Ok, I’m comin’ at you with a crazy theory about Rose, The Cluster, and how Diamonds are made.

The Cluster isn’t a geo weapon, it’s how Diamonds are made, and Rose was in on it.

Real diamonds are formed in the Earth’s mantle with intense pressure and heat from the Earth’s core.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Diamonds are such a special class of gem that they can only be formed from combining hundreds of shards with intense pressure, compressing them to be one, ultimate being. We’ve already seen from Peridot’s box presentation that the cluster is being housed practically in the core itself where pressure and heat would be able to create such a being.

But, as we know, Homeworld doesn’t approve of fusion, and I would assume this method of creating ‘leaders’ – by killing and force-fusing thousands - has been kept an intense secret, hence why Garnet thought the fusion monsters were ‘what Homeworld thinks of fusion’.

The Cluster is formed from the shards of fallen gems, the thousands that were crushed during the war, hence it must have been placed there after the war. But it’s always bothered me; how did they get put there? Surely the first thing the Crystal Gems did when they beat Homeworld was to break the teleporters, so how did HW gems get in to plant the shards?

My theory is that it was Rose.

I know there are a lot of theories going around that Rose is in fact Pink Diamond herself, but, in Too Far, Amethyst is specified by Peridot as a ‘type of Quartz’. Their gems are fairly similar, and this would support the idea that Rose was in fact a Quartz and not a Diamond, since I imagine a real diamond would have a distinct ‘diamond’ shape instead.

It’s been said that Quartz’s were loyal warriors, and Rose’s abilities with the sword and shield would support that. But loyal? She abandoned her home planet to protect another, facilitating the deaths of thousands of her species! BUT, what if she WAS loyal to Homeworld - so very loyal that she 'abandoned’ her world to lead a revolt that caused the death of thousands of gems to create enough material for the Cluster, probably at the behest of and/or to replace Pink Diamond, whom we know from the lack of the pink section of the HW logo has gone.

I don’t believe that the CGs know of this plan. In this theory, forced fusion, being such a horrific concept, would be something only Pink Diamond’s most loyal general, Rose would have known about. As such, she led the Crystal Gems in the continuing ‘defence’ of Earth from Homeworld, manipulating them into keeping the Cluster safe from inquisitive HW gems and corrupted gems, without their knowledge. This would certainly play into the whole ‘suspiciously evil Rose’ imagery.

But then, what about Rose and Greg? She loved him so much that she gave up her physical form for him, right?

Rose is very condescending in her treatment of Greg initially, and despite seemingly having the power to heal them (assumption from Steven’s ability to do so), she locks herself and the other gems behind a fence, where they can’t interact as often.

However, it seems that Rose does genuinely care for and respect Greg once she gets to know him. Perhaps this was fuelled by her guilt for planting the destruction of his planet. Or, even worse; giving up her form to create Steven was a convenient way to remove herself from the equation before the CGs learnt of her betrayal.

It is possible that she isn’t even dead; pictures clearly show that she had a baby bump where Steven was forming, and it’s possible that she was able to form a new gem as well as a physical form for Steven. We have not seen any footage of her disappearing to form Steven, and it’s possible that she didn’t at all, just birthed Steven and ran, leaving the CGs to think she had given up her form.

Now let’s get even more out there.

As we know, what Ronaldo says tends to be prophetic. Now, when he talks about ‘Sneeple’, it seems far-fetched and completely irrelevant to the story. BUT, then when Steven is performing the box presentation for Peridot, his depiction of the Cluster emerging looks suspiciously like a snake.

What if the Cluster, in its pre-pressure-Diamond form resembles a gem-mutant snake, perhaps made out of arms clasped together? This would also account for Ronaldo believing Steven to be a Snerson, as if Rose planted the Cluster then Steven, being her son, could be seen as involved, and ‘aiding’ the Sneeple.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got, feel free to add to it or denounce it as you see fit!

Gosh this took a long time to write =_=