The Paladins debate whether or not to help Lotor infiltrate the Kral Zera - the coronation ceremony of the Galran Emperors. Meanwhile, the Blade of Marmora plots to bomb the ceremony, wiping out all major candidates for Zarkon's successor in one go.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How the Kral Zera works. Every contender for the throne comes to the temple, and whoever can reach the summit and light the flame while simultaneously fighting off all rivals is crowned emperor.
- Badass Boast: Lotor this whole episode, especially with his duel between Sendak.
- Big Damn Heroes: Lotor arriving with the Black Lion and declaring that he was the only one to deliver it back to the Galra Empire.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lotor has taken the throne, but it is a hollow victory, as the empire has now fractured.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: The generals serve this role to Haggar.
- Brains and Brawn: Janka tries to persuade Sendak into an alliance with this.
- Call-Back: A Brick Joke of Keith suggesting to the Marmorans that they sneak in by squeezing themselves into storage boxes, which was how Allura snuck Shiro into the Galra base back in season one.
- Pidge brings up color-coding again when talking about Janka.
- Discretion Shot: Sendak drops Janka off a mountain, and declares that he will take his fleet.
- Honor Before Reason: Once Keith realizes that Shiro was at the Kral Zera he immediately goes back to disable as many bombs as he can. His Blade teammates leave him behind without a second thought and Keith realizes almost too late that there were too many bombs he couldn't unset by himself.
- Idiot Ball: The Blades and team Voltron. Despite being in each other's contact and both knowing about the upcoming Kral Zera, they don't even engage with each other on whether or not to attack, stay out of it and wait for the eventual slaughter.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The one Galra general who attempted to grab a torch before getting killed off by Ranveg.
- Enemy Civil War: The Blade of Marmora interrupting the Kral Zera causes the empire to fracture.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Keith has clearly not been informed about what the Kral Zera is and why the Blade of Marmora bombing it is important.
- The Mole: Not a hugely significant character, but the main reason the Blades could get as far as they did was because a disguised Blade member was stationed there.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Keith saving Lotor from Sendak shatters the cohesion of the empire and different factions begin openly fighting for supremacy. Lotor himself lampshades this.
- Poor Communication Kills: Things would have gone a lot smoother if the Blade of Marmora had told the Paladins of their plans to bomb the Kral Zera or Shiro and Lotor had told the Blade of their plans to have Lotor undergo the Kral Zera.
- Puppet King: The Galra commanders present for the Kral Zera are convinced that Sendak is one for Haggar.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Lotor takes the throne of the empire, but the Blade of Marmora's failed attack on the Kral Zera results in the empire splintering into several different factions.
- The Quiet One: Sendak surprisingly says very little during the episode, supporting Galran high command's opinion of him as Haggar's puppet.
- Ship Tease: Very lightly of Pidge/Hunk, as Sam compares the way that Pidge and Hunk debate to the way he met her mother (as they met debating the exact same theme).
- Unflinching Walk: As Lotor ascends the steps to light his torch, he doesn't even flinch at the explosions happening around the Kral Zera.
- Villainous Rescue: Acxa shoot Gnov's sword out of her hand so Keith could kick her. The two give each other a Held Gaze before Acxa runs back to her comrades side.
- Keith saving Lotor, although he could have been paying him back for saving his life in the previous season.
- Wham Episode: Lotor takes the throne, and the empire splinters into multiple factions.Haggar: The Empire has fallen.
