Ruby

Click here to see more of Ruby's quotes.

**Ruby** is a member of the Crystal Gems who was originally a Homeworld Gem soldier 5,750 years ago. After accidentally fusing with Sapphire, the two fled in order to prevent Ruby from being shattered at the hands of Blue Diamond. Ruby later joins the Crystal Gems. She is currently fused with Sapphire as Garnet.

## Appearance

Ruby has pastel scarlet skin, burgundy irises and dark burgundy hair. She is slightly taller than Steven and has a thick build. She wears a maroon tank top and a matching colored headband around her thick and fluffy, outgrown hair cropped at the neck. Her ensemble includes mid-thigh burgundy shorts, and short, pointed maroon boots similar to Amethyst. Her gemstone is located in the palm of her left hand and has a square facet.

## Personality

According to Rebecca Sugar, the creator of *Steven Universe*, Ruby "has no sense of what's going on around her" and "can only focus on one thing only at the expense of all things".

Ruby is the bold and powerful side of Garnet. She's energetic, and ready to face just about anything that gets in her way. Or try to, that is. Ruby maintains the courage and strength Garnet exhibits, Sapphire maintaining Garnet's calm and cool nature, and with Ruby's courage, can maintain being calm in even the toughest of situations. Ruby is extremely emotional and dramatic, being capable of showing intense love for Sapphire, and also extreme hatred, rather it be pure frustration, or towards a particular person, like Blue Diamond.

Ruby is able to summon her weapons and powers when they are tied to her emotions, much like any other gem. Ruby has been shown to heat up and ignite things with her pyrokinesis when she is enraged.

Despite her worst emotions, Ruby is willing to admit when she is in the wrong, and will take charge, facing the consequences of her actions. When not angry, Ruby is a suave romantic, soft with words, and quite flirtatious towards Sapphire. When she channels her emotion on love rather than on rage, she can be affectionate and extremely caring, feeling the need to protect, and even cool down for those whom she truly loves. These moments of calm also bring out the playful tease inside her, which is for the most part trapped under her wild emotions. Ruby also places much value in trust and fusion, being absolutely outraged with Pearl when she learns she was tricked into fusing into Sardonyx. She appears to be a bad conversationalist, occasionally speaking in somewhat unintelligible mumbles, a trait which she carries onto Garnet.

Ruby has a very low sense of self-preservation and individuality, let alone self worth, willing to take the blame for fusing with Sapphire and is content with her own inevitable destruction, arguing that there are "tons of her" in reference to the various identical Rubies found on Homeworld.

Later on, Ruby is more capable of controlling her emotions, being more calm and mellow, but being very shy and nervous in tough situations. She panics and is bad lying under pressure, but aside from that, her passionate side is in full swing, barely being able to stop flirting with Sapphire when they're split apart.

## History

Click here to view the history of Ruby.[ruby photo will be made soon]

## Abilities

Like all other Gems, Ruby can change shape, invoke a weapon, take refuge in her gemstone to heal, and adapt to any extraterrestrial environment's gravity. Ruby seems to possess greater strength than most Gems, as she was able to shake the walls of her prison with a single punch, lift Sapphire with little effort in "Jail Break", and flip a diner booth table with relative ease in "Keystone Motel". Like all Gems, Ruby can fuse with other Gems.

### Fusion

* Ruby can fuse with Sapphire to become Garnet.
* Ruby can fuse with Amethyst and Sapphire and become Sugilite.
* Ruby can fuse with Sapphire and Pearl and become Sardonyx.
* Ruby can fuse with Pearl, Sapphire, and Amethyst and become Alexandrite.
* When fused with other Rubies, they form a larger Ruby.

### Skillset

* **Gauntlet Proficiency**: Through sheer anger and feeling the need to release it through violence, Ruby can summon a gauntlet like Garnet's. Although only seen once, it is clear that Ruby possesses some knowledge of how to use it.

### Unique Abilities

* **Thermokinesis**: Ruby can increase the temperature and generate heat. This is shown in "Keystone Motel" when her body gets so hot that it begins burning the carpet of the motel room, and when she boils the pool to nothing but steam in a very short amount of time. It is shown to be related to Ruby's emotional state, as the ability manifested itself when she got furious in the aforementioned episode and when she felt infatuated in "The Answer," as she set the grass beneath her ablaze when Sapphire thanked her. In "Hit the Diamond," another Ruby was so enraged at her team's potential loss that she set a baseball ablaze.
	+ **Pyrokinetic Touch**: This ability allows Ruby to set fire to whatever she touches depending on how angry she is. This is shown in "The Answer," where Ruby accidentally sets fire to the grass beneath her the minute she got flustered, and "Hit the Diamond" where another Ruby angrily throws a ball, setting it on fire.
* **Heat Resistance**: Ruby has not demonstrated this ability, but it was confirmed that the only reason Garnet can swim in lava is by Ruby.
* **Enhanced Density**: As seen in Keystone Motel, Ruby can walk underwater.

## Relationships

### Sapphire

Ruby and Sapphire have a romantic relationship, shown in *Steven Universe*'s "Jail Break", when she immediately panics when realizing that the two have been separated and becomes reckless trying to find her, trying to pass through the energy field (as hinted by the screams of pain heard at the beginning), running around without checking if Peridot and Jasper are around and loudly shouting for Sapphire whenever she stops singing. When she finds Sapphire, the two embrace and Sapphire kisses away Ruby's tears, showing their romantic relationship. Ruby cares strongly for Sapphire's well-being, as she expressed deep concern for possible injury. Garnet's dialogue in "Love Letters" implies that Ruby and Sapphire's relationship developed gradually over a period of time. "Keystone Motel" reveals that their relationship can be strained at times due to Sapphire's precognition, causing her to be preoccupied with the outcome of events, instead of the events as they happen. This puts her at odds with the passionate Ruby, who very much lives "in the moment". In this episode, Ruby was furious over Pearl's deception in "Cry for Help", but Sapphire was not because she had seen that in the future they would all get along again. This greatly irritated Ruby, as she felt that Sapphire was acting cold, uncaring, emotionless and distant. By the end of the episode, she sees how much the ordeal affected Sapphire and, realizing that being furious is helping nobody, apologized for her behavior.

In "Hit the Diamond", the two unfused for a baseball game to protect Peridot. During the game, the two get distracted and start flirting, which causes them to almost lose. Steven tells the two to cut it out, which they begrudgingly do. When Sapphire states that all she wants to look at is Ruby, Ruby encourages Sapphire to focus on the ball, stating that she can look at her when she is running for home. When Sapphire gets a home run, she runs to hug Ruby and they accidentally fuse, despite being counter-intuitive to the plan of keeping Peridot and the Crystal Gems secret.

### Steven Universe

At first, Ruby seems distant towards Steven, only focusing on finding and forming Garnet with Sapphire as soon as possible. In reality, Ruby cares deeply for Steven. and cried along with Sapphire when they rescued Steven from suffocating in space in "Bubbled". Garnet also says that both her and Sapphire had already loved Steven when he asks if he made a good first impression. She is also upset by the fact that their plan of revealing themselves on Steven's birthday had failed, apparent when she says to Steven, "Oh, great! This is just perfect!" and "Don't look at me!" In "Keystone Motel", she obliges in Steven's attempts to calm her down, and upon seeing how Steven was affected by her and Sapphire fighting, Ruby and Sapphire both felt very guilty and made up. In "Hit the Diamond" when Steven tells Ruby to "stop being cute" to focus on the game, Ruby does so, showing she respects Steven enough to listen to him.

### Crystal Gems

Pearl and Amethyst have been aware of Garnet's true identities for several millennia. Their perception of the two while separated remains unknown, but given their good relationship with Garnet, it can be assumed it is a positive one. Ruby holds a great deal of trust and respect for their teammates and becomes furious when Pearl betrays that trust in "Cry for Help".

### Cluster Gems

Upon encountering the Cluster Gems, Ruby and Sapphire are both disturbed to the point of almost unfusing. While Ruby reacted with the most verbal anger and outrage at what Gem Homeworld had done to their fallen friends, it is Garnet's right eye that started crying, indicating that Ruby is especially saddened.

### Pearl

Not much is known about the relationship between Ruby and Pearl, except during "Keystone Motel", where Ruby feels used after Pearl tricked Garnet to fuse with her by rebuilding the Communication Hub twice. Ruby is very angry by this, which contrasted Sapphire's opinion of wanting to forgive Pearl, even leading to them unfusing.

### Greg

Not much is known about her relationship with Greg, but Greg, at least, knew that she and Sapphire were the fusion components of Garnet, and considering most humans are not close enough to her to know this knowledge, this, at least, shows he knows her rather well.

### Lapis Lazuli

Not much is known of Ruby's specific opinion on Lapis Lazuli, however, if it is anything like Garnet's, she is rather indifferent about her and would possibly look at her as not much of an ally, but not much of an enemy either. Upon meeting her in "Jail Break", she says, "Oh, it's just you...", implying that she holds more of a negative attitude towards Lapis Lazuli. However, Ruby's view of Lapis seems to have changed in Hit the Diamond, where they seem to be getting along, shown by Ruby offering Lapis a high five, which she accepts. This is probably because of her experiences of her through Garnet.

### Blue Diamond

In "The Answer", Blue Diamond is outraged at Ruby and Sapphire for fusing. She states that Ruby will be "broken" before Sapphire runs off with Ruby. Her negative opinions on Blue Diamond are further confirmed in "Gem Heist" when Ruby struggles keeping her identity a secret due to Holly Blue Agate's compliments towards the "merciful" Blue Diamond. Ruby later on claims these compliments to be false, calling Blue Diamond a "shatterer", who yelled at Sapphire, and accusing her of hating fusion and love.

## Trivia

* Although she is not formally introduced until "Jail Break", her first appearance is in "Fusion Cuisine".
	+ When Alexandrite is separated, her silhouette, along with Sapphire's, is noticed. The left of "Garnet" is seen as Ruby, and the right of "Garnet" is seen as Sapphire.
* Garnet and the other Crystal Gems had planned to wait for Steven's birthday to introduce Ruby and Sapphire to him.
* When asked if Ruby is blind, Joe Johnston merely stated that she was "used to being fused with Sapphire, and so, used to having two types of vision."
* Ruby possibly has her own room in the Crystal Temple, as the Temple Gate has a red gemstone and a blue gemstone that Garnet opens simultaneously.
* Most of Garnet's sensitive side seems to come from Ruby; whenever Garnet cries, her tears fall from her right eye (the red-colored one) that represents Ruby.
	+ Ruby cried when she and Sapphire met again in "Jail Break" while Sapphire herself appeared to remain calm in "Keeping it Together" after meeting the Cluster Gems.
* Ruby is the birthstone of Rebecca Sugar.
	+ It is also the birthstone of Artdigy
* During times of great conflict of opinion, she and Sapphire can talk to each other individually through Garnet, as shown in "Keeping it Together" and "Keystone Motel".
* In the short "We are the Crystal Gems", Ruby is shown to be cracking or holding her knuckles, a sign of toughness, or that she is ready to fight while Sapphire is holding her hands together, interlocking her fingers.
	+ This shows that she is calm, graceful and passionate. On the other hand, Ruby seems calmer than expected from her, and Sapphire more upbeat than usual, possibly indicating that being Garnet brings balance to their personalities.
* Ruby is denser than water, and, as such, she sinks in the pool in "Keystone Motel".
	+ According to Peridot, this comes from gems' ability to manipulate gravity, making them able to float, and adapt to any planet's gravity.
* Ruby's thermoregulation of directly raising the temperature opposes Sapphire's thermoregulation of lowering the temperature, representing their polar opposite personalities.
	+ Ruby's ability to raise the temperature is somewhat of a pun, being that in "Keystone Motel", where Ruby is quite literally letting off steam, and acting like a "hothead". This is also shown when Sapphire says, "She'll eventually just burn herself out."
	+ Ruby and Sapphire's relationship is a riff of the phrase, "fire and ice."
	+ Garnet's electrical manipulation stems from Ruby and Sapphire's combined abilities, as thunderstorms can result from the formation of masses of cold and warm air.
* Ruby (as well as any other Rubies) are in lower class of the Gems hierarchy as foot soldiers, although in reality, rubies are nearly as rare and valuable as a diamond, it most likely Ruby was mistaken with Spinel, a common gemstone found in large amounts in countries with hot weather.
	+ More proof of that is that actual rubies have a bright red or bloody pink colors, while spinel have a yellow-sh tone of red.
* Although Ruby's gemstone is in her left palm, she is shown summoning her gauntlet on her right hand.
* Ruby's gemstone cut is a square while Sapphire's is a triangle. While triangles are self-sustaining in that each side of a triangle supports the other two, squares are not (i.e. a free-formed square can be changed into a rhombus without stretching or contracting sides). This could be a metaphor for Ruby being the hotheaded counterpart to Sapphire, as she is shown to "collapse" easily as well.
* According to Garnet in "The Answer", Ruby and Sapphire met 5,750 years ago.
* Ruby's instrument has been confirmed to be "a crude waveform in between a square and a saw wave."
	+ In addition, her instrument was reverse-engineered from Garnet's as seen in "Keystone Motel".
* Ruby's gauntlet greatly resembles the anti-hero Hellboy's "Right Hand of Doom".
* Ruby and Sapphire's relationship is based on Ian Jones-Quartey and Rebecca Sugar's relationship.
* Currently, Ruby has the most known fusions out of all the Crystal Gems.

## Gemology

[add photo]

Gemstone Information

* Rubies are composed of a material known as corundum, the second hardest crystal structure after diamond (9,10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness).
	+ Since ruby is a member of the corundum group, it is closely related to sapphire and thus shares some properties with it, such as hardness, composition, and double refraction.
	+ In its pure form, corundum is colorless. The red color of rubies is due to chromium impurities.
	+ Rubies are the most expensive colored stone, going by karat.
* The word “ruby” comes from the Latin 'ruber' meaning red and, like many other gemstones, the ruby's symbolic meaning is heavily dependent on its coloring.
* Natural ruby is one of four "precious" gemstones (including diamond, emerald, and sapphire), known for its rarity, monetary value, and hardness (second only to diamond).
	+ Natural ruby can be distinguished from synthetic ruby by its inclusions; natural ruby typically exhibits inclusions, whereas synthetic ruby tends to be eye clean.
* The color of ruby is its most important quality factor. The most sought after color is a strong pure red to red with a hint of blue, called pigeon's blood.
	+ The vivid red color of ruby means that it is associated with desire, and it is thought by some to be a stone of love with an aphrodisiac effect.
	+ When the color of ruby is too light, it is classified as pink sapphire, but the line between pinkish-red ruby and pink sapphire varies by region.
* The ruby is closely associated with aspects such as vitality, life, passion, and fire, all of which can be symbolically linked to the color red.
	+ This shows in Ruby's emotional temperaments and overall emotional/angry attitude as well as her strength.
	+ It is said that rubies can over-stimulate people who are sensitive or irritable.
* Ruby is the traditional birthstone of those born in July and is also the zodiacal stone for Leo.
	+ Ruby is also used to celebrate the fifteenth and fortieth wedding anniversaries.
	+ The day assigned to Ruby is Tuesday (hence the Rolling Stones song, "Ruby Tuesday").
	+ The planet Mars is famously known as "the red planet", due to the high concentration of iron oxide (basically rust) on its surface. Rubies, along with all of the aspects mentioned above, have been linked with Mars in one form or another.
	+ Ruby is the national gemstone of Burma and Thailand.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/mcburnett/status/625836207889494016
2. ↑ http://joethejohnston.tumblr.com/post/113492957283
3. ↑ http://noisey.vice.com/blog/steven-universe-composers-aivi-surrashu-interview
4. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/comments/4dnj1h/new\_rebecca\_sugar\_interview\_reveals\_musical/
5. ↑ http://www.gia.edu/ruby

**Unfused:** Emerald • Amethyst • Bismuth • Pearl • Peridot • Rose Quartz • **Ruby** • Sapphire
**Gem Fusions:** Alexandrite • Cluster Gems • Garnet • Opal • Rainbow Quartz • Sardonyx • Unknown Fusion Gem • Sugilite
 Homeworld Gems | **Unfused:** Blue Diamond • Blue Pearl • Holly Blue Agate • Pink Diamond • Ruby (Army) • Ruby (Doc) • Ruby (Eyeball) • Ruby (Leggy) • Ruby (Navy) • Yellow Diamond • Yellow Pearl
**Fusions:** Malachite • Corrupted Jasper Fusion
 Other Gems | **Corrupted:** Big Bird • Centipeetle Mother • Clock Tower Gem • Crab Gem Monster • Desert Glass • Earth Beetle • Gem Cave Creature • Glass Ghost • Heaven Beetle • Ice Monster • Invisible Gem Monster • Invisible Manta Ray • Jasper • Lighthouse Gem Monster • Obelisk • Old Book Gem • Orange Great North Monster • Pyramid Temple Gem • The Perils of Pweepwee • Plant Monster • Rainbow Cloud Monster • The Slinker • Slug Monster • Snowbeast • Snow Monster • Water Bear • Watermelon Tourmaline • Worm Monster • Unknown Giant Bird • Tongue Monster
**Unaffiliated Gems:** The Cluster • Lapis Lazuli
 Major Characters
 Minor Characters
**Other:** Baby Melon • Blue Crab • Butt Lobster • Holo-Pearl • Magic Moss • Mask Island Fish • Onion's Snake • Pumpkin • Raccoon • Steven Jr. • Steven The Third • Watermelon Stevens
**Fictional:** Ace • Ace's Father • Cookie Cat • Dogcopter • Foxman • Hopper • Hoppy • Ringo • Wind Lizard • Li'l Butler • Mr. Money • Mrs. Money • Daughter Money • Dirtbike Money