Sven (Voltron)

Sven is a composite character of two characters from Beast King Go Lion:[5] Takashi Shirogane, the original blue lion pilot who was killed in episode 6, and Ryou Shirogane, Takashi's brother. Since they looked alike, WEP simply decided that Sven would survive the events of episode 6 and be treated as if they were the same character.[6]

In Voltron: Legendary Defender, the Takashi Shirogane name is used, nicknamed "Shiro", with Sven making an appearance in the third season as an alternate universe version of him.[7] Josh Keaton only discovered that the character had a Scandinavian accent the day before the recording.[8][9] Reconceived as Japanese and gay,[10][11][12] in contrast to Sven who was Norwegian and later married Princess Romelle, Shiro was originally intended to be a teenager but rewritten him to be 25 years old after his designs were finalised.[13] Originally intended to die in the second season,[14] the character comes back as a clone with his soul trapped inside the Black Lion, before being restored in the sixth season.[15][16]

In the 2011 Devil's Due comic series, Sven's surname is revealed as Holgersson, a surname later incorporated into Voltron: Legendary Defender.[20] The comic book version of Sven depicts him as 27, the oldest member on the team. Unlike his cartoon counterpart, the comic book Sven is given much further depth, and plays a major role. Much of Sven's past remains unknown, except that he was a former member of an elite Navy squad similar to the SEALS. During an insurrection in a small South American country, a serious miscommunication caused a foreign national Sven was supposed to extract to believe Sven was an assassin and opened fire. Sven was left with no choice but to fire back, protecting himself and eliminating the extraction target. He was then placed on "administrative leave" until he was approached by Colonel Hawkins to join a team of outcasts to search for the legendary robot Voltron on the distant planet Arus. Sven was possibly the most anti-social of the group, but this is possibly due to being the oldest and most mature. Unlike in the cartoon, Sven never got a chance to properly form Voltron, or even get to wear his classic black uniform. This is due to him having a brain defect that caused the magic of Voltron to somehow reject him. This brain defect caused him to fall under the influence of Queen Merla and Haggar, under which he betrayed his friends and Arus by stealing files from the Castle of Lions' control room. He was then placed on a mission alongside Prince Lotor, during which the two found themselves having to survive together and try to trust each other. During a conflict that erupted later, Sven apparently crash-landed on planet Pollux, where he was discovered by Princess Romelle. Due to the comic's hiatus, what path Sven's tale would have taken from that point remains a mystery.

The Shiro incarnation of the character was featured in a Voltron: Legendary Defender comic series, bridging the time lapse between seasons.[21][22]

The Legendary Defender incarnations of the character have received mostly positive reception. However, the character's romantic relationships with Adam, who was only mentioned in flashback scenes and killed off-screen, and Curtis, his co-worker and eventual husband, were criticized for not being fleshed out enough and being poor LGBT representation.[4][23][24]