#fannon interpretations of familial relations

[maybe-in-another-universe]

damian wayne is an emotionally stunted child, that much is true. irrevocably so, even. and yeah, most of it is due to the leagues influence and training especially in his formative years, but also bruce wayne (or even dick grayson) is not an emotionally-responsible poster child.

in a way, his negative behaviors are reinforced through bruce and dick’s (and possibly alfred’s?) way of parenting him. (lack of deeper conversation, not setting healthy boundaries or expectations, not setting consequences or explaining why his actions were wrong, etc) and yeah he’s an assassin child, he’s not going to be the paradigm of mentally and socially stable, but they way they handle it is a disservice not only to him, but also to those who face the brunt of his actions.

that leads to one tim drake. he was robin when damian was brought into the family so naturally that’s where a large bit of his own insecurity of his place in the family (because he focuses on securing his spot in the family, rather than looking around and realizing he had one as soon as he was introduced to bruce wayne; again tho not his fault) is focused on. it’s a disservice to tim because he keeps getting the shitty end of the deal, while damian faces no real or meaningful consequences. on top of this, he receives no real apologies from either damian or the adults in their lives who are supposed to protect them.

(and yeah they’re teenaged vigilantes, there’s only so much danger the adults can protect them from but a better effort could be made easily.)

not only does this hurt the future social and familial relationships of damian but ALSO tim. it gives tim a reason to feel mistrust in not only his brothers but also the adults in his life. i see a lot of people defending damian (in relation to tim) by saying “he’s a kid, he was trained by the league of assassins, it’s not his fault, he’s just trying to find his place.” and to some extent they’re not wrong, but they’re also neglecting the fact that TIM is also just a kid. not only was he just a kid, but a emotionally (and physically) neglected kid. these behaviors could set him back emotionally as well.

it is important to remember that this isn’t necessarily damian’s fault. his actions? yes. should he take responsibility for them and own up to his mistakes? also yes. but i can also acknowledge that he’s a teenager— a young one at that. mistakes are going to be made, but it’s also the adults’ responsibility in his life to make him understand the weight of his actions and their consequences for others.

granted, these are fictional characters so take everything i say with a grain of salt, this is just stuff i’ve been thinking on when interacting with the fandom (specifically focused on the realm of fannon) anyways sorry for the essay

tldr: damian and tim are somehow both failed by the adults around them, even after leaving one shitty environment for a better one. it’s not their faults entirely, outside factors, especially in the forms of guardians, also play a role.

#dick grayson #damian wayne al ghul #tim drake #batfam #dc comics #dc batman #nightwing #bruce wayne #red robin #family dynamics #please let damian wayne al ghul heal into a emotionally functional adult #dc robin #batman and robin #fannon #fannon interpretations of familial relations

[dent-de-leon]

I'm saying this from the perspective of a shipper I guess but looking at all these Sheith moments got me thinking.. Would it be possible that the creators themselves are actually planning for them to be canon at some point? But because of some complications..(not gonna name it) they decided to scrap it off? Do you think this is possible? Although Keith telling Shiro he is like a brother to him kinda made me sad? lol I have got so many questions so I can't wait to see more of this amazing series!

Hi anon! The thing is, writing and animation for shows like this are done way in advance. When season 1 came out, I imagine the plot up until seasons 3 or 4 was already set in stone. And Voltron, like most shows, works off a “TV Bible” that had all the major plot points outlined right when the series was first pitched so,, once you plan things out like that I think it’s difficult to make big changes to characters’ relationships.   

I think the writers have also made it clear that they are going to go ahead with their narrative rather than catering to popular fannon, particularly when they’ve told certain fans they don’t agree with their mentality at all. Even with things like how they mentioned Allura was a teenager like all the other paladins, a lot of people didn’t headcannon that, but the writers stood by it. It’s their own story after all, and I don’t see why they should change it. As for sheith, we know the writers have outright told people that harassing shippers isn’t okay and they’re completely against it. 

There are also plenty of writers, animators, and VAs who have liked clearly romantic sheith fanart, cosplay, or pro-sheith posts (and gotten backlash for it). So we know they’re certainly not opposed to shipping it. And I mean, whether it’s romantic or not, we know that the cast certainly seems invested in their dynamic. The fact that their relationship and character development is by far the most fleshed out is certainly apparent. Here’s also some stuff staff has drawn that shows they at least like Shiro and Keith’s bond: 

So anyway, despite how the fandom can be, I don’t think it would necessarily deter the writers or dissuade them from following through with major writing decisions. And given how supportive the staff has been of sheith, I don’t think they would suddenly just abandon whatever plans they had for their character development together. Under the hypothetical that they did make sheith canon, I think they would just maybe adjust how they went about it so that the fandom could kind of like, ease into it, and hopefully not be too mad about it. Though I have no doubt people would still harass the staff if sheith happened, which just…makes me feel really bad to be honest…

On the BOM line though anon, I don’t think it goes against sheith at all and here’s why:

in all honesty, everyone is kinda “brother zoned” in Team Voltron lmao. Found family is a common theme, and I don’t understand when people pull apart that one line when they conveniently forget other brotherly moments, like:

any combination of shipping Hunk, Keith, and Lance

or shipping any paladin and Allura

I know there are fans who will point at Keith’s line and claim that it discounts sheith. But people ignoring the other scenes mentioned above while latching onto the BOM line seems extremely transparent (and defensive) to me.

By the logic that Keith and Shiro can’t be shipped due to one out of context line, it also discounts ships like k/lance, h/ance, h/eith, sh/allura, k/allura, ect. I mean, Keith says “we’re all related” about everyone in the universe at one point so like,, it’s not meant to be taken at face value.

With BOM in particular it’s especially bizarre to me, because I’ve seen plenty of people replace Shiro with Lance and make the scene romantic. So, whatever someone’s opinions on Shiro and Keith, clearly the scenario itself–dying on the floor and wishing for someone to come back for you, to never abandon you, someone who is the very embodiment of your greatest hopes and dreams, the person you most desperately want to see–obviously, people can easily read that as romantic.

Key word here is also “desperate.” That does not sound like something brotherly to me, it kinda has this unrequited love vibe. But again, that could be just me. It’s fine to interpret Shiro and Keith’s relationship however you like, though it’s obvious that, platonic or romantic, Shiro is obviously the most important person right now in Keith’s life. Which makes sense, considering how Keith already said Shiro changed his life, not to mention Shiro being the only one to check in with Keith while he was worrying himself sick over being galra. He’s also the only one that can hug Keith without the poor guy instantly freezing up; there’s an unspoken intimacy to their interactions that’s obvious to any viewer at a glance.

For your consideration though, studio mir also made avatar. Katara once thought of Aang as a little brother, but that didn’t stop them from getting married. Character development happens, and people change. Also, you can lie and say something in the moment because you’re scared of expressing your true feelings. This is especially applicable to Keith because of how he reacts to strong feelings

More importantly, in the Blade of Marmora, Shiro actually mentions family first.

“We’re all the family you need.” This line alone proves Keith sees all of Team Voltron as a family–his family. By that logic, all the paladins are his siblings. What’s really interesting though here, is that Keith could agree. He could’ve said, Ya, you’re all my family and you’re all important to me. But no, he says “Shiro, you’re like a brother to me,” which means he effectively moves on from the whole team and puts all the focus on Shiro. That literally shows that, even though he holds a familial, platonic love for everyone on Team Voltron, his connection with Shiro still runs deeper than everyone else, and he sees his relationship with Shiro as being on a whole other level above the rest of the team.

As for Shiro and Keith and the portrayal of their relationship, we’ve already seen that plenty of people on the Voltron staff are supportive of Sheith in a romantic context. There’s plenty of evidence for staff liking sheith fanart and sheith posts. Also, as I’ve said before, it’s obvious they’re fond of Shiro and Keith’s dynamic. So I mean, even the creators are capable of reading their relationship in a romantic context–and support it. Doesn’t sound like you can only interpret their relationship as brotherly to me.

So honestly anon, I don’t think you need to worry. There’s nothing about the line that strikes me as detrimental to sheith. If anything, I think it just proves that, out of all the paladins, Shiro is the one Keith is closest to. 

And again, Keith’s fake Shiro refers to everyone as Keith’s family–so he sees them all as found family. The brother line doesn’t discount Sheith anymore than it does any other Team Voltron ship with Keith. 

#sheith #shiro #keith #voltron #anonymous #whatever staff has planned anon #i dont think theyre really going to make huge major changes #just to cater to a certain part of the fandom #long post