I’ve been wanting to write this meta for a while, because
after season 2 came out I’ve seen a lot of people characterise the Black Lion
as disloyal or fickle, and I don’t think this is the case. I think the Black
Lion is extremely loyal to Shiro, and very closely bonded to him; and I think
she probably hates Zarkon as much as Shiro does. That might be a strange
conclusion to come to after she literally spat Shiro out in the season 1
finale, so let’s break this down a little bit:
If you leave aside the incident in 1×11, the
rest of the show portrays the Black Lion and Shiro as very closely bonded. In
1×02 Shiro is the only Paladin who’s able to do the nosedive exercise. At this
point he’s been piloting the Lion for like… a couple of days MAX, but he’s able
to bond with her to the point that he can see through her eyes. So far, we
haven’t seen any of the other Paladins pull this off. The Lion/Paladin bond is
a two-way thing – we see that clearly with Red and Keith – so we have to assume
that this bonding moment is not just down to Shiro’s calm focus. It’s also
coming from Black.
You can also see Black’s willingness to bond with Shiro in
2×07. Shiro goes down to the hangar, sits in the Lion, and goes: “Work with me. What do I have to do to
strengthen our bond?” And the Lion is like: “YES BONDING!
ALRIGHT! LET’S GO!!” She immediately powers up and whisks Shiro off on a
spiritual journey. She invites Shiro to see through her eyes, and shows him her
history and how she was made. Shiro asks ‘what do I have to do to strengthen
our bond?’ and the Lion’s answer is ‘you need to understand my history and
where I come from’. And again – we’ve not seen any of the other Lions do this.
Shiro is the only Paladin whose Lion has opened up about their past or told
their Paladin this kind of visual story.
None of this is consistent with the characterisation of the
Black Lion as disloyal. It certainly doesn’t seem like she mistrusts or
dislikes Shiro, right? If anything, she seems positively eager to open up to
him.
Which brings me to my theory about the Black Lion: I don’t
think she’s fickle, or contrary, or lowkey still into her ex. I don’t think she
likes Zarkon at all, or misses him, or wants him back as her Paladin.
I think she’s traumatised.
More under the cut, because sweet quiznak did this get long:
theclumsiestninja 