hello! spoilers for “Legs from Here to Homeworld” incoming
so the visual parallel between Evil Wedding Connie (generated by Rose’s room in the episode Open Book) and White Diamond’s Pearl have been mentioned in this post. But I think it goes quite a bit further.
(The visual parallels are seen in the missing eye, white-based color scheme, and the round hair/accessories on the sides of the head.)
We know that Pearls are physically incapable of refusing an order from their designated Diamond, both because of CG Pearl’s inability to tell Steven that Rose is Pink Diamond, and because of later word of god.
It’s also worth mentioning that there’s a bit of the art book that has this photo in it, which seems to say, “A new, sensible Pearl is custom delivered to Pink.” This, in addition to White Pearl’s outfit being so similar to Pink Diamond’s, seems to suggest that WD and PD exchanged Pearls at some point. In fact, their pearls have their gemstones in the opposite locations. And! CG Pearl was the only one of the group to actually have something to say about WD when Yellow and Blue brought her up, which was “she’s not like us.” Perhaps this was from personal experience?
Here’s another odd thing: White Pearl isn’t voice by Deedee (the usual VA for Pearls–gems of the same type generally have the same VA). Instead, she’s voiced by White Diamond’s VA, and she mimics WD’s pose as well. People have suggested that White Diamond might literally be controlling her, that her broken eye might be symbolically indicative of a lobotomy. I agree!
But why would that be the case, you ask? What could have necessitated White Pearl’s sense of self being so completely and utterly destroyed and taken over?
GLAD YOU ASKED! BECAUSE THAT’S THE POINT OF THIS POST!!
Let’s take a step back to the episode Open Book. In this episode, Connie and Steven enter Rose’s Room, where everything is made to match Steven’s will. That on its own is an interesting parallel to how Pearls act towards their Diamonds, not even thinking about things unless ordered to.
In Open Book, Connie gets replaced with Fake Connie, who Steven thinks is the real person for a while. But she refuses to make her own decisions, instead deferring to Steven for everything. Eventually, he says, “I don’t want you to just do what I want!” which sends her into some sort of contradictory logic loop. She gets confused and starts saying “I want what you want what you want want want want…”
Steven gets spooked and makes everything fake in the room disappear. Fake Connie refuses to vanish, though. When Steven asks why, she says, “You told me not to do what you wanted.” She then chases Steven around against his will, appears in the wedding outfit (as seen above), and fights against him and real Connie. (She disappears when Steven admits something to Connie, but I think this is more relevant to the episode’s moral than the symbolism I’m addressing.)
So why was Pink’s original Pearl given to White and brainwashed? Because Pink Diamond did to her what Steven did to Fake Connie!
In Now We’re Only Falling Apart, CG Pearl says “I was given to Pink Diamond just a few thousand years before she was given the Earth. I was supposed to make her happy, I just… never could.”
Then, in the flashback, Pink Diamond tries to make casual conversation, and Pearl responds robotically & respectfully. Pink frowns at this.
But she doesn’t directly try to make her stop, just looks a little upset and continues working.
So the idea is this: Pink Diamond was casual and fun with her original Pearl, but eventually went too far and made a direct order akin to “Don’t follow my orders,” which broke that Pearl’s mind and had her act traitorously. Then, perhaps at some request of PD’s that the Pearl not be shattered, WD took her and brainwashed her into being nothing but a puppet. Pink must have been upset by this whole thing, thus White’s Pearl being given to Pink to “make her happy.”
That’s what I’m thinking, anyway! Do you guys have any thoughts?
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