To get a better grasp on their situation, and why Lotor could be acting the way he does, Coran tells the Paladins the story of how Voltron came to be. He noted that the Paladins were a symbol of peace and justice, but after time passed something had changed, especially between Zarkon and Alfor. Zarkon wanted the power that came from the Quintessence in the meteor, while Alfor argued for all of the clean and purer benefits.
Tropes for this episode include the following:
- Addictive Magic: Honerva had become so addicted to the Quintessence that she managed to convince her husband Zarkon to bathe her in it.
- Ahem: Zarkon clears his throat to Blaytz when the Blue paladin was flirting with a servant, and reminds him that fraternizing with the servants erodes discipline.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear if Lotor was alive before Honerva became Haggar, or was conceived afterward. This is clarified in a leter episode.
- Ambition Is Evil: Alfor is worried when Honerva insists on studying the quintessence, dangerous as it is, even when strange monsters come through the rift and threaten the Galra planet. Honerva keeps the rift open, and starts doing less ethical experiments, like keeping her space-cat revived. Alfor can only refuse to help with the experiments and give advice as a friend.
- Back from the Dead: Haggar manages to bring Zarkon back as the season ends.
- Came Back Wrong: Zarkon and Haggar are essentially corpses with Quintessence running through them.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: After beating the creature from the other reality using Voltron's Blazing Sword it explodes.
- Didn't Think This Through: Zarkon on hearing Honerva's rambling demands for quintessence, using Voltron, decides to listen to her and gain more quintessence. He doesn't consider that she's rambling in the middle of illness. When he deceives Voltron into opening the rift and exposes himself and Honerva to the quintessence, they die as a result, and Alfor has to destroy the Galra homeworld to save other planets.
- Doomed Hometown: Instead of stopping Honerva's research that was destabilizing the planet, Zarkon simply puts up stabilizers and allows Honerva to continue to work.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Alfor was forced to destroy Zarkon's homeworld to stop the creatures from the rift from getting out as it expanded, which would have destroyed the planet anyway and possibly gone on to threaten everyone else. He did evacuate the planet first, though. Zarkon destroyed Altea in revenge, and did not allow an evacuation.
- Eldritch Abomination: The dark creatures from the rift, who are the first enemies that Voltron have faced.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As Haggar tries to heal Zarkon, she remembers that she was once his wife. She thanks him for bringing her back to life, just as she is reviving him.
- Evil Plan: Coran tells the new team the origins of Voltron, to figure out what Lotor wants with the comet. The Paladins deduce that Lotor wants to open a rift to another reality to gain pure quintessence, and use it as a source of power.
- Fatal Flaw: Zarkon's love for his wife is what causes him to become the current tyrant we know.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The original Paladins, though they are only depicted long after the forging process ended.
- Five-Man Band: The original paladins follow this.
- For Science!: Honerva's main reason for her continuing with the research on Quintessence.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: After Zarkon and Honerva wake up from their deaths, their eyes now have a permanent glow to them.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The rift creatures serve as this for the whole series, as they have been revealed to behind the corruption of Zarkon.
- Hufflepuff House: The Paladins other than Zarkon and Alfor aren't particularly relevant to the story and only really serve to demonstrate that yes, there were five Paladins originally.
- Just Think of the Potential!: Honerva on the rift created by the Voltron meteor and the Quintessence extracted from it, in contrast to Alfor's caution. Alfor was right.
- Madness Mantra: Honerva mutters about Quitessence and Voltron while she's bedridden.
- Love Makes You Evil: A lot of what is happening currently in the series is due to Zarkon's and Haggars love for each other.
- Mythology Gag: At one point in the Post-Script Season of the 1984 show, Haggar sought to become Zarkon's queen. Here, she is his queen.
- The Galra planet Daibazal was Zarkon's original 80's name.
- Cova was Haggar's cat in the original series, as he is here.
- Baby Allura was presented with a helmet that looks similar to Lotor's in the original series.
- Necromantic: Zarkon just wanted to bring Honerva back, and Haggar does the same for him at the end of the episode.
- Outside-Context Problem: The creatures from the other side of the rift. Fortunately for the universe, Voltron's construction from extra-dimensional ore allowed it to fight them on even terms.
- Please Wake Up: Haggar begs Zarkon to come back for her.
- Sanity Slippage: Honerva after her years of Quintessence use, to the point where she's bedridden and can only ramble on about Quintessence and Voltron.
- Similar Squad: As it turns out, the personalities of the original paladins were quite similar to the modern ones. The exception is Alfor, the Red Paladin, who shares more similarities with Shiro, the Black Paladin, than with fellow Reds Keith and Lance.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Allura's mother looks almost identical to her. The only difference is the way she wears her hair.
- That's an Order!: Zarkon attempts for Alfor to help him and Honerva get more Quitessence, but Alfor refuses, as he sees how its driven his old friends mad.
- Thunderbolt Iron: Voltron was created from ore extracted from a very unusual comet.
- True Companions: What the old Paladins were to each other, even before the creation of Voltron.
- Together in Death: Honerva and Zarkon die from the overexposure to Quintessence and when their bodies are recovered they are seen holding hands.
- Trauma Conga Line: In the span of a few weeks at most, Alfor found out that his best friend tried to use Voltron to help Honerva, died trying to revive his wife with quintessence, doomed his planet and the galaxy, came back from the dead, murdered the other Paladins and blew up Altea in revenge. To keep Voltron safe after its Paladins died, Alfor had to put his daughter into a healing pod and send the lions away, to keep them both safe. Eventually Alfor died taking on Zarkon in a doomed last stand.
- Wham Shot: Zarkon's eyes open with purple glowing Quintessence as the season finale.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The entire episode is a flashback used to tell the story of the former paladins and the creation of Voltron.
- Wingding Eyes: After forming Voltron for the first time, Gyran has stars in his eyes as he shouts "Am I a leg?!"
- You Can't Go Home Again: Zarkon orders his soldier to take them home, but he apologizes and says that Daibazal is gone.
- You Didn't Ask: Lampshaded; Shiro admits that Coran must have not told them the origins of Voltron because the story would be painful. But now he and the team has to ask, to understand Lotor's motivation.
