Nephrite

Nephrite is a character and former recurring antagonist in Steven Universe. She was the host of the centipeetle group that raided Steven's bedroom in "Gem Glow." She also appears in "Monster Buddies", where Steven tames the Centipeetle Mother in her smaller form (which she acquired after Steven popped her bubble) and sacrifices herself to save Steven. Steven promised her she would heal her up someday. In Monster Reunion, she was almost healed thanks to Steven's spit and gained enough consciousness of her past. She remained with her crew on their colony ship until Steven convinced the Diamonds to go to Earth and fix the corruption. As for Steven Universe Future, Nephrite currently resides on Little Homeworld where she and her crew stayed with Steven.
Nephrite is voiced by Aparna Nancherla, who also voiced the Jades in the same series.
==Appearance==
===Corrupted===
While corrupted, Nephrite takes the form of a giant centipede-like creature. She is composed of roughly thirteen (visible) dark-green segments (excluding the head and the rear) that each bear one pair of similarly colored legs. The final segment bears no legs, but what appears to be a pair of mandibles. Each of these segments is covered on the top side with a hard crystal covering. Her head is composed primarily of a gigantic pair of jaws/mandibles with a gem in the back of the "mouth". This gem is circular in shape and colored light green with dark-green contour lines surrounding the circumference of the gem, connecting to a circular shape. Her gem seems to act as her iris, being in the middle of what would rationally be a sclera. She also features a green crystal protuberance on the base of the head that forms a broken horn-like structure. She has a flowing, light-cream colored mane immediately behind her head.
===Small===
After being released from the bubble in "Monster Buddies" and regenerating, she appears in an all-around reduced form. Her body is reduced to only two segments, and her mane, head, and secondary mandibles have been reduced in size as well probably indicating that she has to grow over time. This can be seen as the Centipeetle Mother grows throughout the episode. Her gem now comprises the entirety of her whole eyeball instead of just the iris, and the gem on her head is now gone.
===Semi-Corrupted===
In "Monster Reunion", Steven recovers his healing powers back and proves it with the Centipeetle. While her mind is still damaged by the Diamonds, her form takes on a more humanoid appearance thanks to Steven's healing. In this form, her head is slightly different than her fully corrupted form, her eye is no longer inside of her mouth. She also has what appears to be a sort of pincer on her rear. She wore torn-up light gray clothing, and what appears to be a bodysuit similar to Pearl's in "Space Race".
===Uncorrupted===
In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", with the combined efforts of Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Steven, Nephrite was uncorrupted temporarily. The bodysuit she wears is almost identical to the one she wears in her semi-corrupted form, now with a Pink Diamond insignia on the center of her chest. Much like her semi-corrupted form, her face is green, and she has plump lips similar to Amethyst's. Additionally, her white hair is significantly reduced, now a flipped out bob cut – tufting both inwards and outwards. Her black-and-green bodysuit now has a light green coat tail, two white tufts of fur on her shoulders and she now wears a black skull cap over her hair. Her boots and gloves are dark brown.
==History==
===Backstory===
Nephrite and her crew were ordered to go to Earth, traveling in an ancient gem ship, to colonize the planet. When the Rebellion began, Nephrite and her crew fought in the war, but Nephrite ended up separated from her teammates and found herself lost. Nephrite's commander, Hessonite ordered all the Gems to retreat to the ships and leave the planet, but Nephrite was left behind while looking for her crew, unable to escape. When the Diamonds launched the Corrupting Light, Nephrite and nearly all the Gems that remained on Earth were corrupted.
===Season 1===
In "Gem Glow", the Centipeetle Mother attacks the Crystal Temple along with a group of small centipedes that herself created. Once the infestation seems to be tamed, the Centipeetle returns. To prove himself useful, and protect the Crystal Gems, Steven throws his Cookie Cat fridge to the Centipeetle, electrocutioning as the Crystal Gems delivered the final blow. Afterwards, Garnet bubbles the Centipeetle's gem to the temple.
The Centipeetle Mother returns in "Monster Reunion". Steven accidentally burst the Centipeetle's bubble releasing her, and the latter takes a smaller and less threatening form than the previous one. When the other Gems rush in to protect Steven from the apparent threat, Steven defends the Centipeetle, and the Gems let Steven try to tame it. When Steven eats Chaaaaps, this attracts the Centipeetle who starts to show appreciation for him. When a seagull tries to take away the chips, the Centipeetle saves Steven scaring off the animal.
Later, Garnet explains that the Centipeetle could be useful for a mission to retrieve the Shooting Star. Traveling through ice caves, the Centipeetle easily uses her corrosive liquid to erode the cave walls and recover the Shooting Star. However, the sight of Garnet's gauntlets scared the Centipeetle who immediately started spitting acid everywhere. While trying to control her, the Crystal Gems are defeated by the Centipeetle but Steven comes in time to remain her of the good memories they had together, making the Centipeetle relax in Steven's arms. When the cave was about to collapse, the Centipeetle pushed Steven away to protect him from a stalactite that fell from the ceiling, sacrificing herself. At the end, Steven bubbles the Centipeetle and promises her that he will find a way to heal her up soon. The Centipeetle's gem is seen again inside the temple with a bubbled bag of Chaaaaps aside.
In "Ocean Gem", the Centipeetle reappears in a flashback. Pearl also reveals that all the corrupted gems they have been fighting once used to be normal like them.
===Season 3===
The Centipeetle reappears again in "Monster Reunion". Steven's healing powers are back and he manages to convince the Gems to let him try to heal the Centipeetle with his powers. He partially succeeds in his feat, as the Centipeetle takes on a semi-corrupted form, gaining humanoid arms and legs but leaving her unable to speak properly. Despite this, Steven convinces the Gems to allow the Centipeetle to stay with them. Later, the Centipeetle and Steven begin to communicate through drawings. The Centipeetle tells Steven her story of how she and her crew traveled to Earth before the corruption happened. At some point, Hessonite ordered Nephrite and the rest of the gems to retreat but she stayed to search for her crew. At the end of the story, Nephrite witnesses the Corrupting Light, which causes the Centipeetle to start crying uncontrollably as her body begins to return to her corrupted form. Steven tries to cure her again but to no avail.
The Centipeetle tries to use the temple's warp pad but she's not able to, but then succeeds with Steven's help who holds her by the hand to return to her ship. Steven takes her to the location, and along the way the Centipeetle completely returns to her corrupted form. Inside the ship there are other Centipeetle that are identical to her. The Crystal Gems arrive revealing that through the writing of the Centipeetle (in their own language) she wanted to find the members of her crew who have been waiting for her return. The Centipeetle lived inside the ship with her crew.
===Season 5===
In "Legs From Here to Homeworld," Steven takes Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond to meet the Centipeetle and her crew to make them realize the damage done to the innocent Gems like her, caused by the Corrupting Light. Once convinced, the Diamonds and Steven combine their healing powers to uncorrupt her. The Centipeetle identifies herself as Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12. She excuses herself for not heeding the orders of her Hessonite during the evacuation, but shows happiness in seeing that they managed, once and for all, to defeat the leader of the rebellion on Earth, Rose Quartz. Then the Diamonds let her go and she immediately returns to her corrupted form. Steven begs the Diamonds to heal her permanently, and Yellow says that it would take convincing White Diamond to do this, something very unlikely deduced by her expression. Blue Diamond imagines how White Diamond would react if she saw the Gems in such deplorable state as Nephrite.
In "Change Your Mind", White Diamonds decides to go to Earth. Steven shows her and the other diamonds the state Nephrite and her crew are in. After that, they and the other corrupted Gems gather at Rose's Fountain with the Diamonds at the source, and are permanently cured of their corruption. Nephrite is last seen talking with Steven along with other uncorrupted gems.
===Steven Universe: The Movie===
Although Nephrite doesn't appear physically in the movie, she is seen in a flashback in her corrupted form along with other antagonists. There are also Nephrites living in Little Homeworld, presumably the same that were part of Nephrite's crew.
===Steven Universe: Future===
Nephrite reappears in the epilogue series Steven Universe: Future. Nephrite along with some members of her crew appear during the opening song along with the rest of the gems. Despite not appearing in the actual series, some of her crew members appeared in most of the episodes. Nephrite's drawing of her and Steven from "Monster Reunion" is also shown still in the fridge in some episodes even the finale.
==Abilities==
Nephrite possesses standard Gem abilities and traits.
===Skillset===
*Piloting: It was revealed in "Monster Reunion" that she was a space captain. She shares the ability to pilot Homeworld ships with Peridot, Pearl and Doc.
===Corrupted Form Abilities===
As the centipeetle, Nephrite is capable of eating with her mouth despite its eye being located in its jaw and blocking its throat, thus making her so that there is no visible means of having the ingested food reach any sort of stomach.
*Hybrid Arthropod Physiology: Due to having the appearance of two arthropods, specifically a centipede and a beetle, the Centipeetle Mother has the innate abilities of both organisms.
*Chilopodan Physiology: Like a centipede, the Mother uses her jaws to attack enemies or prey. Both employ deadly substances in her attacks. The centipede uses venom while the Mother uses a corrosive liquid.
*Coleopteran Physiology: Like a beetle, the Mother's defenses are increased due to the hard gem-like covering on each segment possesses.
*Climbing Skills: She is able to climb vertical walls and sheer cliff faces.
*Creature Creation: The Centipeetle Mother has the ability to produce and command Centipeetles that aid her in battle.
*Corrosive Liquid Generation: She can produce an extremely corrosive substance that can easily erode various materials, ranging from wood to stone to ice. She can use this corrosive substance as a projectile to attack from afar or assault enemies with a constant torrent of the substance to easily break down their defenses.
*Rotative Spitting: In "Monster Buddies", the small Centipeetle Mother is seen to be able to rotate her head many times. She utilized this in that she spun her head rapidly and sprayed her corrosive substance, showering the immediate area in a manner extremely similar to that of a sprinkler.
==Relationships==
===Steven Universe===
Initially, Nephrite is presented as an antagonist to Steven, with she and her underlings attacking the Crystal Temple and the Crystal Gems. When she saw the Crystal Gems, she was more terrified because she was being "attacked" by them. Nephrite was a Corrupted Gem, and as such, she had animalistic behavior, and so the Crystal Gems were not close to terms with her. Such behavior causes Steven to electrocute and poof her to protect the Crystal Gems.
However, when Steven accidentally releases her from her bubble and decides to train her, she is enticed by the aroma of Chaaaaps which allows her to trust and form a bond with Steven.
Nephrite is seen to be protective and motherly towards Steven, as when Steven is harmed by any threat Nephrite sees, such as the Seagull who bit him in "Monster Buddies", she spits acid at them to save her friend. She is even willing to risk her life for Steven, such as when she sacrificed herself to save him from a falling rock.
After being healed by Steven and entering her semi-corrupted form, Nephrite, at first, does not appear to remember him. However, after Steven opens a bag of Chaaaaps, her memories begin to return, and she starts remembering him, and her memories of before she was corrupted. Steven helps her reunite with her crew, showing the bond between them. Nephrite appears to be very friendly towards Steven, retaining this feeling even after reverting to her fully corrupted form.
Upon being fully healed in "Change Your Mind" Steven happily greets Nephrite who appears to recognize and remember him upon seeing him again. Later on, she and Steven were conversing with the now-Uncorrupted Watermelon Tourmaline, Snow Monster, and Biggs Jasper when Jasper finally emerged from the healing waters. Some time later, Nephrite and Steven are still talking with one-another as most all of the Corrupted Gems are now cured.
===Crystal Gems===
Nephrite's relationship with the Gems was antagonistic at first. They did not have a clear interaction because of Nephrite's hostility. At some point, she gained fear of Garnet's gauntlets even when she summoned them for other purposes. After being healed by Steven, Nephrite made drawings regarding the events of the war in Gem language that only the Crystal Gems decoded, one of them being the whereabouts of her crew.
Nephrite's current relationship with the Gems is unknown, but she is likely on good terms with them, just as she is with Steven.
===Nephrite's Crew===
Nephrite's former crew also turned into Centipeetles. They were with Nephrite when they came to Earth. As her subordinates, they presumably respected her authority and followed her orders. Nephrite and her crew appear happy to be reunited in "Monster Reunion", all currently living at the Ancient Gem Colony Ship.
As of "Change Your Mind", Nephrite and her Crew were greeted by Steven who showed them to White Diamond as Steven and Blue Diamond came up with a plan to uncorrupt the Nephrites along with all of the other Corrupted Gems. They were then led to Rose's Fountain as the Diamonds planned to bathe in the waters and use their energies to uncorrupt the Corrupted Gems en masse, seeing as the first Corrupted Gems began to return to their original selves, Nephrite's crewmembers scurried into the pool and bathed in the Diamond-infused waters returning to their normal selves again as Amethyst tossed in the bag of Chaaps that their captain was chewing on into the pool near them as Nephrite dived right in and became uncorrupted and warmly greeted by Steven. They then soon saw as Watermelon Tourmaline emerged from the pool near them, soon followed by Biggs Jasper, whom was happily tackled back into the pool by an exuberant Bismuth, glad that her best friend was returned to normal again.
===The Great Diamond Authority===
Before her corruption, Nephrite served the Diamonds, and Pink Diamond in particular. In "Monster Reunion", the half-corrupted Nephrite demonstrated knowledge that she was corrupted by the Diamonds' attack, and became traumatized when recalling the event. In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", Nephrite appears to recognize Blue and Yellow Diamond even while corrupted, as her jaw drops shortly after noticing them. Upon being uncorrupted, Nephrite expresses typical Homeworld Gem loyalty to them and joyfully assumes that they destroyed Rose Quartz.
==Trivia==
*Nephrite was the fisrt corrupted gem introduced in the series.
**She was also the first to be bubbled and reformed by Steven.
*Nephrite's voice actress Aparna Nancherla also voices the Jades and their fusion in "Together Alone"
**As nephrite is a type of jade in real life, the Jades and Nephrite sharing a voice actress may imply that Nephrite-type Gems are types of Jade in the series.
*It was revealed in the episode Ocean Gem that Nephrite was originally a gem. Later in "Monster Reunion", the Centipeetle explained that she along with her crew and the remaining Crystal Gems and Homeworld Gems became corrupted by the corruption light from the diamonds.
**When Nephrite was reforming herself after she escaped from the bubble in "Monster Buddies", she took a humanoid form before taking her small form.
**Furthermore in Monster Reunion, she mentioned the diamonds were responsible of the corruption. She also remembered the corruption as a giant light accompanied with a song.
*While corrupted, Nephrite can still eat with her mouth, even though her eye is also in her mouth.
*The gem in her mouth somewhat resembles an Emerald colored Poké-Ball from the Pokemon series.
*Steven befriended Nephrite, to the extent that she gained conscience enough to sacrifice herself to save Steven.
*She has a phobia of Garnet's gauntlets because Garnet threatened her with them in the temple.
*In her Semi-Corrupted form, she somewhat resembles Zorak from Space Ghost.
*Before her revelation as a Nephrite, many fans speculated that the Centipeetle Mother used to be a Gem called Malachite, but Ian Jones-Quartey confirmed that the corrupted Gem that she used to be is not Malachite.
*Nephrite's identification, facet-413 cabochon-12, is likely a reference to the webcomic Homestuck, where the numbers 413 and 612 are symbolically important; one of the storyboard artists for the episode where these numbers are given, Danny Cragg, is a close friend of Homestuck's author, and his spouse Shelby was responsible for the in-character drawings of one of Homestuck's key characters, Calliope.
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