Emperor Zarkon, known as in the original

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

Beast King GoLion is a Japanese super robot anime television series. The animation from ''GoLion'' was edited and trimmed to create the version of the American '' Voltron: Defender of the Universe'' series, with new names and dialogue. In 2008, ''GoLion'' wa ...

'', is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, Play (theatre), play, Radio series, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or b ...

in the media franchise ''

Voltron ''Voltron'' is an animated television series franchise that features a team of space explorers who pilot a giant Super Robot known as "Voltron". Produced by Peter Keefe (Executive Producer) and Ted Koplar through his production company World ...

'' and an antagonist of the Voltron Force, who made his first appearance in ''

''.

''Voltron: Defender of the Universe''

King Zarkon is ruler of Planet Daibazaal who blames others for his failures. At times he can be a more restrained leader, particularly when Lotor does something rash, Zarkon will calmly handle the situation and chastise his son in private.

''Voltron: The Third Dimension''

King Zarkon became an ally of the Voltron force against Prince Lotor as a member of the Galactic council. It turns out to be a ruse as he was secretly working with his son.

''Voltron: Legendary Defender''

Zarkon was ruler of Daibazaal and the original black Paladin of Voltron. He ruled the Galra Empire for 10,000 years. Zarkon became corrupted by Quintessence and unknown dark forces from an alternate reality which led to a revolt against king Alfor to claim Voltron for himself. With the absence of all five Lions, Zarkon assumed that Voltron was destroyed but rediscovers the lions and wants it for himself. Zarkon eventually gets killed by his son, prince Lotor. The character was made a more sophisticated character than his 1984 counterpart. During flashbacks of '' Voltron: Legendary Defender'', Zarkon is voiced by

Kevin Durand Kevin Serge Durand (born January 14, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Vasiliy Fet in '' The Strain'', Joshua in '' Dark Angel'', Martin Keamy in '' Lost'', Fred J. Dukes / The Blob in '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', Ba ...

instead of

Neil Kaplan Neil Charles Kaplan is an American voice actor, audiobook narrator, entertainer, and comedian. Biography Kaplan got his start as a comedian doing impressions of presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. He also impersonated a little-k ...

. Voltron writers said the reason a different voice actor was chosen to show how Zarkon is not the original person he once was.

Comics

In the 2011 Devil's Due comics the Emperor Zarkon character appears in the book.

In popular culture

The character appeared in an ad campaign for the Sprite soft drink in the 1990s.

References

Television characters introduced in 1984 Voltron Male characters in animation Villains in animated television series Extraterrestrial supervillains Fictional characters who use magic Fictional commanders Fictional humanoids Fictional emperors and empresses Fictional warlords Galactic emperors {{sf-stub