Allura

Princess Allura
Background Information
Television	Voltron: Legendary Defender
Voice	Kimberly Brooks
Character information
Affiliations	Team Voltron

Princess Allura is the princess of planet Altea, daughter of King Alfor, and one of the last remaining members of the Altean race. She is the leader of the Defenders of the Universe, aiding the Paladins of Voltron in their efforts to defeat the Galra Empire.

History

Early Life

Allura was born as the only known child of King Alfor, ruler of Altea, whom he dearly loved; one of their favorite traditions was attending the Altean Juniberry Festival, where they would enjoy the berries and the sweet scent of the plant's flowers. Little is known about Allura's mother, though on one occasion she struggled to calm Allura after the young princess' dress was stained by the Juniberries. It is similarly unknown how involved Allura was with the creation of Voltron, though her father would tie the Lions to her life force, giving her the ability to pinpoint their locations. When the original Black Paladin, Zarkon, betrayed Alfor and led the Galra Empire in an invasion of Altea, Allura wished to have Voltron formed in order to fight against him. Fearing that Zarkon would seize it, however, Alfor rendered Allura unconscious and placed her and Coran in stasis aboard the Castle of Lions, which was then sent to the far off planet Arus with the Black Lion also aboard while the other Lions were scattered across the universe.

Awakening

Allura and Coran were eventually awakened from stasis when the Blue Lion brought five humans-Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk-to the Castle of Lions, which they entered and wandered through until they found the two Alteans. Upon awakening, Allura was initially confused and then hostile towards the interlopers, until they explained that the Blue Lion had brought them there. Accessing the Castle's computers, Allura learned a horrifying truth: she and Coran had been in stasis for 10,000 years, and Altea-along with its entire solar system-had been destroyed, apparently leaving them as the only surviving members of their race. Allura was further startled to learn from Shiro that Zarkon was still alive, but was forced into action when Coran detected a Galra ship approaching the planet. Deciding that the five humans had been brought to the castle for a purpose, she charged them with locating the remaining lions so that they could reform Voltron and set about freeing the universe-much of which had been conquered-from the Galra Empire.

Allura also discovered that the Space Mice had survived, having stowed away in her stasis capsule. When the Paladins returned from retrieving the Green and Yellow Lions, Allura informed them that she had located the previously undetectable Red Lion aboard the Galra ship, which had arrived much sooner than anticipated. Not sure what to do, Allura received an unexpected source of support when Coran suggested speaking to her father, revealing that King Alfor's memories had been copied and stored aboard the Castle. Speaking with an artificial intelligence based on those memories, Allura questioned whether she should flee with the lions they currently possessed or try to fight, and Alfor's digital double encouraged her to face Zarkon as she had wanted to.

With the decision made, the Paladins embarked on a mission to recover the Red Lion so that the Black Lion's vault within the Castle could be opened, while Allura and Coran set about repairing the Castle defenses in preparation for the attack. They were aided in this by the Space Mice, whose time in the capsule with Allura had given them a psychic connection. Despite this, the Castle defenses were soon broken, and it was only by managing to form Voltron that the Paladins saved Allura and Coran. With the Galra Commander Sendak apparently defeated, Allura proclaimed their new team the Defenders of the Universe.

Trouble on Arus

Eager to leave Arus and start the campaign against Zarkon and the Galra Empire, Allura became aggressive in pushing the Paladins to learn how to form Voltron at will. She went so far as to turn the castle defenses on them, both to test the mechanisms and to try and compel them to form Voltron, but proved unsuccessful. Her relentless pushing culminated in a dinner which Coran attempted to turn into another training exercise, only for the Paladins to become so fed up with Allura that they banded together against her and Coran in a food fight. Though annoyed, Allura realized that the Paladins had at last found a way to join together, and they subsequently succeeded in forming Voltron.

Allura and her friends were soon surprised when one of the native Arusians, Kylzap, arrived at the castle seeking answers, with the Arusians believing that the castle belonged to a "Lion Goddess" and that the recent destructive forces were a sign of her displeasure. Feeling that she owed the Arusians due to the castle having been on their planet for so long, Allura led most of the Paladins in visiting their village. She initially attempted to convince the Arusians that they were not in fact being punished, but found that the best approach with the King of the Arusians was to accept his "apologies." When the Robeast Myzax arrived, she and Corran helped the Arusians make it to safety while the Paladins formed Voltron and defeated the invader.

Continuing her efforts, Allura invited the Arusians into the Castle of Lions and held a party in prelude to the castle's departure from Arus, giving the Arusian king a device he could use to call for their aid. Observing the somewhat goofy behavior of some of the Paladins, Allura felt the need to display leadership, but opened up to the mice, who informed her of something stunning: Pidge was actually a girl who had been posing as a boy. Hoping to bond with her, Allura tried to get her to open up only for Pidge to admit something entirely different: her intent to leave the Paladins in order to search for her missing father and brother. Allura and the others tried to dissuade her but were interrupted when Sendak, who was still alive, destroyed the crystal that powered the castle and launched an attack on the Arusian village. Traveling there with Keith, Allura found out that the attack had been a diversion, and returned to find the castle occupied by Sendak's remaining forces, with Shiro and Lance as his prisoners.

With Coran and Hunk away in search of a Balmera form which they could obtain a new crystal power source, Allura was forced to rely on Pidge and the Space Mice, who had remained inside the castle, to delay Sendak's efforts to leave the planet. Her instruction allowed Pidge to deactivate the Castle defenses so that Allura and Keith could get back in, and the Paladins were able to subdue and capture Sendak after his forces had been eliminated. The corrupted Galra crystal Sendak had used to power the castle was soon replaced with the one brought by Hunk and Coran, and Pidge announced her decision to remain with the Paladins. Shortly thereafter, Pidge finally admitted the truth about herself to the rest of the team, and Allura revealed that, like Shiro, she had been aware for some time; of the others only Lance was startled by the revelation. With Sendak confined to a stasis pod, the Castle of Lions was then launched from Altea.

The Balmera and the Castle

The Defenders soon made their way to the Balmera from which Hunk and Coran had obtained the crystal in order to free the ancient space creature and its inhabitants, the Balmerans, from their Galra occupation. Allura and Coran remained aboard the castle and coordinated the mission, which saw the rescue of the Balmeran Shay and the defeat of the Galra forces occupying the Balmera, including a force sent by Commander Prorok to capture Voltron. However, a new Robeast soon arrived to threaten the Paladins, and the situation was further complicated when it was discovered that the Balmera, having suffered the predations of the Galra for so long, was dying.

Allura became determined to evacuate the Balmerans, going so far as to travel to the surface to lead them to safety, only to learn that they preferred to die with the creature that had long been their home. Using her own unique abilities, Allura then communicated with them all and, speaking as one who had lost her own home, convinced them to leave the Balmera so that they could honor its sacrifice by helping to stop Zarkon. When it became clear that they would be unable to evacuate the Balmerans in time, however, Allura decided upon an even riskier stratagem: performing an ancient Altean ceremony to revitalize the creature by granting it some of her own energy. With the Balmerans' aid she succeeded, and though she was left badly weakened the ceremony saved the Balmera, which was able to encase the Robeast in crystal after it survived a number of strikes by Voltron.

Following the successful mission, Allura visited her father's hologram aboard the castle, enjoying a recreation of the Juniberry fields before Coran came to take her back to bed. Unfortunately, the caring recreation of her father soon turned into a dangerous foe, having been corrupted by the energies of Sendak's crystal. Believing that Allura would only suffer grief and conflict if she continued the fight against Zarkon, he deceived her into taking the castle into a system whose star was about to go nova. Coran succeeded in awakening Allura, who was then forced to disconnect the power source to her father's A.I., which would result in the loss of his memories forever. Despite being bombarded by an array of images of herself and her father from the past, Allura succeeded, and afterwards was able to admit that the hologram had not truly been her father.

Personality

Allura is a strong and determined young woman, who dearly loved her father, people, and planet. The destruction of all three at the hands of the Galra Empire under Zarkon-once a trusted ally-led to her developing a deep dislike for the entire species. At times this has led her to be suspicious, cold, and outright hostile towards potential allies, such as the Blade of Marmora, and even towards Keith after it was discovered that he was part Galra. Her drive to defeat Zarkon has at times made her impatient and overly critical of both her allies and herself, though she has come to regard the Paladins as family; this later helped her to overcome her suspicion of Keith.

Abilities

As a royal Altean, Allura possesses powerful mystical abilities, such as being able to open wormholes using a Teludav device, communicate through or with a Balmera, and provide such creatures with energy. The full range of her powers is unknown, though she proved more than a match for Haggar in their second encounter. She is also a skilled fighter, wielding a metallic Bo staff in battle with impressive ability. Being an Altean she has chameleon-like abilities and can change her skin-color and size to resemble other species, such as the Galra; this transformation power does have its limits. In Galra form she demonstrated incredible physical strength, much to Shiro's astonishment-it is unknown whether this is a Galra trait she mimicked or a natural ability of hers, though she did demonstrate some strength against Ulaz.

Gallery

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