Leader Keith And Shiro’s “favoritism” For Him

Leader Keith and Shiro’s “favoritism” for him

Man, I see so many people having like no faith in Keith’s leadership abilities and so many cries of “anyone but Keith for black lion!” haha, so I just wanna point some stuff out.

See, Shiro actually has alot of nerve saying this to Keith after what happened last season..

Remember this:

Remember how no one listened to Keith here? And you know what happened? 

They failed. 

If Thace didn’t interfere they would have all been captured by the Galra and Zarkon would have gotten Voltron. 

Their plan sucked, and Shiro was clearly acting out of emotion, going against his own better judgement. (Because he was probably scared that whatever happened to him would happen to Allura or something, too broken about having more of his teammates captured by the Galra on his watch I dunno.)

Don’t think that Shiro missed the fact that they all got out of there in one piece just by pure luck and nothing else.

Maybe he’s sayin there to Keith “don’t be like me” or “I know you’re better than this” on the way to the BoM base..

And remember this:

You know what would have happened if Keith listened to Shiro? Shiro wouldn’t have made it in time to the black lion and Zarkon would have gotten it, and then they would have lost Voltron.

(Maybe going against Zarkon on his own like that was rash and emotionally driven (for some mysterious reason..), but it was the right thing to do in that situation.) 

And did you notice how everytime Shiro is out of commission (which happens ALOT), Keith immediately steps in?

Did you notice how Keith is constantly worried about Shiro and how many times he has to go “Shiro are you ok?” but Shiro doesn’t really do that with Keith? How Shiro always has nothing but blind faith that Keith can do anything? (compared to the other paladins too, because Shiro does believe in all of them)

(and yeah I kno Keith dun got PTSD.. and Shiro does an amazing job keeping it together despite what he’s been through.. But having a leader that freezes up so much at unexpected moments during battles is usually not exactly a safe thing for the team… (although he seems to get better in season 2..) And I think It might be hard to notice just how bad Shiro is doing and how seriously he’s affected by what happened to him and how he was probably not the best choice for leader at that point, like he got most of team voltron fooled I’m sure alot of viewers were fooled aswell haha, I mean I haven’t really seen many ppl say anything about Shiro not being exactly the perfect leader for Voltron after season 1 aired..)

And you kno, I’m not even talking season two, like the way Keith is with Hunk there in “belly of the weblum”. Keith’s leadership abilities show so early on in the show I’m surprised people seem to miss it

Remember this?

That whole episode was all “leader Keith” haha

Really, I can’t be the only one that during my first watch of Voltron (before I even saw the 80′s one) that was thinking “Why the hell is Keith not the leader? Why is this Shiro guy the leader?”

Like yeah, Keith’s decisions are rash (although logical), and he’s a very “strive for contact” kind of guy, and pretty harsh on the team, but it’s obvious it’s only because he cares so much about what they’re doing (and really wants to prove himself I guess.)

And honestly, I would feel way safer following a guy like Keith than a guy like Shiro, because Shiro just makes me worried all the time haha (and he’s so soft..) While Keith, Keith really seems like someone that can do anything. No matter how hopeless the situation is and how all the odds are against him, he’ll manage to make things work somehow. Just by pure determination. AND HE MAKES SENSE. (although he does need help with figuring out ways to do things other than just facing em head on haha)

And really, I think his decisions have been better than Shiro’s so far.. (to the point I was wondering why Keith is the one who follows Shiro and not the other way around. I’m sorry, I just dun get why he really needs Shiro besides for Shiro to hold him back, he’s clearly not depended on him and has no trouble doing anything on his own, (his problem is maybe just doing too much haha)

And this is kinda what I think Shiro sees in Keith too. 

Like, this whole episode

That seemed to me like it was about Shiro realizing he really fucked up as a leader. They are scattered across the universe, he is dying, they dunno where the lions are and if the rest of them are even alive. Maybe in this moment Shiro was thinking “You know what, maybe I should have listened to Keith and not gone on this mission..”

Anyway, bottom line:

I think Shiro admires Keith alot, and I think he knows Keith has something in him that he himself doesn’t have, and I think he looks up to Keith just as much as Keith looks up to him.

And maybe this is exactly why Keith’s faith in him really touches him and is so important to him, because it comes from a person he really admires. It’s different from the blind faith the other team members have in him. Keith can see his mistakes, Keith can see his weakness, and he is still able to see something in Shiro that I think makes Shiro have faith in himself. 

And that’s what good leaders do. They encourage and inspire people to be and do their best. 

Kinda like what Shiro does for Keith too.. (They pretty much have an equal exchange there, but I think the “space dad” fanon thing has just completely blinded everyone.)

And you know, I dun think Shiro wants Keith to follow him anymore, I think he wants to follow Keith’s lead instead.

and I couldn’t agree more! Keith’s got what it takes.