A: Pink Diamond couldn’t fuse with humans–Steven’s unique that way. Pink obviously created Steven (not through fusion), but now Steven is the result of that process and he exists sort of as a bridge. He can fuse with humans because of his humanity, not because of his Gem. He would actually be able to pull other humans into his Fusions with Gems, but he’d have to be there to preserve that connection.

Joe interprets the question a little differently, saying he thinks they’re asking whether another hybrid might be possible, and Rebecca says it’d be possible only for a Gem as committed to it as Rose was. She specifies that Rose obviously had the immense power of a Diamond as well as that dedication, so if some other Gem that had a similar level of power and a similar interest in creating an organic child wanted to do it, okay, they could.

Steven Universe Podcast: The Fantasy of Steven Universe

Pearl - The fantasy

I was your mother's sole confidant— for the words she could share with no one else, I was there to listen.

—Pearl, Rose’s Scabbard

Rose didn't have a lion, because if Rose had a lion I would have known about it! [...] YOU can't understand how I feel, NONE of you had what we had!

—Pearl, Rose’s Scabbard

Everything I ever did, I did for her. Now she's gone, but I'm still here. Sometimes, I wonder if she can see me through your eyes. What would she think of me now?

—Pearl, Rose’s Scabbard

This is an Ancient Sky Arena, Connie, where some of the first battles for Earth took place. It was here that I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight, completely dedicated to a person and a cause.

—Pearl, Sword of the Sword

Back during the war, Pearl took pride in risking her destruction for your mother. She put Rose Quartz over everything; over logic, over consequence, over her own life.

—Garnet, Sword of the Sword

Why won't you just let me do this for you, Rose?!?

—Pearl, Sword of the Sword

Connie: Did Rose make you feel like you were nothing?

Pearl: Rose made me feel... like I was... everything.

—Sword of the Sword

p-dot-bot asked: In the story of Steven Universe, is the Rose/Pearl relationship romantic?

Raven Molisee: If its not, then I’ve misunderstood the whole thing!

*tosses storyboards into the air*

TAGS: Turns out: I misunderstood the whole thing

—Her tumblr

Rebecca and Ian, while discussing Rose’s “Batcave,” brought up the scene when Pearl couldn’t talk about Rose’s full details during “Rose’s Scabbard.” Incidentally, yes, Pearl is Alfred if Alfred was in love with Batman. It’s very important to note that we’re talking about Batman here, NOT Bruce Wayne. She loves BATMAN.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

But I've been... imagining things, even when you haven't asked me to. I imagined that I ran away and met you here on Earth, a Rose Quartz. And I'm not yours, but, I make you so happy anyway! Isn't that ridiculous?! Tell me to stop!

Rose: Please don't ever stop!

—Pearl, Now We’re Only Falling Apart

Once upon a time, I only lived to be of Pink Diamond's service,

Till the day the two of us snuck down to be on this planet's surface

We became our fantasy…

—Pearl, Steven Universe: The Movie

My Pearl.

—Rose, Rose's Scabbard

The fact that Rose says "my Pearl" to Pearl... A lot of people wonder, "oh, she belonged to Rose". No one calls their Pearl my Pearl, people only say that to their superiors. So there's actually a lot more going on in that scene.

—Rebecca Sugar, The Truth About Rose Quartz

Interviewer: Pearl obviously has some unrequited love for Rose, you know, and…

Rebecca Sugar: I don’t know if I would call it unrequited!

—Comic News Insider Episode 679

melodicdragon97 asked: So we know that Rose is able to order Pearl around if Rose so chooses to (and that Pearl only has to obey her IF Rose orders her to). I just want to know if Pearl is the only one Rose is capable of ordering around in that way (forcing someone to do something). Is it part of her being a Diamond, or does it only apply to Pearl?

It only applies to Pearl.

BECAUSE our Pearl was made for Pink Diamond, she must follow her orders.

Rose did not have this power or control over anyone else, and its ONLY because Pearl was made for her that Pink/Rose had this power over her.

Pink is a Diamond, she could order around lots of gems, but they follow because of hierarchy, not because the Diamonds are mind controlling them.

Is this making sense? I’m try to clear this up for everybody, but people still seem confused.

—Joe Johnston, 2018

Pearl is falling in love. Pink, as ROSE, is intoxicating. She's free somehow. They both are, when they are on Earth.

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 77

Pearl and Rose start fusing. A LOT.

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 77

Pearl Happy/Vacant at top will do whatever is asking... No opinion of her own that isn't basic logic

Pearl fiercely opinionated by end

Bold+Ridiculous

Shameless, Frivolous

(Pearl has never experienced shamed at this point - Pink/Rose HAS)

Very focused on what is making Rose happy—enabling her to do outrageous things

Rose falls in love with Pearl's surprising boldness that comes out of left field.

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 86

Amethyst

Rose said... I'm perfect... the way I am!

—Amethyst, Crack the Whip

McKenzie asks them to speak to Amethyst’s relationship with Rose. Ian suggests she was kind of “the Steven of the group,” as we see in flashbacks–her getting them in trouble. Rebecca thinks Amethyst’s fluidity was encouraged by Rose, and that she protected her from having to know troubling truths. Amethyst is basically a kid who was raised by hippies. She was sheltered from knowing the full truth of her origin and therefore she was not free to build on that aspect of her identity. Both the advantages of freedom and the disadvantages of lack of structure manifested in her. Rose didn’t want Amethyst to have restrictions of the Gem society they rejected, but that meant she didn’t get a chance to rebel against or choose to follow anything associated with them. Especially with regard to her relationship with the Kindergarten, they compare Amethyst to being raised with a liberal upbringing–everything is fine now, even though it’s apparent that NONE of this is actually fine in the larger context. Meeting other Amethysts inspired a growth for Amethyst where she can understand where she’s from and can CHOOSE the flexibility she embodies, rather than having that be a symptom of floundering.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 2, Episode 2 [EXTRACT▶]

One very important relationship is Amethyst with Rose, because Amethyst is what Rose wished she could be. No programming from Homeworld–she’s free of the baggage that she has. Rose deliberately kept Amethyst in the dark about her origin and what she was “supposed to be” for all those years because she didn’t want her to be poisoned by it. As in a previous podcast where they talked about Amethyst specifically (Volume 2, Episode 2), Rebecca says it’s kind of like a certain kind of “hippie parenting” where you shelter your kid from knowing about the bad stuff from your past so it doesn’t affect the personality they develop, but you let them just do whatever they want. Instead of finding out about her roots from her parent figure of sorts, Amethyst had to find out from PERIDOT, which is ridiculous.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

Amethyst finally understands Rose... Wanting her to shapeshift... Not feel obligated to be a Quartz... Suddenly feels sympathy... Kinship. It wasn't Amethyst being inspired by Rose— Rose was inspired by THEM!

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 26

Greg - The Ballad of Rose and Greg

Greg adores Rose, but he adores a very specific side of her, which is the Rose he knew.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe Podcast Vol 2, Episode 7 [EXTRACT▶]

Greg: Steven, I couldn't do anything growing up. Everything I liked, or wore, wanted was always wrong! Trust me, you're better off then I was.

Steven: I can't believe I never realized, you're.. you're just like mom!

—Mr. Universe

Internally on the show, we’ve always understood the relationship between Greg and Rose...we’ve seen little fractions of it. But this is a piece of that puzzle that we’ve been discussing in these little moments, but never really spoke about so directly, which is that they’re really very similar.

[...]

They both came from really stifling households, and they both found a way to escape. We talked about it a little in Steven’s Dream when Greg is sitting on the steps with Steven, he talked about the moment that Rose tried to talk to him about her past, and he said it didn’t matter to him because he felt like the person that she is now, the person that she invented for herself, that’s really her, that’s the real her. Of course, he feels that way because Mr. Universe is the real him. To him, it doesn’t matter if it’s silly or flimsy. Because his persona is so much more himself than the person he was being forced to become in that home.

Greg really understood Rose and he really respected her, and she really responded to that because she had never had that before. By the end of their relationship, she didn’t feel like she was hiding from him, and that was something that she couldn’t really get from anyone else in her life except for him. But the flip side of that is that she was off and running from something, and he enabled her to never confront what troubles her about her past because he doesn’t want to confront what troubled him about his past.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar Reflects on the Past, Present, and Future of Her Sublime Journey

Rose and Greg have a very specific relationship. They parallel each other: Greg left his unsupportive family to follow his dreams. He changes his name and begins living as his stage persona... He invents himself. And then he meets Rose, his fantasy partner: a stunning magical alien. Rose is instantly interested in Greg: he's so human, sweet and funny and pliable. But as they get a little deeper into their relationship, Greg starts to realize how alien she actually is. She objectifies him, she laughs at him... She can't seem to relate to him or pick up on how he's feeling. They have a physical relationship, but they've never had a meaningful conversation. He starts to feel used. So he challenges her in a way she's never been challenged before: He asks her to treat him like an equal. This is huge for her. She's always been less than the other Diamonds and more than anyone else. She opens up to him in a real way, and over time she's ready to confess everything to him. But he understands what it is to run away from home and reinvent yourself. He doesn't need her old name and he's not going to drag her through whatever it was she ran from; as far as he's concerned, her old self isn't the real her anyway. The real her is her in the present, the person she decided to be. This is an incredible relief for her! With him, she can live authentically in the moment... They both can, but on the flip side, they enable each other. She never unpacks what scares her about her past, and neither does he.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 96

Crystal Gems

Hilary says the other characters were used to putting their choices on Rose, but once they had to accept responsibility for their own futures, their roles in their own lives became more active.

Steven Universe Recap, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

You can't control him, and he shouldn't be taking advice from me, and we don't have Rose to tell us what to do!

—Amethyst, The Test

Ian says you can really see the main Gems’ personalities having developed out of their relationship with Rose. Pearl is “neurotic” because of how much she knew; Garnet’s confidence and straightforward leader behavior developed from knowing Rose as a fighter (and because Rose consulted with Garnet regularly), and Amethyst’s flexibility and looseness is born of how she only knew them once the conflict was over, having never been affected personally by the battles or losing friends in it, and how Rose deliberately encouraged her to be free-floating. Rose as a parent figure for Amethyst will make more sense soon.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

Rebecca speaks on how Sapphire is so perceptive but allowed her trust of Rose to get in the way of seeing the truth, and she’s feeling very foolish. She felt responsible for seeing things coming in their relationship since Ruby just doesn’t have that insight, and she feels like she failed catastrophically. Ian elaborates on something unspoken: she feels that Rose knew that Sapphire does NOT have the ability to see the PAST, and that she exploited that. It felt underhanded because Sapphire wanted to buy into it, wanted to be caught up in her new romance and new opportunities, so she didn’t WANT to look into Rose and Rose made it very easy to just trust. She felt manipulated in that Rose may have distracted her with an emphasis on NEVER QUESTIONING her relationship so she would focus on that and never question Rose’s motivation. The idea of getting swept away in the relationship’s importance was so romantic, but to see it as a potential trick to distract someone with the power to detect her deception, wondering if Rose was fanning the flames to avoid being caught–that sours everything.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

McKenzie wants to know why they decided to unbubble Bismuth in Season 3. Rebecca says everyone’s feelings about Rose Quartz were being examined at that point, and a turning point included the perspective that Rose could be a “really awful person.” Ian likes the trope about a villain mistreating their subordinates, and wanted to show Rose as the person who was bad to Bismuth. Rebecca says Rose did such wrong to Bismuth–that Bismuth would have done anything for Rose, and when she came up with a weapon that supposedly served her agenda, she rejected it and rejected Bismuth for reasons she never understood.

Unlike Jasper’s history with Rose being built on their being enemies from the start, Bismuth IDOLIZED Rose and was, as Rebecca says, totally “screwed over” by her. It breaks Rebecca’s heart that Bismuth still speaks of Rose with such love, still crediting her for changing her life in such a positive way. Rebecca loves giving Bismuth “little triangular eyelashes” during the scene when she talks about what a difference Rose made for her.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 2, Episode 7 [EXTRACT▶]

McKenzie goes into Bismuth and the decision to bring her back. Rebecca and Ian discuss how Bismuth’s original fight with Rose was supposed to REALLY show that there was something super off about Rose’s war strategy. Why wouldn’t she want to shatter the Diamonds and let Bismuth use the weapon she built to help accomplish that, if she really believed all those things she was saying about them as villains? Bismuth was the ultimate Crystal Gem because she swallowed all of Rose’s rhetoric and accepted it, so it baffled her when Rose essentially betrayed her. When she returns, it’s tough to show how exactly she got a raw deal and what her real feelings are, because–as they emphasize–Bismuth LOVED Rose. (They point out that her love and respect for Rose Quartz is featured in the game Save the Light as well.) All the nasty things Rose spewed about Pink Diamond were statements against who she did not want to be–they come out in Garnet’s story from Your Mother and Mine, that Pink Diamond was a cowardly manipulative villain, even though we’ve now seen her and she is, as Rebecca describes her, “a dork.”

Because of the stories Rose told about Pink Diamond, she was always surrounded by people who essentially wanted to destroy her, and she bought into it herself: she thought the only way out was to destroy that person. (Rebecca emphasizes that this is not “right or wrong,” it’s just what the character felt and did.)

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

White Diamond

PICTURES: LEFT Art by Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe Zine 2018. Rose and Greg are hanging out, Greg is putting makeup on Rose and painting her nails like White Diamond. In the smaller sketch, Rose is mocking her (“Oh, hello, starchild!”), implying that she sees her with a total lack of respect, akin to Marty&Greg.

RIGHT: Stamps made by Rebecca Sugar, showing the two perspectives White and Rose have in the book The Tale of Steven. Pink’s actions are always motivated by selfishness (TAKE), she’s portrayed as a monster and a misbehaving creature. For Rose, the intention is to get away from that image as much as possible (CARE).

White believes that because her Gem channels white light, she is essentially a Gem light form all the time. All Gems are made of light, and she is light manifest. She sees all Gems as her, sees herself in all Gems, and judges them as she would judge herself. She believes she is everyone—which is why she speaks for everyone. But the truth behind her identity power is that she has no identity at all. She needs other Gems to behave as she would—she is very poorly differentiated. And any Gem's behavior can be construed by her as a personal attack if they are not behaving as she would. Her identity is so fragile that she can only judge: If she were to act or feel or want, she would open herself up to her own criticism. She has traded that chance to be someone for the power of being everyone, a decision so miserable that everyone on the planet has to suffer for it.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 116

Noticing Pink's better behavior Y and B think she should have her own colony. White insists she hasn't REALLY changed. She'll never change. She gives Pink a colony - if only to prove Pink will fail.

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 77

She desperately wants White’s attention and approval (she will never get it).

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 77

White knew better than to indulge Pink’s whims. But Blue and Yellow spoiled her with treasures, listened to her nonsense, and enabled her terrible behavior. Only White was immune to Pink’s ridiculous influence. It was up to White to keep Pink in her place.

—White Diamond, The Tale of Steven

Rose: You don't need to listen to White. You can read the book this way.

White: Don't be absurd! You are going to confuse everyone!

—The Tale of Steven

White: Look at this mess. You're ruining my story!

Rose: This isn't your story.

—The Tale of Steven

Pink was as silly as she was small. She was impossible to understand, impossible to ignore, and impossible to control.

—White Diamond, The Tale of Steven

Please stop helping them. You'll only make things worse. That's what you do. I make things better.

—White Diamond, Change Your Mind

Remember when I let you name that batch of Pyrite "Fool's Gold?" White was furious!

—Blue Diamond, Familiar

Blue and Yellow don't care. They never have. (Never mentions White anywhere)

—Rose Quartz, A Single Pale Rose

As for me, I'm certain I don't need you. After all, I'm every color of the light! But you're a part of me… the part I always have to repress.

—White Diamond, Change Your Mind

Pink... White is very unhappy with you. If this keeps up, she's going to take away your Pearl.

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

Oh, thank the stars! You're okay! What did White Diamond do? Did she hurt you?!

—Pearl, Familiar

It's a funny story, really. Once, Pink got tired of asking Yellow and Blue for her own colony, so she went straight to White. Of course, White told her she wasn't fit to run one, and, well, that set her off.

—Pink Pearl, Volleyball

Do you understand why you defend their flaws? I know why, Pink. You like surrounding yourself with inferior Gems. You enable their terrible behaviors, so you can be the best of the worst.

—White Diamond, Change Your Mind

But that was because you were angry with Pink, and if Pink hurt you, it was because I hurt her!

—White Diamond, I Am My Monster

The Tale of Steven

Homeworld

Throughout the series, when Pearl comes close to talking about her past, she talks about it very openly, in generic terms. She talks about not being from Earth and coming to Earth and wanting to save it. [...] She had been amid all this majesty, which she still thinks more fondly than Rose does.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 88

Rebecca says they are shown as parts of a body through their ships, with Pink as the id, Blue and Yellow as the ego, and White as the superego. The body becomes embarrassed when the id confronts the superego with what it wants and what it is. Joe clarifies that they are not LITERALLY a body, of course.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Battle of Heart and Mind [EXTRACT▶]

Pink the littlest Diamond, is largely ignored by Yellow, Blue and White.

Her silly impulses and eccentricities are not particularly useful to Yellow, Blue and White in their endeavors.

No one wants to play with her.

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 77

Ian said he really wanted to bring in an experience he’s had as part of an immigrant family; people often go to another country and basically become someone else, and he wanted that to be expressed in what Pink Diamond was doing to become Rose Quartz. People often run away from their position in a family, even if they are an influential family like Ian’s (his family was very involved in the Ghanaian independence movement), and Rebecca thought it was so interesting to actually know those people as real humans even though they were “moving mountains.” People will always be people, with their own emotions and conflicts, even if their actions are able to shape a society. Rebecca found it very formative and mind-blowing to go to Ghana with Ian for the first time, which was her first time out of the USA.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

Michaela thought this is really the first time you see how much like Steven Pink Diamond is. She loved the "Zach-influenced laugh." McKenzie points out that she's got a duality, that she has two sides of her personality. She loved seeing Pink and Pearl being nerds. Hilary points out that they don't have responsibilities really, so they had time to just goof around, and Michaela understands how living the life Pink led would lead her to want to treasure her time on Earth.

Steven Universe Recap, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

Rose: Space Train to the Cosmos...

Greg: Yeah! One way ticket and I'm ready to ri~ide!

Rose: How will you get back?

Greg: Back?

Rose: Back to Earth?

Greg: I'm NEVER coming back.

Rose: (jokingly) Oh! That's awful! *giggles* This is your home.

—Story for Steven

Rose Quartz hoped with all her being that her child would grow surrounded by love... And kindness and care... And would never find a way back to her horrendous old home… And never feel the way she had felt there… And never picked apart by the other Diamonds.

—Rose, The Tale of Steven

Everyone on this planet is looking to you. You don't even have to do anything. Just smile and wave. Show everyone you're unfazed by this little uprising. Your Gems will fall into line, and these Crystal Gems will be no more. As long as you are there to rule, this colony will be completed.

—Blue Diamond, Can't Go Back

Ugh, Pink. How many perfectly adequate Gems did you have us ruin?

—Yellow Diamond, Legs From Here to Homeworld

Pink, quit fooling around! White Diamond is going to be there! We have to present her with our best possible selves, just as our gems have to present us with their best possible selves. A ball is a chance to inspire everyone!

—Blue Diamond, Together Alone

Joe says the worm is an alien from the Kyanite colony, and Pink wanted them so she took some home and let them fly everywhere, the way she wanted to escape too. Rebecca based it a bit on the ugly alien characters that used to dominate kids’ programs after E.T. got popular, like Glow Worms or Orbitty dolls.

Steven Universe Podcast, The Battle of Heart and Mind [EXTRACT▶]

She was suffering in silence for ages.

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

But I know what it's like to have a loving family. And we don't do stuff like this to each other. The Crystal Gems understand that I'm Steven, and they support me and Connie. And you guys poofed them for sticking up for me. That isn't normal!

This isn't normal. How many times did you lock her in here? How many times did you make her cry?

—Steven Universe, Change Your Mind

I didn't, I... And I'm doing it again, aren't I? And this is why you left, isn't it? You were right to leave. I always thought that you were failing this world. But if you were happier on Earth, maybe this world was... failing you.

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

White, we used to be close. Don't you remember? When Pink would make us laugh -- all those silly things she did for no reason. There was a reason. She wanted us to be happy together. But we weren't, and we're still not. I know my purpose isn't to be happy, but I find it harder and harder to enforce your rules when they make me miserable. When they make us all miserable.

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

[Greg's parents] can't be worse than mom's family.

—Steven, Mr. Universe

When she told the other Diamonds she didn't want to go through with the colony, they told her to finish what she started. When she told the other Diamonds she wanted to preserve life on Earth, they created the zoo and threw a handful of humans in. She did everything she could as Pink Diamond. But her status meant nothing to Blue and Yellow. So she decided to make a stand, as someone they couldn't ignore.

—Pearl, Now We’re Only Falling Apart

That fusion! We never should've left her there with Blue! Who knows what sort of horrible punishment-

—Rose, Now We’re Only Falling Apart

Greg: Do you... miss your home planet?

Rose: No, never.

—We Need to Talk

Rose: How would I know?

Greg: It's torture.

Rose: Greg...

Greg: R-rose?

Rose: Is this torture?

Greg: The worst.

Rose: I'm so sorry…

—We Need to Talk

If you don't want to be in a bubble for the next few millennia, I suggest you let me do the talking.

—Yellow Diamond, Legs from Here to Homeworld

I'm sorry I mistreated you. I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone- you're just learning from the only role model you've got: me! I should've given you more of the love and kindness that you deserve.

—Steven, Prickly Pair

LOWKEY SPECULATIVE Up, enhancement of a picture in Steven Universe Art & Origins, it seems to say "Pink is KEPT from her own GEMS". Down, a frame from Together Alone: Blue is separating Pink (Steven) from ''lowly gems and lesser life forms''.

Psychology

Personality

You're mysterious and sometimes hard to read, but you have a very commanding personality. You want to be closer to your friends, but sometimes your secrets keep them at a distance. You are very protective of nature and are always championing your cause. When you talk, people are drawn to you - you have a great presence!

—Dove Self Esteem Project, Which Crystal Gem Are You?

Change your Mind is one body's experience of embarrassment. The Diamonds come together to form one body, and they need each other.

Yellow is physicality, action, force—her power can manipulate Gems physically.

Blue is emotion, thought, culture—her power can manipulate Gems emotionally.

White is identity, judgement, perfectionism, the superego—her power can manipulate, and remove, a Gem's identity.

And Pink is pure want. Impulse, desire—she's infectious. She's the flip side of White; she can bring out a Gem's hidden personality—their deepest wants. This isn't necessarily a Diamond power: she has a handful of Diamond powers both destructive and constructive, but she has this power in a very human sense. She is an enabler and very manipulative when it comes to getting what she wants, so when what she wants is to get closer to someone, her intensity, and her sincerity, opens them up and draws them in.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 111/116

Irresponsibility

I think for me I aged backwards on this series. So my beginning on this series was the end of Rose and then everything after that was slowly going backwards until I became this sort of teenager in the form of [Pink Diamond] and Rebecca was really instrumental in [the way she had] to have elements of Rose but also [sound] kind of [like] an impatient teenager.

—Susan Egan, MomoCon 2019

You can tell a lot about a gem by their color palette. Gems that have some pink in them tend to be more passionate and more funny, maybe a little bit irresponsible. Gems that are blue tend to be very introspective. Green gems tend to have a mix of proactiveness and intellectualism. They’re good at technological tasks and being pilots. Paler gems… Paler gems get more and more judgemental.

—Rebecca Sugar, Q&A The Art of Steven Universe

I think Pink also, she wanted to feel like she was moving forward. This Gem was given to her to placate her in a certain way, and she was ready to move on. She wasn't really thinking about how that would affect other people because she tends to not think about that. That's a bit of a recurring theme for her.

—Rebecca Sugar, Interview on Steven Universe: The Movie

If you go back and watch all the episodes with her, you could really see the ways she struggles with empathy, with relating to people, with... being able to respect other people. As Rose and as Pink you can see her really trying to "not be that person", but it comes through, specially in We Need to Talk, in Greg the Babysitter. You know, her impulse control is pretty poor. She doesn't really think about when another person, you know, when she's putting another person in danger. She struggles with all of these things. I suppose, as we are reeling now, we wanted it to be sort of increasingly clear in hindsight.

—Rebecca Sugar, Q&A The Art of Steven Universe

Greg's a really loving person who Rose knew would be an amazing parent. They really wanted to have a child. We talk a lot about that in Greg the Babysitter. It's something they are genuinely excited about. And that's something that's left a little open-ended—just how selfish it was for Rose to do this knowing that she would disappear. What Rose is doing is outrageously selfless and outrageously selfish at the same time, and you can really read it both ways and neither is untrue. The thing that she really lacks is balance, any ability to temper her extremes. This is part of her character throughout her forms: She's always very extreme.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 96

Fun-loving nature

You're awfully cute, and I'd really like to play with you.

—Rose, Story for Steven

I like the way human beings play, I like playing along…

—Rose, We Need to Talk

As for this latest little game of yours, thank the stars it's over. Did you have fun? Did you get everything out of your system?

—White Diamond, Legs From Here to Homeworld

Do you remember the game we used to play here? We had such fun together -- You and I and Yellow and White. You would stand underwater, all the way at the bottom, and sing. And we would be above the surface trying to guess the song.

—Blue Diamond, Familiar

Oh, but could you imagine? Me, down there, laughing and playing with the Amethysts?

—Pink Diamond, Now We're Only Falling Apart

Always playing her games. Pretending she doesn't know us Pebbles.

—Pebbles, Familiar

Pink has different needs than the other Diamonds [when it comes to having Spinel].

—Rebecca Sugar, NYCC Panel (2019)

Steven. Steee-von? It's such a funny sounding name. You're so creative, Pink.

—Blue Diamond, Familiar

Oh, no, I know what a nickname is. It's just that it reminds me so much of Pink. She used to give silly little names to everything. She was so funny like that.

—Pink Pearl, Volleyball

Steven: I bet when Mom took off, it was pretty graceful, huh?

Pearl: Heh... No, not really...

—Legs from Here to Homeworld

Lamar loved “humanizing” Pink Diamond in his boards, making her goofy, and loving to say “welcome to Earth!” He liked showing that she didn’t like everyone saluting her and flipping out over her presence, and he thinks that made her more likable. He also liked their tour of Earth and all their discoveries of nature and humans. Michaela jokes that maybe she saw the baby in that family and wanted one.

Steven Universe Recap, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

We're actually here and I'm fitting right in! None of that dumb salute-

—Pink Diamond, Now We're Only Falling Apart

To me, there are two Roses. The perfect goddess Rose that other people paint a picture of in the first couple seasons, and the actual Rose, who was as flawed as anyone. I love that when you see Rose in flashbacks, she is goofy and funny and even laughs like Steven does. You'd assume he got all that from Greg, but a lot of it is from her.

—Matt Burnett, Steven Universe: Art and Origins, page 134

It was called A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears. And I loved this book. It felt so sophisticated to my little child mind. And it is, it’s really this beautiful story. The whole thing is deconstructing these trope-y fairytale ideas. There’s this prince who every time he gets near anyone, like his power is that they’ll just start laughing hysterically and it’s good, it’s like a positive thing, but he can never really be close with anyone. It’s just so interesting and a very huge influence on Pink and Rose, honestly, as a character.

—Rebecca Sugar, Crystal Gems, Beavis and Butthead, and the Goofy Movie: an hour with Rebecca Sugar

Passion

Jasper cares! She cares deeply - she cares deeply about what she loves. She cares deeply about Pink Diamond. She’s a very passionate character. I think gems that are related to Pink are very passionate - Amethysts are passionate also…

—Rebecca Sugar, Argentina Comic Con 2018

Welcome to Earth!

—Rose/Pink, The Answer & Now We’re Only Falling Apart

Pearl! You're so smart.

—Rose, Now We’re Only Falling Apart

Your mother had healing tears that flowed from her gem. She felt real love for those around her. She felt real sorrow when they were hurt.

—Garnet, Indirect Kiss

[The Rose Quartzes] don't just look like her, they are like her. She made them. I thought I'd be more ready for this…

—Pearl, Rose Buds

He was playing a concert on the beach, and I couldn't help myself.

—Rose Quartz, Story for Steven

We can leave our old lives behind. If this is really my world, I want to give it to the Crystal Gems. I want to live here with human beings! I wanna live here with you! We'll both finally be free!

—Rose Quartz, A Single Pale Rose (There is also a compounded sadness in this statement in which Rose doubts that Earth was ever hers in the first place, the way the Diamonds completely took control of the colony as soon as Pink failed at her responsibilities.)

Fight for life on the planet Earth. Defend all human beings, even the ones you don't understand. Believe in love that is out of anyone's control. And then risk everything for it!

—Rose Quartz's Manifesto, Guide to the Crystal Gems

Isn't it remarkable, Steven? This world is full of so many possibilities. Each living thing has an entirely unique experience. The sights they see, the sounds they hear. The lives they live are so complicated... a-and so simple.

—Rose Quartz, Lion 3: Straight to Video

A human being. A human is an action. I wonder who, how you'll be, what you'll think, what you'll want. Oh, I'm so happy for everyone who's going to know you.

—Rose Quartz, Lion 4: Alternate Ending

Foolishness

And maybe she was foolish, and maybe even... selfish!

—Pearl, Now We’re Only Falling Apart

The Pink I knew couldn't keep a secret to save her gem.

—Pink Pearl, Volleyball

Rebecca and Ian laugh about how Rose showed up to stop Blue Diamond in “The Answer” and then fumbled out “Um, bye!” because she’s really not so good with the secret identity thing. Having Pearl with her all the time made it seem so obvious, they think, and it would be like Alfred showing up to fight with Batman.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

Rebelliousness

As for this latest little game of yours, thank the stars it's over! Did you have fun? Did you get everything out of your system?

—White Diamond, Legs From Here to Homeworld

Pebble 1: "Thank you?"

Pebble 2: Is it...

Pebble 3: It is her!

—Pebbles, Familiar

Oh, stars! No! I forgot how silly you can be. Everyone stays where they belong.

—Yellow Pearl, Together Alone

I cannot believe you! Making a scene like that!

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

"Starve"? What is this? Another made up problem? Another trick, so I'll cave and let you out? Well not this time. You're not leaving this tower until you apologize for fusing at the ball!

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

We finally have you back... And you're worse than ever!

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

My, my. We've been causing quite a scene, haven't we?

—White Diamond, Change Your Mind

Self-esteem

When I was thinking of Pink/Rose I thought of it being a cautionary tale about what can happen when someone has dangerously low self esteem, and also the kind of environment that can create that situation.

—Rebecca Sugar, Q&A The Art of Steven Universe

Because of the stories Rose told about Pink Diamond, she…

In retrospect, Rose seems like the secret villain of the show. To what extent do you see her that way?

Rose is the hugest example of these themes of self-destruction. Rose is her own worst enemy — literally, she fought herself. The way she felt about herself caused so much pain for everybody around her, especially the people who loved her and the people she wanted to love. One thing I find really interesting is that the way she idolized everyone around her was very sincere. She thought everyone around her was so much better than she was. So people would be drawn to her, Gems would be drawn to her, and I don’t know if they would necessarily realize that she was worshipping them, which was compounding her own sadness at the feeling that she couldn’t connect with them. It was a tragedy.

[...]

Rose wanted to give everybody the kind of environment she didn’t have, but everything about her is about who she didn’t want to be. She wanted to be loving and healing and compassionate and give everybody so much flexibility and freedom to do anything and be anything. She wanted all these things, she wanted to be this person, but she wasn’t necessarily that person because in her mind she only ever wanted these things.

—Rebecca Sugar, Rebecca Sugar Says Good-bye to Steven Universe

This particular episode [We Need to Talk] can be a little bit of a sleeper because it's not a big action episode but there’s a lot of really critical information in there about Rose Quartz and, you know, her fear of herself, and who she is, becomes a fear of other people not accepting her. But it’s really - she can’t accept herself. So the way that she is with Greg, she’s trying to play this part, be this person, that she thinks would be fun for him, and he... wants to know her! And wants to be with her, and - I was really writing this story at a time when I was closeted, and I was not being honest with a lot of people - really anyone, in my life - but the idea of him really wanting to really know her, to cut through this game and this character that she’s playing, and see all these aspects of her that she would otherwise be afraid to share… I mean, that was just a really powerful fantasy for me at the time. That has since become a reality. But like, that episode and their relationship isn’t usually pointed out as one of the pieces of LGBTQIA expression in the show. People usually look at the same-sex characters’ moments of kissing, you know, these moments of couples. But the relationship between Rose and Greg is a personal expression, as a bisexual person in a relationship with a man, who for many years I wasn’t honest with about that.

—Rebecca Sugar, Just Something About Her With Jennifer Palmieri

I'm just as important as you!

—Pink Diamond, Jungle Moon

Oh! Pink! Your time on Earth has warped your sense of right and wrong.

Steven: Yeah, maybe it has. Maybe Pink thought you guys were right to lock her in here when she messed stuff up. But I know what it's like to have a loving family, and we don't do stuff like this to each other.

—Blue Diamond, Change Your Mind

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs.

—Steven, Laser Light Cannon

When a Gem is made, it's for a reason. They burst out of the ground already knowing what they're supposed to be, and then... that's what they are. Forever. But you? You're supposed to change. You're never the same even moment to moment -- you're allowed and expected to invent who you are. What an incredible power -- the ability to "grow up."

—Rose, Greg the Babysitter

Who cares about how I feel? How you feel is bound to be much more interesting.

—Rose, The Answer

On Homeworld, Pink was so lonely and sad, but not here. Here, we would play for hours. Every day was so much fun. At least, that's what I thought. Pink wanted a colony more than anything.

—Spinel, Steven Universe: The Movie

[...]because when you're at the bottom, you'll follow anyone, that makes you feel like less of a failure.

—Jasper, Earthlings

White is so sure she's right that she's actually profoundly wrong. Yellow Diamond is so sure that she is strong that she's actually profoundly weak; Blue Diamond is so sure that she's sensitive that she's actually profoundly insensitive. And Pink Diamond is so sure that she's powerless, but she's actually profoundly powerful, so much so that she devastates people's lives without understanding it because she thinks she has no real power or sway.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 96

Episodes like Bismuth make much more sense when you understand how poorly Pink treated friends who became inconvenient. The fact that we were finally going to be able to recontextualize so many already-aired episodes was so exciting. I wanted the re-watch of the show to unlock new layers of story. Your Mother and Mine means something very different when it turns out that the stories that Garnet has been telling—which she heard from Rose—were actually an awful portrait Rose was painting of herself and her own terrible behavior. We Need to Talk is full of information about how Rose feels about herself, and how desperately she needed someone to challenge her.

Rose is tracked carefully through the entire show. She makes sense once you know she is her own worst enemy. She dreams, achingly, that she could become compassionate, because she's sure she's incapable of compassion. Her lack of respect for herself makes it impossible for her to respect everyone closest to her. She reveres them instead, because they are better than she could ever be, and that reverence is so honest and intoxicating that it draws everyone closer to her, without them understanding the deep self-hatred that pull is coming from.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 88

Pearl: You're great!

Pink: Yeah, well, why don't you tell that to Yellow and Blue.

Pearl: Yes, my Diamond.

Pink: No! No-Don't tell them anything.

I shouldn't even be talking to you.

Pearl: Then, what would you like me to do?

Pink: Nothing. If you never do anything, you can never do anything wrong.

—Concept Notes, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 86

Guilt

The zoo

When I still served… Homeworld, I saw it myself. A private menagerie deep in space. Humans in captivity. We were never able to rescue them. We had no way to get to them after the war.

—Pearl, Adventures in Light Distortion

The Kindergarten

Pearl and Rose… Everything they’ve done is because of this immense guilt. And when Pearl and Rose would say awful things about the Kindergarten, it never occurred to them that that was something Amethyst would think of that way.

—Rebecca Sugar, The Truth About Rose Quartz

No, no. Amethyst, you're not the mistake. You're just the byproduct of a... big mistake. ... No, that's not- I... I just never thought of this as you. None of this is your fault! You didn’t build this place!

—Pearl, On the Run

You didn’t do any of this, she’s saying that because they did!

—Rebecca Sugar, The Truth About Rose Quartz

The colony

But this is what you wanted. You begged us for a colony of your own, and now all you want to do is be rid of it. We're tired of your excuses, Pink.

—Blue Diamond, Can't Go Back

All they do is try to make up for it. They just can't forgive themselves, you understand? Look, they were doing something awful to the planet and your mother couldn't stand it anymore. She told me that's why she had to turn on her own kind. She gave up everything just to stop what they started here and drive the invading Gems off of Earth.

—Greg, The Return

All this life that's been growing wild here on Earth...none of it will survive my invasion. We're not creating life from nothing. We're taking life, and leaving nothing behind.

—Pink Diamond, Now We're Only Falling Apart

Humans

I don't want you to give up on everything you want.

—Rose, Story for Steven

“I’ll never be on the same level as you but I’ll stay with you anyway.

I’m never gonna be more than human.”

“Humans do something we can’t do. They grow up.”

The Diamond

Greg: I barely know you.

Rose: That's a good thing.

—We Need to Talk

Dulling your power, hiding your face, blaming everything on someone else. You became Rose Quartz to deceive your pathetic friends. And now, you've improved on that because you're even deceiving yourself.

—White Diamond, Change Your Mind

I can fix anything. I can just keep messing up and fixing things forever, and you'll never have to know or think about any of it!

How messed up is that? That I've gotten away with this for so long. You have no idea how bad I am.

You think I'm so great, and I'm so mature, and I always know what to do, but that's not true! I haven't learned a thing from my problems! They've all just made me worse! You think of me as some angel, but I'm not[...] I’m a fraud.

—Steven, Everything's Fine

You must have been so afraid to show us this side of yourself.

—Connie, I Am My Monster

The war

Rose and I talked about tons of important stuff. Music, comic books, getting sand between your toes, y'know, feelings. We both made a lot of mistakes when we were young. I thought disco was coming back, she started a war, I think she felt like she had to confess everything to me, but I told her, "The past is the past. All that matters to me is who you are now." And who she was, was an incredible, loving being.

—Greg, Steven’s Dream

Rose Quartz had tried to use her powers to save these monsters too, but she was never able to heal them.

—Garnet, Monster Buddies

Destructive stage

This section touches themes on self destruction and suicide. If you don’t feel comfortable or if you are vulnerable to these topics, I may not advise continuing reading. If you are a victim of childhood trauma, please, feel free to take a look at these links, believe in your power of self-healing ❤️️:

Recommended podcast: Being Well: Complex PTSD and developmental trauma▶

Toxic shame can obliterate your self-esteem in the blink of an eye. In an

emotional flashback you can regress instantly into feeling and thinking that you are as worthless and contemptible as your family perceived you. When you are stranded in a flashback, toxic shame devolves into the intensely painful alienation of the abandonment mélange - a roiling morass of shame, fear and depression.

The abandonment mélange is the fear and toxic shame that surrounds and interacts with the abandonment depression. The abandonment depression itself is the deadened feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that afflicts traumatized children.

Toxic shame also inhibits us from seeking comfort and support. In a reenactment of the childhood abandonment we are flashing back to, we often isolate ourselves and helplessly surrender to an overwhelming feeling of humiliation.

If you are stuck viewing yourself as worthless, defective, or despicable, you are probably in an emotional flashback. This is typically also true when you are lost in self-hate and virulent self-criticism.

—CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, Page 27-28

List Of Common CPTSD Symptoms

Survivors may not experience all of these. Varying combinations are common.

Factors affecting this are your 4F type and your childhood abuse/neglect pattern.

Emotional Flashbacks
Tyrannical Inner &/or Outer Critic
Toxic Shame
Self-Abandonment
Social anxiety
Abject feelings of loneliness and abandonment
Fragile Self-esteem
Attachment disorder
Developmental Arrests
Relationship difficulties
Radical mood vacillations
Dissociation via distracting activities or mental processes
Hair-triggered fight/flight response
Oversensitivity to stressful situations
Suicidal Ideation

—CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, Page 28

She couldn't stand herself; self-destruction is a huge theme throughout the show—the struggle of the feeling that you shouldn't exist, and what that can do to a person. A lot of the themes of the show exist within Rose, like her inability to be honest with other people or herself about what she's done. She's so deeply ashamed of herself and her past, with very good reason. The truth is that the people in her life would be so much more understanding that she believes they will be. The contempt that she has for herself gets turned outward as contempt for other people when she can't trust them. When she can't trust herself, she can't trust other people, and it makes it impossible for her to be close with anyone. It makes life extremely difficult for her. It makes living difficult for her.

The show is so much about honesty and trust and being able to grow and change. Rose wants all of those things so badly, but she can't really accomplish any of that until she accepts herself—and she never does.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 95

At the ball, Steven and Connie fuse, and the Diamonds see this as another impulsive, irresponsible move from Pink. They see the effect this has on other Gems, that it opens them up to want things for themselves, and to express themselves freely. So Blue and Yellow jump to do what they've always done: repress Pink and her influence, fast enough to avoid judgement from White.

So Yellow takes action and locks Steven in the tower, and Blue comes in to guilt Steven for what he's done, but the old pattern doesn't work on Steven, because he knows he didn't do anything wrong. And he can't be manipulated—in a technical sense, being half human helps him resist their powers, but also in the sense that he knows he doesn't deserve to be treated like this. He's so secure in the way he feels and the way he acts, which allows him to stand up for himself against Blue and Yellow.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 116

It's that adverse childhood experiences, or childhood trauma, can have a lasting impact on how your body responds to stress. This can affect your social, emotional, and physical development. When humans are in crisis, the brain releases the hormone cortisol. Your heart races, your muscles tense. I wonder if your body is reacting to a gem equivalent of cortisol.

—Priyanka Maheswaran, Growing Pains

It’s making him stronger. It’s making [him] faster. It’s making him heavier. It’s making him whatever he needs to be to get out of a life-threatening situation. The problem is that he’s not in a life-threatening situation, but his body has learned to react that way. His gem has learned to react that way so that is what’s happening when he is turning pink, that reaction is his life-saving instinct.

—Rebecca Sugar, Rebecca Sugar Opens Up About How Healing from Trauma Shaped Steven Universe Future

You remember how she was with her destructive powers, throwing tantrums left and right. She had a scream that could crack the walls. She didn't mean to hurt me. I just happened to be standing too close to her that time and-

—Pink Pearl, Volleyball

Stop it! I can't deal with one more horrible thing she did, okay?! I don't want to hear about it! I don't even want to think about it!

—Steven, Volleyball

White and Pink are always clashing. The Diamond body repressed Pink's wants, as directed by White, the self-critical conscience. Pink's shield made it impossible for White to override Pink's identity, so she had to find other ways to repress her.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 116

Don’t you raise your shield at me!

—White Diamond, Change Your Mind

(On monster Steven’s design) We wanted some shield-like elements — elements that felt almost like pieces of his shield coming out of him like they’re embedded in his body a little bit.

—Rebecca Sugar, ‘What would Steven want?’ ‘Steven Universe Future’ creator breaks down the finale

io9: They’re very on-brand for him. But I do think that Ruby and Sapphire’s enthusiasm for the proposal was genuinely surprising. I wanted to talk to you about the thought process behind having the two of them being so gung-ho in their own ways but also having Garnet then acknowledge after the fact that the two halves of her are...extra when it comes to love. Talk to me about your thought process in deconstructing a marriage proposal and having it go wildly awry.

Sugar: Yes! Well, that was all character-based. In the room, we really had to sit down and say, “Well, what? What does Steven want for his future?” It was a bit of a puzzle as much for us as it is for him as a character, but in the end, we all thought, well, he’s gonna want to get married. That would definitely be his dream—he loves weddings and he loves love.

But also, we were just looking at the state he was in, and we knew that with Connie having so much figured out and with Steven not really spending that time to figure out what he wants, that disappearing into their relationship would be really appealing to Steven. A lot of his behavior in Future is not unlike his mother’s behavior before him.

io9: He’s like Pink that way.

Sugar: He is, but again, he’s being himself.

—Rebecca Sugar Opens Up About How Healing from Trauma Shaped Steven Universe Future

It was based on the concept of how one extreme can lead to another extreme on the opposite spectrum. She starts off with referencing Rose/Pink, and how when Rose was Pink, she felt so confined within her role as a Diamond and her own frustrations with her situation that she never thought of using her powers for healing, which is why they were so destructive.

—Rebecca Sugar, Q&A The Art of Steven Universe

Reinvention

Your mother's Pearls never had the whole picture. One knew your mother was trying to change, but she couldn't understand why. The other never expected her to change at all.

—Mega Pearl, Volleyball

What do you know about my mom?! I didn’t even get to know my mom! But I do know, she saw beauty in everything! Even in stuff like [her moss]! And even in jerks like you!

—Steven, Lars and the Cool Kids

It's because you believe in everyone Steven. Like your mother, you seem to have a little more patience than the rest of us.

—Garnet, Could've Been Great

That wasn't strength! That was weakness. Restraint takes strength. Patience takes strength!

—Lapis Lazuli, Why So Blue?

...I'm... not... a real person... I thought... Haven't we... Is this not how it works?

—Rose, We Need To Talk

Sometimes people that love each other can hurt each other's feelings, without meaning to.

—Greg, Keystone Motel

Rebecca says she LOVES writing for Rose because her persona as Rose Quartz is the person she wanted to be very badly; she wants to care about people, to be known for her caring, but then (for example in We Need to Talk), it’s clear she’s not always very good at it. McKenzie wonders if Rose never really understood empathy, and Rebecca says she tries [to be empathetic], while Ian says someone with so much power will always struggle to really get it. There is a part of the story we don’t have yet which will help us understand why she’s like this.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 1 [EXTRACT▶]

Hilary describes Rose as having been part of a "conservative rule-following family" when she lived as Pink Diamond, so she became a hippie and wants to try everything and love everyone.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 3, Episode 2 [EXTRACT▶]

Rebecca loves that everyone is SINCERE about how they talk to Steven about Rose, too; no one is actively trying to trick him, even though they may have incomplete information. Ian specifies that he loves that Pearl reveals Rose has a LOT of secrets. Rebecca specifies that Steven’s compassion is all coming from GREG. Rose was interested in that; she knows she didn’t understand it, but you see how she fails at compassion during We Need to Talk. Steven is a compassionate warrior. The compassion is Greg’s. The warrior is Rose.

Steven Universe Podcast, Volume 2, Episode 7 [EXTRACT▶]

I'm going to stay and fight for this planet. You don't have to do this with me.

—Rose, Rose's Scabbard

Steven: Pearl! Pearl, you have to tell me what's wrong.

Pearl: Sometimes, you even sound like her…

—Rose's Scabbard

Shy Rose: Excuse me, Pearl. Are you feeling okay?

Pearl: (sighs) I'm going to the bathroom!

—Rose Buds

Before Garnet, Rose was only fighting for Earth. But Garnet changed everything. Rose wanted to fight for her, she wanted to fight for Gems! And maybe she was foolish, and maybe even... selfish! But she was-

—Pearl, Now We're Only Falling Apart

This whole time, we thought we were following her, but she was following us.

—Sapphire, Now We're Only Falling Apart

Garnet is shocked. RQ taught her to love herself. If that was a lie... If PD was self-hating... And wanted to disappear... Then what does that mean for Garnet? [...] No... it wasn't Garnet being inspired by Rose...

Rose was inspired by THEM!

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 26

Pearl is finally released. But... A rift! Garnet feels betrayed. But Pink did change! Pink did grow! Rose WAS different! That's why Pearl was inspired by Rose, or wait... Rose was inspired by THEM!

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 26

Rose finds herself the head of a family.

Determined to be everything that White was not—

She is close with everyone, flexible in everything.

Love and fun are the rule—

And there are no rules—

And EVERYONE is THE MOST SPECIAL!

—Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 76

I never want to look back.

—Pink Diamond, A Single Pale Rose

Beyond the 4th wall

Metaphoric lore

The Stevens

Done and done! Steven 2, you're the smart one, Steven 3, you're the funny one and Steven 4, you're the sensitive one and I'm... *styles his hair into a pompadour* The handsome one! Okay?

—The handsome one, Steven and the Stevens

Steven 1: Steven 4, what are you doing? You're not the funny one. Steven 3 is.

Steven 3: Well we are all the same person so we are equally prone to being hilarious.

Steven 1: No no, that was too smart an observation for you, 3! You're the funny one!

Steven 2: Wait which one am I again?

Steven 1: Dang it, Number 2! You're the smart one!

Steven 4: Hey. If Steven is the handsome one, does that mean the rest of us aren't good looking?

Steven 3: No way! We are all extremely attractive!

Steven 2: Let's go get jobs as models!

Steven 1: Hey! None of you are the handsome one! I'M the handsome one!

—Steven and the Stevens

Dogcopter

Don't focus so much on talent, Steven. Making art is all about communication. A piece of art is a conversation. Every choice you make, is a statement. Don't worry about labels, or conforming to a standard. Just be true to yourself, and people will appreciate your honesty.

—Dogcopter, Lion 3: Straight to Video

Tiny pink whale (Voiced by Susan Egan)

Steven Universe was a fluke. Jeff Dunham was doing an animated movie for cable, and they needed a mom character. I ended up doing that, and the people that produced that knew the people doing Steven Universe. They were looking for somebody to come in to play “Whale,” who has one line at the end of season one. But they knew where that potentially was going and that Whale was actually Rose.

A Conversation with STEVEN UNIVERSE’S Rose Quartz, Susan Egan

Under the Knife lady (Voiced by Susan Egan)

Doctor, it's my son. There was an accident. I-

—Lady, Fusion Cuisine

Rodrigo

What is with this Rodrigo guy!? He has no charisma!

—Peridot, In Dreams

Steven: Just can't get into Rodrigo, can you?

Peridot: He's SO infuriatingly passive!

Steven: Hey! Hey! I get that his social anxiety and poutine allergy aren't really connected to the larger story, but maybe if he just had some kind of foil?

Peridot: A foil. Interesting.

Steven: I got it! A hunky lifeguard friend with nice muscles and everyone always wants to hang out with him. Despite the blessing and curse of his popularity, he still makes time to help buddy Rodrigo with his confidence!

—In Dreams

Jasmine: How could you lie to me like that, Rodrigo? I guess you just can't help being a bad person!

Peridot : Jasmine, you just buried a body in the woods, and now you're mad that Rodrigo cheated at cards?

—In Dreams

Prince Roger

A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears

You can borrow the book, signing up in archive.org (I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!)

Or you can download it here.

Everything in life amused Roger. Here he's waking up in the morning.

He doesn't go back to bed and read a royal book or magazine as any prince in his right mind might do. He goes out and gets soaked and slapped around by hailstones and—if you can believe it—he has a good time.

Everything significant or insignificant, gave Roger a good time. Brushing his teeth gave him a good time. Eating and sleeping gave him a good time. Sport amused him: hunting, archery, jousting. Kindness amused him, but no more than cruelty. Fat people, skinny people, rich people, poor people, vagrants, all caused him to giggle. People who lived in castles with dozens of servants they couldn't keep track of, this gave him a good laugh.

Roger's remarkably high spirits cast a spell over anyone or anything who came within a half a mile of him.

By now, you get the picture. And here's our friend, the hunter, back in the picture.

Roger has just come into view and the hunter has collapsed, screaming with laughter. Oops, he's collapsed into another rosebush.

He's too busy laughing to know how awful he's going to feel in a minute. But that's all right, because as of this moment he's out of the book. He was here just to show us the effect Roger has on people.

Father and son spoke to each other on the "thingamajibbet", which is what the king, who didn't know the right word for anything, called his wizard's invention, which was two paper cups connected by a string five miles long. It stretched from the king's home room out of the castle window over hill and dale, forest and field, river and mountain, to the highest peak in the kingdom, where there stood a tower built for Roger alone, the one place on earth that he could hang out without causing laughter.

"I couldn't wish for more," said the armchair who was Roger, "unless it's—hold on!—ins and outs, lights and darks, smooths and roughs, wins and losses, and—wait a minute, there's one more—one more—oh, yes—bitters and sweets. Can I have them, too?"

J. Wellington hunched his old, wizened, wizard's body and addressed the armchair sternly. "No, Roger. None of these can you have. Not now. Not ever. Do you want to know why?"

"This is hilarious," said the armchair.

"That's why!" snapped J. Wellington. "Because you are amused by everyone and you amuse everyone. Roger, you do not have a serious bone in your body. You have only funny bones. And a prince with no bones but funny bones is unprepared to be a king, a father—or even a grown-up. You are not ready, you may never be ready, to take on the duties, obligations, and responsibilities of your station."

"If this is my station, I'd better get off!" cracked Roger.

"There is a world out there, you popinjay!" roared J. Wellington in frustration. He pointed out the window toward the Forever Forest and beyond. "It is a mixed-up universe full of sun and shadow, highlights and lowlifes. And none of this will you experience. None of anything will you experience."

So what started out to be one more boring day for the people of the Forever Forest turned into an unforgettable afternoon with a performing trout.

And so Roger made friends, and as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, these new friends came to depend on him for the fun in their lives. When Roger appeared unexpectedly in one of his many guises—a talking frog, a dancing deer, a singing tree—they forgot about walking around in circles looking for a way home. If this had been a summer camp, he would have been the entertainment counselor.

Fortunately, Roger knew exactly what to do. He lowered his head, snorted scarily, and charged the hunter as if he intended to kill him, which wasn't the case at all. He just wanted to play.

Roger had grown up without anyone to play with. His friends back at the palace laughed too hard to be able to play with him. And his friends in the Forever Forest were too old to do anything but be entertained. Tom was a different story. Tom was close enough to Roger's age to have fun with, especially after a splash of J. Wellington Wizard's Magic Powder. For fun and games, Roger turned himself into everything and anything: plants, animals, furniture, puddles.

By itself there's nothing funny about a puddle, but with Tom jumping up and down in it and Roger splashing mud all over Tom... that sort of good time draws two people together.

"You're a maple," Tom growled. "Now it's your turn."

"One of my branches is about to fall on your head."

One second earlier, and Tom might have had time to duck. "Ouch!" he cried, as a low-hanging branch fell off Roger, who laughed so hard that his leaves fluttered as if in applause.

"That's not funny," whined Tom, rubbing his sore head.

"It's funny to me!"

"How would you like it if I kicked you?" said Tom, too irritated to remember that he was threatening a tree, not a prince.

"I don't care,

You should care,

You wear your mother's underwear,"

replied Roger in singsong.

"Trees don't eat fish! If you were educated, you'd know that!"

But an hour later he had stopped being a tree and was hungry for fish. Tom was off somewhere sulking and eating, while Roger had to content himself with apples and berries for dinner. That taught him a lesson. "I'll have to be more careful about what I laugh at. What a shame," he lamented.

[...]he splashed himself with Magic Powder and vanished. And no one but Tom suspected that he was that spider or that squirrel or that tree stump or that toadstool, or whichever of the hundreds of animals, vegetables, and furniture he turned himself into during his years of contentment in the Forever Forest. His quest was long forgotten. His single care now was to make the people of the Forever Forest, once a week for every fifteen minutes, to feel lucky to be lost.

Once a week the wizard checked his crystal ball to see if there was any change; that is, once a week for the first year, once a month for the second year, twice a year for the third year. And what did he see in his crystal ball? Roger up to his old tricks: causing people to laugh so hard and so often that they forgot the sorry state of their existence. They forgot that they were lost, wandering around in circles, getting nowhere. They were happy, of all things! And Roger was happy! Only J. Wellington Wizard was miserable.

And soon everyone in the valley took a turn. Lifelong enemies, clutched in Roger's talons, grinned foolishly at each other as they sailed heavenward. They looked down on the land over which they fought and got even. They saw, for the first time, that it was—what was the word?—beautiful! Beauty. It was a new idea to them. The image of beauty cut into their hearts like Cupid's arrow.

Day by day, the rage diminished, the need to get even faded, evened out. In a matter of mere weeks, Roger's flights of farmers converted the Valley of vengeance into the Valley of Very Good Times. Neighbors began saying "Hello," "How are you?" "Nice day!" to each other instead of "Get out of my sight before I walk on your face!"

And all this—every bit of it—was due to Roger. "My goodness," he thought, "how much better I am as an eagle than I was as a prince."

The scoundrel struggled as Roger bore him aloft. Flight did not pacify him. "I'll kill you, you stupid bird! Let me go!" screamed the barbarian, kicking viciously in midair and injuring no one but himself.

Roger had been too busy to take a look at the criminal, but he instantly recognized the voice. "Tom!" This was the first word he had said in a month.

"Roger?" Tom answered in astonishment. "Are you the noble eagle that everyone here worships and who I have sworn to kill?"

Roger was confused. "But, Tom, you swore to me you'd given up hunting!" Thrilled though he was to be reunited with his best friend, Roger was nonetheless deeply disturbed that Tom was out to kill the eagle, who was a far worthier creature than Tom's pal, the prince.

"You left me in the Forever Forest. You could have taken me with you, but you didn't. You left me flat. I'm going to get even."

In the old days, before he became an eagle, Roger would have dismissed Tom's complaint as nothing more than his friend in a whiny mood. Tom used to whine a lot and Roger was good at kidding him out of it. He never gave Tom's complaints a second thought.

But the eagle Roger understood what the prince Roger would have laughed at. Tom's point was well taken. Roger felt pangs of guilt. He hadn't thought of taking Tom with him when he backed out of the Forever Forest. He hadn't thought of anything except that his bag of Magic Powder was half empty and that he must get out before it was gone. "I was wrong, Tom," Roger said sadly. "I'm sorry."

He awoke to the cry of roosters. Dawn was rising, probably in the east—but Roger was so bruised and confused that, for all he knew, dawn could have risen in the north, south, or west. He discovered a brook nearby and bathed his wounds and bruises while snapping down a sampling of trout and bass. He was beginning to feel like himself again—that is, his noble eagle self. He was battered but not seriously hurt. He was convinced that his pain would be gone in a few hours. He remembered the notes. He flew back to the roof of the barn, uncrumpled and read them. His pain returned. Worse than before. Worse than anything he had endured.

It would be needlessly cruel to print all of the notes, but here's a sample:

"YOU ARE A VAIN OF SELFISH LOUT."

"YOU CAN'T HOLD ON TO YOUR FRIENDS."

"YOU CANNOT BELIEVE THE AWFUL THINGS THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU IN THE FOREVER FOREST." "THEY DESPISE YOU."

"THEY WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES WHEN THEY SEE YOU." "YOU ARE MORE OF A LAUGHING-STOCK NOW THAN WHEN YOU WERE A PRINCE."

"LADY SADIE IS DEAD, AND IT'S YOUR FAULT."

"PRINCESS PETULIA WAS RESCUED WEEKS AGO BY THE BRAVE KNIGHT. THEY ARE LIVING A HAPPILY EVER AFTER." "YOUR QUEST IS A DISASTER."

"TOM WILL KILL YOU."

[...]so said the rocks. So Roger believed. He had walked out on them. Backward, yes, not knowing where he was going, yes—but still and all, the rocks were right, Tom was right. He should have thought of his friends; he should have taken them with him. How could he fly down now and say, "Hi! Sorry for being late, but better late than never. I've come to your rescue." How could he say that? How could he say anything? He couldn't, he didn't.

Not a word did he speak during the five days and nights it took him to fly his old friends backward out of the Forever Forest. Through blue skies, gray skies, stormy, hazy and star-lit skies he flew them out, two at a time, one in each talon. None were afraid. No matter the height, no matter the distance, no matter the weather, they trusted the eagle as if he were an old friend, not realizing that he was an old friend. "I like this eagle," Roger heard Tim the Troubadour sing out. "Oh, don't you wish Roger was here to enjoy this?"

He was amazed at how often Roger, the prince's name, came up in the course of the flights. "Roger is not going to believe this."

"We must remember every detail to tell Roger if we're lucky enough to meet him again."

"I bet Roger would make the noble eagle laugh so hard he'd drop him."

After hearing such remarks, did it occur to Roger that his friends didn't hate him, that the rocks had lied? Not at all.

So he took not an ounce of pleasure in his mission. Rather, he suffered greatly. Here were his friends chattering cheerfully about him, not dreaming that the prince they praised was the eagle who was flying them to safety. "First I desert them, and now I fool them. Oh, I am the most monstrous of creatures," thought Roger. "Small wonder they hate me."

The tender words his friends used were turned by Roger against himself. With each trip out of the Forever Forest, he managed to change praise into reproach. He had made himself into his own rock, injuring himself with his own bitter notes.

He was too ashamed to join the wedding. He didn't think he had the right. This celebration was not for him. He heard the music and gaiety from a distance that he felt he could not cover in a lifetime.

What would have happened back there in the Forever Forest if Lucille had discovered his true identity? She would have refused to fly with him. His other friends, too. Roger cringed at the thought. The sounds of the wedding celebration faded from his ears, replaced by memories of his return to the Forever Forest. What cheers! His old friends somehow understood at a glance the mission that this noble-looking eagle, soaring high overhead, had come on. They pranced, they danced, Lucille among them.

No one actually saw her signal. No one saw her make a move, but nonetheless all eyes were on her. Roger's too. Half-hooded, his eyes took her in. Doveen the Serene raised a goblet. Her voice was little more than a whisper, but it wafted like the wind across the darkened field to the rocklike Roger. "I wish to toast the two who are one."

The villagers cheered. For once they understood Doveen; she meant Andrew and Lucille. Doveen the Serene's face broke into the smallest trace of a smile. The smile was another signal. It quietened the crowd. "Lastly," she said, "I wish to toast one who is not himself but someone else. On a quest that is neither here nor there. Born a barrel of laughs, drowned in a vale of tears. Once good for nothing but didn't care, now good for everything but doesn't know. To Roger," Doveen said softly.

Fairytale trope

Ultimately, the show is about family: Steven's loving supportive family, the Crystal Gems, in contrast to the Diamonds. The Diamonds are essentially parents - the Gems that serve them were created by them and are being held to their impossible standards. They are the older generation modeled after cartoon tropes from older generations: evil stepmother, evil stepsisters... Evil Queen, Snow Queen.... even a little Marvin the Martian. Pink fits into those older tropes too: the restless princess, the little Winsor McCay Clown. But Steven is a new cartoon, and the Diamonds don't know what to make of him.

—Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 111

Author’s intentions

“We never came at the angle that Rose was ever the true villain of the show.”

We never came at the angle that Rose was ever the true villain of the show or movie. She is just as complicated as anyone else in the show. Overtime he grows up and realises she’s just as messy as everyone else.

—Kat Morris, around 19:40 Q&A The Art of Steven Universe

Revealing that the Gems, all of them, are way more human than they think is central to the show, and Rose is a great way to explore that. Creating this idealized memory of someone and gradually pulling it back and showing that "Hey, this person actually wasn't perfect all the time" poses such an important thing people need to wrestle with. Do her flaws change how the characters and audience feel about her? Or do you learn to accept the complexities and contradictions that every human exhibits over the course of their life?

—Matt Burnett, Steven Universe: Art and Origins, page 134

Rose is complicated. She's not this perfect thing Steven or the other Gems expect her to be. I think an important lesson for Steven is to find himself and not rely on Rose's image as guidance for everything, because everything within the show has a moral grayness. To say Rose Quartz encapsulates all that is good and powerful about a mother character would take away so much depth of what humanity actually can be—hurtful people, conflicted people, people who can't or don't want to be healed—which I don't think Rose ever got to learn. Maybe Steven can learn that. To me, Rose is an example of what happens if you admire an idea of a person.

—Jesse Zuke, Steven Universe: Art and Origins, page 134

I've always seen Rose as a parent. We write the show through Steven's point of view, so early on, he and the audience see her the same way that all young kids see adults. She was powerful; she knew what to do and how to make it right. Kids grow up, though. Eventually, you learn—spoiler alert—that parents are just people, too. Rose's title of being "Steven's mom" or "the leader of a rebellion" never negates the fact that she was always her own person with her own struggles. The trick is: Steven and the audience can only come to know this with time, knowledge, and sympathy.

—Hilary Florido, Steven Universe: Art and Origins, page 134-135