Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli is a protagonist and a member of The New Action Squad.

## **BIOGRAPHY**

Lapis Lazuli, or Lapis for short, is a member of the Crystal Gems. During her alignment with the Gem Homeworld, she was caught in the crossfire of The Rebellion and got poofed by Bismuth so Homeworld mistook her for one of the Crystal Gems and imprisoned her within a magical mirror. She would remain in the mirror for thousands of years until she eventually convinced Steven to free her. Once she returned to Homeworld she was forced back to Earth by Peridot and Jasper, the latter of whom she fused with into Malachite to imprison, protecting Steven and taking her own anger out on. After she unfused and decided she had no other choice but to live on Earth, as she trapped a highly regarded soldier, she lived at The Barn with the reformed Peridot until the threat of another war became a reality. She left Earth and took the Barn with her to the Moon until Steven found her and convinced her to come back but she decided to leave the Moon after he had another vision of The Great Diamond Authority. However, she returned to Earth to fight against the Diamonds in "Reunited" becoming a Crystal Gem in the process. She made her debut in "Mirror Gem".

Years later, she now lives with Bismuth and Peridot in Little Homeworld. She is shown to be more cheerful throughout the movie though still retains a dark sense of humor, like when she jokingly claims to still be on the fence when they talk about how long it took for them to stop wanting to hurt Steven.

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

## **APPEARANCE**

Lapis has a slim figure and is considerably tall, being about the same height as Pearl. She has cyan skin, cobalt blue chin-length hair with long bangs and fringe that covers her entire forehead, which occasionally looks messier and rounded, and royal blue eyes. Her gemstone is embedded in her back, which takes the form of a water droplet.

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**

Before Lapis's incarceration in the mirror, she had no qualms over terraforming planets, holding little value for organic life and seeing them as inferior, much like other Gems. However, the suffering of being trapped for over nearly 6,000 years has changed her deeply. It was a recurring theme for her to be used by others and these experiences have cemented in her a general mistrust of others. Furious and unable to easily let things go, she initially harbored hatred and mistrust for the Crystal Gems since they knew she was in the mirror but never helped. She had a strong dislike towards Peridot because she had dragged her back to Earth, being unforgiving and grumpy when she didn't accept her apologies and rudely destroying her gifts. In "Room for Ruby" it is shown Lapis doesn't trust strangers when she meets them, being skeptical of "Navy"'s appreciative behavior when she lived in the barn due to her being unappreciative and worried when she first arrived. ​​​​​​On the other hand, Lapis opened up to Steven for showing kindness towards her, being the one to free her and healing her cracked gem. After talking with him she eventually warms up and defends Peridot and Steven from the Rubies showing that she is starting to forgive and be friendlier with others. In "The New Crystal Gems" it is shown that Lapis is neutral and somewhat indifferent, barely recognizing Connie until she came to respect Connie in how she could deal with Steven's life.

In "Alone at Sea" Lapis reveals a cynicism about herself which borders on self-hatred, harboring a deep regret for her actions as Malachite and those in "Ocean Gem", particularly her belligerence against Steven and Jasper. She briefly doubts whether she is different from Jasper but gathers the resolve to avoid reigniting their abusive relationship with Steven's encouragement. Having been captured several times, Lapis was constantly grappling for control as Malachite not only for Steven but for her reasons. Still, though, 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. Furthermore, Lapis 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, being glad to find out that "Navy" was still loyal to Homeworld and everything she did was a charade to get back the Roaming Eye.

When confronted with an enemy stronger than herself, Lapis usually displays a defeatist and pessimistic approach, believing that putting up a struggle can only make the situation worse. She delivers a frantic message to Steven about the approaching invasion and begged him to submit to Homeworld should they cross paths in "The Message", giving similar advice when Steven stumbled across her in "Jail Break" by mentioning that Homeworld might go easy on them if they follow orders. In "Raising the Barn", she packs up the Barn and flees Earth to avoid another war at the hands of the Diamonds, still not being comfortable enough defending the planet from a Homeworld attack. She wanted Steven and Peridot to flee Earth with her, but she decided to leave on her own and took the Barn (her comfort zone) when they refused. However, in "Reunited" Lapis makes a surprisingly brave appearance and officially proclaims herself to be a Crystal Gem, joining the fight against Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond showing she would rather be with her new friends than alone anymore.

## **TRIVIA**

* There was a lot of attention to detail to her design/change during her introductory episode: She didn't have irises or pupils in her eyes with her eyes being blank when her gemstone was cracked but gained dark blue irises with no visible pupils in her eyes after being healed by Steven. Another example would be the way she moves in a very smooth and fluid way compared to other characters, who have human-like, but still slightly jerky movements. The contrast is seen best when Steven talks to Lapis atop her tower.
* Lapis Lazuli is the only Gem with a color scheme that consists of only four colors, making her the simplest-colored Gem thus far.
	+ When Lapis' gem is cracked, her color scheme is a darker shade of blue.
	+ However, as of her "Change Your Mind" regeneration, she has a color scheme containing more colors.
* After "Mirror Gem", her gemstone hasn't been shown having the bottom round lighter blue color except for "Jail Break", the flashback in "Same Old World", "Reunited", and "Legs From Here to Homeworld". Whether this has been for simplicity or ease in the animation or some other reason is unknown.
	+ During and after her comeback in "Change Your Mind", her lighter blue color in her gemstone repositioned to the top-right of the gemstone, appearing similar to Aquamarine's gemstone. It was also frequently shown more.
* It was revealed in an interview on the *Steven Universe Podcast* that the reason Lapis doesn't wear shoes is that, being trapped in a mirror for thousands of years, she never roamed an environment with hazards on the ground. When she was freed from the mirror, she had gotten used to traveling barefoot and never felt the need for footwear of any kind, partnered by the fact that she mostly flies everywhere she goes.
	+ This explanation seems to be somewhat inaccurate and may have been an afterthought on Rebecca Sugar's part as Lapis is depicted barefoot before she got poofed in her flashback in "Same Old World". When she reformed in "Change Your Mind", she now wears sandals, possibly meaning she didn't like traveling around barefoot anymore. Also as of "Why So Blue?" it shows that other Lapis go barefoot as well, which may be a standard habit of the gems as they tend to fly everywhere they go as stated earlier, and Lapis having sandals may be the exception.
* According to Aivi & Surasshu, Lapis' instrument is the Celesta. Her secondary palette includes strings, piano, and timpani. Lapis' music is inspired by the Romantic era of classical music.
* Ian Jones-Quartey revealed in response to a fan that Lapis' hydrokinesis is her weapon, making her the first Gem shown to use something other than a tangible item in combat.
* A silhouette bearing a striking resemblance to Lapis appeared in "The Answer". However, it is not confirmed if it is her or not.