It’s no secret that recent events have begun to make people paint Rose in a… different light. Matt Burnett even hinted at something incredibly dark and foreboding that has been foreshadowed throughout the entire show so far.
Recently in the episode “Keeping It Together” we learned that a host of terrifying force-fusion experiments on innocent gems took place deep below the Kindergarten. After discovering the monstrosities, Garnet nearly has an existential crisis.
But I think Garnet is dead wrong. Not only did Rose Quartz know, but she was the original mastermind behind these Dr. Frankenstein-esque experiments.
First, let’s look at the terminal used to activate the chamber.
The terminal features a diamond on the palm and is left-handed. There is a similar terminal that was featured earlier in Lion 2: The movie.
It features Rose’s emblem, but more importantly, is also left-handed.
In Sworn To The Sword we saw a flashback of Rose Quartz in battle.
Rose Quartz is wielding her sword in her left hand. Rose Quartz is left-handed.
Next, let’s look at the state of the gems used in the experiments.
Forcibly glued together. As far as we know, the gems don’t have access to current technology like the goop used to restore the gem warps. That doesn’t rule out another factor though: Rose’s tears.
A cracked gem, sealed using the power of Rose’s gem. We know it’s possible for gems to be glued together without the use of Peridot’s robonoids.
What about Peridot? In The Return she said the mission was to “check on the cluster”, implying that someone had been toying with these gems far earlier than Peridot was around.
In Marble Madness when Peridot first reveals the tubes housing the gem fusions, she was reactivating them, implying they had been there far earlier.
The last two points I’m about to make are the most chilling. In Keeping It Together Garnet said the gems that were broken into pieces were buried, most likely by the Crystal Gems.
Only Rose and the Crystal Gems knew where these shards were. It would be very easy for her to hide a few of them to use for later experiments.
Lastly, every single forced fusion in the Kindergarten took the form of a hand, foot, arm, or leg.
The bubble in Secret Team happened to contained a variety of gem body parts like arms and legs.
It was a Rose Quartz bubble.
This fucked me up
You guys know what else this implies?
Rose only saw Greg/giving birth to Steven as another fusion experiment
Thought I’d contribute. After the last episode (Friend Ship), I noticed something kind of interesting about Peridot: She has absolutely no idea how her own gadgets work.
I mean look. Here she is being completely surprised that her stasis ability even works:
And here she is being shocked by the power of own arm cannon:
And even though we’ve seen her helicoptering around for a while, she still seems to be inexperienced with it:
ok so i love steven’s universe for a lot of reasons, but I just noticed something:
everyone who watches the show knows that Rose is seen as beautiful, and elegant and likely the most attractive character in the show.
But then we also see stuff like:
Mayor Dewy thinking Pearl is beautiful, and even calling her “hot”
Jamie thinking Garnet is literally the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
Stevonie, a non-binary but mostly female appearing character, being seen as very attractive by multiple other characters, and Sadie finding her attractive instead of being catty.
Then we have these two. Saphire is a tiny blue one eyed ice smurf and is also seen as beautiful. Ruby is a tiny red angry square with almost no traditionally female characteristics and is also seen as attractive enough to find true love.
Vedalia even says Greg is hot. A+ body positivity despite gender and body type.
What I haven’t seen EVER in Steven’s Universe though is any of the characters being portrayed as ugly or physically unappealing to anyone. Fat characters get body positivity, skinny characters get body positivity, curvy characters get body positivity, tiny characters get body positivity. You know what else? No two characters have the same body type just like real life. It teaches you that there are endless different ways to look and still be beautiful.
No one gets left out. No one gets called ugly. The only “bad” characters arn’t bad because of the way they look, but the way they act. Fat characters are never seen as ugly because they are fat.
This is so important for little kids to see.
And I know the counter argument to children being taught that it’s “ok” to be fat will always be “well being fat is unhealthy and they should feel bad about being fat so that they will work on loosing weight”. But guess what, that kind of thing leads to eating disorders, and kills children’s self esteem, and makes them hate their bodies. Some people do need to loose weight if it actually does affect their health but a lot of the time they really don’t, or they can’t for whatever reason. Some people feel more comfortable being on the heavier side. But even if you are concerned for a person’s health, the stress and depression that comes along with having a poor image of yourself is much more unhealthy and limiting than a little belly fat.
It also shows you that the Gems choose their appearance, which is also supper important. Pearl, and Lapis choose to be skinny, Amethyst and Rose choose to be fat, Garnet chooses to be a giant curvy square, and all of those things are completely accepted and ok.
theory: every generation of dewey has found pearl to be incredibly attractive and pearl has had to deal with each successive dewey trying to hit on her and she is just so sick of the entire thing by now
post-“Jail Break”, a lot of us rather inevitably and understandably started using its ‘Garnet is a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire’ revelation to both interpret Garnet in subsequent episodes and to recontextualize her admittedly stoic, withdrawn behavior throughout Season 1.
this sort of ‘recontextualization effect’ encouraged some funny fandom trends–like figuring out what Ruby and Sapphire were feeling/thinking during moments like Garnet’s infamous telephone conversation with Dr. Maheswaran in “Fusion Cuisine” or the duration of Garnet’s fusion with Amethyst in “Coach Steven”. and those were mostly harmless, but allowing Ruby and Sapphire’s love to determine our understanding of Garnet as a wholly happy, healthy relationship–even over behavior that suggested something deeper and different–really does Garnet a huge disservice.
Garnet isn’t just Ruby and Sapphire in a trench coat, or Ruby and Sapphire copiloting Garnet’s body.
Garnet embodies Ruby and Sapphire’s love, and she’s a gestalt–her own, distinct person, with her own personality and experiences, who’s quite literally greater than the sum of her parts.
during The Week of Sardonyx, a lot of us–including myself–noted that, because she embodies Ruby and Sapphire’s loving relationship, Garnet couldn’t really comprehend the depths of Amethyst’s and Pearl’s loneliness, insecurity, self-loathing, and lack of self-esteem…
…and while there’s definitely more to it than I originally understood before my Garnet-targeted canon rewatch, I still believe that point hasa little merit. while Amethyst and Pearl once had Rose to help them work through their issues and remind them that they were valued and loved, Rose ultimately abandoned her physical form to have Steven–and even before that, it was impossible for Rose to always be there for Amethyst and Pearl in the same way that Ruby and Sapphire are for one another, because they’re “always together”. like Pearl, it’s very likely that Ruby and Sapphire experienced marginalization and oppression on Homeworld…but by fusing out of love, they’re able to lend each other constant, unconditional support and achieve a transcendent sense of togetherness.
that unconditional love, constant support, and transcendent togetherness of Ruby and Sapphire’s fusion are the foundation of Garnet’s very being. in her own words, Garnet has told Steven on two separate occasions that being a fusion makes her feel like she’s never alone…
…and the relative emotional stability and security she feels because of that–along with her unique abilities and amplified strength as a fusion–are probably the qualities that made her the best candidate to step up as the Crystal Gems’ new leader after Rose gave up her physical form.
but–and I cannot stress this enough–none of those qualities preclude Garnet from longing for significant connections with others, experiencing loneliness, or having her own insecurities. Ruby and Sapphire may always be together, but Garnet is her own person with her own feelings, thoughts, emotional needs, and relationships with the others. Garnet’s needs are different than Amethyst’s and Pearl’s, but hers are just as valid as theirs.
in fact, Garnet’s behavior and interactions with the other Crystal Gems throughout the series establish that she wants connection keenly…but deliberately distances and holds herself back from her teammates emotionally, hence her ‘stoic’ and ‘put together’ exterior.
I see a lot posts about how garnet might not understand what it’s like to be alone, and i do think that’s true. at least, to the extent that amethyst and pearl have felt alone.
but on the flipside, i don’t believe pearl or amethyst know what it’s like to feel alone for the first time. i believe both were born feeling alone. i think they don’t know that garnet is feeling alone for the first time in her life, ever since the events of Keeping it Together. she’s heard of how homeworld treats fusions. she intrinsically knows because of sapphire and ruby and what they went through. but she’s starting to feel she’s not looked at as a person. she’s just a tactic, a tool ,an experiment. Stronger than You is all about her self-confidence in being a conversation, in being a feeling, in being made of love.
but Keeping it Together forced Garnet to see what “fusion” meant to homeworld. she kept that deep inside of her, despite how much it disturbed and distressed her, and even tried to “keep it together” for steven. think about the double meaning of the title for that episode, just as “Cry for Help” had a double meaning for pearl (and arguably amethyst). at the end, she’s trying to bring the status quo back for steven’s sake. she wants to put away what she saw deep inside of her.
when someone is dehumanized and their very existence is heavily stigmatized, they learn to start looking for threats and aggressions in their own environment to protect themselves. for garnet to see and feel aspects and remnants of what homeworld thinks of her in pearl and amethyst must be difficult for her to deal with. even if she’s misinterpreting how pearl feels partially, she has every right to be on the defense.
i think garnet is feeling alone for the first time in her life, and that’s heavy for her. i think she was so happy about sardonyx because she cares for pearl AND because it was a way to reclaim fusion for her after seeing the clusters and exeperiments. it was a way to make it what it is supposed to be: letting someone in, a connection, and creating a person with its own special and unique memories, personality, strengths and weaknesses.
only to find out that pearl was using it as a tactic to feel good about herself, to the point of sabotage and deceit.
her focused anger on peridot shows how personally she’s still taking the events of Keeping it Together, and i think the reason garnet isn’t talking about it isn’t just because she want to shoulder the burden on her own. i think it’s because she honestly might not recognize what she’s feeling or fully understand it.
Yes, the ratings for other shows will go down, but that won’t change the opinions of the people putting out these shows that girls don’t buy merchandise. If you have money to spare and want to support this great show GO HERE!!! This is the official site where you can buy legit merchandise to help support the Crewniverse. So if you want to really make a difference in the fate of the show, try getting some money together and buy a teeshirt or a phone case. I know I’ll definitely try (I really want “Professional Beach Hunk”).
AngelMihe 