In the Voltron Legendary Defender fourth-season episode “Begin the Blitz,” when Matt Holt joins Captain Olia in a rebel fighter that attacks a Zaiforge Cannon of the Galra Empire, Matt and Olia aren’t the only beings in the cockpit.
It’s unclear who or what this being is. Is it a humanoid in armor, perhaps like Iron Man from Marvel Comics? Is it a robot, like C-3PO from Star Wars? Is it a cyborg, like… Cyborg from DC Comics? (It should be noted that as late as in “Begin the Blitz,” Matt Holt is still flirting unsuccessfully with Princess Allura.)
The mysterious being speaks a single line in this episode:
“See if the Blades can use their cannon to take down the shield.”
The mystery being has a seemingly impassive, electronic-sounding, female voice.
At the end of the seventh season, in “Lions’ Pride Part 2,” Matt Holt returns to Earth, and he is holding hands with the being, so it appears that Matt and the being have fallen in love and are in a relationship.
In the eighth season, we get a glimpse of the being in “The Prisoner’s Dilemma.” In “Clear Day,” Matt playfully puts a miner’s helmet on the being’s head, and later the being poses with the Holts in a family photo.
In the eighth-season episodes “Genesis” and “The Zenith,” the Netflix subtitles reveal the being’s name: N-7.
I asked Lauren Montgomery to explain who N-7 is. (At the time I asked her about the character, I had forgotten that the being’s name had been given in subtitles.) Here is Lauren’s response, dated January 6, 2019:
Her name is N seven. I assume it’s a reference to mass effect though I know our writers don’t play video games so I’m not sure how they came up with it. N seven is a robot. Full on AI so she’s technically not a she, but Kimberly did the voice so we tend to just refer to N seven as a she anyway. But robots are generally genderless. It just seemed right that Matt, like Pidge, would fall in love with technology.
Lauren also pointed out that in the final episode, Pidge and Matt Holt are essentially building a robot “child,” Chip, further demonstrating Matt’s (and Pidge’s) love of technology.
Thanks to Lauren Montgomery for sharing this insightful back story for N-7!