Keith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yousaytron) wrote2016-09-08 06:39 pm
yousaytron) wrote2016-09-08 06:39 pm
The Far Shore Application
As of August 2018, Keith will be canon updated. The original content of this application has been largely left intact, with completely new applicable new content being added in and denoted with underlined text.
Character Information
Name: Keith
Canon: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Canon Point:Episode 5, before the castle is reclaimed. Season 6, episode 5.
Age:None specified and official sources give unclear answers for like all of the paladins, but 'late teens' is thrown around quite a bit. Probably about 17. 19 was confirmed for his original canon point, but at least two years have passed for him with the new canon point. New age is set to about 21.
History: It's a wiki link!
Personality:
When Keith is first mentioned in the series, it's through the information that the former top pilot of the Galaxy Garrison, a NASA-esque facility designed to train and employ people for space travel, had to drop out of the program due to discipline issues. This simple statement is, overall, a pretty good way to sum up Keith's initial behavior in a few sentences. He's good at what he does, extremely so, but he simply does not do a good job of getting along with others.
Digging a little deeper,there isn't a whole lot known about Keith's past, but what we are given something we learn about Keith is that he doesn't have any family. As an orphan, he has little experience when it comes to forming bonds with others, and consequently has issues with trusting and respecting those in power, as well as following orders. Being a person who is largely in control has been forced into a position where he's largely in charge of his own life, having his own goals and motivations, being steered down a path he doesn't chose for himself is simply not something that flies with him.
This isn't to say he's incapable of listening to others, however. A lot of his respect seems to go to those who treat him respectfully in the first place. Take for example, Shiro, one of his fellow cast mates. Shiro immediately and consistently treats Keith like an equal on a personal basis and proves himself to be smart and knowledgeable, and in return, Keith trusts his opinions and decisions with no hesitation. On the flip-side, we have Lance. Despite being in the same program while Keith was still with the Garrison, their first on-screen interactions have Keith completely blanking on who Lance is. Who Lance is, is a very showy person, full of himself with little to show for it, and quick to turn anything into a challenge. Their relationship is initially very strained, with no respect being paid in either direction, and the two are constantly at odds. Keith continues to do what he can to keep the team working as a cohesive unit, but it isn't until the two begin to see each other was equals that they begin to gel properly.
Keith is largely a loner sort of character, who is capable of standing on his own two feet in most situations. While the nature of the series forces him into a lot of teamwork oriented scenarios, when left to his own devices, he has a tendency to spend his time by himself. Free time is spent sparring against a robotic training dummy, the rest of the team tends to do things in pairs while he has a habit of separating himself, things of that nature. It's implied that he spent at least a year prior to the start of the series completely isolated, living out in a rocky desert area,which isn't ever shown to be a source of agony for him. It was simply something that happened, something that he has no hangups over. Oops I was pretty wrong with this, the year he spent living alone after being kicked out of the Galaxy Garrison was spent desperately attempting to find hints about what may have happened to the only person who 'never gave up on him', and while he never brings it up himself as a traumatic span of time, the parallels between the solitude of that year and the death of his father clearly did a number on his ability to trust others.
It does leave him with some easy to press hot-buttons. It's a very simple matter into goading him into taking up challenges, and people making reckless decisions based on their ties with others can cause him to snap. There's a point where one of the team members, Pidge, plans on leaving the team in order to find the missing members of her family, and in putting those motivations in front of the good of the team, and thus the safety of the universe, Keith argues against it the loudest. “If you leave, we can’t form Voltron. And that means we can’t defend the universe against Zarkon. You’re not the only one with a family. All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families. ... You’re putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the entire galaxy!” It's hard for him to put the needs of many behind the needs of the few unless the ends justify the means in a very obvious way, even taking in to account personal importances.
His propensity for going off on his own does lead to his own bouts of recklessness, however. He has no problems with being left to do solo work, such as hunting down the captured Red Lion when he was originally meant to have two others as back up, which ended with him taking measures that nearly got himself killed (which wouldn't have been a problem with assistance). Another point has him doing reconnaissance of his own volition, against the warning of another team mate, and, unsurprisingly, he gets in way over his head in an attempt to be bold and nearly ends up getting himself killed again. Good job nerd.
Largely, a lot of what drives his decision making is the fact that he is a hero. He saves people who need saving, and if that outcome ends up being done through impulsive displays of boldness, so be it. Defending the universe, saving the life of someone who is an enemy simply because they're trapped in the same situation as you, or putting himself in harms way to stop a frenzied teammate, he genuinely does want to help through whatever means are available to him. They just tend toward being somewhat reckless means when he's involved.
On a different note, his lack of socialization is also evident in the way he treats humor. Things that present like pop-culture references are completely lost on him, and while he doesn't appear to have the kind of personality that lends itself to having fun, he's shown to enjoy visual gags and things that are more tangible in their nature (i.e. that food fight scene where he is very clearly having a good time). Things like this show just how much solitude effected his personality, and he frequently just doesn't seem to understand humor the way a more well-adjusted person might.
Despite all of his loner habits and difficult nature, Keith isn't all edge and grit. He does care about his team mates, even if it comes off as preserving the team for the sake of the team. He has no problems rushing in to danger to offer what kind of assistance he can, and with the kind of warranted confidence he has in his own skills, it's always beneficial. He's not rough for the sake of being rough, either, and generally seems more confused than hostile when gently nudged out of his comfort zone (for example, the entire ordeal with the Arusian meeting, the bizarre customs, the unwarranted hug, etc). He's tough to handle, but not unnecessarily hostile.
Through the course of the show, not an awful lot has changed who Keith is at his core, but certain events have eroded at some of his more guarded nature. While the first few seasons had him encountering walls when attempting to take up cooperative roles within the team or leadership positions, a span of time spent away from them with a stricter, more tightly structured group of fighters brings out a better capacity for adaptability within him. Two years spent with living a simpler life with someone he once mistakenly believed had abandoned him carelessly, a dog, and nobody else brings out a somewhat less hard-hearted side of him, where his affection and affinity towards others aren't kept nearly as close and his capacity for trust has a good deal of repair work done to it once he comes back into contact with other individuals.
Overall, his instincts and sense of justice are honed and solidified through his encounters, and his emotional maturity has had room to grow from it all.
The show likes to draw a lot of parallels between the characters and the Lions they pilot. The red one is said to be temperamental, though the most agile and best fighter at the expense of being difficult to handle, where the black one he ends up taking the mantle of takes the leadership of someone with the trust of those who follow him, a trait he learns and develops through his encounters.
Abilities:
The closest thing Keith has to a super-human ability is his status as a paladin, basically a chosen pilot for a cool robot space lion. Beyond that, he is a highly skilled pilot in general, being at the top of his class in the Garrison before dropping out, and is shown to be adept at driving all kinds of vehicles (what the fuck was that weird hovercraft thing he had where did it come from where did it go). He also is very good at handling a sword, and has some degree of hand-to-hand combat abilities.
As of season 5, both of Keith’s parents have been shown on screen. Prior to this, hints and minor confirmations had been dropped at the possibility of him not being completely human. It’s now confirmed that while his father was human, his mother is not, instead being the alien race of the Galra. What this means for Keith’s skills isn’t a great change from what’s been previously written here, as he maintains a very human degree to his abilities, though he does show a few benefits of partial Galra physiology such as access to technologies in universe that are only able to be ‘unlocked’ by those of Galra blood. Additionally, it’s suggested that his fighting style and combat approach are reminiscent of Galra soldiers, and therefore possibly an instinctual trait.
Strengths:
Intelligent, resourceful, skilled combatant, hard worker, tenacious
Weaknesses:
Stubborn, loner, volatile temper, reckless, detached
God/Shinki: Shinki
Why?: Arguments could be made either way for making Keith a shinki vs. god, but ultimately I want to play around with the idea of having him in a role where his stupid attitude issues have unusual repercussions. He has leadership qualities buried deep somewhere in him, but given the canon point, he's still figuring out the best way to work with his teammates, and having to take a leading role in a duo is likely to be chaotic. His current role as a paladin under the command of someone else shows that he is, in fact, capable of following orders to some degree.
Additionally, his past, currently, is a very vague mess, with very little being presented to the viewers, and it would simply be easier to wipe those memories entirely, rather than attempting to reconcile what may happen with him in-game with what is later given as far as his back story goes.
With his updated canon point, the backstory issues are resolved, as well as his capacity for being responsible for others being brought to light. However, I've opted to keep him as a shinki as a means of keeping him interested in the goings-on in the Far Shore rather than just wanting to get back to his mission.
Cause Of Death:An alternate route taken in episode 5, where, when fighting Sendak, he ends up in the grip of the Galra's super enhanced prosthetic arm and crushed to such a degree that between the fight and its conclusion, there's no time to send him into a recovery pod before he succumbs to massive injuries caused by the resulting punctured lungs, broken ribs, internal bleeding, etc. He keeps fighting up until Sendak is disarmed and imprisoned, exacerbating his injures. It's messy and painful. :v
His new death-point is again an alternate-route of an episode 5, though this time taking place post disarming a brainwashed clone of his teammate, Shiro, after an emotional and difficult fight to try and bring him back to his senses. Upon severing the connection from Haggar to Shiro, their 'arena' is in ruins, and the two of them end up suspended from an incredible height. It's implied that Keith could save himself easily if he were to drop the dead-weight of Shiro's body, something he simply can't bring himself to do. The two of them end up falling, though rather than the pair being rescued by the Black Lion, they simply continue falling fatally to the planet below.
Vessel: A bayard, taking the shape of whatever weapon is best suited to the god wielding it, ranging from basic melee weapons to firearms. If he becomes a nora, or assigned to a different god, the basic vessel form of a bayard will stay the same, but with differences in the weapon shape it's able to take.
Name Location: Located on the nape of his neck.
Power: An elemental attribute! That is, a lean to either fire, water, plant, air, or rock based enhancements (examples being a whip infused with natural poisons for plant, a firey sword for, uh, fire... hell, he could even roll a literal water gun as a choice). Once the element is assigned to a vessel name, it can't be changed, ultimately setting up for a situation where theoretical god A can only summon him as a firey sword, theoretical god B can only use the water gun, and so on.
Writing Sample
Sample:
It's a musebox link!
Other
Anything Else?: Red's my favorite color, that robot was made for you, etc.
Character Information
Name: Keith
Canon: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Canon Point:
Age:
History: It's a wiki link!
Personality:
When Keith is first mentioned in the series, it's through the information that the former top pilot of the Galaxy Garrison, a NASA-esque facility designed to train and employ people for space travel, had to drop out of the program due to discipline issues. This simple statement is, overall, a pretty good way to sum up Keith's initial behavior in a few sentences. He's good at what he does, extremely so, but he simply does not do a good job of getting along with others.
Digging a little deeper,
This isn't to say he's incapable of listening to others, however. A lot of his respect seems to go to those who treat him respectfully in the first place. Take for example, Shiro, one of his fellow cast mates. Shiro immediately and consistently treats Keith like an equal on a personal basis and proves himself to be smart and knowledgeable, and in return, Keith trusts his opinions and decisions with no hesitation. On the flip-side, we have Lance. Despite being in the same program while Keith was still with the Garrison, their first on-screen interactions have Keith completely blanking on who Lance is. Who Lance is, is a very showy person, full of himself with little to show for it, and quick to turn anything into a challenge. Their relationship is initially very strained, with no respect being paid in either direction, and the two are constantly at odds. Keith continues to do what he can to keep the team working as a cohesive unit, but it isn't until the two begin to see each other was equals that they begin to gel properly.
Keith is largely a loner sort of character, who is capable of standing on his own two feet in most situations. While the nature of the series forces him into a lot of teamwork oriented scenarios, when left to his own devices, he has a tendency to spend his time by himself. Free time is spent sparring against a robotic training dummy, the rest of the team tends to do things in pairs while he has a habit of separating himself, things of that nature. It's implied that he spent at least a year prior to the start of the series completely isolated, living out in a rocky desert area,
It does leave him with some easy to press hot-buttons. It's a very simple matter into goading him into taking up challenges, and people making reckless decisions based on their ties with others can cause him to snap. There's a point where one of the team members, Pidge, plans on leaving the team in order to find the missing members of her family, and in putting those motivations in front of the good of the team, and thus the safety of the universe, Keith argues against it the loudest. “If you leave, we can’t form Voltron. And that means we can’t defend the universe against Zarkon. You’re not the only one with a family. All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families. ... You’re putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the entire galaxy!” It's hard for him to put the needs of many behind the needs of the few unless the ends justify the means in a very obvious way, even taking in to account personal importances.
His propensity for going off on his own does lead to his own bouts of recklessness, however. He has no problems with being left to do solo work, such as hunting down the captured Red Lion when he was originally meant to have two others as back up, which ended with him taking measures that nearly got himself killed (which wouldn't have been a problem with assistance). Another point has him doing reconnaissance of his own volition, against the warning of another team mate, and, unsurprisingly, he gets in way over his head in an attempt to be bold and nearly ends up getting himself killed again. Good job nerd.
Largely, a lot of what drives his decision making is the fact that he is a hero. He saves people who need saving, and if that outcome ends up being done through impulsive displays of boldness, so be it. Defending the universe, saving the life of someone who is an enemy simply because they're trapped in the same situation as you, or putting himself in harms way to stop a frenzied teammate, he genuinely does want to help through whatever means are available to him. They just tend toward being somewhat reckless means when he's involved.
On a different note, his lack of socialization is also evident in the way he treats humor. Things that present like pop-culture references are completely lost on him, and while he doesn't appear to have the kind of personality that lends itself to having fun, he's shown to enjoy visual gags and things that are more tangible in their nature (i.e. that food fight scene where he is very clearly having a good time). Things like this show just how much solitude effected his personality, and he frequently just doesn't seem to understand humor the way a more well-adjusted person might.
Despite all of his loner habits and difficult nature, Keith isn't all edge and grit. He does care about his team mates, even if it comes off as preserving the team for the sake of the team. He has no problems rushing in to danger to offer what kind of assistance he can, and with the kind of warranted confidence he has in his own skills, it's always beneficial. He's not rough for the sake of being rough, either, and generally seems more confused than hostile when gently nudged out of his comfort zone (for example, the entire ordeal with the Arusian meeting, the bizarre customs, the unwarranted hug, etc). He's tough to handle, but not unnecessarily hostile.
Through the course of the show, not an awful lot has changed who Keith is at his core, but certain events have eroded at some of his more guarded nature. While the first few seasons had him encountering walls when attempting to take up cooperative roles within the team or leadership positions, a span of time spent away from them with a stricter, more tightly structured group of fighters brings out a better capacity for adaptability within him. Two years spent with living a simpler life with someone he once mistakenly believed had abandoned him carelessly, a dog, and nobody else brings out a somewhat less hard-hearted side of him, where his affection and affinity towards others aren't kept nearly as close and his capacity for trust has a good deal of repair work done to it once he comes back into contact with other individuals.
Overall, his instincts and sense of justice are honed and solidified through his encounters, and his emotional maturity has had room to grow from it all.
The show likes to draw a lot of parallels between the characters and the Lions they pilot. The red one is said to be temperamental, though the most agile and best fighter at the expense of being difficult to handle, where the black one he ends up taking the mantle of takes the leadership of someone with the trust of those who follow him, a trait he learns and develops through his encounters.
Abilities:
The closest thing Keith has to a super-human ability is his status as a paladin, basically a chosen pilot for a cool robot space lion. Beyond that, he is a highly skilled pilot in general, being at the top of his class in the Garrison before dropping out, and is shown to be adept at driving all kinds of vehicles (what the fuck was that weird hovercraft thing he had where did it come from where did it go). He also is very good at handling a sword, and has some degree of hand-to-hand combat abilities.
As of season 5, both of Keith’s parents have been shown on screen. Prior to this, hints and minor confirmations had been dropped at the possibility of him not being completely human. It’s now confirmed that while his father was human, his mother is not, instead being the alien race of the Galra. What this means for Keith’s skills isn’t a great change from what’s been previously written here, as he maintains a very human degree to his abilities, though he does show a few benefits of partial Galra physiology such as access to technologies in universe that are only able to be ‘unlocked’ by those of Galra blood. Additionally, it’s suggested that his fighting style and combat approach are reminiscent of Galra soldiers, and therefore possibly an instinctual trait.
Strengths:
Intelligent, resourceful, skilled combatant, hard worker, tenacious
Weaknesses:
Stubborn, loner, volatile temper, reckless, detached
God/Shinki: Shinki
Why?: Arguments could be made either way for making Keith a shinki vs. god, but ultimately I want to play around with the idea of having him in a role where his stupid attitude issues have unusual repercussions. He has leadership qualities buried deep somewhere in him, but given the canon point, he's still figuring out the best way to work with his teammates, and having to take a leading role in a duo is likely to be chaotic. His current role as a paladin under the command of someone else shows that he is, in fact, capable of following orders to some degree.
Additionally, his past, currently, is a very vague mess, with very little being presented to the viewers, and it would simply be easier to wipe those memories entirely, rather than attempting to reconcile what may happen with him in-game with what is later given as far as his back story goes.
With his updated canon point, the backstory issues are resolved, as well as his capacity for being responsible for others being brought to light. However, I've opted to keep him as a shinki as a means of keeping him interested in the goings-on in the Far Shore rather than just wanting to get back to his mission.
Cause Of Death:
His new death-point is again an alternate-route of an episode 5, though this time taking place post disarming a brainwashed clone of his teammate, Shiro, after an emotional and difficult fight to try and bring him back to his senses. Upon severing the connection from Haggar to Shiro, their 'arena' is in ruins, and the two of them end up suspended from an incredible height. It's implied that Keith could save himself easily if he were to drop the dead-weight of Shiro's body, something he simply can't bring himself to do. The two of them end up falling, though rather than the pair being rescued by the Black Lion, they simply continue falling fatally to the planet below.
Vessel: A bayard, taking the shape of whatever weapon is best suited to the god wielding it, ranging from basic melee weapons to firearms. If he becomes a nora, or assigned to a different god, the basic vessel form of a bayard will stay the same, but with differences in the weapon shape it's able to take.
Name Location: Located on the nape of his neck.
Power: An elemental attribute! That is, a lean to either fire, water, plant, air, or rock based enhancements (examples being a whip infused with natural poisons for plant, a firey sword for, uh, fire... hell, he could even roll a literal water gun as a choice). Once the element is assigned to a vessel name, it can't be changed, ultimately setting up for a situation where theoretical god A can only summon him as a firey sword, theoretical god B can only use the water gun, and so on.
Writing Sample
Sample:
It's a musebox link!
Other
Anything Else?: Red's my favorite color, that robot was made for you, etc.