Okay, so after reading Artie’s post about the extended opening, I want to talk about my Amethyst and Jasper feelings.

They made the speculation that Amethyst, after learning more about Gem stuff, would have to make a choice between Earth and Homeworld. But what if that isn’t the case? What if Amethyst eventually will have to choose between the Crystal Gems and the Kindergarteners?

One of Amethyst’s biggest hangups is the fact that she doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere. She feels like the other Crystal Gems can never truly accept her because she was born in a Kindergarten, which was the very thing they were trying to stop (regardless of how much Pearl and Garnet actually do love and accept her, they certainly have trouble communicating that fact to her in a way she understands, and sometimes don’t even know how much distress she’s in because they assume that she knows how they feel). She can’t be a part of humanity because she’s a Gem. Steven is most certainly there for her, but these feelings aren’t exactly something that he knows how to fix on his own, or something that he can fix with hugs and pep talks. Amethyst needs validation, but the only place she can get it is from within herself.



Now, we don’t know if any of the Gems produced in the Kindergarten actually joined up with Rose Quartz, or if they were around when Amethyst was found by Rose and taken home. For all we know, Amethyst has never met or spoken to another Gem that was born in a Kindergarten. The only Kindergarteners she knows of were enemies, soldiers sent by Homeworld to take out Rose Quartz and reclaim Earth. The fact that she has never seen a Gem who is like herself in a positive role or as a mentor must have contributed very heavily to her own feelings of self-loathing.

Enter Jasper. The fact that she’s a Kindergartener is all but confirmed at this point, and she’s the first Gem we’ve seen who is really visually similar to Amethyst, both in appearance and powers. I’m willing to bet that, were she to try to attempt to get in with the CGs or even try to turn one to her side, she’d go for Amethyst first, given that they’re the most alike. Amethyst would initially be reluctant, especially given that Jasper attempted to kidnap Steven, but she would become insatiably curious about the breadcrumbs of information that Jasper leaves her about her origins. Perhaps she’d go along with her for a trip to the Kindergarten, telling herself that it’s nothing serious and that if Jasper tries anything funny that she can take her down, but the more she learns the more earnest she becomes in her desire to get to know her.



Jasper would initially be faking it, but eventually she’d probably be delighted to have a younger comrade who she can instruct and gently dominate. She would be excited to show her everything about her heritage and show her what it means to be a Kindergartener. She would show Amethyst secret compartments in the Kindergarten Canyon that she never knew about – here are the barracks, the mess hall, this is where you would sit and stand with your squad if you had ever gotten the chance to meet them. She would tell Amethyst tales of valiant soldiers who stood fast in the battlefield, self-reliant and powerful against all odds. Amethyst would finally hear of Gems like her who were strong, self-reliant, unashamed of who they were, heroes. And were Jasper to turn out to have been born on Earth, she would show her the spot in the wall where she was born. She’d climb up towards the top of the wall, point at it, and crawl in to get a laugh out of Amethyst. That coffin-shaped hole, no longer a marker of unnatural creation, but the most natural thing in the world. The thing that would mark them as sisters, carved out of their shared mother, the earth.

Imagine Amethyst, who felt like she was fundamentally separate from all other beings, finding out that she has this massive extended family scattered across the stars, and each of them would be so eager to meet her. Imagine Amethyst, who felt like she never had a heritage, learning the language and mannerisms of the Kindergarteners. The little tells that allow them to instantly recognize each other. And no matter where you were in the universe, as soon as you see that one other person give you a certain look or signal showing that they were there too, they knew, they understood, you were home.

And imagine how utterly soul-crushing it would be for Amethyst to realize that these same sisters were the ones her mother-figure and adoptive family mowed down in droves as cannon fodder. Imagine how heartbroken she’d be if she found out that Jasper was playing her like a fiddle. Or even that her association with Jasper would force her to make a choice: stay with her adoptive family and force her to cut ties with this newly discovered part of herself, or abandon the people she cares about for a chance to meet these sisters throughout the stars and find a place she can call home.

Or imagine, if you will, Amethyst asking Jasper questions which initially disturb her, but dig at the back of her mind like an unscratchable itch. To fight and die for Homeworld is the most glorious thing, Jasper says. But then Amethyst asks, why do we have to fight? Why do we have to die? What’s so glorious about dying and being replaced by a fresh batch of soldiers born from the earth for a planet you weren’t even born on? For a leader you’ve never even met? There is a newness about Amethyst that Jasper initially sees as a problem to be fixed by showing her the ropes; showing her how to think and how to act, the way that she and all the others were taught. But that newness is what gives Amethyst an outside perspective, and leads her to question things that Jasper long held as Just The Way Things Are. And sooner or later, Jasper will begin to figure out the answers to these questions. She may be reckless and angry, but she’s not stupid. The answers will disturb her, calling into question her entire identity, but also opening her eyes to new ways of being. That there is a possibility for a life beyond the battlefield, a life where she is no longer a pawn in some general’s game, but is free to be whoever she wants. That there is glory to be found not in death, but in living the fullest life you can.



And when they are asked what they fight for, this time Amethyst will reply that she and Jasper fight for freedom. The freedom to live, to live without fear, and to choose their own destinies, both for themselves and for every last member of their kin throughout the universe.

