Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli is a member of the Crystal Gems that made her debut in "Mirror Gem". During her alignment with the Gem Homeworld, Lapis was imprisoned within a magical mirror amidst the Rebellion for thousands of years until she eventually convinced Steven to free her. She returned to Homeworld, only to be forced back to Earth by Peridot and Jasper. She fused with Jasper into Malachite to imprison and take her anger out on her, only to later unfuse and decide she has no other choice but to live on Earth, due to trapping a highly-regarded Quartz soldier. Lapis lived at the Barn with the newly reformed Peridot until the threat of another war became a reality. She left Earth and had taken the Barn with her to the Moon. Steven finds her in "Can't Go Back" and convinces her to come back, but after he has another vision of the Diamonds, Lapis decides to leave the Moon. However, in "Reunited", she returns to Earth to fight against the Diamonds, becoming a Crystal Gem in the process. She was poofed by Yellow Diamond. She is currently being watched over by Bismuth, along with Peridot.

## Appearance

Lapis Lazuli has a slim figure, cyan skin, and a cobalt blue chin-length hairstyle, arranged in almost the same as that of Pearl, although her bangs are longer, with a fringe that covers her entire forehead, and it occasionally looks messier. She is also about the same height as Pearl.

She wears a flowing skirt, the same color as her hair, which is knee-length with a downward-facing navy triangle. She also wears a backless, blue halter crop top with an upward-facing navy triangle that ties into a blue sash ribbon on the back of her shoulders. She has a blue lapis lazuli gemstone embedded in her back, in the form of a water droplet, from which she is able to summon and remove wings created out of water at will.

Before Steven healed her, she had reflective eyes without pupils. After Steven heals her gemstone, her eyes are discovered to be royal blue.

After regenerating shortly before the event of "Change Your Mind", Lapis wears a backless, halter crop tank top that is blue on top and navy on the bottom resembling half a star. She also wears puffy dark-blue pants, which represent the second half of the star tied up by a bronze-gold ribbon, and matching sandals.

It can be noted that Lapis' hair and skin colors are slightly different shades. Her hair is longer and messier in the back and fringe, while the bangs on the sides of her face are a little shorter. Her summoned wings have a darker shade of blue now, but it isn't confirmed if it is intentional or a mistake.

## Personality

While it is unknown what Lapis was like before being trapped in a mirror, the suffering of being trapped for over 5,000 years has changed Lapis deeply.

Lapis initially harbored a hatred for the Crystal Gems, being vindictive and mistrusting since they knew she was in the mirror but never helped. She also felt that the Crystal Gems only cared about themselves and the Earth. On the other hand, she adored Steven for being the one to free her and heal her cracked Gem.

Along with resenting Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, Lapis initially had a strong dislike towards Peridot because she had dragged her back to Earth during the events of "The Return" and "Jail Break", In "Barn Mates", Lapis was shown to be furious and unforgiving towards Peridot, not accepting her apologies or gifts, and still clung on to the fact that she was sent back to Earth because of her, showing that she is angered easily and cannot let things go, going as far as being grumpy the entire episode, and even rudely destroying Peridot's tape recorder. However, after having a talk with Steven, she eventually warms up to her and does a good deed by defending her and Steven from the Rubies, showing that she is slowly starting to forgive and be friendlier with the Crystal Gems.

When confronted with an enemy stronger than herself, Lapis usually displays a defeatist and worried approach. She believes that putting up a struggle can only make the situation worse. In "The Message", she delivers a frantic message to Steven about the approaching invasion, begging him to submit to Homeworld should they cross paths. In "Jail Break", she gives similar advice when Steven stumbled across her, mentioning Homeworld might go easy on them if they follow orders. In "Raising the Barn", Lapis packs up the Barn and flees Earth in order to avoid another war at the hands of the Diamonds. However, in "Reunited", Lapis makes a surprise appearance and officially proclaims herself to be a Crystal Gem, joining the fight against Blue and Yellow Diamond showing that she does care about her friends and that she'd rather be with them than be alone anymore, showing a more braver side of her personality.

Lapis wanted nothing more than to return to how things were on Homeworld, being very desperate in her attempt to return home such as stealing the Earth's ocean. In doing so, she shows that she can be rather inconsiderate and indifferent, as she does not care about the human race nor the Earth, except Steven. Overall, Lapis is a passionate Gem, who does not hesitate to fight anyone who stands against her.

One of Lapis' notable characteristics is her strong willpower. Even with a cracked gemstone, through sheer determination, Lapis managed to control an entire ocean and, once her gemstone was healed, fly a vast distance through space to eventually reach Homeworld. Lapis' strength of mind is so great that she suppressed the equally resolved Jasper for months on end. Detrimentally, however, she is also shown to be very stubborn and hesitant in cooperating or accepting help from others unless she has no other choice, seen in both "Jail Break", when she refuses to be set free by Steven, and in the events of "Chille Tid", where she does not want to tell the Crystal Gems her location for them to find her and aid in the situation.

Having gone through several traumatizing events, Lapis gradually showed a more dour and deadpan side to her, especially after facing her interrogator Peridot again. However, she ranges from being deadpan to emotional throughout the show too, as seen in "Alone at Sea", where she appears to be more lively and cheerful, but seems less enthusiastic in "Beta", possibly due to her encounter with Jasper as implied by Peridot's reluctance to mention her name around her. Whether this is a sign of her wounds healing or not is not made clear. As shown in "Reunited", Lapis is able to resist Blue Diamond's pathokinesis thanks to how much trauma she has been through, barely shedding a tear upon being hit by the aura.

In "Alone at Sea", Lapis reveals a cynicism about herself which borders on self-hatred. She harbors a deep regret not just for her actions as Malachite but those in "Ocean Gem" as well, particularly her belligerence against Steven and Jasper. She briefly doubts whether she is different from Jasper, but with Steven's encouragement, she gathers the resolve to avoid reigniting their abusive relationship. It was a recurring theme for Lapis to be used by others, usually for her extraordinary power, and these experiences have cemented in her a general mistrust of others. In the same episode ("Alone at Sea") she shows a profound fear of responsibility, immediately rebuffing Greg's offer for her to be captain of the boat before Steven reassures her by insisting that they all be first mates and share responsibility. The contradiction between her strong will and self-doubt is not yet understood.

"Beta" shows that Lapis has acclimated to living in the barn. Although she is still dour to an extent, she has helped renovate the barn and become comfortable living with Peridot, watching Camp Pining Hearts together with her, and creating pieces of art they call "meep morps". In "Back to the Moon", her relationship toward the Crystal Gems seems to have improved.

After overcoming the majority of her traumas, Lapis' true personality seems to be extremely laid back, almost blasé. Events such as the Rubies' return and Andy DeMayo yelling at her, seems to barely faze her and she is typically seen sitting or lounging around while watching Camp Pining Hearts or reading.

In "The New Crystal Gems" and "Room for Ruby", it is shown that Lapis is neutral and does not trust strangers when she meets them, as she was indifferent towards Connie, barely recognizing her and most of the time ignoring her. When Navy was living in the barn, she was skeptical of her appreciative behavior, believing she was lying. While she has come to respect Connie in how she was able to deal with Steven's life, she was glad to find out that Navy was still loyal to Homeworld and everything she did was a charade to get back the Roaming Eye. In "Room for Ruby", Lapis also felt insecure about taking a long time to understand how things work on Earth while Navy was able to do it on the first try. During the events of "Raising the Barn", it is shown that Lapis is still traumatized by her experiences in the war for Earth to be comfortable defending the planet from a Homeworld attack. She wants Steven and Peridot to flee Earth with her, but when they refuse, she decides to leave on her own, taking the Barn, her comfort zone, with her. Lapis is upset when she discovers that Peridot has been keeping information that she had deemed too substantial, suggesting that Lapis considers herself emotionally stable enough to overcome her past traumas. However, being in seemingly immediate danger of a Diamond attack is too much for her to handle.

But, in spite of her traumas, the repercussions of the war and the horror of the gigantic power of the diamonds, in "Reunited" she confronted her demons and went to face with bravery her former superior attacking her surprisingly, after overcoming all her doubts and fears, she finally began to accept and fight for her "real home", and for her "new family".

In the podcast, Rebecca Sugar describes Lapis as being a vulnerable character who is taken advantage of constantly but interested in opening up to people who offer her kindness, like Steven. It was when she was Malachite that Lapis exercised control to take out her hate on Jasper, and then when they separated, she started to harbor regrets for that desire. She is unable to find direction because she can't see a big part of herself clearly even when it's exposed to everyone else. During her time with Peridot, Lapis was still living in fear as she doesn't see the difference between leaving Earth and hiding like a refugee on the planet with Peridot. Lapis has more fear because she's experienced the horror Homeworld can dish out, unlike Peridot who hasn't had such conflict that she lost to. Being a realist, Lapis acknowledges that Homeworld is targeting Earth, and her first instinct is to flee the planet to not be caught in the conflict or have any interaction with the Diamonds again. Peridot and Steven support the idea of fighting back, but since Lapis has trouble asking and actually using this assistance, she tries to solve problems for herself instead, leading to her fleeing the planet with the barn.

## Abilities

Lapis possesses standard Gem abilities. Her physical strength is at least slightly superhuman, enabling her to lift fragments of Peridot's warship while injured and to crush her recorder without effort. She also appears to be rather durable, surviving the crash of said spaceship without needing to retreat into her gemstone to heal (with the exception of being punched by a Bismuth soldier). In addition, she is mentally strong, as she was able to overtake and subdue Jasper for a long time when they were fused. Her long and tormented imprisonment also enable her to resist Blue Diamond's Radiated Pathokinesis.

### Fusions

* When fused with Jasper, they formed Malachite.

### Unique Abilities

* Hydrokinesis: Lapis appears to have immense power over water and liquid material, demonstrated by her ability to divide the sea to create a path and form a section of the Atlantic Ocean into a space elevator. Lapis can control liquids that are only partially composed of water, such as orange juice.
	+ Flight: When Lapis' gemstone was healed, it was shown that Lapis can fly using water-wings that extend from her gemstone. These particular water constructs can propel her at high velocities as an evasive maneuver or as a method of transportation. Her wings have allowed her to fly between planets and reach Homeworld from Earth in less than a year, although it is unknown whether she flew directly to Homeworld. She can not summon her wings with a cracked gem, unlike her other abilities.
	+ Water Generation: In addition to manipulating existing liquid, Lapis can generate a certain amount of water from her gem. However, it is unknown whether the water is somehow stored within her gemstone, or if, as an extension of her hydrokinesis, she simply condensed the water molecules in the air into a liquid form.
	+ Water Constructs: Lapis is capable of forming water into various constructs that she can control. She has shown to form hands out of water that she can use to smite enemies or use as a platform. She is also able to form chains to entangle or trap enemies with. Her power is strong enough to stun Blue Diamond for a short period of time.
	+ Water-Walking: Lapis can walk on water, an ability she shares with Opal and Lion.
	+ Hydromimicry: Lapis can use her control over water to create flawless, powerful water clones of her enemies. The clones appear to possess the same fighting styles as the originals, as demonstrated by water Garnet's strength and water Amethyst's constant shapeshifting. They also have the ability to regenerate when damaged and even split to create new clones, making them effectively invincible against most attacks. The only thing that has been shown damaging them was a sound wave from Steven's shield.
	+ Matter State Manipulation: Lapis is able to change the state of matter of water using her hydrokinetic abilities, causing it to turn into ice. This is first shown when her Crystal Gem water clones create matching weapons of ice.
	+ Water Bubbles: Lapis is able to form water bubbles that can contain objects, similar to standard Gem Bubbles, but instead hold liquid.
* Memory Projection: As shown in "Same Old World", Lapis is able to project any of her memories onto a mirror-like surface, an ability she was still able to use while trapped in the mirror. While she uses this ability, her eyes lose their pupils and become silvery and reflective, similar to how they looked when her gemstone was cracked.
* Pathokinetic Resistance: Unlike other Gems, due to the variety of traumatic and stressful experiences she has been through, Lapis is shown to be left virtually unaffected by Blue Diamond's incapacitating emotional waves, claiming "I've felt worse."

## Role in the Series

Since the Crystal Gems' involvement in the series takes place before the invasion of Aquamarine and Topaz, Lapis reluctantly joins the Crystal Gem in defending the United Universes whenever she can.