jaspurr:

and yes, that includes garnet.

not that I think garnet was lying. that’s her truth, based on what she was told. just rhodonite was told “she was the anti-gem. an organic beast that burst out of earth’s crust and vowed to destroy all gems” and rutile was told “she was made from a vein of hyper defective quartz, malformed quartz gone haywire” and fluorite was told that rose quartz wasn’t real.

before the episode aired, many people pointed out the stylistic similarities between the flashback, and utena

I’m not going to spoil utena for those who haven’t watched it, but let’s just say that the sequence that this flashback is referencing is a fairy tale version of the story. and as a fairy tale, it is extremely idealized, and far less complex than the actual story that unfolds. in fact, you could argue that utena is devoted to completely deconstructing this fairy tale by the end of the series.

some have complained that we never really learned anything in this episode, and I think that’s the point. garnet doesn’t know any more about rose than the audience does at this point.

take for example, her origins in the prime kindergarten. its basically the same story that rose told bismuth, and we know from that episode that rose kept many secrets about her past- including what happened to bismuth herself. the only thing we know about her past is what rose told garnet and bismuth, so why should we take that story at face value, as the objective truth?

especially when you consider that she said that rose shattered pink diamond with her sword, which again, connects with bismuth’s episode. we know that it would have been physically impossible for her to shatter pink diamond with her sword. steven knows this, but garnet doesn’t.

the story was so idealized, so simplistic. everything about rose was “good”. she was curious, she loved and appreciated life. her rebellion grew as her philosophy spread. she tried to reason with pink diamond, she only shattered her to end her reign of terror. pink diamond was a coward, she was hollow and cruel.

this is something that falls in line with what we see of rose in season one, but by now, we know better. we know that there’s no such thing as a good war. the violence (conveniently glossed over) by garnet, is hinted at by homeworld veterans and survivors like jasper, centipeetle, eyeball, and lapis.

we know that garnet wasn’t around for the birth of rose’s rebellion. it was already hindering progress on the colony by the time blue diamond was sent in, and ruby met sapphire. the only thing she knows about rose’s origins is what she tells her.

similarly, we can guess that she wasn’t around when she shattered pink diamond, because she believes that rose shattered her with her sword, which we know is impossible.

most importantly, the only part of this flashback that wasn’t in the fairy tale style was when the diamonds attacked. the part she was present for.

in other words: no, we didn’t really “learn” anything. but that’s the point. this is a fairy tale version of rose’s life and the rebellion. it’s not the complete story, and most likely not even the accurate story. not because garnet is lying but because she was relying on rose to tell her the truth. and as garnet said way back in rose’s scabbard:

“Rose kept many things secret, even from us.”

