Pidge (Voltron)

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Pidge is the main pilot of the Green Lion component of Lion Voltron in the various incarnations Voltron series, and is usually depicted as the youngest but arguably most intelligent member of the team. Other aspects differ across various incarnations.

Defender of the Universe

In the original series, Pidge's real name is Darrell Stoker, and he is a human or human-like alien from the planet Balto, which is destroyed by the Drule Empire. A child prodigy, he graduates at a young age and soon becomes a member of the Voltron team; his brother Chip is one of the pilots of Vehicle Voltron.

The Third Dimension

Voltron Force

Legendary Defender

Animated series

In the rebooted series Voltron: Legendary Defender, Pidge Gunderson is again the youngest but smartest of the Voltron pilots, but with one major change: this version is actually a teenage girl whose real name is Katie Holt. Her father and brother Matt were sent on a mission to Kerberos along with Shiro, Katie's future teammate, but disappeared; they were in fact abducted by the Galra Empire, but the government officials in charge of the mission claimed that the crew was lost on Kerberos due to pilot error. Katie refused to believe this lie and managed to sneak onto Galaxy Garrison headquarters, where she learned that no wreckage was ever found. The garrison officials barred her efforts at investigation, leading her to create the Pidge persona and pose as a boy in order to join Galaxy Garrison as a cadet in hopes of learning what truly became of her missing loved ones. She was soon partnered with Keith and Hunk as a flight team, though their performance-particularly their teamwork-was dubious at best, partly because Pidge was more concerned with monitoring recently discovered alien radio chatter on the edge of the solar system than building connections with her team.

Pidge eventually became aware of the aliens' interest in the mysterious Voltron, and was shortly thereafter discovered in her monitoring by Lance and Hunk; the trio then witnessed a Galra ship crash-landing and garrison forces leaving to investigate. Checking it out, they learned that the ship had carried Shiro, and were further surprised when their former classmate Keith arrived to liberate him. Forced into an unlikely alliance, the five used research from both Pidge and Keith along with Hunk's technical knowledge to construct a device that led them to the Blue Lion, which subsequently flew them to the planet Arus. There they found and awoke Princess Allura and her retainer Corran, and were soon recruited in a bid to reunite all five components of Voltron. Pidge and Shiro went after the Green Lion on a jungle planet, and as Allura had predicted Pidge was able to bond with it due to her inquisitive and intelligent nature.

The pilots were able to acquire all five lions and form Voltron in a battle with Commander Sendak, aboard whose ship Shiro and Pidge's missing relatives had briefly been imprisoned; they were able to rescue several prisoners, but the Holts were not among them. Her worry over their safety continued to dog Pidge, particularly as the pilots struggled to learn how to work in unison; her concern for her brother in particular was mistaken by her teammates as "his" worrying about a "girlfriend" left behind on Earth, as Pidge's disguise resembled her brother Matt as seen in a photo of the two siblings from before Matt's abduction. Eventually the group were able to work in unison, but it didn't stop Pidge from worrying about her absent loved ones, particularly after the former prisoners revealed that Shiro had apparently attacked Matt on one occasion. Seeking answers, the pair investigated the wreckage of Sendak's ship, only to be forced to leave when a Robeast attacked, though they defeated it by forming Voltron with their teammates. Shiro, who had been amnesiac for some time, was able to recall attacking Matt in order to insure that he would not be forced into gladitorial combat for his own safety, and also revealed that he was aware of Pidge's true identity as Katie.

Pidge's secret was subsequently revealed to Allura by the Space Mice, but Allura's attempt to convince Pidge to open up about it brought about an entirely different revelation: Pidge's intent to leave the team and search for her family. However, her departure was halted in an attack by Sendak, and finding herself all but alone in preventing him from departing Arus in the Castle of Lions Pidge came to realize how much her new team needed her. Following Sendak's defeat and capture and the team's reunion, this sense moved her to reveal the truth about herself to her team; they all proved accepting, with only Lance displaying true shock at the revelation. The group would then depart Arus to go to the aid of the inhabitants of a Balmera, a massive space-dwelling creature whose naturally grown crystals provided power for the castle and whose inhabitants Hunk had befriended. After a series of intense struggles they were able to liberate and heal the creature and defeat another Robeast, but were subsequently forced to deal with dangerous malfunctions in the castle's systems brought about by its brief time under the control of Sendak.

The team eventually discovered a Galra transport hub and infiltrated the facility in search of tactical information for use against the Galra empire; during this mission Allura was abducted after infiltrating a Galra ship. This led the remainder of the team on a desperate mission to rescue her from Emperor Zarkon's fortress, in which they were vastly outnumbered and greatly outmatched. Though their teamwork and some unlikely assistance they were able to escape into a wormhole only for it to be sabotaged by Zarkon's underling Haggar; the disruption scattered Voltron's components and the lions across space.

Comics