On Divisions Preventing Conquering

Hello there, all ye denizens of the netlands. History shows that one of the most effective battle strategies ever devised was to divide and conquer. Arus will not be implementing this in their ongoing war because Doom has already done the job for them, darn it all! We last talked about the forces of Doom, and today I'd like to expostulate on why Doom will continue in their current consistent habit of failure to win decisive battles.

Now, we've noticed that Prince Prince Lotor, King King Zarkon, and the other one do pretty well on keeping the Voltron Force on their toes and Arus in poverty, constantly rebuilding (perhaps it's a cleverly disguised war of attrition rather than an outright fight). But that's because there's typically only one force coming at a time because the forces of Doom cannot work together.

Item 1: King Zarkon can't work with Prince Lotor. Doom broadcasts their coliseum fights, and King Zarkon has an equivalent of a radio commentator's box. From those broadcasts we know that King Zarkon regularly berates his son in public, and other sundry sources tell me he constantly does so in his throne room. When one officer has no respect for another, then they cannot work together. And a few psychologist friends of mine have had some glorious fun dissecting his Majesty's brain, determining self-loathing complexes and deep-seated regret, resentment, and hatred related to Prince Lotor's mother. They say he sees all his life's failures in Prince Lotor and projects those failures onto his son in order to support his narcissism complex.

Item 2: Prince Lotor cannot work with King Zarkon. It is common knowledge that father and son hate eat other, but I daresay Prince Lotor hates his father more. King Zarkon stole his mother. King Zarkon salts and limes each of Prince Lotor's wounds like tequila (I've seen videos and I'm not exaggerating). King Zarkon exploits Prince Lotor's near constant need of his father's resources so far from his own home bases, right to the base fact that none of Prince Lotor's supply ships reach him without getting through King Zarkon's blockade first (not a blanket blockade, but a very well informed one). Prince Lotor challenged his father to a traditional duel for the empire, and this is on top of many justified rumors of shadier and subtler attempts on the King's life. And Prince Lotor and King Zarkon simply cannot agree on the mission premise of the war. King Zarkon doesn't know what he wants, sometimes demanding the game, people, and natural resources, other times saying to nuke it all. Prince Lotor knows what he wants—he wants the princess, he wants Voltron, he wants the planet intact (if impoverished and subjugated). My psychologist friends had even more fun with dissecting his brain than King Zarkon's because they said his mind was more complex. They threw around terms like simultaneous inferiority and superiority complex, intimacy-seeker stalker, Oedipus complex (have you ever noticed that all blonde Arusian women look exactly alike?), regicide focused sociopathy, and so much more.

Item 3: Prince Lotor cannot work with Queen Merla. This is because he is obsessed with Allura, and Queen Merla's terms are that Prince Lotor honors his wedding vows and adding "forsaking all others" to the traditional litany of rather abstract traditional Drule vows. Prince Lotor refuses to abide by these terms.

Item 4: Queen Merla cannot work with Prince Lotor. He won't abide by her terms, preempting her opportunity to work with him. He won't work with her because of Allura, so she will neutralize the threat to their unity. As long as she has her womanly pride and obsession are part of the picture (which are impossible to divorce from her character), it will be impossible for her to work with Prince Lotor in any way until Allura is dead.

Item 5: Queen Merla cannot work with King Zarkon. There is nothing in it for her—King Zarkon can do nothing else for her, and the woman is very mercenary about her ties. If there is no benefit of the allegiance for her, she won't waste time on the liability.

Item 6: King Zarkon cannot work with Queen Merla. This is because she will not work for him, and King Zarkon knows an insane, mood-swinging woman when he sees one. That hasn't stopped him before, but it might give him pause (and might explain why Queen Merla is married to Prince Lotor instead of King Zarkon).

So the forces are pre-split, and split very effectively. The irony of the situation is that for each reason they can't work together (years of abuse, homicidal tendencies), there is some form of dependence. With Doom politics dancing them through hoops, it's doubtful that they will ever unite to win.

How can they win with Voltron to defend Arus? you may ask. Take this for example: Princess Allura's recently leaked social calendar for the month of August last year. The fifth—supposed to get a manicure. The fifth, in historical record—Prince Prince Lotor attacked, Allura photographed with a bandage on right index finger, persisted through the month. The eighth—Allura was to help in a groundbreaking for a secondary school, in hopes that her endorsement will encourage the remains of Arus' Lost Generation to not abandon education solely for the hard labor of rebuilding, thereby prolonging Arus' poverty for another full generation. The eighth—Queen Queen Merla firebombed the site in a fit of jealous rage over Prince Lotor's most recent attack. One twenty-year-old teacher and two potential students died. The tenth—Allura had been scheduled to make a speech. The tenth—King Zarkon's delegated forces make a raid. The next week is fairly peaceful, rumors fly that Allura is having a nervous breakdown, Romelle rumored to have smuggled a case of Pollux Devil's Tongue Ailin' Ale through customs in order to comfort Allura. These rumors are fully unsubstantiated because if a lightweight like Allura tangled with Devil's Tongue, she'd be hung-over for three months. But Allura emerged at the end of that week in Blue Lion to face the newest raiding party with a lioness's fierceness, rumors of a nervous breakdown still floating about in the wake of a week without Voltron.

Hmm… just think about how much power Doom forfeits by merit of their very personalities. And years of parental abuse and chemical imbalances in Queen Merla's brain.

Well, everyone, this is Starre Smith, giving you what isn't going to happen in the Aruso-Doom war first.