The mystery of who used to own Pearl, our Pearl, before she join Rose Quartz’s rebellion remains one of the most hotly debated topics in the Steven Universe fandom. In this post, I’ll be looking at the evidence for and agiasnt each of the most popular candidates (Rose Quartz, White Diamond, and Pink Diamond).



Suspect # 1: Rose Quartz

Evidence in favor:



It seems like Pearl was programmed to loyally serve Rose Quartz. In the holographic memory in “Rose’s Scabbard,” Rose called her “My Pearl.” Pearl tells Steven, “Everything I ever did, I did for her. Now she’s gone, but I’m still here.“ Indeed, Pearl’s main character arc in the first three seasons is that she is constantly uncertain of her purpose in life now that Rose is gone, and must learn to function without Rose now. She’s a Pearl, programmed to serve, but the gem she’s programmed to serve is gone now.

Evidence against:



Why would “just another Quartz soldier, made right here in the dirt,“ have her own Pearl? And if Rose Quartz was made on Earth, and Pearl has always served her, why does Pearl have “memories of other worlds,“ and a desire to show Steven homeworld someday?

And why is Pearl so secretive about her life before the rebellion?

In “Adventures in Light Distortion” Pearl says, “When I still served… Homeworld,“ with a nervous glance to the side during the pause in her sentence.

Later, in “Gemcation,“ Pearl again seems hesitant to tell Steven something about her past.

“Steven, I’m sure you have a lot of questions you’d like answers to, like about the Diamonds, for instance. There are things that are impossible for me to explain. But I want to. I– [covers her own mouth]. Steven I – [covers her own mouth again].

These two occurrences seem to indicate that Pearl, for some reason, doesn’t want to tell Steven exactly which gem she used to serve. If Pearl was originally assigned to serve Rose Quartz, Pearl would have no reason to act this way around Steven.

Steven already knows that Pearl and Rose Quartz were servants of homeworld before the rebellion. He already knows that pearls in the caste system are domestic servants and assistants, and that our Pearl was extremely devoted to Rose Quartz (stick a pin in that, we’re coming back to it). Finding out Pearl was always a servant of Rose Quartz wouldn’t be the least bit surprising for Steven, so it doesn’t make any sense that Pearl would be acting so secretive about her past if that were the case.



So what gem would Pearl not want Steven to know was once her master? Some aristocratic gem we haven’t met before? Possible, but it would be pretty disappointing from a narrative perspective. And, again, why would Pearl be so hesitant to tell Steven she used to serve some random sapphire or morganite?

I think there’s only one type of gem Pearl would have such a dramatic reaction to when recalling her former enslavement: a Diamond.

But which one? Probably not Yellow or Blue, since we’ve already seen their Pearls. That just leaves Pink Diamond, and the unseen White Diamond.

Suspect #2: White Diamond

Evidence in favor:

Pearl’s gem is located in her head, and her gem and skin are white

Yellow and Blue Diamond’s pearls match their gem location and gem/skin color.

Therefore, our Pearl was most likely the servant of the diamond with the same gem location and color palette: White Diamond.

Evidence against:



Rebecca Sugar may have had other reasons for wanting our Pearl’s gem to be in her head that trumped her desire to have all the pearl’s gem placements match their diamonds’.



Let’s cheat by bringing in evidence from outside the show’s internal lore, and looking at what we know about how the character of the Pearl and the fictional universe she inhabits were created.

“Steven Universe: Art & Origins,” (frequently referred to by fans simply as “the art book”) makes it clear the the Crystal Gems’ gem placements are some of the oldest concepts in the show’s development. (Garnet already had her gems in her hands, even back when she was still going to be “Onxy.”) Conversely, Rebecca Sugar’s early notes from the time she was developing the pilot contain no references to the diamonds, homeworld, the gem caste system, or even the gems being from another planet. They are always referred to in the early notes as “magical girls” or “godesses.”

In the 10th episode of the Official Steven Universe podcast, Sugar says:

…for the main characters [gem placement] was very specific. I figured it would relate to who they are. So, Pearl is a little too inside her own head, and she’s an intellectual, so she has her gem embedded in her head.

So if Pearl’s gem placement was a character-driven choice, that predated the creation of the Diamond Authority, i don’t think it’s especially strong evidence that Pearl must have served White Diamond.

So that just leaves…

Suspect #3: Pink Diamond

Evidence in favor:



Pink diamonds appear on Pearl’s flight-suit and on Hologram-Pearl, right where her crystal-gem-gold-star normally is, as well as on Sardonyx’s shoes.



Pearl strikes a familiar pose in “We need to talk.”

Evidence against:

As previously mentioned, Pearl’s coloration and gem placement are a better match for White Diamond, and Pearl seems to have been very devoted to Rose Quartz. (Basically, the evidence that Pearl didn’t serve Pink Diamond is the existence evidence that she served someone else.)

Making sense of it all.

By process of elimination, I think Pearl being secretive about who she used to serve MUST be setting up that she belonged to either White Diamond or Pink Diamond. There’s no plausible reason why her having always belonged to Rose Quartz or having once belonged to a random, previously unseen aristocratic gem would warrant so much secrecy and anxiety on Pearl’s part.

So, Pink or White? Because of what we know about how Pearl’s character was created, I think the pink diamonds on Pearl’s flight suit and hologram-Pearl are much more convincing than Pearl’s gem placement. Rebecca Sugar had thematic and creative reasons why Pearl’s gem needed to be in her head, but there was nothing stopping her from putting white diamonds on Pearl’s flight suit or on Hologram-Pearl if she had wanted to. Therefore, I must conclude that:

Before the rebellion, Pearl was Pink Diamond’s pearl.

So, then why is her gem in her head like White Diamond and not in her belly button like Pink Diamond? As was previously mentioned, Rebecca Sugar decided to make the gems aliens, created the caste system, and the diamonds after she had already settled on Pearl’s color scheme and gem placement as well as Steven/Rose Quartz having their gem in their belly button. I think that, even after that lore was fleshed out and it was decided Yellow and Blue Pearl’s gem placements would match their diamonds’, Sugar, still wanted all of the main characters to have a unique gem placements that reflected their personalities in some way. Pearl having her gem in her belly button like Steven and Rose just wasn’t an option.

So, Sugar needed to construct some post hoc rationalization, a plot device, to explain why our Pearl’s gem location doesn’t match her diamond’s. And, thanks to the art book, I think we may already know what that plot device is. Tucked away in the only photo of Rebecca’s timeline of the show’s universe is a barley legible note.

A new, more sensible Pearl is custom made and delivered to Pink.



(Photo and deciphering of it courtesy of /u/upper-echelon and /u/CaptainJZH , respectively.)

I think this note is actually a hint as to the rationalization Sugar came up with for Pearl’s gem placement. Pink Diamond’s first pearl did have her gem in her belly button. But there was something wrong with that pearl. It was not “sensible” in someway. So a new, more sensible pearl was custom made and delivered to Pink Diamond. Our Pearl. For some reason, this second, more sensible pearl had her gem in her head. (Maybe she was custom ordered by White Diamond for Pink Diamond.)

But why couldn’t Sugar have just made Pearl White Diamond’s pearl? Why did the story demand she be Pink Diamond’s pearl instead, even if it meant breaking the Diamond-Pearl similarities?

I have a suspicion what the answer to that question is, and it also explains why Pearl was so devoted to Rose Quartz even though she was once Pink Diamond’s pearl.

Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond