Matthew Holt is the brother of Katie Holt in Voltron: Legendary Defender. who went missing after being taken prisoner by the Galra Empire during the Galaxy Garrison's expedition to Kerberos. Pidge has been searching for him and her father Samuel ever since.
History
Matt and his father were members of an expedition to Kerberos that also included Shiro, with Katie expressing a longing to join her father and brother on the mission prior to their departure. The two siblings took a photo together shortly before the launch, and Matt and his team eventually arrived on Kerberos. Sadly, they were then abducted by a battle cruiser from the Galra Empire, and due to no trace of them being left behind they were declared dead, with the official report being that pilot error had led to their untimely ends. Katie refused to accept this explanation, particularly after hacking Galaxy Garrison computers and learning the truth, and created the false identity of Pidge Gunderson in order to find out what had really happened. The look Pidge adopted for her new persona strongly resembled her brother, to the point that Hunk, upon finding the photo the two had taken before Matt's launch in Pidge's backpack, believed that Matt was Pidge and that the girl in the photo was a girlfriend.
Matt, his father, and Shiro were all held for a time aboard Commander Sendak's battle cruiser, but Matt and Shiro ended up in the Galran gladiatorial arena while Commander Holt was sent to a work camp. Faced with the prospect of going up against a monstrous gladiator, Matt was terrified, leading Shiro to take the drastic action of faking a bloodthirsty rage and injuring Matt so that Matt would be taken away while Shiro fought in the arena.
By the time the Paladins of Voltron boarded Sendak's ship in search of the Red Lion, Shiro was able to recall he and the Holts had once been held captive there. Pidge later learned where they had been sent by downloading info from Sendak's computer, and briefly considered leaving to find her missing brother and father before deciding that her duty lay with the other Paladins.
In Escape From Beta Traz, while Lance and Shiro are traversing the prison, Pidge does a search for Matt over the base's computer, and eventually finds out that Matt has been taken from the Galra by rebels. Shiro comments to Pidge that "He's still out there. Matt's a lot like you, he's a survivor."
When Pidge is on a mission, an alien named Te-osh gives her a transponder that tells her where Matt is. She follows the transponder, and panics when it leads her to a memorial for those who are fighting against the Galra Empire. Eventually it leads her to a grave with her brother's name on it, and she mourns. But she notices that Matt's birthdate was wrong, and decodes it into coordinates. She realizes that he's still alive, and follows the coordinates. She finds him in a rebel base and they share a tearful reunion that is interrupted by a bounty hunter, looking to claim the price on Matt's head as well as the reward he could reap for Pidge and the Green Lion. After they work together to take the bounty hunter down, Pidge takes Matt back with her to Olkarion, where she introduced him to Coran and the other Paladins; Matt was immediately smitten by the beautiful Princess Allura, to the jealousy of Lance. But the one person he was most happy to see was Shiro, who embraced him, and promised they will eventually find his father.
Matt later worked with Pidge and Hunk to combine the rebels' intel with Pidge's Galra tracking software, enabling the Voltron Coalition to track Galra fleet movements, as well as decrypt live transmissions, in which they learned that Zarkon was alive. Matt soon accompanied the Paladins to investigate Zarkon's target, which was revealed to be Prince Lotor, running co-pilot with Pidge to maintain Voltron's cloak. Unfortunately, Lotor's escape aboard his Sincline ships bypassed Voltron, disrupting their cloak, forcing Voltron to engage the Galra fleet before retreating.
Matt later participates in the Voltron Coalition's all-out attack to claim one-third of the Galra Empire. Running co-pilot with Captain Olia, they lead an attack squadron against planet Teq's Zaiforge Cannon in an effort to capture it. Unfortunately, the cannon was heavily shielded, preventing them from boarding and the squadron soon became overwhelmed by both the cannon and fighters, forcing them to take cover behind a large asteroid. Thankfully, Keith and the Blade of Marmora are able to take a second cannon and use it to disable the shields around Matt and Olia's target, enabling to seize control and use it against enemy target.
An approaching Galra battlecruiser remotely shut down both cannons and the Coalition lost contact with Voltron on Naxzela. Keith called on Matt and the rebels for aid, suspect the enemy cruiser was up to something. En route, they were hailed by the Paladins, who urged their friends to stop Haggar, who was turned Naxzela into a bomb powerful enough to destroy Voltron, the Coalition and the Blades. The allies attacked the cruiser, which was armed with a specialized weapon, but were unable to penetrate its shield. Matt pleaded Keith not to sacrifice himself when he attempted to ram the weapon, but thankfully, the timely save from Lotor averted that. The exiled prince then announced to the Paladins and rebels that despite their differences, they should talk.
Matt and Pidge are later informed by Shiro and Allura that Lotor had provided their father's current whereabouts, at a prison where he's forced to work for the Galra Empire with other alien scientists. Refusing to wait for reinforcements, the Holt siblings decide to mount a rescue, with Rolo, Nyma and Beezer joining them in the Green Lion. Unfortunately, they were detected approaching the prison, forcing Pidge to deal with a squadron of fighters while Matt and the other skydived. Worse yet, Matt's jetpack malfunctioned, forcing Beezer to grab him. As they then discovered the prison sentries had been destroyed and the scientists inside said that a "scary lady" had been there before them. Matt searched all the cells but sadly found no trace of his father. Frustrated, he rejoined his allies aboard a shuttle as they took off and were soon picked up by Pidge in mid-air. When they later returned to the Castle, they are hailed by Zarkon, who is revealed to be holding Sam, who was taken by Lotor's former generals, hostage and was willing to trade him for Lotor.
Shiro, Pidge and Matt went to exchange Lotor for their father, but they soon found out they were double crossed. as Zarkon used a hologram of Sam during the exchange, keeping the real one on his shuttle. As Zarkon demanded they hand over Voltron, it is revealed that Shiro had given Lotor his bayard, allowing him to surprise Zarkon. The three board the Galra shuttle while Lotor and Zarkon battle down on the ground. Shiro, Pidge and Matt had to fight Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid before ejecting the three generals off the ship. They soon were witness to Zarkon's death at Lotor's hands.
Personality
Much like his sister, Matt is a passionate scientist, eager to learn, teach, and discover new worlds, people, and ideas, heightening his resemblance to Pidge. Matt is quite skilled in the field of communications, making him a very analytical and perceptive young man who encoded his own grave so that only someone who knew him and knew his coding style would be able to track him down after he faked his own demise among the rebels, thus indicating that he is capable of out-thinking his enemies. Like his sister, Matt can get a bit lost in his own machinations, his mind speeding along until he obtains a solution, showing a great deal of self-discipline as well as a very single-minded focus.
Though not initially a combative person during his time as a gladiator slave, Matt eventually developed a somewhat aggressive personality, as evidenced by his actions both as a melee fighter and as a rebel pilot, clearly having no qualms with killing enemy soldiers amidst the Galra fleets.
Matt is very much in awe of everything that his sister has managed to accomplish as a Paladin of Voltron, repeatedly gasping and fawning in awe over how amazing she has become in the time she has spent away from him and their family. The two are incredibly close, bonding before and after Matt's abduction over military tech, collaborating over projects, and even taking down a Galra-hired bounty hunter with a tandem strike to the face, indicating that even their natural combat preferences are similar.
Abilities
Initially a simple scientist, Matt was immersed in the worlds beyond his own, devoting every second of his time to mastering coding algorithms, advanced technology, and hacking communications networks of military grade systems. Every inch the genius as his sister, Matt was stationed as a communications officer and spy for the rebels, developing his own take on surveillance tech that differed just enough from Pidge's that he knew enough to perfect her own network designed to predict Galra military operations and movements of key fleets and more.
Matt is a cunning young man. His use of selective misinformation regarding his own grave following his faked death where he purposely left the wrong information regarding his date of birth allowed Pidge to track him down. Given his talents as a hacker, Matt purposely left his grave marker with erroneous information with the knowledge that only someone who knew him would be able to use his own coding algorithm to track him down. Not only does this indicate a great degree of forethought, it also indicates Matt's common sense, knowing that the Galra or allies of theirs would be likely to overlook such a seemingly insignificant detail despite it being plainly accessible.
Despite being a computer and communications specialist, Matt eventually became a skilled melee fighter in his own right, able to take down a bounty hunter alongside Pidge with only his fists and initially a fighting staff that he used against his sister before realizing who she was, despite Pidge having been fighting for months on end and honing her own combat prowess. This is a huge change from the somewhat meek and scared young man he was when he was about to face Myzax in Zarkon's gladiator pit.
Trivia
- Matt is likely the newest incarnation of Chip, who is the twin brother of Pidge in other incarnations of Voltron.
- Matt wore a uniform like Garrison cadets, but is described in the guidebook as being a graduate.
- Pidge's disguise is so identical to Matt's appearance that people easily mistake a photo of him for her. There are subtle differences between them that can allow a perceptive observer to tell the difference, such Matt's shoulders being broader and his hair being a few shades lighter than Pidge's.
- Matt had corrective eye surgery prior to his mission to Kerberos. Hence why Pidge was in possession of his glasses; as a memento of her brother.
- Matt may have a crush on Allura. When he meets her for the first time, he is overcome by her beauty and flirts with her.