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Allura is a Messianic Archetype
In hindsight, there are several indications well before season 8 that, more than likely, Allura will sacrifice herself. In the episode White Lion from season 5, before the white lion strikes, Allura relaxes her body, exposes her neck and says, "I seek the secret of life. I give my own." In season 1, in the episode Rebirth, Allura offers to reinfuse the Balmera with quintessence to which Coran warns Allura that that could require more energy than she has, possibly killing her. Another clear indicator is that Allura is only person in the show capable of using magic to heal life. Given the immense destruction wrought by Zarkon, Lotor, Honerva and the Galara, this places Allura in a unique position that gives the show runners the option to kill her as a dramatic and emotionally tragic way to undo the damage the Galra caused. Allura is also an extreme version of the ISFJ personality type. If Allura could be summarized in a word, "defender" or "protector" would more than suffice. She begins the show as seeing herself as the defender of all innocent life, which means everyone except the Galra. As the show progresses, her belief that all Galra are bad is challenged, most notably in the form of Keith and the Blades of Marmora. In the final season, Allura completes her transformation to an all-loving messiah when she redeems Zarkon by accepting Zarkon's information about Honerva's deepest desires and when she redeems Honvera by saying "but I can not do it alone" in regards to transferring the quintessence from Honerva's robot. Allura's final sacrifice to restore all realities followed by her resurrection as some sort of god confirms her status as a messianic archetype.
Outside the show, there is even more evidence for Allura's eventual self-sacrifice. In numerous interviews the show runners state they were creatively influenced by Japanese anime, which is much darker than American animation. Death or self-sacrifice is a common element in Japanese anime. In particular, they mention Robotech/Macross and Gurren Lagann as influences on Voltron. In a Den of Geek interview, Joaquim Dos Santos states, referring to Robotech, "People died and stayed dead. That was really important. It sounds cheesy, almost hokey now, but that was a life lesson for me as a kid. That was something I had to deal with and come to terms with." Lastly, in another interview they state that they wanted to incorporate the more mature and darker nature from Beast King GoLion into their remake of Voltron. Other influences from Beast King GoLion abound as well, from the names of planets to plot lines such as Haggar being Altean and Lotor's mother. In summary, there is more than enough evidence in the show and outside the show by the end of season 5 that Allura's arc could end with a heroic or messianic sacrifice.
Dramatizing Allura's Self-Sacrifice
So what is there left to do with three more seasons to go? Apparently, the answer is to build the audience's connection with Allura so as to make her death as emotionally tragic as possible. How? One powerful way is to use romance. (Suzanne Collins did not want any romance in the Hunger Games novels, but her editor told her to add romance to capture more readers.) Lance is the character that the majority of viewers identify with because he is the most relatable of the main characters, and he plays into the fantasy that the everyday guy can win the princess's heart. (I admit it, I thought the slow-burn between Allura and Lance was well done, slowly transitioning from Lance immaturely hitting on Allura, to friends who deeply care for each other, to finally a couple. For example, Allura tells Lance that he reminds her of her father, there is the flirtatious moment with the Altean broad sword and so on.) Thus, the show runners further build up the relationship between Lance and Allura in seasons 6, 7 and 8. They are careful not to do it too fast; otherwise, Allura's sacrifice would not have as much gravitas. For example, compare Allura telling Lance that she loves him immediately before she sacrifices herself to Allura telling Lance she loves him earlier in season 8, say during their first date. By Allura waiting, the show runners create suspense. Allura finally telling Lance she loves him only to immediately sacrifice herself is sad, much sadder than had she said it earlier in season 8 because as viewers we are left hanging. We do not have the chance to see a wedding, children or even lighter moments between them sharing in their love.
On the other hand, the show runners try to keep Allura's eventual sacrifice in suspense up until the last minute. Two main alternatives are presented to maintain suspense: the power of teamwork and found family and Lance's love for Allura. While in Honvera's mind, Gyrgan tells Hunk that true power is born from unity and that true unity is born from love. At this point, the paladins should be more than friends - a family united by love and so should have true power. Thus, the paladins could use their true power to save all realities. There is also the possibility that Lance's love might save Allura. In season 8 episode 11, Lance's pleading wakes Allura from the coma Honerva places Allura in by connecting to the dark entity in Allura's mind and using it to attack Allura. Lance says to Allura, "And most of all, I need you. I can't imagine this world without you. Come back to me." Then Allura's eyes reopen. Pleading is a common theme throughout Voltron. In addition to Lance's pleading, Keith's pleading wakes Shiro from near death in season 7 and Haggar's pleading wakes Zarkon from near death in season 3. In addition, there is always the possibility that a literary trope is subverted. Ultimately though, neither teamwork nor romantic love is the answer to saving all realities - having Jesus on your side is.
score 4/10
tomw-99072 6 January 2019
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4564680/ |
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22-11-2019 08:32:32
