Keith Andrew Thompson (born October, the 23rd 1993) is the Human-Galra hybrid older brother of Jake Thompson, Kyle Thompson and Stephanie Thompson, Derrick Thompson's oldest son and first child and a recurring character in the Chargeshock Thompson & the Justice Avengers series created by Man of Action. He's a Dropout ace pilot cadet from the Galaxy Garrison who functions as a Paladin of Voltron fighting the Galra Empire, piloting, at first, the Red Lion, but switching to the Black Lion.
Appearance
Keith has the appearance of a lean older teenager/young adult with fair skin, black hair, fairly thick eyebrows, and dark blue eyes. Keith's hair is described as a wolf cut mixed with a mullet. He has uneven-cut bangs that tend to sweep to the left of his face, length averaging just under his eyes, but framing his face slightly longer and curled at his cheekbones. The rest of his hair reaches the base of his neck, wildly flaring out in curved strands that tend to sit on top of his coat collar or armor. He has two strands of hair that sprout from the top of his head. Of the Paladins, Keith is the third tallest along side Lance, beating only Pidge in height, And despite being older than all of his siblings, he is the same height as Jake, but way shorter than Dennis.
In his Paladin armor, Keith's uniform mirrors his fellow Paladins but with red accents to match his Lion.
When he is not in his Paladin armor, Keith wears a dark blue-gray t-shirt underneath a red, white, and yellow jacket cropped to his ribcage, with the large cuffs of the jacket rolled up to expose their white color. The collar of the jacket stands propped upright.
Keith wears black pants that his shirt overlaps; his boots are white with black and red accents. His black gloves are fingerless and expose part of his hand before strapping together over the wrist. At his waist, Keith wears a brown utility belt with a silver rectangular buckle in the center and two lighter brown pouches at either hip. Strapped to the belt at his lower back is a silver-colored and double-bladed knife with a black pommel, often kept wrapped in cloth and sheathed in a gray and silver scabbard. The blade is inscribed with a glowing purple emblem of the Blade of Marmora on its guard.
While Keith normally appears to be completely human, he has displayed Galran traits such as yellow sclerae, feline pupils, and sharpened teeth during moments of extreme stress and emotion.
Personality
As someone who grew up without a mother and had to take responsibility and help his father raise his younger siblings, Keith is somewhat of a lone wolf. Considered to be the most talented pilot of his generation, he refuses to live by other people’s rules, instead choosing to carve out his own path. He is quick to give sarcastic quips and blunt commentary. According to Derrick, he was cocky, hot headed, temperamental, competitive, impulsive and had disciplinary issues during his time at the Galaxy Garrison. But that is only a sign that shows he is aware of his skills and and strengths to trust them and asks others, including his brothers to do the same. He often trusts his instincts, which leads to great accomplishments. According to his younger brother Jake, he was like the combination between a mentor and a nanny, but a bit more edgy back when they were in elementary school.
While strategic, grounded and logical, he is not immune to being easily angered by injustice losing track of his rational side. Due to his frustration, temper and responsibility to protect his younger siblings from danger, he often must reel himself in, receive guidance or remember what his father taught him to cool his head. His pragmatism however, causes disconnect and misunderstanding between himself and other people, including the Justice Avengers and the other Paladins, making him seem cold, uncaring, or selfish. But despite his serious and reserved demeanor, Keith is hardly stoic. He is capable of lightening up and knows how to have fun, happily engaging in his brothers and sister's pranks or instigating in some of the team's playful antics, and he often shows his emotions. And underneath his hot headed, pragmatic and mysterious bad boy facade, there is a heart of gold, which makes him place as much value on his team members and siblings, as he does his mission and makes an honest effort to bond and reconnect with Jake, meet his friends and connect with the other paladins no matter how often he scolds someone for their lack of focus or the mistakes they make. He is not fond of the idea of abandoning a teammate, even if he considers weighing the greater good over a single life.
Keith is highly observant of his brother and his team's well-being and will rush to protect or avenge them when needed, even if it means putting himself directly in harm's way. He is also shown to be pretty vulnerable and understanding with the people he has a soft spot for. His girlfriend, Linda fell for his "mysterious bad boy charm", but according to her, what made her really fall in love with him is the fact that he understands how she felt when she lost her parents in a plane crash, since his mother, Krolia abandoned him back when he was 7. Eventually, he reunited with his mother and bonded with her first before she reunited with Jake.
Like his younger brother, Jake, Keith has an immense sense of justice, selflessness, and the desire to fight alongside his team to bring light to the darkest time of the universe despite the costs. He is resilient, strong willed and willing to defeat the Galra Empire and Electro Monster no matter what it takes or how long it takes. Keith has also stated that he dislikes firearms, which is why he prefers to turn his bayard into a sword in combat, usually wielding the sword in both hands which he uses very effectively against opponents.
After losing the last memories with the Paladins, the Justice Avengers and the Blade of Marmora, Keith acts more like the rebel he once was at the Garrison. Keith became more aggressive, cocky, short-tempered, reckless, irresponsible, and a little stand-offish. He is much more flirtatious towards Princess Allura, much to Linda and Lance's jealousy and frustration and towards Lance's sister, Veronica, to a lesser extent. After seeing what his actions have caused and deciding to try to become the man everyone knew, Keith started to act more responsibly and promised Linda to never make her jealous again, but still displays some rebellious tendencies. This is seen later when he becomes irritated when Jake nearly got killed by Azula and disobeys his father's orders to not jump in headfirst without a plan. It was also proven when he jumped at the chance to use fatal moves on the Icicle Androids when he learned that they were just machines, despite Shiro's order to not do it. However, Keith mentioned that he learned to hold back and show restraint when battling humans.
Abilities and Equipment
Equipment
Apart from piloting the Red Lion and Black Lion, Keith utilizes this equipment:
Bayard: Takes the form of a long katar.
Paladin Armor: Armor that allows for safe travel in space; it contains a highly advanced computer system, a communication system, a laser gun, a grappling hook and tether, holographic capabilities, an energy shield for defense, breathable air, and a jetpack for brief sustained flight.
Explosives: On Earth, Keith detonated explosives to divert attention away from Shiro's quarantined crash site, showing knowledge of guerrilla tactics and bombs.
Hovercraft: A one-man red hoverbike owned by Keith on Earth.
Marmora Armor: Armor specialized for the Blade of Marmora that allows safe travel in space; it contains a highly advanced computer system, a communication system, an identity-concealing helmet that can disappear and reappear at will, and breathable air.
Marmora Blade: A small double-edged knife made of luxite that can manifest into a larger, single-edge blade when activated by Keith's Galran heritage.
Abilities/Skill Set
Master Martial Artist/Hand to Hand Combat Skills: Keith's specialty lies in close-combat with martial arts and bladed sidearms, using a fighting style said to be more Galran than human. He is a skilled and aggressive martial artist able to take down Garrison technicians in mere moments with a few powerful strikes.
Enhanced Agility: Keith's agility stats are officially the highest; his battle strength lies mainly in his physical speed, trust in his instincts, quick adaptation to changes on the battlefield, and his sheer determination to succeed. While Keith's instincts allow him to react quickly, it makes him less observant of his surroundings and more susceptible to surprise attacks.
Piloting: According to Derrick, Shiro, Jake and Kyle, Keith was the top pilot of his class ar the Galaxy Garrison. This legacy holds to his piloting as a Paladin, making him one of the most skilled pilots on the team, and trusted with dangerous feats such as safely navigating a field of ricocheting asteroids or flying near a black hole.
Galran Heritage: Allows Keith to interface with Galran technology so he can open locked doors in Galra structures and activate Galra computer consoles; other non-Galran characters must use Shiro's prosthetic arm or the hands of Galra Sentry robots. This heritage grants him the ability to activate his Marmora blade into its awakened form.
Trivia
Keith's mother, Krolia, wanted to name him "Yurak," but his father, Derrick Thompson suggested "Keith" instead. Yurak is the original character from Defender of the Universe on which Sendak is based.
Keith is fond of the outdoors because of how quiet nature is.
Keith taught Jake how to ride a motorcycle and a hoverbike respectively.
This incarnation of Keith is inspired by the Voltron: Legendary Defender version of Keith, who is based on the character Keith of the previous Voltron franchises, which was based on the character Akira Kogane of Beast King GoLion.
