Nifa Radhakhan (Legendary Defender)

***(Quick note, this person has no fanart/concept art of her yet ;-; If you happen to be an artist, your help would be greatly appreciated (and credited)! Thanks!***

**Nifa Radhakhan** is Voltron's chosen "Spirit Guide", and a member of Team Voltron. Half Raionsupiritean, half human, she is Keith's oldest and best friend. Later on in the series, she eventually becomes his girlfriend, and then his mate.

## Appearance

Nifa has a golden brown skin tone and a slender figure. She has bright yellow eyes and light brown hair. She has a fringe that she kept swept behind her ear before she and Keith were separated, but by age 18, she leaves said fringe over the left side of her face. She also has the Galran symbol for "friendship" burned onto her pinky, a tribute to her friendship with Keith after his father died. In Season 5, she gains a scar over her left eye as a result of a fight with Zarkon, who was in his quintessence armor at the time.

Her casual wear consists of a navy blue star-printed t-shirt, bleach-faded jeans, and a midnight black hoodie. She also wears short-cuffed laced boots and a necklace that bears a silver lion's face which glows golden when she's speaking with the Voltron lions.

When she joins Team Voltron, she wears a suit of Altean armor whenever she goes out on the battlefield, but she mostly sticks to the Castle of Lions for the first half of the series.

Her Raionsupiritean wear consists of a long flowing robe, made out of a leatherish materal. It is tan with orange and yellow designs on it. Moreover, when she gets in touch with her Raionsupiritean side, she tends to have circular white-furred ears, a few white whiskerlike marks by her face, and a white lion's tail with silver hairs. Later on, when she earns her colors, her ears and tail turn silver.

In her youth, she wears a white t-shirt with navy blue stripes and a star on it, jean shorts, and black converse with white tips.

## Personality

Nifa is a fiercely independent girl. Reserved and sour to almost anyone and everyone, she refuses to let others help her and often runs into danger alone, determined to prove herself worthy of handling a deadly situation.

However, she has been told to be catty, meaning she will seem sweet and cutesy, and then she will suddenly hate everyone out of nowhere.

She also has the disease known as narcolepsy, which is a result of her dream contact as Voltron's spirit guide.

Later on in the series, she becomes more level-headed and patient. She transits her former bitter and spiteful comments into lighthearted jokes, that of which is better received among her peers.

Nifa also has a high affinity for perseverance. She never ever backs down from what she believes is right. Most people call it stubbornness, but as told by Coran, this virtue is what makes her Voltron's spirit guide, something that the legendary defender would not survive without.

 In her youth, she was carefree and outgoing, and she loved spending time with Keith, who was her best and only friend back then. When they were separated by both their local school and the Galaxy Garrison, she became more lost and angsty with each year they spent apart. Admiral Sanda's teachings also influenced her on how to depend on no one but herself.

## Abilities

### **Equipment**

* **Grandfather Claws:** Nifa doesn't usually fight for the first few seasons, but if locked in battle, she uses whatever she can find on hand, be it a broken bit of metal or otherwise. When Season 4 comes around with more danger, Coran grants her his grandfather's old dueling claws, a weapon disguised as simple gloves, which she uses to fight alongside the team in times of danger.
* **Voltron** **Lion Pendant:** A gift passed down her race's line for generations, Nifa was given this magical pendant on her Age of Becoming. It was with this trinket, she was able to communicate with the lions of Voltron. However, when she loses the pendant in Season 5, she eventually figures out how to communicate with the lions on her own, without the use of the pendant.
* **Hover Bike:** A stolen asset from the Garrison, Nifa used this Hover Bike to get around the city with Keith in her younger years. However, this is only used in flashbacks, and it is never seen again after she and Keith were separated. It was assumed to have been taken back by the Garrison.

### **Skill Set**

* **Lion Sense:** Nifa has the ability to speak with the lions of Voltron in their head, and is able to directly translate what they are saying and feeling to the other members of the team.
* **The Gift of Consciousness:** Upon being half-Raionsupritean, Nifa has the power to give consciousness to a non-living being, and give it the power to think and feel for itself. However, this takes a lot of energy out of her, as she is only half-Raionsupritean.
* **Dream Contact:** Though viewed as narcolepsy to those on Earth, Nifa is able to see what is currently happening in her sleep, through her dreams. In this way, she is able to continue her work as spirit guide. However, on occasion, she can slip out of her conscious dreams and into her real ones.
* **Night Vision:** Due to her Raionsupiritean blood, Nifa can see in the dark better than a typical human. However, it isn't as sharp as a purebred Raionsupiritean's.
* **Dexterity:** Another attribute of her Raionsupiritean blood, Nifa can turn midair and land on her feet when falling, just like a cat can.
* **Spirit Vision:** A power unlocked later on in the series, Nifa can see the souls of a paladin and a lion with a blink of an eye. As she gets used to this new power, she is able to switch this vision on and off on command.
* **The Roar:** When at one with all of the consciousnesses of the Voltron lions, Nifa can use a last resort move, a loud roar that can wipe out anything within a 1500 light-year radius.

## Relationships

### Towards Team Voltron

#### Towards Keith

Keith is Nifa's first real friend when she comes to Earth. Though he seems ignorant and maybe even annoyed by her for the first few months, when she consoles him about his father's death even after he didn't do the same for her, the two become closer than ever before, living an "us against the world" kind of life. After reuniting with him after 6 years, Nifa worries that Keith's relationship with her has faded considerably. However, it proves to be the exact opposite, as Keith's feelings for her, as well as her own feelings for him, have grown past friendship and bloomed into love.

#### Towards Lance

Nifa was quite annoyed by Lance when he first flirted with her, and was rather cold to him for a good chunk of the first season. In turn, he viewed her as a "second Keith", and constantly nagged at her irritable behavior. But as she began to understand his personality more and more, she warms up to him and eventually, he brings out the carefree side that she thought she had lost so long ago.

#### Towards Pidge

Upon being one of the only other girls on the team, plus knowing what it's like to lose a family, Pidge and Nifa get along swimmingly. Both are smart girls, wanting to be independent, and wishing they could be back with their families. Pidge actually ends up being the first one to know about Nifa's history with Keith, a trust that no other paladin could've earned. She ends up trying to help Nifa and Keith realize their feelings for each other.

#### Towards Hunk

Hunk was lovable and friendly to Nifa right from the start. Obviously, due to her cold exterior, she tried to avoid it and found it rather annoying. However, when she saw how hard he tried to be her friend, it reminded her of how hard she had tried to be Keith's friend when they first met, and gives in to his continuous offers of friendship.

#### Towards Shiro

Like her and Keith, Shiro and Nifa had a history together, though it wasn't the best one. Shiro's mistakes when getting them enrolled into the Galaxy Garrison's cadet training program, along with him leaving on the Kerberos mission when he promised to help them stay together, badly damaged her once-trusting relationship with him. She felt as if his help is what forced Keith and her apart to begin with. But after teaming up with him on Team Voltron, Nifa comes to realize that he was only trying to prevent what was going to happen anyways, and that it didn't matter now that they were all together again.

#### Towards Allura

The princess was the first to introduce Nifa's destiny as Voltron's spirit guide to her. Though her rules on being the spirit guide were strict, she learned a lot from the princess, even viewing her as a second mother.

#### Towards Coran

Though she didn't understand half of this comedic character's antics, Nifa respects Coran as a wise advisor. He even gives her his grandfather's battle claws so she has some form of defending herself, or even helping the team. Though he doesn't fully understand her methods, Coran and Nifa have a tolerable, if not respectable, relationship.

### Towards the Galra

#### Towards Zarkon

As most people in the series did, Nifa resented Zarkon for his evildoings, but once he knew of her existence, he was deadset on convincing her that they were the same. He argued that all they both wanted was to be of use to their allies, but Nifa refused to agree. In the end, after Zarkon's death, the scar she gained from her battle with him resembled his own, and his memory tormented her to the point where she almost lost herself to the same fate.

#### Towards Lotor

Nifa wasn't sure what to think of Lotor at first glance. She seemed to understand his actions, as he was just a half-breed fighting to be accepted by his race, and to bring peace to the universe. However, he used this to his advantage and tricked Nifa into guiding the team to help him achieve his true goal.

#### Towards Ulaz

The mysterious Blade of Marmora member was the first to Nifa's doubts about being a half-breed. She at first wondered if he had been one himself, but it was later revealed that he was talking about Lotor, and how he too fought to be accepted by the Galra.

## Trivia

* Nifa stars in her own fanfiction: Spirit of the Lioness (Read it here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/201043979-spirit-of-the-lioness-a-voltron-fanfiction )
* According to the book, Nifa earned her nickname "Stargazer," from always looking at the stars, towards home, when she was little.
* When she and Keith lived alone together for 6 years, Nifa enjoyed karaoke, riding on the Hover Bike, and watching cheesy horror movies.
* In an odd coincidence, the time spent with or away from Keith all correspond with the number 6. (First met Keith at age 6, didn't become true friends until 6 months later, lived alone with him for 6 years, was separated from him for 6 years)
* Nifa was originally planned to be a transgender character, to better affirm with the headcanon of Keith being gay. However, the idea crashed due to insufficient character development.
	+ That being said, when discussing the more popular ship of the canon series, Klance, this ship is accounted for by turning Nifa into Keith's "supportive trans bestie", rather than his love interest.
	+ Alternatively, aligning with the fandom's interpretation of LGBT representation within the show, Nifa and Keith are shipped as a "gay x trans" couple.
* Nifa and Keith have an unofficial "love song/musical sequence." It takes place on the planet Cupa (which is said to be one of the most romantic planets in the universe), and the song used is "Isn't it Love", from Steven Universe: The Movie, by Estella.
* Nifa is a self-proclaimed master of "Nightmare Patrol", a system she and Keith came up with when they were kids. (Basically, how it works is that if one were to have a nightmare, the other friend would wait awake in the other's room as moral support until the victim of the nightmare was able to sleep peacefully again)
* Keith and Nifa's official ship name is "Keifa."
	+ This ship name is a reference to the joke pronunciation of Keith's name: "Keef."
	+ Shiro and Adam are confirmed to be the biggest Keifa shippers in the story.
* An array of Nifa's character traits are taken from the cadets seen on "Voltron Force."
	+ Though Nifa's appearance is based off of a background character from "A Little Adventure", her actual personality is based off of Larmina, Allura's niece from "Voltron Force."
	+ In addition to this, Keith and Nifa's friendship-become-relationship trope came from Daniel and Larmina's own relationship, which takes a similar turn.
	+ Also, Nifa's ability to link with Voltron's consciousness and guide it through there is based off of Vince's own power as the key to forming Voltron.
	+ Nifa's ideal weapon replaced the old rapier with a set of battle claws, much like Dainel's from the show.
* Nifa has her own personal "instrumental theme" to better suit her action scenes in the show. It is a track from the Netflix Original Anime, "Gunjou no Magmel".The track can be listened to here:
* Nifa's original voice actor was Jessica Gomes, due to her relationship with Steven Yeun during the #IAm story.
	+ However, due to wanting a voice actor more suited for Nifa's human heritage, the role was later replaced with Janice Kawaye, a Japanese-American voice actor with just the right pitch for the job.
	+ Once again, the Janice Kawaye voice was TOO high-pitched, so switching once more, Nifa's voice-acting role was given to Janet Varney, who had the right pitch to bring the half-alien teen girl to life.
* Nifa and Keith's past was written out in more detail and deciphered in an alternate way in the one-shot "Standing Strong", by Fanged\_Tonight.