• Aliens Are Bastards: Seeing how the Galra have conquered most of the Universe and ruled for over ten thousand years in tyranny. Later subverted with the revelation that not every Galra is a part of the military or even a part of its empire.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How the crowning of a new Emperor works. Whoever can make it to the top of the ceremonial temple and light the flames of the Kral Zera while fighting off rivals becomes emperor.
• Cast of Snowflakes: They have a huge variety of different physical appearances, likely a result of long term cross-breeding with other races. We've seen Galra with horns, mohawk-like growths, and bald heads, human-like ears and furry bat-like ears, and hair that grows in short stiff spikes and long braids.
• Catchphrase: "Vrepit sa", or "Victory or death".
• The Empire: Obviously. They're a despotic race of conquerors ruled by an Emperor.
• Enemy Civil War:
  • In Season 4, there existed at least four factions within the Empire actively working against each other: The majority who's loyal to Zarkon, Prince Lotor who was declared public enemy number 1, the Creepy Good Blade of Marmora who are allies to Voltron, and Lotor's Generals whose loyalty is unclear.
  • The empire completely fractures in Season 5 when Lotor kills his father. Lotor takes the throne, but many high-ranking commanders such as Trugg and Ladnok are attempting to carve out their own territory, while his generals have sided with Haggar, who is off pursuing her own agenda.
  • As of Season 7, Lotor himself is also apparently dead and Haggar is missing. Several warlords, of whom Sendak is the most powerful, are all fighting for control and there doesn't seem to be anybody on the throne.
• Evil Power Vacuum: Zarkon's death halfway through the series causes this. Lotor claims the throne and wins the ceremonial challenge to become Emperor, but many of Zarkon's top lieutenants refuse to accept his leadership and rebel. Much of Lotor's reign consists of using the Voltron Force as catspaws to stamp them out.
• Fantastic Racism: Before Lotor's top generals and himself, who are half-breeds, being half-Galra or less was grounds to bar individuals from military service.
• Galactic Superpower: They have been dominating most of the universe for thousands of years.
• Interservice Rivalry: It's plain as day that the Galra's military and the Druids don't see eye to eye.
• Mecha-Mooks: Their foot soldiers are mostly Sentry robots, as are most of their pilots and ship crews. It's implied some ships might be crewed exclusively by Sentries.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Most Galra have them, and those who don't are usually half-breeds or hybrids, like Ladnok, Herreh, Sal, Prince Lotor's generals, Keith, Krolia, Dayak, Bogh, Hepta and Lotor himself. Oddly, the Galra shown 10,000 years ago all had red eyes with pupils, suggesting quintessence had something to do with the change in appearance.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Before they were an empire, the Galra were one of the many warring tribes on their home planet before they emerged victorious and conquered it.
• Purple Is the New Black: They are very heavily associated with purple and they're evil. In some cases, it's clearly meant as a stand-in for pitch-black darkness.
• Space Orcs: The Galra are large, proud, purple-skinned warriors with appearances that range from shaggy and brutish to ruggedly attractive. Their culture is strongly focused on expansion and martial conquest, and most Galra seen in the show are either Mooks or antagonistic military leaders. On the more noble side, the Blades of Marmora are a secretive faction of Galra who oppose the empire and assist the heroes. Even King Zarkon, ruler of the empire, was once a true hero before he was corrupted into a genocidal monster.
• Thousand-Year Reign: The Galra had rule over most of the known universe for over 10,000 years.
• Technologically Advanced Foe: With the use of the Druids' magic and Quintessence, they possess technology and weapons that are so sufficient they have easily defeated entire civilizations in their path, such as Beehive Barriers that trap entire planets and enemy ships to prevent escape and planet-sized bombs that can destroy an amount of star systems to reduce rebellion.

Emperor Zarkon

Voiced by: Neil Kaplan (English), Kevin Durand (English, Young), Idzi Dutkiewicz (Latin America), Masafumi Kimura (Japanese)

The ruler of the Galra Empire. Zarkon is a malevolent alien who has survived for over 10,000 years by absorbing Quintessence, which makes him incredibly powerful. Ruthless and without regard for life, he leads his people in a quest to extinguish all other living things and eliminates those of his own command who fail to meet his standard of strength. Voltron is the only force in the universe he fears — as it is the only thing with any hope of stopping him — and he is thus relentless in his efforts to claim or destroy the robotic Lions.

• Abusive Parents: Zarkon despises his son Lotor for his "weak" Altean blood, exiled him in the past, and after awakening from his coma eventually tries to order him killed or kill him personally.
• Adaptational Badass: Zarkon was already badass, but now he can take on a Voltron Lion head-on, with no ship, just a sword. That his sword is the Black Bayard probably gives him an extra advantage.
• Adaptational Heroism: Not presently, but as shown in the Whole Episode Flashback, Zarkon was a far cry of the horrible tyrant he was in the original series (and later on), being The Good King originally that was, at his worst, a Well-Intentioned Extremist, not to mention a far better husband overall. However, a combination of Love Makes You Evil and Came Back Wrong, he's the evil tyrant that rules over the universe now without a hint of his original self.
• Ancient Evil: Zarkon has been conquering the known universe for over 10,000 years.
• Arc Villain: The producer used this term to describe Zarkon's role in the story.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Doesn't engage in combat until the very end of the season, but when he does, he can fight a lion head-on without a scratch. He gets into a Voltron-esque suit in a last stand with Voltron in Season 2, but this ends with his near-death.
• Asshole Victim: If his death in Episode 2 of Season 5 makes you go "good riddance", you're not the only one. A mass-murdering, racist monster who had at that point lost pretty much every redeeming quality he ever had.
• Back from the Dead: The reason why he's been alive for as long as he had was, in part, because he's technically already been dead, but purely through the quintessence that now flows through his body, he failed to stay dead. Averted in Season 8, as he returns once more, but not only as a spirit but as his old self before his Start of Darkness.
• Bad Boss: Callously opens fire on his own headquarters and fleet during his fight with Keith with no concern for the safety of his soldiers.
• Berserk Button: As his obsession with reclaiming Voltron gets stronger, he grows increasingly hostile at disobedience even if it's justified.
  • In Season 5, suggesting that Zarkon is desperate to regain his lost power as his reason for his more inane actions proves to be his Rage Breaking Point and sends the normally stoic tyrant into blood-curdling fury that Lotor only barely survives.
• Big Bad: Like his previous incarnation in the original series, he's the ruler of his own empire who are fighting for control of the universe. The Season 2 finale ends with Haggar having to call upon Lotor when Zarkon has been forced into life support after the battle nearly costs him his life. Season 4 brought Zarkon back to the position of Big Bad and force Lotor into an Enemy Mine situation with Team Voltron. His death in Season 5 finally ended his reign.
• Came Back Wrong: He, alongside his wife, died when they were exposed to pure quintessence and overwhelmed by the creatures that inhabit the dimensional rift, but through a possible Demonic Possession, Zarkon became the evil tyrant he is feared for now. The second time he came back from the brink, he's even more unhinged.
• Creepy Monotone: Zarkon never raises his voice at any point during the first season. Even when he's angered by Prorok overstepping his bounds by hiring bounty hunters to try and bring in Voltron, his tone is ice-cold rather than outright furious. He drops this when events toward the end of Season 2 cause him to undergo a Villainous Breakdown, and he starts shouting at this point. He went back to a robotic monotone in Season 4 after being resurrected by Haggar.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: He survived his battle with Voltron in "Blackout", but is barely alive and put on life support, forcing Haggar to summon his son to take his place. After waking up, he was put in a full suit of armor hooked to Quintessence tank, put him further in this trope.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: His Start of Darkness began as an attempt to save his Altean wife, but by Season 5, he has become a Galran supremacist who hates Lotor for having Altean blood and considers his romance with Honerva his greatest mistake. Season 8 shows his spirit within Honerva's mind still remembers his old self, and his duty to protect the universe, though it takes some Altean magic to remind him of what he's done since then.
• Death Equals Redemption: In Season 8, after realizing what he had become following being exposed to Quintessence, Zarkon becomes remorseful and apologizes to his former teammates and Team Voltron for his atrocities and appears in the end of the series with the original paladins and Lotor as they accompany Allura and Honerva into the afterlife.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Zigzagged but ultimately Played Straight. He is the central antagonist in the first 26 episodes (Seasons 1 and 2) but was taken down in a climactic battle at the end of Season 2. His downfall cleared the way for Lotor who, despite Hazy-Feel Turn was the Big Bad of the next 26 episodes (Seasons 3 to 6). After Lotor appeared, Zarkon's presence was significantly diminished and he was dispatched by the new Big Bad.
• The Emperor: Of the Galra Empire, a step up from the original Voltron's Zarkon, who was only a King by Name. Though Allura does refer to him as King Zarkon just after she's awoken from cryosleep, suggesting that he's simply worked his way up in the last 10,000 years.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Playing With. He's seen in a flashback kneeling down and comforting his wife Honerva, who is also known as Haggar as she lays weakly in bed. But that's before he became pure evil. In the present, she's also the one minion he constantly forgives despite many failures (her Robeasts constantly lost to Voltron, she let Shiro escape during their fight). Season 5 shows that he cared for her, even after he became evil.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: "Space Mall" shows that he believes the lions, or at least the Black Lion, value strength above all else. But as the episode shows, the lions actually value trust as Black turns on him for Shiro.
• Evil Counterpart: One to Shiro. They were both Paladins to the Black Lion, leaders of their side that command absolute loyalty and whose main weapon are from the other side but are the exact opposites in personality. While Shiro is the Team Dad of his group who uses his Galra cybernetic arm as his main weapon and a good example of Dark Is Not Evil. Zarkon is a Bad Boss who uses his stolen Bayard and is the prime example of Dark Is Evil. This is played up in Season 2 as Zarkon gets more obsessed over retaking the Black Lion, forcing the two of them to fight more. It's telling that in the second season finale, both Zarkon and Shiro are effectively taken out of the plot. In Season 3, they both get an Unexpected Successor who are Foil to each other. Said successor's tenures was brief and underwhelming and Zarkon and Shiro went back to lead their respective teams almost at the same time.
• Evil Former Friend: Not much has been revealed about their relationship, but given that he's the former Black Paladin, he would be this to Alfor. "Space Mall" even shows that he helped build the lions with Alfor. And "The Legend Begins" shows their close relationship in detail.
• Evil Knockoff: Inverted. His armor and crown resemble the gear used by the Paladins but they existed before the first Paladins. The implication is the Paladin gear was tailored after that of their leader.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Has a very deep voice. "The Legend Begins" reveals that his already baritone voice got deeper after his resurrection.
• Face–Heel Turn: He used to be a Paladin and friend to Alfor before his corruption into an evil conqueror.
• Fallen Hero: It's revealed in the finale of Season 1 that he was the original Black Paladin, still retaining his Bayard and a degree of control over the Black Lion.
• The Fundamentalist: Even before becoming an Evil Emperor, he was very strict about his planets Fantastic Caste System and almost all of his decisions were based on gaining more power for his empire.
• Galactic Conqueror: An exceptionally successful one, too. In the 10,000 years since the fall of Altea, Zarkon has conquered most of the known universe. Earth is one of the few corners he just hasn't gotten around to yet.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: A side-effect of being exposed to pure quintessence, alongside maybe a healthy dose of Demonic Possession.
• Happily Married: Before the war, he had an Altean wife who continues to serve by his side.
• Heel–Face Turn: His ghost undergoes one after being freed from the dark entities' corruption, helping the Paladins infiltrate his former wife's mind and fend her off when she detects them.
• Hero's Evil Predecessor: Was the Black Paladin before Shiro and later, Keith.
• Humiliation Conga: Oooh does he get one in Season 2. It starts with Shiro managing to weaken his bond with the Black Lion while completely obliterating Zarkon's personal philosophy. Then in the finale, he goes to fight Voltron personally and loses while having the Black Bayard taken by Shiro. He winds up on life support for his troubles while his enemies are stronger than ever.
• I Have No Son!: An extraordinarily dark example. Not only does he disown Lotor, but he also orders his entire empire to kill Lotor on sight.
• Invincible Villain: Almost completely unstoppable, any time he is presently present forces the heroes to almost immediately flee... probably helped by the fact that he always appears with a massive army. Season 1 finale even shows that Zarkon just using a Bayard and light armor can curbstomp a full Lion (even with an upgrade!). He only finally goes down after getting dragged into a trap, his entire fleet taken out of commission and fighting one on one against Voltron.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Lotor impales him with some nearby metal, killing him.
• Just Think of the Potential!: His Start of Darkness, refusing to close the inter-reality rift on Daibazzal because there was so much potential to be tapped. In an unusually sympathetic portrayal of this trope, it's less the personal power Zarkon can gain from the knowledge of other realities (though that element is present), and more the potential of providing true safety and security for all the worlds he and the Paladins protect. It's that drive that gets warped into conquest and domination when he Came Back Wrong.
• Killed Off for Real: Despite having already come Back from the Dead once before, Lotor manages to kill him in "Blood Duel" by breaking his quintessence supply and impaling him with a piece of nearby metal.
• Knight of Cerebus: Whenever he's onscreen, there's very little, if any humor present.
• Love Makes You Evil: His love for his wife eventually leads to both becoming possessed by quintessence and becoming the propagators of the empire's vicious rule.
• Never My Fault: His experiments with the dimensional rift on his homeworld enlarged it and forced Alfor to destroy the planet to stop the rift, yet when Zarkon was resurrected he blamed Alfor and destroyed his homeworld in revenge.
• Noble Bigot: In flashbacks before his corruption, it's revealed that he was a good man, but he was rather strict about enforcing his people's caste system, insisting that servants be treated as lesser. He was not, however, a racist and treated all other races fairly, even marrying an Altean.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Out of all the major antagonists, Zarkon is the only one to truly grasp what Voltron is really capable of, since he did use to be a Paladin, and as such, makes it his highest priority imaginable to deal with it whenever he can. When he learns his son has begun to weaponize the same material that Voltron itself is made out of, Zarkon treats Lotor as much of a threat as Voltron, and one to be dealt with as soon as possible.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Blade of Marmora exists because they're Galra who realized he's not trying to spread peace throughout the universe, just conquering to satisfy his desire for more power.
• Offing the Offspring: He would literally die and doom those in his general vicinity if it gave him a decent shot at killing his own son.
• Oh, Crap!: While he retains most of his composure, when he is told that Lotor has not only acquired a comet made from the same trans-dimensional material that created Voltron and is actually planning on using it, he is immediately set on edge.
• Orcus on His Throne: Despite being so feared, he doesn't really do anything for most of the first season, instead sending his commanders and Haggar's Ro-Beasts to do his dirty work. However, once the Paladins show up on his doorstep, we see why no one wants to tangle with Zarkon. Season 2 changes this as he grows more and more obsessed with reclaiming Voltron.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Voodoo Zombie variety, having being resurrected by a possible Demonic Possession and retaining the abilities he had in life, though not his mind.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: The universe's top cop turned despot and he took an empire of people with him.
• Parental Abandonment: Towards his son, Prince Lotor. Though, given his ability to prolong his life using Quintessence, Zarkon doesn't exactly need an heir anymore.
• Purple Is the New Black: He and his entire empire have the primary color scheme of purple.
• The Rival: For Shiro over the Black Lion. As they are both have bonds with Black, they fight over the right to pilot it.
• The Social Darwinist: Has this attitude regarding his troops. Either you win, or die in the attempt.
• Statistically Speaking: His profile on the official website lists his intelligence stat as being the same as Lance's, which is questionable given that he has managed an unstoppable empire for over 10,000 years. His strength stat is also on par with a Robeast — which is less questionable.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: His Bayard has multiple forms: including a cutlass, a Whip Sword, a laser cannon and a great sword.
• Tears of Remorse: When Zarkon's soul seemingly wakes up within Honerva's mind, unaware of what he did in the millennia after his quintessence poisoning, Allura is quick to use her powers to show him every terrible thing he did. After the memories of his atrocities are returned to him, Zarkon collapses and apologies while openly weeping.
• Thousand-Year Reign: He created and rule over an empire that lasted over 10,000 years.
• Time Abyss: Like Allura and Coran, Zarkon is over 10,000 years old. Unlike Allura and Coran who spent that time in stasis, Zarkon was not, prolonging his life through consumption of Quintessence.
• Tin Tyrant: Especially after he gains a full body and face-concealing suit of armor in Season 4.
• Tragic Villain: Once a noble if stern leader turned into a zombie after attempting to save his wife. His soul, or something similar, was found trapped in Honerva's mind to protect her most valuable secrets. The Paladins free him of her control, and he's shown to be truly remorseful for the countless atrocities he's committed, acknowledging he was Drunk on the Dark Side, but still makes no excuses for himself.
• Turns Red: Goes through his Quintessence apparatus, making himself far stronger and far faster for even Lotor to keep up with, after his son pushes one too many of his buttons.
• Unholy Matrimony: Haggar is his wife.
• Villain Ball: As Season 2 goes on, his obsession with retaking Voltron. He is so obsessed with the Black Lion that he focuses all his attention on reclaiming it instead of the more pragmatic decisions which has caused him to slip up. Haggar even calls him out on it. Semi-justified as Shiro's bond with the Black Lion has resulted in his own weakening, meaning that if it gets severed completely he loses any chance of gaining Voltron as a weapon.
• We Used to Be Friends: Even before he was the Black Paladin, he and Alfor were part of a group of True Companions.

High Priestess Haggar / Honerva

Voiced by: Cree Summer (English), Lily Rabe (English, Young), Laura Torres (Latin America), Sarah Souza (Latin America), Yu Mizuno (Japanese)

The notorious creator of all the Ro-Beasts and master of dark magic. Haggar leads the Druids, the mystical order of the Galra Empire, and serves as Zarkon's closest advisor. She is immensely confident in her own abilities and creations, and thus left at a loss when her initial attempt to destroy Voltron is defeated. Season 3 reveals her back story along with her original Altean name, Honerva.

• Action Mom: She's Lotor's mother, not that she acts like it. Played with in that she doesn't even remember that she's his mom until the second episode of Season 5, despite regaining her memories of her marriage to Zarkon at the end of Season 3.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: She's not as ugly as the original Haggar and with her hood down she looks like a fairly attractive older woman, which is fitting for her true identity as an Altean witch.
• Adaptational Villainy: Haggar is still a villain in the original Voltron, but she is also the show's incarnation of Sincline's Mother from GoLion who is much nobler. She also has the excuse of not being in control of her actions.
• Addictive Magic: Long exposure to Quintessence led her slowly to become dependent on it. Eventually, her body grew so dependent on it that she convinced her husband to bathe her in a rift filled with nothing but the stuff. The results...
• Almighty Janitor: In Seasons 1, 2, and 3 only; Her official position within the Galra Empire was unclear. Everyone, even the Druids only calling her by name or "the witch". Come Season 4, she was referred to as "High Priestess", and Season 8 flashbacks Retcon this to have been her official title all along.
• Assassin Outclassin': Following Zarkon's second and apparently final death in Season 5, several enterprising Galra generals aiming to seize power send assassins to try and get rid of her. Emphasis being on "try", since Haggar kills all of them while barely breaking stride on her own plans.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Zarkon's top dog and she has the firepower to show it off.
• Back from the Dead: Like Zarkon, she too was killed by her overexposure to pure quintessence, but her state wound up being far more degraded than Zarkon's.
• Big Bad: Of the final season.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: As Honerva, she studied the Quintessence rift extensively and slowly began to lose her mind because of it. In a lot of ways, it can be compared to a very bad drug addiction. Even after reclaiming her identity of Honerva, she still seems intent on continuing those experiments and compliments Lotor on the work he did.
• Casting a Shadow: Can manipulate darkness and shadows to the point of weaponizing it into bolts.
• Category Traitor: The second season finale reveals that she's Altean. The Season 3 finale adds to that by showing that Haggar, or rather Honerva, was with the Galra long before the war as Zarkon's wife.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: According to Macedus, she disappeared at some point during the Time Skip and hasn't been seen since.
• The Chessmaster: The only other character so far who might be in her league is Lotor, and even he barely keeps up with her.
• Chessmaster Sidekick: For Zarkon. In Season 4, she cleverly exposes Lotor's treachery while Zarkon basically ignores the problem, and then she nearly crushes the entire rebel force with a Defensive Feint Trap while Zarkon is busy chasing Lotor. And in Season 5 Zarkon dies in part because lacking her support allows him to be Out-Gambitted.
• Composite Character: She is still named Haggar, and her real name is Honerva, which is her GoLion name, but she also has some elements of Sincline's Mother, who is also an Altean, with the only difference being Haggar having a good relationship with Zarkon while Sincline's Mother has a negative relationship with Emperor Daibazaal (the Japanese version of the original Zarkon).
• Dark Action Girl: Prefers to deal with enemies with her underlings, but is perfectly capable of wiping the floor with the heroes when she enters the battlefield personally, as Shiro finds out the hard way.
• Dark Is Evil: Her mastery of magic and quintessence can turn it a pitch-black color as she attacks.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Season 8 reveals that Haggar was the name of a Galra physician sent to examine her when she came back to life after her quintessence exposure. The amnesiac Honerva killed her and then took her name as her own when Zarkon asked who she was.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • Her first attempt to reconcile with Lotor didn't go well. She had Kuron bring Lotor to her in handcuffs, and starts talking by praising his quintessence experiments while revealing she was Honerva. After she nearly got him killed two seasons ago, Lotor obviously wants nothing to do with her. He makes his escape and dies fighting Voltron.
  • She risks destroying all existence to travel to a reality where Zarkon and Lotor are alive, Daibazaal was never destroyed, and her alternate reality counterpart is dead. However, after all the thought she put into making that feat possible, she doesn't consider that a small child who has lost his mother might not instantly accept a doppelgänger who showed up out of nowhere as a Replacement Goldfish.
• The Dragon: Answers only to Zarkon himself.
• Dragon Ascendant: She tries to be this in Season 5, following Zarkon's actual death. She's is one of many contenders in the Galra Empire trying to seize power for herself, albeit, in her case, she has to resort to ruling through a puppet king because of her Altean blood. By the end of Season 6, with Zarkon dead and Lotor also apparently lost, Haggar, or rather Honerva, has become the only major antagonist still standing.
• Doppleganger Spin: Makes several illusions of herself in her fight with Shiro, though only the real thing can hurt him.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • At the end of Season 2, Haggar can be seen watching over an unconscious Zarkon under Quintessence-support. She even goes as far as to bring her husband back from the dead.
  • In Season 5, while it's ambiguous and she still works against him, she seems to be regaining feelings for her son, Lotor, as well. Come Season 8, she definitely loves Lotor, if not full-out obsessed with him. Her entire motivation is to get a second chance with him. It leads to a Love Redeems moment when Allura uses memories of Lotor to break through to the good still in her.
• Evil Sorcerer: By far the most powerful magic user on either side of the conflict, and between working for Zarkon, weaponizing Quintessence for the Galra Empire, and the less-than-ethical means she uses to create Robeasts, she's as vile as they come.
• Exit Villain, Stage Left: In Season 6, after Acxa reveals she's been working with Lotor the whole time and attempts to shoot her, Honerva simply teleports away with a look of mild annoyance. Despite Ezor and Zethrid's confusion, Lotor assures them that Honerva is most certainly not dead and they need to leave her command ship immediately. In Season 7, it's revealed by Macidus, the last of Haggar's Druids that nobody has seen her since.
• Face–Heel Turn: She was once a noble Altean scientist and an ally to the original Team Voltron before the Quintessence drove her mad and caused her to be the tyrannical witch that she has now become. Even after returning to her Honerva identity, she still remains an antagonist, apparently still seeking to continue the experiments that started this whole mess to begin with.
• Fatal Flaw: After her memories return, her desire to help her son and control him at the same time. Present Lotor rejects her, and he dies before they have any chance of reconciling. Rather than accept that she messed up, and take responsibility for her actions, she blames the Galra for messing up her son and husband and decides to use the surviving Alteans to resurrect him in an alternate reality where he'd have no reason to hate her. Lotor's ghost has to reason with her to not destroy all the universes.
• Final Boss: She is the last foe faced in the entire show.
• For Science!: As Honerva, her reason to keep studying the rift and the vast amounts of knowledge gained from it. It eventually drove her mad, and started a chain of events that led to the destruction of Daibazaal and Altea, and eventually 10,000 years of the Galra Empire enslaving the universe. After Lotor is brought to her as a prisoner, Honerva attempts to use this as a means of bonding with him, complimenting him for seeing her experiments through in ways she never thought possible, but Lotor continues to reject her.
• Glass Cannon: Has downright staggering raw magical power but she can't really take a hit. Good luck with that, though.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: A side-effect of being exposed to pure quintessence, alongside maybe a healthy dose of Demonic Possession.
• Godzilla Threshold: Is forced into having to cross two: first with having to summon Lotor after Zarkon was taken out and put on life support, then she is forced to cross another, more personal one after Lotor turns out to have other plans, which has her probing Zarkon's mind to hopefully wake him up and stop their son.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Season 8 reveals that she was the unseen Chessmaster behind most of the enemies that the Paladins faced in Season 7.
• Happily Married: To Zarkon, in the past.
• Heel Realization: In Season 8, she starts flashing back to Lotor's childhood, and realizes that she and Zarkon were horrible to their only son, and she enabled Zarkon abusing him. It also makes her realize why Lotor was unwilling to forgive her when she revealed the truth because both of his parents crossed the line.
• Hero Killer: Far and wide the most dangerous foe outside of Zarkon himself. However, as seen in Season 2 finale, her strongest spell is straight up a level above Zarkon, being able to kill Voltron in merely 2 shots. Some of her Ro-beasts have proven to be problems that the Paladins barely managed to handle (and oftentimes they didn't even defeat them in direct combat)
• The Heavy: She's the only villain who remains a threat across all eight seasons, she plays a major role in driving the plot even when she isn't the Big Bad, and her research into quintessence is at the root of all of the evil that the show's other main villains wreak.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: In the first three seasons there's nothing hidden about her agenda at all; she's Zarkon's loyal Number Two and that's basically it. But after she regains her memories of her former life as Honerva her motives start to become murkier.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: In Season 8, she's revealed to have done this to the dark entities from the Quintessence field, possessing her Altean soldiers with them and using them to control them remotely and kill them if they're captured — as happened to Luca.
• If I Can't Have You…: When the alternate versions of her husband and son reject her, she crosses the Despair Event Horizon and decides that if she does not have a place in this universe, then there will be no universe at all.
• Ignored Epiphany: During her attempt to reconcile with a captured Lotor, he rejected her as his mother after their rocky history. In Season 8, she flashbacks to how horrible she was during his childhood, culminating in letting Zarkon blow up a planet that Lotor tried to spare and allowing the emperor to exile him. Honerva remembers with a horrified expression, especially when she learns Lotor is dead. So what is her solution? Commit more murder and planetary genocide to reach a reality where Lotor never had a traumatic childhood.
• In the Hood: Haggar still wears a hood as part of her dress, and part of the reason why is to hide her Altean ears and other traits that pass her off as Altean. She drops the hood after returning from Oriande and resuming her Altean appearance.
• It's All About Me: Her plan in Season 8 has her put her desire to be with her husband and son again above any and everything else. It quickly becomes clear along the way that not only is she willing to kill even her own, her plan actively involves betraying, sacrificing and murdering her way across the multiverse without any regard for the fates of others or the people she's manipulating simply so she alone can be happy.
  "If I can't enjoy the simple pleasures of life, why should anyone else?"
• I Was Quite a Looker: In a flashback episode, she was shown to be quite pretty in her youth, before she was poisoned and driven mad by Quintessence.
• Just Think of the Potential!: Her response to Alfor's warnings that the rift and the Quintessence were dangerous.
• Karma Houdini: Tears apart the fabric of the multiverse in order to reunite with her husband and child, and when rejected by them, elects to destroy all reality as revenge. However, she is Easily Forgiven by Allura and allowed to be with Zarkon and Lotor for all eternity in the afterlife, getting exactly what she wanted at Allura's expense. That said, her status as a severe Tragic Villain who in the end repents her mistakes helps alleviate this greatly.
• Lady of Black Magic: Leader of the Druids, the mystical order of the Galra Empire, she wears a cloaked dress, has a merciless and sadistic demeanor, and is a master of dark magic, able to unleash magical blasts of lightning and destroy whole planets with the proper Magitek apparatuses. Underneath the hood, she is revealed to be an Altean with vestiges of her beauty before being driven to insanity by Quintessence.
• Mad Scientist: The experiments she conducts to create weapons for the Galra Empire has shades of this, despite her main methods being more mystical in nature. She is the one responsible for Shiro's Galra robotic arm and amnesia, having experimented on him during his time as a prisoner with Galra. It seems she intended to turn him into a weapon, but it didn't take. Time will tell of the consequences.
• Magitek: Liberally combines both magic and technology in her experiments. The Robeasts are chief examples of this since they're bio-mechanical monsters animated by magic and controlled by the minds of living creatures placed there by Haggar's powers, and not always voluntarily.
• Master of Illusion: During her face-off with Shiro, she transforms herself into a possessed version of Shiro, complete with glowering yellow Galra eyes.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite her withered appearance, she's still capable of pulling a Neck Lift on Shiro, who's nearly twice her size and was wearing full armor at the time. It's possible that magic (or Quintessence) is responsible for artificially enhancing her strength, or her own innate Super-Strength as an Altean.
• Necromantic: By the end of Season 3 she manages to bring Zarkon back from the dead. Ironically, she is undead herself.
• Never My Fault: When she regains her memories of how she and Zarkon mistreated Lotor as a child and an adult, she decides it was the Galra blood that led to Lotor's death. Cue her wiping out any Galra that tries to rule the Empire.
• Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: She travels to Oriande and undergoes, and seemingly passes its trials at the start of Season 6, but it's mostly unseen, with only the Clone Shiro experiencing brief visions of the journey due to the mental link the two share.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Her plan in Season 8 is to locate and travel to a universe where Zarkon and Lotor are still alive, which would destroy not only her home universe but all the universes she passes through on her way there. By the end of Season 8 she pulls it off, but is rejected by the Lotor of this "perfect" reality. Her fury at this causes Zarkon to reject her, which causes her to snap and try to destroy the entire multiverse in a fit of rage.
• Only Sane Man: As she isn't obsessed with Voltron, she usually gives the pragmatic advice that Zarkon usually ignores. In Season 6, she becomes this once again opposite Lotor, whose Sanity Slippage becomes increasingly apparent against Haggar's return to full lucidity.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Voodoo Zombie variety, having being resurrected by a possible Demonic Possession and having gained dark magical powers as a result of it.
• Parting-Words Regret: Her son dies after she captures him and tries to reconcile with him, while he refuses her attempts.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Her strongest spell can suck the life force out of 'entire planets'. Bonus points for being the one character who came the closest at taking down Voltron by using this spell on it.
• Pointy Ears: She's revealed to have these in the Season 2 finale after her fight with Allura causes her hood to slip off, showing that she's actually Altean.
• Race Lift: The reboot changes her from Galran to Altean.
• Redemption Equals Death: Honerva ultimately realizes her mistakes and goes with Allura as they sacrifice themselves by going with the original paladins and Lotor in order to restore the realities.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: In GoLion, Old Witch Honerva is the mother of Emperor Daibazaal and the paternal grandmother of Crown Prince Sincline. The reboot depicts her as the wife of Emperor Zarkon (counterpart of Daibazaal) and the mother of Prince Lotor (counterpart of Sincline).
• Sanity Slippage: After years of her research in quintessence, the rapid aging of her body and her degrading mental state become increasingly apparent. After regaining her memories and identity as Honerva, though, she seems to have reacquired full command of her mental faculties in the process.
• Shapeshifter: Like Allura, she can easily change her shape, shown when she shifts her face back to look like Honerva when staring into a mirror, to taking on the form of one of Commander Sniv's men before killing him off.
• Shock and Awe: Like all Druids, Haggar fights primarily with magical blasts of energy which take on the form of purple-toned lightning.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: In Season 8, she wears different clothes to signify her place as the Alteans' new leader and even wears her own suit to pilot her armor in battle.
• So Proud of You: Attempts this with Lotor after the Clone Shiro brings him to her in an attempt to try and bond with him, by complimenting the work he did continuing her experiments, and succeeding in ways she never did. However, Lotor refuses to acknowledge her as his mother and rejects the compliments.
• Squishy Wizard: Haggar is the undisputed authority on magical knowledge in the Voltron universe, and has the immense arcane power to fully make use of it. Many of her more powerful spells depicted onscreen are on par with or exceed the strongest technological weapons in the series, including Voltron itself; one of them depicted in the Season 4 finale has the potential to destroy entire solar systems. Physically, though, she's still an old woman without any apparent combat training, and many of the aforementioned powerful spells require massive Magitek apparatuses and aid from Druid cohorts to even cast.
• Strong and Skilled: In contrast to Allura, Haggar has exceptional magical power, and a prowess with it borne from 10,000 years of experience. Especially so when she becomes Honerva again.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: After her primary gambit in Season 8^note Tearing holes through realities until she finds one with a Zarkon and Lotor she can live happily with, regardless of how many other realities are destroyed in the process. fails, she decides that if there's no way for her to find a happy ending, the entire multiverse deserves to be destroyed.
• Teleport Spam: Seems to be a favored tactic of the Druids. She abuses it liberally any time she fights in person.
• That Man Is Dead: In Season 6, having recovered all of her memories and having visited Oriande and apparently passed the trials there, she discards her Haggar persona and goes back to her original identity of Honerva, even going back to her original Altean appearance. While she still makes use of the Haggar persona when she has to interact with her remaining Galra subordinates, she abandons Haggar for good at the second Kral Zera when she wipes out what remains of the Empire's leadership.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Her overexposure to quintessence made her forget who she was, as well as the fact she was Happily Married with Zarkon. In the Season 3 finale, her looking into Zarkon's memories in hopes of waking him up allows her to remember who she really was. In Season 4, she shapeshifts into Altean while looking in the mirror, and seems profoundly disturbed by the sight of her own face. However, by the end of Season 6, she has willingly resumed her Altean appearance as part of her transition back into Honerva.
• Tragic Villain: For the same reasons as her husband, whom she doesn't even remember being married to anymore.
• Together in Death: She and her husband Zarkon died together from an overexposure to quintessence. She becomes this for good with Zarkon and Lotor in the finale.
• Undying Loyalty: She holds her husband in very high esteem. Even when he has gone completely mad in his obsession, and she doesn't remember they were married, she works herself to near death to keep him alive.
• Unholy Matrimony: She's married to Zarkon.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her research into Quintessence ultimately caused all the problems in the series.
• Villainous Friendship: Haggar is the only person whose advice Zarkon trusts implicitly, and they seem to be genuinely close. It's eventually revealed that they're actually husband and wife, having forgotten that connection long ago due to overexposure to Quintessence.
• Vocal Evolution: As Honerva, before her death and revival, her voice was much softer and far less raspy than it would be after becoming Haggar. After becoming Honerva again in Season 6, her voice reverts back as well, as shown during her meeting with Lotor.
• White Hair, Black Heart: She now has long white hair this time, possibly because she is Altean in this series. Though it's later revealed that she had dark hair in her youth, her hair turned white as a result of near-constant exposure to quintessence.
• Wicked Witch: In a Science Fantasy setting, no less, but between her haggard appearance and command over dark magic she still qualifies with flying colors.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: In the past, she was an Altean alchemist who was researching Quintessence. She was ultimately driven insane by it.
• World's Strongest Man: The most powerful magic user in the setting. Allura was implied to be her equal, if she actually learn to use her power.

Commander Sendak

Voiced by: Jake Eberle (English), Arturo Mercado Jr. (Latin America)

^{Click here to see post-timeskip appearance:}

A Galra officer who was tasked with destroying Voltron and Allura's castle after Allura was awakened from stasis. Sendak possesses a cybernetic left arm, and his right eye appears to have been replaced with a mechanical eyepiece; his face also possesses bat-like features such as large ears. His ship was destroyed when Voltron was reformed for the first time, but he survived to continue plaguing the Defenders of the Universe. He and his lieutenant managed to infiltrate the castle and almost steal the entire vessel along with the Lions but were thwarted by the Defenders.

• '80s Hair: By Season 7, he's sporting a truly impressive space-mullet.
• Adaptation Name Change: Based on the character of Yurak from the original Voltron. Interestingly, his new name is similar to that of his GoLion counterpart, Sadak.
• Almighty Janitor: Heavily downplayed compared to most versions of this trope. But the fact that Zarkon’s Number Two is merely a commander rather than a general or an admiral does deserve mention.
• An Arm and a Leg: When he swings his arm at them Epic Flail style, Pidge cuts through the energy like "chain" disabling it and leaving him with only one arm. In Season 5, he gets a new upgraded arm.
• Arc Villain: Of roughly half of Season 1. He becomes this again for the second half of Season 7.
• Artificial Limbs: A more advanced model compared to Shiro's, Sendak sports an enlarged forearm connected to his shoulder by a stream of energy, allowing it to be used as a kind of Epic Flail.
• Barehanded Blade Block: He catches Keith's blade using his organic hand with seemingly no damage to himself.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Following his return in Season 5 after the death of Zarkon, Sendak is one of the many contenders trying to gain control of the Galra Empire. Only what he doesn't seem to realize is he would only be a Puppet King that Haggar would rule through. After Haggar left him though, Sendak was last seen killing one of his rivals, and taking his fleet, indicating that he has become one of the numerous independent Galra Warlords. By Season 7, he has upgraded to being the Big Bad for real.
• Book Ends: Sendak was the first foe that Team Voltron faced after leaving Earth. In Season 7, Sendak becomes the first villain that the Paladins need to defeat upon returning to Earth.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns in Season 5 as a contender in the Kral Zera, although it's clear to everyone in-universe and out that he would merely be Haggar's Puppet King if he won. After the Kral Zera goes to hell, however, Haggar abandons him, and Sendak strikes out on his own, taking control of one of his rival's fleets for good measure.
• Character Death: He's cut down by Keith in the penultimate episode of Season 7.
• Decomposite Character: Of Commander Yurak, from the original Voltron cartoon, alongside Prorok. In Sendak's case, he begins the story as a Starter Villain like Yurak was, and his appearance is close to his as well. Yurak's role as Haggar's rival and his eventual transformation into a Robeast are given to Prorok.
• The Dragon: The website bio calls him Zarkon's First-in-Command, and in "Kral Zera", he was recognized as being Zarkon's right-hand man. Season 8 reveals that he was taking orders from Honerva (albeit using her Haggar guise) in secret during Season 7, retroactively making him one to her Greater-Scope Villain in that season.
• Dragon Ascendant: With Zarkon and Lotor both apparently dead, Sendak is one of the most obvious candidates for the Galra throne. His faction of Galra is noted to be the strongest, and conquering Earth and seizing the Lions would have made his claim indisputable.
• Dragon Their Feet: After Sendak is dumped into space he's absent from the story until Season 5 and only appears after Zarkon, his master, is dead.
• Evil Counterpart: To Shiro. According to Word of God he is the true rival and foil to Shiro — not Zarkon. Both characters have robotic arms and were re-created by the Galra Empire to be super soldiers for them. Sendak even gives Shiro a speech about how the two are similar.
• Hostage Situation: Takes Shiro and Lance hostage during "The Fall of the Castle of Lions" and tries to use this to force the "saboteur" Pidge to turn themselves in.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Sendak takes this approach when he invades Earth. He quickly overruns the planet, enslaves most of the population, has the upper hand on La Résistance throughout the invasion and is ready to annihilate the planet with his BFGs.
• Puppet King: Haggar intends to use him as this since she can't rule herself because she's Altean. Possibly subverted when the two separate, Haggar writing him off as a lost cause, and Sendak stealing one of his rival's fleets.
• Red Right Hand: His left mechanical arm serves as this in addition to his mechanical eye. Unlike Shiro's artificial arm, Sendak's is big, distinctive and has claws rather than fingers. And when he returns in Season 5, Haggar has upgraded it with a larger claw and greater range.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: He breaks off from the Galra Empire in Season 5 with his refusal to acknowledge Lotor as their leader. As of Season 6, he's formed "The Fire of Purification," which is the strongest independent Galra unit amongst the splintered factions.
• Starter Villain: The first villain the Defenders face and one that plagues them still for several episodes. He eventually returns in Season 5 with an agenda of his own.
  • He again returns to this role for Season 6, being the main antagonist for the first episode before the spotlight switches over to Lotor.
• Unwitting Pawn: Seems to be completely unaware that Haggar is only using him to be her Puppet King.
• Villainous Valor: Sendak makes due with what he has to win. When he loses his command ship and he's reduced to single soldier and 5 damaged sentries, he unleashes a near successful gambit against the Defenders and comes within a hair's breadth to victory. Even losing all of those minions and his arm he still manages to nearly will the Castle into a Supernova using his mind and the leftovers from his previous attack. Zarkon cites him as one of his most reliable men.
• The Virus: Is able to use his mind to cause the Galra crystal he brought into the castle to go haywire, infect the ship, and almost fly it right into a supernova.

Lieutenant Haxus

Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes (English), Raúl Anaya (Latin America)

A Galra soldier who acted as Sendak's second in command. Upon Sendak's defeat in "The Rise of Voltron", Haxus escaped with him to the planet below and assisted him in his plan to infiltrate the castle.

• Badass Boast: He delivers the Galra Empire's battle cry to Pidge right before engaging.
  "I'm a soldier of the Galra Empire. Nothing stops me but triumph or death."
• Disney Villain Death: Is dispatched by falling into the bottomless chasm below the Castle of Lion's drive chamber.
• Hostage Situation: When Shiro and Sendak's fight ends at a stand-still, Haxus ends it by threatening an unconscious Lance.
• Mauve Shirt: He's one of the few named Galra soldiers. He survives his debut and goes along with Sendak's future plans.
• Number Two: Sendak's second in command.
• Would Hurt a Child: He's surprised to see that the one thwarting their efforts, Pidge, is only a child. Nevertheless, he draws his sword and attacks.

Commander Prorok

Voiced by: Keith Ferguson (English), Andrés García (Latin America)

An ambitious Galra Officer who tends to take matters into his own hands.

• Decomposite Character: Of Commander Yurak, from the original Voltron cartoon, alongside Sendak. In Prorok's case, he's given Yurak's role as Haggar's rival, and likewise shares his eventual fate of being transformed into a Robeast.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He acts outside of the command structure and stages several plans against the Defenders without Zarkon's authorization.
• Fate Worse than Death: He gets turned into a Robeast by Haggar.
• Interservice Rivalry: He's distrustful of the Druids and bitter over Zarkon's favoritism towards them.
• Meaningful Name: In Polish his name means Prophet.
• You Have Failed Me: While at first he's sent off to Haggar for interrogation because he's suspected of treachery, it's clear that they're only really using him to try and forge a new Robeast. Zarkon was tired of his failures and Haggar felt he'd be more useful to them as a monster.

Lieutenant Thace

Voiced by: Mick Wingert (English), Héctor Moreno (Latin America)

A Galra officer working directly under Prorok.

• Chekhov's Gunman: Thace debuted simply as an officer that Prorok issued orders to, and was barely in focus; he wasn't even named until the Season 1 finale. In that season finale, he establishes himself as an Enigmatic Minion by cutting down Galra sentries and deactivating the defenses that kept the Defenders trapped, allowing them to escape.
• Consummate Liar: He's so good at lying that he resisted Haggar's lie detecting magic.
• Detective Mole: Put in charge of the investigation as to who had deactivated the defenses and allowed Voltron to escape, something he had done himself.
• Enigmatic Minion: When Prorok sets his Balmera gambit in motion, Thace offers to tell Zarkon as per procedure, but Prorok opts to do it himself. Aside from that brief moment, Thace only follows Prorok and Zarkon's orders, up until the last few minutes of the Season 1 finale where he goes behind everyone's backs and frees the Defenders for his own reasons. It's ultimately revealed that he did so because he was a member of The Blade of Marmora.
• Face Death with Dignity: As he sees his mission is complete, he gives a smile before the command center explodes.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a very capable sword fighter and his position as the Mole in Charge suggested a very capable mind as well.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In "Best Laid Plans", he turns the command center of the main ship, which he was in, into a bomb to force a system restart so The Blade of Marmora can install a virus that will cripple the fleet.
• Nerves of Steel: Best shown during Haggar's interrogation early in Season 2. Despite her claim to be able to tell if he lied and holding a magic orb to his face, Thace calmly and collectedly... lied to her face
• Mauve Shirt: Another recurring background Galra Officer. Later revealed to be a mole.
• The Mole: Season 2 reveals that he's part of the Galran resistance, The Blade of Marmora, whose job is to keep track of Zarkon.
• Mole in Charge: As a result of being both the mole and the new commander, he essentially becomes this for most of Season 2.
• Number Two: He's the one Prorok issues his orders to.
• You Are in Command Now: In the Season 2 opener, Prorok is arrested for suspected treason and Thace is promoted from Lieutenant to Commander, essentially given his old job.

Druids

The mystical order of the Galra empire that serve under Haggar. They aid her in the more mystical purposes and building mystical empowered tech for the empire.

• Batman Gambit: The Druid in charge of Thace's interrogation intentionally lets him escape to find out what he's planning. Keith's rescue of Thace ruined their attempt to sabotage him.
• Elite Mook: In contrast to the Mecha-Mooks and most Galra officers, the Druids are shown to be dangerously competent and efficient at their jobs whether it's empowering Zarkon, finding traitors, or building Magitek.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: They can impale people using their magic. One suffers this at the hands of Zarkon.
• Mad Scientist: Like Haggar, they regularly tinker with technology and combine it with magic.
• Malevolent Masked Man: All Druids are shown wearing a sinister white mask that hides their face.
• Only Sane Man: As Zarkon became increasingly unstable due to his obsession over the Black Lion, they attempted to stop at Haggar's order to keep him from harming himself. Zarkon killing the one who mentions it stops them from disobeying any further.
• Plague Doctor: Their overall design is influenced by this — white masks with pointy noses and hoods replacing the hats.
• The Quiet One: In Season 1, the Druids never spoke, including the one that fought Keith in battle. Season 2 has them regularly speaking.
• Sole Survivor: In Season 7, all the Druids were killed save one: Macidus — the Druid who fought Keith in the Quintessence processing facility — who captures Kolivan and uses him to lure Blades of Marmora into an ambush until he's killed by the Paladins.
• Super-Empowering: They regularly infuse quintessence into Zarkon using their magic.
• Teleport Spam: Their preferred method of fighting, making it virtually impossible for anybody to land a hit on them.
• Undying Loyalty: Even years after Haggar’s disappearance, the Druids continued to carry on her work.
• Villain Teleportation: They can teleport brief distances to get out of harm's way.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: They haven't been seen or mentioned since Season 4, given that they are nowhere to be seen in Haggar's post-Season 4 appearances nor do they appear when Haggar recruits Lotor's former generals. In Season 7, it’s revealed that Haggar ordered them to hunt down the Blades of Marmora before disappearing, and they were nearly wiped out during a battle against them.
• White Mask of Doom: They sport very creepy ones that resemble the masks of medieval European plague doctors.

Commander Throk

Voiced by: Tony Curran (English), Carlos Hernández (Latin America)

A Galra officer trying to hold the Empire together following Zarkon's grievous injury in the Season 2 finale. He tries to put together a coup to unseat Lotor, which goes very, very poorly for him.

• The Coup: He tries to put together those unhappy with Lotor's taking power into one during the first episode of Season 3, only to be caught and humiliated.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Appears in the background aboard Zarkon's command ship in the Seasons 1 and 2 finales before being properly introduced in Season 3.
• Easily-Overheard Conversation: Despite talking in a loud public arena, he's overheard by Lotor's generals while getting another officer's support for his coup. Only one of them was really close to them, thanks to an empty seat just behind Throk.
• Humiliation Conga: First, his plotting is exposed, forcing him into a duel for the throne of Galra. Then, after the prince seemingly magnanimously spares his life and he swears his obedience in gratitude, the prince immediately has him Reassigned to Antarctica as punishment. Then the prince attacks that base as part of a larger plot towards the end of the season, and he ends up horribly tortured or even killed for his failure.
• Klingon Promotion: Invoked. He'd originally planned on launching a coup, but he gets manipulated into dueling the prince via a very public challenge and the revelation that the prince is already aware of his plans. Subverted when Season 5 reveals that the Galra throne runs on Asskicking Leads to Leadership rather than a single lineage, meaning Throk's "coup" was in fact an attempt to gather supporters in preparation for a Kral Zera if Zarkon ended up succumbing to his wounds.
• Master Swordsman: Lotor compliments his perfect form during their duel, but mocks his predictable tactics.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Part of the reason he planned to launch his coup was his fear of Lotor's rule softening the proud battle heritage of the empire and even when he's been reassigned to one of the Empire's most useless outposts, he still makes a point to defend it because it's still his outpost.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Once Lotor's spared his life as a publicity stunt, he promptly sends him to the armpit of the Empire to "rot with the iceworms."
• You Have Failed Me: Horribly tortured, by Haggar after he lets the Teledov be stolen, despite the perpetrator having all the launch codes.

Commander Trugg

Voiced by: Laura Post

One of the four female commanders seen in the Season 4 finale.

• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is very short and is quite a masculine woman.
• Character Death: After Krolia gives her and the others the code to the super weapon, it attacks them. Trugg's screams can be heard just as the screen turns black.
• Evil Sounds Deep: She's voiced by Laura Post after all.
• Laser-Guided Karma / Karmic Death: After her deal with Krolia to spare her life and Keith's in exchange for the codes giving access to the Galra super weapon, she tries to double-cross them and kill them both as they are leaving. Turns out Krolia willing handed her over the codes because the super weapon isn't controllable, and promptly slaughters Trugg and her men.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: She attempts to carve out her own territory in Season 5 after Lotor becomes Emperor.
• The Rival: To Commander Ladnok by Season 5, as the two are openly warring with each other for control of a superweapon and a claim on power and territory in the fractured Galra empire.

Commander Ladnok

Voiced by: Katie Lowes

One of the four female commanders seen in the Season 4 finale, who carries Haggar to Naxzela.

• Character Death: Trugg's fleet destroys the ships containing her fleet, which likely kills her.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Averted, unlike most Galra. Her yellow eyes have black pupils.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: She attempts to carve her own territory in Season 5 after Lotor is crowned Emperor.
• The Rival: To Commander Trugg by Season 5, as the two are in open war with each other after the collapse of the Galra Empire.

Commander Morvok

Voiced by: David W. Collins

A commander who was stationed at Taujeer and was ordered by Zarkon to capture Voltron.

• The Bus Came Back: Of all the Galran commanders, an alternate version of him is the one who shows up alongside alternate versions of Zarkon, Haggar and Lotor in "The Feud".
• Miles Gloriosus: Despite making a speech about dying for the Galra empire and after Voltron destroys his ship, he flees via an escape pod.
• The Napoleon: He's the shortest of the Galran commanders seen in the show.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He's known for his brown-nosing around Zarkon, employing any means necessary to get on the Emperor's good side, even though Zarkon finds him a contemptible little toady of no real merit.

General Raht

Voiced by: Bill Millsap

A general who Haggar tasks to keep an eye on Lotor after being concerned about him.

• An Arm and a Leg: Lotor must have done something to kill him and showed his right arm to Haggar as proof that he's dead.
• Artificial Limbs: One of the two members of the empire to have a bionic arm, but unlike Sendak (who has a bionic left arm), he had a bionic right arm.
• Big "NO!": He does this when his ship gets captured by Lotor's ship.
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Killed Offscreen: We don't see Lotor killing him, given that the last time we see him alive is when his ship gets captured by Lotor's ship and the following scene after that has Lotor holding his bionic arm to show proof that he's dead by telling Haggar to "stop sending your cronies after me."

General Herreh

Voiced by: Mark Rolston

A general who along with Ladnok, carries Haggar to Naxzela.

• Good Scars, Evil Scars: His left eye is scarred.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Averted. If you look closely, he has black eyes with yellow-green sclera.

Warlord Ranveig

Voiced by: Angus Sampson

A ruthless Galra Commander, who was considered one of the fiercest Galra in the empire, as Zarkon sent him to the fringes of the universe to conquer unknown worlds.

• Dual Wielding: He dual-wields his scythes during his duel with Sendak.
• The Rival: To Sendak.
• Sinister Scythe: His weapon during the Kral-Zera.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unclear what happened to him after the explosions at the Kral Zera. Krolia lampshades this in "Bloodlines" where she notes that Ranveig must be dead since Trugg was attacking her base.

Quartermaster Janka

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore

A commander and the quartermaster for the Galra Empire. Though smaller in stature and not as physically strong as other Galra, his strength lies in bureaucracy.

• Boring, but Practical: What makes him both effective and unpopular within the Galra. Janka is an administrator rather than a fighter and his main strength is organizing the empire and monitoring the conquered planets. It's implied that a lot of the conquered territories are kept under control by him and Pidge even compliments his effective bureaucratic hand. His lack of combat ability makes him a pariah in the eyes of the other strength obsessed Galra leaders.
• Character Death: Sendak drops him off a cliff to his death and seizes control of his fleet.
• Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Since he isn't a warrior, he doesn't get much respect, though both Pidge and Lotor compliment his bureacratic skills.
• Non-Action Guy: He's not much of a fighter, but he has more power in planning out organized strikes compared to the other Galra generals.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's this to Morvok.
• Villain Team-Up: He tries to convince Sendak to team-up with him out of desperation when the latter is about to drop him off a cliff. Sendak turns down his offer.

Commander Branko

Voiced by: Ike Amadi

A commander who was in charge of the forces occupying the planet Olkarion. He hoped that by forcing the Olkari engineers to build him a massive, cube-shaped superweapon capable of mimicking any attack, he could earn back a position with Zarkon's main fleet.

• The Bus Came Back: Fled Olkarion after Season 2, but briefly returns three seasons later and is killed off by his own ion cannon.
• Character Death: His ion cannon destroyed his ship, which killed him as a result.
• No Name Given: His name wasn't revealed until his second appearance in "Postmortem".
• You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: Tells this to Lubos after Keith tries to take the king hostage.

Commander Gnov

Voiced by: Cherise Boothe

One of Zarkon's most trusted advisers. She is not as unwise like Warlord Ranveig, but she is just as cruel.

• The Rival: To Janka, given that she dismisses him as weak after rejecting his offer to team up with him.

Commander Sniv

Voiced by: Nolan North

A brash Galra commander who sent assassins to eliminate Haggar after Emperor Zarkon was declared dead.

• Big Bad Wannabe: Seeks to kill Haggar and become Emperor. He accomplishes neither and gets killed for all his efforts.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar covering part of his face.
• Killed Offscreen: Haggar (disguised as a Galra ninja who was sent by him to kill her) enters the hallway to confront Sniv, just after he turns his back to see her. Needless to say that it didn't well for him.
• The Starscream: He immediately schemes to take the throne once Zarkon is killed.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Only appears for a couple of minutes before Haggar kills him off.

Commander Bogh

Voiced by: John DiMaggio

The Commander in charge of "Omega Shield Station," a station that projects a shield around an inhabited Galra planet to protect it from radiation storms. When news of the Kral Zera reaches the station, Bogh was one of the few named Galra commanders to agree to fall under Lotor's new reign, something that disgusts his subordinates and sets the Fire of Purification upon him.

• Conflicting Loyalty: Bogh's conflict with his lieutenant, Lahn, articulates much of the Empire's conflict over Lotor's ascension. Though Bogh questions Lotor's new methods he feels honor-bound to uphold the Kral Zera whilst Lahn feels that Lotor's ideology harms the integrity of the empire and feels honor-bound to oppose him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: While still a loyal soldier to the empire, Bogh is humanized much more than other named soldiers. The safety of the planet is paramount to him and he's willing to put aside his own feelings on Lotor and even the Paladins to work to save it.

Voiced by: Bill Millsap (Season 3), Matthew Mercer (Season 7)

Sendak's second in command of the Fire of Purification.

• Ascended Extra: First appeared in Season 3 overseeing Operation Kuron before returning as part of Sendak's fleet in Season 6.
• Character Death: Killed when the Paladins use the Lions to break out of their cells on Sendak's flagship.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Had a single line of dialogue in Season 3 and a silent cameo in Season 6 before taking on a more prominent role when Sendak invades Earth.

Prince / Emperor Lotor

Voiced by: A.J. LoCascio (English), Héctor Emmanuel Gómez (Latin America)

Zarkon's son and the crown prince of the Galra Empire. He's conspicuously absent from and uninvolved with his father's campaign for galactic conquest and is only brought back into the fold after Zarkon is defeated by the Paladins during the Season 2 finale.

• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Demonstrates this in "Begin the Blitz" when he escapes his handcuffs. Whether or not this is due to genetics or a skill he picked up is unknown.
• Abusive Parents: Neither of his parents ever really treated him as family. Zarkon wanted another general to help him conquer the universe rather than a son, and Haggar didn't even remember being Honerva during Lotor's childhood, and thus did not know that she was his mother.
• Ace Pilot: He can fly through a gaseous planet that would leave others blind and lost with great ease. He even uses his skills to outsmart the paladins.
• Adaptational Heroism: While he initially seems just as evil as he was in the original show, in Season 5 he claims to have been secretly working to bring peace to the galaxy the entire time. Regardless of whether that's actually true or not, he does display a kinder side that his original incarnation never had.
  • Ultimately playing with in Season 6; his atrocity level is much higher than any other iteration of the character (with the exception of Sincline), but he's also the most well-intentioned he's ever been.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Unlike both his counterparts in the original show, he is not obsessed with Princess Allura. Possibly because as of the end of the fourth season they've only seen each other as faceless opponents piloting enemy ships, and have not met face to face. They get flirty in Season 5, but it's mutual and Lotor acts a lot more valiant and honorable. In Season 6, he and Allura do develop feelings for each other and they even kiss...but then Allura finds out that he's been harvesting Alteans to drain them of their quintessence, which naturally leads her to no longer want any kind of relationship with him. Lotor tries to convince her that his feelings for her are real and that they're destined to be together, but when Allura refuses him and hits his Berserk Button of comparing him to Zarkon, all bets are off and Lotor sets his sights on killing her and the other Paladins.
• Aliens of London: Speaks with an "Altean accent" like Allura, which sounds like faux Received Pronunciation.
• Ambiguously Evil: Given his self-serving actions and manipulative tendencies, it's hard to believe Lotor's claim that he was Good All Along. However, he's been nothing but helpful to the Paladins throughout Season 5, handed them many victories, seemed to form a genuine rapport with Allura, and even by the season finale he still hasn't betrayed them after gaining control of a sizable piece of the Galra Empire. That said, he is deemed unworthy by the White Lion. Season 6 reveals that he indeed committed several atrocities, albeit for twisted altruistic reasons.
  • It's unclear whether he initially founded the Altean colony for genuinely altruistic reasons and only turned it into a People Farm later, or if that was his plan from the beginning. While one possibility is admittedly worse, they're both still pretty awful.
• Ambiguous Situation: His fate is left unclear after the end of Season 6, following Sincline being blasted by Voltron's full power and left drifting in the Quintessence field. Allura looks back at the unmoving Sincline, but the others say they have to leave since the fight looked as good as won. The paladins assume that because of this, Lotor will no longer be a threat, especially after they seal the hole by blowing up the castle ship. It's not until midway through Season 8 that it's revealed he's definitively dead, though the Paladins don't know this and Honerva acts like he's still alive while puppeteering Sincline.
  • It's left unclear if the Lotor seen in "Clear Day" is simply an elaborate illusionary byproduct of Allura's mind, or his actual spirit making contact with her.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Though having to deal with parents like his for millennia would make anyone hateful of them. He is unaware that Haggar is Honerva though, and is especially hateful to her, or possibly in denial. Taken a step further when he kills Zarkon in Season 5.
• Anti-Hero: He claims he is trying to show the Galran Empire how to be peaceful and cooperate with the rest of the galaxy. By Season 6, it's clear this is an act, albeit he could reasonably be called an Anti-Villain due to the nature of his motivations. At first, anyways.
  • Awful as he is, in Season 5, he seems fully prepared to let Zarkon kill him as long as his father's focus was kept off the Lions, proving he's not entirely self-serving.
• Anti-Villain: Lotor was originally a compassionate and kindhearted person, but this resulted in Zarkon razing an entire planet simply because Lotor had treated the dominant species as equals; and in him being exiled. Lotor's hatred of his father and Haggar led him to formulate a convoluted plan to overthrow them and restructure the Galra Empire into a peaceful force by tapping into the Quintessence field discovered by his beloved mother, Honerva. He nearly achieves this with Voltron's help, but it is revealed that he had collected the Altean refugees into a secret colony and had been sacrificing those with especially potent quintessence as a temporary measure until he could access the Quintessence field. This revelation and his attempts to justify it as a necessary evil causes Team Voltron to turn on him and destroy the portal to the Quintessence field. When Allura calls him just as evil as Zarkon, Lotor snaps — exacerbated by his prolonged exposure to the Quintessence field — and decides to just destroy both Voltron and the Galra Empire and establish a new Altean empire that worships him as a god. However, at the end of Season 8, Allura admits that while Lotor had been misguided and his methods had been wrong, he at the very least been sincere about his ultimate goal prior to his madness and death.
• Arc Villain: The second one after Zarkon.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Galra Empire is sort of an elective monarchy in that, when the emperor dies, all the potential replacements must compete for the throne. Lotor not only kills Zarkon himself but later manages to best all of his rivals to become Emperor in his own right.
• Bait the Dog:
  • His speech provides a perfect example. He promotes cooperation within the Galra, and to rule with loyalty instead of fear, while still standing against his enemies. Then promptly exiles the enemy who joins him, while ranting about how people are so easily manipulated. He also seems to be genuine friends with his generals, only to murder one of them without a second thought when he realizes Haggar is using her as a spy.
  • Season 6 shows just how evil he truly is. He rescued and found countless Alteans....and then harvested them for quintessence.
• Berserk Button: Comparing him to Zarkon is a good way to enrage him beyond belief. Allura comparing him to Zarkon during their confrontation caused Lotor to shift from trying to convince Allura to join him to trying to kill her.
• Big Bad: Ultimately is this for Seasons 3 through 6.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He fancied himself as the new Emperor but was quickly ousted by his parents, Zarkon and Haggar after they discovered he had a Transdimensional Meteor. Subverted in Season 6, where after having killed his father and bested his mother while on the side of the Paladins, he reveals that he's been Evil All Along and that everything that had transpired was Exactly According To Plan.
• Big Damn Kiss: With Allura, but the relationship doesn't last. After she refuses to forgive him for harvesting quintessence from Alteans, and says that he's even more like his father, Lotor quietly kills his feelings for her and decides to erase Allura and her father from Altean history and build a new Altea with himself as the ruler.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • He likes to play up the compassionate leader who is interested in peace between all people but as soon as he's alone he shows his real colors as a schemer who does not take insubordination or failure well. Nor is he all that concerned about actual peace. Though Season 5 opens up the possibility that his talk of peace might have been genuine. It is not.
  • Played horrifically straight in Season 6. Lotor was worshiped as a savior in the colony he set up for Altean refugees, but it is effectively a People Farm for him to harvest pure Altean quintessence.
• Body Horror: He's confirmed to be deceased in Season 8, and what little is shown of his corpse is not pretty — his armor and even his flesh are partially melted and sloughing away.
• Boomerang Bigot: He seems to admire and respect his Altean heritage but doesn't care much about his Galra heritage. After being rejected by Allura, he makes it clear that he would form an Altean Empire and eliminate the Paladins and the Galra themselves.
• The Chessmaster: Playing With. He’s more than willing to face enemies directly, but his risks are usually calculated ones, taken with some strategic aim in mind. His Establishing Character Moment is a carefully staged piece of political theater, and he later gets the comet by tricking his enemies into doing the dirty work.
• Child of Two Worlds: Deconstruction. Galra father, Altean mother. The fact that his father's people destroyed his mother's messes him up royally. He was raised Galra and despises them, idolizing the Altean part of him that he doesn’t truly understand. He never learned, and was never encouraged, to embrace both parts of his heritage.
• Composite Character: He is this to Lotor and Sincline (Lotor's Japanese counterpart) with his half Altean blood coming from his mother like the latter and his name coming from the former but considering his mother is Haggar/Honerva, Lotor is also a composite to Emperor Daibazaal (who is the Japanese counterpart to the original Zarkon).
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He's described as a "hot shot prince" who is "definitely not his dad" by Dos Santos and Montgomery. Zarkon is a 10,000 year old emperor of the Galra, Lotor is his young exiled son that Allura and Coran never knew about. Zarkon is powerful enough to take on one of the Voltron lions on his own, Lotor prefers fighting with his ship by toying with all five lions. Zarkon is a capable fighter who prefers to send his officers to capture Voltron, Lotor is more active in dealing with the Paladins and he manages to remain one step ahead of them.
• Cute Little Fangs: They’re evident when he smiles, and serve to make him quite adorable. They’re less cute when he’s snarling or sporting his Slasher Smile.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Record time even, as a combination of a trip to quintessence land and comparing him to Zarkon shifts him from "extremely ruthless but well intentioned" to Omnicidal Maniac.
• Death Equals Redemption: Appears in the end of the series with his father and the original Paladins as they accompany his mother and Allura into the afterlife in order to save the multiverse.
• The Determinator: Dislocates his shoulders and then flies into a sun in order to avoid getting handed over to Zarkon.
• Dragon Ascendant: Is brought out of exile by Haggar after Zarkon is grievously injured fighting Shiro at the end of Season 2 and it's implied he will only rule until his father is able to take back control. However...
• Dragon with an Agenda: Lotor has his own plans for the Galra Empire and he quickly goes off-script, much to Haggar's growing concern. It's revealed that he has a goal to learn how to harvest quintessence peacefully, without having to sacrifice planets... though Season 6 shows that his idea of "peaceful" harvesting is to make a People Farm of Alteans and extract quintessence from them.
• Dramatic Irony: His love for his mother Honerva is combined with a deep hatred for Haggar, as he is either unaware or in denial of the fact that they are the same person. When he does find out, he's shocked, horrified and disgusted.
  • He once told Throk that aggression would be his downfall, come the last two episodes of Season 6 where his aggression is his driving force to taking out Voltron.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: He doesn't understand why Allura, who believes herself and Coran to be the last surviving Alteans, would attack him on learning he experimented on various surviving Alteans deemed strong enough to withstand losing their quintessence.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: His battle against the Paladins has him exposed to unlimited amounts of Quintessence, which has the side effect of making him more unhinged, violent, and emotional than his previous appearances.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Once he's become a fugitive from the empire with his own father hunting him, he goes to where the Voltron coalition is, saves them from Haggar's trap, and then offers to join forces with them. This continues even after he's killed his father and Voltron has helped install him on the throne.
  • In Season 8, he actually manages to pull another alliance with Allura against Honerva, from beyond the grave, no less. While Allura doubts his intentions, he says he hates "the witch" as much as she does.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: One of the tenants of his big speech, though given how he's not at all like an ordinary Galra, it would have ill behooved him to say anything different. What also sets him apart is that unlike other Galra troops, his top four generals are all half-breeds and all female.
• Establishing Character Moment: His introduction involves him calling out a dissenting general who questions his right to rule and then wiping the floor with him in a Galra arena amongst hundreds of onlookers. After Lotor wins he extends a hand of diplomacy and rallies the rest of the empire with a rousing speech, but then after the spectacle he has the general he just "befriended" Reassigned to Antarctica for questioning him to begin with. A Warrior Prince, The Chess Master and Manipulative Bastard all in one.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He speaks in glowing terms of his mother Honerva, while being completely unaware or in complete denial that the mother he idolizes has become one of his biggest enemies, Haggar. When Allura tries to bring up the possibility of them being one and the same, Lotor denies that his mother could ever be that thing.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He will try to make a display of force to get enemies to surrender without fighting. This is actually how he makes his entrance to Team Voltron.
  • Downplayed. It's revealed that he had no qualms about experimenting on the stronger Altean survivors to figure out how to harvest quintessence, but his reason for doing it was because Zarkon and Haggar's means of destroying entire planets for quintessence was unnecessarily destructive.
• Evil All Along: Season 8 reveals him to have been a compassionate person during his youth, refusing to resort to the openly brutal methods even when ordered to by Zarkon. In Season 5, he claims to be good, saying that everything he did in the previous two seasons was part of a genuine attempt to end the war... and in Season 6, they are, but he's clearly not concerned about concepts like "ethics" or "not committing mass murder for what he perceives as the greater good". Basically, while Lotor has good goals, the means he uses to attain them, his parading of good deeds just to prove he's not Zarkon, and his burning hatred for anyone he sees as his enemy mean he's not a good person.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Keith as his bitter rival which is in line with Voltron tradition. Both are Pretty Boy Galra hybrids with absent parents – one raised by the Galra and despising them, the other raised human and learning to accept both halves of his heritage. They both have Ship Tease with Allura, are the new leaders of their respective teams after their previous one retires, have been described as hotshots, and both wield swords. Every time Lotor has clashed with Team Voltron has been when Keith was their leader. They both have trust and abandonment issues; Keith coming to terms with them leads to him finding peace and self-acceptance, while Lotor’s unresolved issues ultimately lead to his own destruction. They find their mothers in the same season, and bear a strong physical resemblance to them. Fittingly, they save each other’s lives, and Keith agrees with Allura on retrieving Lotor from the rift before it closes, implied to feel some sympathy for him. The showrunners have constantly brought up parallels between the two and even outright stated that Lotor is what Keith could have been if he went down the dark path. An interview on the What Could Have Been has also stated that Lotor and Keith would have had their stories more tied to each other in their original plan.
  • Lotor is also this to Allura, mirroring how their fathers were enemies during an interplanetary war. They are both “lonely at the top” royals — Zarkon’s son and Alfor’s daughter — who have a hard time opening up to others about their feelings, and are extremely goal-oriented people. They both have a burning hatred for the Galra and a deep desire to carry on Altean legacy; in fact, their similar motivations and goals is what draws them to each other in the first place. They are also two of the chosen few able to enter the birthplace of Altean alchemy. Ultimately, the only difference between them is their vastly different upbringings (especially highlighted in how they face the White Lion), which leads to them pursuing different methods to get to the same goal. The showrunners have even said that if Lotor had been raised more like Allura, he would have been “a magnificent person,” and they’re “sure there’s a universe out there somewhere where it worked out between them.”
• Evil Virtues: Ambition, determination, diligence, resourcefulness and valor.
• The Exile: Throk mentions during one of Lotor's gladiator matches that he was an "exiled brat". At the end of Season 5, he explains that it was because — as shown in Season 8 — when placed in charge of mining quintessence from a planet, he chose to do so by cooperating with the inhabitants to only extract as much as could be replenished, rather than taking it all by force and leaving the planet to die like other Galra would have. When Zarkon found out, Lotor defied his father's orders to destroy the planet. Lotor was exiled, and Zarkon destroyed the planet anyway.
• Facial Markings: As the paladins fly towards Oriande, Coran notices Lotor's Altean markings, and they were glowing. The reason they couldn't have been seen before is possibly due to his Altean ability to shapeshift.
• Fallen Hero: He doesn’t act particularly heroic, being mostly pragmatic and that’s not counting how he forcefully extracted Quintessence from Alteans he rescued, but Season 8 reveals that Lotor used to be more heroic in the past. The last season confirms that Lotor did indeed befriend the inhabitants of a planet he was supposed to conquer and worked together with them to produce far more Quintessence without having to destroy the planet or enslave them. However, Zarkon is enraged that Lotor treated the inhabitants as equals and destroyed the planet before exiling him. This event led to Lotor hating his father and developing plans to overthrow him behind his back.
• Fanboy: Of Altean culture. He gets unusually excited when speaking to Allura about Altean culture and has spent centuries researching it.
• Fantastic Racism: Turns out he has nothing but distaste the Galra race as a whole.
• Fatal Flaw: His obsessions with obtaining quintessence "peacefully," without having to sacrifice planets or entire civilizations, and his desire to continue his mother's work. It turns out that Lotor doesn't know when to stop when experimenting on living beings to obtain quintessence, and he doesn't take criticism of his actions well. He could have had a genuine alliance and possible relationship with Allura if he hadn't taken their people and experimented on the strongest survivors.
• Faux Affably Evil: Lotor presents himself as a peacemaker and a noble ruler who wishes to protect his subjects, but his charming, diplomatic facade quickly starts to show cracks when things don't go his way, as we see soon after his introduction when he treats Acxa, initially his most loyal supporter, very coldly and harshly over a setback that wasn't really her fault. And his Villainous Breakdown is Season 6 shows the he can turn downright Ax-Crazy when denied something he really wants, much like his father.
• Foil: To Allura, during the white lion's trials; while he killed the lion yelling "Victory or death!" Allura fell onto her knees telling it, "I give up my life". While Lotor failed the trial, Allura succeeded.
• For Want Of A Nail: In the timeline where his mother died before she could complete her quintessence experiments, Lotor had a healthier relationship with his father and presumably would grow up into a better person. He also realizes that Haggar isn't really his mother.
• Frontline General: Throk comments derisively on Lotor's penchant for fighting at the front with his soldiers as it's unfitting of his rank. Lotor's turn as the Big Bad is decidedly different from Zarkon's as Lotor is most certainly not an Orcus on His Throne and is often leading missions against the Paladins directly, to the point of confronting them himself very early on in Season 3. Even after killing his father and becoming Emperor in Season 5, he prefers accompanying Voltron on their missions personally.
• Generation Xerox: While he would deny such, he's more like his father than he'd ever care to admit right down to how his growing relationship with Allura has several thematic and visual parallels to how the one between his parents developed◊.
• A God Am I: Built himself up as such in the eyes of the surviving Alteans whom they thought of as a messiah, and in the finale of Season 6 he's screaming about how everyone will remember his name and praise him. Well-intentioned he may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that he thought himself entitled to take thousands of lives simply because he was their “savior” and thought he was doing everyone a favor. He also seems pretty firmly convinced that whatever he does is ultimately for the universe’s good and that anyone that doesn’t have his morality must be wrong. After his death, Honerva follows in his footsteps by framing him as a god for the Alteans to worship.
• Godzilla Threshold: Haggar's tone of voice when she gives the order implies that she's not exactly pleased that she has to call on Lotor's help. Then there's the fact that Zarkon was willing to delegate the responsibility of capturing Voltron to everyone on his military pecking order from his most trusted lieutenants (Sendak) to spineless toadies (Marvok) with the notable exception of his own flesh and blood.
• The Good King: What he intended to be, after taking the throne — bringing peace to the Galra Empire by supplying it with limitless quintessence. However, the atrocities he committed as a temporary measure to tide the empire over — the sacrifice of countless Altean refugees to harvest their quintessence — result in Voltron rejecting him outright; even though at the end of Season 8 Allura admits that he'd been sincere, if extremely misguided.
• Heel Realization: It looks like he had one as the result of failing the White Lion's test, claiming that Allura was more worthy than he. Subverted in Season 6.
• Hegemonic Empire: He wanted to form the Galran Empire into this rather than The Empire, though out of Pragmatic Villainy.
• Hidden Agenda Villain:
  • Lotor clearly has plans for the Galra Empire beyond what Haggar intends for him, which is merely to hold the Empire together until Zarkon comes out of his coma and retakes control. Part of the problem facing the Paladins is that Lotor's actions, especially in the final episodes of Season 3 seemingly make no sense given that he leads his Generals in an attack on a Galra facility to recover a teludav lens and that he barely seems to spend any time actually running the Galra Empire. This causes problems in their attempts to defeat him since it makes Lotor's actions hard to predict. He appears to be trying to build his own Voltron and may be attempting to become a transdimensional conqueror.
  • In Season 5, he claims that everything he did was to bring peace to the Galra Empire and the Universe, prompting the Paladins to team up with him once they decide to trust him.
• History Repeats: Like his parents, he slowly goes mad while staying in the quintessence rift, and does whatever he can to achieve his goals no matter the cost.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: He wants absolutely nothing to do with his father, his father's people, or their culture. His hatred gets to the point that — when in a rage — he says that he's willing to the eradicate the entirety of the Galra empire to make way his new Altea.
• I Am Not My Father: One of the points he makes in his speech after his coliseum fight, and says that the Galra Empire should be ruled through loyalty, not fear. Which is, really, just a lie and he doesn't care either way. Much like his father.
• Internal Reformist: What Lotor claims he was trying to do for the Galra, by providing them an alternative means of harvesting the Quintessence it needs to survive via the Quintessence Field without resorting to barbaric methods like the Komar, to transition it from a war-like imperialist super-power to a more peaceful one. Subverted in that he still commits some pretty horrible atrocities that place him firmly in the "evil" camp, and that when pushed too far, decides he'll destroy the Galra anyway and replace it with a new Altean Empire.
  • He also says this verbatim, and means it more literally, after confronting Haggar when she tries to get in the way of his plans.
• It's All About Me: While he truly believes that his plans for the universe are what's best for it, it ultimately comes down to it being his way or the high way, and him getting what he wants. The Voltron Coalition Handbook lampshades this in a letter written by Lotor where he is prone to capitalizing "ME" and "MY".
• I've Come Too Far: He refuses to submit to the White Lion with this reason (Victory or Death). Unfortunately for him, his determination to succeed at all costs makes him fail the White Lion's test and he does not receive Altean alchemical knowledge. This is a Fatal Flaw of his; in Season 6, he refuses to stop charging Voltron during Allura's attack, despite clearly fighting a losing battle. She eventually overloads Sincline's systems, and, revealed as of Season 8, kills him. Albeit he wasn't entirely in his right mind at the time, but it wasn't the first time he'd exhibited almost Keith-like suicidal determination.
• Join or Die: His Rousing Speech has him remind those under his command that "each ally gained only makes us stronger" before assuring them "all those who continue to stand against us will be crushed."
• Jumped Off The Slippery Slope: Playing With; he started experimenting and isolating the surviving Alteans long before he was introduced in the show. Up to that point, he seemed at worst pragmatic and at best reasonable. However, as is noted even in the show itself, he started off with good intentions, but the journey to the quintessence dimension makes it very clear that his brain was fried.
• Knight Templar: He did sincerely want to preserve Altean culture, but to do so he did everything from lying to People Farms, and in the end testing his patience threw it all down the drain.
• Lack of Empathy: Genuinely does not understand why Allura would be infuriated by him experimenting on her people. His defense amounts to reminding her that he'd preserved Altean culture, as if that cancels out the inhumanity of what he did.
• Laughing Mad: Towards the end of Season 6, when all of his plans begin to fail, he starts laughing and declaring that he is going to take down all of his enemies, as well as erase Allura and her father from Altean history.
• Lean and Mean: Tall like a Galra (though still shorter than most) and gracefully slender like an Altean.
• Leitmotif: A very prominent one reminiscent of Azula's. It's mostly used during Season 3, but still pops up occasionally in later seasons, usually during his more villainous moments.
• Lesser of Two Evils: He's one of the few Galra politicians who is willing to work with Voltron to broker peace, even if for his own agenda. Then subverted horribly when it turns out he wants to wipe out the Galra and create a new nation of Alteans.
• Locked into Strangeness: According to an interview and as shown in Season 8, he was in his mother's womb when she was exposed to massive amounts of quintessence and transformed into Haggar, which has had rather odd effects on his physiology.
• Longhaired Pretty Boy: He has very long white hair.
• Loving a Shadow: Throughout Season 6, Lotor has expressed admiration for Allura’s abilities and sincerely believes that they are destined to be together. However, it’s evident that he’s attracted to Allura because of her abilities and the benefits it could bring to the universe rather than her personality.
• Machiavelli Was Wrong: Does a Rousing Speech about not ruling through inspiring fear but through inspiring loyalty instead. Later subverted, as he only invokes this as a way to move the masses. And possibly double subverted, as he later seems to genuinely believe it.
• Mama's Boy: He has nothing but praise to speak for his mother, Honerva. However, he hates Haggar, and vehemently rejects her even when she unveils herself as his mother, stating that so far as he's concerned Honerva is dead.
• Manipulative Bastard: His foresight is, much like his skills with a blade and as a pilot, top-notch, and he definitely uses it for all it's worth. In hindsight, his alliance with the Voltron Force can be seen as a way to consolidate his control over the Galra Empire by getting Team Voltron to take out rebel Galra factions for him.
• Master Swordsman: He's capable of easily holding his own against a skilled Galra general like Throk in the arena, and even manages to break his sword. Before then, Lotor almost effortlessly defeated another opponent in the arena, too.
• Mayfly–December Romance: With Allura. Lotor is over 10,000 years old but retains a youthful appearance due to the effects of Quintessence while Allura remained a teenager because she was placed in cryosleep for those 10,000 years. Of course this massive difference in age and experience allows Lotor to easily manipulate Allura and the relationship doesn't last.
• Mirror Character:
  • Despite his denial, Season 6 showed clearly how similar Lotor is to Zarkon. Both of them were obsessed with harvesting Quintessence from the rifts at all cost. Lotor justified harvesting Altean refugees for quintessence with a For the Greater Good argument, just like Zarkon justifying the research into the rift. Lotor also displayed Black-and-White Insanity in his desire to destroy all his enemies. Just to drive the point home, he then fought the Paladin in his own Evil Voltron, just like Zarkon did.
  • Perhaps even more so than his father, he's rather glaringly similar to his mother Honerva/Haggar. They resemble each other physically, (long white hair, same manic expression, elegant features), are Laughing Mad with mystical abilities and a flair for the dramatic. Obsessed with quintessence and experiments on living beings? Too clever by half? Come Season 8, they’d both worked towards sympathetic/well-intentioned goals through completely omnicidal methods.
• Named After Somebody Famous: In-Universe; he is named for both Lotarius, an Altean engineer, and Kaltor, a Galran conqueror.
• Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: He is half-Galra and half-Altean. He appears to think of himself as more Altean than Galran, though his Galran upbringing tends to show.
• Obliviously Evil: He doesn't understand why Allura and team Voltron would turn on him for experimenting on surviving Alteans. You know, Allura's people that had already wiped out in ongoing genocide and whom were barely keeping it together as it was.
• Obviously Evil: The unique emblem on his spacesuit? An upside-down five-pointed star.
• Older Than They Look: The other Galra call him a "brat" indicating he is physically juvenile, and he appears to be the Galra equivalent of his late teens to early twenties, but he tells Allura that he's spent centuries researching Alteans and learning from planets he "befriended." His youthful appearance is due to the fact that Haggar was pregnant when she and Zarkon entered the rift, and all of that quintessence is what keeps Lotor essentially immortal. It's unclear whether he just grows exceptionally slowly, or if he matured at a normal rate until he hit his current appearance, then stopped aging altogether - though flashbacks in season 8 seem to imply the latter.
• The One Guy: Of his own villain team no less, acting as (almost) a complete gender inversion of Allura's team.
• Out-Gambitted: He was Out-Gambitted by Haggar during Season 4 when he returned to Zarkon's summon. He thoroughly scanned for tracking device, smugly decided that he has Out-Gambitted not knowing that Haggar has turned Narti into her eyes.
• Pet the Dog: Instead of attempting to kill Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid for turning on him, he ejects them from their ships and otherwise leaves them alone. The second time might not have been so merciful, given that it left them floating in the middle of a mecha fight with no allies or other ships, but during the first time he even acknowledges that he holds no grudge against them for their actions.
  • He apparently left the planet Puig alone after invading it to get Voltron's attention, as their representatives show up again as part of the Coalition.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He is much smaller than other Galra but still one of the most powerful. Lampshaded in his debut episode, as a soldier calls him a "little fellow."
• Pointy Ears: Shown clearly after he removes his helmet, and a clue to his Altean heritage.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • The one facet that makes him better than Zarkon is that while Lotor does terrible things, he's also concerned with not dying and making countless sacrifices to achieve his goals. Lotor doesn't kill unless it's absolutely necessary, and when he first encounters Voltron he demands their surrender. In Season 5, after surrendering to Voltron and saving Keith's life, he gives intel that helps the rebellion gain decisive victories while aiming for the throne.
  • One thing that could be said about his experimenting on surviving Alteans is that he only took a handful that would be deemed strong enough to withstand the tests, and left the rest alone. It's still monstrous though since the Alteans put all their trust in him.
• Pretty Boy: Compared to other Galra, who look more alien, Lotor's fine facial features stand out. Given that he's half-Altean on his mother's side, this makes sense.
• Race Lift: The reboot changes him back to half-Galran half-Altean.
• Sanity Slippage: Lotor's plans to restructure the Galra Empire and rule peacefully almost come to fruition but are thwarted when his experiments on the surviving Alteans and their descendants are revealed and his attempts to justify them as a necessary evil are rejected by Allura — who he had fallen in love with. Voltron destroying the portal to the Quintessence field and repeated exposure to raw Quintessence causes Lotor to snap and go from attempting to convince Allura to join him to deciding to destroy everyone who stands in his way, including Voltron and the Galra Empire itself.
• Self-Made Orphan: He kills Zarkon in Season 5, and believes his mother has been dead for a while.
• Spare to the Throne: Despite being the sole heir to the Galra Empire, the soldiers don't seem to know who Lotor is.
• Start of Darkness: Lotor used to be a compassionate and friendly child who wanted to make Zarkon proud, but his father treated him with indifference and Lotor slowly started to hate him. Once he became an adult, he befriends the population of a planet he was meant to conquer and managed to peacefully produce more Quintessence via peaceful cooperation than pillaging and conquering. His father is less than impressed by his pacifistic methods and talks down to him and his alien companion, causing Lotor to snap back at him and angering Zarkon by revealing that he knew about Honerva. Zarkon punishes him by destroying the planet, much to his horror, and exiling him, which cements Lotor’s hatred for his father and leads him to a darker path.
• Slasher Smile: Sports a pretty nasty one for all of his battle with Voltron in the final episode of Season 6, representing his Villainous Breakdown.
• Space Elf: Complete with long white hair, what is essentially immortality, an elegant mode of speaking, mystical powers, and Pointy Ears.
• Time Abyss: He's only slightly younger than his father.
• Together in Death: Shown in the afterlife with Allura, his parents, and the original Paladins.
• Tragic Villain: As revealed in Season 8, Lotor's future was promising before his birth, until his parents lost their memories of their love, their relationship, and their compassion. His entire childhood, he was treated as just another soldier (albeit Zarkon's successor to the throne), forcing him into a "Well Done, Son" Guy mindset. When he attempted to prove the potential of working alongside species rather than subjugating them to harvest even more Quintessence, his father responds by burning the entire planet in retaliation for Lotor daring to treat non-Galra as equals. This pretty much solidified his hatred for his father, Haggar, and the entire Empire.
• Uncertain Doom: Lotor's fate is left uncertain following his fight with Voltron in the Quintessence field, as Sincline is left badly damaged and stranded there after the rift is closed. The doom is made certain in Season 8.
• Underestimating Badassery: Severely underestimated Haggar. As detailed in Out-Gambitted, he specifically brought Narti along presumably to counter Haggar's magic. Haggar turned the poor girl into her puppet.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Flashbacks from Season 8 show that Lotor was originally a cute and adorable (if slightly entitled) child who merely wanted his father's approval.
• Villain Has a Point: When talking to Shiro and Allura while locked up he makes several legitimate points while claiming he wants to be a benevolent emperor:
  • The Galra Empire needs quintessence, regardless of anything else. While Haggar would destroy entire planets, at least Lotor may be able to mine quintessence peacefully, without ruining thousands of lives. The fact that he used Voltron to get the trans-reality comet, which could have killed the Paladins, was a "calculated risk".
  • Allura is letting her prejudice of the Galra get in the way of judging them by their actions. While Allura has gotten better about that, she's not completely beyond the trauma of losing her home and her family.
  • His intel has been securing them necessary victories. To cap it all off, he tells them where Pidge and Matt's father is.
  • A very dark one: he insults King Alfor by saying that while experimenting on the evacuated Alteans was cruel, he actually made the effort to save as many as he could and give them a new home, and they would likely all be extinct if it wasn’t for him. Alfor, in contrast, only saved his daughter and Coran before going to make a doomed last stand against Zarkon. The way that turned out, Allura and Coran thought they were the Last of Their Kind and had little to no means to rebuild their home and culture.
  • Lotor maintains that the Galra Empire needs a constant supply of potent quintessence to develop into a peaceful civilization, and works towards accessing the quintessence field in order to supply that. However, his stopgap solution of gathering quintessence involved sacrificing countless Altean refugees, and his attempt to justify this as a necessary evil and a temporary measure until the quintessence field was unlocked horrify and outrage the Paladins.
  • Shortly after his debut, he brings up the point that Voltron can liberate as many planets as they like, but they can only be in so many places at once. Most freed planets are immediately open to invasion again without a means to defend themselves once Voltron leaves. He proves this by immediately swooping in and retaking a world that Voltron freed as soon as they left; and just to add insult to injury, he did it easily and without even killing anyone.
  • His ghost in Season 8 tells Allura that Haggar may be calling herself Honerva, but she is the same witch who is their common enemy. Also, it turns out that he was right that the ghost entity from the quintessence realm is the key to unlocking Honerva's plan.
• Villains Never Lie: Discussed. The heroes don't really trust Lotor after he spent all of Season 3 manipulating them and gaining victory after victory, but they can't deny that his intel is gaining them more victories with far less loss from the rebellions. Allura for one says she doesn't trust him after he claims that he actually wants to reign in an era of peace.
  • Also Played With, even after The Reveal of Season 6. Lotor was always upfront about wanting to find more sustainable methods to harvest quintessence; he just leaves out the methods that he was already using.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • A really minor, subtle one, dropping his Affably Evil camaraderie with his subordinates after he loses the Teludav component, voicing his discontent calmly, but clearly furious that his plans have been delayed.
  • Has another subtle one after killing Narti, becoming unusually withdrawn and snappish to the other generals. He doesn't even retaliate when Acxa approaches him with a loaded weapon.
  • A more straightforward example in the Season 6 finale. When the Voltron team confronts him over harvesting Altean Quintessence, Lotor tries to justify it as a necessary evil — the sacrifice of a few to benefit millions, and a temporary measure until he can gain access to the Quintessence field. Allura repeatedly rejecting him and stating he's as bad as his father, combined with Voltron destroying the portal to the Quintessence field, causes Lotor to snap — exacerbated by prolonged exposure to the Quintessence field — and try to kill them, including Allura.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Subverted. Lotor tries to invoke this by displaying a more even-handed style of rulership when he first takes over the Galra. When he reconquers a planet he tries to set himself up to the locals as a more benevolent alternative to Zarkon in order to gain their trust. The Galra's warrior culture doesn't take too kindly to his more low-key Pragmatic Villainy and he never gains any allies especially when his Generals betray him after he kills one. He also never manages to significantly influence any of the empire's conquered races before Zarkon deposes him. He comes closest to this trope when he pretends to be the Paladins' ally. He's also very popular with the Altean refugees that he'd provided sanctuary for and are unaware of how he's exploited them.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: A character trait of his. He spends a good portion of his screentime establishing that he's not like his genocidal, violent father, and does a number of good deeds to prove it, like saving Keith's life, providing necessary intel to the rebellion, and helping Allura reconnect with Altean alchemy. It turns out that extolling how much good you've done isn't enough to erase the bad you've done in the past, especially when you try to justify it.
• Warrior Prince: Whether it's on the ground or in a spaceship, Lotor kicks plenty of ass.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Lotor was being genuine about his desire to non-violently supply the Galra Empire with a limitless amount of quintessence by tapping into the quintessence field, and went out of his way to gather Altean refugees in order to keep his mother's culture and people alive. However, his stopgap solution for the Galra Empire's quintessence needs was exceedingly cruel and amoral: he began selecting Alteans with potent quintessence, tricking them into thinking they were being sent to a different colony in case the first one was discovered, and then draining them of their vitality in an off-site lab. His actions to keep Altea alive were genuine but horrific, which Allura herself acknowledges at the end of Season 8. After being pissed off and undergoing Sanity Slippage, he decides to just destroy the Galra Empire altogether and create a new Altean Empire that worships him as a god.
• White Hair, Black Heart: When he removes his helmet it reveals that he has long white hair, which hints at him being half-Altean, and his mother being Haggar. He also harvests countless Alteans for their quintessence.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: After the paladins destroy his portal and Allura refuses to work with him again, he starts using the Sincline ship against them. His rage and repeatedly teleporting through the Quintessence field drives him insane, and he begins laughing madly throughout the fight and sporting a Psychotic Smirk. This only gets worse once he fights the group inside the rift.
• The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Subverted in that the Galra Empire is sort of an elective monarchy, where the candidates must compete with each other for the throne. Lotor can and eventually does compete for the throne and win, but it's clear that neither Zarkon, Haggar or any of the other Galra generals think that he has what it takes.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Lotor is a master at not only making plans, but quickly adjusting them in order to deal with changes in the situation that are beyond his control.

• Ace Custom: They wear their own uniforms and fly their own fighters, none of which are standard issue imperial equipment.
• Amazon Brigade: All four of them are half-Galra women that make up Lotor's cohorts and followers, and are among the Galra Empire's highest-ranking officers and are very adept at combat.
• Birds of a Feather: They all seem to be very close to each other, likely due to their status as half-Galrans. Lotor considers them his comrades.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: The generals end up playing this role for Haggar during the Kral Zera.
• Co-Dragons: Each of them to Lotor as they're his top generals who aid him closely. They betray him in Season 4 and join up with Haggar in Season 5.
• Elite Four: They were initially a team of four elite soldiers serving as Lotor's generals. However, as of Season 4, their numbers have dwindled down to three, after Lotor kills Narti and later flies off with his part of the Sincline ship. In the episode, the three surviving members join the Blade of Marmora and are shown working alongside Keith.
• Frontline General: Much like their leader, they fight on the field and participate in missions with him despite being generals themselves and especially being considered among the best.
• Heel–Face Turn: While all of them are antagonists from Seasons 3 through 6; Axca allies herself with the Voltron Coalition between Seasons 6 and 7, Ezor joins between Seasons 7 and 8, and Zethrid joins in the middle of Season 8. In the finale, all three surviving members are shown as members of the rebranded Blade of Marmora.
• Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Each of them is actually half-Galra or less, as mentioned by Throk, and their appearances make it obvious. They appear to think of themselves as Galran, which leads to them abandoning Lotor when he announces his plans to eradicate the Galrans to pave the way for a new Altean Empire under his rule.
• Nothing Personal: After Lotor kills Narti, the generals decide to turn him over to the empire in exchange for their lives being spared. When Zethrid tells Lotor their plans, he admits that he understands their reasoning and doesn't blame them.
• Reaction Shot: Look at their faces◊ after Lotor says he's going to rid the universe of (among other things) the Galra.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Acxa declares that they immediately cut ties with Lotor in the penultimate episode of Season 6 when all of them see how mad he's become to the point where he declared he'll wipe out all of his enemies from the Paladins, to Haggar, and even the Galra.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: When the paladins run into them again, they're wearing entirely new outfits, leaving their past with Lotor behind them.
• Space Pirates: In Season 7, Ezor and Zethrid are revealed to have hijacked a Galra cruiser and become pirate warlords. Acxa disapproved and ultimately left them to follow her own path.
• Undying Loyalty: All of the Generals are extremely loyal to each other and Lotor, at first. They started doubting him after Lotor killed Narti and fully turned against him after his plan failed. They seem to rejoin in him in "Black Paladins" and "All Good Things", but when Lotor declares he would destroy all of his enemies, Honerva, Galra and Alteans, the generals finally decide to leave Lotor for good.
• We Used to Be Friends: In Season 7, they've gone their separate ways following the three deca-phoeb timeskip, with Ezor and Zethrid becoming space pirate warlords; and Acxa following her own path that leads to her showing up to rescue to the Paladins. By that point all camaraderie between them is long gone, though they manage to regain it by Season 8's epilogue.
• Wild Card: By the end of Season 4, they are the only faction without a clear allegiance. Their last appearance had Axca declared there're only one thing to do... without revealing what it is. The following season show that they kidnapped Pidge's father and used him as a hostage, teaming up with Zarkon. Once he is defeated, they team up with Haggar. However, they do temporarily regroup with Lotor, only for Acxa to decide that they would sever ties with him for good after seeing how mad he's become.

Ezor

Voiced by: Kimiko Glenn (English), Fernanda Robles (Latin America)

^{Click here to see post-timeskip appearance:}

A brightly colored Galra hybrid who acts as one of Lotor's generals.

• Artificial Limbs: She's missing one of her legs in Season 7, and has a prosthetic one to replace it.
• Badass Long Coat: Ezor wears a really awesome one after she and Zethrid end up leading the pirate fleet in Season 7.
• Battle Couple: With Zethrid in Season 7.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: While she has Galran traits that are similar to her teammates, a differing factor is the tentacle on her head, along with the wing flaps under her arms which she can use to glide in the air.
• Bury Your Gays: After Axca and the paladins escape from Ezor and Zethrid in Season 7, their ship is left self-destructing in the middle of space. It's implied that she was killed by this in Season 8 Episode 5, sending Zethrid on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Keith... until Acxa reveals that Ezor could no longer stomach Zethrid's rage and left her to join the Voltron Alliance.
• Chameleon Camouflage: Her special ability — she can turn effectively invisible at will.
• Combat Parkour: What she seems to excel in, even managing to pin Keith down in an armbar and catching Shiro off guard. She uses walls to her advantage to jump off of and take down opponents.
• Cute and Psycho: She's adorable. And also gets really excited about torturing prisoners.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She and Zethrid are in a relationship together in Season 7 and care deeply for each other.
• Eyepatch After Time Skip: She sports an eyepatch over her right eye in Season 8.
• Facial Markings: She has one on her forehead.
• Faux Affably Evil: She cheerfully says she's very, very glad the Voltron Paladins are alive... because it's no fun torturing dead people.
• Genki Girl: She's the most cheerful and talkative of her group, and even the Voltron character profile calls her the "friendliest".
• Heel–Face Turn: In Season 8, she breaks up with Zethrid and joins the Voltron Alliance.
• Hidden Weapons: She apparently hides knives or blades, as she threw some in "Tailing a Comet" and "Kral Zera".
• Lipstick Lesbian: In comparison to Zethrid, at least; she's much smaller, less (openly) aggressive until her sadism is revealed, and is mostly a bright pink/orange color.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens: She's the most human-looking of the generals aside from Acxa, with her head-tentacle and brightly colored skin being the main indicators of her alien nature.
• Perpetual Smiler: It's rare to see her without a small grin on her face.
• Perky Female Minion: Energetic and full of cheer despite being evil. During "White Lion" when Haggar hadn't given them anything to do, she asks Zethrid if she wanted to go throw things at the crew to alleviate their boredom.
  • When left alone next to Shiro she awkwardly looks back and forth before asking "Is it broken?" and poking Shiro's cheek to get a response.
• Psycho Lesbian: She and Zethrid are confirmed lesbians, and are villains who enjoy torturing their prisoners.
• Psychotic Smirk: She gives one to Keith during their fight.
• Sadist: Ezor really, really likes torturing people, referring to it as 'the fun part' of an interrogation.
• Ship Tease: With Zethrid in Season 7 when Zethrid makes her Declaration of Protection to her, Ezor gives her an especially warm smile.
• Stealth Expert: Helped by her ability to turn invisible, she can even hide her presence from Haggar.
• Tail Slap: She uses the long tentacle on her head to pull people in or hit them from far away.

Zethrid

Voiced by: Jamie Gray Hyder (English), Kerygma Flores (Latin America)

^{Click here to see post-timeskip appearance:}

A large, intimidating Galra hybrid who serves Lotor as a general.

• Badass Cape: Wears one in Season 7 after she and Ezor take over the pirate fleet.
• Battle Couple: With Ezor in Season 7.
• Blood Knight: Always eager to fight, and often complains about Lotor's more patient Chessmaster tactics.
• The Brute: The most imposing and bloodthirsty of the four generals, as well as the strongest. During their combat introduction, she overpowers a massive, elephant-like war beast trying to trample her, then throws it.
• Butch Lesbian: Comes across this way as of Season 7; Zethrid is the largest and bulkiest of Lotor's generals, with an aggressive personality and deep voice, and she and Ezor are implied to have formed a relationship during the Time Skip.
• Despair Event Horizon: Ezor breaking up with her in Season 8 sets her down a dark path. Thankfully, they end up getting back together by the end.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In Season 7, her Declaration of Protection to Ezor is very sweet. Exhibit A◊.
• Facial Horror: In Season 8, the left side of her face is badly scarred - presumably from the explosion that destroyed her ship in Season 7.
• Facial Markings: She has a small mark under her right eye.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: She occasionally uses a gun, but is not above using her strength to her advantage during a fight.
• Hand Cannon: While she mostly relies on her strength in a fight, she does carry around a big, two-handed gun.
• Heel–Face Turn: Midway through Season 8, she finally comes around and joins Acxa and Ezor on the side of good.
• Laughably Evil: Of all Lotor's generals Zethrid is the one most played for comedy; especially to juxtapose her more violent personality. Horrifically and heart-wrenchingly subverted by Season 8, where her issues are played seriously.
• Prophet Eyes: In Season 7, her left eye◊ is now permanently blind.
• Psycho Lesbian: In Season 7, she is confirmed to be in a relationship with Ezor, and is a villain who enjoys torturing their prisoners.
• Ship Tease: With Ezor in Season 7, judging by her reaction to Zethrid's above-mentioned Declaration of Protection.
• Trigger-Happy: She's more likely to want to shoot over being strategic. In "Red Paladin", she's practically delighted when Lotor let her fire all of their cannons at the castle with everything they had. One of the reasons she rejoins Lotor with the other generals is, "As long as I get to shoot something."
• Undying Loyalty: According to the Voltron profiles, Zethrid is extremely loyal to Lotor, and will follow his orders while also taking them to the extreme. This changes in Episode 5 of Season 4.
• Wild Card: The Voltron character profile describes her as this.
• Worthy Opponent: Seems to view the Paladins, especially Allura, this way, as she says during one of their fights that it's been a while since she's gotten to fight someone as good as them.

Narti

Lotor's most mysterious general and a Galra hybrid.

• Animal Eye Spy: She uses her cat Cova to see the world, and get an upper hand on unsuspecting enemies. In an ironic twist, she becomes Haggar's Eye spy which lead to her death.
• Blind Seer: She's stated to be blind by Ezor, and has psychic powers.
• Character Death: Lotor kills her when he realizes that Haggar used her against them.
• Demonic Possession: Her main power is being able to possess people through touch. When under her control, her victims have glowing eyes.
• Eyeless Face: She has no eyes and sees through a psychic connection with other people with her cat being her default.
• Evil Genius: Downplayed, as she's not shown to be particularly scientifically inclined, but she's the only one of Lotor's generals to wield blatantly mystical powers, and bases almost her entire fighting style around them.
• Facial Markings: She has one trailing from the top of her head, all the way down to her nose.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Is killed soon after her introduction by Lotor, who accuses her of being a spy for Haggar. Initially Acxa and the others claim to defect from Lotor over this, but this is eventually subverted as Acxa faked her defection and the other two quickly return to Lotor's side, with no mention of Narti or her death afterwards.
• Handicapped Badass: Although she's blind and speechless, she makes up through this in her ability to control others and uses her tail as a deadly weapon.
• In the Hood: Unlike her other comrades, her head is covered in a dark hood. However, when her hood is down, it reveals two small pointed ears that look like a cat's.
• Lizard Folk: She has a reptilian tail and limbs, though her face is obscured.
• Magic Knight: Her abilities revolve mostly around the mystical. Doesn't mean she can't lay you out hand-to-hand, too.
• Mysterious Past: The Voltron character profile says that she has a "dark and mysterious" past.
• Right-Hand Cat: She possesses a catlike alien as a sort of familiar, through which she sees the world. It's implied to be the same pet that Haggar had before the rise of the Galra Empire.
• The Speechless: She never speaks, though it's unclear if she's mute or simply chooses not to. The official website clarifies that she is unable to speak.
• Tail Slap: She uses her tail mainly for hitting her enemies, or tripping them. It's also strong enough where she can wrap it around her opponents and lift someone like Hunk up with relative ease.
• Unwitting Pawn: Whatever Haggar did to her, Narti becomes this, which ultimately led to Lotor's plan being revealed, and Lotor becoming an enemy to the Galra Empire

Varkon

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore (English), Dafnis Fernández (Latin America)

A Galra who works as a mall cop.

• Anti-Villain: Comes with the mall cop territory. He is just doing his job, he isn't actively malicious.
• The Comically Serious: Treats his job protecting a shopping mall as if it's the most important post in the Empire.
• Fat Flex: As he prepares to chase the Paladins, he briefly poses in a way that makes him look more like he has a Heroic Build, before his beer-belly plops back out.
• Harmless Villain: He can't even pursue the Paladins outside of the mall. The only reason he's anything close to a threat is that the Paladins are unarmed.
• Heel–Face Turn: Implied, if his playing with Voltron action figures in Season 4 is any indication. Granted, he was never much of a heel to begin with.
• Hero Antagonist: He is just doing his job and is only pursuing the Paladins because he is under the impression they are pirates.
• Inspector Javert: Is convinced the Paladins are Space Pirates. He's also laboring under a number of... mistaken beliefs about the Empire.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: He pursues the Paladins in Zarkon's name... because he thinks they're disguised pirates.

The Archivist

Voiced by: Michael Bell (English)

A Galra who oversees the Kral Zera and waits for the next Galra ruler to light the pyre.

• Mr. Exposition: He lays down the rules for the Kral Zera and what the ceremony stands for.
• One-Shot Character: He only appears for the Kral Zera.
• Kneel Before Zod: After Lotor lights the pyre and ascends the steps, he declares that the remaining Galra bow down to their new emperor.

Dayak

Voiced by: Mary MacDonald (English)

Lotor's childhood governess.

• Corrupt Character Copy: Of Nanny from the original series.
• Evil Counterpart: In a meta sense she's this to Nanny/Hys.
• Insistent Terminology: According to Lotor, Dayak was his "governess", NOT his "nanny".
• The Mentor: With Zarkon running the empire and Haggar amnesiac, Dayak was the one who did the hard work of raising Lotor.
• Mr. Exposition: She instructs Hunk (and the audience) on Galran history and culture in the opening episode of Season 6.
• Reimagining the Artifact: Lotor's Sadist Teacher of the new version is a far cry from Allura's overprotective Nanny from the original.
• Sadist Teacher: To Hunk in Season 6, and to Lotor in his youth. Somewhat downplayed, in that she warmly praises Lotor for having been such a good student. She also praises Hunk when he shows he's learning her lessons, though she also punishes him when he backslides.
• So Proud of You: The reason she visits Lotor in Season 6 is to witness his ascension to the throne. She expresses pride in him, having always believed he was fit for greatness.
• Stern Teacher: Corporal punishment aside, Dayak is very good at her job. Lotor turned out to be a nearly-peerless badass and Magnificent Bastard. After less than one day under Dayak's tutelage, Hunk is able to spur a space station of bickering Galra into helping each other avert a catastrophe by reminding them of their race's traditions.
• Time Abyss: Lotor is somewhere around 10,000 years old and Dayak was his nanny, meaning she must be positively ancient herself.

Macidus

Voiced by: Chris Diamantopoulos

^{Click here to him without his mask and hood:}

A supposed Blade member in distress that the group meets in "The Ruins". However, upon further investigation, he turns out to be the last of Haggar's druids, and also the Druid who Keith fought back in Season 1.

• Creepy Souvenir: He keeps the knives of the Blade members he's killed on a wall, to Krolia's shock and disgust.
• Evil Laugh: Enough to even rival his master Haggar.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Keith manages to sense where he will appear and throws his sword at him, stabbing him in the chest.
• It's Personal: He has a particular grudge against Keith, having been the Druid who fought him in the Quintessence processing plant in Collection and Extraction.
• Malevolent Masked Men: He keeps his face covered throughout all his encounter with the paladins, only showing his face when Keith cuts it off.
• Pre-Explosion Glow: How he goes as he dies.
• Sword Drag: Does this to intimidate Keith.
• Teleport Spam: Being a Druid, this is his go-to move.
• Undying Loyalty: The only reason he seems to be staying at the ruins was to kill off Blade members for Haggar. Even telling Keith that he betrayed them, causing Haggar to forsake the druids.
• Wham Line: To Keith, revealing he's the Druid that Keith fought back in Season 1.
  Your hand is looking much better.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: What he does to trick the paladins into thinking he's a distressed Blade member before Krolia starts to realize he's lying.

Laika

Voiced by: Neil Kaplan (English)

The Beta Traz Warden's "Yupper".

• Meaningful Name: "Laika" was the first animal to orbit the Earth.
• One-Word Vocabulary: The only syllable that ever comes out of her mouth is "yuhp".
• Who's on First?: Being a Yupper, the only thing she can say is "yuhp", which initially leads Lance to believe that she's Slav and attempt to "rescue" her.

Cova

A space cat that once belonged to Honerva, and now serves as Narti's eyes.

• The Bus Came Back: In Season 8's second episode, Cova can be seen chilling out on Daibazaal as Honerva's ship arrives. Then, a few flashbacks later, Honerva is shown sacrificing him to find out what happened to Lotor.
• Cats Are Mean: Not so much at first, but after being treated with Quintessence when he was sick and dying, his mannerisms became more hostile.
• Evil Counterpart: As an animal with a special connection to at least one of the villains, Cova is this to Allura's mice.
• Older Than They Look: Cova is at least over 10,000 years old due to his exposure to Quintessence, as he used to be Honerva/Haggar's pet, long before Zarkon turned on King Alfor and the rest of the original Paladins. Exposing the once old and dying Cova to Quintessence in order to increase his lifespan is what led to Honerva's obsession/near addiction to the substance.
• Parrot Pet Position: He's usually seen perched on Narti's shoulder, and in the past on Honerva's.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After Lotor kills Narti, Cova remains by her side and hasn't been seen or mentioned since then, until he reappears in the final season, only to be sacrificed by Honerva.

• Adaptational Badass: In the original, they were something for Voltron to fight, but not always threatening. In this, each Robeast gets an entire episode to itself, SOLELY for the fight. And while individual lions can take out Galra cruisers with no problem, a Robeast is always a significant threat even to Voltron itself, and several have only been defeated via virtual Deus ex Machina (and one of those came back for seconds!)
• The Artifact: Don't appear past Season 2, and there are MUCH less of them then in the original series.
• Monster of the Week: Averted by the creators, who significantly downplayed Robeast encounters to the point that there's only a handful in the entire series (and several of those technically aren't Robeasts at all). This has led to complaints that they cut back too much, leaving the iconic Super Robot with little to do.
• Robeast: Well, yes, obviously, seeing as how the original series was the trope namer for this in the west. As foes of a Super Robot made by a mixture of black magic and mad science, they tick all the boxes.
• Unwilling Robotization: Played with. Prorok, in particular, didn't want to go, but Myzax volunteered for the chance to get revenge on Shiro.
• Was Once a Man: Robeasts each require a living organic mind to form the nucleus of the new creature, which is usually a Galra solider. Oddly averted in the case of Drazil, who was apparently a simple reptile before its transformation.

Myzax

A former champion in the Galra Empire's brutal gladiatorial games, Myzax was beaten and humiliated by Shiro. He willingly allowed himself to be made into a Robeast for a chance at revenge. He is heavily armored and armed with a strange weapon resembling a ball-and-cup, that he uses to smash anything around him.

• Cool, but Inefficient: His downfall, both times, comes from the simple fact that, as cool as his orb weapon is, it needs to recharge after every third shot.
• Gladiator Games: A former undefeated champion in them.
• Lizard Folk: While still fleshy, he was humanoid but covered in armored scales.
• Slasher Smile: To reassure the audience that he enjoys his work, and we don't need to feel sorry for him when Shiro beats him.
• The Voiceless: He doesn't speak in his only two appearances, just in grunts.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Myzax gave the Voltron team a run for their money and forced them to learn to use some of their weapons systems.
• Warm-Up Boss: The only Robeast that Voltron defeated outright in its first encounter, without help and without coming back for a rematch.

Drazil

^{Click here to see Drazil's original, innocent form:}

Made from a simple reptile, Drazil is the second Robeast produced by Haggar. It is armed with countless eyes, each with a powerful offensive laser, granting it a nearly perfect offense with no blind spot.

• Beam Spam: It has a lot of eyes, and each one fires Eye Beams. These combine to fill the air with green lasers.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: It has, in addition to the eyes on its head mounted on a swivel, eyes along the underside of both its long arms, and more on its chest. Considering its primary means of offense...
• Lean and Mean: While Myzax was bulky, Drazil is clearly built for speed, with all its limbs pinched up tight.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Has a big maw full of spiky teeth.
• Off with His Head!: It loses its head after fighting Voltron the first time, but comes back for a second round with no head at all and holds its own.
• Recurring Boss: Comes back for a second round in Season 2, having harnessed the power of the Balmera's crystals to its advantage.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Its name is "lizard" spelled backwards.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Briefly, between its first and second appearances. It was so powerful that the paladins weren't able to destroy it the first time — even after they beat it at the end of the episode, it stood back up for another round. It was only defeated when the Balmera grew a massive crystal around it to seal it in and immobilize it, leaving it still intact but trapped. This didn't last long, and Drazil eventually broke out of its can, at which point Voltron managed to put it down for good.
• That One Boss: In-Universe. Easily the hardest fight Voltron has in the first season, with the team spending nearly the entire battle on the defensive, and comes back for a second round in the second season.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Its chest blaster is the most powerful of its many beam weapons, and it can combine all its energy beams into a massive torrent of energy capable of overwhelming even the Yellow Lion's shoulder cannon.

Prorok

The Galra officer, remade as a Robeast, who attacks the Castle while it's trying to rendezvous with the Blades of Marmora.

• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Amusingly, his Robeast form also has them.
• Cephalothorax: Uniquely among the Robeasts shown thus far.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Compared to previous Robeasts, who were humanoid in some fashion. This thing pretty much consists of a large head with arms.
• Unwilling Robotization: Prorok didn't go willingly.
• Wave-Motion Gun: He fires one-off after absorbing enough crystals.
• Weapons That Suck: Uses one to deadly effect, as Voltron fights it next to a veritable minefield of highly explosive crystals.
• Your Head Asplode: Inverted, as he's ultimately killed by Ulaz opening a black hole inside his head, imploding him into nothing.