Rose trapped Lapis in the mirror

**Disproved Theory**

 Author

If you look at the mural in "Serious Steven", a blue character is standing on something. Is it a representation of water, possibly a wave, or a fountain, or a pair of hands made of water? Does the blue character have control over water? Is the blue character Lapis? What is Rose holding? Is it a mirror? Is Rose sucking Lapis into a mirror?

My answer: YES!

## Theory

The main purpose (or at least one of the main purposes) of the mural in Serious Steven is to show that it was Rose that put Lapis in the mirror.

## Evidence

The mural certainly seems intended to communicate *something* to the audience.

The blue character in the mural, with its adjoining symbols, can be interpreted as having some association with water.

The blue character is clearly interacting with Rose in some manner, and the character's upheld hand seems to indicate she is resisting whatever Rose is doing.

The lines surrounding the blue character, and leading to the object held by Rose, can be interpreted as meaning Rose is causing the object to have an effect on the character. The lines also match the normal convention in cartoons used to represent a sucking action.

## Objections

One objection to this theory is that the blue character does not look like Lapis, apart from being blue. However we have only seen Lapis after she was released from the mirror by Steven. When she was released she reformed, and when a Gem reforms their new form can be different than their previous form. How much different is not known. She did however spend some 5000 years in her crystal in which to perfect whatever new form she desired.

## Consequences

If this theory is correct it may go a long way to explaining Lapis' behavior in the various episodes she is in.

1. In "Mirror Gem" Lapis at first avoids communicating with the Crystal Gems, since she knows they are followers of Rose. When she is released she accuses them of keeping her prisoner, which makes sense if it was Rose that imprisoned her. She also wants to take Steven away from the CGs, which again makes sense, since from her point of view, they are the bad guys.
2. In "Ocean Gem" Lapis is desperate to escape any way she can from a world dominated, in her view, by her enemies, the Crystal Gems. She may be unaware of, or unable to grasp, the idea that the CGs are the protectors of Earth, not its masters, since Gems seem to usually be more interested in dominating planets rather than protecting them.
3. In "The Message" Lapis is trying to communicate with Steven, not the CGs, because she does not see him as an enemy, rather she sees him as a friend that is in with a 'bad crowd'.
4. In "The Return" Lapis tries to protect Steven as best she can, but seems indifferent to the other CGs. It is interesting that we do not see Lapis' reaction when Steven uses his shield, as that clearly indicates he is (in some strange manner) Rose.
5. In "Jailbreak" Lapis at first refuses Steven's help. This would make sense because she now knows Steven is somehow part of Rose. At this point Lapis would be very conflicted/confused. Later she must choose between supporting Steven and the CGs, or supporting Jasper and Homeworld. She clearly chooses Steven, but it seemed to be a hard decision for her,

## Further Possibilities

It is interesting that the Mural exists in the first place. It brings up the question of who 'painted' it and when?

It seems, in "Serious Steven", that Garnet and Pearl have not seen the pyramid the mural is in before, or at least not been inside it.

It certainly does not seem that they were involved in building the pyramid. So who built it? Whoever built it is also the ones that most likely added the mural.

There are only two possibilities that we know of so far. Either it was built by Homeworld Gems as part of their occupation of Earth, or it was built by Crystal Gems after the rebellion. I think the possibility of it being built by Crystal Gems (other than Rose) can be quickly discarded because in that case Garnet and Pearl would have had to be involved, since they, plus Rose, were most likely the only CGs in existence after the rebellion. This does leave open the possibility that Rose built it by herself, but I cannot think of a reason she would build such a thing.

The remaining possibility is that the pyramid, and thus the mural, were created by the Homeworld Gems as part of the occupation of Earth before the rebellion. Then why would they have a mural of Rose battling and seemingly defeating Lapis in it?

The only explanation I can see is that the battle between Rose and Lapis happened before the pyramid was built, well before the rebellion, and depicts Rose as a hero in the eyes of Homeworld for defeating Lapis. This unavoidably leads to the conclusion that, for some reason, Lapis is considered a criminal by Homeworld. This would totally explain why Lapis was being held prisoner and treated badly by Jasper, and why she stated "I am in enough trouble already" when Steven offered to help her escape.

## Disproved Theory

It was confirmed at the episode "Same Old World" that Homworld Gems trapped Lapis in the mirror.