Sheith

Sheith is a slash ship between Takashi Shirogane and Keith in the Voltron: Legendary Defender series.

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. The ship has been accused of supporting pedophilia or ephebophilia, though both members of the ship are mature adults by their published age numbers. However, as 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.

Keith's published age is 18 by The Paladin's Handbook official guidebook, while Shiro's published age is 25. Shiro's age contradicts the official series synopsis published as "Five unsuspecting teenagers transported from Earth", and Keith's age contradicts executive staff verbally agreeing that the Paladins, sans Shiro, are "not adults". The book is suggested to take information from the show "bible" or "original pitch", but series staff Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery have expressed concerns that their ideas have changed organically over time, so information may not be accurate, and they did not review the book for errors before publishing.

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 former 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 the instance wherein Bex Taylor-Klaus declared that Keith is a powerbottom on her blog.


 * 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. 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.



Quotes
These are quotes that are commonly considered "Sheith quotes" aka quotes that are usually associated with the romantic pairing of Shiro/Keith
 * "At this moment, your friend desperately wants to see you." - Kolivan, Blade of Marmora
 * "Shiro, you're like a brother to me," – Keith, Blade of Marmora. This quote has been analyzed and compared to the common romance trope wherein one character tries to distract or disguise their romantic attraction to another character by comparing their dynamic to that of a sibling. Fans speculate that this line is a deeper subtextual nod to Keith's internalized homophobia, or fear of admitting his attraction to Shiro.
 * "Keith: It's good to have you back. Shiro: It's good to be back." -The Rise of Voltron.
 * "If it wasn’t for you, my life would have been a lot different.” - Keith, Across the Universe
 * "Shiro is the only person who didn’t give up on me - I won't give up on him." Keith, Changing of the Guard
 * "Shiro: It's good to have you back. Keith: It's good to be back." - The Ark of Taujeer
 * "Shiro: How many times are you gonna have to save me before this is over? Keith: As many times as it takes." – Taking Flight
 * "It's killing me when you're away." - Keith, unconfirmed fan theory. Fans theorized that this is what one of Keith's sticky-notes said, presumably about Shiro, who Keith was searching for in the desert.

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 power is the blazing sword, and it's a joke within the community that Shiro lights Keith's fire.
 * Joaquim Dos Santos has said in an interview that Keith and Shiro share a kinship.Tumblr_inline_olbvpovQZS1r0cl8p_400.gif