#mural gem

[the-queen-of-homeworld]

I couldn’t help myself, I just had to draw her.

©Planet Russell 2017

Credit to Rebeca Sugar and the Crewniverse.

[draconeking]

Steven Universe Theory - The Mural Gem

If the Gem fighting Rose in the mural is one of the Diamonds, it's probably Blue Diamond, since the mural doesn't look yellow or white, kind of blue and Rose is colored in the mural. Blue Diamond likely didn't return to the planet or did whatever reduced the battle to just the Crystal Gems left, since if a Diamond got back you'd think there would have been an earlier return.

[artemispanthar]

Do you ever get tired of people constantly going back to the mural as a reference to some "deeper meaning" or backstory or some new gem when it's yknow about the gem in the temple it was in and is depicting said gem or?

Naw, its not too bad. I can't pretend that I know for certain that the mural Gem isn't some other Gem, no matter how sure I am its still not enough to say the other theories are incorrect, just that I really don't believe them personally. The mural is certainly significant and is one of the current 'big mysteries' of the show, so it makes sense that people try to connect it to every new piece of information we get (and especially, every new character) because we haven't gotten closure on it yet. Every fandom with mysteries has that one thing people go back to every single time something new is revealed and the mural is SU's

But I feel kinda like a broken record 'cause without some solid evidence to the contrary, I'm always going to say I believe the mural Gem is the Gem powering the pyramid because I still strongly believe that to be the case.

[artemispanthar]

i'm going to laugh if the mural gem was actually Diamond and they have a position of high power and Ronaldo was 100% right

While Diamond may be an important Gem figure, I doubt they're the Gem on the mural. Someone who is the head of Gem society probably wouldn't come fight battles personally. I'd also wager they could completely annihilate any other Gem in a fight like that and the Gem in mural is most likely the gem powering the mechanism in the pyramid, which means Rose and the other have successfully captured the leader Gem which seems unlikely

[artemispanthar]

Someone may have already pointed this out, but the "diamond" (as fans call it) mural in Serious Steven looks a bit like Peridot..? Idek, just a thought. Also, I really love your blog :3

Yea, I've heard a lot of folks say that but I'm fairly positive its not her. The body type doesn't match at all, the hair is distinctly spiked not smooth (the triangle on the left most image of the mural is from the background, none of the other instances of the mural Gem have triangle 'hair'). The Gem on the mural also doesn't have a forehead gem, but appears to have a chest gem. I know people like to say "Well Gems regenerate and look different" but from a narrative perspective that makes for sloppy cheap writing because you're deliberately preventing the average viewer from making any kind of connection. In order for the mural to have purpose and meaning for viewers, it will need to look very distinctly like the Gem it is. When we finally see the mural Gem, we will know without a doubt that that's who it is.

But also it just doesn't make logical sense for it to be her. The mural is depicting a fight and we know Rose didn't lose that fight so something had to have happened with the mural Gem (most likely used to power that very temple). In order for it to be Peridot, there'd need to be a fight and somehow Peridot left and then years later for some reason return as if nothing happen and be surprised that there may be a threat there, despite knowing full-well there's a threat because she's dealt with Rose before. Also, the mural Gem is likely a very important and powerful individual to square off against Rose (and be important enough to end up on a mural) but when we see Peridot she's a tech doing grunt work, standard maintenance on an old seemingly forgotten planet. It's unlikely she just suddenly dropped from a leadership position to a service position.

The most logical identity of the mural Gem is the Gem whose gem is powering the temple. The device the gem is in has the visage of the mural gem and it 'reacts' to Steven (turning to a smiling face). It also wouldn't make sense to have an unrelated mural in the temple powered by some other Gem, which explodes when removed, destroying the mural forever. The whole temple was a 'death trap' and the gem-powered mechanism is hidden below, making it seem like it was designed as a prison to prevent anyone from retrieving the imprisoned Gem.

[artemispanthar]

If you remember Garnet's pilot design had a triangle and looks almost identical to the first draft of the mural

I don’t think the storyboard mural looks that much like pilot Garnet. Since its a minimalist style, it doesn’t look exactly like anyone, its just that it has straight hair so its easy to assume that it looks the same as the only character we’ve seen with straight hair. In terms of body shape, the mural gem is closer to Garnet’s body shape, the not-Rose on the storyboard mural almost has Pearl’s body shape, with those toothpick legs. Besides on the mural the not-Rose has a diamond emblem on their chest, not a triangle like pilot Garnet

But anyway, its possible, I suppose.

[artemispanthar]

I wonder if there's more than two factions of gems. The mural gem had a triangle (and you could interpret lapis lazuli as having a triangle on her outfit), while the gem on the storyboard that was replaced by rose, peridot, and both holo pearl and her space suit have a rhombus (aka a diamond)

It's possible, though my current thought on how Gems operate is that the Crystal Gems were the first to ever defect and that otherwise they're pretty uniform and hive-minded. I think the triangle motif on the mural Gem has to do with it being the pyramid temple Gem so the triangle is, like, a thematic thing. Interestingly, the mural Gem is surrounded by diamond shapes

But it is certainly possible, I'd like to see another Gem with a more definite triangle symbol (I see Lapis' as a diamond) to say for sure

[artemispanthar]

About the Pyramid Temple, has there been any discussion about why the statue's head rotated to a smiling face right before Steven pulled it out (although it seems like the gem actually released itself from its holding place)?

I recall discussing it a long time ago and as of know we don't really know why it did that but I think we can assume its very significant. Possible that the Gem recognized the Gem freeing it (I suspect Gems can sense other Gems by their gem, so Steven would seem like Rose Quartz) or recognized that he had no ill intent. I definitely think it intentionally released itself in response to Steven.

I'd be willing to bet we WILL be meeting that Gem eventually and then we'll learn why it did that in response to Steven