I’ll do you one better–Keith says that in line in response to something Shiro says, which is “We’re your family.” And when he says we, yes–he means all the paladins. Caonically, this is how Keith feels about Team Voltron. They’re all his found family. But Keith’s response to that isn’t, “Yes, you all are.” Instead, he specifically focuses on Shiro, and how much Shiro means to him. So yes, he thinks of all of Voltron as his family. But there’s undeniably this special place in his heart for Shiro that just can’t be replaced.
And even though Keith also cares about his actual parents–mentioning that it was his mother’s rejection that caused him to push others away, and even thinking fondly enough of his father to hallucinate reuniting with him in the BOM. But the fact of the matter is, not even the dream of being with his parents again was enough to convince him to give up the trial. He only did that for the sake of Shiro’s safety, because “Nothing was worth Shiro’s pain.”
What’s more, Keith himself has said that Shiro is the only one who’s never abandoned him, who’s always been there for him. Not his parents, not Lance or Allura or the other paladins, it’s just Shiro that he has this intimate bond with. And that’s why it breaks my heart when people said they hoped after Shiro disappeared Lance would fill that void for Keith. Or when they edit sheith scenes to be other ships or downplay the importance of Shiro in Keith’s life. Because Keith himself has said Shiro was the only who he believed wholeheartedly cared for him and would never turn his back on him–“Shiro is the one person who never gave up on me, I won’t give up on him.”
At the end of the day, even with all the progress Keith has made with opening up to the other paladins–he still feels like Shiro is literally all he fucking has, and people still want to take even that away from him. Even though it’s his worst fear
You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring. You defeated an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. That was the day you earned the name “Champion”.
Ahhh this is probably gonna get too personal for me to be answering, but like–basically, most people would classify suicide as purely selfish. And oftentimes, if you ever attempted something like that, the typical response would be anger. It would be people saying that it’s selfish to just leave everyone else behind to deal with the aftermath, and what will your family and friends say, how are they supposed to live with the grief, and so on. That’s how most people think, it’s just a natural reaction. But like, it doesn’t really help you when you’re in that position. It really just compounds the guilt and can make processing everything even more difficult to deal with.
If you’re ever in that position, being told you’re just creating a burden for others? That doesn’t really help you deal with it. It’s so much more important to be told that you should live on for your own sake. And yes, there are others who will love and support you, but that doesn’t have to be phrased as “you’re being selfish and letting everyone down and just abandoning them.” It’s so much more healing to hear that you should live for your own life and happiness and that you do have a place where you belong. Because when you’re in the headspace where you’d actually do something like this, that’s something you really need to hear.
I don’t think Josh meant that Shiro would try to guilt Keith or anything, I just think he was trying to say that Shiro would want to sit him down and tell him that you have to keep fighting no matter what–like how Keith always told him. “Stop talking like that, you’re gonna make it.” “Why are we even talking about this? Nothing is gonna happen.” “Fight it, Shiro!” And the list goes on. After Keith had constantly expressed the importance of Shiro never giving up, after he reignited that spark, I think it’s understandable Shiro would feel almost betrayed at the thought Keith would then just turn around and throw his own life away so easily.
Yes, he did it to save his friends. He did it because he felt the mission demanded it. And so this isn’t just someone dying for the sake of wanting death, but a “heroic sacrifice” and so on–but Shiro’s also been in that position before. He was ready to die for this cause, and Keith was there to pull him back from the brink every time. Shiro saw firsthand in Keith’s trial how much it would pain Keith to lose him, so how could he do that to Shiro? Why wouldn’t he be able to understand? “‘We all have to be there for each other,’” was something Josh said Shiro would tell him, after all. (source).
More importantly, what really made me feel better was those last few things Josh mentioned, about how Shiro would also say, “and ‘What would that have solved?’ And–‘You just wouldn’t be here.’” (same source). For Shiro, a victory won at the price of Keith’s life isn’t a win. You just wouldn’t be here. For Shiro, that’s the main takeaway. Not that Voltron or the coalition was safe, not that they had retaken nearly a third of the empire. But the Keith would just be gone, and I think it’s understandable for him to get emotional over that. He’s allowed to have his own feelings and beliefs too.
ifesbob 