

Now, knowing what we do now from “A Single Pale Rose”, it seems like a lot of what we saw in the show has been re-contextualized, and while the fandom has been digging deep for all the foreshadowing “bits” this reveal, I’m left to wonder what this mural means now:

With Rose being Pink Diamond, it kind of changes the dynamic of the whole mural. If Rose is PD, what’s she holding? It can’t be Pink Diamond’s gem…

We know that those Diamond-shaped insignias definitely represent the Diamonds themselves (as do triangles) in all cases that we’ve seen them… curious, right? So, what then is this mural showing? Why is it so important that is has to be shown again in “Buddy’s Book” and “Steven’s Dream”? What does the Diamond shape symbolize?



Well, fear not, because I believe I have a solid theory to answer for all of these questions, and it’s quite simple:

*drumroll intensifies*

Let me then propose this as a highly improbable, unforseen, and yet still possible scenario:



When White Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Yellow Diamond launched their combined attack, at the moment it hit Rose/Pink’s shield, it did two things:

The attack caused Rose/Pink’s shield to ring loudly when it was struck by the Diamond’s attack, and the attack was, to some degree, reflected back.

This is what I believe Centipeetle (Nephrite), had experienced when the Diamond Attack was loosed, as she describes the attack as a light, and a sound like a song…



Now, why do I believe that the Rose’s Shield was capable of reflecting the Diamonds attack, and that this is what happened?

The Crewniverse loves foreshadowing, and making insignificant moments more significant upon a little “reflection” (sorry). In the episode “Off Colors”, as Steven is fighting the Robonoids on Homeworld, fan-favorite Padparadscha says in an offhand comment:

Anyone who watches Padparadscha carefully enough knows just how helpful she can be, as she identifies Lars’ mistake when fixing the Sun Incinerator’s core in “Your Mother and Mine”. Maybe the crew was dropping a little hint for something in the future? Keep in mind too, that it was a beam of light that was reflected…



As for the “song” Centi heard, what happened when Lapis hit Steven’s shield with gem magic?

*RIIIINNNNG*

The shield reverberates loudly, dissipating the clones.

And if the shield produced that same sound but much, much louder, it’d make sense how Centipeetle heard a “song” in the distance. If it were the Diamonds’ song, how could anyone hear it? They were in space, in a vacuum, miles away presumably. (yellow got some mean pipes tho)



So, what does this mean? Why is there a mural of the attack in the Pyramid Temple? And what does it have to do with the gem in the control chamber? Well, to be blunt, we have no concrete evidence for who it is YET, but we can definitely grasp at some good-ol’ straws. From here on out, its mainly guesswork.

That being said, let’s check out the other two murals.

On the other murals, to the left and right, are figures. The one on the left has five points of hair (the triangle behind her is part of the design of the mural, not her hair) and seems to be revered, because it shows many hands reaching up to her, possibly in adoration or respect.

The one on the right shows a figure, once again with 5 points of hair, in the center of a star or sun, which is important because it shows that this gem was a massive source of light...

These both appear to be the same figure, so it stands to reason the gem in the center-right is the same gem in all three murals, and the focus of the entire temple, if not the gem imprisoned within.



So riddle me this. If a GIANT beam of light hits a Diamond’s Shield, basically Pink Diamond’s hand power, what happens? You can see where I’m going with this, I’m sure.

White Diamond. The gem in the temple is a corrupted White Diamond. Maybe. Probably? It could also be an unrelated witness to the events or a gem from her court, but I find that unlikely, in my personal opinion.

The aura around her hand looks like pure light, as opposed to Yellow’s electric nature and Blue’s somber flow, and we know Steven’s shield reflects light specifically, so if the nature of her attack was a “beam of justice”, it would logically get reflected back, at least partially, right? It is a Diamond’s beam vs. a Diamond’s shield, after all.

Now, why is she in there? It’d be weird to try to contain her where the Diamond Attack happened (as hinted at by Pearl’s war memory, the Strawberry Battlefield and the Gem Battlefield she was at are the same). But what if they didn’t have a choice?

From the looks of it, the Diamonds were in space above earth at the time, and if White just starts rampaging and attacking the other two Diamonds, they’d need to contain her as soon as possible.



But would bubbling be enough? Would another gem be able to see through the bubble? What if the bubble were popped from the outside by accident? There were too many risks attached to letting the lesser gems know about what happened, so keeping her on Homeworld wasn’t an option either. Remember how in the beginning of “Kindergarten Kid”, Peridot mentioned that they had nothing like corruption on Homeworld? Then, suddenly one Diamond is shattered by a lowly Quartz soldier, and the other is morphed into a incoherent, fear-stricken beast? Chaos ensues…



The Diamonds knew that order needed to be upheld or else their Gempire would crash, so they keep White Diamond’s fate a secret, putting her in one of these:

My belief is that these Pyramid Temples were meant to contain gem criminals, as they exist right outside the Courthouse, which itself is right beside White Diamond’s head ship. If White Diamond is the most powerful gem, it’d make sense to keep all the imprisoned gems close to her…



So, without a way to help White Diamond, they decided to drop the temple on Earth. Where better to hide a broken, rampaging monster than the place they hated the most? If a human were to find it (or, in our case, the Crystal Gems), they’d see the mural portraying the tragic fate of their leader, and likely get stuck in the deathtrap, never truly finding the gem. And better yet, if someone released White Diamond on Earth… Yeesh. The cluster being planted there was just an added bonus, because it’d likely mean the “permanent” end to White Diamond’s suffering, as well as getting rid of the origin point of the other two Diamond’s grief.



The one thing I can’t explain is why the Crystal Gems had the key to this place, or why they wouldn’t have recognized her. Maybe we’ll see where Garnet got that key in the future…



Anyways, this probably isn’t what’s going to happen, given how little we know of White Diamond, and the above couple of contradictions, but I thought it’d be a fun little theory in anticipation of the Reunited Steven Bomb set to release on July 2nd.



Maybe, just maybe, the Diamonds and Steven will come together to heal all the trauma this war started, and in my opinion, healing White Diamond and reconciling with her would be a perfect culmination of the show’s plot.

Let me know your thoughts, and if there are any contradictions you spot. Happy theorizing!



Obligatory TL;DR: WHITE DIAMOND IS CORRUPTED maybe probably not

