There’s something about Shiro and Keith’s fight that’s been bothering me since I first watched it and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else explain it so I’m gonna try to puzzle it out for myself. Maybe I’m just slow and everyone else got it right away, but here goes. Let me know your thoughts on this at the end!
So we get to this point in the fight, where Keith says “I’m not leaving here without you” and Shiro responds “Actually, neither of us are leaving”
Then this weapon (?) thing starts charging up
Then the next thing that happens (possibly as a result/reaction to the super weapon charging up?) is this:
Shiro’s arm reacts, lights up all the way to the shoulder, and transforms. At the same time Shiro falls to the ground and cries out in obvious pain
Then the arm seems to go into overdrive and in the process, destroys the massive weapon which had been charging up
I never really got what was happening in this sequence, so here’s my explanation/headcanon:
The plan likely was for this massive weapon to unload and completely vaporize both Keith and Shiro (as well as the entire facility), as evidenced by Shiro saying “Actually, neither of us are leaving”
Shiro’s arm went into overdrive as a response to the super weapon, possibly as a simple reaction to the massive amounts of energy being gathered up to operate the thing, possibly because the weapon would be controlled using the arm, possibly some other explanation. The exact reason why isn’t all that important here
However, the overcharged arm caused Shiro untold amounts of pain because his body isn’t meant to wield that much power. The pain momentarily cleared his mind, just long enough for Shiro to regain control and aim it at the super weapon and neutralize it, because he knew that one hit from that thing, even a glancing blow, would completely annihilate Keith (and him)
This is the only time (aside from directly following “I love you”) where “Shiro” momentarily falters, and I really do think it’s because he threw off Haggar’s control for a split second. I think he always kept fighting inside his head and this moment here, where Keith is in mortal danger from the super weapon, spurred him to claw back control long enough to prevent the worst
There’s a lot about this scene that just doesn’t make sense, especially if Clone Shiro was trying to kill Keith. He seemed to waste a lot of energy when all it would have taken was just, y’know, telling Keith everything was okay and going for a hug. Why would you take Keith to the cloning facility at all? I mean, dude, that shit can’t be cheap. It’s HAGGAR’S place. A small out of the way moon, a hug and Keith’s heart is in his hand, literally.
BUT- Haggar just told Clone!Shiro to lead Keith away. Not kill him. All of this was Clone!Shiro’s choice, and I head-canon that everything he did was meant to destroy the facility, and to kill HIM specifically, once he realized what was happening. He couldn’t outright give up- Evil Arm of Evil probably was programmed so he couldn’t- but he could convince Keith to shoot that dog by telling him he had killed the Paladins. He only said that AFTER the ‘I love you’ when he knew that there was no way Keith would kill him in self-defense. But the only thing Keith might love more than Shiro was his team, and it was what got him to fight back. And… I’ll stop rambling and hijacking now.
Ohh good point. I agree, the whole thing seems a bit overkill if all he wanted was to kill Keith. It’d make sense if he was trying to destroy the facility so no more clones could be sent after the team, and also commit suicide by Keith’s blade, in a way that the arm would let him. (That or simply Rule of Cool dictated we NEEDED an epic Shiro/Keith showdown)
So then maybe an alternate explanation for this scene is that Shiro activated the super weapon with the intention of destroying the facility and the other clones, and Haggar realized what he was doing and activated his arm’s ultimate form, using it to destroy the weapon in order to protect the facility. In the end tho he still managed to do a good number on the facility with the arm, like when he cut the platform out of the cliff. If he was really aiming at Keith with the intent to kill wouldn’t spraying short blasts of energy over a wide area be more effective than long sustained shots that cause max infrastructure damage but aren’t good for hitting a small moving target? Not to mention when he gets in close to Keith at the end he reverts back to using his light sword rather than the arm blaster. Swordfights are Keith’s area of expertise, it’s where he has the advantage. As a close combat fighter Keith would’ve been on the ropes if Shiro had just stood slightly back and shot at him. Explaining that as the clone getting in his face hoping to goad Keith into killing him could work
I think there was always going to be a moment like this. Been building since we knew nothing about Shiro’s arm and, later, when Clone arrived on the scene. What surprised me was that Keith didn’t let go of Clone Shiro. If this was the stereotype, Clone would wake up and force Keith to let go of him, thereby symbolically severing the emotional hold Clone Shiro and Shiro have to him.
I’m really glad they didn’t go there. The fight was about Keith overcoming his fear of rejection instead. Which was awesome.
We have no idea how much input Haggar had on that fight. I’m inclined to believe very, very little. Her orders were for him to lead Keith away… and persuade him. Of something. I have no idea what. That was a weird word choice. The arm thing did seem to come as a surprise, and it did seem like the whole place rigged to blow… but again, why not, say, a mining facility that he could have collapsed. Maybe Haggar was playing with her toys too rough. But she had other things to think about at the time, so I’m just *shrug*
But yeah, pretty much the only thing I can think of, especially when Clone Shiro says “How do I do that?” to Haggar- how do you want me to distract him- and she gives him NO specifics. We don’t see that she’s actually reading his thoughts. Just using his eyes as cameras. So I’m inclined to go with the idea of the fight being a way for Clone Shiro to stop this abominable facility once and for all.
Hell, I’m inclined to think he’s suicidal. As far as he knows, he killed the other Paladins. Poor bastard.
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