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Overanalyzing (almost) every interaction between Keith and another character

I am sick of the fandom pretending that everyone except Shiro thinks Keith is a complete asshole because??? So here I am, rewatching Voltron for the one millionth time, and DETAILING every interaction Keith has that is positive or shows that not everyone hates him and people do think he has redeeming qualities

For this post, I’m doing season one only, but trust, the other seasons will happen and you can SEE WITH YOUR EYEBALLS that they all like Keith

You can use this post for fanfic reference or just silly fun times but GOD am I only making it out of spite

Episode 1:

Lance:

Lance sees Keith breaking in, knows him by name, and refuses to let him one up him. While this isn’t really positive, it does show that he knows Keith and thinks he’s talented or better in some way

They bicker, but in a nice teasing way, and Lance jokingly calls him a dropout? And instead of standing next to his brother for this whole scene, Keith stands next to Lance, for some reason??? He’s ALWAYS standing next to Keith. Why???

More bickering but over where the red lion is and somehow MORE loving? What? Lance: “remember that weird energy you felt in the desert [referring to blue lion]” Keith: “yeah, you made fun of me for that” Lance: “and I’m proud of that” WHAT?

Hunk:

Also takes directions from Keith on said plane thing: “Big man, lean left” and he instantly does, showing he at least kind of trusts Keith

Reassures Keith on how he’ll know where the red lion is, which is cute

During the fight at the end of the episode, while trying to figure out how to form Voltron, Hunk slams his Lion into Keith’s and playfully says “well that didn’t work” Keith doesn’t even get mad he just grunts as he’s being slammed and says “hey”

Pidge:

Pidge reassures Keith when he asks how he’ll know where the red lion is, which is still cute

Allura:

Says keith “Relies more on instinct than skill alone” when assigning their lions. Ik this SOUNDS mean, but it shows that she can see Keith has trustworthy and strong instincts within a few minutes of meeting him

Everyone/General nice things:

As he thinks they’re about to die, Keith says “it’s been an honor flying with you boys” to everyone while they’re all screaming

Fun notes: I’ve decided to do little notes about how I feel during the episodes because I get bored between interactions, feel free to ignore these. Why tf is this episode AN HOUR LONG??? Has anyone else noticed how similar Keith and Shiros voices are? I had to turn on subtitles because they sound the same sometimes lol. They’re such brothers. Also Pidge and Shiro are super silly in this episode.

Episode 2:

Lance:

Keith guides him through the maze and is pretty compliant, despite Lance arguing

After Shiro gets annoyed at Allura for not giving them a break: Keith: “Yeah! We’re not some prisoners for you to toy with, like…like…” Lance: “Like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Keith: “Yes! Thank you, Lance!” (Copied exactly from the captions, so punctuation is accurate lol) They’re so odd.

After the food fight: Allura: *something about everyone actually working together* Keith to Lance: “Hey, she’s right!” Lance: “I actually don’t hate you right now”

Pidge:

Tells Pidge to “go loose” after Allura throws food at Pidge. Kinda silly, shows how he’ll back her up and continues to work with Pidge during the food fight, laughing with her

Hunk:

Hunk puts his arms around Keith and Lance after forming Voltron and says “I just want you to know that when we were in Voltron, we’re brothers man,” and hugs both of them super tight. Then says “I love you guys,” to which Keith replies “did the G-forces mess with your head a little bit?” jokingly. THEN Lance lets go of the hug but Keith keeps hugging him for a bit before scurrying away like a rat

Coran:

Smiles at Coran while he hands him a pack of water like a little kid lmao, idk I just like this one since Keith hasn’t really smiled all series tbh

Everyone/General nice things:

Does his best to defend everyone from the gladiator thing, getting up after being knocked down to rush to Lance and Shiro’s aid

Fun notes: Keith sleeps in his normal clothes? For some reason? Also damn the animators gave Shiro nice eyelashes wtf

Episode 3:

Lance:

He’s still sitting next to Keith. There are like 5 open chairs. Where do they sit? A FOOT APART.

Let’s Keith boss him around during the battle

Hunk:

Gives Keith and Lance a fancy meal he cooked and smiles as they both devour it

Everyone/General nice things:

Let’s that weird little arusian hug him and says “I don’t usually hug strangers but, uh, man, you are cuddly.” And pats its head

Fun notes: Keith wants to shoot a child at the beginning of the episode. Also the fight scene is cool because Keith is cool. And Shiro and Pidge make me wanna cry again and again.

Episode 4:

Lance:

In the crowd at the very beginning, they’re standing together. ALONE. WHY.

Infamous “I say vol you say tron” scene. I like this scene sm because it shows how head empty stupid ever stoic Keith is

Walks around Lance curiously with Hunk after he throws up the nunvill, very cute scene

Pidge:

Pidge contacts Keith during the invasion instead of anyone else, even though Hink, Coran, and Allura were available. She trusts him to be strong and helpful

Hunk:

Walks around Lance curiously with Hunk after he throws up the nunvill, very cute scene

Standing with Hunk during the party, smiling while an Arusian hands him a cup. Jokes around with Hunk and laughs in a way you don’t see him laugh until this episode. I didn’t feel like explaining all of this one, so here’s the clip (it’s the third one)

Allura:

Goes with Keith to check on the Arusians, blindly trusting him to protect her

Shows concern for Keith when he says that he’ll go in for a closer look at the village, which is currently in flames.

Everyone/Generally nice things:

Smiles while the Arusians are given their signal thing by Allura

Jumps down to the village currently in flames to check and make sure there’s no one in danger (isn’t that how his dad died?)

Fun notes: Coran and Lance bonding moment. During his argument with Pidge, Keith says something about her “putting the lives of two people above everyone else in the universe’s lives” and I think it really shows how he thinks and acts based off his life experiences.

Episode 5:

Lance:

OH MY GOD THEYRE SO GAY. after the fight at the end, Pidge is helping Shiro up and Keith is helping Lance up. Keith: “Lance, are you ok?” Lance, WHILE HOLDING HIS HAND: “we did it, we are a good team.” AND KEITH SMILES AT HIM. OH MY GOD.

Pidge:

At the end of the episode, after Pidge decides not to leave Voltron like she planned, Keith smiles and says “Good to have you back on the team” and she smiles at him

(I didn’t get many this episode because Keith was only there for like 9 minutes)

Fun notes: Hunk and Shay my beloveds. GOD PIDGE MAKES ME WANNA CRY. Rover :(

Episode 6:

Lance:

Keith looks mildly annoyed when Allura says Lance has to stay in the healing pod a bit more. Specifically, he pouts like a baby

“I crawled you in my arms!” Enough said, homo.

This wasn’t Keith, but Lance FREAKS OUT when Nyma says she’ll just get a ride from Keith. Mr jealous over here. Also, that means it was so obvious that Lance admired Keith that Nyma was able to pick up on that and use it within hours of meeting Lance

Infamous “can you come unchain me?” “Oh I think you’re cutting out” Scene. Keith is silly, not bitchy. Also, Lance says “Oh come on, I thought we bonded” showing that eh remembered what Keith said about their “bonding moment”

Pidge:

Keith smiles as Pidge has her “I can’t man up, I’m a girl” speech, and says he knew for a while. Proving he pays attention to his team and him smiling shows he cares

Hunk:

Hunk asks if they should give a speech or just start blasting their guns (Danny devito core), Keith leans down and says “Hunk, calm down. And yes, blasting.” Then leans against the stairs and smiles. Their friendship means so much to me I’m gonna hurl.

Says “Ok we get it!” twice while Hunk is ranting about no one listening to him about Rolo and Nyma before everyone joins in. I like this because no one else was talking, but they all could. Keith was the only one trying to calm him down

Everyone/Generally nice things:

Says “Well we’re gonna change all that,” when Rolo is talking about how no one is fighting against the Galra

Keith was leaning on the metal right next to Rolo as he finishes working, smiling? No one else is near him? Just Rolo? What?

Shiro tells Keith he’s the only one who can navigate the Astroid field. Keith says “you got it, see you on the other side.” I felt like this was worth including because he didn’t complain lol

Fun notes: this isn’t nice, so I’m putting it here, but while Lance is trying to woo Nyma, Keith is staring DAGGERS at him while everyone else is looking at Rolo. He then rolls his eyes A MILLION TIMES.

Episode 7:

Lance:

While breaking into the Balmera, Keith and Lance get paired together. Keith tried to go in guns blazing, but Lance stops him, looking concerned for him. Jesus Christ. When proven wrong about his Danny Devitocore performance, Keith says “That…actually is a better idea” to a smirking Lance. I get that this isn’t really nice nice, but it shows how Keith isn’t afraid to admit when he was wrong.

Lance is impressed when Keith is able to close the hanger door. “Woah howd you do that?” “I just put my hand on the handprint…” but also it was all in galra, so Keith could probably read it. Still, Lance is impressed and nice to that’s all that counts

Famous Lance doing hand signals scene. Their interactions that aren’t just mindless bickering are all I care about

Everyone/General:

Infamous laser gun scene. Keith says two words, but they show that he can joke around with his friends (BECAUSE THATS WHAT THEY ARE, FRIENDS)

Says “It’s not about the glory, Lance,” while Lance is talking about how he wonders if the Balmerans will thank them. People like to act like Keith is only a paladin because he had no choice, but it’s obvious he enjoys it

Yells “Got you covered!” While Pidge and Hunk are defending themselves against a Galra ship and jumps to their aid. I see people say they think he dosent care about the lives of the other paladins, WHATS THIS THEN?

Fun notes: Don’t even speak to me about the implications of Lance and Keith finding out their lions had ice and fire powers right at the same time.

Episode 8:

Lance:

Gets offended when Keith agrees with Pidge instead of him even though he and Pidge made the same point. Then, Keith warns him to look out in a nice way

Hunk:

Hunk, while explaining to Shay that they can’t defeat the monster above at the moment says “I don’t know, but we can beat it…tell her, Keith” He looks to Keith for guidance and reassurance even though Shiro, his leader, is right next to him

Hunk realizes he can do the cool thing Keith did with his bayard in another episode too, and says he thinks he knows how to take down the monster. When he says he thinks he knows how to deal with it, Keith says “are you sure?” In a concerned way. He’s making sure Hunk doesn’t get hurt. He’s being a leader when Shiro can’t. I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP

Keith is consistently the first person to answer Hunk when he asks something. Its usually just “rodger that” or something but still, he cares enough to listen and answer when no one else ever responds

At the end of the episode, Hunk pets the Balmera and says “who’s a good Balmera!” (?) and Keith says “Dude..what are you doing?” While everyone else just stares. THEYRE BROS YOU GUYS.

Coran:

Keith is the only one to answer Coran when he asks the paladins how they’re holding up against the monster. He also makes sure the Balmerans are in place, which didn’t matter with what he was currently doing and had no bearing on his actions? He just wanted to know?

Everyone/General:

Keith is always first to explain situations to those they’re defending. He quickly explained to the Arusians what was happening a few episodes ago before they even asked, and in this episode does the same for the Balmerans. I think it shows that he knows what it’s like to be in the dark, to not know why something is happening or what to do. So, he takes action and makes sure everyone stays informed, and even later in the episode makes sure everyone has a way to contact each other

Delivers the final blow to the monster, and gets a cool cutscene. This ain’t really a nice thing, but I needed to tell you guys because it was cool

Fun notes: fun fact, I’ve saved like 20 minutes by just skipping the Voltron formation sequence because it’s like a magical girl transformation and the exact same every time so there’s no point in watching it and istg it like a year long

Episode 9:

Lance:

Saves Lance from being thrown into space by the castle “malfunctioning” (Sendak) despite his own issue with the castle training bot trying to kill him. They bicker for a bit before running off together.

Eveyone/General:

Keith immediately thinks about Shiro when told that Sendak is dangerous and is the first to say “Wait, has anyone seen Shiro?” When he’s told that being around Sendak is dangerous by Coran.

Fun notes: I think we all forget that Pidge Lance and Hunk were all friends before Voltron

Episode 10:

Lance:

When Keith leaves to investigate all alone, Lance says very much like an annoyed mother “Keith, think about what you’re doing. Don’t walk through that door!” as Keith walks out the door. While Keith does blow him off, Lance wouldn’t never spoken to Keith like that in the beginning of the series. True show of their growth

Allura:

Calls Allura “Princess” for the first time all series at the beginning of the episode. I think this shows how he finally respects Allura and acknowledges that while she’s not his princess, she is a princess

First to ask where Allura is when Shiro returns without her

Everyone/general:

Loudly worries about Shiro all episode lol

Fun notes: I watched this whole episode with my mouth open and eyes glued to the screen, so no notes

Episode 11:

Lance:

Keith says “you guys get the princess without me.” And flies off in the middle of battle. Lance says “What? What are you doing?!” And Keith says “Whatever I can. Lance is the first and only one to respond to Keith. OH MY GOD VOLTRON WRITERS WHAT THE HELL

Hunk:

Hunk looks very hurt at Keith suggestion of not going in the rescue mission for Allura. He’s visibly distraught, and says “Keith that’s cold, even for you. What if it was one of us? What if it was me? You wouldn’t leave me…would you? Would you?” And Keith jumps to defend himself, saying “I’m not saying I like the idea. I’m just thinking like a paladin” while this is a little cold, Keith obviously cares about Hunk’s judgement. He dosent bother to defend himself from Lance’s remarks soon after, but to Hunk, he explains himself. He wants Hunk to like him.

Everyone/General:

Goes after Shiro instantly, jumping into danger, the only one to realize something is wrong with him

Despite Coran’s desperate warnings, Keith throws caution to the wind and tries to kill Zarcon himself, saying “This is my change to put an end to the Galra empire, I have to take it” with an insane look on his face. Keith is willing to throw away his LIFE to end the empire. Through sheer determination, he does everything he possibly can to defeat Zarcon and almost dies because of it

Fun notes: this is one of my favorite Voltron episodes ever, I love it sm and have sm nostalgia for it. Also, I never realize how much foreshadowing there was for the reveal of Keith being half Galra, it’s said multiple times that Keith “fights like a galra soldier” and the blade member at the end of the episode UGH I love this show

Conclusion:

Well, that was it for season 1! If this post gets to 50 notes I’ll do season 2 lol

Keith is a very complex character. Too often in fanfics and media I think he’s dumbed down to “Mean hard ass who is cold to everyone until extremely close with them” in reality he’s a normal guy who got shoved in a wormhole and is scared. He may come off as cold, but he’s just on guard. He’s physically capable of being funny and goofing around, just like all the other paladins