Legendary Defender:
Hunk is the beating heart of Voltron and a man of many talents. As well as a capable fighter, he's also a pilot, mentor, diplomat, engineer, and galaxy-renowned chef. He is the Paladin of the Yellow Lion of Voltron.
Easily the friendliest and kindest of the team, Hunk is often the voice of restraint and caution of the five Paladins and despite his immense strength has a hard time engaging in fights due to his gentle nature. However, when his anger is triggered, nothing and no one should stand against him. Hunk also possessed a fear of heights that was quickly overcome when he acquired the Yellow Lion, despite barfing on multiple occasions. This is likely due to the bond between the two and how piloting the Lion is more like commanding a large body than piloting a ship, making the process feel more controlled and natural to a man like Hunk. He has a close bond with his team that allows him to get along with everyone, and he has a close bond with Lance and Pidge due to the three of them being on the same squad back at the Galaxy Garrison on Earth. He and Lance connect on their largely laid back personalities while Pidge is his equal and contemporary in the field of science. Hunk is the most gentle of his friends, which allows him to make friends quickly and easily.
However, when protecting others and his teammates, he can be headstrong, aggressive, and single-minded, such as when he was focused on saving Shay and the other Balmerans he was unrelenting in his mission and focus. He is also quite humble, but will use the power of his position to inspire hope in those who have learned to live without it. This shows that Hunk is still himself despite the power vested in him as a Paladin, as his authority is used only in the service of others. Hunk is altruistic, focusing on helping his friends by any means necessary, whether as a cook, a Paladin, engineer, and so on. He is often with Shiro the voice of caution and logic among the Paladins. Despite his originally timid demeanor, Hunk's initial bonding with Yellow brought out his more cavalier and enthusiastic attributes, revealing the warrior within him.
Hunk is also the straight man of the team. He is usually the first to remind the Team of just how outrageous and sometimes unbelievable their situation really is. One instance was when they first boarded the Blue Lion, clarifying that they were in a "giant, robot, alien cat head." These comical yet to-the-point observations usually serve to ground the team and put things in perspective for them. It also serves as Hunk's go-to coping mechanism for dealing with the understandably gargantuan levels of stress he subjects himself to in his line of work.
Hunk tends to be something of a culinary snob, as he was quick to dismiss many of Coran's meals for him and the other Paladins as disgusting. Due to this, Hunk can often be found cooking in his downtime, experimenting with alien ingredients, much to his general success at creating dishes suitable to not only human consumption, but to a wide variety of species as well. Hunk takes immense pride in his cooking skills and is often annoyed or peeved when someone criticizes his work.
In season 6, Hunk goes through Galra training with Dayak. After this, Hunk is described to have "toughened up" and became more willing take charge of a situation and showed his leadership skills by leading a group of Galra who were bickering with each other. Even though he went though this training, he still remains as the goofy jokester of the team.
In season 7, Hunk begins to show more of his "toughened up" personality, when the paladins were bickering and arguing by being driven mad from being stuck in space. Hunk retained a level headed demeanor and kept the paladins grounded. He was also able to keep his sanity and see through a mirage showing a great deal of mental strength. After returning to earth when his family was taken by the Galra, Hunk, though being emotionally hurt, became determined to save them, this change in personally is much different then Hunk's normal goofy and silly demeanor.
Hunk embodies in many ways the Yellow Lion's elemental affiliation of earth. His strength, endurance, fear of heights, and protective and kind nature are the qualities of the Lion and element, and he also serves as the group's humble foundation as a stalwart soldier and friend. Apparently, as it shows in the first episode in Legendary Defender, he has very bad motion sickness (he vomits in the Flight Simulator and in the blue lion), though later on he does not show any signs of this. This is likely due to his experiences with Yellow and the others helping him to overcome his fears.
Defender of the Universe:
A graduate of the Space Academy, Hunk did field training on one of the worlds of the Galaxy Alliance. He was assigned to the scout team, led by Keith, which was sent to Planet Arus and was captured by the forces of Doom. After escaping Planet Doom, he and the others made their way to the Castle of Lions on Arus. He was a founding member of the Voltron Force, and was partnered with Yellow Lion.
He had advocated bringing the war to Doom. Eventually, the Galaxy Alliance was able to spare enough support to do that.
