A theory about Lotor’s real goal and a possible plot for Season 8

With s8 coming closer, the sneak peek we got at NYCC, and the possibility of witnessing a Lotor comeback, I’m writing this meta to revisit a theory I used to have around s4 and that I feel, after what happened since s6 and what we’ve seen in NYCC (and the poster), could not be as crazy as I initially thought. I discussed it on twitter first and decided to finally write a long version, but you can check that thread for a quick “summary” of this if you prefer.

In short, my theory is this: What Lotor was trying to accomplish by working so much on the rift and attempting to cross it is not just to harvest quintessence, but to travel between realities and, more importantly, TIME. Why? To reach the past and change the course of history by altering a crucial event of the reality they live in. Which one? Probably, the trans-reality comet landing in Daibazaal. And he is not alone in this: he is being helped by Alteans. Be it willingly or not, it remains a mystery.

What would this mean? No corruption of Daibazaal and Lotor’s parents, no fall of Altea, and therefore… no Voltron either. And also, many other consequences for our current timeline that could play a crucial role in season 8, especially for our paladins.

All highly debatable, but if you are interested, I’ll explain my point under the cut. Buckle up, this one is long!

It always struck me as weird that Lotor, having so much beef with his father, would be more obsessed with the rift than with overthrowing him and after he dies, more interested in Altean science than managing his blooming Empire, which he loves, but also kind of… disregards, in a way.

The motive he claims to have is valid: he declares in season 4 that he’s trying to find a way to collect unlimited quintessence from the rift to stop the Galra from exploiting planets and to finally achieve peace. But given what we see in later seasons, this raises a few questions. First, why enter the rift? There was no need: his mother created pure quintessence from the rift and made it exploitable (if unstable) without ever entering it. From what we can grasp, he managed to stabilize it, why go further? More importantly, why enter it PERSONALLY? And why make the Sincline a faithful copy of Voltron (mecha and all), but with two seats? These questions make me believe he had a more personal goal in mind, and this goal could be crucial for season 8.

Let’s go back a bit to see the full picture. In season 3, Lotor is introduced after Zarkon’s supposed demise. He has a very smart and manipulative way to control his enemies and allies alike. However, since the beginning, he is very focused on Voltron. When the paladins are struggling with their new positions, he challenges them. His generals are ready to capture the Lions at his command, but he stops them. He has other intentions.

Said opportunity is swiftly explained. In S3E4, the comet is introduced for the first time, and we also get a view of an alternate reality where Alteans have defeated Zarkon. About this, there are already great metas, but for this post in particular, I’m considering 2 things as relevant:

- The episode is telling us that the course of history changes radically with just a few events being different. In this reality, Allura wasn’t put to sleep and instead, fought the Galra Empire, changing everything. Including Shiro’s accent…

- And two, Lotor ALREADY had a theory regarding Voltron and its interaction with this rift and he is just testing it.

He did the false call to lure the team, and his plan worked well. He was set on getting the comet from the beginning, but whether Voltron could do it or not, he had a backup plan. I love my sly son.

As we know, Voltron brings the comet to stop the Alteans from conquering all realities, but then Lotor steals it from them (hah, losers!). Later, we know what he used it for.

The mysterious ship has been built by himself and his team. We don’t even know how. Could Galra manipulate the comet’s material? Didn’t the Alteans from the parallel reality say they were the ones who knew how to work it? This would be confirmed in the last episode of this season.

The team follows the comet’s signatures and finds Lotor’s generals in a Galra base where they are trying to steal a teludav.

So, Lotor has scaultrite thanks to Acxa. Which, as we know, is used for wormhole technology too. Taking Haggar into consideration, the team concludes very logically that Lotor is trying to emulate this technology to conquer other realities like the Alteans intended, and they must stop him. This episode proves 2 facts: a) Lotor really pretends to use wormhole/teludav tech for some reason, and b) that said tech is key to make the comet/ship jump between realities and must be manipulated by an Altean. The team immediately thinks of Haggar.

Well, as we know, Lotor is NOT working with Haggar, so… why would he be so set in stealing a teludav he can’t use, even risking being deemed a traitor by his own people?

Yep Lance, none of this makes sense… yet. Lotor keeps the ship but loses the teludav. This slip makes him truly mad and perhaps will cost him a lot next season.

Finally, by the end of season 3, we are shown the origin of Voltron, and most importantly, we are introduced to the rift in Daibazaal, created by the comet which later became Voltron itself. There are many bits in this episode that matter a lot, but for length’s sake, the most important are:

- Quintessence is worked by Honerva and becomes an unlimited source of energy. No need to enter the rift.

- Voltron was created by Alfor and is made of the comet’s material, therefore it’s capable of traveling through the rift safely. Not only that, it can open it and interact with it without suffering harm.

- RIFT CREATURES. Our boy is probably a rift creature baby (we see that much later and that would be a whole new meta, but people has already done some!).

- And, very relevant: the only ones who know how to manipulate the comet’s material are Altean engineers.

And if that’s so, it brings the question… how did Lotor build his ship 10000 years later, after the extinction of the Alteans? How does he intend to use the teludav tech by himself, if he hates Haggar’s guts?

All of that remains a mystery as we enter season 4.

A few months have passed. Lotor is accused by Haggar of hiding. Keith leaves the team and is tracking Lotor with the Blades because they believe the strange influx of quintessence (in abnormal supply lines) can take them to him. He’s using a LOT of it while he works in his secret project. And, btw, it’s this trail of quintessence which takes Krolia and Keith to the colony in season 6. Bear that in mind.

As Haggar slowly recovers her memories, Lotor is dismissed as a ruler by Zarkon (on renewed steroids), but Lotor remains unbothered. He has other “plans”.

Haggar notices something’s up with Lotor. She feels something “ancient” on him. Isn’t it a curious choice of words?

Well, at this point, Lotor has built 2 ships already and only 40% of the material is left. He’s carrying it in his own ship. However, being spied by Narti (rip), Zarkon discovers his plans and this pushes him to make a desperate decision: before completing his ultimate plan (which is still a mystery), he’ll try to accelerate it and bet everything on it. And we are finally taken to the rift in Daibazaal, his secret project.

Notice this face? He truly feels for what happened here, I think it was worth showing it. And then this scene happens:

So… three important considerations:

- First mention of a “secret team”.

- The construction around the rift is clearly Altean. This here is an excellent theory about it. Also, it looks a lot like a teludav.

- Lotor intends to “pierce” the barrier between realities.

This is the key to this theory. If he just wanted to harvest quintessence, he could exploit the rift in the same way his mother did before. But that’s NOT what he wants. He made it so he could cross it.

Then what was he trying to accomplish in this moment, exactly? He just had 2 ships and his father was tailing him to kill him. It’s not like he could form the Sincline mecha with that to confront him and having infinite quintessence doesn’t mean he can manipulate it immediately. Then, why did he bet everything on this strange plan instead of hiding to save his own life?

My theory is that he didn’t intend to come back from the rift. And why wouldn’t he come back? Because he intended to cross this reality, powered by a constant influx of quintessence from the rift itself, and tear the realities tissue to reach a moment/place in the past.

Which moment is debatable, but if I had to make a bet, I’d say that Lotor’s ultimate goal was to stop the corruption of his parents. If he went back and stopped the comet from landing on Daibazaal, or at least the corruption of the planet and the fall of it, he’d alter the entire course of history on this reality. It wouldn’t matter if he dies trying. It wouldn’t matter if he can’t go back after accomplishing his objective, and that’s why he put all his money on it.

I know by this point it sounds like a crazy reach, but it’s in later seasons where the writing bends the rules and allows us to consider it possible. However, here in season 4 his first try failed (because he doesn’t have the teludav technology NOR the ability to use it! He’s just a plain half-galra, half-altean man, not an alchemist, and the project is unfinished), and at such an early stage none of us had a clue on why he’d just throw himself head first into the hole that had ruined his planet and his entire life. Well, most of us didn’t.

Of his generals, the only one who seems aware of his plans is Acxa, his closest ally, and a relationship that is really important, as Astro wrote. Look at her face: she knows they failed. And also, once Lotor escapes, it’s her idea to take them to Haggar, as we’ll see in the next season. Sounds convenient, right? Anyways, Lotor shames his father’s fleet making good use of the resistant properties of his ship and heads to Naxzela, where he surrenders to Team Voltron.

And here’s where it starts getting juicy. But since these seasons are more recent, I’ll just make a quick recap.

In the first ep of s5, Loki Lotor finally gives us a clue about his real intentions. In his words, he wants to find a way to give the Galra Empire a permanent source of quintessence to make them stop ravishing planets.

Which makes a lot of sense, but it’s probably a lie. Or, at least, just part of the truth.

I think that, from now on, he is at all moments showing part of the truth. He really wishes to put an end to the war, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t other ideas. He really is trying to enter this zone, but not just for extracting resources. And Lotor always adapts to his circumstances…Though his original plan failed the first time, he didn’t drop it. Instead, using his new position as Emperor and after gaining an unexpected but invaluable ally in Allura, he dedicated himself to discover the secrets of Oriande and strengthen his assets.

It’s worth saying that I’m a firm believer that he truly fell in love with Allura, and that this wasn’t in his plans. However, he let it happen, because it didn’t hinder them at all. His ultimate goal remains the same and being accompanied by Allura would actually grant his success, and I’m pretty sure that, in his head, he judged that it was the best for Allura too. Imagine saving her entire planet and her life. Maybe he could even convince her to join him… which I think he actually intended to do, in season 6. But in a bad moment, so it didn’t work and she uh… didn’t take it well.

There’s so much to be said about the Oriande episode but I bet all has been said before. I’m just gonna rescue two bits:

First, Acxa again showing her undying loyalty. She’s back to help him a second time with the plan. I’m convinced she’ll play an important role in s8.

And Lotor telling his awful experience with the colony he once ruled and how it made him start exploring his Altean heritage. We see in the season 8 sneak peek this heartbreaking shot:

His story is true, and I mention it here because I’m quite convinced that this moment is the trigger of his plan. Zarkon always was shitty, but Lotor was cruelly marked by this horrible day and I’d say he’d do anything to stop things like these from happening. He probably became cold and sly to survive for so long with the only hope of fixing this mess some day.

Anyways, jumping to season 6 and the colony episode, the project is finally done. Lotor and Allura try the ship and get into the rift, though NO ONE UNDERSTANDS EXACTLY WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO DO.

Lance again, asking THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. After that, what?

Please notice the curious composition of the ship. It’s designed to have a copilot, and that copilot was going to be Allura. He included her in his plans this time. The project is done and Lotor is satisfied, ready to change the course of the universe, but they are going to collect samples and probably study the real reach of the rift before even trying to get to the final phase. This time he is not in a hurry, after all. It must work perfectly and, more importantly, he must convince Allura that trying to go back in time is the right thing to do.

But he never gets to do it. When he is denounced by Romelle, he sees himself again in the same position he was in season 4, cornered by his enemies and having to make the bet again. And it could have worked, if not for one missing piece: Allura.

Allura doesn’t give him much more room to explain himself. I admit, this was a good moment to explain himself if my theory (reach, call it whatever you like) is right, but I’m pretty sure that he chose to go for the emotional approach instead of the logical one. Resulting in one epic yeet before Kuron rescues him.

After being rejected by Oriande, Lotor doesn’t have the powers to maintain himself stable inside the rift. I guess he would have succeeded if he convinced Allura to join him in this final attempt. But that doesn’t happen and, as we well know, being compared to his father (whom he despises deeply) is the last straw before he loses it and ends up trapped in the space between the same realities that he longed to cross.

And the team discovers that Lotor built his ships to form some kind of bootleg Voltron they have to fight. If he just wanted to collect quintessence, why do this? Alright, the EPs need cool mecha battles, but can’t we give them some meaning? I really believe he intended to copy Voltron’s ability to cross the rift, but failed. More than the ship, what failed was himself: he got corrupted. He had no means to defend himself from the rift’s horrors. Even Allura had trouble with that, after all. And they left him there.

But the explosion from closing the rift after their battle sends the paladins 3 years into the future. They don’t know it yet, but this is confirmed during season 7. Again, the rift, Lotor, quintessence and time mechanics are all together in the picture. I don’t think it’s coincidental.

Ok, but what’s the deal with the time traveling tho?

Season 6 also introduced the Quantum Abyss, a place where time rules are all over the place, which allows us to include time skipping mechanics into our current universe.

They are telling us that playing with time IS POSSIBLE. And, surprise, surprise… Lotor’s colony happens to be built right in the middle of it. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.

And if these mechanics exist, why not take them into consideration when we are talking about crossing realities? The Quantum Abyss on itself is remarkably similar to the rift. In 10k years, Lotor had plenty of time to study it.

To even reach such a place, Lotor must be at least familiarized with the concept of time traveling. And to do so, he probably needs technology. Dare I say, Altean technology. Technology he probably acquired thanks to the Alteans he found. The same who were meant to help him with the teludav he tried to steal, and which he could never have used by himself, not even after we discovered he is half-altean: he needs alchemists for that.

Unless you have Voltron. We saw in S7, in The Journey Within, that the paladins struggled a lot when they were hit by a similar rift (its nature remains unexplained as everything in this series lol). But once Keith and Lance formed the wings, they were able to cross this wormhole and travel in a few minutes a distance that, normally, would have taken them 1.5 years.

I’d say this is EXACTLY the kind of horsepower that Lotor needed with his Sincline, but we don’t know if he had it. And the ship got lost with him on the other side… at least for now.

I’m not gonna get into the authenticity of Romelle’s story. There’re a lot of ways that could play out, but to defend my theory, I’ll say this: the Altean structure around the Rift, the “secret team” Lotor mentioned, the fact that his first 2 ships were built in record time and in absolute secret, and the fact that Keith and Krolia found his colony just following the trail of quintessence are dead giveaways that he was working alongside Alteans and not just extracting their quintessence. There is a high chance that some Alteans were voluntarily helping him reach his ultimate goal, and they could be the same ones that are going to be introduced in the last season. So, whether we can forgive Lotor or not for his supposed crimes, season 8 will (hopefully!) answer that.

And speaking of season 8! How could all this work in the final season?

With Lotor gone, our new challenger seems to be Queen Honerva herself (yaaaas!).

After NYCC, I’m convinced that Lotor’s plan will carry on to the last season of Voltron in the hands of Honerva who, unlike him, has the knowledge of Oriande. Her agenda, much like her son’s, has always remained a mystery. However, now that she’s free from Zarkon, now that the Empire is crumbling and her memory is back, perhaps she will finally pursue a personal goal. To be honest, most of this wishful thinking is inspired by the first pic of this post, where the poster showed us happy small Lotor with his parents. What if Honerva decides she will use her amazing powers to get THAT?

But given the sudden attack at the end of season 7 and the cliffhanger with the Altean Eva, I suspect that she may need something else to accomplish whatever she intends to and that something could have to do with team Voltron. Why bother attacking Earth, otherwise?

The sneak peek shows many interesting bits. I highly recommend that you visit this amazing frame by frame analysis and s8 prediction here. But the bits that matter to me are, of course, the flashbacks that are going to explain Lotor’s story, and these:

A crew of Alteans walking into Oriande. See those mechas? Smells like danger. Also, this seems to explain why Kolivan found the colony empty. Our Alteans have a new home!

This shot of the paladins traveling through a wormhole, similar to The Journey Within in s7. Sounds familiar?



That wormhole looks pretty familiar too. As @luminis said on Twitter:

That was the time when Coran was de-aging. See? They were already teasing us with these time-traveling shenanigans.

This last bit is the most interesting to me. They are the same Alteans that are behind Honerva in the poster. And the ones around this crystal are five, huh? Maybe Honerva wants Voltron for herself to travel through the rift with these 5 cuties? Who knows. But for the Alteans to be powering the Atlas, it must be for some crazy maneuver they will have to pull after they have shifted sides. Maybe a time jump?

So, after trying to stick to the facts (hey, I tried), this is where I just let myself speculate. My bet is that Honerva rescued her son, who may or not be conscious, and now that she discovered his entire plan, she took control of the colony or the real Alteans working for Lotor, to carry on with it. With her memory restored and her Oriande powers, she will try to finish the job and recover what she destroyed. But she may be missing something that only team Voltron (or Allura specifically) can give her to travel to the past.

So, what would this mean for the plot?

This is the last part where I just go crazy because it could be a juicy twist of events. This could mean:

- A possible redemption for Lotor. It all depends on how is his relationship with the Alteans explained, and the veracity/accuracy of Romelle’s story. Whatever the case, from the teaser we already know that he is a crucial part of s8, so let’s hope that he is more than a mere memory.

- A moral conflict for the Team. If the team is confronted with the choice, what will they pick? No need for Voltron if there’s no war, after all…

Because this sounds like the golden solution, right? No comet means no war, no cruelty and no loss. Allura and Coran would have never lost Altea and Zarkon would have never been corrupted. The paladins would never become paladins and, therefore, wouldn’t be hurt by this decision. They wouldn’t even know. And depending on the timeline intervention, Lotor could or not have been born (if the comet lands but Honerva is not corrupted, he would be born. If not, he wouldn’t, and I’m sure Lotor was willing to pay this price. Honerva tho, I’m not sure).

So, our paladins would probably live normal lives, with two notorious exceptions.

a) Shiro would eventually die of his illness. I swear I don’t enjoy writing this, Shiro has had enough, but remember this is just hypothetical and I’m as salty as you about his mistreatment.

b) Keith would never be born. No war means no Blade of Marmora. No Blades mean our boy is never born because Krolia never gets to Earth.

As a demon klancer (sorry, don’t leave!), point b is making my senses tingle, because I’m pretty sure that in a moment of confrontation, Keith would consider it a fair price to pay and I like to think that the team, especially Lance, would be dead set against it. If the gang had to take sides, my bet is this: Allura and Coran would be tempted, and Keith would agree. Pidge and Shiro could be in a grey zone but I’m pretty sure that Hunk and Lance would be totally opposed to this.

And I know what you’re thinking: what a tired trope is this “ magical time travel, the plot never happened” crap. TO BE CLEAR: I’M SURE THEY WON’T ACCEPT IT AND THEY WILL FIGHT HONERVA ANYWAY. I’m just exposing a possible moral dilemma that could divide the team as a plotline, but I think there will be some kind of scientific inconvenience to this, that will make it too dangerous or downright impossible to achieve. And you know who I think will have to explain that to them?

This fella. He is back for a reason! (he’s also in a screenshot from the sneak peek). And he is the only one who understands the complexity of the trans-reality comet, the coexistence of many realities and the percentage of success of every action in the chain. And once the team settles their argument, maybe after some confrontation, they will have to stop Honerva from wrecking their reality, maybe giving us one last epic mecha fight and one last, heartbreaking team bonding moment too. After all, this cartoon is called VOLTRON for a reason, right? And it’s… ending. Finally.

Inch resting at least, don’t you think?

Many thanks to @leakinghate for letting me borrow the NYCC screenshots and also for writing an amazing post, and to @astrolatte for being on board with this and making a great thread on twitter. Let me know what you think! And sorry if you’re on pc, it looks kinda ugly lol

Edit: In case you are interested on a take about the endgames, I answered that here.