So I kind of stumbled ass-backwards into this theory, but I think I might have accidentally realized what Peridot’s weapon is. First off, let’s review the three general kinds of gem weapons:

The main type, including Pearl’s spear, Amethyst’s whip, Opal’s bow, Sugilite’s flail and Sardonyx’s hammer is Weapons but the name weapon is more a misnomer due to the other varieties



Armor, such as Steven and Rose’s shield, Jasper’s helmet and Garnet and Ruby’s gauntlets are primarily protective items, although their wielders may use them offensively.

By the way, notice how Jasper’s crash helmet isn’t in contact with her gem when it’s summoned?Gem weapons don’t need to be pulled out out of the gem and will just appear in the proper spot if they’re too big to remove like all three armor-type weapons we’ve seen. This is probably the way peridot will summon her weapon, since otherwise she would be required to either remove her visor (which is weird) or reach through it (which doesn’t make any sense)

Finally, there is a third type of weapon far less common than the rest.

Extra Limbs such as those used by Lapis. This is where I think Peridot’s weapon comes into play.

As we know, Peridot is really insecure about her tiny limbs and feels unnatural without her limb enhancers. She even tried wearing paint cans to be taller. Since gem weapons are produced by their gem and can shapeshift and fuse with them it’s pretty clear that a gem weapon is physical part of their owners and represent them in the same way their physical form does. Peridot’s gem weapon should be enhanced limbs because she would want them to be.

But what kinds of enhanced limbs would Peridot have? Well, first and foremost she would want to be taller. Based on her anger at steven’s comments about her size and her relacements just being paint cans on the bottom of her feet, it seems pretty likey that this is her main concern.

More than that however she needs to be able to do the kinds of things she used to be able to like climbing walls

Or scuttling

What she needs are same kind of enhanced limbs every pint-sized technician in fiction has:

Spider Legs!

Again, she wouldn’t need to pull them out of her gem, since as with Steven’s shield and Jasper’s helmet the “weapon” would just appear on her body

By the way, I didn’t just pick that image of Zim for any old reason. There are plenty of other examples of tiny engineers with spider limbs, including Dexter from Dexter’s Lab and Gizmo from Teen Titans, but Zim in particular is significant.

Like Peridot, Zim is a tiny, angry, green invader from an evil intergalactic empire of biologically sexless aliens ruled over by the tallest of their race. Those similarities aren’t unintentional mind you since Rebecca Sugar is a huge fan of Invader Zim and her fan fics are publicly available online for anyone to read.

Oh, but that’s not all. As of Same Old World, Lapis and Peridot are living together and while their relationship is rocky now, their inevitable fusion is one of the most highly anticipated in the fandom. When it does happen, the two are going to need a fused weapon as well (unlike malachite, whose weapons were intentionally incompatible to show their divisive nature). As it turns out, spider legs and water wings already have a pretty decent combination courtesy of Legend of Korra

WATER TENTACLES