Voltron: Legendary Defender's 6 Biggest Moments From Season 6

From the start, Voltron: Legendary Defender has been one of the best nostalgic updates in the realm of animation. It's successfully captured the essence of the old cartoons from the '80s and '90s, and the recently aired season certainly has the show living up to the billing of being Netflix's very own version of Star Wars.

With the current storyline being so heavily steeped in revelations and resolutions, finally stitching together a number of plot threads laid down when the series debuted, one would think the narrative would have a sense of closure. However, while that's partially the case, there's still a lot of unfinished business tied to the past for the titular robot and its five Paladins.

That said, as Netflix gears up to chart a way forward and continue to evolve the show, here's a look at the biggest moments from the high-octane Season 6.

6. Lotor Breaks Bad

In Season 5, fans were shocked to see Lotor actually betraying his father, Emperor Zarkon, and becoming an ally to Team Voltron. No one trusted him but when he killed his father and also turned on his mother, the evil witch Haggar, the Paladins and the Altean Princess Allura were convinced. He claimed he wanted to unite the Galra Empire and bring peace to the universe, undoing the tyranny of his dad.

Well, that turned out to be a lie. This season, we find out Lotor was merely using Voltron's Paladins, and more so, Allura, to harvest the mystical energy known as Quintessence. Allura's alchemy and overall knowledge of Altean magic gained from the Oriande last season allowed him passage to the Quintessence Field, where he could access raw, unlimited power, thus moving a step closer to galactic dictatorship.

His ruse was revealed when the former Red Paladin, Keith, found out Lotor was storing refugee Alteans and harnessing the Quintessence from their very bodies in a concentration camp; thus giving us the most sadistic version of the villain ever seen.

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5. Keith's Heritage Revealed

For a while fans have been speculating as to Keith's true heritage. Well, theories suggesting he was half-Galran proved to be right last season when we met his Galran mother, Krolia, another operative of the Blade of Marmora. The full backstory unravels here as we find out she was a spy in Zarkon's army looking for Voltron's Lions. She sabotaged the search mission near Earth, all so she could stay and protect the Red Lion hidden there.

Krolia fell in love with Keith's dad, who saved her from her spaceship crash, and after Keith was born, she reluctantly left to rejoin the Blade, as Zarkon's forces were inching closer to finding the Lions. She left Keith the alien dagger he's been carrying, and, well, it seems he was destined to follow her footsteps and join the Blade too.

This stunning revelation was made all the more riveting by the duo now acting as a covert ops team in space, with their ensuing adventures uncovering the treacherous nature of Lotor. As a bonus, we also saw Keith embracing his bloodline, physically turning a bit Galran at times when incensed.

4. Altea Lives Again

This is another game-changer because we always thought that with Altea destroyed by Zarkon in Season 1, it was just Allura and her engineer, Coran, who survived. Thanks to Keith and Krolia investigating a lead of pure Quintessence though, they stumble upon a spot known as the Quantum Abyss, where space and time fold onto each other. It's here they eventually find a pocket dimension housing Altean refugees.

These people were off-planet exploring the universe when Altea was destroyed, and in the wake of this tragedy, they went into hiding from Zarkon's soldiers. Lotor, however, secretly rounded them all up and hid them away. He tricked them into thinking he was saving them, leading to these refugees worshipping him. Sadly, he was just nourishing them for his concentration camp experiments.

With Keith alerting Allura to this, it means she's found her people once more, which might even take her away from Paladin duty and back to being a Princess. All that remains is to find them a home...

3. Team Voltron Heads To Earth

In the epic battle against Lotor in the season finale, the Lion's Castle (aka the fortress Coran piloted which acted as a base for the Paladins) had to be sacrificed to plug rifts in the space-time continuum. As a result, Team Voltron now needs a new home and as Pidge indicated, her father has the necessary information to rebuild a castle, as Coran gave him the blueprints last season after they found him and Pidge's brother, Matt, alive as prisoners of war who longed to go home.

As fate would have it, now the Earth Paladins get to do the same, which means big things for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this is the first time Earth will be embracing alien life, which holds even more potential now that the Alteans might be seeking haven. Also, with Team Voltron bringing more tech to Earth's Garrison, the latter could finally beef up its armed forces and join the Coalition of Planets which Voltron unified across the galaxy.

Lastly, home is where the heart is, so when Voltron heads back to space, there's also the possibility some Paladins might opt to remain behind, meaning a new lineup could be looming.

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2. A Dark Voltron Rises

Lotor's sinister scheme comes full-circle near the end of Season 6 when he unveils a dark version of Voltron. It's different in design, more sleek a la a Power Rangers Dragon-Zord, but operates on the same principle, it's fueled by a lot of Quintessence (which Lotor now has readily available thanks to Allura) and piloted by someone emotionally connected to it. In that sense, it's a major upgrade from the Robeasts Zarkon threw at Voltron in the early seasons, which were relatively easy to overcome.

To form Voltron's dark equivalent, the evil prince retrofitted the ships Allura worked on with him which could teleport through space rifts into the Quintessence Field. Its speed and overall power was way beyond Voltron, although it did push the Paladins, especially the new pilot for the Black Lion, Keith, to a whole new level. This led to them all becoming one with Voltron even more, eventually triumphing by saturating the prince -- now just as crazy as Zarkon -- with energy in the Quintessence Field. They sealed the rifts permanently, leaving Lotor for dead there, albeit without confirming the kill, which means he could still be alive.

1. Shiro Reborn

Fans suspected something was wrong with Shiro after he miraculously survived a battle with Zarkon at the end of Season 1. This season reveals he really didn't, and the Shiro seen with Team Voltron since was a clone Haggar released as a spy. She was garnering intel through his eyes, culminating in her activating him from a double agent into a full-on villain to bring Lotor back to her. That mission failed and at Haggar's request, the clone ended up fighting Keith to the death at the space lab housing other Shiro clones.

Both men almost died in the fight, but the Black Lion ends up saving them, storing an incapacitated Shiro in stasis. However, a big twist occurs as Keith meets Shiro in the Lion's astral plane, a space where it stores the consciousness of its pilots. Shiro gives Keith the advice he needs to rejoin his squad and defeat Lotor, while inadvertently leaving his protege with crucial information as to how he could be reborn.

Following the victory over Lotor, Allura uses her Altean alchemy to free this essence of Shiro from his Lion, placing it into the corrupted clone. This cures the vessel and essentially brings their mentor back to life, albeit more grey and well, tired. It's a joyous moment, filled with relief, which ironically might result in a battle-weary Shiro officially handing the reins of leadership off to Keith.

Now streaming on Netflix, Season 6 of Voltron: Legendary Defender stars Tyler Labine as Hunk, Jeremy Shada as Lance, Bex Taylor-Klaus as Pidge, Kimberly Brooks as Allura, Rhys Darby as Coran, Josh Keaton as Shiro, Steven Yeun as Keith and A.J. Locascio as Prince Lotor.