| “ | You don’t understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There’s no bargaining with them. They won’t stop until everything is dead. | „ |
| ~ Shiro about Zarkon and his Galra Empire. |
| “ | You cannot stop me. The Black Lion will finally be returned to its original paladin. | „ |
| ~ Zarkon revealing he was the original leader of Voltron. |
| “ | Attention, citizens of the Galra Empire. From this day forward, my son Lotor is to be regarded as a fugitive criminal of the empire. All citizens are authorized to use deadly force to stop him or any of his soldiers. I repeat, Prince Lotor is an enemy of the state. Engage with extreme prejudice. Kill on sight. | „ |
| ~ Zarkon broadcasting a message to universe, ordering literally everyone to kill his son Lotor. |
Emperor Zarkon is the main antagonist of Voltron: Legendary Defender, serving as the main antagonist of the series until his death in Season 5 and a posthumous supporting character in the 8th and final season.
He was the leader of the Galra Empire who ruled over nearly the entire universe for 10,000 years and destroyed countless planets in his obsessive quest to extract the living energy called quintessence of the universe and obtain the most powerful weapon in the universe and the only thing that can stop him, Voltron. He was the former Black Paladin and leader of Team Voltron and the best friend turned murderer of King Alfor along with the archenemy of his successor as the Black Paladin, Shiro.
He is voiced by Neil Kaplan.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- Even before he became a villain, he was a rather morally ambiguous hero who defended the Galra Empire’s caste system, chastizing one of the paladins for trying to get a member of the servant class to join their celebration and had power-hungry tendencies.
- He murdered his former best friend King Alfor of Altea and destroyed Altea after already destroying all the other planets in the solar system and had Haggar execute the other paladins/his former colleagues.
- He conquered nearly the entire universe and destroyed countless planets for over 10,000 years with the ultimate goal of draining the quintessence (living energy) of every planet for himself which would destroy all life.
- He was very abusive towards his son Lotor as a child, viewing him as an “impure” weakness, angrily denying any chance from Lotor to spend time together and having him punished simply for asking about his mom.
- However, he becomes despicable when Lotor as an adult, shows him how he worked together with the people of a planet to achieve prosperity for all instead of subjugating them, Zarkon destroys the planet in front of Lotor’s eyes as punishment for not subjugating a “lesser” species even after Lotor begged him not to punish them for his “mistake” and pointed out that cooperation wasn’t only more moral but more energy efficient for the Galra Empire. He then had Lotor exiled forever so he would be forced to live with the pain of what happened.
- He began the plot of the show when the scout ship he ordered captured human space explorers Shiro and his crewmates Matt and Samuel Holt, he ordered them to take the humans back for torture and refused Shiro’s attempt to be reasoned with. This would result in the group being separated and Shiro being experimented on and losing his right arm for a Galra implant with him over a year before escaping while Matt and Samuel would remain enslaved.
- He vowed to wipe out the "foul race from the universe forever" when he discovered Altean princess and Alfor's daughter Allura was still alive and sent Commander Sendak to capture the Voltron lions from her.
- He sprung a trap for the Voltron paladins after capturing princess Allura, letting them come into Galra Central Command to seal them in, and tore Voltron apart using his connection to the Black Lion.
- During his battle with Keith, he just blew up sections of his own base and henchmen with no remorse. He nearly succeeded in destroying the paladins and capturing the Voltron lions had a secret agent of the Galra resistance group, the Blade of Marmora, not shut down the perimeter at the last second.
- He sent Commander Prorok to suffer a fate worse than death from Haggar by becoming a horrific mindless robotic abomination called a robeast even though he knew Prorok was innocent of sabotaging the perimeter that allowed Voltron to escape.
- He used his connection with the Black Lion to tirelessly hunt down the paladins and expose a Blade of Marmora base to send the robeast Prorok to destroy which forced Ulaz, the Blade of Marmora agent who saved Shiro from Galra Empire imprisonment to sacrifice himself to save Team Voltron. He would also trap Shiro in the astral plane and fight him for control of the Black Lion, strangling and nearly killing him had the Black Lion not finally bond with Shiro and expel Zarkon.
- In the climactic final battle between him and Team Voltron, he killed Shiro, arguably the main protagonist of the series up to that point which would end up causing Team Voltron to fall into disarray.
- After being healed yet encased in life-support, not only did he fire Lotor (who had been ruling in his absence on Haggar's orders) and exile him again but once he found out Lotor obtained a trans-reality comet (the same comet that Voltron was created from), he hypocritically blamed Lotor for keeping things secret from him despite literally claiming he wanted nothing to do with Lotor and publicly broadcasts a message to the universe telling literally anyone to kill Lotor while obsessively leading the hunt for Lotor himself.
- He offers a false deal to Team Voltron of giving them Samuel in exchange for them giving him Lotor which he had no intention of honoring. When the groups exchanged prisoners, it turned out to be a hologram of Samuel and he revealed the real Sam was still on his shuttle to mock the paladins before having Lotor’s generals take off with a captive Sam and ordering his fleet to move in and kill the paladins. He engaged a freed Lotor in a final duel which ultimately led to Lotor finally ending the tyrant’s life.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He has a tragic backstory. He was once of the greatest heroes in the universe, best friends with King Alfor and the original paladins, and genuinely cared about his people but was driven to desperation to save his dying wife, the Altean Honerva by going into the quintessence rift between realities to heal her but they ended up being overwhelmed and dying from overexposure to pure quintessence and hostile dark entities from the rift which leads to his next prevention.
- He has moral agency issues as he was corrupted and reborn from overexposure to pure quintessence and is implied to be under some sort of possession from the dark entities.
- He does have some genuine care and respect for his wife Honerva/Haggar even after becoming a villain, ordering a doctor to immediately go check on her as his first order after being reborn and stating that she had his trust.
- He posthumously redeems himself after his spirit is freed from Haggar’s control when Team Voltron psychically traveled into her mind and he regained his memories of his atrocities from Allura, he breaks down crying and repeatedly apologizes for his actions. He helps Team Voltron figure out Honerva’s plan and leads the current paladins and the spirits of the original paladins in forming Voltron to allow the paladins to escape Honerva’s mind and return to the physical world. In the finale, he returns with the original paladins and Lotor to reunite with a redeemed Honerva as a family and accompany her and Allura into the afterlife following their sacrifice.
Trivia[]
- He alongside his wife Haggar are the only Voltron: Legendary Defender villains to be Inconsistently Heinous.
External Links[]
- Emperor Zarkon on the Villains Wiki
[]
 Inconsistently Heinous
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Animated Features Live-Action Features Animated Television Fanon See Also | ||