Pearl

Pearl is a protagonist and a member of The New Action Squad.

## **BIOGRAPHY**

Pearl is a member of the Crystal Gems. She was Pink Diamond's second Pearl, and one of Rose Quartz's closest followers and her sole confidant. Pearl is one of the last surviving Gems on Earth who joined the Crystal Gems in their rebellion against the Gem Homeworld. Pearl would afterward protect the Earth over the next several millennia alongside her friends, while later teaching Steven the ways of Gems.

Years later, Pearl is no longer suffering from issues of self-worth and finds her way, knowing she is herself. Though she is struck and her memories wiped by Spinel's Rejuvenator, she gets her memories back by having Greg and Steven fuse into Steg, who reminds her of her independence.

Pearl now teaches at Little Homeschool, teaching Gems how to interact with human beings. While she previously seemed to find interaction with humans uncomfortable, Pearl now actively partakes in it and encourages other Gems to do the same.

Outside of Beach City, she is also a member of The New Action Squad.

## **APPEARANCE**

Pearl has a slender, thin build, ivory skin, light cyan eyes, a pointed nose, and thin lips. She is quite a tall Gem, towering over Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Peridot, and Steven alike. She is nearly equal in height (with hair) to Garnet's chin. Her complexion is ivory and her hair has a light peach color (looking light pink in some scenes) and resembles a pixie-cut in the front, while in the back, her hair leads to a point. Pearl is usually drawn without eyelashes or pupils, although they have been seen in some close-ups. Pearl's gemstone is located in the middle of her forehead and has no facets.

After regenerating in "Change Your Mind", Pearl now wears a poofy, cropped, short-sleeve cyan blazer with a pink inner lining and a yellow star on the back over a light teal top, cadet blue leggings (appearing as capri jeans), and light pink slip-on ballet flats.

## **PERSONALITY**

Pearl is a perfectionist who is knowledgeable on a plethora of topics that value organization. Pearl has a penchant for symmetry (going so far as to impale M.C. Bear Bear to maintain the symmetry of a pile of appliances and school supplies) and very high attention to detail.

Despite her perfectionism and occasional bragging, Pearl suffers from low self-esteem. In "Friend Ship", she admits she is very dependent on others to validate her, which loops into a strong inferiority complex. According to Amethyst in "Reformed", she needs everyone's constant approval to feel secure. Without anyone to tell her what to do or to depend on her, Pearl feels lost without meaning or value. Pearl admits she often feels extremely weak and/or useless when compared to others who appear better than her, going so far as to describe herself as ineffective on her own; always in need of a leader she can follow, thinking she has very little power to affect others, partly because her low self-esteem leads her to believe she lacks the relevance to be influential. Her self-deprecating tendencies stem from the Homeworld caste values, where Pearls are viewed as property rather than Gems. This has led her to take drastic actions to prove herself — though, thanks to Garnet's encouragement in "Friend Ship", she has started to take initiatives instead of letting other's words define Pearl herself. It appears Pearl has taken this to her heart, as she asserted herself against Peridot when she treated Pearl in a degrading tone. Pearl even goes as far as physically punching Peridot to show that she is an individual, not a piece of property. In the past, her low self-esteem is explained in detail by Garnet that she was willing to risk her life to protect Rose to prove her worth, which goes as far as nearly making Connie into an exact low-esteem replica of her during sword training if not for Steven's intervention.

Pearl is easily flustered and overwhelmed when confronted by the unknown or when her plans fail, which can lead to her judgment being clouded or cause her to act on impulse instead of rational thinking. Her inner turmoil over her love for Rose (and her subsequent absence) has made Pearl lash out at Steven and the Crystal Gems more than once. At times, Pearl does not realize when she is being selfish because she thinks she is always doing everything for others. Her fierce desire to feel "strong" and have more victories as a Crystal Gem even caused her to betray Garnet's trust and basic principles so they could keep forming Sardonyx. When realizing how much she hurt others, Pearl will apologize and try as hard as she can to set things right, working hard to counteract the damage she may have inflicted.

Out of all the Crystal Gems, Pearl is the most poorly adjusted to life on Earth, being unaware of human social conventions and culture, such as jokes, games, arcades, food, and birthday parties. Pearl has expressed a great desire to leave Earth in "Space Race", going so far as to risk her and Steven's lives. Pearl also has a pessimistic view of humanity, as evidenced by her statement in "Keep Beach City Weird". Though, in "Political Power", she claimed to have been around during the millennium when humans lived without any light and were aware that they used to hunt and gather. She appeared quite surprised that they did not do that anymore. In "Last One Out of Beach City", Pearl takes her turn at trying to build a normal, human social life in the hopes of impressing Steven and Amethyst, voluntarily joining them in going to a show, and drinking beverages. By the end, Pearl even approached the mysterious girl that had appeared repeatedly throughout the episode, whom Pearl seemed infatuated with.

## **TRIVIA**

* According to the dialog in "Volleyball", Pearl is approximately 8,000 years old.

* Her pilot design bears a striking resemblance to the singer Eleanor Jackson from the English synthpop act La Roux.
* Despite being called a spear, based on the shape of the blade and the slashing action Pearl employs in combat, Pearl's 'spear' is technically a glaive.
* In "Back to the Barn", it is confirmed that there are multiple Pearls on Homeworld. It is also confirmed that the Pearls on Homeworld are considered inferior and, as Peridot put it, "made-to-order servants".
* In "Together Breakfast", it is revealed that Pearl owns a wide collection of swords.
* The Gems' fighting styles are based on dance styles. Pearl's fighting/dancing style is ballet.
* In "Fusion Cuisine", Pearl states that she hates eating. She has stated that the digestive process is what disgusts her the most.
	+ Pearl agrees to consume human food, expresses interest in eating, or admits to a preference for certain foods in "Together Breakfast", "Bubble Buddies", "Serious Steven" and "So Many Birthdays". These episodes all take place before "Steven the Sword Fighter". This could mean that Pearl used to like human food.
	+ In a Twitter response to a fan, Matt Burnett explained that Pearl likes the *process* of pie, i.e., baking, rather than the consumption of it.
	+ However, she is shown to enjoy tea, as shown when she brings a teapot to Funland in "Serious Steven", and when she talks about finding out Connie's favorite tea in "Bubble Buddies".
	+ In "Last One Out of Beach City", Pearl is disgusted by drinking apple juice, a similar occurrence to when she unfused from Alexandrite in "Fusion Cuisine" (though this is at least partly due to her surprise at seeing the Mystery Girl as well).
	+ Pearl's disgust for eating might be from watching Pink Diamond eat the gem shards she created to fake her shattering. Pearl looked disgusted before Pink Diamond ate them.

* Pearl's ability to store things in her gemstone may be unique for pearls since Peridot did say in "Back to the Barn" that pearls hold "stuff" for the leader assigned to them, more likely for easier accessibility.
	+ However, Garnet can summon the Pyramid Temple Key in "Serious Steven", which may indicate that, though Pearls were made to hold items, most if not all Gems are capable of doing so.
* In "Steven and the Stevens", she is seen playing the violin.
* It is seen in "Monster Buddies" that Steven keeps a framed picture of Pearl on the side of their fridge. It is later destroyed by the Centipeetle Mother. In "When It Rains", it is revealed that it has been replaced by a new picture of her in her post-regeneration outfit.