Who Were the Original Gem Shimmers?

Thousands of years ago, before the conflict between gems and metals, Diopside and Tanzanite were not the only Gem Shimmers, nor were they themselves much like the dynamic duo we know and love in the present day. So who were these mysterious lost gems, and what were their relationships to the main duo? These questions will be answered… right now. From left to right:

Tanzanite - Don’t let her confident expression fool you… back in these days, Tanzanite was an absolute coward, and struggled to fit into the team or feel respected by the other gems. If you told her she would one day be the leader of the Gem Shimmers, she’d most likely scoff and tell you you were insane. It took her centuries of growth and hard lessons (some learned from others, some she had to teach herself) to get where she is today.

Fire Opal - The Gem Shimmers’ original leader. Wielding control over fire itself with as much skill as the longsword she could summon from her gem, she was a force to be reckoned with. She was fearless, optimistic, energetic, and had the ability to inspire the absolute best from anyone fortunate enough to follow her lead. She had a particular fondness for Tanzanite, in whom she could clearly see the potential no one else could. Tragically, she was shattered during the war against the metals, but in her final moments, it was her who passed leadership onto Tanzanite. Tanzanite could never be ready for such a responsibility, but with the blessing of the gem she so admired, Tanzanite gives it her all to be the gem Fire Opal knew she could be.

Morganite - The Gem Shimmers’ strategist and technician. Her strategic mind could be rivaled perhaps only by that of Gold, and she utilized this skill to lay out battle plans for each mission of the Gem Shimmers. She was also quite arrogant, believing her plans to be perfect with no input needed from anyone else. Luckily, her results could speak for themselves, allowing the others to let her more difficult traits slide. Despite this immense self-pride however, once the war began to seem unwinnable, her final plan involved sacrificing herself to give her allies a fighting chance at victory. Unfortunately, circumstances even she could not have foreseen led to the shattering of their leader, and their hope along with her.

Zircon - The muscle of the team. She was a gem of few words, and despite her immense strength, she was a gentle and loving individual who was unfailingly loyal to her teammates. She was one of the only gems to survive the war along with Diopside and Tanzanite, but she would never be the same again. Somehow, while Diopside and Tanzanite could remain somewhat hopeful for a future, enough to keep from giving in to corruption, Zircon could not. Diopside could not bear to see her friend and comrade devolved into a horrible beast, and always blamed herself for it as her method of coping with the loss of the other Gem Shimmers mainly involved distancing herself from her fellow survivors and socializing with humans instead. Thus, Tanzanite was forced to defeat Zircon’s monster form using a giant slingshot cannon designed for her by Morganite. In the present day, a mishap led to Zircon reforming as a monster a second time, causing Diopside to relive her trauma and Tanzanite to reopen old wounds out of desperation. Currently, Zircon’s monster form is still on the run somewhere in Mountain Town.

Pyrite - Diopside’s best friend. With a gem on her left shoulder to compliment the one on Diopside’s right, their compatibility is immediately apparent. Pyrite was kind of bratty and picked on Tanzanite like an older sister (the two were made for the same person), being a major cause of her inferiority complex. She disappeared during the war, with no shards ever being found.

Diopside - A childish, carefree gem with no idea how much she has to lose. In the past, Diopside never took anything seriously, but was still a respected member of the team regardless. Her and Pyrite were inseperable, and when the two fused they were a great asset in battle. Besides Pyrite, Diopside feels that every gem on the team taught her something valuable, and losing nearly all of them taught her the importance of living in the moment and never taking anyone she meets for granted.