If you are a Voltron Legendary Defender fan, or at least used to be one, and you watched season 8 on 14th December 2018, then you must have witnessed the reactions that the majority of fandom (and even those outside of it) had at what is considered the worst decision the writers could have made: Allura’s death.
In the season 8 finale, Allura is forced to sacrifice herself to save the universe. The writers wrote this situation so that Allura doesn’t have much choice on the matter. She either dies or the universe is doomed. The paladins accept this quickly and instead of trying to join her in her sacrifice (which honestly would have felt like a much better ending in my opinion) just stand back and watch her literally walk to her death.
Fans were outraged at how the writers thought this was a good conclusion for Allura’s story and the show. Prior to the release of season 8, some leaks were being spread around that spoiled Allura’s fate, and I was one of skeptic ones that thought “No way the writers would mess up that bad ‘’. And on 14th December I found out that they did mess up that bad.
I’m no stranger to watching my favorite characters dying, but Allura’s death left a mark on me in a way no other character had. When I finished watching season 8, I felt numb. I vented on twitter and tumblr for days about how much upset I was. For a while I was obsessed with the “voltron conspiracy theories” in hopes that I would find any answers. I now realize that this was because I had put so much faith in the showrunners and even defended them that I was hoping that maybe they weren’t to blame for what happened to Allura and it had been someone else’s decision.
Then the showrunners finally gave interviews about season 8 and turns out that it was their idea and they thought it was good writing. So yes, I was very disappointed.
As someone who watched Voltron Legendary Defender since the first season came out, watching the way the writers mishandled Allura over and over again was painful.
Reasons why Allura is such a great character
Allura is one of my favorite characters in Voltron, and I will even say one of my favorite characters ever.
For a long time, shows like Voltron have had boys as their target audience because they believe boys will be the ones watching the show and buying the merchandise, not girls.
Upon the release of the first season, Voltron Legendary Defender received a lot of praise for a lot of elements, one of them being the writing of its female characters like Allura, Pidge and Shay. Despite the gender ratio of the main cast being unbalanced, with five guys and two girls, during the first season it never feels like Allura and Pidge just exist to fill in the diversity quota or to fill the role of “the girl”.
This version of Allura became well-liked by fans. Her design was also praised. Allura’s voice actress, Kimberly Brooks, has described Allura as one of the best roles she has ever had so far in her career and that Allura’s design made her tear up.
For the majority of the show, it never feels like the writers are afraid that the girls are going to outshine the boys. Both Allura and Pidge were given a lot of plot and goals, and they can even be considered the strongest and most skilled characters in the team. Allura with her strength and quintessence abilities and Pidge with her brains and tech savvy.
Aside from their skills, both Pidge and Allura have really strong and resilient personalities, refusing to give up even when the odds are against them, but they are also allowed to have their flaws.
Allura’s femininity is never seen as anything negative or as something she has to lose for her to be taken seriously by others, the same way that Pidge is never criticized for not being more “lady-like” in terms of fashion and style.
It’s also worthy to note how Allura’s canon romances never reduce her to someone’s girlfriend or crush. Both Lance and Lotor are shown to fall in love with Allura’s personality, not her looks, with Lance even confessing that her strength is one of the reasons he fell in love with her and that she inspires him to be a better person. Allura is not the one who has to “fix” Lance. He decides to become better because of Allura.
While there are situations where Allura gets hurt, it never feels like a damsel in distress situation. In fight scenes she is shown to fight just as well as the other paladins and sometimes even better than them and have the upper hand over their enemy. In season 1, in “Collection and Extraction” Allura stays behind and is taken as prisoner, but it’s not some “damsel in distress” situation as Allura being captured is not because she couldn’t defend herself, but because she chose to stay behind to give Shiro the chance to escape.
Allura’s leadership is never questioned because of her gender. In fact, none of the female characters’ skills are ever put into question because of their gender. Women being in positions of power in the Voltron universe is seen as completely natural.
After all I said above, you are probably wondering “so voltron really did a great job writing Allura. where did it fail then?” and that is what I’m going to talk about now.
Where did it go wrong?
The Voltron writers managed to create this interesting cast of female characters, all with their own motivations, skills and personalities, making them very distinct from each other. The issue is that most of them either got the short end of the stick or they never got to live up to their full potential.
One of the issues that is very noticeable in the show: the lack of interactions between the female characters.
With Pidge being reimagined as a girl in this iteration of Voltron, you would have expected that Pidge and Allura would have brought a lot of female bonding to the show. One of the things many fans hoped to see was Allura and Pidge both finding comfort in each other due to the fact both had gone through the pain of losing their fathers, but sadly, in the span of eight seasons, that scene never happened. We do get a few moments where Allura and Pidge speak well of each other and we do know they care for each other a lot, especially in season 8 where Pidge gives up her video game so Allura can have a dress for her date with Lance and later on Allura comforting Pidge when she cries over Olkarion. Not to mention Allura picking Pidge in “The Feud”.
In season 8 we have the episode “Launch Date” where we have Allura going out with Pidge, Nadia, Ina and Romelle to get an outfit for her date. While some have complained that this moment was still all about getting Allura ready for a date with a boy and not just girls hanging out together for fun, I still think it’s cute the way the girls wanted to help Allura. The problem is that this is the first episode (in a show with eight seasons and 78 episodes) to have this many female characters talking to each other in the same scene and we never see these girls hanging out together again.
The show missed out on friendships that could have had potential like Acxa & Allura & Romelle, who were all in some ways hurt by Lotor. There could have been some interesting foils between Acxa and Romelle, since Acxa believed Lotor’s words and was loyal to him while Romelle was pretty much the only altean in the colony who didn’t see Lotor as their messiah.
The Honerva vs Allura plot was something I was very enthusiastic about and I was hoping that we would get to see these two altean alchemists fighting each other, similar to how we saw them doing in the finale of season 2. The problem is that I had somehow forgotten that Voltron is a show about robots fighting so of course the last fight in the show had to be between two giant robots.
Throughout season 8 we actually never really get to see much of Honerva and Allura fighting. In “Genesis” there is a scene where Allura nearly stabs Honerva with a lance but Honerva manages to stop her and after failing to recruit Allura to her side she then uses Lance as a way to keep Allura from attacking her. Then Allura falls to the ground, crying, and that’s the end of it.
In season 8, the show was really committed to making us feel like the paladins were in disadvantage compared to Honerva, by making Allura, a character who throughout most of the show had done her best to portray strength and encourage others to never give up, feel helpless too.
This terrible handling of Allura’s character didn’t just happen in season 8.
Allura for most of the show is seen as the leader. Even when Shiro and Keith are the ones piloting the Black Lion, Allura is still the decision maker. But then season 7 comes and, looking back, this season was full of red flags for Allura’s future.
Prior to season 7 fans had already pointed out a few issues in the way the show treated Allura; some of them being her being put through a lot of emotional pain, the “not all galra are bad” plot in season 2 and her romance with Lotor. Despite those issues, throughout season 1 to 6, it still felt like the writers really did care about Allura and that they wanted to tell her story. Then season 7 feels like the writers suddenly didn’t want to bother with writing a good narrative for Allura.
Allura, who had been such a major character and a big part of the story, takes a backseat. At first we might think that it’s because season 7 is meant to be the Earth arc, so the human characters need to have more focus, but then it gets worse as the people at the Garrison hardly bat an eye at the fact that Allura is an alien princess and the one leading the Coalition.
Not to mention how Allura’s opinions when it comes to strategy are brushed off because she isn’t from Earth, as if that makes her less qualified to help come up with a plan, especially someone with the leadership and fighting experience that she has.
Season 7 really wanted to sideline Allura that they even had to weaken her. During the fight with Macidus, Allura along with the team is easily defeated. In season 2 we watched her fight and overpower Haggar, back when she was still new to her powers, and now the show wants us to believe that Allura wouldn’t stand a chance against one of Haggar’s druids. But the show wanted Keith to have this victory, so Allura had to be knocked out or she would have stolen his kill.
You would also think that after what happened in season 6 between Allura and Lotor and Allura now knowing that alteans have been alive this entire time that the show would take a few minutes to focus on her and how she is feeling after all of that. But no. The show moves on and Allura only mentions Lotor once when talking to Acxa.
We can agree that not addressing trauma is an issue with many characters in Voltron and not just with Allura, but when before, in early seasons, we used to get at least a scene or two of Allura venting to someone about her feelings or someone going to check on Allura to see how she is feeling, we now have Allura isolating herself and no one there to listen to her.
When Allura gets sad after listening to Sendak’s holograph talking about the destruction of Altea, she excuses herself and leaves.
Allura hiding her sadness and grief is something she had done before in the show, but what we see here is the show being cruel to Allura for no reason by reminding her of her planet and how it was destroyed and then following it up with her building an arm for Shiro.
I think the “peak” of Allura’s mistreatment this season is when she sacrifices the crystal of her crown and gives it to Shiro. Some might say this is a great moment because it’s Allura helping her friend and when you analyze it like that, yes, it’s a great moment between Shiro and Allura. The big problem is that ONCE AGAIN Allura is forced to sacrifice something of hers to help someone else. Throughout the show she is forced to say goodbye to what she has left of her home, family and culture. She was forced to destroy her father’s AI back in season 1, in season 6 she had to say goodbye to the castle of lions and now she has to lose her crown.
The worst is that the writers don’t even have Shiro thanking Allura or give any importance to having Allura lose yet another piece from her past.
After season 7, many Allura’s fans were disappointed over the treatment of the character and feared that it would get much worse in season 8. I was actually one of the optimistic ones, hoping that the Honerva vs Allura plot would be the awesome conclusion of the show and that it would end with Allura finally getting the happy ending she deserved after all she went through.
Even when those dreadful leaks came out, I kept hoping they were fake or that Allura was still alive and she just couldn’t be there for the team selfie.
How wrong I was.
Season 8 happens and not only does Allura’s leadership suddenly become non-existent, throughout this season she is constantly in pain, depressed and angry, not only because of having to deal with Honerva’s threat, but also with the rejection from her people.
The problem with this narrative is not Allura feeling depressed. After everything she’s gone through it’s normal that even she can’t stay strong for so long and will eventually break. The issue is how the show treats it. There are many scenes where Allura vents about her frustration about what is going on with Honerva, but it hardly shows she getting any support or a shoulder to lean on and instead just jumps to the next plot point.
The only character who offers Allura any comfort in these situations is Lance and given their relationship as a couple it makes sense, but at the same time it feels like they forget any other relationship Allura had. Shiro and Allura act more like co-workers than the co-leaders they used to be in early seasons. Coran and Allura relationship is almost non-existent in season 8.
And the ending was the final nail in the coffin. Allura, who at the start of this season talks about how she feels unsure about her future and how she doesn’t have a family to return to once the war is over. Allura, who in season 3 vents to the Blue Lion that she can’t control everything and finally admits she needs help.
You would think that the logical conclusion to Allura’s story, the story of a character who lost her planet and family, and kept making sacrifices for everyone, would be that she would get to live, reunite with her people and be with her found family. You would think that the logical conclusion for a show like Voltron, that focuses on teamwork, family and how strong people are when they are together, would be the team all working together to save the universe.
And what happened? Allura is the one who has to die to save the universe. Allura tells Honerva that she found a new purpose and a new family, and a few minutes later she tells her friends that her purpose is to sacrifice herself to save all of existence and they have to part ways.
And to rub even more salt on the wound, we get to see Honerva, the one who caused all of this, happily reunite with her family right after Allura has to say goodbye to her new found family. And the writers really wanted to rub that salt, because they also brought Altea back. Allura’s home and people are back and we don’t even get to see her being happy about it.
The last time we see Allura is after the end of the credits (which Lauren Montgomery had to tell us not to skip) and while watching the end of the final episode I was praying that we would get to see Allura alive or just something hinting at it, and what we got instead was the vague Allura Nebula.
While this scene makes me tear up, especially with the way the music fades and the only sounds left are of space and the Lions and this being the last shot of the show, it also makes me angry because it left me and a lot of fans confused about what is really going on. For months we were left questioning either Allura was really alive or not, or if she is now a space goddess.
Months later, showrunners Dos Santos and Montgomery, during an interview, finally shared their idea about it and said that they viewed it as Allura’s quintessence coming back together and that she would one day be reborn. As much as aesthetic as the Allura Nebula is, it’s also infuriating because the show could have done a better job at hinting that Allura is alive and could come back.
What ruins it even more is that before the Allura Nebula, there is the epilogue slideshow that shows what all the paladins are doing in the future and Allura is not part of it, meaning that years after the Lions fly away and say goodbye to the paladins, Allura is still not back and we have no idea when she will be reunited with her friends. The epilogue also ruins any chances of a good continuation as any spin-offs or comics could have picked up the story after the Lions leave and find the Allura Nebula.
As some fans and Montgomery have defended, Allura sacrificing herself makes sense with her character because she is the one who ends the war and gets to be the hero in the end. Montgomery also justified the decision to kill Allura by explaining that most movies have the male protagonist be the one to sacrifice himself in the end and she says that if Keith, for example, had been the one to save the day instead of Allura, she wouldn’t have been happy about it.
This shows that Montgomery and Dos Santos failed to understand what makes a hero sacrifice emotional and well-written.
Allura’s sacrifice makes me emotional, but for the wrong reasons. I cry because this character, who I loved throughout the duration of this show, had her story end in such a miserable way.
The show could have had Honerva be the one (and only one) making the big final sacrifice as a way to redeem herself and you would have both the villain redemption and the “a woman saves the day at the end” that the showrunners wanted to go for.
Aside from the main cast, we don’t really see anyone else mourn Allura. Characters that before had been friends and allies with Allura are never given a line to talk about Allura’s death or show up to pay their respects to Allura’s statue. Matt and Sam, who knew Allura, see Pidge leaving to go to the Allura Celebration and act as if she is going to some party with the paladins and not a celebration in memory of her friend who died a year ago.
Romelle could have been the character that would help balance the main cast and could have been a great addition to Allura’s story, but not only was she introduced too late into the show, it feels like the writers didn’t have much plans for her aside from the Colony plot.
Not to mention how we never get to see her and Allura and Coran have any real interactions throughout season 7, even after they are told by Kolivan that the alteans from the colony suddenly disappeared. Romelle’s trauma of losing her friends and her brother Bandor are never properly addressed and during the second half of season 7 Romelle doesn’t really do anything besides changing her hairstyle.
We also never get to see Romelle becoming friends with Allura. The two just hit it right off and become friends off-screen. The show does keep on pushing the idea that Romelle and Allura are friends, with them having Romelle be on the Blue Lion, being there with Coran when Allura is in the hospital and then telling Allura to have some time to relax in season 8.
But despite all that, Romelle, for some reason, is not even invited to the Allura Celebration that is being held in Altea.
One of the worst things to come out of this situation is how it also affected the children watching the show. After the finale many parents shared online how their kids hadn’t reacted well to the show’s finale and Allura’s death.
I wish the showrunners had thought about what children, the target audience this show is marketed for, would feel at seeing a character like Allura dying and how hurtful it would feel.
How did this happen?
Until the end of the show, there were only two women in the direction team: Rie Koga and Lauren Montgomery. In the writing staff you will only find the names of May Chan and Lauren Montgomery.
May Chan’s departure from the staff is attributed by fans as one of the reasons why the writing for the female characters, especially Allura, might have started to fail. In her IMDb page May Chan is credited as writer/staff writer in 27 episodes of the show. From this list, I believe the most important ones to point out are “Tears of the Balmera” and “Crystal Venom”. Both this episode address Allura’s trauma and loss and both of them end with Allura saving the day.
In “Tears of Balmera” Allura refuses to give up on the Balmerans and tells them her story and how she lost her planet. Her speech inspires them and we see Allura being moved to tears. The episode then proceeds to have Allura channeling her quintessence to heal Balmera, a ritual that Coran warns her might kill her, but Allura is willing to take that risk. Because of it, the Balmera not only regenerates but is also able to trap the Robeast.
“Crystal Venom” follows right after. The show doesn’t need to say the words “death” and “suicide” to make the audience understand what Alfor AI is implying when he tells Allura to stop fighting and join her people. It’s using Allura’s grief and sorrow against her and trying to offer her a way out by just giving up.
Allura refuses to and instead she destroys her father AI. While the episode ends with Allura having to sacrifice something, it also gives us the feeling that this is the beginning of her healing from the loss of her family and people. This is Allura also being able to say goodbye to her father, when before she couldn’t do it because of being put into a cryopod.
She could have just given up and surrendered to her grief, but she knows Altea is gone and that the universe needs her right now.
These episodes not only are my favorites ones, but are also the perfect examples of how to write Allura making sacrifices. Allura in the Balmera risks her life to save others and not only does she succeed, she gets to live. It’s also the first time we see that Allura can channel large amounts of quintessence and the first glimpse of her powers. Allura destroys her father AI, but not only is she comforted by her teammates after going through that, she comes out of this situation understanding that her father’s legacy is Voltron.
Compare it to the scene where Allura sacrifices her crown to fix Shiro’s arm in season 7. Allura giving away the crystal of her crown and she never wearing it again is never acknowledged. It doesn’t do anything for Allura’s story and instead is used for the Atlas.
Allura doesn’t gain anything from losing her crown.
Would May Chan have completely saved the show’s writing? We don’t know. While some of Allura, Pidge and other female characters’ great moments have been written by the male writers on the staff, it also makes us wonder how much the writing for Allura could have improved if there had been more women on the staff.
To conclude this, I’m going to say that Allura, despite what the writers did to her, remains as one of the best examples of what a “strong female character” is supposed to be like. Had she been in the hands of better writers, I’m sure she could have been given the happy ending she truly deserved.
And who knows? Maybe if someone is willing to pick up Voltron Legendary Defender again and give it a continuation, we might get to see that one day. Until then, we can only rely on fandom to create the perfect ending for Allura.
