The Heroine’s Journey of Lance or The child who drowned in pursuit of a dream

Yes, you heard right. The topic sounds the way it sounds, and if you’re confused by the fact that Lance was called the “heroine”, I hasten to reassure you. The Heroine’s Journey is in no way connected with the gender of the protagonist, “she” can be both a man and a woman.
This expression was accepted, because in the stories of the old times mostly women were sent to such journeys, since men suffering from mental anguish considered not manly enough. Men were usually sent to Hero’s Journey, and for a better understanding of the situation I’ll spend a little of your time to explain the difference.

The Hero’s Journey is a literal journey where the hero is forced to leave his home – a comfort zone – so that he grows up and matures under the influence of literal trials. He must also perform a feat and receive a reward for this feat. Kill the dragon and get the princess (a sword / horse / medicine for a sick mother etc.), as a symbol of the fact that the hero won and received what he set off for.

The Heroine’s Journey is a story of spiritual experiences when, under the influence of external factors, a person loses an important part of his personality, and he needs to find himself again – to restore his spiritual balance. Growing up is achieved through rethinking oneself, through finding one’s place in this world and through casting away false beliefs that prevent the hero from becoming happy. Moreover, the Heroine’s Journey may not have a feat, but the reward is and is always deceiving – having received the reward for his struggle, the hero suddenly realizes that this is not what he wanted. He’s disappointed – he put so much effort into achieving the goal, and now realizes that all this time he was wasting himself in vain.

And I can’t help but recall the indignation of some of Lance’s fans that the authors didn’t let him complete the feat. He learned to wield a sword, and he wasn’t even allowed to demonstrate his skills, for example, in a duel with Lotor, like an Easter egg on an old series (those who watched the old series laughed at this statement, but this is not about that). And some of the men experienced cognitive dissonance – if the hero received the princess, then where is the dead dragon? Zarkon was killed by Lotor. Sendak was defeated by Keith and Shiro. Honevra, in fact, left undefeated. Lance… turned out to be the thief from the game in S6. A cool girl needs a cool guy, not a simple farmer.

Guys, really. I understand that Lance is wonderful, but his image in the series is just that. A simple farmer who, for all his good qualities, is not at all the one who is destined to take out the Sword from the Stone.

Because the fact is that in the history of Lance there should not be a “dead dragon” – a feat. Because the feat is accomplished on the Hero’s Journey, while Lance has the Heroine’s Journey.

And yes, the reward he received was false and only led to disappointment.

Lance’s story should look something like this:

Starting point:Lance is an altruistic but insecure guy who feels like a “third wheel” in life. But he wants to change this, to become something more than a “simple guy from Cuba”, he wants to be useful and meaningful.

Journey: Lance believes that he’ll gain self-confidence and usefulness in the eyes of others if he becomes a hero and becomes famous. He wants to be the knight saving princesses, Hercules of his own story. But at the same time, in the struggle for the title of a hero, he becomes more and more selfish and loses an important part of himself – his compassion and selflessness towards others.

A reward and disappointment in it: Lance receives what, in his opinion, should bring him the title of a hero and self-confidence, but at the same time he doesn’t receive self-confidence. The candy, which was so attractive with its wrapper, turned out to be tasteless. In addition, his desire to have this award comes into direct conflict with his desire to help others, and this puts pressure on him.

End:Lance refuses the reward, lets his thirst for fame go and comes to terms with his conscience. Having stopped chasing after fame, like a donkey for a carrot, he finally notices that his friends love him without any fame and appreciate his efforts. Realizing that he doesn’t need to become Hercules in order to be respected and loved, Lance finally accepts himself, which allows him to find his place in the world and feel happy.

This is how it should have looked in a normal scenario. But since Mr. B. changed it (I won’t swear in the article, though I really want to), the end of the journey was simply deleted from Lance’s story, leaving him in a state of disappointment with the award, which in the description of the Heroine’s Journey is directly called “spiritual aridity, death”.

Really. They even showed it in the end, although they finished the ending according to the changed script (you won’t erase words from the song). Lance literally buries himself at 19, disappointed in life. More absurd is only Shiro who was sent to retire at the age of 30. I’m now 30 years old, and it’s just ridiculous for me to say that life ends at 19 (30) years, now it’s only a monastery and a pension. Unhappy love is sad, but life is such a thing that someone constantly dies, and it’s not normal to bury yourself alive. Especially in the series for children. Pathological grief after the loss of a loved one is actually a disorder of adaptation and in psychiatry is considered a disease that must be treated.

A person left in a state of psychiatric illness is a so-so happy ending. However, if you consider that the universe after S8 remained in complete disarray, then Lance fits into such a happy ending.

By the way, the Heroine’s Journeys of Lance and Allura are very similar in the sense that self-doubt becomes their main enemy. They are like brother and sister in this, go hand in hand, and that is why their journeys intersect. But if in the changed S8 Allura still got an invisible “kick in the ass, which allowed her to take a decisive step forward,” Lance remained stagnant in his uncertainty. If Allura commited suicide by her own decision, Lance just got stuck in a quagmire and choked.

But let’s look at the situation in more detail. And let’s start with the Lance’s family.  

Stage 1 – Separation from the feminine.

Lance is a kind but insecure guy. He sees that his Nice Guy status gives nothing and has no weight in society, and therefore dreams of fame.

Lance grew up in faraway Cuba, in a large provincial family of farmers. Well-off enough to feed a bunch of people without problems during S8 – when the whole Earth was in crisis – but not the great rich. The boss in the house was an active mom, and dad, judging by his behavior and the attitude of others, was a standard quiet henpecked man. You know, a handsome guy, unsure of himself, who in his youth fell into the hands of an energetic girl and spent his whole life in invisible labor on a farm for the benefit of the family. Judging by the words of Lance’s mother, it was from his father that Lance inherited stupid lines and the desire to flirt with girls, which in reality was only a pretense of bravado for both.

However, you can understand Lance’s father. When you’re a provincial farmer, besides socializing there’s little entertainment. And the presence of a beautiful girlfriend was probably the only way for a young farmer to raise his authority and gain the respect of his peers.

Moreover, Lance wasn’t the only beloved child, but rather one of a bunch of children, each of whom probably wanted to win a little attention from their parents. He’s the youngest, and the youngest is the one for whom everyone else always decides, the one whom everyone pushes, whose opinion is never asked. And of course, the shadow from more successful older relatives constantly dominated him – the older sister made a career in science, and the older brother, unlike Lance, who resembled his quiet father, clearly inherited mother’s self-confidence and constantly teased his younger sibling.

And naturally, he wanted to stand out. He wanted his parents to notice him among a bunch of other, older and “more useful” children, to be appreciated and respected – but, alas, it’s difficult to gain respect from others by how cool you milk cows. Here, everyone around milks the cows, it’s a farm. And a simple Cuban boy, who probably watched cartoons about super-heroes, began to dream. He milked cows and dreamed of how he would break out of this gray life and become cool and famous. Dad will be proud, elder siblings will stop laughing at him. And all the girls will be his. Lance, like his father in his youth, probably sought to establish himself surrounded by other young farm guys as a “Loverboy” – but he was just a quiet, handsome guy with stupid lines, not a cool cowboy on a powerful stallion. And such guys are loved, I would even say that girls often marry this type of guys, but don’t chase them in a crowd.

You need to understand that Lance wanted to break out of this life. He dreamed of something completely different. And the fact that he was forced to return to the farm… sorry, but this is a mockery. It would be better if he opened a space tourism company and named his ship “Allura”. And, like captain Kirk, remained faithful to his ship, shrugging off the fatal beauties.

In general, if not for Veronica, who had shown by her example that there is a way out, then most likely Lance would have finished as his dad. He would fall into the hands of a brisk girl and spent his whole life on a farm under the heel. He would drag a completely prosperous dull existence, like hundreds of other farmers before him. But looking at his sister, Lance got the idea to enter the Garrison and was able to do it.

It’s a pity that the provincial farmers didn’t really appreciate this feat. Alas, in the Cuban hinterland there were no experts who could understand the extent of such an achievement. Only a sister supported Lance.

And in the Garrison it wasn’t easy either. He entered the Garrison, but only as a pilot of cargo vehicles, and when he was transferred to combat pilots the teacher, clearly upset by the loss of a more talented student, couldn’t help but recall that Lance was here only because Keith was expelled. The gifted one, but unfortunately for teachers completely undisciplined.

However, with the girls he was a little luckier. Judging by the conversation with Hunk in the first episode, Lance didn’t wait for “the only one”, but rather actively ran on dates. Apparently, sometimes his “wonderful” lines really worked. Another thing is that the significance of dating girls in the eyes of the population of the Garrison was extremely small – they are not bored farmers, so it remained exclusively a personal affair of Lance, and he didn’t gain much respect because of it.

But Lance wanted something completely different. He wanted respect, fame, being accepted. And if Keith went to save Shiro because he was the only close person for him, Lance got in because he was sickened that everyone compared him to Keith. It’s he who must save Shiro and become famous, even if it ends badly for him (do you really think that under other circumstances they wouldn’t be punished?). The position of the second violin in relation to Keith enraged Lance, especially considering the fact that Keith didn’t care about Lance. He couldn’t understand why Lance was angry with him, they almost didn’t know each other. Keith had his own personal problems, unrelated to Lance. It didn’t even occur to him that he, as it turns out, was competing with Lance for the title of the coolest, since Keith wasn’t interested in such competitions.

Looking ahead, I just notice that as soon as Lance stopped seeing an opponent in Keith, all their contradictions vanished. Keith wasn’t Lance’s adversary, enemy, rival or any kind of aggressor. Keith became one because Lance elevated him to that position. Lance imagined a dragon which must be defeated, but as soon as he stopped demonizing Keith it immediately turned out that there was no dragon at all. There are no external demons in Lance’s life, but internal ones. And Keith is a good example.

So they find the Blue Lion. Blue sees Lance – a good guy who is ready to support others and who is most in need of support – realizes that “this is my boy” and sends the whole company to the Castle of Lions.

Where Lance meets Allura – the embodiment of his dream of glory. Not just a beautiful girl, but a real princess. Like from a fairy tale where the coolest man – Hercules – gets the princess, becomes her faithful knight, protects her and accomplishes feats in her honor. And she admires him.

Of course, from the first minutes Allura makes it clear that she’ll break the neck of any dragon and give the knight a kick, but the dream didn’ fade from this – quite the opposite, it became more inaccessible and therefore more desirable.

Then we see the events of the first two seasons. S1 spans several days, S2 – several weeks, or how much it took them to dock with the BoM and complete a plan to get Zarkon out of the game. Lance learns to work together and even begins to gradually feel his usefulness to the team. When Shiro tells him that they need him, because he’s their sharpshooter, Lance glows with happiness. Because this is his place – the place of a support fighter – and he’s comfortable in it. It’s comfortable to be a blue paladin – a “leg” that supports everyone else, who will cover melee fighters.

And here an extremely important event happens. Shiro disappears. Shiro was the only self-confident mature man in the company of literal and mental youngsters (with the exception of Coran, but he preferred to remain in the shadows). Responsible commander, authority, leader who knew exactly what and how to do Under his wing, the kids were like in a kindergarten. And now bang – the kids lost him and left without a kindergartener.

Space Dad is gone, do it yourself.

Nobody will insure you anymore, you have no one else to hope for. Everyone feels bewildered, it’s hard for everyone. And it’s especially hard for Keith – after all, Shiro was his only close friend, his brother. The rest knew Shiro for about a couple of weeks and treated him like a counselor in a scout camp, and therefore experienced Shiro’s loss more easily. But the loss of Shiro himself, not his leadership.

And after the loss of Shiro comes “The Great Transferring”

Stage 2 – Identification with the masculine and gathering of allies

Lance refuses the image of a Nice Guy in favor of the pursuit of status.

You know, I’ve often met conversations on the topic that everything is not clear with these Lions, what the heck is with replacing paladins, and why they don’t change armors.

In the old series, Lions were simply meek machines – anyone could pilot them. But now the Lions are living creatures that even help their paladins (otherwise Hank and Pidge wouldn’t be able to learn how to control them so quickly). Each Lion has a specific character and is looking for a “soul mate” in the paladin, which would dock well with it. The black paladin is a cool, stubborn leader. The yellow paladin is a confident strong helping hand foot, Green is a purposeful lover of knowledge. We’ll deal with Red and Blue a bit later.

The easiest way is with Hunk and Pidge. The fact is that their characters almost didn’t change during the series. Pidge grew up, but nothing more. Hunk was generally quite a mature person and had no moral problems, except for a heightened sense of self-preservation. He was even the first to get the girl without any problems (which is extremely funny comparing to Lance, for whom getting a girlfriend became an obsession).

Shiro, after his resurrection, became the white paladin – but, alas, there is so little evidence on this subject (thanks for the cut S7-8) that I just can’t back up my position with facts, and therefore I won’t force you to listen to my demagoguery.

I’ll give a couple of lines to Allura. Yes, she’s pink. More precisely, blue-red. Allura has her father’s temper. To act first and then think is her favorite method. In her decisive moments, Allura becomes “red” more than Keith himself. But brought up as the future queen, Allura suffers from hyperresponsibility and constantly thinks whether she did the right thing. She constantly doubts herself, constantly fusses around, asks others, although she must make decisions herself… except for those moments where Alfor’s character shows up. One thing that Red doesn’t tolerate is uncertainty. Therefore, Red didn’t accept Allura. And he didn’t care that Allura wanted to be like her father and really wanted to become a red paladin. She even started crying, phew. Keith is quite another case and therefore he’s worth of respect.

Perhaps if Blue hadn’t intervened, Allura would never have become a paladin. But picking up abandoned kittens is a Blue Lion’s favorite pastime. Besides, Allura selflessly sought to help others, she had recently lost her people, her family, and her father even twice. Therefore, Blue took Allura. Don’t offend little ones, Red, bad kitty.

A little offtopic: the path of Allura – the normal path, not a bit thrown to us – showed the transition of Allura to a full-fledged red paladin. Because the princess, who constantly doubts herself, will never become a queen. She will always depend on the opinions of others and will forever remain a child.

Let’s move on to Keith. His path is very simple and straightforward, like the very Hero’s Journey, which is his story. There is point A – Red Lion, as the embodiment of Kit’s self-centered unstable teenage character, there is point B – becoming a black paladin, a mature responsible leader. The reward for the feat is finding a family. Why did Keith stay in a red suit? Because the suit shows that Keith is actually still too “red.” Until the very end of S8 there are too many hasty decisions, too much hope for luck. This is not the behavior of the black paladin; a good leader never relies on chance. I have serious suspicions that Black chose Keith because Shiro’s soul was inside. Black trusted Shiro, trusted his choice and accepted Keith (who made a lot of mess in his new position, to be honest …).

In addition, Black didn’t have much to choose from, but it was necessary to go on the mission. So he chose from what he had.

But the most interesting thing is with Lance, the main character of our meta. Because he has a Heroine’s Journey (!). Not a Hero’s one. And while in Hero’s Journey, the path of Keith from Red to Black is the path to maturity and the desired reward, then for Lance the path from Blue to Red leads to a false reward. To the blende. He doesn’t gain new, he loses old. Lance’s blue suit screams about who he really should be.

Just remember. It’s not Red who chose Lance. It’s Blue who kicked him out(!).

Who told you that becoming Red from Blue is an upgrade? Allura? Allura dreamed all her childhood that she would become a red paladin. This is the dream of her whole life. And Lance always wanted to be needed, but what’s easier for you – to live without a hand or without a leg? With one hand, of course, it’s hard, but try to walk on one leg. A body without a head will run further.

Allura said Red accepted Lance when he accepted Keith’s leadership. A really strong step is to step on the throat of your pride. Red appreciated it, because he’s a very selfish proud man lion, and for him it’s really a feat. The same as Alfor had once done when he lost his leadership to Zarkon. Well done, he’s impressed. But… Lance did it like a true blue paladin, not a red one. Everyone was feeling bad, and Keith especially, and Lance did this to support Keith because he saw his worries. He abandoned his ambitions in order to help his neighbor, like a true Blue would do.

The Red Lion, on the contrary, is the team’s main egoist. He listens only to Black, because he respects his authority, and even then not always. First he does, then he thinks, and he makes a decision instantly. Proud, emotional, self-centered in his desires.

Just remember Alfor. Remember how he ran into the fight ahead of the team, so Zarkon had to save his butt. How he began to study the unknown crap on Daibazaal, ignoring the danger to his friend’s planet at first. How he succumbed to fear and decided to hide the Lions and not use it. How he “turned off” Allura when she began to argue with him and sent her to the cryocapsule. Only so that later his holographic ghost spread his arms and said: “I’m sorry, daughter, you were right.”

And that is the Red Lion. Determined, emotional, egocentric. The man of the moment.

And yes, Red saw it in Lance. After all, the point is not only that Lance gained respect from Red by his “feat”. There was something in Lance that suited Red. For all his altruism, Lance is a child who craves the attention of his environment. And in this he’s very selfish. In addition, despite doubts about his status, his usefulness, when it comes to making decisions, Lance doesn’t stomp on the spot but acts. In the series, we often see how Lance doubts his importance, but we have never seen him doubt his actions. When it’s time to act, Lance acts resolutely and without hesitation.

And the problem here is not only that Red accepted Lance only when Blue drove him away.

The problem is how the others reacted to this.

It must be remembered that Allura really wanted Red. A lot. And also Allura felt that she must behave like a good boss, that means to praise subordinates for achievements, for hard work for the benefit of all. And of course, she began to praise Lance for becoming a red paladin – he made a real achievement in the eyes of Allura.

And this was the first time that Allura personally praised Lance. Repeatedly.

Allura in the eyes of Lance embodied all his dreams of status. And he really dreamed about her favor, about becoming her Hercules, her knight. And when she praised him, he felt that having risen in status to the right hand of the black paladin (and, according to Allura, that was exactly so), he became closer to his goal. That is, he saw a direct connection: the higher the status, the closer the dream.

Despite the fact that being a red paladin wasn’t as comfortable as being a blue one. Because along with having a certain status – so desirable for Lance – came the fear of losing that status. Remember how Lance was upset that he didn’t know how to use the main form of red bayard – the traditional Altean sword. Have you ever seen Keith worry about not being able to use the Galra flail, which only Lotor and Zarkon used in the series?

The red bayard transformed into the sword simply because Alfor created the bayard to suit the first paladins. However, that doesn’t change the fact that, by default, the red paladin is the second melee fighter, while Lance has always positioned himself as a sharpshooter – a support fighter.

Stage 3 – Road of trials, meeting ogres and dragons

Lance asserts his status as a red paladin.

Now, after Zarkon’s knockout, the paladins and BoM begin vigorous activity. Lance is increasingly asserting his status as a red paladin – he bathes in the completely legitimate attention and admiration of the rescued civilians. In addition, Allura became very close to him, and he could constantly communicate with her. He also felt important, helping her master the Blue Lion and covering in battles. The defender of the beautiful princess.

Note: guys, I understand that you really want to present the attitude of the paladins to each other in battle as exceptional. But helping a comrade on the battlefield is the thing expected of a soldier. On the contrary, if he doesn’t help, he’ll be called a traitor. BoM’s operations don’t count, as they have partisan and espionage activities, where there are other priorities. Mutual assistance on the battlefield isn’t an act of goodwill, but an obligation.

Yes, after becoming a red paladin, Lance stopped hitting on Allura. Because now Allura wasn’t separate from the others, the abstract mistress of the Castle, she became part of the team. That is, not a princess – a potential damsel in distress – but a comrade with whom they share bread and shelter. And of course, Lance began to treat her in a different way. But he didn’ stop wanting her. As soon as Matt (young, attractive rebel) appeared on the horizon, Lance set up an absolutely ugly jealousy scene.

Despite the fact that Allura didn’t give any promises to Lance, didn’t encourage his actions, wasn’t either his bride or a wife, Lance decided that he had exclusive rights to Allura and began to guard her like a dog. Most likely, this attitude appeared as a result of the act of “giving” the Blue Lion. Because Lance continued to consider Blue his property, and at the same time began to consider the pilot of Blue his property too. And if so, then Allura belongs to him, and lines are no longer needed.

And then Lotor appeared.

I must say that it’s unlikely that at the first personal meeting Lotor had matrimonial or at least some personal plans for Allura. When Lotor appeared near the Haggar’s ship, he wasn’t there because of the paladins. If you remember, Lotor caught the transmission that the sector would be blown up, not a word about the presence of Voltron. Lotor didn’t save the paladins; he saved civilians from his mad relatives.

And when Lotor talks with Allura, he offers exclusively business relations. Abstract union in the name of universal good.

But as soon as Lotor said the word “alliance”, Lance not only triggered, he almost exploded. From the mere hint that this obviously successful man is offering his(!) princess some sort of alliance, Lance sharply felt a surge of jealousy and saw Lotor as his rival. While Lotor completely ignored Lance – he addressed to Allura as the head of this madhouse, and he wasn’t interested in the opinion of the “retinue” of the princess.

In general, Lothor was always interested only in the opinion of Allura, convinced only her and appealed only to her. As a political leader to a political leader. The remaining paladins were reckoned by Lotor to the retinue of Allura and didn’t cause much interest.

Doesn’t resemble anything? Remember how Lance reacted towards Keith, although he hardly remembered him? How Lance considered Keith his rival? There’s only a small but very important difference: Keith reacted to aggression with his own aggression. That is, Lance received a reaction to his actions. But Lotor didn’t do anything at Lance’s aggression. What difference does it make to an elephant what kind of a dog is barking at it down there? At the first outbreak of jealousy, Lance tried to get Lotor out of the way, like he did with Matt, but he couldn’t do anything with such a mastodon.

And Allura… Allura has work for the benefit of the universe, and Pidge’s father must be saved. And here is the legendary Oriande. She didn’t know that Lance had any rights to her. Lotor shines in front of her eyes like a supernova, so Lance’s jealousy was left without any attention.

Confused by the fact that he lost his place near the princess, Lance begins to do what he never did before becoming a red paladin.

He begins to feel sorry for himself.

Allura lost interest in him, she separated from the other paladins and flew away right in front of his eyes to a brilliant rival. Who is, in fact, like a hero from the legends. The real emperor, handsome, great warrior, leader, diplomat, Allura looks at him with admiration. And any attempt to ridicule him is smashed against the armor of equanimity and true self-confidence.

Lotor was someone that Lance had always dreamed of becoming. Lance didn’t think about how hard it was for Lotor to become like this, Lance thought it was cool to be a brilliant space prince, not just a Cuban guy.

Lance envied Lotor, like he once envied Keith. And Lance again felt not needed and began to cling with all his might to the title of savior of the universe, as well as to rush to prove his worth. When Pidge and Hunk distract him from his worries, he’s very happy to have fun with them – because he really doesn’t have problems, but in moments of idleness he begins to feel sorry for himself and think about how lonely he is and no one likes him. He even complained to the mice. After all, he likes Allura so much, he dreamed of becoming her knight, but she didn’t appreciate it.

Lotor became a dragon which Lance couldn’t defeat in an honest battle and was fully aware of it. In addition, it’s difficult to save the princess from the clutches of the dragon, when she’s already choosing curtains for the cave. Such a princess would kill anyone who dares to hurt her dragon.

However, fortunately for Lance, Keith brings Romelle and the paladins defeat Lotor. The path is clear, the dragon was killed. True, not by Lance personally, but it doesn’t matter. In addition, Allura is broken and unhappy, and in need of support.

But although Lotor died, his ghost remained. After all, Lotor wasn’t a real dragon of Lance, he became one in his mind. And he stayed there even after his physical death. Now Lance will always compare himself with Lotor, because he’s only the second, not the first. And when Veronica asks Lance if he’s going to date Allura, he begins to torment himself by the fact that he’s not worthy of the Altean princess. He’s a war veteran, he’s the defender of the Earth, he’s a red paladin, but this fades in his eyes comparing with Lotor. And this is so unsettling that even the Red Lion doesn’t immediately come to the call.

Ultimately, instead of supporting Allura in a difficult period, he sits, suffers, and pities himself.

But friends will always help, right? Hunk forces Lance to invite Allura on a date, and Rommelle persuades her to agree. And Lance gets what he dreamed of.

Stage 4 – Finding the boon of success

Lance becomes Allura’s boyfriend. He was aimed to this from the S1.

Which almost instantly proceeds to the next stage:

Stage 5 – Awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity; death

Lance became Allura’s boyfriend, but didn’t feel significant.

Because everything went wrong from the very beginning.

You know, during the entire episode Lance looked happy once. When Keith told him how much he appreciated him. For me, the date could be over right here. It’s a very positive note – two comrades are sitting, saying warm words to each other and looking at a beautiful sunset. They would have wine, snacks, and don’t leave.

Because the very presence of depression of your girlfriend doesn’t tune into a romantic note. Plus Coran with his hysteria about the fact that Lance is a plebeian, not an Altean aristocrat.

In any case, the family dinner wasn’t as joyful as Lance had hoped. Allura was far from in a romantic mood and sought to discuss the matters whoch worried her. And the siblings began to please the guest with stories about Lance’s childhood.

Lance wanted to be cool in the eyes of Allura. And here he’s exposed as a fool and a clown. And as a result, Lance felt ashamed. He felt uncomfortable in the walls of his own home, because his beloved relatives didn’t want to maintain his authority at all. The status of the red paladin and the presence of a beautiful girl didn’t help to shut up the older brother, who continued to mock him as before. The war veteran remained thechild in the eyes of relatives, because there was no one who would tell them in person that they’re wrong.

Finally, they run away from home and go for a walk. Allura is not in the mood, she is ready to talk about anything except what is usually discussed on dates. Allura says that she feels completely alone looking at friends who have returned to their families.

And Lance, in his aspiration to become significant in the eyes of the princess, is ready to promise her a moon from the sky and follow her even to the edge of the universe. Despite the fact that most of all he always wanted to return home. Lance tells Allura that he loves her, and she sadly nods in response. All his words didn’t really inspire her, because she didn’t need anything proposed. And Lance himself feels miserable, because he understands that he can’t help Allura in any way.

Lance isn’t a fool. He realized that Allura didn’t reciprocate his feelings. But he walked too long towards his goal and selfishly clutched his reward.

And thereby only worsened the situation.

He grabs the opportunity to be a knight of Allura, because she’s a princess after all. He again turns her in his eyes from a comrade into a damsel in distress, but as a result only fails. Remember the pirate attack. Lance forgot that Allura was stronger than all of them combined, he forgot that they should meet the enemies shoulder to shoulder, and then he watched with genuine amazement how “the princess saves the knight” – Allura beat the pirates without any problems, having saved both Lance and herself.

The second attempt to protect Allura also failed. The resurrected “dragon” simply didn’t shoot at Allura, and Lance himself fell under the attack of the Alteans. Not to mention the fact that they failed to win the “dragon” – he beat them with his fists. Mad Lotor is a terrible thing by his own, and here he’s combined with Sincline…

Instead of gaining self-confidence, Lance felt more worthless than ever. He felt useless beside Allura. Allura says to him that he doesn’t understand her suffering, and all he can do is agree with this and utter banal words of sympathy. Which can’t help Allura in her grief.

When Allura praised him in the forest just for being able to find the way, Lance beamed as if he had received the Nobel Prize. Allura simply didn’t have anything else to praise him for – he did nothing significant in her eyes, and now the red paladin – the right hand of the leader of Voltron – felt joy as if he had accomplished a feat.

No, he pretends that everything is fine, trying to continue to play the role of a knight, which turns out to be frankly bad. At the first opportunity, Allura chases him away, asking to bring “something sparkly”, and all he can do is to say a pretentious statement that winning the prizes is his speciality. Although he was only asked to bring a souvenir from the fair.

And then… In the season we got, nothing happens further. Lance remains in this relationship, where he feels completely useless to Allura. Even more: having received a dark entity, Allura wakes up and begins to simply dismiss Lance. And Lance remains a passive observer. He watches her act, he watches her commit suicide. Could he feel guilty after that? After all, he couldn’t help her. And he breaks down, leaves everything that he loved, and goes to live on Altea, which Allura missed so much but will never see again.

Lance became the mouse that cried, pricked, but continued to eat the cactus. Just because it’s a very expensive cactus, and greed didn’t allow it to be left.

But what was originally planned? If we take as a basis the material that TPL were able to restore, then we can approximately complete the remaining stages of the Heroine’s Journey. 

Stage 6 – Initiation and Descent to the Goddess

Lance meets his Anima, and she reminds him of the importance of taking into account the interests of his loved ones, that you cannot build your happiness at someone else’s expense. Lance looks at his relationship from a new angle.

And if you recall those character traits and the origin of Lance that became the cornerstones of his story, it’s easy to understand that Pidge has become Lance’s Anima.

Anima and Animus in the Heroine’s Journey always represent opposites, which at the same time have much in common (and this is not always a romantic interest, it just traditionally becomes one). Moreover, even the opposites aren’t taken from nowhere – they complement each other. Just compare.

Lance is an ordinary, unremarkable guy from a family of ordinary, unremarkable farmers, who was always burdened by his dullness comparing with more successful older relatives.

Pidge was always special from the family of specials, she stood out among other children, for which she became a white crow in her class. But the family constantly convinced her that this was an advantage, not a disadvantage.

Lance is a selfless, altruistic guy who is worried about someone else’s grief.

Pidge is rather egocentric, has little interest in the good of those who go beyond the circle of her loved ones. It’s possible that this is a consequence of her young age – all children are self-centered – but fact is a fact.

Lance is a child who constantly tried to win back at least a little attention of his relatives and suffered the ridicule of his older siblings.

Pidge was always surrounded by attention. Parents adored her, the elder brother adored her and supported in everything. Pidge never doubted the love of her family; for her it was as natural as breathing.

Lance feels important to have attention to his person from relatives. And constantly selfishly demanded this attention as much as possible, because he felt underestimated.

Pidge is ready for anything for those whom she loves, and she’s ready to beat anyone who harm her loved ones. She’s ready to make any sacrifices for those whom she loves.

Pidge and Lance have always had fun together. Yes, Pidge was teasing him, but only when she felt that Lance’s problems were not serious. When Lance really needed support, Pige always flew to the rescue. And Lance was just as ready to stand between Pidge and danger at any moment. For little Pidge, he really was a defender. And with all the differences, they had so many things and activities that they loved equally. At that time, there was nothing for Allura and Lance to talk about, except war and losses.

When Pidge and Lance were asked what they’re dreaming of, they said they’re dreaming of returning to Earth, weeting with their relatives and having fun together. In addition, Lance didn’t perceive Pidge as a girl to drag around. Pidge was a true friend for him, not an object for self-affirmation.

And the situation with the date of Allura. Pidge was very upset when she found out that Lance and Allura were going on a date, but she also knew how Lance wanted it, and therefore even helped Allura to get her dress. And gave the game that she and Lance loved so much. For the sake of which they together completed a quest to collect money at the space mall.

You know, if Pidge came to this date, not Allura, it would have gone completely different. Lance wouldn’t be ashamed of the childhood stories, because he knew that Pidge had no illusions about him anyway. And Pidge would certainly say that Lance is a real hero with the same fury with which she defended her father and brother.

The date didn’t happen. But then there was a fair where Lance and Pidge united in an effort to get a gift for Allura. Pidge also sees that Allura is depressed, she wants to please her and is actively helping Lance to get “something sparkly”.

Lance very quickly forgets what Allura requested. He decides to give her a blue lion with his autograph as a souvenir. Well, at least he didn’t decide to give his statue, otherwise Allura, in his absence, would forget about him for at least five minutes.

And how displeased he is when he sees a purple lion. We all know who this color symbolizes. The ghost of a personal dragon doesn’t let Lance go even at the fair.  

And, in the end, since it was the gift for Allura that was the purpose of their competition, they couldn’t help but talk about Allura herself. And you need to understand that Lance feels very bad now. The descent to the Goddess occurs at the time of the most difficult spiritual state of the hero. Literal descent into darkness in order to meet with the Shadow. And although Lance was used to keep his feelings, then he would have shared with Pidge, he’d tell about his sadness, about how useless he feels.

And Pidge in response reveals to Lance her view of the relationship between people. She explains to him that in relations with loved ones you need to think not only about yourself, you need to care about those you love. Because if you’re truly in love, you’re ready to give the last for the sake of the happiness of your beloved.

And probably in their conversation the game was mentioned, that Pidge had given so that the date would go smoothly. Pige doesn’t just say beautiful words, she shows that she’s ready to take care of Lance even if he – busy with self-pity – doesn’t notice it.

And here Lance finds out that Pidge really cares about him, and this knowledge encourages him. And he’s filled with the desire to take care of Allura in order to prove his love. 

Alas, he’s not yet ready to let her go. 

Stage 7 – Urgent yearning to reconnect with the feminine

Inspired by the words of Pidge, Lance feels the need to take care of Allura, to show his clogged altruistic side.

But Allura was also inspired by someone. Having descended into the darkness to her Shadow, Allura cleared her mind and returned to the world of the living to show who’s the Space Mom here. She perked up, ready for vigorous activity and Lance’s care was met only with irritation. Lance, feeling that his care isn’t appreciated, gets angry in response.

Moreover, Lance realizes that Allura is starting to move away from him. Upset, sad Allura needed his support, and for an active and self-confident one he became only an obstacle on the way to her goal. And it turned out that the desire to keep Allura close to him came into direct conflict with the desire to make Allura happy. Lance hastily tries to dissuade Allura from active actions, but she doesn’t listen to him. 

Stage 8 – Healing the mother/daughter split

Lance looks at his relationship with Allura in a new light. He understands that they won’t be happy as a couple.

Lance is in ambivalence. Allura’s fighting spirit rose, she ceased to be sad, but Lance doesn’t feel happy. And he understands that he really needs to make a choice between what’s good for him and what’s good for Allura. Because he can’t be with happy Allura – he’ll always stay behind her.

Stage 9 – Healing the wounded masculine within

Lance refuses the reward for the sake of Allura’s happiness and gets rid of the burden of envy and futility.

And now, moment X comes — an honest, open conversation between Allura and Lance. Allura confesses to him that she doesn’t love him and wants to save Lotor from Honerva’s grasp.

And then Lance finally clears his conscience. He refuses the reward which he desired so much. And at the same time, he’s finally freed from the ghost of the dragon, tormenting him all this time. He ceases to demonize Lotor, to consider him his rival, which must be surpassed. And he agrees to help Allura save her significant other.

And he really feels that he has freed himself. He’s no longer the second one, who will always lose to the first one. He’s a good friend, and Allura needs him to get the other paladins to help save Lotor.

Stage 10 – Integration of masculine and feminine/Union

Lance gains spiritual balance and maturity.

Having lost his spiritual burden, Lance feels that he’s important and he remembers that his friends love him. He ceases to feel envy and guilt. He’s free from the burden of the red paladin, now for him it’s not a yoke, but simply a title.

He’s again a Nice Guy Lance, who takes care of loved ones. And who feels that loved ones also care about him. He finally feels happy.

What does he do after Allura and Lotor set off to restore the universes?

He returnes home. He communicates closely with Pidge and comes to see how she makes robots. He probably continues his career in the Garrison. Now he’s a famous pilot, he’s a veteran. New horizons and respect of colleagues are waiting for him.

His dream of stars came true, his desire to be at home also came true. He’s where he’s needed, and he’s where he’s loved. And once a year they all come together on Altea to take a photo. Allura will surely be interested in looking at these photos when she returns.

In the universe, of course, not everything goes smoothly after the war. But now they have two gods who diligently rake up problems. The gods will cope with them.

So, everyone will have that very “happily ever after.”