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Blue_Diamond_Mural.png|Blue Diamond's Mural |
Blue_Diamond_Mural.png|Blue Diamond's Mural |
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Pink Diamond.png|Pink Diamond's Mural |
Pink Diamond.png|Pink Diamond's Mural |
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Diamond_murals.png|The original Diamond mural designs as posted on Joe Johnston's blog. Note that it appears each Diamond's mural features symbols for the planets, and their moons, that each Diamond manages. |
Diamond_murals.png|The original Diamond mural designs as posted on Joe Johnston's blog. Note that it appears each Diamond's mural features symbols for the planets, and their moons, that each Diamond manages. |
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Diamond_Communicator.png|Diamond Communicator |
Diamond_Communicator.png|Diamond Communicator |
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Revision as of 10:48, 22 February 2019
| “ | Every Gem is made for a purpose: To serve the order of the Diamonds. Those who cannot fit inside this order must be purged! To come out misshapen, to reshape yourself outside your purpose, and to defend this ruined, worthless planet is a disgrace! | „ |
| ~ Jasper |
| “ | The Diamonds, unique in their flawlessness, sought to expand their perfection across the galaxy. | „ |
| ~ Garnet, describing the Great Diamond Authority. |
The Great Diamond Authority is the main antagonistic faction of Cartoon Network TV series, Steven Universe. It is the matriarchal body of Gem leaders led by White Diamond, who rule in absolute power over the Gem Homeworld and its remaining colonies that are still under their control.
History
Many Eons Ago
The exact history of the Diamonds themselves is still unknown, including when and how they themselves came to be. Based on the murals in the Moon Base, White Diamond existed first, followed by Yellow, then Blue and finally Pink. What is known, however, is that the Diamonds were to be eternally considered stated by Peridot as the most perfect, powerful and absolutely flawless gems by virtually all of their peers, and it can be assumed this is how they rose to power over the entirety of the gem species, using the influence they gathered to collectively cull a massive following of any "lesser" gems, or Crystal Gem rebellion or Off Colored gems. When the Great Diamond Authority was officially formed, the Diamonds developed and established several laws and rules to govern and essentially shape the gem society to their own image, as their influence that has lasted for untold eons all the way to the present.
At some point, the Diamonds imposed a social hierarchy on Gem society based on an individual Gem's abilities and skills and how they would best serve the Diamonds' goals. Those deemed better and more useful received different privileges than others; this created pockets of both inferiority and superiority complexes due to inequalities and the established knowledge of numerous gems ranking lower, like pearls and rutiles, while fewer Gems ranked higher with them at the top (in many cases like Sapphires and Emeralds). In order to keep the system intact, "cross fusions" between two or more different types of gems was and is still not allowed, even with the rise of Era 3. This prevented two or more lower-class Gems from fusing and altogether becoming a different gem, usually one considered higher up in the system. In addition, the Diamonds divided Gems into groups that appeared to partially be based on color; some belonged to White, some belonged to Yellow, etc. All gems were usually required to wear uniforms with a Diamond insignia to signify of which Diamond they belonged to or work under.
The Diamonds also appeared to be in charge of different aspects of Homeworld and as such divided Gems accordingly into different groups for the purpose of carrying out any related duties; Yellow Diamond was said to be in charge of Homeworld's military and Blue Diamond was stated to have control over Homeworld's diplomacy.
According to Garnet's story in "Your Mother and Mine", the Diamonds wished to spread their "perfection" throughout the universe and expand the gem race into a greater almighty empire. To do this, the Diamonds turned the Gem species into a spacefaring race, expanding outward from Homeworld to colonize other places beyond their home galaxy. Upon colonizing a suitable planet, over an indeterminate period of time, the planet's resources were used to create new gems, installations, structures, and outposts. Worlds colonized ranged from proper planets and moons to mere asteroids. Planets possessing a biosphere of any sort were not avoided and habitable planets might have been preferred as potential colonies over barren, lifeless worlds due to the rich organic minerals commonly found there. As stated time and again before and first shown in "It Could've Been Great", the completion of colonization efforts on a habitable world would inevitably lead to the extinction of all life existing on said planet and render it inhospitable to non-gem lifeforms.
Based off Homeworld's overall indifference, if not ranging from slight disgust to outright contempt towards organic life, it appears there were no qualms over colonizing worlds that had native life and what the completion of said colonization would mean for them in the long run. It is unknown how many of the Diamonds' current and previous colonies once possessed a biosphere before the completion of their colonization. Once a colony was completed, it was firmly established when Gems were created on a certain Diamond's planet they belonged to them by default. For example, Gems made on a Yellow Diamond colony belonged to her.
The Diamonds had a very close relationship with each other, and would often play games with Pink. Pink also hosted parties in honor of the Diamond's achievements. However, Pink had begged Yellow and Blue for a colony until finally Yellow gave in despite her doubts and placated her by giving her Earth. Around the start of Earth's colonization, the Diamonds had altogether colonized 43 planetary bodies and two star systems (again according to the Moon Base).
Over 6,000 Years Ago
Pink Diamond and her gem court arrived on Earth and began the process of colonizing the planet, constructing several gem installations and structures including the Prime Kindergarten and the Beta Kindergarten. After several years of relative inaction, Pink became bored concerning the reality of actually managing a colony. When informed by her Pearl, the first Quartz soldiers were emerging from the Kindergarten, and she expressed an immediate desire to interact and socialize with them but quickly dismissed the notion due to it being unbecoming of a Diamond in the eyes of Blue and Yellow. It is at this time Pearl remarked how she could shapeshift into a Quartz, thus leading to Pink creating her "Rose Quartz" persona and forming the Crystal Gems.
When Pink became fascinated by the organic life on Earth's surface, she eventually realized the colonization process was harming the life already present on the planet itself. Over the next several years, she began a prolonged series of discussions involving her begging Yellow and Blue Diamond to allow her to spare Earth from such a fate. As a result, Blue Diamond created a human zoo to satisfy Pink Diamond, but this only served to further enrage her. After countless attempts by Pink to convince Blue and Yellow to let her properly preserve life on Earth, Pink decided to use her alter ego of Rose Quartz to scare other Gems off Earth alongside Pearl by staging a Rebellion.
Over 5,750 Years Ago
In an attempt to assist Pink Diamond in suppressing the Rebellion and desperate to complete the colonization of Earth in a form of a flashback as told by Garnet in "The Answer", Blue Diamond sent her court with her to the Cloud Arena to investigate the uprising on Earth. Among these Gems was a Sapphire who came to Blue and told her she foresaw the rebels attacking the Arena, but that they would be cornered and captured after "poofing" two of the Rubies protecting her along with herself and some Gem bystanders, therefore ending the rebellion. As told, Rose and Pearl attacked Blue Diamond's court and everything played out according to Sapphire's prophecy until one of Sapphire's three Ruby guards saved her from Pearl causing them to accidentally fuse into a Gem named "Garnet".
Disgusted and distracted by the fusion, Blue Diamond told Ruby she would be "shattered" for fusing with a member of her court and allowing the rebels to escape. Despite Ruby's protests, a distraught Sapphire fled with her into Earth's wilderness where they again came across Rose and Pearl, this time joining the Rebellion they had fought against as Garnet. After encountering Garnet, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond revised her earlier desire to scare gems off Earth to fighting not just for life on Earth, but for other Gems' freedom.
Once again at Earth's Moon Base, Pink Diamond held an audience with the other Diamonds once more requesting the cessation of Earth's colonization, informing them this time it was because of the newly-formed group of Homeworld rebels calling themselves the "Crystal Gems". Even Blue Diamond became irritated by Pink's excuses and explained Rose Quartz could not hurt her and she could not be allowed to halt the progress of a single colony due to rebellious Gems. Blue explained that as a Diamond, all Pink had to do was smile and wave while her Gems completed Earth's colonization and the superior forces of Homeworld made sure the Crystal Gems were to be no more.
Over 5,500 Years Ago
Under her Rose Quartz disguise, Pink Diamond recruited enough Gems to her cause to officially wage open war against Homeworld. Over the course of the next 1,000 years, countless Gems on both sides of the conflict were shattered in the ensuing battles and any plans of continuing the colonization of Earth began to crumble. Pink (as Rose) was more or less able to keep the Crystal Gems in contention with Homeworld's forces due to her unique healing abilities.
Over 5,000 Years Ago
As the Rebellion continued to rage on with no end in sight, Pink Diamond (as Rose Quartz) began to fear that soon there would be no one and nothing left to protect. Eventually, she decided she no longer wanted to be a part of the Great Diamond Authority and came to believe the other Diamonds did not truly care for her, only doing so and showing affection for their own ambitions of establishing a more "perfect" empire as their endgame. Thus, to cut her ties from Homeworld permanently and end the Rebellion once and for all, Pink devised a plan to fake her shattering at the hands of her alter-ego. At the Rebellion's climax, she set this plan into motion; using her natural abilities to turn ordinary dirt into false pink Gem Shards, she consumed them and had Pearl shapeshift into Rose. "Rose" then "shattered" her with a sword in public outside her palanquin, causing everyone (including the other Diamonds) to believe Rose Quartz assassinated Pink Diamond. The plan succeeded, allowing Pink to reform and live the rest of her life as Rose Quartz while the presumed death of Pink Diamond sent Homeworld into disarray, turning the war in the Crystal Gems' favor. Unfortunately, this singular act would turn out to be a massive and devastating error in judgment on Pink's part.
Over 4,500 Years Ago
With the "death" of Pink Diamond, it became clear to Homeworld that Earth was no longer fit to be a Gem colony. Presumably, under Yellow Diamond, loyal Homeworld Gems began collecting fallen shards of shattered Crystal Gems and experimented with them. In these horrific and painful experiments, various Gem shards were forced to fuse together creating monstrous amalgamations of limbs. After enough experimentation, a gargantuan Gem geo-weapon called "the Cluster" was created and embedded into Earth's deep mantle for the sole purpose of one day destroying the planet upon forming and to be utilized as a planet-destroying superweapon.
As the Crystal Gems' victory in the war became more apparent, the Diamonds sought their own extreme measures to end the war, enraged at the loss of Pink Diamond and Earth as a colony. At the war's end, they instructed Homeworld commanders on Earth to initiate a mass evacuation of all loyalist Gem forces off the planet. Due to the abrupt and chaotic way it was carried out, not all of Homeworld's forces were able to leave in time before the three remaining Diamonds combined their powers and launched a bright light of powerful energy at Earth. They hoped this last-ditch attack would obliterate every rebel Gem still on the planet. Unbeknownst to them, both Homeworld Gems who had failed to evacuate as well as virtually all remaining Crystal Gems exposed to the light survived, but at the terrible cost of enduring a fate possibly worse than death. After the war ended, they along with numerous Homeworld Gems became corrupted.
The Diamonds and Homeworld left Earth, completely unaware of the fates they had brought upon the gems there. Only a very small number of Gems survived the attack and avoided corruption. Pink Diamond (as Rose Quartz), Bismuth, Garnet, and Pearl survived thanks to Pink's shield which protected them from the light's effects. Lapis Lazuli, who was imprisoned in a mirror was protected from exposure to the light; Bismuth, who was similarly imprisoned via being bubbled was inadvertently protected; Amethyst, who was still incubating was also protected from the light. With the Diamonds abandoned the Earth as a colony, the Rebellion had ended in a technical Crystal Gem victory, but at a terrible cost. No other Gem, whether they had allegiance to the Crystal Gems or Homeworld was known to have survived unscathed from the Diamonds' final attack. With the "death" of Pink Diamond, the Diamonds divided her court, including her quartz soldiers (Famethysts), amongst themselves; some went to Yellow, some went to Blue and the others presumably went to White.
Due to putting an extensive amount of their preexisting resources into colonizing Earth and then later waging a costly war to suppress the insurrections of the Crystal Gems, a resource crisis emerged on Homeworld following the conclusion of the Rebellion. With the colonization of Earth being a failure, Homeworld received no net profit from their endeavors and thus the stock of Homeworld's supplies plummeted in the years following the Rebellion's end. As a result, the strengths of Gems produced after began to dwindle. This period of time that continues on in the present is known as "Era 2", while the time predating the Rebellion was known as "Era 1". When Era 2 began, most of Blue and Pink Diamond's Quartzes made on Earth took over Pink Diamond's zoo in her memory. Also, Era-2 Gems such as newer Peridots were physically weaker due to Kindergartens lacking resources and became very dependent (and ultimately over-reliant) on advanced technological enhancements.
Pink Diamond continued to live on as Rose Quartz with the last remaining Crystal Gems, Pearl and Garnet. At some point, Amethyst emerged long past overdue in the Prime Kindergarten as being short and overcooked, and was welcomed with open arms by Rose into the Crystal Gems. Over the next several millennia, they continued to protect the Earth and desperately tried to heal the Corrupted Gems. She eventually fell in love with a human named Greg Universe and gave up her physical form to have a son named Steven.
As the years went on, the Diamonds continued colonizing worlds and Pink's "death" affected each of them. While it is unknown how White Diamond was affected, Blue went into a deep depression and would constantly mourn over Pink to the point where she began to forego her duties of ruling the Gem empire. Meanwhile, Yellow tried pushing Pink out of her memory and erasing any remnants of her legacy she could in order to keep herself a composed leader. Yellow tried having many discussions with Blue over the subsequent millennia about how they should move on from the fall of Pink, but Blue never listened to her words.
Season 1
The Diamonds' presence was completely unknown during the events of Season 1A and 1B, but they were first mentioned in "Keep Beach City Wierd" (and accidentaly discovered in form of a theory) by Ronaldo that it could take any form, and then later mentioned by Jasper in "The Return" and "Jailbreak", when she says "Yellow Diamond needs to see this...thing". Their emblem (as seen earlier in Serious Steven) is also shown in the Gem Warship without Pink Diamond on it, resembling the triforce from The Legend of Zelda.
Season 2
In Season 2, the Diamonds' presence is limited with Jasper being stuck underwater with Lapis as the unstable fusion known as Malachite. Peridot, still under the work of Yellow Diamond, is a recurring antagonist aside with a few corrupted gems of the season and she is seen monitoring abandoned gem sites and attempting to contact Yellow Diamond and try to get off of Earth. Peridot is eventually captured by the Crystal Gems in "Catch and Release", and ends up teaming up with them to stop a gigantic, monstrous Gem Monster comprised of millions of gem shards, called "The Cluster", which the Diamonds had sent her to check on. In the episode, "Message Recieved", Peridot eventually makes contact with Yellow Diamond, however, she ended up defecting from her after calling her a clod, and became a member of the Crystal Gems after that.
Season 3
In Season 3, more information is found out about the Diamonds. In "Hit the Diamond", a group of five ruby soldiers from Homeworld are challenged to a game of baseball and they end up revealing that their real mission is to locate Jasper and go off to Neptune after Steven lied to them about her whereabouts. After being unfused from Lapis in "Beta" and "Earthlings", Jasper begins assembling an army of corrupted gems to fight back against the Crystal Gems and has them all caged in the Beta Kindergarten. After Steven, Peridot, and Amethyst find her, Jasper reveals that all gems are made to serve the the Order of the Diamonds (Great Diamond Authority) and that all gems who don't must be purged. She eventually fuses with a corrupted gem but it only lasts for a short period of time and she ends up being corrupted afterwards but not before she states that Rose had done something to Earth and Pink Diamond, her former superior and is then turned into a corrupted gem. Eventually in "Back to the Moon", the five rubies return, Amethyst shape-shifts into Jasper, and they go to the moon base where it's revealed that Rose Quartz had actually shattered Pink Diamond. In "Bubbled", Steven and Eyeball are stuck in space and Eyeball reveals her intentions to kill Steven, who she thinks is Rose, to avenge Pink Diamond and return back to Homeworld as a hero but it fails and she's thrown back into space.
Season 4
In Season 4 episode, "Steven's Dream", Blue Diamond came to Earth in Korea, which is where Pink Diamond was rumored as shattered by one of her soldiers. There, Blue was mourning over how she wished she could have done something to help out Pink. She then realizes that she wasn't alone: her Pearl brought before her, Greg Universe, who asks Blue Diamond, which Greg refered to as her majesty, if she was close with Pink Diamond, in which Blue Diamond replies, "Very". Greg also mentions that there is also someone he was very close with (Rose Quartz) and he misses her very much. Blue Diamond is surprised that humans could even be able to miss people they care about. She decides to take Greg with her, for she believes that The Cluster is still going to emerge, and so she intends to "save" Greg from it, as well as to save a piece of Pink Diamond's legacy. So, Blue Diamond grabs Greg and enters her ship and leaves to Pink Diamond's human zoo.
By the time the Crystal gems arrived to the zoo in "That Will Be All", Blue Diamond had already left the zoo and then returned back with Yellow Diamond.
Season 5
In Season 5 episode, "The Trial", Yellow and Blue came to the trial for Rose Quartz's case from the demise of Pink Diamond. Later on in "Reunited" and "From Legs Here to Homeworld", they felt surprised that Steven's mother Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond. They felt surprised that Steven showed them the Corrupted Gems, so they had to go to homeworld to have help with White Diamond having her pearl to take Steven to White, and she saw that Pink was still alive and she put her in her room.
Gallery
Trivia
- Their current/ era 2 symbol resembles the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda.
- The confirmed instrument of the Diamonds is a synthetic sound combining harmonette and strings, processed by a synth, this can also be heard in "Same Old World" and "Monster Reunion" when the Corrupting Light flashes. It was revealed in the book, "Steven Universe: Art & Origins" book that each Diamond also has a unique chord.
- All of the Diamonds have diamond-shaped pupils rather than circular ones.
- They are also tall in size, towering most Gems and even Gem fusions, with the slight exception of Pink Diamond, who is shorter than the other Diamonds.
 Villains
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Great Diamond Authority Homeworld Gems Fusion Gems Gem Monsters Sentient Plants Other | ||