So I have had this idea floating in my head for about a year now, not sure if other people have talked about it.

The Gem race is a result of Artificial Intelligence.

No matter how I look at it, there is no conceivable way for the Gems to be created by any natural force. Even if there was a way for gemstones to be infused with power and come alive, I doubt they would have take the humanoid forms we’ve seen. They most likely would create forms far more abstract like something out of Star Trek.

The creator and writers have already established that Gems are not born, but made.

So if you go back far enough than someone would have to be the ones to make the very first Gems, which were most likely the Diamonds.

My theory so far is that an organic species similar to humans created their own equivalent of A.I. The events following that are similar to any movie involving A.I. (Terminator, Matrix, I Robot, 2001, etc.) The new lifeforms become sentient and rebel against their creators.

One of the things they reference the most when talking about Gems is their “Purpose”. Peridots seem to be the technicians and scientists. Pearls are servants. Peridot tells Steven how Pearls “…aren’t for this. They’re for standing around and looking nice and holding your stuff for you.”

Most recently in the “What’s the Use of Feeling (Blue)?” Yellow Diamond sings:

“And army has a use, it can go an fight a war. A Sapphire has a use, it can tell you what it’s for. An Agate terrifies, a Lapis terraforms.”

Each individual Gem is made with it’s own purpose and Gem race as a whole has one specific purpose. But despite having freed themselves from their creators, they are still following the purpose they were made for: to conquer and colonize. Because of this they have never actually achieved the final stage of sentience: Choice. None of the Gems, even the Diamonds had ever really chosen anything. They just continued acting along with their programming.



The first Gem that made a real choice is Rose Quartz. And I think this has something to do with her affinity for organic life. Now Diamonds and Gems in general must have been surprised when at the presence of organic life when they arrives on Earth. When talking to Peridot, Yellow Diamond mentions ‘organic life’ with a certain amount of disdain, possibly remembering her creators.

Not knowing how best to terraform organic worlds, Pink Diamond created the Rose Quartz line that could interact with the local flora and fauna. We can see this in Rose’s ability to create and control plants and being best friends with lions. Pink Diamond had a peculiar curiosity for this new organic life, but only enough to keep it in a zoo as an exotic commodity. Rose is the one who finds the true value in organic life and it’s ability to change and grow and even choose how it will happen. This is where she discovers the concept of Choice and realizes that Gems are capable of it as well. From this revelation come the spark the Gem Civil War.

That’s all for now. I’m sick and tired and wanted to barf all this out of my head.