headcanon.

[secondnature]

Feel free to ask for additional stuff down below!

GENERAL

For obvious reasons, Keith never knew what his mother looked like. His father did have a picture of her on his cellphone holding Keith, but it had to be kept a secret because that would take far too long to explain.

Keith (and the Garrison, as a result) grew up in the southwestern part of the United States. If you look at the location of things, it makes sense to be near the "Area 51" section of things. His dad talks about going to the Garrison with things about the Galra, but Krolia decides against it. That implied closeness, and then there's the terrain where he's living, where he rides hover bikes with Shiro, and more—it only seems to make sense.

I personally prefer to play fast and loose with Keith's ethnicity on his father's side because it's a hot button issue.

Keith grew up loving space, even before his father died. Some of his love of space is thanks to his father, and the fact that he was close to the Galaxy Garrison. Framing it as being related to the Garrison rather than Keith's mother, his father helped him get to know different constellations and would take him camping out in the desert. Before Shiro, he never bothered to share that love with anyone, but he did steal a few astronomy books along the way.

Partly due to these camping trips and the fact that Keith is massively introverted, he really took to enjoying nature the rest of his life. A lot of his time after being booted from the Garrison involved hiking, camping, doing outdoorsy things.

Keith never resented his dad for dying while saving people's lives—most of his issues were related to him not making a point of making it back to him. A lot of Keith's heroism, self-sacrifice, and drive are all related to his father's similar qualities, and how much Keith admired those things growing up alone in the world. He had convictions, even if he didn't know how to reach them (and felt no one would trust him to carry them out).

After his father died, there were no family members to take Keith in on his father's side. Keith was admitted to the child care system. While he was occasionally in foster situations, they often didn't work out because of a mixture of his bad grades (he didn't put in effort at school) and his poor behavior. By time Shiro shows up at the school, Keith is used to people giving up on him. Of course, he's done a fine job of forcing the issue his entire life.

Keith found the knife in the cabin after his father passed away. He got to be very good at hiding the knife from different foster parents, group homes, and more. The first time someone even found it on him was at the Blade of Marmora base, though obviously Keith was running around with it on his back after he got booted from the Garrison.

Keith taught himself how to drive. He's a natural when it comes to mechanical things. Hot wiring a car in Voltron's vague future is also hard to do, but he figures it out quickly enough.

Half of Keith's lashing out when he's younger is because he feels it becomes expected of him, and to test people who think they're going to be there for him. Again, up until Shiro, he was always proved "right."

Keith is 12-13 when he joins the Galaxy Garrison. Prior to Shiro's "death," he had a lot of disciplinary problems, but nothing like punching out Commander Iverson's eye. That was the final straw. When he left, he knew he screwed up. It wasn't something he left while feeling righteous. It hit him not long after that he gave up an opportunity that Shiro had crafted for him.

Keith did know Adam as an instructor, but never knew him like he knew Shiro. Going off the Shiro and Keith conversation in 7x1, Keith also knew the nature of their relationship.

Keith didn't consider Lance to be his rival, as the two presumably didn't remain in the same courses after the beginning. Keith's rival was James Griffin, as he saw him as someone who judged Keith's lack of stability in life. Keith liked breaking the rules, and he saw James as someone who tried too hard, followed the rules too well, etc. Plus, they went to the same middle school prior to Shiro recruiting the two of them (and Keith was lucky to be Shiro's special project).

Keith liked to read and draw a lot growing up, mostly because they were things he could do himself. These are things he didn't like to share, and he's not exactly well read or anything like that.

In terms of taking care of himself, Keith is moderately good at it. He can cook for himself, but most of it is basics. He knows he needs proteins as well as vegetables, but he's not good at making them taste good. There's a lot of boiling vegetables with salt and pepper and eating them as is. That isn't to say he doesn't appreciate good food—he's just no good at making it himself.

He did know how to cook over a fire thanks to his father, and he likely was able to work in tandem with his mother while they were on the whale. His food didn't taste great, but he had the skills necessary to manage out there.

Along the same lines, Keith is tidy, both in his personal hygiene and how he maintains his living spaces. He doesn't have a full skincare routine in the least, but he does shower regularly. His stuff remains clean because of how he grew up. Keith would lash out, but he always knew that his lashing out could mean he'd be moving the next day, so that's how he handles it.

His room in the Castleship, as well as his space in his respective lions and the Marmoran base, were kept tidy for similar reasons.

Keith has always been a light sleeper. Once he's out, it doesn't take much to wake him up. He hasn't ever been very good at settling somewhere until the Castle of Lions, and it takes him a while to shift from wearing his regular clothes to pajamas (as seen in season two).

Per EPs LM and JDS, Keith did have a fully drawn out reason for why he ended up chasing down the Blue Lion lead (see: Form Voltron podcast). He's not a conspiracy theory guy, as he's way too pragmatic for that. But he was lost, and there were likely things that led him down that path. (Personally, I think he may have gotten that feeling because his mother originally was watching over the Blue Lion, but who knows. It got cut.)

I assume that for pragmatic reasons, Kolivan let Krolia know that Keith showed up, but knew that it wasn't the time to endanger the mission in play for her. When he sends Keith to her, it's partly for Keith's sake, and partly because she knows that Krolia will likely have to abandon ship (so to speak) for the next leg of what she has to do.

Krolia took every chance to begin to train Keith and reinforce a lot of the disciplinary information that he learned back at the Garrison. It's not that he didn't learn it—it's that he didn't absorb it or fully respect any authority figures not named Shiro. Spending time with his mother helped him really grow up, as he was able to listen and move outside of his head and his issues.

It's extremely likely that Krolia had to find out how Keith left his team, and had to help him through the circumstances involving that decision. She not only had to help him with his self esteem, but also in how to act as a leader. Krolia was said to have trained countless Blades in 7x5, so it makes sense that she would then turn to her son with a similar perspective. That explains a lot of Keith's mindset and confidence—yet continued awkwardness—as season seven proceeds.

In terms of leaving, Keith does feel pretty awful, and he waits for the team to tear into him about it. When it does occur, he all but asks for it, falling to some of his old behaviors pre-Shiro to shove everyone away because he knows he let them down.

In terms of his views on his team of Paladins, he sees Hunk as the glue and balance that keeps everyone together (plus, Keith loves Hunk's food). Pidge is hypercompetent and someone you'd want to be caught in tough places with, and Allura is great at diplomacy and a very different kind of leader. Lance is his second-in-command and someone he implicitly trusts to work in his absence.

Before Keith was a paladin, he worked out every day. It wasn't difficult to adjust to his mother's routine, but she added and included more military guidelines to how he'd go about things. He takes training very seriously.

Along those lines, I see Keith as naturally inclined toward fighting and self-trained. It's why his fighting, while very good, can be overcome by some rather distinct weaknesses (he's not good at fighting defensively).

Per some implications from JDS and the rest of the staff about Keith communing with animals, he is an animal lover. He definitely thought Kosmo could speak to him in time and was waiting for it. In general, he's the nature-loving type that loves animals and prefers them to people.

Kosmo is Keith's first pet. Keith's dad always wanted to get him a dog, but it never panned out. And then the rest of Keith's life was pretty … rough. When they were on a whale together, the two started moving in sync and training as a unit. That training becomes all the more apparent when they go to fight together in 7x5. Krolia likely encouraged all of that.

When Keith is alone, he talks to himself. It's a habit he has from his younger days, and it's something he does when he's piloting, alone with his lion, or anything else. There was something comforting about knowing that Kosmo and his lions were listening when they entered his life.

SHIPPY STUFF

Personally, I see Keith as someone with little to no interest in romance. It's not a priority for him, nor has it ever been. For most of his life, he's been pushing people away, and he wouldn't be able to trust that someone wouldn't abandon him. Now that he's in a better place, he's too busy being an Anime Protagonist to really focus on that.

If Keith were comfortable enough to fall into a relationship, I see him as more of an action-oriented boyfriend. He does kind things, but he's not the best at sensitivity or emotions and would balk during the course of a relationship at that.

If someone expressed disappointment at Keith's difficulty with romance while they were together, he'd probably bail. It's the last frontier, so to speak, with regards to his growth—someone being displeased would probably involve a, "Fine, then it's not worth bothering."

Which isn't to say he wouldn't care. He'd be giving up on himself.

If in a relationship, Keith's sex drive would be low. Not absolutely nonexistent, just … low. I have a really hard time seeing Keith as ever being thirsty. He'll flirt and be sweet, but sex would remain low priority.

All that said, Keith is a kid who was and remains starved for attention. He'll enjoy cuddling and the intimacy of sex when it happens in that regard.