of a "strange headache" upon his full recovery.]]
* FormFittingWardrobe: In contrast to everyone else's plain clothes, Shiro's shirt, pants, and vest all look [[http://i.imgur.com/iDNpb5M.png as though they've been painted directly onto his skin.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Has a heroic scar over the bridge of his nose from his time in the gladiator pits.
* HeroicBuild: Especially apparent when standing beside his shorter, lankier allies such as Lance or Pidge - this was even ''before'' he was forced to fight for his life on a day-to-day basis for the Galra Gladiator matches.
* HopeBringer: Revealed why [[spoiler:Ulaz saved him.]]
* {{Hunk}}: He has a strong, muscular build and a LanternJawOfJustice as befitting the trope.
* IAmAMonster: Worries that he may have been irreversibly tainted by his imprisonment and suffers a nervous breakdown when Sendak taunts him with the suggestion that he's merely a Galra tool playing at being a hero as a coping mechanism.
* IronicName: Shiro is the Black Lion's pilot, yet his name is Japanese for "white" (and his full surname means "silver").
* TheKirk: Shiro balances between emotions, which usually manifest during his TeamDad moments, and logic.
* LanternJawOfJustice: As appropriate for TheLeader.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Can't remember much of what happened during the year he was imprisoned. Slowly begins regaining memories as the season goes on.
* TheLeader: Of the levelheaded variety.
* LeaderFormsTheHead: Lampshaded and given a mythology gag. Voltron was, after all, a prominent TropeCodifier in America.
* LethalChef: Although he's pretty much [[TheAce the best]] in everything else, the NYCC alternate cover of the comic reveals that he really can't cook for shit.
* LivingLegend: Lance comments on Shiro being a legend in the Garrison, and Pidge tells Keith that her dad and brother always talked about Shiro when they were at home.
* LockedIntoStrangeness: Shiro gained a large shock of white in his black hair during his year as a Galra prisoner. He notes in the official Voltron handbook about his hair and scar that, "Stress can do some pretty terrible things."
* MoralityPet: Is this to all pilots, but especially towards Keith. Even lampshaded in an interview with the cast / crew who points out that having Shiro around is what keeps Keith calm.
* NervesOfSteel: He's very good at keeping his cool under pressure.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: MIA as of the Season 2 finale. After fighting with Zarkon and getting the Black Lion back to the castle, the Paladins open the cockpit to find that Shiro is nowhere to be seen.]] Then [[spoiler:in season 3 he's revealed to be alive, and after finding him Keith theorizes that Shiro was teleported by the Black Lion to keep him safe.]] However [[spoiler:many fans are convinced that the Shiro that returned is, in fact, a clone, and the real one is either still held captive or actually dead]].
* NotSoAboveItAll: He generally doesn't get caught up in the other crew's tomfoolery, but then sometimes he does.
** Early on, Shiro agrees with the idea of stacking the lions on top of one another like a cheerleading squad.
-->'''Shiro:''' "[[MythologyGag ...and I'll form the head.]]"
** In the same episode, Shiro joins the Paladins in a food fight against Allura and Coran.
** When the rest of the team begins debating on the noises the lasers make, Shiro tells them to settle down... and then corrects them.
** He gets caught up with the Paladins in a snow-ball fight, even when he tries to act mature about he eventually gives in.
* NotSoStoic:
** While normally collected and level-headed, Shiro occasionally suffers from crippling panic attacks and even once spaces Sendak in the middle of a nervous breakdown.
** A more hilarious example happened when he has to transport Slav. Slav nearly drove him insane. (Of course this could have just been stress and panic leaking through at the prospect of being in a Galra prison again.)
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Shiro" is a shortened form of his surname. His full name, as seen on the Galaxy Garrison records, is Takashi Shirogane, which serves as an homage to his counterpart in the original ''Anime/GoLion''.
* PassingTheTorch: In the teaser for Season 2, Shiro tells Keith that he wants him to lead Voltron if anything ever happens to him. One of his reasons may be because [[spoiler: Keith can pilot the Black Lion]].
* PhlebotinumRebel: The Galra's Druids sure must be regretting all that tinkering they've done with their former favorite gladiator.
-->'''Haggar:''' I made you strong, and ''this'' is how you repay me? You could have been our greatest weapon!
* PowerFist: While the Black Paladin's Bayard was lost eons ago, his [[ArtificialLimbs robotic arm]] easily makes up for it.
* PowerGlows: His right hand glows with an awesome power when he uses it to fight or power other tech.
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: His suit and lion are black, but his auras and TronLines are usually purple.
* RedRightHand: Played with; Shiro is a hero though his robotic right arm is a result of Witch Haggar's experiments on him for the Galra Empire.
* RedBaron: Was known as 'The Champion' when forced to fight in the Galra gladiator battles.
* SecretKeeper: Knew who Pidge was from the start, and promised he wouldn't tell.
* ShellShockedVeteran: [[WordOfGod Josh Keaton]] noted in interviews that Shiro suffers from PTSD after everything. He often freezes up when he remembers incidents from his year imprisoned, and not often when he can afford to.
* SkunkStripe: See LockedIntoStrangeness above.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: His counterpart in ''Anime/GoLion'' was killed off early on (before being replaced by an also-doomed BackupTwin), here Shiro has at least survived Season 1, though an eerie line from Season 2's trailer hints that he might be following his counterpart's footsteps in due time. [[spoiler: The second season finale brings up some questions on where Shiro went after their fight with Zarkon. He comes back alive...but things are weird.]]
* SuperSoldier: Handed over to Zarkon's right hand woman, Haggar, for some experimental modifications during his captivity.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: The 2nd tallest of the Paladins (after Hunk), with dark hair and eyes, [[LanternJawOfJustice chiseled features]] and a MysteriousPast.
* TeamDad: Senior officer, oldest and most level-headed of the team, often dispenses encouragement and advice to his teammates when they're having trouble. The fandom has also taken to calling him "Space Dad". Josh Keaton even has a shirt with the words on it.
** The Paladin Handbook, a guidebook released two weeks after Season 3, indicates that even the rest of the Paladins call him "Space Dad".
* WiseBeyondHisYears: Described word for word as this in his profile.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Keith]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/keith_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Creator/StevenYeun\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Óscar Flores (Eps. 1-8), Carlo Vázquez (Eps 9+)\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Creator/AnriKatsu
The pilot of the Red Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Fire. Keith was an elite fighter pilot in the Galxy Garrison, Earth's space exploration program, but washed out due to a "discipline issue." Inexplicably affected by the energies of the Blue Lion, he examined ancient messages left around its hiding place and thus learned of Shiro's return to Earth. Keith respects Shiro but clashes constantly with Lance.
As the pilot of the Red Lion, his Lion is the fastest and is best suited for close-range battles. He forms the right arm. His Bayard transforms into a double-edged sword, and his special weapon for Voltron is also a sword.
During Shiro's absence in the first half of season 3, he takes his place as pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the team.
----
* EightiesHair: Keith's mullet and [[HotBloodedSideburns nagaideburns]] are pulled right out of a 1980s super robot anime. [[Anime/GoLion No points for guessing which.]]
* AcePilot: Probably the best pilot on the show, just don't tell [[TheRival Lance]].
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: [[spoiler:In the original Voltron, Keith was fully human. In Voltron Force, Keith was revealed to be Arusian. Here he's part Galra.]]
* {{Adorkable}}: Of the socially inept kind at times, most prominent at the beginning of the farewell party with the Arusians where Keith has a hard time grasping he should respond "Tron" to Lance's "Vol."
* AmbiguouslyHuman: He's the only Paladin shown to be able to sense the Lions. He's also able to use Galra scanners without the use of Shiro's arm and is noted to fight like a Galra soldier. [[spoiler:"Shiro's Escape" adds more fuel to the fire when we see that a blade that Keith owns has the same symbol as a Galra resistance group. "The Blade of Marmora" outright confirms he is a HalfHumanHybrid with Galra blood.]]
* BadLiar: He can deceive as long as he can keep his mouth shut, but start questioning him and he's a babbling mess. Just ask Allura about his night time strolls near the escape pods.
* TheBerserker: Prone to flying off the handle during combat despite his usually cool and methodical demeanor.
* BerserkButton:
** Gets noticeably more out of sorts when Shiro is threatened, complete with taking on ''Zarkon himself'' if it means getting Shiro out of danger.
** Since the revelation of [[spoiler:his Galra heritage]], he's noticeably irritable if it's brought up, especially in a negative light.
** Shiro's [[spoiler:disappearance and the need for a new Black paladin becomes one during the first two episodes of season 3, but Keith moves past it for the good of the mission]].
* CatapultNightmare: [[spoiler:Has one in "The Ark of Taujeer" due to his worries over his biology.]]
* CharacterFocus: After spending the first season largely OutOfFocus, the second season puts him center stage after he starts to wonder about his heritage. His bond with Red also gets the spotlight, to the point that they're the most clearly bonded Paladin/Lion pair (at least, from what the viewers have seen). "The Ark of Taujeer", "The Blade of Mamora" and "The Belly of the Weblum" are distinctly Keith-centric, and he plays a major role in "Best Laid Plans".
* CharacterDevelopment: In season two, after he has to face some uncomfortable truths about himself that make him worry about whether he belongs with the team. Ironically, said truths bring him closer to his teammates (after a few hiccups), rather than driving them apart. [[spoiler:Continued in season 3, where he realizes his impulsiveness can be a liability after the disastrous mission in "The Hunted" , overall more conscious and aware of his decisions as a leader, and becomes more willing to listen to and trust his teammates, while also moving past his earlier rivalry with Lance and supporting him in "Tailing a Comet".]]
* ChekhovsGun: Keith's knife is shown in the first episode when he used it to free Shiro. [[spoiler:In the second season, it becomes a major hint and what starts off his QuestForIdentity subplot.]]
* TheComicallySerious: Doesn't seem to understand humor or "fun" very well. When Lance tries to give the team a chant, he can't seem to grasp it.
* DeadpanSnarker: Particularly towards Lance.
* {{Determinator}}: When Keith has a goal, he'll complete it or die trying. From being overwhelmed with his fight against Zarkon, Keith stood his ground. Then Season 2 has him going through endless trials of getting his ass kicked, and even when given the chance to quit, he continues to fight to the end. [[spoiler:Deconstructed in Season 3 as his determination to end Lotor allows Lotor to pull the Paladins into a trap as Keith ignores the pleas of his teammates.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His first appearance was a daring rescue to break Shiro out of quarantine, a plan that included having to set off remote explosions as a distraction, fight Galaxy Garrison members and then outrun the Garrison on his hover bike with three tagalongs. Note that he is markedly calm and confident, even with the new sudden additions and got away with no casualties, a factor that he is a leader in his own right.
* FieldPromotion: Invoked. In "Across the Universe", Shiro tells Keith that in case he doesn't make it, he wants Keith to lead Voltron. [[spoiler: Comes true as of the "Red Paladin", to Keith's misery.]]
* FireForgedFriends: Keith and Lance seemed to have moved past VitriolicBestBuds in the first half of season 3 into this after [[spoiler:Lance supports and helps Keith with his role as the Black Paladin and Keith attempts to reassure Lance about his importance to the team.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: While Keith is certainly heroic, brave, and very much willing to do the right thing, he's a shade less idealistic than the rest of the group and far more pragmatic as he once suggested leaving Princess Allura in the hands of the Galra rather than dive into a suicide mission - as she had expressly stated she wanted.
* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:"The Blade of Marmora" reveals he's part Galra. It's not revealed how much he is but it is hinted that it comes from his mother's side.]] As of season 3 [[spoiler:it's thought that Lotor's lieutenant Acxa, whom he met in the Weblum, might be his mother]].
* TheHermit: He had spent at least half a year living out in the middle of the desert in a small cabin by himself.
* HeroesPreferSwords: His personal weapon is a sword in a universe full of laser guns. This is a nod to his status as TheLeader in most other incarnations, including ''Voltron Force'' where he had dual swords. [[spoiler: As of "The Blade of Marmora", he is in possession of ''two'' swords, though he doesn't use them together at any point.]]
* HeroicAmbidexterity: He has no problem swinging his sword in either hand.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: In Seasons 2 and 3. Neither Shiro's desire for him to take over as team leader, nor the Black Lion's willingness to co-operate with him, can convince him that he'll be any good at the job. [[spoiler:When he's forced into the position in Season 3, he actively resents it, protesting that he's "the loner" who isn't fit to lead anyone.]]
* HiddenDepths: Others are quick to write him off as an InsufferableGenius loner who only cares about results, but he's clearly devoted to Shiro, he's getting there with the others and he's hiding a lot of insecurity and abandonment issues.
* HotBlooded: While he plays off as being cool to the others he charges in head first against Zarkon in the season finale. When he is shown to be clearly outmatched, he just [[TheDeterminator fights harder]].
* HotBloodedSideburns: Rocks a pair of Creator/GoNagai approved burns along with his mullet.
* HumanMomNonHumanDad: [[spoiler:Inverted. He's part-Galra and his father is shown to have been human, and the Galra blood comes from his mother's side, though it's unknown exactly whether he's half-Galra, or the Galra was further back in his family line.]]
* IdiotHair: Two of them.
* JerkAssHasAPoint: When the others want to rescue Allura after the Galra abduct her, Keith staunchly advises against this and gets [[WhatTheHellHero shouted down]] for it. In addition to it being exactly what Zarkon ''wanted'' them to do, the rescue attempt turns out to be the one action Allura was hoping they ''wouldn't'' take, for obvious reasons.
* TheLancer: The second-in-command of the Paladins. He's also a HotBlooded daredevil, compared to Shiro's level-headed AcePilot.
* TheLeader: [[spoiler:In Season 3, he takes over as leader of the Paladins due to Shiro's disappearance and the Black Lion choosing him. By the time Shiro has returned, he's grown used to this role enough that he's starting to argue with Shiro over what course of action to take.]] What's notable is [[https://paladinspride.tumblr.com/post/159592223315/scrawlers-moonlit-haven-marmoraskeith-i#notes that he displayed leadership prior Shiro's disapperance]].
* LeeroyJenkins: Keith is very prone to this, but reels in when Shiro is in charge. Following instincts was explicitly a trait that Allura mentions is something that helps when bonding with the Red Lion. [[spoiler:It is ''not'', however, helpful when he has to take over as the Black Lion's pilot and team leader, and a major part of his character development is realizing that he can't treat his team's well being as recklessly as he treats his own.]]
* LineageComesFromTheFather: [[spoiler: Inverted. His father was a regular human, and it's his mother who passed down the Galra blood, though it's unclear whether she was Galra herself.]]
* MilitaryMaverick: He turned into one of these when Shiro disappeared, which got him expelled from the Garrison, the reason for which is unknown, just that he had a "discipline issue". He seems willing to follow Shiro's orders, but his stubborn streak surfaces when interacting with the others.
* {{Mukokuseki}}: It's a bit unclear due to the art style of the show, but Keith looks vaguely Asian, which may be a throwback to how Keith from the original Anime/{{Voltron}} continuity was established as half-Japanese and half-Chinese. Lance in the comics jokingly refers to him as "samurai".
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: His impulsiveness nearly costs the team dearly in Season 3 [[spoiler:when he goes barreling headlong into a trap despite their warnings]], and he laments his foolishness to Lance.
* NoSocialSkills: Keith isn't exactly good at picking up on social cues.
-->'''Lance:''' I say "Vol," you say, "Tron." Vol...\\
'''Keith:''' Uh... Voltron?\\
'''Lance:''' No, no, no, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say "Vol," and you say...\\
'''Keith:''' ...Voltron?\\
'''Lance:''' ...We'll work on it.
* NotSoAboveItAll: He might try to distance himself from the others and play the lone wolf, but (a) they're not having it, (b) he's every bit as petty and vindictive as his colleagues, and (c) give him a squishy asteroid fight and he's a happy Paladin.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: [[spoiler:His knife is one. His dream in "The Blade of Marmora" implies that he got it from his dad, who got it from Keith's mom. Said knife is the start of his QuestForIdentity arc.]]
* OutOfFocus: His loner tendencies and lack of the personal motivations leave him with less to do than most of the other Paladins, and he doesn't have a big story arc in the first season. [[spoiler:Averted in the second season where a major arc in the season is his QuestForIdentity.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Noted in his profile to be an orphan. [[spoiler: In "The Blade of Mamora", it's revealed he has Galra blood from his mother's side while his father is human.]]
* PragmaticHero: Keith is the one most likely to [[TheNeedsOfTheMany put saving the universe above personal goals or relations]]. He was by far the angriest and least sympathetic toward Pidge leaving the team to rescue her family. When Allura is captured by the Galra, Keith is the only one to suggest ''not'' going on a rescue SuicideMission (which was exactly her intention when she stayed behind to let Shiro escape). In the season finale, Keith also elects to attack Zarkon with the Red Lion when Zarkon is exposed, un-armoured, and approaching the Black Lion. He rationalizes it that he has a chance to rid the universe of the threat of Galra conquest this way... except [[SwissArmyWeapon Zarkon still has the Black Bayard]] [[FallenHero from his time as the previous Black Paladin]] [[CurbStompBattle and boy does he know how to use it]].
* PrettyBoy: He's slender and drawn with large eyes, driving this point home.
* QuestForIdentity: [[spoiler:He goes through one is Season 2 when he realizes the mark of the Blades of Marmora, a Galra resistance, is on the knife that he has had since childhood.]]
* RedIsHeroic: Red is the color associated with him, and his other incarnations had him as the de facto leader and protagonist of the series. [[spoiler: Which is furthered when the Black Lion lets him pilot it to save Shiro, as it was his main lion in every other incarnation of the series.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: Zig-zagged; while Keith's reserved temperament contrasts with Lance's (despite the respective color schemes), Keith is the one most likely to act on impulse in the heat of combat.
* TheRival: To Lance. [[UnknownRival Eventually]].
* StraightForTheCommander: Keith really likes this trope. He has a tendency on focusing on killing Zarkon [[spoiler:and later Lotor]] whenever he has the chance.
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: Constantly plays the Straight Man to the team's, or just Lance's, Wise Guy. However, when he and Lance do a BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine on occasion, he winds up the boke to Lance's tsukkomi as a result of having NoSocialSkills.
* SummonToHand: Technically, all Bayards can be summond by their paladins, but Keith is the only one who utilizes it in battle, summoning his sword back to him after throwing it, or even using it to switch which hand is holding the sword.
* TakeMyHand: Keith does this in "The Ark of Taujeer" to [[spoiler:Allura when the pod they were in exploded, and jettisoned them into space.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: One of Keith's go-to options in a fight. Helps that he can SummonToHand
* TookALevelInKindness: Slowly opens up to the team as the series progresses. [[spoiler:After finding out that he's part Galra, he's become more lax, even willing to make a joke. Hunk even lampshades it. After a rocky start due to his grief and new role as team leader, Keith continues this in season 3, comforting Allura in "Hole in The Sky" and trying to reassure Lance in "Tailing a Comet" and offering to sit out of a mission for both Shiro's and Lance's sake.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: His relationship with Lance seems to be developing into this. While they argue a lot, they do make a good team.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** He calls out Pidge's decision to leave the team in "Fall of the Castle of Lions" as incredibly selfish, dooming the rest of the universe for two people.
** Later he gets this from Hunk for suggesting that they leave Allura in Zarkon's hands rather than go after her and risk handing Zarkon exactly what he wants. [[BatmanGambit No points for guessing what they do, and whether it was exactly what Zarkon wanted them to do]].
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Keith both receives and attempts to give this type of pep talk. He receives it from Shiro in Season 2 as the Black Paladin tries to convince him that he has what it takes to lead in Shiro's absence. In Season 3, he gets a brief one from [[spoiler:all of the other Paladins and Allura, once Black chooses him]]. He attempts to give one to [[spoiler:Lance]] later in the season [[spoiler:when he is horrified at Lance's willingness to resign as a Paladin. It's yet to be seen how successful this talk is]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Katie "Pidge" Holt]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pidge_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Bex Taylor-Klaus\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Angélica Villa\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Kana Omata
The pilot of the Green Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Forest. Pidge's brother, Matt, and father, Sam, were part of an expedition to Kerberos that also included Shiro; all members of the expedition were thought to have perished. Refusing to believe that they had died, Pidge joined the Galaxy Garrison in an effort to unravel the mystery of their disappearance. A computer genius, Pidge developed a system that can detect Galra radio transmissions, and ended up joining Team Voltron.
Pidge pilots the Green Lion, a FragileSpeedster that is excellent for subterfuge, support and scouting. Pidge's Bayard is a punching dagger that also becomes a taser or grappling hook.
----
%%Please do not clutter the character page with discussions of Pidge's gender identity, do so on the YMMV or Analysis pages.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** "Fall of the Castle of Lions" was the first one, with the main focus of the plot being Pidge's backstory while she attempted to stealthily rescue her friends.
** "Greening the Cube" in Season 2, in which she has to learn from the Olkari to respect nature as much as she does to technology, gaining a NextTierPowerUp in her lion's cannon.
* ActionSurvivor: While Pidge can hold her own in a fight, she is best at stealth and hit and run tactics.
* {{Adorkable}}: Even moreso when we find out Pidge is actually a girl.
* AffectionateNickname: WordOfGod confirms that, even after she reveals her gender, everyone still calls her Pidge as a nickname.
* AirVentEscape: Justified, as Pidge is the only pilot small enough to actually fit in them.
* AttackDrone: Rover, a Galra drone which Pidge reprograms. It performs a HeroicSacrifice to save her from a Galra commando.
* BerserkButton:
** Lance notes that Pidge gets very testy whenever the Kerberos mission is brought up at the Galaxy Garrison. Also, any interference with finding Pidge's father and brother gets her angry.
** In a more comedic version, she can also get rather testy when people mess with her gear, as Hunk learns in the first episode.
* BigBrotherWorship: Implied. She and Matt seem to have been close, her disguise as a boy looks similar to his appearance (complete with glasses), and her driving motivation from the start is to find him and their father.
* BigOlEyebrows: Unusual for a female character, as the main page notes, and one of the main reasons she can plausibly disguise herself as a boy.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Short to Hunk's Big and Lance's Thin.
* BornLucky: To a degree, considering what happened to her family, but things just seem to go better for her than for the other Paladins. Her Lion was on a completely peaceful planet just waiting for her and the natives helped her, when the Paladins separate, she ends in a peaceful area with cute and friendly aliens and enough machinery to build a way to communicate with her friends and then, in "Space Mall", she finds enough money in a fountain to buy the video game she wants.
* BrutalHonesty: Pidge can spout out some unwittingly cruel remarks. A good example is "Some Assembly Required" where she states that Allura is hardly a princess since there are no people to rule over and that they (the Paladins) are not her subjects. However, she is quick to withdraw after noticing how crass the remarks were; in "Fall of the Castle of Lions" she says something insensitive regarding Allura's father and quickly apologizes for it.
* ClarkKenting: A very {{downplayed}} example. Pidge was able to disguise herself as a boy by getting a haircut and wearing glasses, but no attention is called to it.
* CharacterDevelopment: "Greening the Cube" improves her connection to nature, and after she takes language lessons in "Eye of the Storm", she learns several common Altean terms.
* CharacterFocus: Pidge was the first of the Paladins whose motivations and character development were given an arc. Her family ties and GenderReveal made up the core of "Return of the Gladiator" and "The Fall of the Castle of Lions," with the latter episode featuring her as the Paladin who saves the day. In the second season, she gets a fair amount of airtime in "Across the Universe," and in "Greening the Cube," the disconnect between Pidge's technology-centered, outdoor-hating personality and her title as the spirit of ''Nature'' is addressed.
* CuttingTheKnot: When trying to keep the castle from taking off, she's supposed to input a sequence into the controls but can't read the Altean letters. Her solution is to punch the controls with her Bayard which surprisingly works.
* DeadpanSnarker: Pidge has several moments, and they're usually targeted at Lance.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Plenty regarding her true identity as Katie Holt, whose family was part of the ill-fated Kerberos expedition alongside Shiro.
* CommunicationsOfficer: Served as this while she, Lance, and Hunk were still in training. Once everyone's stranded on Planet Arus, Pidge instead takes on the role of...
* TheEngineer: Along with Hunk. While Hunk is more of a mechanic and support engineer, Pidge focuses on upgrading the team's tech and repurposing the enemies'.
* EveryoneKnewAlready: When she finally confesses her real gender, everyone but Lance had already figured it out. Coran was even surprised to find it was supposed to be a secret.
* {{Fangirl}}: Is implied to be one to the "Killbot Phantasm" video game franchise. During a brief moment, she seems to be this to Alan Turing as well.
* TheGadfly: Mixed with DeadpanSnarker. Pidge isn't afraid to let her teammates know that she thinks they're being idiots.
* GamerChick: Implied in "Space Mall", she seems to have a knowledge of retro game consoles and about classic video games (which seems to be based on classic JRPG) and fangirls over an expensive game.
* GenderFlip: Pidge is a male in the original.
* GrapplingHookPistol: Pidge's Bayard forms one that doubles as a taser.
* GreenThumb: Her lion's canon is capable of generating gigantic vines from the surface it shoots, being capable of defeating high-tech machinery.
* HollywoodHacking: Given enough time, Pidge can hack into anything. Justified in that decrypting signals would be an expected part of the skillset of a trainee communications officer.
* IdiotHair: She may have two of them, but she's a smart {{Adorkable}}.
* ImportantHaircut: When joining the Galaxy Garrison to hide her true identity, as she had been banned from the base.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Her words can cut deeper than she means them to. She apologizes to Allura when Pidge claims that Allura isn't ''her'' princess, and that she doesn't even have anything to be a princess ''of'' any more -- Pidge is correct, but she didn't mean to hurt Allura. [[spoiler:As of Season 3, there are also hints that her jabs have done some damage to Lance's self-esteem, even though Pidge is just engaging in the usual group banter]].
* InSeriesNickname: Pidge. Even though everybody knows her real name by now, not even Shiro uses it. WordOfGod confirms that she likes being called by the nickname.
* InvisibilityCloak: Seems to be a specialty, considering both the Green Lion and a drop shuttle that she personally modified possess them.
* {{Irony}}: "Greening the Cube" reveals that she hates nature and her lion is the lion of nature.
* KnifeNut: Pidge's Bayard takes the form of what looks like a stylized katar, a type of Indian dagger, when not being used as a GrapplingHookPistol.
* LittleUselessGun: Lance mockingly calls Pidge's weapon "cute" when the team's first using their Bayards. Pidge immediately tases him with it, demonstrating that it's hardly useless... then admits that it is pretty cute.
* {{Meganekko}}: Wears big round glasses which sometimes double as ScaryShinyGlasses. However, as she was never seen wearing glasses ''before'' she took on the identity of Pidge Gungerson, she might not even need them.
* MilitaryBrat: Pidge's father and brother were both part of the Galaxy Garrison.
* MotorMouth: When Pidge gets flustered or talks about technology, her gums start flapping at a million miles per minute.
* NaturalizedName: Implied, since according to WordOfGod, her family is originally of Italian heritage.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Pidge is initially willing to abandon the team in order find her older brother and father who have been imprisoned by the Galra. Of course, [[ChangedMyMindKid a change of heart]] occurs when Sendak attacks the castle.
* NotSoAboveItAll: In "Space Mall" she calls out that Lance is wasting time at an alien store instead of looking for the scaultrite lenses until she sees that the store has retro human video games and consoles and focuses her attention on looking for enough money to buy them.
* NotSoDifferent: In "Space Mall", it's shown she and Lance like to play video games.
* TheParanoiac: In the comics, Pidge claims they always collect data on the things around them, even the strengths and weaknesses of her teammates which she uses against them in that issue.
* PaperThinDisguise: Pretty much everyone either knew, had figured out, or been told by others by the time Pidge admits that she is a girl named Katie Holt. Subverted in that it ''did'' seem to work on the higher ups at Galaxy Garrison, who she was actually hiding from.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Spends a lot of time with Hunk. The two of them are about to cry in "The Belly of the Weblum" when the team splits up.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Sometimes when she is really focused, she shifts into this.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: The smartest Paladin and easily dwarfed by the rest of the main cast.
* SicklyNeuroticGeek: Downplayed, but she mentions in "Greening the Cube" that she has several allergies and a fragile skin that makes really hard for her to be in the nature.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: The team's resident inventor and the only one to wear glasses.
* TheSmartGuy: Was training to be a Communication Officer. Over the course of the show, Pidge proves to be an excellent hacker and often teams up with team engineer Hunk to make new weapons and tools for Team Voltron.
* TheSouthpaw: Yup, she's a lefty. Fits with her position on Voltron as the left hand.
* StealthExpert: From the Green Lion's cloaking device to hologram fakeouts on foot, Pidge is the best at deception and infiltration.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: To Pidge's nearly-identical looking older brother Matt, especially after she cuts her hair. It's to the point where people find the picture she keeps of her and her brother Matt, and assume that Matt is her and the girl in the picture is someone else.
* StunGuns: Pidge's Bayard can also deal an incapacitating electric shock whenever it hits something.
* SweetPollyOliver: "Pidge Gunderson" is a male alias created by Katie Holt in order to join the Galaxy Garrison after she had been banned from it because she broke in.
* SwissArmyWeapon: Bayards are naturally these since they take on whatever form suits the wielder best, but Pidge's functions as a dagger, grappling hook, and taser simultaneously.
* TeenGenius: Pidge is the smartest among all of the Paladins.
** Best shown in the first episode of Season 2: she builds a communication antenna using trashed alien satellites, with the help of a few fluffy floating creatures.
* TinySchoolboy: A full head and shoulders shorter than any of the other Paladins, though being (probably) the youngest might have to do with it. Not to mention both her father and brother are shown to be short, suggesting it runs in the family.
* {{Tomboy}}: She has little to no classically feminine traits. Her long hair and the dress she was wearing in the photo with her brother were one of the few things that could make the viewer believe she was female, so much that when she cut that off, she could pass as a guy. It's not quite clear whether she has always been like this or if [[BecomingTheMask this is part of the persona she developed in order to pass as a guy]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Pidge is the tomboy, while Allura is the more elegant (but still badass) girly girl.
* TragicKeepsake: Carries around a picture of herself and her older brother. She finds out in Beta Traz that Matt was rescued by a group of rebels, but his current whereabouts are unknown.
* WalkingSpoiler: For Season 1, due to the second act PlotTwist that Pidge is really Katie Holt, daughter of the leader of the Kerberos expedition.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Lance]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lance_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Jeremy Shada\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Luis Fernando Orozco\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Takamasa Mogi
The pilot of the Blue Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Water. Lance considers himself to be Keith's rival, though he was only considered for Galaxy Patrol pilot training due to Keith's expulsion. Lance is convinced of his own superiority and quick to go after a pretty woman. Though he won't openly show it, Lance is quite homesick for Earth and his family.
He is the pilot of the Blue Lion, which is equipped with powerful long-range guns. He forms the left arm. His Bayard transforms into either a close-range assault rifle, or a long-range sniper rifle.
During the third season, he takes Keith's place as pilot of the Red Lion after Keith replaces Shiro in the Black Lion.
----
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Downplayed one for Allura who doesn't hate him, but is visibly annoyed whenever he tries to hit on her. Though this isn't based on his looks, just on how persistent he is. More recently it's become more of a joke, particularly when [[spoiler:Allura re-uses one of Lance's pickup lines in an attempt to bond with the Blue Lion]].
* AcePilot: A requirement for this team. He doesn't start out all that flash, but rows to become a great pilot, if not a bit reckless.
* AllThereInTheManual: Lance's Paladin skill/virtue is a mystery for the first two seasons, and his lack of a clear team role is source of angst in "Escape From Beta Traz." The ''comics,'' however give us a pretty big clue in one of Pidge's internal monologues -- when forced to fight her friends, she decides to take Lance out first because he's the most adept at co-operating with his teammates and he's a danger at long range. Despite scoffing when Lance refers to himself as a "sharpshooter" in the show proper, here she all but confirms his role as the team sniper.
** As for his role as a Paladin, the argument has been made that his role is Balance, citing both the attributes of his Lion (an even mix of speed, agility and power) and how he is a leg, literally balancing Voltron upright. His identity as a TheLancer to both Keith (who's Shiro's TheLancer) and Shiro himself also suggests this.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: His skin is noticeably darker than some human characters, though not as dark as Hunk or Allura. He is confirmed to be a mestizo Cuban.
* AnythingThatMoves: As long as it's female, Lance will hit on it.
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: According to WordOfGod, Lance is the youngest of his sibling(s), but an uncle to a niece and nephew. If the image of his family that manifests early in the first season says anything, they could number from two to four, at the very least.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Thin to Hunk's Big and Pidge's short, he is the most lanky of the Paladins.
* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: Plays the tsukkomi towards the more-so socially awkward Keith and Hunk, but winds up the boke for the rest of the team whenever he starts up his GloryHound CasanovaWannabe routine.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Despite his insecurities, immaturity, occasional silliness and reputation as a JackOfAllTrades, his consistent ability of keeping a cool head while strategizing, good reflexes, awareness of the team (most prominently shown in how he pings onto Pidge, Shiro and Keith's troubles and tries to hold Keith back when he's being reckless), and being an excellent shot leaves him with ample potential of shaping up into this.
* ButtMonkey: Part of the IdiotHero and ComicRelief package. Jokes are often made at his expense.
* CasanovaWannabe: Hits on Allura shamelessly throughout the series, but she's having none of it. Otherwise, if it's female and cute, Lance will want to hit on her. This actually gets his Lion stolen at one point when a female bounty hunter plays Lance like a fiddle and handcuffs him to a tree.
* CharacterFocus: A limited amount in seasons one and two; his CharacterDevelopment hasn't had much focus. Season One's "Taking Flight" is a mixed blessing for Lance, as he gets a lot of focus, but mainly on how his trusting and flirty nature screws things up. He manages far better in "The Depths" and his Lion gets a new weapon. He's also fairly crucial in "Escape From Beta Traz" despite not being the primary focus -- and this is also the episode that starts hinting at CharacterDevelopment, with Lance not being entirely as thoughtless and cocky as he seems.
** Season 3 gives him some serious focus. Most of the episodes have him as a major component, and a large part of "The Red Paladin" is focused on his struggles with [[spoiler: Shiro's disappearance.]] He even has some CharacterDevelopment, becoming a very effective strategist during combat situations and acting as an impulse control for [[spoiler: Keith when he makes an incredibly reckless plan as the new Black Lion pilot. In fact, the Red Lion chooses him as the new pilot ''because'' Lance values the composition of the team over his own pride, earning his spot back as a pilot. His later offer to resign as a Paladin for the good of the team later in the series is also a direct contrast to his EstablishingCharacterMoment in the first episode]].
* ComicRelief: His ButtMonkey tendencies and general gracelessness make for good jokes often at his expense.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** He was not happy when he found out Keith and Allura went on a mission together in "The Ark of Taujeer".
** He did not react well when he heard Keith talking with Coran about the Blue Lion in "Greening the Cube", telling Keith to back off as he and Blue are happy together.
* DecoyProtagonist: Uniquely due to English-language Netflix's format of releasing an entire season at a time ''and'' the first episode consisting of two "parts" ("episodes") in one, this trope winds up PlayedWith, in that most people don't notice that it's in play at all without a rewatch. But the "first part" of episode one frames Lance in TheProtagonist role, starting from Iverson beating up his confidence and leading all the way up to his finding Blue with the rest of the future-Paladins, and the team going through the wormhole together soon thereafter. See EnsembleCast in the General tab above for more details.
* DumbassHasAPoint: Often enough that his "dumbass" credentials are questionable. Lance may not be a particularly book smart or mature member of the team, but he's not afraid to call out his teammates on their poor decisions. He's actually pretty convincing at times. He's also far more observant than he appears, being capable of good tactical decisions on the fly.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Lance is introduced ignoring the pleas of his fellow teammates while running a team flight simulator. Note that he is professional, confident and calm despite the issues, saying something about his leadership abilities. He ends up crashing and failing the test for the group. He then follows it up by sticking up for Pidge when she draws the ire of their teacher, mutely accepting the berating in her place.
* EurekaMoment: Most notably in Lance's section of the comics as [[spoiler: he was the only one to figure out that the princess Voltron came to save and the dragon the team was fighting were one and the same.]]
* GloryHound: Constantly seeks validation and recognition for his skills, from wanting to be seen as an AcePilot in the academy, to his rivalry with Keith, to talking about parades in Voltron's honor and trying to impress as many ladies as possible.
* GoshdangItToHeck: He comes up with interesting euphemisms when he curses.
* HeroicSacrifice: Non-fatal. Lance shields Coran from an exploding robot, resulting in him being out of commission for a few episodes.
* HeroicSecondWind: During the final showdown with Sendak, a comatose Lance manages to rise up and blast him with his rifle, giving his team the opportunity to take Sendak down.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: During the rescue of Slav, he realizes that he is the only one to call himself a sharpshooter, while everyone else has a talent (Leader, hacker, pilot, chef, etc.) that is recognized by the rest of the group. Despite his self-doubt, though, there are many characters in the show who have reason to be grateful that Lance was in the right place at the right time.
** As of Season 3, this has become a more marked part of his character. [[spoiler:Lance doesn't really seem to consider himself a true Red Paladin and replacement for Keith, and expects him to reclaim Red once Shiro is back. However, he fully expects Allura to take up the Blue Paladin position permanently...leaving Lance in the cold. Before that can happen, he volunteers to step down in order to make things easier]].
* HiddenDepths: Lance may not appear so, but he has shown to be observant and a good strategist, shown when noticing fake Rover and coming up with an alternative plan to Keith's on the Balmera. He also teared up when he recalled his mom's hugs, suggesting that he might be more sensitive than he lets on. [[spoiler:Furthered in season 3 where he puts his resentment for Keith aside to support his new role as the Black Paladin and offer to step down from the team if he proved to be the "weak link".]]
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: He has a moment of this in "Escape from Beta Traz" when he realizes he doesn't have a specialized skilled compared to his teammates and wonders if he's just dragging them down.
* IdiotHair: Two of them.
* IdiotHero: His intelligence stat on the official website isn't as high as the rest of the Paladins and he can be a bit of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, but in-series he's shown to have moments of cunning, and his confidence and bravado are actually something of a boon when the pragmatism of his teammates threatens to stop them from doing the right thing.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: What initially looks to be ego and unjustified overconfidence turns out to be a nasty case of this come "Escape From Beta Traz". The Garrison didn't bother to hide the fact that Lance was considered second-rate (only getting in to the top program because Keith was expelled), and his time as Blue Paladin apparently hasn't done much to bolster his self-esteem. As Keith starts to take on a more significant role in the team and the others find their niches, Lance admits to feeling unnecessary and left behind.
* InformedAttribute: His lack of intelligence. His teammates are quick to dismiss what he has to say as stupid or ridiculous, his ButtMonkey status means that he often looks like an idiot, and even WordOfGod material states that Lance isn't the brightest bulb in the pack. Yet from what we see, he has a head for tactics, has a better knowledge of people than most of his teammates, and has no trouble operating Blue right out of the traps. His main problems seem to be immaturity (and all of the Paladins, except Shiro, are immature in their own way) and terrible luck -- not a lack of brainpower.
* JackOfAllStats: According to the official power rankings, both Lance and his craft are this. Instead of excelling in intelligence, strength, or agility, Lance has a healthy balance of all three, and so does his Lion.
* JackOfAllTrades: Lance is shown to be overall-decent at many things: he can strategize, he can fight, he can pilot, he's a reasonable diplomat (if he can stop flirting for ten seconds) and he can even lead when put on the spot. The thing is that everyone else ''specializes'' in one of those skills, leaving Lance playing second fiddle.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A mild example. Whilst never outright cruel, Lance can be abrasive, and is a womanizing GloryHound. But he'll always stand up for his friends and do the right thing.
* HandsomeLech: Although he lacks actual skills in hitting on girls, his good looks are actually enough to attract some female aliens, as shown in "Space Mall" and "The Depths". Though it might just be because they've never seen Earthlings before, as Earth has yet to encounter aliens on an offical scale.
* LameComeback: Lance... isn't the best when it comes to verbal wit.
-->'''Keith:''' The amount of information in your brain can be stored on a paper airplane.\\
'''Lance:''' Oh, yeah?! Well, the amount of information you have, Keith, could be--\\
'''Keith:''' Yeah?\\
(''{{Beat}}'')\\
'''Lance:''' Uhhh, it's less than what I have!
-->'''Lance''': (to Keith) Here's an idea, shut your quiznak.\\
'''Keith''': I don't think you're using that word correctly.
* TheLancer: To Keith's character, somewhat to Shiro. He especially steps up to the role in Season 3 [[spoiler: when he becomes the Red Paladin and Keith's impulse control]]
* MommasBoy: When Lance brought up being homesick he also mentions how much he misses his mom's hugs and tears up about it.
* NatureLover: Lance is the Paladin who shows the most obvious affection for his element: when he's confessing to feeling homesick, his best memories of earth involve the beach, the rain, and splashing in puddles, and later in the series he's thrilled to discover the castle has a pool. More generally, he misses the natural beauty of Earth. On a more practical level, he shows no hesitation in exiting his lion to swim in the ocean of an unknown planet (though the pretty mermaid was definitely a factor in that decision).
* NoodlePeople: The slimmest of the Paladins.
* NotSoDifferent: He and Pidge like to play retro video games.
* NumberTwo: [[spoiler: Steps up to this role in Season 3 when he pilots the Red Lion and helps Keith lead Voltron]]
* OddFriendship: With Coran. The two have several bonding moments in the first season, such as when Lance is feeling homesick and Coran consoles him.
* OutOfFocus: In Season 2, due to the developing arcs involving Shiro, Allura, and Keith, he was the one to lose screen time.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Has a very bad case of this, and come Season 2 it's started to do a number on his self-esteem. Lance is [[JackOfAllStats reasonably competent in most respects]], but that's not much comfort when you're sharing a team with a hero, an AcePilot prodigy, a genius hacker and a gifted mechanic. This becomes even ''worse'' in Season Three: [[spoiler:Lance now feels that he is overshadowed by ''Allura'' in the one place he used to feel relatively secure -- Blue's pilot. He thinks she's the better paladin, and with Blue actively shutting him out in favor of Allura (arguably in order to force Lance to take over Red), he doesn't know if Blue would take him back. Note that he is not butthurt over Allura being the better Paladin or Blue taking him back; he is looking at the dilemma situationally and much more aware of his actions and decisions, a necessity to lead the team with Keith. Later on, he quietly goes to Keith and offers to resign, firmly believing that the Paladins should have the best soldiers -- and that he's not one of them]].
** This also occurs in a narrative sense in Season 3: [[spoiler:every time Lance does something noteworthy, he is quickly overshadowed by Allura doing something even more remarkable. In Episode 2, Lance arriving in Red isn't given much thought, but the novelty of Allura in Blue draws cheers and congratulations. His developing role as the second-in-command in Episode 3 quickly gives way to Allura bonding with Blue in supposedly record time. In Episode 6, Lance's new sniper rifle -- and subsequent show of skill -- is also quickly glossed over by Lance himself, who focuses the viewer's attention on how impressive Allura is with her new whip Bayard]].
* PingPongNaivete: Has quite a bit of this, and not just over his interactions with girls. The first half hour of episode 1 flaunts his calmness in the midst of danger and mind for strategy and attention to detail, with his immaturity placed on the backburner aside from quips between Keith and him. But come the second half his IdiotHero traits are established more prominently, starting with a major blunder he makes in doing basic math. From then on it's constantly ZigZagged, and not at all helped by his tendency to put on a facade in order to mask his insecurities.
* RayGun: His weapon of choice through his Bayard. Also a nod to his ''Voltron Force'' equivalent's pistols.
* RedOniBlueOni: Zig-zagged; while Lance is far more expressive and relaxed than Keith (contrary to their color schemes), Lance is also more likely to stick to the team's plans in dire situations.
* TheRival: To Keith.
* SarcasmBlind: Subverted in a way. Lance catches on sarcasm, except that one time with Keith when escaping from the Garrison. It took him several moments to register.
-->'''Lance:''' Can't this thing go any faster?!\\
'''Keith:''' We could toss some non-essential weight.\\
'''Lance:''' Oh, right! ''(starts searching for things to toss over)''\\
'''Lance:''' Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Out of the rest of the Paladins, he has the most high pitched scream.
* SkippingSchool: He, Hunk and Pidge have probably missed a fair few classes back at the Garrison by this point.
** What causes the SpannerInTheWorks below.
** He also mentions in "The Depths" that he played hooky for two weeks once back in grade school.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Is convinced he's a much better pilot and more charismatic than he actually is, to Allura and Keith's chagrin. However, it's suggested a few times that at least part of this bravado is [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a front for his insecurities]].
* SpannerInTheWorks: If he hadn't felt the urge to play hooky with Hunk and Pidge, he never would have found his Lion, the would-be Paladins would've been stranded on Earth, the Red and Yellow Lions would've fallen into the hands of the enemy, Princess Allura and Coran would've remained in stasis, and Zarkon would've attacked the planet to search for the rest of Voltron eventually. Also, if he hadn't pushed Coran away from the power core explosion at great personal cost to himself, there wouldn't have been anyone in the Castle who could get the team a new crystal from the Balmera, dooming both the team and Shay's people.
* StraightMan: Frequently towards Keith and Hunk, as Keith has NoSocialSkills and Hunk has a tendency to be something of a DitzyGenius.
* TheResenter: Toward Keith in the first two seasons, [[spoiler:but despite his initial insistence Keith would be the worst leader, he moves past this in season 3 when Keith is chosen by the Black Lion and is clearly miserable about it and in need of someone to act as his lancer.]]
* TheStrategist: Shows tactical prowess in battle, even if the methods are sometimes unconventional.
** Demonstrates great team awareness and an understanding of where everyone should be in a battle in relations to his positioning.
*** Confirmed by Pidge in the comics when she choses to take him out first for being too dangerous.
*** His reading of the others and their methodology are usually on point.
*** Predicted sending Keith to the Blade of Mamora headquarters will cause a major incident.
*** Knew Hunk would not leave the Yellow Lion in "The Depths" unless Lance manipulates the situation.
** Planned to close the space hangar doors to trap their enemies in the base rather than risk an all out fight.
** Created a diversionary plan when he and Keith were pinned down on the Balmera by Galran soldiers.
** In "The Depths", he lead the Baku into a smaller space in order to trap it and make it an easier target.
** [[spoiler: most of the season 3 episode "The Hunted" as Keith's NumberTwo]]
** [[spoiler: In "Hole in the Sky" shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]
** [[spoiler: "This isn't a participation game, it's war." In "Tailing a Comet", though it's a demonstration in Lance slowly becoming demoralized and failing to see how necessary he is, he had to explain to Keith why he felt it was best if he steps away from piloting and let everyone, "your best soldiers," be on the frontline instead. He is seeing the situation for what it is and conscious of his decisions, a necessity for leading the team]].
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: The Blue Lion's most notable quality is that it's exceptional at travelling through water or ice. [[spoiler:Which finally gets it use in "The Depths" when Lance and Hunk land on a water planet]]
* UnknownRival: Lance considered Keith his rival at the academy. Though it takes a while before Keith seems to acknowledge him as such, considering he doesn't even know who Lance is at first.
* VitriolicBestBuds: His relationship with Keith seems to be developing into this. While they argue a lot, they do make a good team.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Hunk]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hunk_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Tyler Labine\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Abraham Vega\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Toshifumi Nakabayashi
The pilot of the Yellow Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Land. Hunk initially seemed an unlikely candidate for a Voltron pilot, as he disdains dangerous situations and suffered from motion sickness. However, he is also a skilled mechanic who was able to process data collected by Pidge to create a "Voltron geiger counter" that helped the group find the hidden Blue Lion. Hunk fills the primary role of ComicRelief on the team, but over the course of the first season he becomes more willing to his role as the Yellow Paladin and becomes more heroic.
He is the pilot of the Yellow Lion, which not only has powerful digging abilities but has the strongest armor of any Lion. He forms the left leg. His Bayard transforms into a type of laser machine cannon, and his special weapon for Voltron is a shoulder laser launcher.
----
* AdaptationalWimp: Hunk was much bolder in prior incarnations. In this one he seems more cautious and prudent, if not downright skeptical about going into action.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Even the original Hunk/Tsuyoshi had a darker skin tone, but this version's skin is a good deal darker than that. It's about the same shade as [[DarkSkinnedBlond Allura and her father]]. He is confirmed to be a native Samoan.
* BareFistedMonk: Or the cat equivalent. His Lion has the toughest armor and physical ability, so he rams, tackles and bites opponents more than anyone else.
* BeamSpam: The special ability he gives Voltron is a shoulder cannon that can fire ''plenty'' of FrickinLaserBeams at once.
* BigBeautifulMan: He is named ''Hunk'', after all.
* BigFun: The most heavyset member of the team, and also frequently plays the ComicRelief.
* TheBigGuy: His Bayard forms a gatling gun, he's physically the strongest Paladin, and he pilots the toughest lion.
* BigEater: Hunk really loves food. During the mental training, the Paladins are thinking of home or their loved ones, Hunk is thinking of spam musubi and shrimp-pineapple kabobs.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Big to Lance's Thin and Pidge's Short.
* CatchPhrase: The official handbook has his catchphrase as: "I'm a leg!"
* ChainsawGripBFG: His Bayard turns into a type of laser machine gun with a chainsaw grip.
* ComicRelief: His motion sickness, eating habits and overall neurotic attitude are mostly played for laughs. He eventually grows out of this role (mostly) during the Balmera arc.
* CowardlyLion: Easily the most nervous and fearful of the pilots, but when it matters most he can be counted on to stand by his comrades.
* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the Balmera arc, Hunk realizes how many people in the universe need Voltron's help and takes a stronger attitude to being a Paladin.
* CloudCuckoolander: More prone to odd trains of thought and non sequiturs than his compatriots.
-->'''Keith:''' What do you think they have in those giant containers?\\
'''Hunk:''' Well, I suspect that it's sporks... This is an advanced race we're talking here. Surely, they've learned that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job.
* DitzyGenius: While a brilliant engineer and more cautious than his companions, Hunk's thought processes can go to some very odd places.
* TheEngineer: Shares this role with Pidge, primarily serving as the mechanic and maintenance guy of the team.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Hunk's intro to the show has him freaking out over how Lance is flying their ship and then throwing up in the ship's gearbox.
* ExtremeOmnivore: He seems to have no trouble eating alien food.
* FantasticRacism: Downplayed. Says some moderately insensitive things to [[spoiler:Keith, when the latter is revealed part Galra]]. However, it was more lighthearted and unintentional.
* GeniusBruiser: While Pidge's expertise lies in computers, Hunk is the mechanical brains of the team.
* TheHeart: Befriends people easily, and it was his friendship with Shay that inspired him to inspire the rest of the team to go out into the universe and start fighting the Galra by liberating Shay and her people.
* {{Hunk}}: It's his name for a reason -- he has many of the trope's attributes.
* LittleGuyBigBuddy: Is often paired off with Pidge, as they act as the team's inventors.
* MrFixIt: The engineer of the team, Hunk is quite the mechanical genius.
* NiceGuy: He's kind and always looks out for his teammates.
* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Clearly had no real intention of flying, let alone going into space despite signing up with an organization named the GALAXY Garrison.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: His initial failure to save Shay from the Galra really puts him on edge until the team returns to the Balmera.
* OutOfFocus: He seems to have lost some screen time in Season 2, besides a bit of a {{Flanderization}} on his love for food. In season 3, he doesn't get as much character focus, but his mechanical engineering skills do.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Spends a lot of time with Pidge. The two of them are about to cry in "The Belly of the Weblum" when the team splits up.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Says this word for word when Pidge teases him about Shay. Who, by the way is just "a rock that I met and I admire very much".
* StoutStrength: WordOfGod is that he's physically the strongest of the five Paladins, just like how his Lion is the strongest out of all of them. If you look closely, you can see the muscles in his arms.
* SupremeChef: Manages to make a lunch that had Lance and Keith drooling with ingredients that were literally alien to him.
** In "Space Mall", [[spoiler: he ends up in a greasy spork space fast-food joint, and turns out to be not just a world-class, but a ''galactic''-class chef. By the climax of the episode, he's instructing the ''owner'', and people are lining up down the block.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely gained an iron spine between ''Rise of Voltron'' and ''The Black Paladin''.
* UndyingLoyalty: To the Yellow Lion, while he wanted to be the leader [[spoiler:after Shiro's disappearance at the start of Season 3, he was the only pilot besides Keith that wasn't interested in piloting the Black Lion. He admits he wanted to form the head with the Yellow Lion.]] Part of this is because it's the most heavily armed of the lions.
* VomitDiscretionShot: As a running gag is his constant vomiting, he gets these a lot.
* WhatTheHellHero: Immediately delivers one to Keith when he suggests that the team ''should not'' go after Allura after she gets captured just prior the first season's end.
** He also delivers an inadvertent one in S2, spelling out the reasons why Allura might continue to be wary of the Galra, including, unfortunately, [[spoiler:Keith]] (though she does eventually bypass those fears).
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Allura]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/allura_armor___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Creator/KimberlyBrooks\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Creator/MarianaOrtiz\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Yui Shimodaya
The princess of the fallen Altean solar system and the last known female Altean, who spent 10,000 years in stasis on the planet Arus. When Altea was attacked by the Galra Empire, Allura was in favor of forming Voltron and fighting the invaders, but her father chose to scatter them and had Allura placed in stasis. As such, Allura is driven to defeat the Galra Empire, and drives the new Voltron Paladins hard in an effort to shape them into the force needed to save the universe from her ancient enemies. Allura's attire varies between a blue and white dress and a black and white jumpsuit with pink highlights; she is often accompanied by a group of Altean mice who were in her stasis chamber with her and thus developed a curious mental connection to her.
In battle, she pilots the Castle of Lions, a powerful battleship, though she can hold her own in a fight. %%She later becomes Paladin of the Blue Lion, after Keith replaces Shiro as Paladin of the Black Lion and Lance takes Keith's position as Paladin of the Red Lion.
----
* TheAce: Allura is a capable commander and strategist, along with being a serious threat in combat. [[spoiler:When she takes over the Blue Lion in Series 3, both Lance and Keith agree that she got the hang of it far more quickly than any of the human Paladins did (including Keith, an acknowledged ace pilot), and that she might be able to unlock powers in Blue that Lance cannot]].
* ActionGirl: She's not afraid to go into the fray herself.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Was a blonde in the original series. Now her hair is white.
* AdaptationalBadass: She's far more in command than her previous incarnation. She can be crass, get physical if Lance goes too far being a CasanovaWannabe and is far more willing to get her hands dirty. And this is all before becoming a lion pilot [[spoiler: in season three.]]
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In the original, Allura was Arusian, here she's Altean.
* AintTooProudToBeg: Bonding with [[spoiler:the Blue Lion]] requires a certain amount of grovelling on her part. It only co-operates when she pleads for it to help her. Allura remains more dignified than most examples of this trope though.
* AliensOfLondon: She's an alien who has never been to planet Earth or even met humans before encountering team Voltron but speaks in ([[OohMeAccentsSlipping slightly stilted]]) British RP. This might be due to the series being an American production where the RP accent is stereotyped to be [[TheQueensLatin foreign and regal]].
* BadassPrincess: She was the princess of Altea, and is more than capable of handling herself in a fight. Among other things, she is strong enough to throw Shiro across a pod-bay with one arm.
* BigGood: While she isn't a pilot [[spoiler:at first]], she is the leader of the Paladins as much as if not more than Shiro. Her knowledge and powers are essential to their missing.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: At first, she has a very strong "Altea = good, Galra = bad" mindset. Which is fair enough given how the Galra are responsible for her entire people and planet being gone. This is challenged as the series goes on, notably when the team meets a number of non-evil Galrans, [[spoiler: Keith is revealed to be part-Galra, and she encounters the alternate universe Altean Empire.]]
* TheCaptain: Instead of taking over the Blue Lion as in the original, Allura takes charge of the TheBattlestar, known as the Castle of Lions. [[spoiler: Due to Shiro's disappearance, she takes up the mantle of Blue Lion pilot while Lance becomes the Red Lion pilot and Keith the Black Lion Pilot. Her Bayard transforms into a whip.]]
* TheChick: She is the feminine emotional support and moral center of the team.
* ChildHater: A downplayed example, but Allura has trouble handling Coran when he de-ages. WordOfGod confirms that she dislikes children.
* CoolBigSis: Whilst they have little one-on-one time together, she and Pidge get on, and she encourages Pidge to talk to her because they are the only girls on the Team.
* DaddysGirl: She was very close with her father, Alfor, and is still reeling from his death.
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Dark skin with white hair, unlike previous incarnations who were pale with HairOfGoldHeartOfGold.
* DamselInDistress: Very rarely; more often than not she can handle herself. After infiltrating a Galra ship with Shiro, she [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices]] herself to let Shiro get away (or more accurately, forcing him to leave without her), Galra forces take her prisoner and deliver her to Zarkon. The first season finale revolves around saving her.
* DontThinkFeel: At first Allura has trouble piloting the Blue Lion as she tries to force her way through first kindness and then force. She eventually realizes that she can't do everything alone and asks the lion for help. The lion responds in kind, allowing her to pilot the Blue Lion. She compares it to how Lance instinctively figured out how to use it back in the first season.
* TheEmperor: [[spoiler: In the alternate universe, it was ''Empress'' Allura who destroyed the Galra and forged the Altean Empire.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Seconds after Allura wakes up from a 10,000 year long cryo sleep, she's immediately putting a smooth-talking Lance into submission and demanding to know who he is.
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: She's technically not princess of anything after Altea's destruction, but she is still referred to as one.
* ExoticEyeDesigns: Purple is visible within her pupils in [[http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/File:Pidge_tells_allura.png close-ups.]]
* FacialMarkings: Little pink marks under her eyes.
* FantasticRacism: She has difficulty trusting the Blade of Marmora due to this, even after the likes of Ulaz proving his sincerity by sacrificing himself for Voltron. [[spoiler:She also becomes cold toward Keith when she learn that he is part-Galra.]] However, it is {{Justified}} by the fact that the Galra ''killed all of her people''. Plus, she grow over it to work with the Blade of Marmora and admits to [[spoiler:Keith]] that he's FamilyOfChoice regardless of his blood and apologizes for any hurt it caused.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Mice, local tribes of aliens, rock people, pretty much anything that isn't Galra. Allura has to remind the team at least once that Voltron is a Defender of ''all'' the innocent.
* FromACertainPointOfView: Allura said the previous Black Paladin was "lost," not that he was dead.
* GirlyBruiser: She's graceful and feminine and has a devastating right hook.
* GalacticConqueror: [[spoiler: Not Allura as we know her, but the version of her from the alternate universe where "Empress Allura" defeated the Galra after the death of her father King Alfor, and then forged the Altean Empire, which, while not as ''overtly'' militaristic or oppressive as the Galra, still employs BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood and values [[KnightTemplar order, and stability over all else]].]]
* TheGhost: [[spoiler: Her alternate universe counterpart Empress Allura is never seen in any form, despite the bad guys of the week being soldiers of the empire she founded. Of course, given that that happened 10,000 years ago in their history, it's possible Empress Allura is, well, ''dead'', but General Hira recognizes Paladin!Allura pretty quickly and seems to accept the possibility she might be the Empress relatively quickly, suggesting the fate of the Empress to be somewhat ambiguous.]]
* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: More tomboy than is typical for this trope, but demonstrates a significant number of stereotypical feminine qualities, such as a love of sparkly things.
* HealingHands: Is able to begin healing the Balmera simply by touching it.
* HeroicSacrifice: Of the non-fatal variety. She also breaks King Alfor's ... AI matrix thing to stop the castle from hurtling into the sun. It's clearly emotionally traumatic. At the Season 1 penultimate episode, Allura stays behind to hold back Galra forces and tosses Shiro into an escape pod.
* HowDoIShotWeb: [[spoiler:After becoming the Blue Lion's pilot, she has a hell of a time getting it to work with her, trying polite asking, stern commands, and even flirting before figuring it out.]]
* HumanPopsicle: She, Coran, and the Mice were asleep for 10,000 years this way.
* LadyOfWar: A feminine and graceful princess who fearlessly pilots the Castle of Lions to support Voltron with firepower. She's also very capable with a [[SimpleStaff staff]] as the second season finale shows.
* LastOfHerKind: The last female Altean [[spoiler:aside from Haggar]].
* MissingMom: Implied. She tells Keith that the Galra Empire "took [her] family from [her]", hinting that her otherwise unmentioned mother is deceased.
* MissionControl: Often serves as this for the team from the castle, though she's not above jumping into the fray when necessary.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:She has a downplayed moment when Keith signs up for what is essentially a suicide mission. She then apologizes for her recent cold behavior and begs that he comes back.]]
* MysticalWaif: While warmer and more proactive than the traditional example, she has several elements of this trope. She's a kind-hearted, physically young princess (who is over 10,000 years old, although she doesn't have the associated life experience due to being in cryo) with MysticalWhiteHair, the [[LastOfHerKind last]] female of an enlightened race with impressive technology. She introduces the heroes to the larger scope of the universe as well as sets them on their quest to find Voltron and defeat Zarkon.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Princess Allura has this rather than blonde hair, emphasizing how otherworldly she is.
* NotSoAboveItAll: She actually wanted to go shopping for something "sparkly" in "Space Mall".
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Unlike Coran, who speaks in his voice actor's natural New Zealand accent, Allura speaks in Received Pronunciation. Although it lapses into an American accent at points and tends to sound very forced. Kimberly Brooks has stated that she has difficulty with long speeches.
* PinkIsFeminine: Her jumpsuit has pink accents, as does her dress. She also has [[FacialMarkings pink marks under her eyes]].
** JustifiedTrope in this series, as pink is the color of honoring/mourning the fallen in Altean culture, similar to black in many cultures on earth.
* PrincessesPreferPink: She is a princess and her official color is shown as pink, [[spoiler: even her Paladin armor, also making her a PinkHeroine]].
* PrincessesRule: Despite her parents' death, Allura still refers to herself as princess instead of Queen or Empress. Justified since a Queen needs people and land to rule where a Princess just needs to be royalty. [[spoiler:The alternative Allura from the universe visited in ''Hole in the Sky'' seems to have taken the title Empress.]]
* PluckyGirl: She was put into stasis as her planet was being destroyed, so when she's awoken the loss is still fresh. She powers through it like a champ, though, and resolves to work on destroying the Galra empire right away.
* PointyEars: Has a set of elf-like ears.
* PsychicLink: With the mice family who were sealed with her in her cryo-pod for 10,000 years. She can communicate with them from a distance, allowing her to guide them into doing tasks to help her and the team.
* RaceLift: Allura is dark-skinned in this incarnation but was light-skinned and blonde in the original series.
* Really700YearsOld: Being a HumanPopsicle for 10,000 years has her chronologically ''much'' older than all the Paladins although biologically and mentally she is a teenager about Keith's age.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: She may not be a Lion pilot, but Allura will be damned if she sits around and lets the Paladins do all the work. When she's not piloting the castle ship, she's often going to ground herself to help out.
* RubberForeheadAlien: The only things alien about her physical appearance are her PointyEars, FacialMarkings and white hair.
* SpaceElves: Of the Enlightened Mystic Race variety.
* SilkHidingSteel: She's graceful and feminine befitting her status, but has a backbone of steel.
* SimpleStaff: Well a metal one, but she uses one to great effect in the second season finale.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Season three reveals that she looks almost identical to her mother.
* SuperStrength: She's strong enough to pull reinforced steel doors together with her bare hands. This isn't used much after the episode in which it was revealed until Season 3, when she gets into a fight with [[TheBrute Zethrid.]]
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The girly girl to Pidge's tomboy.
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: Briefly, when Keith is revealed to be part Galra in the second half of Season 2. She comes back around by the finale, however.]]
* TrueBlueFemininity: The [[PinkIsFeminine other]] most prominent color in her design is a light baby blue.
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: A flashback shows her mother as looking almost identical to her.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Alteans possess the ability to alter their appearance and size. Allura says this is why they make such good diplomats.
* WaifFu: While obviously physically fit, she doesn't seem like that kind of person who can easily break down steel doors or chuck people across the room with one hand.
* WhipItGood: When wielded by her, the Blue Bayard transforms into an energy whip that can behave like RazorFloss.
* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: She says that she needs to portray strength so the others don't worry about their mission.
* WrenchWench: Allura appears to be a capable starship mechanic, given she manages to get the Castle of Lions spaceworthy again, with Coran's help (when he's not overseeing the Paladins' training).
* {{Xenafication}}: While the original Allura wasn't helpless, she wasn't exactly strong enough to ram a Galra soldier with enough force to embed his helmet into a steel wall, or throw a grown man wearing armor several feet across a room ''with one hand''. [[spoiler: She also turns out to be unexpectedly unaffected by Haggar's spells and even briefly becomes super-empowered by them during the Season 2 finale, something that both characters are surprised by. To say the least.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Princess Allura has white hair rather than blonde hair, emphasizing how otherworldly she is.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Coran]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coran_paladin___ld_9.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Rhys Darby\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Moisés Iván Mora\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Kosuke Echigoya
Allura's royal advisor, in charge of the Castle Control and the last known surviving male Altean. Coran is boisterous and confident, but his efforts to appear intelligent are sometimes undermined by his occasional buffoonery. That being said Coran is a constant pillar of support for both Allura and the Defenders of the Universe, assisting them with training, operating the castle and providing knowledge on various galactic matters.
----
* AcePilot: He's no slouch in a pod as seen in "Fall of the Castle of Lions."
* AdaptationalComicRelief: Unlike the stoic Coran of old, this Coran is the source of comedy.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: In "Crystal Venom", he doesn't believe in ghosts, despite living in a castle that doubles as a spaceship built by supernatural technology while explaining this to a teenager from another planet. He even admits the description makes it sound haunted.
* BadassMustache: One which not even being reverted back to his childhood by a TimeyWimeyBall can destroy.
* BigDamnHeroes: Has one in the season finale, providing cover fire, in the process letting us all know how satisfying and therapeutic the moment must have been.
-->'''Coran:''' "CORAN ATTACK! I've waited 10,000 years for this!"
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Lance -- in fact, "Across the Universe" reveals that a younger Coran was ''very'' much like Lance. Both are characters defined by their sense of humor...and their regular ButtMonkey status. Both frequently vex the people around them, and both occupy a JackOfAllTrades role compared to their fellows. That said, both also come through when it's really needed, and both are basically team players. They're also both extremely homesick, and trying to cover it up as best they can.
* ButtMonkey: From a rather undignified de-aging incident to a nasty case of the slipperies, season two was not particularly kind to Coran's dignity. Even discounting that, he's a bit of a buffoon, and the both the plot and the paladins like to take digs at him.
* CampCook: Is shown cooking a meal for the Paladins since they found the food provided by the Castle Ship less pleasant.
* ComicRelief: Keeps this trait even after Hunk has mostly outgrown it.
* CordonBleughChef: Presumably, his cooking is more palatable to Alteans. Although given that he admits it's disgusting, "That's how you know it's healthy," it can be guessed that he just has a love for making "healthy" food.
* EmoTeen: "Across the Universe" reveals that he used to be one.
* {{Expy}}: WordOfGod states that he's heavily based off of [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Varrick]]. Not surprising, given he's an eccentric tech genius who is more dangerous than he seems. Plus he's got the 'stache to boot.
* FacialMarkings: Light blue marks under his eyes.
* FantasticRacist: Often subtly insults the human members of the Voltron Force.
* FormerlyFit: He possessed a far more impressive musculature when he was a younger Altean. Not that his present-day body isn't impressive, considering he's the Altean Equivalent of middle age, and as seen during scenes like the food fight, his reflexes aren't exactly rusty.
* HonoraryUncle: In addition to being an OldRetainer, he's something like this to Allura; when she's taken prisoner near the end of the first season, he's devastated, noting to Shiro that he can't lose her along with everything else he's already lost. Allura herself says she thinks of Coran like a second father.
* HumanPopsicle: He, Allura, and the Mice were asleep for 10,000 years this way.
* LastOfHisKind: The last male Altean.
* OddFriendship: Seems to have developed one with Lance over the course of the first season.
* OldRetainer: Acts as this to Allura. Despite ostensibly being her adviser, he also handles chores, cooking, and castle maintenance.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Alteans are a long-lived species, but in spite of how spry Coran is, Season 2 reveals that he's at least in the autumn years by the standards of his race.
* OverlyLongName: Coran's full name is: Coran Hiernoymus Wibelton Smythe.
* PardonMyKlingon: He's far more likely to sprinkle Altean slang into his speech than Allura is.
* ParentalSubstitute: Allura thinks of him as a second father.
* PointyEars: Has a set of elf-like ears.
* PornStache: Complementing his mullet and sideburns. "Across the Universe" shows he's had it since he was a kid.
* Really700YearsOld: Mentions visiting Balmera with his grandfather while the latter was building the Castle of Lions. Considering the Castle is around 10,600 years old, that makes him at least 600 years old before being made an [[HumanPopsicle Altean Popsicle]]. He doesn't look it.
* RubberForeheadAlien: The only things alien about his physical appearance are his PointyEars and FacialMarkings.
* SadClown: He's not as cheerful as he always tries to look. Like Allura, he's lost everything he used to love, but he doesn't like to bring other people down. The only time we see the facade crack is when faced with yet another tragedy (such as losing Allura), or when someone else confides in him.
* SpaceElves: Of the Enlightened Mystic Race variety.
* TeamMom: Coran handles the cooking and cleaning for team Voltron. He also gives them advice and provides them with healthcare. He is a political adviser but his role more resembles that of a butler. Being an OldRetainer, HonoraryUncle, and ParentalSubstitute towards the orphaned Allura adds to his "motherly" status despite being male.
* UndyingLoyalty: To the Altean Royal family, whom he has served for centuries and later specifically Allura due to them being the [[LastOfHisKind only known Alteans left]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Rover]]
A Galra drone Pidge reprogrammed for friendly use.
----
* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Used to be a loyal drone working for the Galra empire, until reprogrammed by Pidge.
* HeroicSacrifice: Willingly deactivates itself to ensure Haxus falls.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Mice]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mice_first.png]]
Four Altean mice that were frozen alongside Allura for 10,000 years. From left to right there's Chuchule, Platt, Chulatt and Plachu.
----
* BizarreAlienBiology: They only look like mice from Earth. When stuck in a recursive time loop, they devolve into squirrels, hippos, snails, a four-headed chimera, giant spores, and a flock of irritable birds.
* NiceMice: They're cute little alien mice.
* NonHumanSidekick: They are almost never seen without Allura.
* PsychicLink: With Allura, developed by sharing her sleep pod for 10,000 years.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Kaltenecker]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_cow.png]]
A cow Lance and Pidge got in a deal from an earth vendor at the Space Mall.
----
* AliensStealCattle: The earth vendor seemingly abducted it from Earth to sell it.
* AnimalGenderBender: Lance refers to him as male despite the fact that he clearly has udders.
* CallARabbitASmeerp: Since the alien told Lance and Pidge they get ''a'' free Kaltenecker, it's likely to be what aliens refer to Earth cows rather than a name.
%%* EverythingsBetterWithCows
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Credits reveal Kaltenecker is the surname of the production team's line producer.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Though he's explicitly brought on board the ship, after "Space Mall," Kaltenecker's never mentioned again. He does reappear as part of a noncanon April Fools joke where Lotor dramatically unmasks himself to reveal Kaltenecker's face.
[[/folder]]
!Team Voltron
[[folder: In General]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/group_shot_for_tvtropes_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "Defenders of the Universe huh? That's got a nice ring to it."]]
* AcePilot: They all develop some degree of this after becoming the Paladins.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Each member of Team Voltron expressed an interest in exploring the cosmos. Now they have the chance and the means with the unfortunate caveat that they'll also have to ''free most of it from the clutches of a massive intergalactic empire and defend what remains unconquered.''
* BodyMotifs: Lining up with their Lions' position in Voltron:
** Shiro, the leader and head of Voltron, tries to keep a cool head, and ensures that the others function as a unit, just as a brain controls the body. He's also the mediator making sure that everybody plays nice together.
** Keith and Pidge are the arms of Voltron. The first two series focus on them and their efforts to take independent action: Pidge in locating the missing Holts, and Keith in uncovering his family background. Like arms and hands, they are driven to take action...sometimes to the detriment of the team (as in, "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing"). Keith, the right arm of Voltron, is also Shiro's "right-hand man." [[spoiler: In season 3, when Keith becomes the new leader, Blue refuses to accept Lance and instead Red takes him. Allura explains that the "right hand" element of Voltron is literally true, and he was moved to Red to represent that.]]
** Lance and Hunk are the legs of Voltron. Hunk is explicitly said by Allura to provide the strength and stability of Voltron; Lance's role hasn't been explicitly stated, but balance has been mentioned. These two are team players, and prefer to act as a group (or pair) rather than go off alone. Unlike Keith, Shiro and Pidge, who regularly go off on their own quests, Hunk and Lance can generally be found where you left them, making them reliable.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Shiro -- Black, Keith -- Red, Lance -- Blue, Pidge -- Green, Hunk -- Yellow. As per promotional art, Allura -- Pink, Coran -- Purple.
* ColorCodedElements:
** Keith, with fire, is red.
** Lance, with water, is blue.
** Pidge, with forest, is green.
** Hunk, with earth, is yellow.
** Shiro, with sky, is black.
* ColorCodedSecretIdentity: Outside of their lions and armor, their casual costumes still fit their color scheme. Shiro wears a black body suit, Keith has a bright red jacket, Lance wears a blue shirt and jeans, Pidge has a green shirt, and Hunk wears a yellow shirt and bandanna. However, the "secret identity" part does not apply currently. [[spoiler:In season 3 this doesn't fully apply as the Keith and Lance keep their casual costumes while having switched lions. Although Keith does wear a black shirt under his red jacket, which might also be this trope in action.]]
* ElementNumberFive: Together with their Lions, each of the Paladins is referred to as a ''Guardian Spirit of the _______''.
* EnsembleCast: If Shiro wasn't automatically assumed to be TheProtagonist as the leader of Voltron, one would be hard-pressed to define him as such particularly for Season 1 as a whole, as it starts with Lance as the DecoyProtagonist during the first half of episode 1, then continues the rest of the season with a focus on a character/pair/the team as a whole per scene, episode, or arc. Even in season 2, which concentrates only on three characters' arcs, Shiro's being one of them, the focus shifts more and more to Keith and Allura's towards the end (and since some of Shiro's and a big part of Allura's arcs wind up tied to Keith's, really it's Keith's arc that gets a majority of the focus in S2). The promotional summary for S1 actually implies this, naming all Paladins instead of the likes of "Shiro and company." (Infamously in some circles, as it calls all the Paladins "teens," while Shiro is vaguely alluded to being an adult in his early-to-mid-20's and currently [[ShrugOfGod flip-flopped]] depending on the source). Even then, despite being unrelated to the main plots of season 2, Pidge is the only character to appear in all episodes.
* EveryoneHasASpecialMove: Each carries a RetractableWeapon called a Bayard that forms a unique weapon in person and interfaces with their Lion's cockpit to give Voltron a similar one. Shiro's Bayard was lost long before he took up the mantle, so he makes do with his robotic arm (which turns out to have a glowing charged-up mode, anyway).
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Paladins fit loosely in the following:
** Shiro: Leukine. Balances the others.
** Keith: Choleric. Hardworking, confident, and determined, but also rebellious and cynical.
** Pidge: Melancholic. Analytical, intelligent, and mild-tempered, but also blunt and inflexible.
** Lance: Sanguine. Friendly, talkative, HotBlooded, likes to think of himself as TheCharmer (but really isn't), but also rather frivolous and gullible.
** Hunk: Phlegmatic. Humble, sweet, and hardworking, but anxious and yielding.
* GenerationXerox: Owing to the inherent nature of the Lions, who supposedly favor specific personality types, we find that there are quite a few overlaps with their predecessors come Season 3. [[spoiler: Lance's forerunner, Blaytz, was a huge flirt who whooped and hollered while flying, much like Lance. Pidge's predecessor liked to tease and needle her comrades. The Black and Red pilots are apparently intrinsically linked, with the Red Paladin playing TheLancer to the Black Paladin -- whether that's Zarkon and Alfor, Shiro and Keith, or Keith and Lance]].
* ThePaladin: Not just any Paladins, but ''[[RecycledInSpace Space Paladins]]''.
* PersonalityPowers: Each Paladin is linked to an appropriate element:
** Shiro -- ranked higher than the others and looked up to by them -- is the Sky.
** Keith, the impulsive, instinct-driven hothead with a temper, is Fire.
** Lance -- adaptable, cool-headed in a crisis and secretly rather emotional -- is Water.
** Hunk -- kind, stable and fiercely loyal -- is Earth.
** Seemingly inverted with Pidge, who hates the great outdoors and would rather interact with the world via technology. However, "Greening the Cube" reveals that her adaptability and tenacity makes her a better fit with the Nature element than she expected.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: A survivor of an alien abduction, three cadets who consistently fail simulation missions, and an AcePilot with disciplinary issues are the only guys available to pilot Voltron.
* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: Allura didn't have much time to assemble a team. Fortunately for her, they may be teenagers with attitude problems and problems with teamwork but at least they're also students at a space exploration school.
* {{Sentai}}: True to their ''Anime/GoLion'' origins.
* SpaceCadet: Hunk, Pidge and Lance.
* TheTeam: [[BigThinShortTrio Hunk, Lance, and Pidge]] were part of the same unit at the academy. When they sneak out to investigate the crash, [[ThreePlusTwo they meet Keith as they rescue Shiro]] and the Blue Lion takes them to Arus where they awaken Allura and Coran. The two Alteans teach the five pilots to work as a team, and they all bond together to form Voltron and defend the universe. Shiro becomes TeamDad and TheLeader. Keith and Lance form a [[RedOniBlueOni rivalry]] for the "{{Lancer}}" role where the former is [[AcePilot an Ace]] IneffectualLoner and the latter is a GloryHound CasanovaWannabe. Pidge is the SmartGuy, Hunk the BigGuy, Allura is TheChick, and Coran is her OldRetainer.
* TechnicolorNinjas: All of their exploits without the Lions typically involve lots and lots of sneaking. This is while wearing bright white armor with primary color highlights and ''glowing panels''.
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: The bond between the paladins and their development into TrueCompanions is particularly pointed out early in the series to be of vital importance, and while all of them are implied to have become close knit friends, some interactions never really get much screentime, which is understandable with a cast of 7 main characters, but the Shiro/Hunk, Shiro/Lance and Keith/Pidge interactions have been particularly rare, the latter is surprising, since as of season two, both has as objective [[spoiler:find their families]].
* TrueCompanions: They eventually become this, to a point where would risk their lives for each other and stop at nothing to find one of their own. This is actually a major requirement for forming Voltron.
* TwoGirlsToATeam: Allura and Pidge.
* VagueAge: Up until after the third season almost nothing was known about the ages of the Paladins. [[AllThereInTheManual The Paladin Handbook]] states that Shiro is 25, Keith is 18, Lance and Hunk are 17, and Pidge is 15.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Voltron]]
The most powerful weapon in the universe, formed by combining the five individual Lions into a single fighting robot.
----
!!!Voltron as a whole
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voltron__ld.png]]
* AdaptationalWimp: Unlike in the original series, forming Voltron is not an instant solution to the team's problems. Zarkon hints that Voltron is more powerful than what has been shown. Coran also points out that the Galra have had the chance to do 10,000 years of R&D while he, Allura, and the lions were in stasis.
* {{BFG}}: Activating Hunk's bayard while as Voltron forms a powerful shoulder-mounted variant. Keith also manages to unlock a huge back-mounted cannon on the Red Lion that's far more powerful than its standard mouth-fired gun when he pulls off a HeroicSecondWind in his fight with Zarkon.
* {{BFS}}: Activating Keith's, Pidge's, Hunk's and Lance's Bayards at once creates a sword even larger than Voltron itself.
* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Now has a giant "V" on its chest.
* CombiningMecha: The Blue and Yellow Lions form the legs and the Red and Green Lions form the arms.
-->'''Shiro:''' [[MythologyGag And I'll form]] [[LeaderFormsTheHead the head]].
* FlamingSword: [[spoiler:To use it, they need Shiro's Bayard which they finally do in the second season finale.]]
* FashionableAsymmetry: Because of the Lions' DivergentCharacterEvolution, Voltron's left side (with the shielded Green Lion forming the arm and the MightyGlacier Yellow Lion forming the leg) is now more heavily armored than its right.
* HomingLasers: The lasers it fires from its {{BFG}}. At one point the lasers fly past their target in order to loop back and hit it in front.
* HumongousMecha: As per tradition. It's ''very'' tall and has the strength to match. If [[http://voltronlegendarydefender.wikia.com/wiki/File:Voltron_Size.png this]] picture is to be believed, Voltron is 100.584 meters tall. That's 330 feet!
* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: [[spoiler: Due to the material it is made from, it is capable of going between realities without being harmed. Zarkon wanted it to open up another rift like the one on Daibazaal in order to gain access to more quintessence.]]
* MagicMeteor: [[spoiler:"Space Mall" reveals that the Lions were made from a meteor that crashed on Galra homeworld.]]
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Gets new upgrades or abilities when convenient. Justified as the Paladins are still trying to figure out how to work Voltron at its maximum potential. [[spoiler: Alfor admits that even though he created the Lions, he has no idea what all their abilities are and theorised that they were evolving. Considering he didn't know the Lions could form Voltron itself until it was needed, he has a point.]] This sometimes comes up as YouNeverAsked.
* SuperToughness: Voltron's primary power seems to be a near-inability for its armor to be damaged.
* ThunderboltIron: Was forged from Quintessence-infused ore from a very unusual comet. Quintessence is a weird enough material as it is, but the Lion's appear to be at least partially sentient and can mutate new features as needed.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: [[spoiler:In "Blackout" Haggar uses the komar to absorb its Quintessence. To Haggar's horror, she realizes it's too much and nearly destroyed her. For reference, the komar is meant to absorb the Quintessence of planets.]]
* TransformationSequence: It has one, in which the five Lions combine to form Voltron.
* YouNeverAsked: The Lions don't really bother telling the paladins what they can do until the paladins literally complain about not having it. (A sword, a gun, a bigger sword...)
!!!The Lions
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voltronlions.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[CaptainObvious From left to right: Blue, Red, Black, Green, Yellow]]]]
* AdaptationalBadass: Counter to Voltron's AdaptationalWimp status, the individual lions are significantly more capable in this version, as opposed to pretty much only exist to form Voltron.
* AmbiguousGender: Pidge refers to the Green Lion as a girl, and Hunk refers to Yellow Lion as a boy. The other lions don't have stated genders. Although Lance speaks about the Blue Lion similarly to an overprotective boyfriend [[spoiler: when he thinks Keith wants to use it]].
* AnimalMecha: The Lions are functional mecha by themselves. A Type 2 example as the Lions are fully sentient and frequently communicate with their Paladins in various fashions.
* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Blue Lion has a troop transport compartment in its underbelly which Lance uses to deploy Blade of Marmora guerillas into battle in the third Season Premier.
* ConflictingLoyalties: The Black Lion due to the fact it has bonds with both Shiro and its original Paladin, [[spoiler:Zarkon]]. [[spoiler: "Space Mall" ends this with Black siding with Shiro.]]
** A very mild version of this, shows up with the Lions interacting with people other than their chosen pilots. Keith had to convince Black it was for Shiro's own good to allow him to pilot it, and Red actively ignored Coran's attempt to pilot it, in favor of rescuing Keith. : [[spoiler: Cue Season 3, and the Black Lion refuses to let a returned Shiro pilot it in favour of Keith.]]
* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: The Black Lion can form a small dual-bladed variant of these to use at close range, it has a stronger cutting force than its jaws or claws. Season 2 shows all the Lions can do this, too.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Black Lion.
* DivergentCharacterEvolution: In the original, the Lions had very few differences between each other. In this version the differences are greatly exaggerated. Most notable is Yellow, who is more likely to body tackle an opponent than use his lasers. Other differences include the discrepancy in size (with the two "leg" Lions being larger and bulkier than the two "arms," and Black as the head-and-torso being bigger than all of them) and their different facial expressions (Black, Red and Green, with "ears" on top of their head and facing forward, look alert and eager, while Blue and Yellow, with "ears" at the side of their head, look more relaxed).
* ElementalPowers: The individual Lions.
* EmpathicWeapon: The show makes a point that each of the Lions are alive and choose their pilots. Throughout the show, the Lions will react to their Paladins' emotions or guide them to unlock new powers to protect them. Notably, the Lions will also change who they allow to pilot them-[[spoiler:when Shiro is lost during season 3, the Black Lion only allows Keith to pilot it. Lance loses his bond with the Blue Lion and forms a new one with the Red Lion, even as the Blue Lion switches its allegiance to Allura.]]
* ExcaliburInTheRust: {{Downplayed}} with the Lions, whose paint jobs are starting to fade away. [[spoiler: Season 3 reveals that they looked exactly the same ''when they were new''.]]
* FragileSpeedster: Red has exceptional speed but lack in defense more than the others.
* FrickinLaserBeams: Each individual Lion has one of these as a standard weapon. They're fired from their mouths.
* GreenThumb: The Green Lion has a cannon that sprout roots.
* {{Herald}}: The Blue Lion. Keith being able to sense it and Lance being able to bond with it kickstarts the adventure.
* HotBlooded: The Red Lion is like this. Allura mentions that it is the most temperamental Lion, and it's also one of the most aggressive in protecting its Paladin.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Each Lion handles differently. [[spoiler:When several of the team members switch Lions in season 3, it takes them a while to get used to their new Lions' controls.]]
* AnIcePerson: The Blue Lion is associated with water, and it comes with a [[IceMagicIsWater freeze ray.]]
* {{Invisibility}}: Pidge modified the Green Lion with a cloaking device reverse-engineered from the Castle's training deck.
* JackOfAllStats: Both the Black and Blue Lions.
** Blue isn't as fast as Green or Red, nor does it have Yellow's immense armaments and defenses. Instead, it has a healthy mixture of all three attributes, a balance that is only dwarfed by the Black Lion and Voltron itself.
** Black is equal parts tough and maneuverable with weapons to cover all ranges of combat, as stated above, it shares this trait with Blue -- but far surpasses it in terms of overall ability.
* LevelUpAtIntimacy5: The primary explanation for NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. Forming deeper levels of trust with your lion allows you to upgrade their weaponry and unlock hidden shoulder weapons. This also allows Red Lion to sense Keith's distress from long distances.
* LightningBruiser: The Green Lion isn't quite as fast as its Red counterpart, but she hits just as hard and possesses more armor.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Pidge's Green Lion bears a highly durable shield on her back that covers Voltron's left shoulder when combined. Notably, Pidge also has control of generating Voltron's actual shield in battle.
* MakeMeWannaShout: The Blue Lion has a sonic attack, which can also be used to make sonar maps.
* ManchurianAgent: Black's bond with Zarkon is still substantial enough that he can have it disassemble Voltron and spit out Shiro via telepathic commands. Fortunately, it is not ''totally'' dominant over Shiro's own bond, as he is able to end the Emperor's fight with Keith and Red by getting Black to attack Zarkon. [[spoiler:This continues to be a problem throughout Season 2 until "Space Mall", when Shiro is able to strengthen his bond with Black while weakening Zarkon's bond.]]
* MightyGlacier: Yellow is heavily armed and armored, but is the slowest of the quintet.
* PlayingWithFire: Red has a flamethrower attack that's more powerful than its usual laser.
* ThePowerOfTrust: Season 2 has [[spoiler:Shiro and Zarkon debate over what quality the Lions demand of their Paladins when they battle over the right to pilot the Black Lion during their astral battle in "Space Mall". Zarkon believes they respect power above all else, while Shiro argues that the bond is about trust. [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Zarkon mocks him and says trust has nothing to do with it.]] [[BigDamnHeroes The Black Lion disagrees, and rejects its former Paladin... Quite violently.]]]]
* PurpleIsPowerful: When the Lions streak through the air to form Voltron, they each leave a colored trail in their wake. The other Lions' streaks match their color, but the Black Lion leaves a purple trail. The Black Lion's cockpit also glows purple as well.
* {{Teleportation}}: [[spoiler: Keith notes in Season 3 that this is one of the Black Lion’s abilities.]]
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: The Blue Lion gets a power boost underwater, which helps Lance and Hunk defeat a giant sea monster enslaving an underwater civilization.
* TrueCompanions: Season 2 dedicates more time to the nature of the bond between the Lions and their Paladins. [[spoiler: While Red gets some time to shine, most of the focus is on Black and Shiro. During an astral battle with Zarkon, Shiro's desire to bond with Black through trust rather than Zarkon's domination allowed Black to enter the astral plane and make it very clear who it considers its true Paladin. During the final battle, the depth of their bond unlocks Black's personal upgrade and allows Shiro to retrieve his Bayard.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: In a bit of irony, the second season shows the Red Lion has this for Keith. It has gone on its own to rescue its Paladin multiple times and once tried to destroy a base to reach him.
* TheWorfEffect: As it has the highest level of raw power and armor, Yellow is often the first to get smacked about by the MonsterOfTheWeek to show just how much trouble the team is in.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shiro_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Creator/JoshKeaton\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Creator/RicardoTejedo\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Kenji Sugimura
Officially titled the Guardian Spirit of the Sky, Shiro is the pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the Defenders of the Universe. He was a star pilot in the Galaxy Garrison before he, along with Pidge's father and brother, were abducted by a Galra ship on Kerberos. Shiro later became known as "Champion" after he was forced into gladiatorial combat and defeated a feared Galra warrior; he subsequently had his right arm replaced with a Galra cybernetic that can both power up Galra technology and serve as his melee weapon. Shiro escaped Galra custody and returned to Earth, where he joined his unlikely future teammates. Shiro is the most level-headed and responsible of the five pilots, and despite suffering amnesia and PTSD after escaping the Galra, he remains quite perceptive.
As the pilot of the Black Lion, he has access to the most powerful weaponry out of all the Lions. He forms the head of Voltron, and does not have access to his Bayard as it has gone missing. To supplement the missing weapon, he uses his Galra-tech arm, which is capable of heating to high temperatures and thus is able cut through the {{Mooks}} of the Galra Empire with ease.
----
* HundredPercentAdorationRating: While the rest of the team may bicker with each other, they all deeply admire and respect Shiro.
* TheAce: Everyone on the team looks up to him; he's an exceptional space explorer, adequate at close combat, and a [[TheLeader very capable leader]].
* AdaptationNameChange: A recursive example. Along with reverting Sven Holgersson [[RaceLift to his original ethnicity]] in ''Anime/GoLion'', showrunners Montgomery and Dos Santos opted to use his original Japanese name.
* AloofBigBrother: Implied to be an unwitting one by season 2 to Keith. The second time Shiro insists that Keith be his successor as leader, despite Keith's annoyance and discomfort with the idea, instead of arguing firmly as he's done with everyone else on the team, he simply avoids the subject, seeming down about not living up to Shiro's expectations.
* ArtificialLimbs: Cybernetic right arm that he gained while imprisoned by Galra.
* AscendedExtra: While Sven was written out by the sixth episode in the original Voltron and spent the second half of the show CommutingOnABus, Shiro takes the role of TheLeader.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The leader of the Voltron Paladins, the team strategist, and one of the better hand-to-hand fighters.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Besides his constant cool head, this is his primary credit towards his leadership:
** During his year as a prisoner, he was able to defeat a nigh unstoppable gladiator by recognizing the pattern to his strikes.
** He was able to escape by recognizing the prison guards are all robot drones, and after enough study, realized they ran on an exact cycle that he could exploit the openings in.
* BadassInDistress: In "Across the Universe", he's this due to injures from the previous episode.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Played mostly for laughs in "Escape from Beta Traz" as he tries to deal with Slav, but it's very clear that even TeamDad Shiro has a limit to his patience. And you do ''not'' want to be on the receiving end of that blow-up.
* BigBrotherMentor: Mixes this trope in a bit with his TeamDad tendencies, particularly with Pidge, whose father and elder brother were on his original team. Season 2 shows that this is also the case for Keith, who even calls him a brother to him.
* BrokenAce: His TheAce characteristics come with a large serving of [=PTSD=] from his time as a Galra prisoner and guilt at surviving while the fate of the rest of the Kerberos crew is unknown.
* CruelToBeKind: Shiro purposely injures Pidge's brother, Matt, and acts bloodthirsty. It's a ruse so the Galra choose him to fight in the arena, and instead send Matt to labor camp where he'd be safer.
* DarkIsNotEvil: He mostly wears black and his aura is purple. He's also a grade-A NiceGuy and the lead pilot of a mighty robot loved by good, feared by evil.
* DeadmanWalking: There are plenty of teasing moments that makes it seem like Shiro's about to kick the bucket. It doesn't help that his 80's counterpart got killed off pretty early in the series.
* EarnYourTitle: [[spoiler: Most of Shiro's character arc in Season 2 deals with him trying to strengthen his bond with the Black Lion so it doesn't fall back into Zarkon's hands (who was the former Black Paladin himself). The finale has them duking it out mano a mano, and Shiro's trust in his Lion finally results in Zarkon's bond being severed with it, making Shiro the true Black Paladin. It's even visually represented by Shiro now possessing the black bayard, which Zarkon had kept in his possession for more then 10,000 years.]]
* FailureKnight: According to Josh Keaton, Shiro's protective TeamDad streak is fueled by the loss of his first crew.
* ForeShadowing: [[spoiler: Between the promotional materials and Shiro constantly trying to prepare Keith to lead Voltron in his stead throughout Season 2 it really seems like Shiro is going to bite it before the season is through. In the end, it's a mystery if he's dead or not. See NeverFoundTheBody below.]]
** While he's [[spoiler: confirmed alive come season 3, there are many hints that something is wrong- his second escape appears to have been planned by the Galra, the Black Lion rejects him despite him being the better leader between Keith and himself, and he complains of a "strange headache" upon his full recovery.]]
* FormFittingWardrobe: In contrast to everyone else's plain clothes, Shiro's shirt, pants, and vest all look [[http://i.imgur.com/iDNpb5M.png as though they've been painted directly onto his skin.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Has a heroic scar over the bridge of his nose from his time in the gladiator pits.
* HeroicBuild: Especially apparent when standing beside his shorter, lankier allies such as Lance or Pidge - this was even ''before'' he was forced to fight for his life on a day-to-day basis for the Galra Gladiator matches.
* HopeBringer: Revealed why [[spoiler:Ulaz saved him.]]
* {{Hunk}}: He has a strong, muscular build and a LanternJawOfJustice as befitting the trope.
* IAmAMonster: Worries that he may have been irreversibly tainted by his imprisonment and suffers a nervous breakdown when Sendak taunts him with the suggestion that he's merely a Galra tool playing at being a hero as a coping mechanism.
* IronicName: Shiro is the Black Lion's pilot, yet his name is Japanese for "white" (and his full surname means "silver").
* TheKirk: Shiro balances between emotions, which usually manifest during his TeamDad moments, and logic.
* LanternJawOfJustice: As appropriate for TheLeader.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Can't remember much of what happened during the year he was imprisoned. Slowly begins regaining memories as the season goes on.
* TheLeader: Of the levelheaded variety.
* LeaderFormsTheHead: Lampshaded and given a mythology gag. Voltron was, after all, a prominent TropeCodifier in America.
* LethalChef: Although he's pretty much [[TheAce the best]] in everything else, the NYCC alternate cover of the comic reveals that he really can't cook for shit.
* LivingLegend: Lance comments on Shiro being a legend in the Garrison, and Pidge tells Keith that her dad and brother always talked about Shiro when they were at home.
* LockedIntoStrangeness: Shiro gained a large shock of white in his black hair during his year as a Galra prisoner. He notes in the official Voltron handbook about his hair and scar that, "Stress can do some pretty terrible things."
* MoralityPet: Is this to all pilots, but especially towards Keith. Even lampshaded in an interview with the cast / crew who points out that having Shiro around is what keeps Keith calm.
* NervesOfSteel: He's very good at keeping his cool under pressure.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: MIA as of the Season 2 finale. After fighting with Zarkon and getting the Black Lion back to the castle, the Paladins open the cockpit to find that Shiro is nowhere to be seen.]] Then [[spoiler:in season 3 he's revealed to be alive, and after finding him Keith theorizes that Shiro was teleported by the Black Lion to keep him safe.]] However [[spoiler:many fans are convinced that the Shiro that returned is, in fact, a clone, and the real one is either still held captive or actually dead]].
* NotSoAboveItAll: He generally doesn't get caught up in the other crew's tomfoolery, but then sometimes he does.
** Early on, Shiro agrees with the idea of stacking the lions on top of one another like a cheerleading squad.
-->'''Shiro:''' "[[MythologyGag ...and I'll form the head.]]"
** In the same episode, Shiro joins the Paladins in a food fight against Allura and Coran.
** When the rest of the team begins debating on the noises the lasers make, Shiro tells them to settle down... and then corrects them.
** He gets caught up with the Paladins in a snow-ball fight, even when he tries to act mature about he eventually gives in.
* NotSoStoic:
** While normally collected and level-headed, Shiro occasionally suffers from crippling panic attacks and even once spaces Sendak in the middle of a nervous breakdown.
** A more hilarious example happened when he has to transport Slav. Slav nearly drove him insane. (Of course this could have just been stress and panic leaking through at the prospect of being in a Galra prison again.)
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Shiro" is a shortened form of his surname. His full name, as seen on the Galaxy Garrison records, is Takashi Shirogane, which serves as an homage to his counterpart in the original ''Anime/GoLion''.
* PassingTheTorch: In the teaser for Season 2, Shiro tells Keith that he wants him to lead Voltron if anything ever happens to him. One of his reasons may be because [[spoiler: Keith can pilot the Black Lion]].
* PhlebotinumRebel: The Galra's Druids sure must be regretting all that tinkering they've done with their former favorite gladiator.
-->'''Haggar:''' I made you strong, and ''this'' is how you repay me? You could have been our greatest weapon!
* PowerFist: While the Black Paladin's Bayard was lost eons ago, his [[ArtificialLimbs robotic arm]] easily makes up for it.
* PowerGlows: His right hand glows with an awesome power when he uses it to fight or power other tech.
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: His suit and lion are black, but his auras and TronLines are usually purple.
* RedRightHand: Played with; Shiro is a hero though his robotic right arm is a result of Witch Haggar's experiments on him for the Galra Empire.
* RedBaron: Was known as 'The Champion' when forced to fight in the Galra gladiator battles.
* SecretKeeper: Knew who Pidge was from the start, and promised he wouldn't tell.
* ShellShockedVeteran: [[WordOfGod Josh Keaton]] noted in interviews that Shiro suffers from PTSD after everything. He often freezes up when he remembers incidents from his year imprisoned, and not often when he can afford to.
* SkunkStripe: See LockedIntoStrangeness above.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: His counterpart in ''Anime/GoLion'' was killed off early on (before being replaced by an also-doomed BackupTwin), here Shiro has at least survived Season 1, though an eerie line from Season 2's trailer hints that he might be following his counterpart's footsteps in due time. [[spoiler: The second season finale brings up some questions on where Shiro went after their fight with Zarkon. He comes back alive...but things are weird.]]
* SuperSoldier: Handed over to Zarkon's right hand woman, Haggar, for some experimental modifications during his captivity.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: The 2nd tallest of the Paladins (after Hunk), with dark hair and eyes, [[LanternJawOfJustice chiseled features]] and a MysteriousPast.
* TeamDad: Senior officer, oldest and most level-headed of the team, often dispenses encouragement and advice to his teammates when they're having trouble. The fandom has also taken to calling him "Space Dad". Josh Keaton even has a shirt with the words on it.
** The Paladin Handbook, a guidebook released two weeks after Season 3, indicates that even the rest of the Paladins call him "Space Dad".
* WiseBeyondHisYears: Described word for word as this in his profile.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Keith]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/keith_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Creator/StevenYeun\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Óscar Flores (Eps. 1-8), Carlo Vázquez (Eps 9+)\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Creator/AnriKatsu
The pilot of the Red Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Fire. Keith was an elite fighter pilot in the Galxy Garrison, Earth's space exploration program, but washed out due to a "discipline issue." Inexplicably affected by the energies of the Blue Lion, he examined ancient messages left around its hiding place and thus learned of Shiro's return to Earth. Keith respects Shiro but clashes constantly with Lance.
As the pilot of the Red Lion, his Lion is the fastest and is best suited for close-range battles. He forms the right arm. His Bayard transforms into a double-edged sword, and his special weapon for Voltron is also a sword.
During Shiro's absence in the first half of season 3, he takes his place as pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the team.
----
* EightiesHair: Keith's mullet and [[HotBloodedSideburns nagaideburns]] are pulled right out of a 1980s super robot anime. [[Anime/GoLion No points for guessing which.]]
* AcePilot: Probably the best pilot on the show, just don't tell [[TheRival Lance]].
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: [[spoiler:In the original Voltron, Keith was fully human. In Voltron Force, Keith was revealed to be Arusian. Here he's part Galra.]]
* {{Adorkable}}: Of the socially inept kind at times, most prominent at the beginning of the farewell party with the Arusians where Keith has a hard time grasping he should respond "Tron" to Lance's "Vol."
* AmbiguouslyHuman: He's the only Paladin shown to be able to sense the Lions. He's also able to use Galra scanners without the use of Shiro's arm and is noted to fight like a Galra soldier. [[spoiler:"Shiro's Escape" adds more fuel to the fire when we see that a blade that Keith owns has the same symbol as a Galra resistance group. "The Blade of Marmora" outright confirms he is a HalfHumanHybrid with Galra blood.]]
* BadLiar: He can deceive as long as he can keep his mouth shut, but start questioning him and he's a babbling mess. Just ask Allura about his night time strolls near the escape pods.
* TheBerserker: Prone to flying off the handle during combat despite his usually cool and methodical demeanor.
* BerserkButton:
** Gets noticeably more out of sorts when Shiro is threatened, complete with taking on ''Zarkon himself'' if it means getting Shiro out of danger.
** Since the revelation of [[spoiler:his Galra heritage]], he's noticeably irritable if it's brought up, especially in a negative light.
** Shiro's [[spoiler:disappearance and the need for a new Black paladin becomes one during the first two episodes of season 3, but Keith moves past it for the good of the mission]].
* CatapultNightmare: [[spoiler:Has one in "The Ark of Taujeer" due to his worries over his biology.]]
* CharacterFocus: After spending the first season largely OutOfFocus, the second season puts him center stage after he starts to wonder about his heritage. His bond with Red also gets the spotlight, to the point that they're the most clearly bonded Paladin/Lion pair (at least, from what the viewers have seen). "The Ark of Taujeer", "The Blade of Mamora" and "The Belly of the Weblum" are distinctly Keith-centric, and he plays a major role in "Best Laid Plans".
* CharacterDevelopment: In season two, after he has to face some uncomfortable truths about himself that make him worry about whether he belongs with the team. Ironically, said truths bring him closer to his teammates (after a few hiccups), rather than driving them apart. [[spoiler:Continued in season 3, where he realizes his impulsiveness can be a liability after the disastrous mission in "The Hunted" , overall more conscious and aware of his decisions as a leader, and becomes more willing to listen to and trust his teammates, while also moving past his earlier rivalry with Lance and supporting him in "Tailing a Comet".]]
* ChekhovsGun: Keith's knife is shown in the first episode when he used it to free Shiro. [[spoiler:In the second season, it becomes a major hint and what starts off his QuestForIdentity subplot.]]
* TheComicallySerious: Doesn't seem to understand humor or "fun" very well. When Lance tries to give the team a chant, he can't seem to grasp it.
* DeadpanSnarker: Particularly towards Lance.
* {{Determinator}}: When Keith has a goal, he'll complete it or die trying. From being overwhelmed with his fight against Zarkon, Keith stood his ground. Then Season 2 has him going through endless trials of getting his ass kicked, and even when given the chance to quit, he continues to fight to the end. [[spoiler:Deconstructed in Season 3 as his determination to end Lotor allows Lotor to pull the Paladins into a trap as Keith ignores the pleas of his teammates.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His first appearance was a daring rescue to break Shiro out of quarantine, a plan that included having to set off remote explosions as a distraction, fight Galaxy Garrison members and then outrun the Garrison on his hover bike with three tagalongs. Note that he is markedly calm and confident, even with the new sudden additions and got away with no casualties, a factor that he is a leader in his own right.
* FieldPromotion: Invoked. In "Across the Universe", Shiro tells Keith that in case he doesn't make it, he wants Keith to lead Voltron. [[spoiler: Comes true as of the "Red Paladin", to Keith's misery.]]
* FireForgedFriends: Keith and Lance seemed to have moved past VitriolicBestBuds in the first half of season 3 into this after [[spoiler:Lance supports and helps Keith with his role as the Black Paladin and Keith attempts to reassure Lance about his importance to the team.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: While Keith is certainly heroic, brave, and very much willing to do the right thing, he's a shade less idealistic than the rest of the group and far more pragmatic as he once suggested leaving Princess Allura in the hands of the Galra rather than dive into a suicide mission - as she had expressly stated she wanted.
* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:"The Blade of Marmora" reveals he's part Galra. It's not revealed how much he is but it is hinted that it comes from his mother's side.]] As of season 3 [[spoiler:it's thought that Lotor's lieutenant Acxa, whom he met in the Weblum, might be his mother]].
* TheHermit: He had spent at least half a year living out in the middle of the desert in a small cabin by himself.
* HeroesPreferSwords: His personal weapon is a sword in a universe full of laser guns. This is a nod to his status as TheLeader in most other incarnations, including ''Voltron Force'' where he had dual swords. [[spoiler: As of "The Blade of Marmora", he is in possession of ''two'' swords, though he doesn't use them together at any point.]]
* HeroicAmbidexterity: He has no problem swinging his sword in either hand.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: In Seasons 2 and 3. Neither Shiro's desire for him to take over as team leader, nor the Black Lion's willingness to co-operate with him, can convince him that he'll be any good at the job. [[spoiler:When he's forced into the position in Season 3, he actively resents it, protesting that he's "the loner" who isn't fit to lead anyone.]]
* HiddenDepths: Others are quick to write him off as an InsufferableGenius loner who only cares about results, but he's clearly devoted to Shiro, he's getting there with the others and he's hiding a lot of insecurity and abandonment issues.
* HotBlooded: While he plays off as being cool to the others he charges in head first against Zarkon in the season finale. When he is shown to be clearly outmatched, he just [[TheDeterminator fights harder]].
* HotBloodedSideburns: Rocks a pair of Creator/GoNagai approved burns along with his mullet.
* HumanMomNonHumanDad: [[spoiler:Inverted. He's part-Galra and his father is shown to have been human, and the Galra blood comes from his mother's side, though it's unknown exactly whether he's half-Galra, or the Galra was further back in his family line.]]
* IdiotHair: Two of them.
* JerkAssHasAPoint: When the others want to rescue Allura after the Galra abduct her, Keith staunchly advises against this and gets [[WhatTheHellHero shouted down]] for it. In addition to it being exactly what Zarkon ''wanted'' them to do, the rescue attempt turns out to be the one action Allura was hoping they ''wouldn't'' take, for obvious reasons.
* TheLancer: The second-in-command of the Paladins. He's also a HotBlooded daredevil, compared to Shiro's level-headed AcePilot.
* TheLeader: [[spoiler:In Season 3, he takes over as leader of the Paladins due to Shiro's disappearance and the Black Lion choosing him. By the time Shiro has returned, he's grown used to this role enough that he's starting to argue with Shiro over what course of action to take.]] What's notable is [[https://paladinspride.tumblr.com/post/159592223315/scrawlers-moonlit-haven-marmoraskeith-i#notes that he displayed leadership prior Shiro's disapperance]].
* LeeroyJenkins: Keith is very prone to this, but reels in when Shiro is in charge. Following instincts was explicitly a trait that Allura mentions is something that helps when bonding with the Red Lion. [[spoiler:It is ''not'', however, helpful when he has to take over as the Black Lion's pilot and team leader, and a major part of his character development is realizing that he can't treat his team's well being as recklessly as he treats his own.]]
* LineageComesFromTheFather: [[spoiler: Inverted. His father was a regular human, and it's his mother who passed down the Galra blood, though it's unclear whether she was Galra herself.]]
* MilitaryMaverick: He turned into one of these when Shiro disappeared, which got him expelled from the Garrison, the reason for which is unknown, just that he had a "discipline issue". He seems willing to follow Shiro's orders, but his stubborn streak surfaces when interacting with the others.
* {{Mukokuseki}}: It's a bit unclear due to the art style of the show, but Keith looks vaguely Asian, which may be a throwback to how Keith from the original Anime/{{Voltron}} continuity was established as half-Japanese and half-Chinese. Lance in the comics jokingly refers to him as "samurai".
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: His impulsiveness nearly costs the team dearly in Season 3 [[spoiler:when he goes barreling headlong into a trap despite their warnings]], and he laments his foolishness to Lance.
* NoSocialSkills: Keith isn't exactly good at picking up on social cues.
-->'''Lance:''' I say "Vol," you say, "Tron." Vol...\\
'''Keith:''' Uh... Voltron?\\
'''Lance:''' No, no, no, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say "Vol," and you say...\\
'''Keith:''' ...Voltron?\\
'''Lance:''' ...We'll work on it.
* NotSoAboveItAll: He might try to distance himself from the others and play the lone wolf, but (a) they're not having it, (b) he's every bit as petty and vindictive as his colleagues, and (c) give him a squishy asteroid fight and he's a happy Paladin.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: [[spoiler:His knife is one. His dream in "The Blade of Marmora" implies that he got it from his dad, who got it from Keith's mom. Said knife is the start of his QuestForIdentity arc.]]
* OutOfFocus: His loner tendencies and lack of the personal motivations leave him with less to do than most of the other Paladins, and he doesn't have a big story arc in the first season. [[spoiler:Averted in the second season where a major arc in the season is his QuestForIdentity.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Noted in his profile to be an orphan. [[spoiler: In "The Blade of Mamora", it's revealed he has Galra blood from his mother's side while his father is human.]]
* PragmaticHero: Keith is the one most likely to [[TheNeedsOfTheMany put saving the universe above personal goals or relations]]. He was by far the angriest and least sympathetic toward Pidge leaving the team to rescue her family. When Allura is captured by the Galra, Keith is the only one to suggest ''not'' going on a rescue SuicideMission (which was exactly her intention when she stayed behind to let Shiro escape). In the season finale, Keith also elects to attack Zarkon with the Red Lion when Zarkon is exposed, un-armoured, and approaching the Black Lion. He rationalizes it that he has a chance to rid the universe of the threat of Galra conquest this way... except [[SwissArmyWeapon Zarkon still has the Black Bayard]] [[FallenHero from his time as the previous Black Paladin]] [[CurbStompBattle and boy does he know how to use it]].
* PrettyBoy: He's slender and drawn with large eyes, driving this point home.
* QuestForIdentity: [[spoiler:He goes through one is Season 2 when he realizes the mark of the Blades of Marmora, a Galra resistance, is on the knife that he has had since childhood.]]
* RedIsHeroic: Red is the color associated with him, and his other incarnations had him as the de facto leader and protagonist of the series. [[spoiler: Which is furthered when the Black Lion lets him pilot it to save Shiro, as it was his main lion in every other incarnation of the series.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: Zig-zagged; while Keith's reserved temperament contrasts with Lance's (despite the respective color schemes), Keith is the one most likely to act on impulse in the heat of combat.
* TheRival: To Lance. [[UnknownRival Eventually]].
* StraightForTheCommander: Keith really likes this trope. He has a tendency on focusing on killing Zarkon [[spoiler:and later Lotor]] whenever he has the chance.
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: Constantly plays the Straight Man to the team's, or just Lance's, Wise Guy. However, when he and Lance do a BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine on occasion, he winds up the boke to Lance's tsukkomi as a result of having NoSocialSkills.
* SummonToHand: Technically, all Bayards can be summond by their paladins, but Keith is the only one who utilizes it in battle, summoning his sword back to him after throwing it, or even using it to switch which hand is holding the sword.
* TakeMyHand: Keith does this in "The Ark of Taujeer" to [[spoiler:Allura when the pod they were in exploded, and jettisoned them into space.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: One of Keith's go-to options in a fight. Helps that he can SummonToHand
* TookALevelInKindness: Slowly opens up to the team as the series progresses. [[spoiler:After finding out that he's part Galra, he's become more lax, even willing to make a joke. Hunk even lampshades it. After a rocky start due to his grief and new role as team leader, Keith continues this in season 3, comforting Allura in "Hole in The Sky" and trying to reassure Lance in "Tailing a Comet" and offering to sit out of a mission for both Shiro's and Lance's sake.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: His relationship with Lance seems to be developing into this. While they argue a lot, they do make a good team.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** He calls out Pidge's decision to leave the team in "Fall of the Castle of Lions" as incredibly selfish, dooming the rest of the universe for two people.
** Later he gets this from Hunk for suggesting that they leave Allura in Zarkon's hands rather than go after her and risk handing Zarkon exactly what he wants. [[BatmanGambit No points for guessing what they do, and whether it was exactly what Zarkon wanted them to do]].
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Keith both receives and attempts to give this type of pep talk. He receives it from Shiro in Season 2 as the Black Paladin tries to convince him that he has what it takes to lead in Shiro's absence. In Season 3, he gets a brief one from [[spoiler:all of the other Paladins and Allura, once Black chooses him]]. He attempts to give one to [[spoiler:Lance]] later in the season [[spoiler:when he is horrified at Lance's willingness to resign as a Paladin. It's yet to be seen how successful this talk is]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Katie "Pidge" Holt]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pidge_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Bex Taylor-Klaus\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Angélica Villa\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Kana Omata
The pilot of the Green Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Forest. Pidge's brother, Matt, and father, Sam, were part of an expedition to Kerberos that also included Shiro; all members of the expedition were thought to have perished. Refusing to believe that they had died, Pidge joined the Galaxy Garrison in an effort to unravel the mystery of their disappearance. A computer genius, Pidge developed a system that can detect Galra radio transmissions, and ended up joining Team Voltron.
Pidge pilots the Green Lion, a FragileSpeedster that is excellent for subterfuge, support and scouting. Pidge's Bayard is a punching dagger that also becomes a taser or grappling hook.
----
%%Please do not clutter the character page with discussions of Pidge's gender identity, do so on the YMMV or Analysis pages.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** "Fall of the Castle of Lions" was the first one, with the main focus of the plot being Pidge's backstory while she attempted to stealthily rescue her friends.
** "Greening the Cube" in Season 2, in which she has to learn from the Olkari to respect nature as much as she does to technology, gaining a NextTierPowerUp in her lion's cannon.
* ActionSurvivor: While Pidge can hold her own in a fight, she is best at stealth and hit and run tactics.
* {{Adorkable}}: Even moreso when we find out Pidge is actually a girl.
* AffectionateNickname: WordOfGod confirms that, even after she reveals her gender, everyone still calls her Pidge as a nickname.
* AirVentEscape: Justified, as Pidge is the only pilot small enough to actually fit in them.
* AttackDrone: Rover, a Galra drone which Pidge reprograms. It performs a HeroicSacrifice to save her from a Galra commando.
* BerserkButton:
** Lance notes that Pidge gets very testy whenever the Kerberos mission is brought up at the Galaxy Garrison. Also, any interference with finding Pidge's father and brother gets her angry.
** In a more comedic version, she can also get rather testy when people mess with her gear, as Hunk learns in the first episode.
* BigBrotherWorship: Implied. She and Matt seem to have been close, her disguise as a boy looks similar to his appearance (complete with glasses), and her driving motivation from the start is to find him and their father.
* BigOlEyebrows: Unusual for a female character, as the main page notes, and one of the main reasons she can plausibly disguise herself as a boy.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Short to Hunk's Big and Lance's Thin.
* BornLucky: To a degree, considering what happened to her family, but things just seem to go better for her than for the other Paladins. Her Lion was on a completely peaceful planet just waiting for her and the natives helped her, when the Paladins separate, she ends in a peaceful area with cute and friendly aliens and enough machinery to build a way to communicate with her friends and then, in "Space Mall", she finds enough money in a fountain to buy the video game she wants.
* BrutalHonesty: Pidge can spout out some unwittingly cruel remarks. A good example is "Some Assembly Required" where she states that Allura is hardly a princess since there are no people to rule over and that they (the Paladins) are not her subjects. However, she is quick to withdraw after noticing how crass the remarks were; in "Fall of the Castle of Lions" she says something insensitive regarding Allura's father and quickly apologizes for it.
* ClarkKenting: A very {{downplayed}} example. Pidge was able to disguise herself as a boy by getting a haircut and wearing glasses, but no attention is called to it.
* CharacterDevelopment: "Greening the Cube" improves her connection to nature, and after she takes language lessons in "Eye of the Storm", she learns several common Altean terms.
* CharacterFocus: Pidge was the first of the Paladins whose motivations and character development were given an arc. Her family ties and GenderReveal made up the core of "Return of the Gladiator" and "The Fall of the Castle of Lions," with the latter episode featuring her as the Paladin who saves the day. In the second season, she gets a fair amount of airtime in "Across the Universe," and in "Greening the Cube," the disconnect between Pidge's technology-centered, outdoor-hating personality and her title as the spirit of ''Nature'' is addressed.
* CuttingTheKnot: When trying to keep the castle from taking off, she's supposed to input a sequence into the controls but can't read the Altean letters. Her solution is to punch the controls with her Bayard which surprisingly works.
* DeadpanSnarker: Pidge has several moments, and they're usually targeted at Lance.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Plenty regarding her true identity as Katie Holt, whose family was part of the ill-fated Kerberos expedition alongside Shiro.
* CommunicationsOfficer: Served as this while she, Lance, and Hunk were still in training. Once everyone's stranded on Planet Arus, Pidge instead takes on the role of...
* TheEngineer: Along with Hunk. While Hunk is more of a mechanic and support engineer, Pidge focuses on upgrading the team's tech and repurposing the enemies'.
* EveryoneKnewAlready: When she finally confesses her real gender, everyone but Lance had already figured it out. Coran was even surprised to find it was supposed to be a secret.
* {{Fangirl}}: Is implied to be one to the "Killbot Phantasm" video game franchise. During a brief moment, she seems to be this to Alan Turing as well.
* TheGadfly: Mixed with DeadpanSnarker. Pidge isn't afraid to let her teammates know that she thinks they're being idiots.
* GamerChick: Implied in "Space Mall", she seems to have a knowledge of retro game consoles and about classic video games (which seems to be based on classic JRPG) and fangirls over an expensive game.
* GenderFlip: Pidge is a male in the original.
* GrapplingHookPistol: Pidge's Bayard forms one that doubles as a taser.
* GreenThumb: Her lion's canon is capable of generating gigantic vines from the surface it shoots, being capable of defeating high-tech machinery.
* HollywoodHacking: Given enough time, Pidge can hack into anything. Justified in that decrypting signals would be an expected part of the skillset of a trainee communications officer.
* IdiotHair: She may have two of them, but she's a smart {{Adorkable}}.
* ImportantHaircut: When joining the Galaxy Garrison to hide her true identity, as she had been banned from the base.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Her words can cut deeper than she means them to. She apologizes to Allura when Pidge claims that Allura isn't ''her'' princess, and that she doesn't even have anything to be a princess ''of'' any more -- Pidge is correct, but she didn't mean to hurt Allura. [[spoiler:As of Season 3, there are also hints that her jabs have done some damage to Lance's self-esteem, even though Pidge is just engaging in the usual group banter]].
* InSeriesNickname: Pidge. Even though everybody knows her real name by now, not even Shiro uses it. WordOfGod confirms that she likes being called by the nickname.
* InvisibilityCloak: Seems to be a specialty, considering both the Green Lion and a drop shuttle that she personally modified possess them.
* {{Irony}}: "Greening the Cube" reveals that she hates nature and her lion is the lion of nature.
* KnifeNut: Pidge's Bayard takes the form of what looks like a stylized katar, a type of Indian dagger, when not being used as a GrapplingHookPistol.
* LittleUselessGun: Lance mockingly calls Pidge's weapon "cute" when the team's first using their Bayards. Pidge immediately tases him with it, demonstrating that it's hardly useless... then admits that it is pretty cute.
* {{Meganekko}}: Wears big round glasses which sometimes double as ScaryShinyGlasses. However, as she was never seen wearing glasses ''before'' she took on the identity of Pidge Gungerson, she might not even need them.
* MilitaryBrat: Pidge's father and brother were both part of the Galaxy Garrison.
* MotorMouth: When Pidge gets flustered or talks about technology, her gums start flapping at a million miles per minute.
* NaturalizedName: Implied, since according to WordOfGod, her family is originally of Italian heritage.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Pidge is initially willing to abandon the team in order find her older brother and father who have been imprisoned by the Galra. Of course, [[ChangedMyMindKid a change of heart]] occurs when Sendak attacks the castle.
* NotSoAboveItAll: In "Space Mall" she calls out that Lance is wasting time at an alien store instead of looking for the scaultrite lenses until she sees that the store has retro human video games and consoles and focuses her attention on looking for enough money to buy them.
* NotSoDifferent: In "Space Mall", it's shown she and Lance like to play video games.
* TheParanoiac: In the comics, Pidge claims they always collect data on the things around them, even the strengths and weaknesses of her teammates which she uses against them in that issue.
* PaperThinDisguise: Pretty much everyone either knew, had figured out, or been told by others by the time Pidge admits that she is a girl named Katie Holt. Subverted in that it ''did'' seem to work on the higher ups at Galaxy Garrison, who she was actually hiding from.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Spends a lot of time with Hunk. The two of them are about to cry in "The Belly of the Weblum" when the team splits up.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Sometimes when she is really focused, she shifts into this.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: The smartest Paladin and easily dwarfed by the rest of the main cast.
* SicklyNeuroticGeek: Downplayed, but she mentions in "Greening the Cube" that she has several allergies and a fragile skin that makes really hard for her to be in the nature.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: The team's resident inventor and the only one to wear glasses.
* TheSmartGuy: Was training to be a Communication Officer. Over the course of the show, Pidge proves to be an excellent hacker and often teams up with team engineer Hunk to make new weapons and tools for Team Voltron.
* TheSouthpaw: Yup, she's a lefty. Fits with her position on Voltron as the left hand.
* StealthExpert: From the Green Lion's cloaking device to hologram fakeouts on foot, Pidge is the best at deception and infiltration.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: To Pidge's nearly-identical looking older brother Matt, especially after she cuts her hair. It's to the point where people find the picture she keeps of her and her brother Matt, and assume that Matt is her and the girl in the picture is someone else.
* StunGuns: Pidge's Bayard can also deal an incapacitating electric shock whenever it hits something.
* SweetPollyOliver: "Pidge Gunderson" is a male alias created by Katie Holt in order to join the Galaxy Garrison after she had been banned from it because she broke in.
* SwissArmyWeapon: Bayards are naturally these since they take on whatever form suits the wielder best, but Pidge's functions as a dagger, grappling hook, and taser simultaneously.
* TeenGenius: Pidge is the smartest among all of the Paladins.
** Best shown in the first episode of Season 2: she builds a communication antenna using trashed alien satellites, with the help of a few fluffy floating creatures.
* TinySchoolboy: A full head and shoulders shorter than any of the other Paladins, though being (probably) the youngest might have to do with it. Not to mention both her father and brother are shown to be short, suggesting it runs in the family.
* {{Tomboy}}: She has little to no classically feminine traits. Her long hair and the dress she was wearing in the photo with her brother were one of the few things that could make the viewer believe she was female, so much that when she cut that off, she could pass as a guy. It's not quite clear whether she has always been like this or if [[BecomingTheMask this is part of the persona she developed in order to pass as a guy]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Pidge is the tomboy, while Allura is the more elegant (but still badass) girly girl.
* TragicKeepsake: Carries around a picture of herself and her older brother. She finds out in Beta Traz that Matt was rescued by a group of rebels, but his current whereabouts are unknown.
* WalkingSpoiler: For Season 1, due to the second act PlotTwist that Pidge is really Katie Holt, daughter of the leader of the Kerberos expedition.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Lance]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lance_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Jeremy Shada\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Luis Fernando Orozco\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Takamasa Mogi
The pilot of the Blue Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Water. Lance considers himself to be Keith's rival, though he was only considered for Galaxy Patrol pilot training due to Keith's expulsion. Lance is convinced of his own superiority and quick to go after a pretty woman. Though he won't openly show it, Lance is quite homesick for Earth and his family.
He is the pilot of the Blue Lion, which is equipped with powerful long-range guns. He forms the left arm. His Bayard transforms into either a close-range assault rifle, or a long-range sniper rifle.
During the third season, he takes Keith's place as pilot of the Red Lion after Keith replaces Shiro in the Black Lion.
----
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Downplayed one for Allura who doesn't hate him, but is visibly annoyed whenever he tries to hit on her. Though this isn't based on his looks, just on how persistent he is. More recently it's become more of a joke, particularly when [[spoiler:Allura re-uses one of Lance's pickup lines in an attempt to bond with the Blue Lion]].
* AcePilot: A requirement for this team. He doesn't start out all that flash, but rows to become a great pilot, if not a bit reckless.
* AllThereInTheManual: Lance's Paladin skill/virtue is a mystery for the first two seasons, and his lack of a clear team role is source of angst in "Escape From Beta Traz." The ''comics,'' however give us a pretty big clue in one of Pidge's internal monologues -- when forced to fight her friends, she decides to take Lance out first because he's the most adept at co-operating with his teammates and he's a danger at long range. Despite scoffing when Lance refers to himself as a "sharpshooter" in the show proper, here she all but confirms his role as the team sniper.
** As for his role as a Paladin, the argument has been made that his role is Balance, citing both the attributes of his Lion (an even mix of speed, agility and power) and how he is a leg, literally balancing Voltron upright. His identity as a TheLancer to both Keith (who's Shiro's TheLancer) and Shiro himself also suggests this.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: His skin is noticeably darker than some human characters, though not as dark as Hunk or Allura. He is confirmed to be a mestizo Cuban.
* AnythingThatMoves: As long as it's female, Lance will hit on it.
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: According to WordOfGod, Lance is the youngest of his sibling(s), but an uncle to a niece and nephew. If the image of his family that manifests early in the first season says anything, they could number from two to four, at the very least.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Thin to Hunk's Big and Pidge's short, he is the most lanky of the Paladins.
* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: Plays the tsukkomi towards the more-so socially awkward Keith and Hunk, but winds up the boke for the rest of the team whenever he starts up his GloryHound CasanovaWannabe routine.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Despite his insecurities, immaturity, occasional silliness and reputation as a JackOfAllTrades, his consistent ability of keeping a cool head while strategizing, good reflexes, awareness of the team (most prominently shown in how he pings onto Pidge, Shiro and Keith's troubles and tries to hold Keith back when he's being reckless), and being an excellent shot leaves him with ample potential of shaping up into this.
* ButtMonkey: Part of the IdiotHero and ComicRelief package. Jokes are often made at his expense.
* CasanovaWannabe: Hits on Allura shamelessly throughout the series, but she's having none of it. Otherwise, if it's female and cute, Lance will want to hit on her. This actually gets his Lion stolen at one point when a female bounty hunter plays Lance like a fiddle and handcuffs him to a tree.
* CharacterFocus: A limited amount in seasons one and two; his CharacterDevelopment hasn't had much focus. Season One's "Taking Flight" is a mixed blessing for Lance, as he gets a lot of focus, but mainly on how his trusting and flirty nature screws things up. He manages far better in "The Depths" and his Lion gets a new weapon. He's also fairly crucial in "Escape From Beta Traz" despite not being the primary focus -- and this is also the episode that starts hinting at CharacterDevelopment, with Lance not being entirely as thoughtless and cocky as he seems.
** Season 3 gives him some serious focus. Most of the episodes have him as a major component, and a large part of "The Red Paladin" is focused on his struggles with [[spoiler: Shiro's disappearance.]] He even has some CharacterDevelopment, becoming a very effective strategist during combat situations and acting as an impulse control for [[spoiler: Keith when he makes an incredibly reckless plan as the new Black Lion pilot. In fact, the Red Lion chooses him as the new pilot ''because'' Lance values the composition of the team over his own pride, earning his spot back as a pilot. His later offer to resign as a Paladin for the good of the team later in the series is also a direct contrast to his EstablishingCharacterMoment in the first episode]].
* ComicRelief: His ButtMonkey tendencies and general gracelessness make for good jokes often at his expense.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** He was not happy when he found out Keith and Allura went on a mission together in "The Ark of Taujeer".
** He did not react well when he heard Keith talking with Coran about the Blue Lion in "Greening the Cube", telling Keith to back off as he and Blue are happy together.
* DecoyProtagonist: Uniquely due to English-language Netflix's format of releasing an entire season at a time ''and'' the first episode consisting of two "parts" ("episodes") in one, this trope winds up PlayedWith, in that most people don't notice that it's in play at all without a rewatch. But the "first part" of episode one frames Lance in TheProtagonist role, starting from Iverson beating up his confidence and leading all the way up to his finding Blue with the rest of the future-Paladins, and the team going through the wormhole together soon thereafter. See EnsembleCast in the General tab above for more details.
* DumbassHasAPoint: Often enough that his "dumbass" credentials are questionable. Lance may not be a particularly book smart or mature member of the team, but he's not afraid to call out his teammates on their poor decisions. He's actually pretty convincing at times. He's also far more observant than he appears, being capable of good tactical decisions on the fly.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Lance is introduced ignoring the pleas of his fellow teammates while running a team flight simulator. Note that he is professional, confident and calm despite the issues, saying something about his leadership abilities. He ends up crashing and failing the test for the group. He then follows it up by sticking up for Pidge when she draws the ire of their teacher, mutely accepting the berating in her place.
* EurekaMoment: Most notably in Lance's section of the comics as [[spoiler: he was the only one to figure out that the princess Voltron came to save and the dragon the team was fighting were one and the same.]]
* GloryHound: Constantly seeks validation and recognition for his skills, from wanting to be seen as an AcePilot in the academy, to his rivalry with Keith, to talking about parades in Voltron's honor and trying to impress as many ladies as possible.
* GoshdangItToHeck: He comes up with interesting euphemisms when he curses.
* HeroicSacrifice: Non-fatal. Lance shields Coran from an exploding robot, resulting in him being out of commission for a few episodes.
* HeroicSecondWind: During the final showdown with Sendak, a comatose Lance manages to rise up and blast him with his rifle, giving his team the opportunity to take Sendak down.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: During the rescue of Slav, he realizes that he is the only one to call himself a sharpshooter, while everyone else has a talent (Leader, hacker, pilot, chef, etc.) that is recognized by the rest of the group. Despite his self-doubt, though, there are many characters in the show who have reason to be grateful that Lance was in the right place at the right time.
** As of Season 3, this has become a more marked part of his character. [[spoiler:Lance doesn't really seem to consider himself a true Red Paladin and replacement for Keith, and expects him to reclaim Red once Shiro is back. However, he fully expects Allura to take up the Blue Paladin position permanently...leaving Lance in the cold. Before that can happen, he volunteers to step down in order to make things easier]].
* HiddenDepths: Lance may not appear so, but he has shown to be observant and a good strategist, shown when noticing fake Rover and coming up with an alternative plan to Keith's on the Balmera. He also teared up when he recalled his mom's hugs, suggesting that he might be more sensitive than he lets on. [[spoiler:Furthered in season 3 where he puts his resentment for Keith aside to support his new role as the Black Paladin and offer to step down from the team if he proved to be the "weak link".]]
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: He has a moment of this in "Escape from Beta Traz" when he realizes he doesn't have a specialized skilled compared to his teammates and wonders if he's just dragging them down.
* IdiotHair: Two of them.
* IdiotHero: His intelligence stat on the official website isn't as high as the rest of the Paladins and he can be a bit of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, but in-series he's shown to have moments of cunning, and his confidence and bravado are actually something of a boon when the pragmatism of his teammates threatens to stop them from doing the right thing.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: What initially looks to be ego and unjustified overconfidence turns out to be a nasty case of this come "Escape From Beta Traz". The Garrison didn't bother to hide the fact that Lance was considered second-rate (only getting in to the top program because Keith was expelled), and his time as Blue Paladin apparently hasn't done much to bolster his self-esteem. As Keith starts to take on a more significant role in the team and the others find their niches, Lance admits to feeling unnecessary and left behind.
* InformedAttribute: His lack of intelligence. His teammates are quick to dismiss what he has to say as stupid or ridiculous, his ButtMonkey status means that he often looks like an idiot, and even WordOfGod material states that Lance isn't the brightest bulb in the pack. Yet from what we see, he has a head for tactics, has a better knowledge of people than most of his teammates, and has no trouble operating Blue right out of the traps. His main problems seem to be immaturity (and all of the Paladins, except Shiro, are immature in their own way) and terrible luck -- not a lack of brainpower.
* JackOfAllStats: According to the official power rankings, both Lance and his craft are this. Instead of excelling in intelligence, strength, or agility, Lance has a healthy balance of all three, and so does his Lion.
* JackOfAllTrades: Lance is shown to be overall-decent at many things: he can strategize, he can fight, he can pilot, he's a reasonable diplomat (if he can stop flirting for ten seconds) and he can even lead when put on the spot. The thing is that everyone else ''specializes'' in one of those skills, leaving Lance playing second fiddle.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A mild example. Whilst never outright cruel, Lance can be abrasive, and is a womanizing GloryHound. But he'll always stand up for his friends and do the right thing.
* HandsomeLech: Although he lacks actual skills in hitting on girls, his good looks are actually enough to attract some female aliens, as shown in "Space Mall" and "The Depths". Though it might just be because they've never seen Earthlings before, as Earth has yet to encounter aliens on an offical scale.
* LameComeback: Lance... isn't the best when it comes to verbal wit.
-->'''Keith:''' The amount of information in your brain can be stored on a paper airplane.\\
'''Lance:''' Oh, yeah?! Well, the amount of information you have, Keith, could be--\\
'''Keith:''' Yeah?\\
(''{{Beat}}'')\\
'''Lance:''' Uhhh, it's less than what I have!
-->'''Lance''': (to Keith) Here's an idea, shut your quiznak.\\
'''Keith''': I don't think you're using that word correctly.
* TheLancer: To Keith's character, somewhat to Shiro. He especially steps up to the role in Season 3 [[spoiler: when he becomes the Red Paladin and Keith's impulse control]]
* MommasBoy: When Lance brought up being homesick he also mentions how much he misses his mom's hugs and tears up about it.
* NatureLover: Lance is the Paladin who shows the most obvious affection for his element: when he's confessing to feeling homesick, his best memories of earth involve the beach, the rain, and splashing in puddles, and later in the series he's thrilled to discover the castle has a pool. More generally, he misses the natural beauty of Earth. On a more practical level, he shows no hesitation in exiting his lion to swim in the ocean of an unknown planet (though the pretty mermaid was definitely a factor in that decision).
* NoodlePeople: The slimmest of the Paladins.
* NotSoDifferent: He and Pidge like to play retro video games.
* NumberTwo: [[spoiler: Steps up to this role in Season 3 when he pilots the Red Lion and helps Keith lead Voltron]]
* OddFriendship: With Coran. The two have several bonding moments in the first season, such as when Lance is feeling homesick and Coran consoles him.
* OutOfFocus: In Season 2, due to the developing arcs involving Shiro, Allura, and Keith, he was the one to lose screen time.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Has a very bad case of this, and come Season 2 it's started to do a number on his self-esteem. Lance is [[JackOfAllStats reasonably competent in most respects]], but that's not much comfort when you're sharing a team with a hero, an AcePilot prodigy, a genius hacker and a gifted mechanic. This becomes even ''worse'' in Season Three: [[spoiler:Lance now feels that he is overshadowed by ''Allura'' in the one place he used to feel relatively secure -- Blue's pilot. He thinks she's the better paladin, and with Blue actively shutting him out in favor of Allura (arguably in order to force Lance to take over Red), he doesn't know if Blue would take him back. Note that he is not butthurt over Allura being the better Paladin or Blue taking him back; he is looking at the dilemma situationally and much more aware of his actions and decisions, a necessity to lead the team with Keith. Later on, he quietly goes to Keith and offers to resign, firmly believing that the Paladins should have the best soldiers -- and that he's not one of them]].
** This also occurs in a narrative sense in Season 3: [[spoiler:every time Lance does something noteworthy, he is quickly overshadowed by Allura doing something even more remarkable. In Episode 2, Lance arriving in Red isn't given much thought, but the novelty of Allura in Blue draws cheers and congratulations. His developing role as the second-in-command in Episode 3 quickly gives way to Allura bonding with Blue in supposedly record time. In Episode 6, Lance's new sniper rifle -- and subsequent show of skill -- is also quickly glossed over by Lance himself, who focuses the viewer's attention on how impressive Allura is with her new whip Bayard]].
* PingPongNaivete: Has quite a bit of this, and not just over his interactions with girls. The first half hour of episode 1 flaunts his calmness in the midst of danger and mind for strategy and attention to detail, with his immaturity placed on the backburner aside from quips between Keith and him. But come the second half his IdiotHero traits are established more prominently, starting with a major blunder he makes in doing basic math. From then on it's constantly ZigZagged, and not at all helped by his tendency to put on a facade in order to mask his insecurities.
* RayGun: His weapon of choice through his Bayard. Also a nod to his ''Voltron Force'' equivalent's pistols.
* RedOniBlueOni: Zig-zagged; while Lance is far more expressive and relaxed than Keith (contrary to their color schemes), Lance is also more likely to stick to the team's plans in dire situations.
* TheRival: To Keith.
* SarcasmBlind: Subverted in a way. Lance catches on sarcasm, except that one time with Keith when escaping from the Garrison. It took him several moments to register.
-->'''Lance:''' Can't this thing go any faster?!\\
'''Keith:''' We could toss some non-essential weight.\\
'''Lance:''' Oh, right! ''(starts searching for things to toss over)''\\
'''Lance:''' Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Out of the rest of the Paladins, he has the most high pitched scream.
* SkippingSchool: He, Hunk and Pidge have probably missed a fair few classes back at the Garrison by this point.
** What causes the SpannerInTheWorks below.
** He also mentions in "The Depths" that he played hooky for two weeks once back in grade school.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Is convinced he's a much better pilot and more charismatic than he actually is, to Allura and Keith's chagrin. However, it's suggested a few times that at least part of this bravado is [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a front for his insecurities]].
* SpannerInTheWorks: If he hadn't felt the urge to play hooky with Hunk and Pidge, he never would have found his Lion, the would-be Paladins would've been stranded on Earth, the Red and Yellow Lions would've fallen into the hands of the enemy, Princess Allura and Coran would've remained in stasis, and Zarkon would've attacked the planet to search for the rest of Voltron eventually. Also, if he hadn't pushed Coran away from the power core explosion at great personal cost to himself, there wouldn't have been anyone in the Castle who could get the team a new crystal from the Balmera, dooming both the team and Shay's people.
* StraightMan: Frequently towards Keith and Hunk, as Keith has NoSocialSkills and Hunk has a tendency to be something of a DitzyGenius.
* TheResenter: Toward Keith in the first two seasons, [[spoiler:but despite his initial insistence Keith would be the worst leader, he moves past this in season 3 when Keith is chosen by the Black Lion and is clearly miserable about it and in need of someone to act as his lancer.]]
* TheStrategist: Shows tactical prowess in battle, even if the methods are sometimes unconventional.
** Demonstrates great team awareness and an understanding of where everyone should be in a battle in relations to his positioning.
*** Confirmed by Pidge in the comics when she choses to take him out first for being too dangerous.
*** His reading of the others and their methodology are usually on point.
*** Predicted sending Keith to the Blade of Mamora headquarters will cause a major incident.
*** Knew Hunk would not leave the Yellow Lion in "The Depths" unless Lance manipulates the situation.
** Planned to close the space hangar doors to trap their enemies in the base rather than risk an all out fight.
** Created a diversionary plan when he and Keith were pinned down on the Balmera by Galran soldiers.
** In "The Depths", he lead the Baku into a smaller space in order to trap it and make it an easier target.
** [[spoiler: most of the season 3 episode "The Hunted" as Keith's NumberTwo]]
** [[spoiler: In "Hole in the Sky" shoots the control of a sliding door to take down three advancing sentries at once, including decapitating one as the door came down on it]]
** [[spoiler: "This isn't a participation game, it's war." In "Tailing a Comet", though it's a demonstration in Lance slowly becoming demoralized and failing to see how necessary he is, he had to explain to Keith why he felt it was best if he steps away from piloting and let everyone, "your best soldiers," be on the frontline instead. He is seeing the situation for what it is and conscious of his decisions, a necessity for leading the team]].
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: The Blue Lion's most notable quality is that it's exceptional at travelling through water or ice. [[spoiler:Which finally gets it use in "The Depths" when Lance and Hunk land on a water planet]]
* UnknownRival: Lance considered Keith his rival at the academy. Though it takes a while before Keith seems to acknowledge him as such, considering he doesn't even know who Lance is at first.
* VitriolicBestBuds: His relationship with Keith seems to be developing into this. While they argue a lot, they do make a good team.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Hunk]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hunk_paladin___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Tyler Labine\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Abraham Vega\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Toshifumi Nakabayashi
The pilot of the Yellow Lion and Guardian Spirit of the Land. Hunk initially seemed an unlikely candidate for a Voltron pilot, as he disdains dangerous situations and suffered from motion sickness. However, he is also a skilled mechanic who was able to process data collected by Pidge to create a "Voltron geiger counter" that helped the group find the hidden Blue Lion. Hunk fills the primary role of ComicRelief on the team, but over the course of the first season he becomes more willing to his role as the Yellow Paladin and becomes more heroic.
He is the pilot of the Yellow Lion, which not only has powerful digging abilities but has the strongest armor of any Lion. He forms the left leg. His Bayard transforms into a type of laser machine cannon, and his special weapon for Voltron is a shoulder laser launcher.
----
* AdaptationalWimp: Hunk was much bolder in prior incarnations. In this one he seems more cautious and prudent, if not downright skeptical about going into action.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Even the original Hunk/Tsuyoshi had a darker skin tone, but this version's skin is a good deal darker than that. It's about the same shade as [[DarkSkinnedBlond Allura and her father]]. He is confirmed to be a native Samoan.
* BareFistedMonk: Or the cat equivalent. His Lion has the toughest armor and physical ability, so he rams, tackles and bites opponents more than anyone else.
* BeamSpam: The special ability he gives Voltron is a shoulder cannon that can fire ''plenty'' of FrickinLaserBeams at once.
* BigBeautifulMan: He is named ''Hunk'', after all.
* BigFun: The most heavyset member of the team, and also frequently plays the ComicRelief.
* TheBigGuy: His Bayard forms a gatling gun, he's physically the strongest Paladin, and he pilots the toughest lion.
* BigEater: Hunk really loves food. During the mental training, the Paladins are thinking of home or their loved ones, Hunk is thinking of spam musubi and shrimp-pineapple kabobs.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Big to Lance's Thin and Pidge's Short.
* CatchPhrase: The official handbook has his catchphrase as: "I'm a leg!"
* ChainsawGripBFG: His Bayard turns into a type of laser machine gun with a chainsaw grip.
* ComicRelief: His motion sickness, eating habits and overall neurotic attitude are mostly played for laughs. He eventually grows out of this role (mostly) during the Balmera arc.
* CowardlyLion: Easily the most nervous and fearful of the pilots, but when it matters most he can be counted on to stand by his comrades.
* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the Balmera arc, Hunk realizes how many people in the universe need Voltron's help and takes a stronger attitude to being a Paladin.
* CloudCuckoolander: More prone to odd trains of thought and non sequiturs than his compatriots.
-->'''Keith:''' What do you think they have in those giant containers?\\
'''Hunk:''' Well, I suspect that it's sporks... This is an advanced race we're talking here. Surely, they've learned that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job.
* DitzyGenius: While a brilliant engineer and more cautious than his companions, Hunk's thought processes can go to some very odd places.
* TheEngineer: Shares this role with Pidge, primarily serving as the mechanic and maintenance guy of the team.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Hunk's intro to the show has him freaking out over how Lance is flying their ship and then throwing up in the ship's gearbox.
* ExtremeOmnivore: He seems to have no trouble eating alien food.
* FantasticRacism: Downplayed. Says some moderately insensitive things to [[spoiler:Keith, when the latter is revealed part Galra]]. However, it was more lighthearted and unintentional.
* GeniusBruiser: While Pidge's expertise lies in computers, Hunk is the mechanical brains of the team.
* TheHeart: Befriends people easily, and it was his friendship with Shay that inspired him to inspire the rest of the team to go out into the universe and start fighting the Galra by liberating Shay and her people.
* {{Hunk}}: It's his name for a reason -- he has many of the trope's attributes.
* LittleGuyBigBuddy: Is often paired off with Pidge, as they act as the team's inventors.
* MrFixIt: The engineer of the team, Hunk is quite the mechanical genius.
* NiceGuy: He's kind and always looks out for his teammates.
* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Clearly had no real intention of flying, let alone going into space despite signing up with an organization named the GALAXY Garrison.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: His initial failure to save Shay from the Galra really puts him on edge until the team returns to the Balmera.
* OutOfFocus: He seems to have lost some screen time in Season 2, besides a bit of a {{Flanderization}} on his love for food. In season 3, he doesn't get as much character focus, but his mechanical engineering skills do.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Spends a lot of time with Pidge. The two of them are about to cry in "The Belly of the Weblum" when the team splits up.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Says this word for word when Pidge teases him about Shay. Who, by the way is just "a rock that I met and I admire very much".
* StoutStrength: WordOfGod is that he's physically the strongest of the five Paladins, just like how his Lion is the strongest out of all of them. If you look closely, you can see the muscles in his arms.
* SupremeChef: Manages to make a lunch that had Lance and Keith drooling with ingredients that were literally alien to him.
** In "Space Mall", [[spoiler: he ends up in a greasy spork space fast-food joint, and turns out to be not just a world-class, but a ''galactic''-class chef. By the climax of the episode, he's instructing the ''owner'', and people are lining up down the block.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely gained an iron spine between ''Rise of Voltron'' and ''The Black Paladin''.
* UndyingLoyalty: To the Yellow Lion, while he wanted to be the leader [[spoiler:after Shiro's disappearance at the start of Season 3, he was the only pilot besides Keith that wasn't interested in piloting the Black Lion. He admits he wanted to form the head with the Yellow Lion.]] Part of this is because it's the most heavily armed of the lions.
* VomitDiscretionShot: As a running gag is his constant vomiting, he gets these a lot.
* WhatTheHellHero: Immediately delivers one to Keith when he suggests that the team ''should not'' go after Allura after she gets captured just prior the first season's end.
** He also delivers an inadvertent one in S2, spelling out the reasons why Allura might continue to be wary of the Galra, including, unfortunately, [[spoiler:Keith]] (though she does eventually bypass those fears).
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Allura]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/allura_armor___ld.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Creator/KimberlyBrooks\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Creator/MarianaOrtiz\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Yui Shimodaya
The princess of the fallen Altean solar system and the last known female Altean, who spent 10,000 years in stasis on the planet Arus. When Altea was attacked by the Galra Empire, Allura was in favor of forming Voltron and fighting the invaders, but her father chose to scatter them and had Allura placed in stasis. As such, Allura is driven to defeat the Galra Empire, and drives the new Voltron Paladins hard in an effort to shape them into the force needed to save the universe from her ancient enemies. Allura's attire varies between a blue and white dress and a black and white jumpsuit with pink highlights; she is often accompanied by a group of Altean mice who were in her stasis chamber with her and thus developed a curious mental connection to her.
In battle, she pilots the Castle of Lions, a powerful battleship, though she can hold her own in a fight. %%She later becomes Paladin of the Blue Lion, after Keith replaces Shiro as Paladin of the Black Lion and Lance takes Keith's position as Paladin of the Red Lion.
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* TheAce: Allura is a capable commander and strategist, along with being a serious threat in combat. [[spoiler:When she takes over the Blue Lion in Series 3, both Lance and Keith agree that she got the hang of it far more quickly than any of the human Paladins did (including Keith, an acknowledged ace pilot), and that she might be able to unlock powers in Blue that Lance cannot]].
* ActionGirl: She's not afraid to go into the fray herself.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Was a blonde in the original series. Now her hair is white.
* AdaptationalBadass: She's far more in command than her previous incarnation. She can be crass, get physical if Lance goes too far being a CasanovaWannabe and is far more willing to get her hands dirty. And this is all before becoming a lion pilot [[spoiler: in season three.]]
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In the original, Allura was Arusian, here she's Altean.
* AintTooProudToBeg: Bonding with [[spoiler:the Blue Lion]] requires a certain amount of grovelling on her part. It only co-operates when she pleads for it to help her. Allura remains more dignified than most examples of this trope though.
* AliensOfLondon: She's an alien who has never been to planet Earth or even met humans before encountering team Voltron but speaks in ([[OohMeAccentsSlipping slightly stilted]]) British RP. This might be due to the series being an American production where the RP accent is stereotyped to be [[TheQueensLatin foreign and regal]].
* BadassPrincess: She was the princess of Altea, and is more than capable of handling herself in a fight. Among other things, she is strong enough to throw Shiro across a pod-bay with one arm.
* BigGood: While she isn't a pilot [[spoiler:at first]], she is the leader of the Paladins as much as if not more than Shiro. Her knowledge and powers are essential to their missing.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: At first, she has a very strong "Altea = good, Galra = bad" mindset. Which is fair enough given how the Galra are responsible for her entire people and planet being gone. This is challenged as the series goes on, notably when the team meets a number of non-evil Galrans, [[spoiler: Keith is revealed to be part-Galra, and she encounters the alternate universe Altean Empire.]]
* TheCaptain: Instead of taking over the Blue Lion as in the original, Allura takes charge of the TheBattlestar, known as the Castle of Lions. [[spoiler: Due to Shiro's disappearance, she takes up the mantle of Blue Lion pilot while Lance becomes the Red Lion pilot and Keith the Black Lion Pilot. Her Bayard transforms into a whip.]]
* TheChick: She is the feminine emotional support and moral center of the team.
* ChildHater: A downplayed example, but Allura has trouble handling Coran when he de-ages. WordOfGod confirms that she dislikes children.
* CoolBigSis: Whilst they have little one-on-one time together, she and Pidge get on, and she encourages Pidge to talk to her because they are the only girls on the Team.
* DaddysGirl: She was very close with her father, Alfor, and is still reeling from his death.
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Dark skin with white hair, unlike previous incarnations who were pale with HairOfGoldHeartOfGold.
* DamselInDistress: Very rarely; more often than not she can handle herself. After infiltrating a Galra ship with Shiro, she [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices]] herself to let Shiro get away (or more accurately, forcing him to leave without her), Galra forces take her prisoner and deliver her to Zarkon. The first season finale revolves around saving her.
* DontThinkFeel: At first Allura has trouble piloting the Blue Lion as she tries to force her way through first kindness and then force. She eventually realizes that she can't do everything alone and asks the lion for help. The lion responds in kind, allowing her to pilot the Blue Lion. She compares it to how Lance instinctively figured out how to use it back in the first season.
* TheEmperor: [[spoiler: In the alternate universe, it was ''Empress'' Allura who destroyed the Galra and forged the Altean Empire.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Seconds after Allura wakes up from a 10,000 year long cryo sleep, she's immediately putting a smooth-talking Lance into submission and demanding to know who he is.
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: She's technically not princess of anything after Altea's destruction, but she is still referred to as one.
* ExoticEyeDesigns: Purple is visible within her pupils in [[http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/File:Pidge_tells_allura.png close-ups.]]
* FacialMarkings: Little pink marks under her eyes.
* FantasticRacism: She has difficulty trusting the Blade of Marmora due to this, even after the likes of Ulaz proving his sincerity by sacrificing himself for Voltron. [[spoiler:She also becomes cold toward Keith when she learn that he is part-Galra.]] However, it is {{Justified}} by the fact that the Galra ''killed all of her people''. Plus, she grow over it to work with the Blade of Marmora and admits to [[spoiler:Keith]] that he's FamilyOfChoice regardless of his blood and apologizes for any hurt it caused.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Mice, local tribes of aliens, rock people, pretty much anything that isn't Galra. Allura has to remind the team at least once that Voltron is a Defender of ''all'' the innocent.
* FromACertainPointOfView: Allura said the previous Black Paladin was "lost," not that he was dead.
* GirlyBruiser: She's graceful and feminine and has a devastating right hook.
* GalacticConqueror: [[spoiler: Not Allura as we know her, but the version of her from the alternate universe where "Empress Allura" defeated the Galra after the death of her father King Alfor, and then forged the Altean Empire, which, while not as ''overtly'' militaristic or oppressive as the Galra, still employs BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood and values [[KnightTemplar order, and stability over all else]].]]
* TheGhost: [[spoiler: Her alternate universe counterpart Empress Allura is never seen in any form, despite the bad guys of the week being soldiers of the empire she founded. Of course, given that that happened 10,000 years ago in their history, it's possible Empress Allura is, well, ''dead'', but General Hira recognizes Paladin!Allura pretty quickly and seems to accept the possibility she might be the Empress relatively quickly, suggesting the fate of the Empress to be somewhat ambiguous.]]
* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: More tomboy than is typical for this trope, but demonstrates a significant number of stereotypical feminine qualities, such as a love of sparkly things.
* HealingHands: Is able to begin healing the Balmera simply by touching it.
* HeroicSacrifice: Of the non-fatal variety. She also breaks King Alfor's ... AI matrix thing to stop the castle from hurtling into the sun. It's clearly emotionally traumatic. At the Season 1 penultimate episode, Allura stays behind to hold back Galra forces and tosses Shiro into an escape pod.
* HowDoIShotWeb: [[spoiler:After becoming the Blue Lion's pilot, she has a hell of a time getting it to work with her, trying polite asking, stern commands, and even flirting before figuring it out.]]
* HumanPopsicle: She, Coran, and the Mice were asleep for 10,000 years this way.
* LadyOfWar: A feminine and graceful princess who fearlessly pilots the Castle of Lions to support Voltron with firepower. She's also very capable with a [[SimpleStaff staff]] as the second season finale shows.
* LastOfHerKind: The last female Altean [[spoiler:aside from Haggar]].
* MissingMom: Implied. She tells Keith that the Galra Empire "took [her] family from [her]", hinting that her otherwise unmentioned mother is deceased.
* MissionControl: Often serves as this for the team from the castle, though she's not above jumping into the fray when necessary.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:She has a downplayed moment when Keith signs up for what is essentially a suicide mission. She then apologizes for her recent cold behavior and begs that he comes back.]]
* MysticalWaif: While warmer and more proactive than the traditional example, she has several elements of this trope. She's a kind-hearted, physically young princess (who is over 10,000 years old, although she doesn't have the associated life experience due to being in cryo) with MysticalWhiteHair, the [[LastOfHerKind last]] female of an enlightened race with impressive technology. She introduces the heroes to the larger scope of the universe as well as sets them on their quest to find Voltron and defeat Zarkon.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Princess Allura has this rather than blonde hair, emphasizing how otherworldly she is.
* NotSoAboveItAll: She actually wanted to go shopping for something "sparkly" in "Space Mall".
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Unlike Coran, who speaks in his voice actor's natural New Zealand accent, Allura speaks in Received Pronunciation. Although it lapses into an American accent at points and tends to sound very forced. Kimberly Brooks has stated that she has difficulty with long speeches.
* PinkIsFeminine: Her jumpsuit has pink accents, as does her dress. She also has [[FacialMarkings pink marks under her eyes]].
** JustifiedTrope in this series, as pink is the color of honoring/mourning the fallen in Altean culture, similar to black in many cultures on earth.
* PrincessesPreferPink: She is a princess and her official color is shown as pink, [[spoiler: even her Paladin armor, also making her a PinkHeroine]].
* PrincessesRule: Despite her parents' death, Allura still refers to herself as princess instead of Queen or Empress. Justified since a Queen needs people and land to rule where a Princess just needs to be royalty. [[spoiler:The alternative Allura from the universe visited in ''Hole in the Sky'' seems to have taken the title Empress.]]
* PluckyGirl: She was put into stasis as her planet was being destroyed, so when she's awoken the loss is still fresh. She powers through it like a champ, though, and resolves to work on destroying the Galra empire right away.
* PointyEars: Has a set of elf-like ears.
* PsychicLink: With the mice family who were sealed with her in her cryo-pod for 10,000 years. She can communicate with them from a distance, allowing her to guide them into doing tasks to help her and the team.
* RaceLift: Allura is dark-skinned in this incarnation but was light-skinned and blonde in the original series.
* Really700YearsOld: Being a HumanPopsicle for 10,000 years has her chronologically ''much'' older than all the Paladins although biologically and mentally she is a teenager about Keith's age.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: She may not be a Lion pilot, but Allura will be damned if she sits around and lets the Paladins do all the work. When she's not piloting the castle ship, she's often going to ground herself to help out.
* RubberForeheadAlien: The only things alien about her physical appearance are her PointyEars, FacialMarkings and white hair.
* SpaceElves: Of the Enlightened Mystic Race variety.
* SilkHidingSteel: She's graceful and feminine befitting her status, but has a backbone of steel.
* SimpleStaff: Well a metal one, but she uses one to great effect in the second season finale.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Season three reveals that she looks almost identical to her mother.
* SuperStrength: She's strong enough to pull reinforced steel doors together with her bare hands. This isn't used much after the episode in which it was revealed until Season 3, when she gets into a fight with [[TheBrute Zethrid.]]
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: The girly girl to Pidge's tomboy.
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: Briefly, when Keith is revealed to be part Galra in the second half of Season 2. She comes back around by the finale, however.]]
* TrueBlueFemininity: The [[PinkIsFeminine other]] most prominent color in her design is a light baby blue.
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: A flashback shows her mother as looking almost identical to her.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Alteans possess the ability to alter their appearance and size. Allura says this is why they make such good diplomats.
* WaifFu: While obviously physically fit, she doesn't seem like that kind of person who can easily break down steel doors or chuck people across the room with one hand.
* WhipItGood: When wielded by her, the Blue Bayard transforms into an energy whip that can behave like RazorFloss.
* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: She says that she needs to portray strength so the others don't worry about their mission.
* WrenchWench: Allura appears to be a capable starship mechanic, given she manages to get the Castle of Lions spaceworthy again, with Coran's help (when he's not overseeing the Paladins' training).
* {{Xenafication}}: While the original Allura wasn't helpless, she wasn't exactly strong enough to ram a Galra soldier with enough force to embed his helmet into a steel wall, or throw a grown man wearing armor several feet across a room ''with one hand''. [[spoiler: She also turns out to be unexpectedly unaffected by Haggar's spells and even briefly becomes super-empowered by them during the Season 2 finale, something that both characters are surprised by. To say the least.]]
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Princess Allura has white hair rather than blonde hair, emphasizing how otherworldly she is.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Coran]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coran_paladin___ld_9.png]]
->'''Voiced by: (English)''' Rhys Darby\\
'''Voiced by: (Latin America)''' Moisés Iván Mora\\
'''Voiced by: (Japanese)''' Kosuke Echigoya
Allura's royal advisor, in charge of the Castle Control and the last known surviving male Altean. Coran is boisterous and confident, but his efforts to appear intelligent are sometimes undermined by his occasional buffoonery. That being said Coran is a constant pillar of support for both Allura and the Defenders of the Universe, assisting them with training, operating the castle and providing knowledge on various galactic matters.
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* AcePilot: He's no slouch in a pod as seen in "Fall of the Castle of Lions."
* AdaptationalComicRelief: Unlike the stoic Coran of old, this Coran is the source of comedy.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: In "Crystal Venom", he doesn't believe in ghosts, despite living in a castle that doubles as a spaceship built by supernatural technology while explaining this to a teenager from another planet. He even admits the description makes it sound haunted.
* BadassMustache: One which not even being reverted back to his childhood by a TimeyWimeyBall can destroy.
* BigDamnHeroes: Has one in the season finale, providing cover fire, in the process letting us all know how satisfying and therapeutic the moment must have been.
-->'''Coran:''' "CORAN ATTACK! I've waited 10,000 years for this!"
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Lance -- in fact, "Across the Universe" reveals that a younger Coran was ''very'' much like Lance. Both are characters defined by their sense of humor...and their regular ButtMonkey status. Both frequently vex the people around them, and both occupy a JackOfAllTrades role compared to their fellows. That said, both also come through when it's really needed, and both are basically team players. They're also both extremely homesick, and trying to cover it up as best they can.
* ButtMonkey: From a rather undignified de-aging incident to a nasty case of the slipperies, season two was not particularly kind to Coran's dignity. Even discounting that, he's a bit of a buffoon, and the both the plot and the paladins like to take digs at him.
* CampCook: Is shown cooking a meal for the Paladins since they found the food provided by the Castle Ship less pleasant.
* ComicRelief: Keeps this trait even after Hunk has mostly outgrown it.
* CordonBleughChef: Presumably, his cooking is more palatable to Alteans. Although given that he admits it's disgusting, "That's how you know it's healthy," it can be guessed that he just has a love for making "healthy" food.
* EmoTeen: "Across the Universe" reveals that he used to be one.
* {{Expy}}: WordOfGod states that he's heavily based off of [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Varrick]]. Not surprising, given he's an eccentric tech genius who is more dangerous than he seems. Plus he's got the 'stache to boot.
* FacialMarkings: Light blue marks under his eyes.
* FantasticRacist: Often subtly insults the human members of the Voltron Force.
* FormerlyFit: He possessed a far more impressive musculature when he was a younger Altean. Not that his present-day body isn't impressive, considering he's the Altean Equivalent of middle age, and as seen during scenes like the food fight, his reflexes aren't exactly rusty.
* HonoraryUncle: In addition to being an OldRetainer, he's something like this to Allura; when she's taken prisoner near the end of the first season, he's devastated, noting to Shiro that he can't lose her along with everything else he's already lost. Allura herself says she thinks of Coran like a second father.
* HumanPopsicle: He, Allura, and the Mice were asleep for 10,000 years this way.
* LastOfHisKind: The last male Altean.
* OddFriendship: Seems to have developed one with Lance over the course of the first season.
* OldRetainer: Acts as this to Allura. Despite ostensibly being her adviser, he also handles chores, cooking, and castle maintenance.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Alteans are a long-lived species, but in spite of how spry Coran is, Season 2 reveals that he's at least in the autumn years by the standards of his race.
* OverlyLongName: Coran's full name is: Coran Hiernoymus Wibelton Smythe.
* PardonMyKlingon: He's far more likely to sprinkle Altean slang into his speech than Allura is.
* ParentalSubstitute: Allura thinks of him as a second father.
* PointyEars: Has a set of elf-like ears.
* PornStache: Complementing his mullet and sideburns. "Across the Universe" shows he's had it since he was a kid.
* Really700YearsOld: Mentions visiting Balmera with his grandfather while the latter was building the Castle of Lions. Considering the Castle is around 10,600 years old, that makes him at least 600 years old before being made an [[HumanPopsicle Altean Popsicle]]. He doesn't look it.
* RubberForeheadAlien: The only things alien about his physical appearance are his PointyEars and FacialMarkings.
* SadClown: He's not as cheerful as he always tries to look. Like Allura, he's lost everything he used to love, but he doesn't like to bring other people down. The only time we see the facade crack is when faced with yet another tragedy (such as losing Allura), or when someone else confides in him.
* SpaceElves: Of the Enlightened Mystic Race variety.
* TeamMom: Coran handles the cooking and cleaning for team Voltron. He also gives them advice and provides them with healthcare. He is a political adviser but his role more resembles that of a butler. Being an OldRetainer, HonoraryUncle, and ParentalSubstitute towards the orphaned Allura adds to his "motherly" status despite being male.
* UndyingLoyalty: To the Altean Royal family, whom he has served for centuries and later specifically Allura due to them being the [[LastOfHisKind only known Alteans left]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Rover]]
A Galra drone Pidge reprogrammed for friendly use.
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* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Used to be a loyal drone working for the Galra empire, until reprogrammed by Pidge.
* HeroicSacrifice: Willingly deactivates itself to ensure Haxus falls.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Mice]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mice_first.png]]
Four Altean mice that were frozen alongside Allura for 10,000 years. From left to right there's Chuchule, Platt, Chulatt and Plachu.
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* BizarreAlienBiology: They only look like mice from Earth. When stuck in a recursive time loop, they devolve into squirrels, hippos, snails, a four-headed chimera, giant spores, and a flock of irritable birds.
* NiceMice: They're cute little alien mice.
* NonHumanSidekick: They are almost never seen without Allura.
* PsychicLink: With Allura, developed by sharing her sleep pod for 10,000 years.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Kaltenecker]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_cow.png]]
A cow Lance and Pidge got in a deal from an earth vendor at the Space Mall.
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* AliensStealCattle: The earth vendor seemingly abducted it from Earth to sell it.
* AnimalGenderBender: Lance refers to him as male despite the fact that he clearly has udders.
* CallARabbitASmeerp: Since the alien told Lance and Pidge they get ''a'' free Kaltenecker, it's likely to be what aliens refer to Earth cows rather than a name.
%%* EverythingsBetterWithCows
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Credits reveal Kaltenecker is the surname of the production team's line producer.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Though he's explicitly brought on board the ship, after "Space Mall," Kaltenecker's never mentioned again. He does reappear as part of a noncanon April Fools joke where Lotor dramatically unmasks himself to reveal Kaltenecker's face.
[[/folder]]
