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Trying to understand character motivation with limited information is something I love thinking about. Lapis is one of the more recent ones.
What we know:
Pearl did not know the gem in the mirror was able to communicate instead of following orders.
Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl did not know how powerful Lapis Lazuli actually was. During the fight with her, Lapis was able to overpower them all the the same time even though her gem was cracked.
Pearl stated the mirror was found at the galaxy warp, the warp that connected Earth to the homeworld.
Lapis Lazuli already knew who the crystal gems were already.
Lapis Lazuli seemed to already know about the earth. “She never believed in it.” This makes me think she was placed inside the mirror while she was on earth for at least a little while.
Rose Quartz’s power (the shield) completely neutralized Lapis’ power.
Rose kept secrets from the gems.
Greg’s speech about wars in general(link). Rose had to turn on her own kind.
I don’t think the current crystal gems could have put Lapis in the mirror. And based on their limited knowledge on Lapis, I don’t think they did it. However if ROSE did it to stop Lapis from reporting to homeworld to protect earth and kept it secret, it sort of would explain Lapis’ hatred of the crystal gems and earth.
I know Rose also wanted to heal broken/corrupted gems, so I don’t think destroying Lapis would be the answer for her. She does care deeply for everyone. Then again its still a super cold move to do.
At the same time, I can completely understand motivation of both sides if that WAS the case. Turning traitor to homeworld, or protecting earth.
That’s why Greg’s scene about wars really hit me. It very possible the gems did things they would be terrified Steven would hate them for. War is an ugly thing and like Greg said before, there are no good wars. Both gems and people were lost because of it.
I love Lapis–but she isn’t an angel despite gaining wings. I dunno why people are hellbent in seeing Lapis and Jasper in absolute black and white, and its a bit frustrating lol.
Like–Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
When she found out Steven was a crystal gem, that’s when she turned on him. Yes, we don’t know the full story but we have to wait on that. But here’s the thing, Lapis was Steven’s Beach Summer Fun Buddy until she counted she with “THE ENEMY”. People keep saying “she didn’t know” or “she didn’t mean to” and that’s being willfully ignorant. SHE sent out the Water Clones to attack. STEVEN’S WATER CLONE SPOKE IN HER VOICE. She was AWARE of what they were doing and she was OKAY with it if not outright CONTROLLING them.
“Look kids, Lapis can punch a child too!”
And the only reason why Steven and Connie weren’t killed was because Greg ran over the clone with his van, but then the clone threw his van and tried to kill HIM too.
Of course Steven still wanted to help because he’s Steven. She thanked Steven, but never apologized and just left, letting the ocean fall with Steven still on top. Steven had to be saved from that too.
“Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
“
She sent a warning to Steven alone, but still led Peridot to the crystal gems’ base.
Since she does care about Steven, she hid information from Jasper and Peridot. “It wasn’t relevant to the mission.” She became a prisoner after it was obvious she withheld information from the homeworld gems.
She STILL led them to earth, to the crystal gems, with the mission to restart the kindergarden. SHE HATES EARTH. She didn’t seem so bothered with what would have happened to everything Steven loved, just him in particular on short term.
I still love her character but ffs, she has problems. I really want to see Lapis and Jasper to both come back and hopefully get a shot at redemption.
redemption nothing! She got redemption by sacrificing herself to stop Jasper. What she needs when she comes back, is recompense. An apology, some comfort, something to say “We’re sorry we kept you imprisoned for several millenia. We hope you could forgive us one day. Until then have some icecream”
We don’t even know why she was in a mirror to begin with. Pearl stated they found the mirror at the now broken galaxy warp (which brings up way more questions–I got my own theory on that.) They had no clue who she even was, or that she was even capable of communication, or even how OP she was. Idk, it’d send huge red flags to me if a homeworld sided gem suddenly started speaking to Steven. And that was sorta justified with how she reacted to the “crystal gems”.
Like it or not, there was a gem war. And like I said before, the idea everything is black or white is frustrating especially where I feel the narrative it going. I especially resonated when Greg himself said “There are no good wars, kiddo.” Bad things happened on both sides, we don’t know the whole story yet. We don’t even know how and why she was in the mirror just left at the galaxy warp period.
One thing I don’t quite understand myself is when Lapis blamed them for knowing she was in there. She never tried communicating with them, only Steven. Pearl seemed confused that the mirror was broken as well too. That and we have seen gems act for “inanimate” objects before, like the temple/ship one, so that just raises more questions.
That and her reasoning wasn’t to sacrifice herself to protect anyone, it was to make someone else suffer the same way she did.
“I’m tired of being everyone’s prisoner… Now you’re MY prisoner, and I’m never letting you go!
“
Its actually pretty sad when you realize she’s continuing a cycle here.
That’s why I’m hoping we get more backstory on that whole thing eventually, there’s a HUGE chunk of the puzzle missing. I’m not sure why people assume me saying Lapis did questionable things means I think she’s a irredeemable baddie, because that’s not it. I want to understand the motivation why she chose this path, and I want to see her recover.
I love Lapis–but she isn’t an angel despite gaining wings. I dunno why people are hellbent in seeing Lapis and Jasper in absolute black and white, and its a bit frustrating lol.
Like–Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
When she found out Steven was a crystal gem, that’s when she turned on him. Yes, we don’t know the full story but we have to wait on that. But here’s the thing, Lapis was Steven’s Beach Summer Fun Buddy until she counted she with “THE ENEMY”. People keep saying “she didn’t know” or “she didn’t mean to” and that’s being willfully ignorant. SHE sent out the Water Clones to attack. STEVEN’S WATER CLONE SPOKE IN HER VOICE. She was AWARE of what they were doing and she was OKAY with it if not outright CONTROLLING them.
“Look kids, Lapis can punch a child too!”
And the only reason why Steven and Connie weren’t killed was because Greg ran over the clone with his van, but then the clone threw his van and tried to kill HIM too.
Of course Steven still wanted to help because he’s Steven. She thanked Steven, but never apologized and just left, letting the ocean fall with Steven still on top. Steven had to be saved from that too.
“Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
“
She sent a warning to Steven alone, but still led Peridot to the crystal gems’ base.
Since she does care about Steven, she hid information from Jasper and Peridot. “It wasn’t relevant to the mission.” She became a prisoner after it was obvious she withheld information from the homeworld gems.
She STILL led them to earth, to the crystal gems, with the mission to restart the kindergarden. SHE HATES EARTH. She didn’t seem so bothered with what would have happened to everything Steven loved, just him in particular on short term.
I still love her character but ffs, she has problems. I really want to see Lapis and Jasper to both come back and hopefully get a shot at redemption.
