Season 6 of Voltron: Legendary Defender wrapped up many of its storylines as the current arc came to a close. We got satisfying answers to highly anticipated questions, and, even though we knew the answers were coming, they still managed to surprise us. Here are five shocking moments from Season 6 of Voltron: Legendary Defender.
Clone Confirmed
Fans have speculated for quite a while that the Shiro we knew and loved was not Shiro at all. But even though everyone saw it coming, confirming that Shiro is, indeed, a clone was one of the biggest moments of the season. Clone Shiro was part of Haggar’s Operation Kuron plan, which has been building for several seasons.
In the episode “The Colony,” she finally takes over Shiro’s mind and makes him bring Lotor to her. In the next episode, he lures Keith to a remote station, where Keith sees not one, but hundreds of Shiro clones in pods and realizes what he’s been dealing with. He’s able to stop the clone by cutting off his Galra arm, but the thought of clone Shiro will haunt him, and us, for a long time.
The Fate of the Black Paladin
If you thought that Shiro clone reveal was shocking, then you probably weren’t ready to learn about what happened to the real Shiro. In the episode “All Good Things,” Keith meets the real Shiro’s spirit in the Black Lion’s mindscape, where Shiro explains everything. He reveals that he’s been dead since the end of season 2 when Team Voltron fought and supposedly killed Zarkon.
Shiro’s physical form was lost in that battle, but the Black Lion still retained his essence. Allura saves him later by transferring his essence from the Black Lion to the clone’s body. Still, when Shiro said, “I died, Keith,” it absolutely broke our hearts.
A Horrifying Truth
Of course, Lotor’s storyline this season was as much of a shock as Shiro’s. In the episode “The Colony,” Keith and Krolia uncover a startling revelation about Lotor from Romelle, an Altean, and tell the rest of the team about it. It turns out that Lotor found Alteans scattered across the galaxy after Zarkon destroyed Altea. He brought them to a hidden planet to preserve their culture, but then transferred specially chosen Alteans to a second colony to increase their chances of survival.
But that’s where the lies begin. As Romelle, Keith, and Krolia find out on the second colony, Lotor’s been harvesting these chosen Alteans for their quintessence. He’s a murderer, and because of this, Allura and the team turn on him. It’s one of the darkest moments of the series. As Coran says, Lotor’s actions are “horrifying.”
There’s a New Voltron in Town
Lotor’s evil actions didn’t stop at the Alteans. Ever since his introduction, Lotor and his generals have been building three Sincline ships from the trans-reality comet in order to access the quintessence field. But in the episode “All Good Things,” the ships’ true capabilities are revealed.
The ships can come together to form a giant robot mecha — just like the Voltron lions. When Allura tells Lotor that he’s become evil like Zarkon, Lotor snaps and forms his Sincline Voltron to fight the Paladins. We knew the Sincline ships were powerful in their own right, but we didn’t expect this superweapon. (Or did we?)
A Sacrifice for Good
Our final shocking moment is a heartbreaker. After the Paladins defeat Lotor in the quintessence field and return back to their own dimension, they encounter a new problem. All the rifts Lotor created while jumping in and out of the quintessence field made tears in the fabric of time and space. Unless they’re closed, they’ll continue to expand until the entire universe is destroyed.
Coran comes up with a solution, however. The teludav in the Castle of Lions creates a brief flash of infinite mass to make wormholes to travel through. He proposes that they set off one of these flashes to create enough gravity to seal the rift. The plan works, but the team has to evacuate the Castle as it is destroyed in the process. To see the Castle, the team’s home, sacrificed hurts more than words can say. But there’s good news for the future: Coran gave the Castle’s plans to Pidge’s dad before he returned to Earth, and that’s where Team Voltron is headed next.
