Been thinking for a while about how Rose Quartz’s Rebellion finally concluded, and after this week’s Steven Bomb, I figured I’d share what I’ve worked out so far. As far as I saw, nothing in the five episodes this week contradicted this, and there were a couple of things that made the theory even more solidified for me.

The first information we get on how the Rebellion ended is in “Rose’s Scabbard” in the strawberry fields, when Pearl states that a great battle was fought and won on that spot 5000 years ago. After a short conversation involving Lion, they continue with this:

Garnet: No, you don’t. Countless Gems were broken here. It was a maelstrom of destruction and death.

(Pearl jumps in front of Garnet.)

Pearl: But we won! Your mother led us to glorious victory! The odds were against us, and our hearts were uncertain. *lays scabbard on her chest dramatically* But we chose to fight alongside Rose, and here we made our stand against our Homeworld!

This is crucial, because it sets up everyone’s assumption that Rose Quartz’s rebellion was successful and the rebels won the battle.





But what if they didn’t actually win? What if both sides lost?





We’ve seen over and over how Pearl will put her own spin on past events in order to give them meaning. For example when she convinces herself that she was Rose’s only true confidante. Pearl has already acknowledged that she feels all those gem lives lost in battle were worth it for the sake of victory. It just comes down to what is or isn’t victory. There is already the insinuation in Serious Steven that the battle of strawberries was a bloodbath, with losses on both sides. As yet, we don’t know how complete those losses were. I propose that those losses were near-total.

This seems confirmed to me by the sheer surprise that Peridot shows when confronted by the Crystal Gems for the first time. In fact, look at their dialogue at that moment (”Marble Madness”):

Peridot: There are still gems on this planet?!



Pearl: that’s right! We’re the Crystal Gems. We’re STILL ALIVE and we’re still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!

Peridot: But the records show gems were wiped out on this planet!





Why would Peridot be surprised by surviving rebel gems on Earth if 1. gems are ageless and 2. there was any indication that rebel gems survived. I think the answer is that the Diamond Authority had no idea any rebels were still alive on Earth. Doesn’t sound like much of a victory to me.

Here’s the line that solidified it for me, from “The Return”. Greg says the following to Steven in the van:

Greg: In the end, your mother could only save a handful of her closest friends. If it weren’t for her shield, man, I don’t know.”

Greg insinuates a bit here that Rose was saving the gems she cared about most, but what if he meant the gems that were literally standing right next to her? Also, if Rose was only able to save a few of her closest friends, presumably by using her shield, how in the world did the Rebellion win? By pushing away the Diamond Authority off of Earth, but doing so in a way that led to the loss of almost ALL rebel gems, as well as a ton of homeworld gems as well. Crucially, this was done in a way in which Rose was able to save gems involved, but limited by the size of her shield on how many she could save. Absolutely all of these factors could be fulfilled in the normal course of battle, but if I think about it, the simplest way to meet all of that is a bomb. A giant bomb.

I would guess that Rose’s rebels were either winning the battle, or just evenly matched enough to make the Diamond Authority walk away from the planet. But of course the Diamond Authority doesn’t just walk away from something like a gem rebellion. I think they bombarded the battlefield with some kind of explosives, which destroyed both homeworld and rebel gem alike. Confronted with such an onslaught, all Rose could do would be to save the gems standing at her side.

This was my running theory going into this week’s Steven Bomb. And guess what was showed during the week? A map of Earth. Including what can only be described as a giant “hole” in Russia.

The Crewniverse (at least in the few posts I’ve read) have tried to pass this off as part of the general shifting of tectonics/alternate timeline that is SU. I’m fine with that when it comes to Latin America not being the right shape, or Florida being missing, but it seriously looks like someone dropped a giant bomb right in the middle of the Russian landmass. That’s not drifting.

We know that after the rebellion, the Diamond Authority came back to Earth and assembled the Cluster from rebellion gem shards (“This is what happened to all of the ones we couldn’t find. This is punishment for the rebellion!”), but I would argue that this could’ve happened without any cognizance that their bomb didn’t work. Indeed, in the few times we see them get close to interacting, Garnet always makes sure that the whole team is hidden from view.

That’s my theory. I acknowledge that it is fairly “headcanon” at times, and I apologize for the lack of screenshots. Maybe someone can repost it with screenshots included later. I just felt like I had to say something after seeing that map.