I’m antish/eith in part because Keith has to grow up. Shiro—er, Kuron—is hindering his development just by being there. I hope they can resolve this issue soon.

To be honest, I don’t understand this concept. And I’ve heard it before. This idea that Shiro is just a stepping stone for Keith, or even worse–that he’s holding him back. If you only have one friend, if you’ve been abandoned and turned on all your life, if you had only one person you can count on, a single constant, is it “growing up” to give them up? “My life would be a whole lot different without you.” “Shiro is the one person who never gave up on me, I won’t give up on him.” Shiro didn’t make Keith’s life worse, he changed it for the better. 

Before Shiro, Keith had nothing. No one. He was abandoned by his parents. He lived in fear or abandonment because, as he says, “Maybe, I’m naturally untrusting because my mom left me? And so, instead of accepting people into my life, I push them away before they reject me. I guess I have some walls up…” Shiro and the garrison were likely all he had. We know this is true, because after Shiro disappears, Keith leaves. He isolates himself in the desert for a year, because he has nothing left to lose. 

I see people say that Keith needs to “get over Shiro” all the time, that somehow him falling for Lance would be far more meaningful development because being “too close” to someone, sharing in unconditional love and support, is supposedly childish or wrong. When Keith gets kicked out of the garrison–an orphan with no home, no remaining family, someone who had just lost his only friend in an incredibly tragic incident, Lance’s reaction is to do a victory dance. He’s all excited that Keith’s out of the way and he can further his own piloting career. “Hasta la later, Keith!” 

Meanwhile, that boy’s wondering the desert, feeling completely lost and alone. I highly doubt Keith’s the only one that has some growing up to do here, and I refuse to believe losing his only long term support was “helpful.” We’ve seen firsthand what happens when he loses Shiro. 

Spiraling into depression isn’t healthy. Watching Keith break down and mourn and grieve all over again, push himself further away from the team and throw himself headlong into danger with reckless abandon, I don’t think anyone can say that’s progress. When Shiro disappears, Keith takes to talking to Black like he’s communicating with Shiro through her. Everyone else calls her the Black Lion. Rather than acknowledge her as a separate entity, Keith says things like, “I know this is what you wanted for me, Shiro. But I’m not you. I can’t lead them like you.” And, “This one’s for you, Shiro.” He latches onto Black as an attempt at clinging onto what little of Shiro he has left. Keith wasn’t healing or growing into a “better” person. He was suffering the entire time. 

So let’s talk about what Shiro has done for Keith’s development, because the answer is–way more than anybody else. We’ve already established that, in Keith’s own words, Shiro has 1) Completely changed his life, and 2) Has been the only person to never abandon him. Not Lance. Not Allura. Not Team Voltron. Just Shiro. When Keith goes through his BOM trial, arguably one of his paramount moments of character development, who spurs that growth and change? Shiro. Shiro was the one by his side the entire time, the one he desperately wanted to see, the person who came rushing to his aid immediately. 

There’s a reason none of the other paladins appear to tempt Keith. It’s because his bond with Shiro was always what mattered most, the most tempting lure his mind could offer. And it’s how much he cares for Shiro that becomes his salvation as well. “Nothing was worth Shiro’s pain.” That’s why he gives up the knife and is able to awaken his blade. 

Or, let’s talk about season 3, how Keith only pilots the Black Lion to honor Shiro’s wishes, how he’s the one we feel Shiro’s loss through, how he’s searching for a way to save him the entire time. How there are numerous parallels between sheith and zaggar, how their storylines inevitably intertwine, echoing a tragedy of 10,000 years ago as they tempt the same fate. Let’s talk about how Keith and Shiro’s bond is one of the main overarching themes, as is Keith’s devoted loyalty to Shiro, his vow to save him “As many times as it takes,” just like how Zarkon risks everything to save Haggar before him.

Or, let’s talk about Keith’s galra nature. How Shiro was the only one who accepted him without question and immediately showed his unconditional support. Let’s talk about how he’s been helping Keith embrace his identity long before that. How galra suffer from very volatile, painfully, viscerally intense emotions. How Keith was unequipped to handle those feelings, never grew up with essential coping mechanisms. How it was Shiro who was able to help him remain calm and taught him vital coping methods to stave off sensory overload. As Lauren clarified, these volatile emotions are inherently galran trait, and it’s understandable that this would cause immense stress and meltdowns. Shiro was the only one able to alleviate that pain, to try and help anchor Keith and teach him ways to cope:

Similarly, Alfor mentions that Honerva really “softened up” Zarkon. In much the same way, Shiro was able to help Keith. And we know those grounding methods really stuck with him and continue to be helpful over a year later, because Keith still uses them when he’s overwhelmed. That’s why his mantra is “Patience yields focus.” “That really stayed with you, didn’t it?” It did, and it meant more to Keith than he could say. In light of all that, I don’t see how Shiro’s just “holding him back.”

Or, let’s consider season 4, and how a big part of why Keith even left the team was for Shiro’s sake. Because he believed in Shiro. Or, to quote one of my previous meta:

To say that Shiro has stunted Keith’s character development when he’s proven to be a major catalyst for a lot of Keith’s growth and motives is just…incredibly counterintuitive. Even more so when you consider that having Keith lose Shiro for good would go against the heart and soul of the story. Zarkon was very attached to Honerva as well, and he ended up making a poor decision that caused a lot of destruction. But the point isn’t “you have to give up on the people you love” or “you have to make these kinds of sacrifices.” That was never the point. Because Keith already lost Shiro twice. He never properly moved on from the grieving phase during Kerberos. If the lesson he needed to learn was, You have to let Shiro go, then why have Keith painfully endure the entire mourning process again just to ultimately tear Shiro away from him?

Keith having someone to believe in isn’t childish. He doesn’t need to grow out of trust. Quite the contrary, the fact that he was able to open up so much to Shiro at all represents some much needed, monumental character development. He tenses up when others hug him, but with Shiro he melts. He and Shiro allow each other to see vulnerabilities they never bare to anyone else. Keith has lived his whole life shoving others away in fear of rejection. To say that he needs to let go of the one person he loves and trusts unconditionally, the single person that Keith’s let down all his walls around–that’s a severe loss of character development. As is trying to teach him the lesson that he’ll never be happy, that he must always sacrifice again and again, that there’s no way for love to win. “As many times as it takes.” He’s staying with Shiro until the very end. That’s who he is. 

And Shiro’s so much more than just a stepping stone for Keith. He’s his own person too, and he and Keith mutually rely on one another even when torn apart by the universe.