Sheith

Sheith is the slash ship between Shiro and Keith from the Voltron: Legendary Defender fandom.

Season 1
In the first episode, “The Rise of Voltron,” Keith is on a mission to save Shiro. After beating militarily personal, Keith runs to Shiro who's strapped to a table. Keith tilts his face and softly says, “Shiro?” while tenderly holding Shiro’s face in his hands, he then cuts the straps. After the rescue, it is made clear that the two have history, the nature of which is left unclear. Shiro and Keith share a scene alone together after the rescue which establishes some of their relationship cues (such as shoulder touches and longing looks). The following morning, they share their first shoulder touch on the dunes since being reunited, followed with Keith saying, “It's good to have you back.” Shiro replying, “It's good to be back.”

Shiro gets clothes from Keith's shack. While there, Keith talks about feeling lost, “…and then [Shiro] showed up.”

After finding the Blue Lion, flying to planet Arus, meeting Allura and Coran, Keith, Shiro and Pidge go to retrieve the Red Lion and they decide to split up, Shiro puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder and reassures him that he’ll be fine, and says, “Just remember, patience yields focus.” Right at the end, after a successful first mission, Shiro affectionately slaps Keith’s back as they rejoin the group on the ground, and the two exchange a soft look.

In “Some Assembly Required,” when a training session goes wrong and Shiro has a flashback, Keith launches himself across the room to shield Shiro from the training bot. Keith asks, “Shiro, are you okay?” They’re later seen sitting next to each other on the floor, sipping water. At the end, Keith sneaks off after Shiro when he leaves the common room to head to bed.

In “Fall of the Castle of Lions,” Shiro and Keith are separated for the most part as Keith is locked out of the castle. When Keith does gain entrance into the castle again, the first thing he sees his Shiro getting knocked down by Sendak, Keith immediately attacks Sendak, landing a powerful kick.

In “Taking Flight,” the team encounters a dense asteroid field, Shiro trusts Keith to navigate it safely and flush out Rolo. This shows how much faith Shiro has in Keith’s abilities.

In “Crystal Venom,” Keith is the first one to realize Shiro’s in trouble, asking the others “Where’s Shiro?”

In “The Black Paladin,” Keith tells the others to go after Allura while he protects Shiro/the Black Lion. Lance asks, “What are you doing?” and mentions how they have to stick together, Keith replies, “Whatever I can.” Soon a battle between Keith and Zarkon ensues, with Keith refusing to abandon the Black Lion. Later, a severely hurt Shiro (while piloting the Black Lion) swoops down and grabs Keith/the Red Lion, saying, “I’ve got you, buddy.”

Season 2
Shiro and Keith's relationship increases in the second season. In “Across the Universe,” the team is separated due to a corrupted wormhole caused by Haggar from the previous episode. Shiro and Keith wind up being stranded on the same planet with their lions disabled. As soon as Keith gets his bearings straight, his immediate next thought is where Shiro is. When Keith hears Shiro's voice, his face visibly softens with relieve. In return, as soon as Shiro exits his Lion, his immediate next thought is where Keith is. Keith calls out for Shiro and asks if he’s okay, when Shiro reports he is in danger, Keith immediately rushes to find him, overcoming various obstacles. Keith finally is able to see the Black Lion, once there, he sees Shiro being chased by giant lizard-creatures. He is able to save Shiro from the creatures by piloting the Black Lion, which Shiro is awestruck by. They build a fire and rest while waiting for the others to find them. Shiro is still suffering from a wound he sustained in his fight with Haggar, and tells Keith that he wants Keith to lead Voltron if he “doesn't make it out of here.” Keith stubbornly replies for Shiro to “stop talking like that”. When Pidge comes to rescue them, despite a wormhole opening in the sky, Shiro's fond gaze remains firmly fixed on Keith's face.

Season 1
The Rise of Voltron Some Assembly Required Taking Flight Crystal Venom
 * After a successful first mission, Shiro affectionately slaps Keith's shoulder.
 * After Keith is knocked out by the Gladiator, it goes for Shiro next. Shiro freezes as it's about to attack, then Keith springs up to Shiro's defense, asking if he's okay.
 * As Shiro heads to bed, Keith can be seen in the background getting up from the couch, all while smiling and looking at Shiro.
 * As Pidge talks about Hunk’s “new girlfiend”, Shiro and Keith smile at each other.
 * When the team remembers Sendak, Keith is first to wonder where Shiro is.

Season 2
Across the Universe
 * As soon as Keith gets his bearings straight, his immediate next thought is where Shiro is. In return, as soon as Shiro exits his Lion, his immediate next thought is where Keith is.
 * Shiro mentions a wound, Keith is soon concerned and says, "Wait, what wound?" Shiro replies it's nothing. In return, when Keith is dangling off a high cliff, Shiro asks what's wrong, and Keith tells him, "Minor delay. But I'm on my way."
 * Keith is able to pilot the Black Lion so he can save Shiro from wild creatures.
 * When Keith tells Shiro to “stop talking like that”, Shiro gives Keith his best, though weak smile at his words.

Fanon
Along with Klance, the ship has really taken off for modern audiences in the last couple years. This is thanks to Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2, produced by Studio Mir (Legend of Korra). A lot of the writers and directors for Voltron migrated from Korra, famed for it's bisexual ending, and have made comments hinting at possible LGBT content, including the quote, "I think I'll just let that play out as we go. No comment on that question," when prompted about future LGBT content. Although the ship is not confirmed in canon, many fans still enjoy Keith and Shiro's dynamic in a fanon environment due to the deep connection Keith and Shiro have been shown to share over the last four seasons.

The ship has received hate because of its prospective age gap. Many contradicting age ranges have been mentioned by many different official sources, some fans consider that there are no definitive set ages for Keith or Shiro, or for any of the other Paladins, while others do not consider any published age information canon.

Behind the Scenes
The ship has been acknowledged by countless members of Voltron's production team since the show first aired, further supporting it as a ship for fans to enjoy. These instances include:
 * Members of the production team such as art director Chris Palmer, Steve Ahn, Christie Tseng, Barlee, and Lauren Montgomery liking Sheith fanart on various social media platforms.
 * Voice Actors such as Bex Taylor-Klaus and Josh Keaton mentioning the ship on several occasions on social media, including when Keaton suggested the ship name "sheith", and the instance wherein Taylor-Klaus declared that Keith is a powerbottom in response to Keaton posting a picture of red and black shoes.
 * Members on the staff such as former art director Chris Palmer and Kim Il Kwang produced art that emphasizes the bond between Shiro and Keith, and are often theorized to have romantic undertones.

Fandom
AO3

TUMBLR

DEVIANT ART
 * Sheith on Deviant Art.

Trivia

 * Keith pilots the Red Lion, which forms the right-hand of Voltron, thus making him the right-hand man of Shiro, who lost his right arm to the Galra.
 * Keith is part Galra, and Shiro's right hand was replaced by a Galran prosthetic.
 * The ship name was coined by Shiro's voice actor, Josh Keaton, after he proposed "Sheith" on his Tumblr blog.
 * Shiro's Bayard, when combined with Keith's, activates Voltron's Blazing Sword, and it's a joke within the community that Shiro lights Keith's fire.
 * In an AfterBuzzTV interview, it was brought up that the fans discovered Keith and Shiro in the background flashback with Matt and Pidge. Lauren and Joaquim congratulated the fans on a well done for finding the easter egg. Lauren commented with "I put that shit in there&mdash;Oh, I just said a bad word." and "Shiro was still his guiding light, it was good."
 * It placed #2 on Tumblr's Fandometrics ship list on June 18, 2018. (3 days after Season 6 aired.) This is the highest the ship has been on the list.


 * The Paladin's Handbook guidebook  states that Shiro is 25 and Keith is 18, though there is some doubt as to whether this information is accurate to the canon because the book was not reviewed by executive staff.
 * The show staff previously gave "safety zone" ages of "25" and "late teens" respectively, while agreeing that Shiro is an adult and the other Paladins are not.
 * Official show descriptions describe the Earth paladins as "five teenagers", placing Shiro as a teenager in contrast to his published age; Josh Keaton grants some insight into the discrepancy by stating that during production of the show as early as the voice actor auditions, the pitch was "five teenagers", but certain character models ended up looking different than the description, so the writing adapted to the finalized designs. This suggests the book does not take the ages from the original pitch as staff feared and reflects the organic changes they have made, while the official show description is the original pitch that is inaccurate to the canon.

Variations

 * Keirotora refers to the ship between Lotor, Allura, Shiro and Keith
 * Shallureith refers to the ship between Allura, Shiro and Keith
 * Sheithunk refers to the ship between Hunk, Shiro and Keith
 * Sheitor refers to the ship between Lotor, Shiro and Keith
 * Shkatt refers to the ship between Matt, Shiro and Keith
 * Shklance refers to the ship between Lance, Shiro and Keith