‘Voltron: Legendary Defender’ Season 7 — What’s the Deal With Acxa?

Astro
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SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from Season 7 of Voltron: Legendary Defender. Proceed at your own risk.

Voltron: Legendary Defender has been wrapping up many of its mysteries in recent seasons as the series nears its end. However, there’s one storyline that still has us scratching our heads, and that’s Acxa‘s. We first see Lotor’s former-general-turned-good in Season 2 when she meets Keith in the Weblum. She served Lotor faithfully, but when it came to Keith, something stopped her from shooting him each time she had the chance. Season 7 brings a change of heart to her character but ends with her story on a cliffhanger. With her motives up for debate, we can’t help but wonder what’s going on with Acxa.

A Reason for Change

Even when Lotor went power-hungry, Acxa still pleaded with him.

Acxa’s actions in the Seven 7 episode “The Way Forward” are surprising. When Ezor and Zethrid capture the Paladins and their lions aboard their ship, she sneaks in and helps Team Voltron escape. She later tells the team that after Lotor disappeared in the rift and Ezor and Zethrid became warlords, she “had to find [her] own path.” While it’s nice to have another ally in the fight for good, this scene raises more questions about Acxa than it answers.

What prompted Acxa to find her own path? Perhaps losing Lotor left her without a clear goal to strive toward. In previous seasons, she seemed to blindly follow him, but, as time went on, it appeared that her faith in him wavered. Did something happen to make her question him? And why was her faith in him so strong before? It’s possible that she saw Lotor as the savior of the universe (or maybe he was her own personal savior). She tells the Paladins that Lotor preached unity. So, maybe that’s been her true goal all along, and she was just misguided. Whatever the answer, the more we dig into Acxa’s backstory, the more we want to see it fleshed out. (Spin-off graphic novel, anybody?)

A Relationship Shrouded in Mystery

Acxa and Keith - what's their connection?

Acxa’s relationship with Keith is just as mysterious as her motives. Again, she’s had many opportunities to kill Keith on the spot, but each time she’s backed down or attacked something else. Acxa herself hasn’t explicitly said why, but there are two possible reasons for this. She could actually like Keith. Besides the whole not-shooting-him thing, we’ve seen Ezor and Zethrid tease Acxa about this during their fight. Ezor says that Acxa’s “always been sweet on that one with the flippity hair” and that Keith is her “favorite Paladin.” Zethrid calls it “true love.” Perhaps the girls have talked about this possible crush before — offscreen. Either way, this seems to be the most convincing argument.

But there’s always been a deeper backstory to be found here, right? Some fans think that Ezor and Zethrid’s assumptions are wrong. Instead, they theorize that Keith and Acxa are related, and it’s not hard to see why. They’re both half-Galra, and a lot of people have made them out to be the space equivalents of Zuko and Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. (The Voltron executive producers also worked on Avatar.) So is Krolia also Acxa’s mom? That would make the two half-siblings. Or are they connected in a different way? If Acxa has a connection to the Blade of Marmora that could be why she hesitates around Keith.

Now What?

Krolia, Keith, and the space wolf visit Keith's dad's grave

We don’t see Acxa again until we’re back on Earth at the end of Season 7’s final episode, “Lions’ Pride, Part 2.” She walks up behind Keith and Krolia, who are visiting Keith’s dad’s gravesite, and watches them from a distance. That’s the last we see of any of them.

So what’s in store for Acxa in Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 8, the show’s final season? Most likely we’ll pick up with this moment at the cemetery in an early episode. Hopefully, Acxa will have a much-needed talk with Keith and explain herself a little bit more. Beyond that, we’ll probably see an in-depth storyline with her and the rest of the team, or at least Keith. And now that’s she’s an ally, perhaps she’ll join the rebels or even the Blade of Marmora to help rebuild their numbers. Only Season 8 will tell.

You can see how Acxa’s story develops in Season 7 of Voltron: Legendary Defender, which is out now on Netflix!

Astro
Chrissie "Astro" Miille is a Fan Contributor for FANDOM and a former admin on the Danny Phantom Wiki. When not watching animated shows or Star Trek, they're usually neck-deep in another fandom, listening to Michael Jackson, creating, or stargazing.