Garnet is a Fusion Gem **FINAL UPDATE**

If there's two things I love, it's Steven Universe, and developing elaborate fan theories that will probably amount to nothing. So here we go. 

For a while now I've decided that Garnet, leader of the Crystal Gems, is a fusion gem. The evidence I think speaks for itself, which I've assembled in this picture. The first example we see of fusing is Opal, the combination of Amethyst and Pearl. Opal is bigger more powerful than either two Gems, has four arms, and has two gems on her body, the same ones as Amethyst and Pearl respectively, but recolored to match each other. Garnet herself, while not as big as Opal, is much bigger than Pearl or Amethyst. She is also shown to be much stronger than either of the gems, as her presence in any battle seriously makes a difference as opposed to if she were absent. See episodes like 'Giant Woman' and 'Arcade Mania' for example. She also has abilities like future sight and immunity to fire/heat which are exclusive to her alone. And while she doesn't have extra arms, Garnet does have a third eye, which she seems intent on hiding at all costs with her glasses. But the real kicker is that Garnet is the only Gem, that's not a proven fusion anyway, which has two gems, both shaped differently but the same color. 

Let's talk about her gems. The Gems' temple door is adorned with a 5-point star, each point having a tiny gem that seems to correspond to one of the Gems we know: white for Pearl, Pink for Rose/Steven, purple for Amethyst, Red for Garnet, and a mysterious blue one. When a Gem enters the temple, they make their gem glow and their corresponding light on the door glows too. The picture in the top lefthand corner, from the episode 'Together Breakfast', shows that the blue light glows for Garnet and Garnet alone. The background of this photo is from the episode 'Steven and the Stevens', where we get a brief glimpse of the temple door close up. The patterns of the red and blue lights, one triangle and one square, correspond to the gems on Garnet's hands. This for me is the most concrete proof of my theory, but just in case, I have a few more

Lets go back to her eyes for a second. We see Garnet without her glasses twice, like in the top right picture, and if you look closely, one an see that Garnet has heterochromia, which means each of her eyes are a different color. The top one is purplish, or garnet, if you will, the right eye is red, and the left eye is navy blue. If my line of thinking is accepted, and the third eye is representative of Garnet's fusion, then her right and left eye represent her base selves: a red Gem, which I call Ruby, and a blue Gem, which I call Sapphire. 

Finally, I think looking at Sugulite can offer a few interesting points. Now, the Crystal Gems are magical beings, and I doubt exact rules on how they work, if any should exist, will ever be revealed, so we can only make assumptions. As I mentioned before, Opal, the fusion between Pearl and Amethyst, is of a similar size to Garnet. Sugulite, on the other hand, a fusion between Garnet and Amethyst, is more than twice as big as Opal. The synopsis for the upcoming episode 'Fusion Crime' reveals that more than one Gem can fuse together, so is it possible that, using simple math, that if Opal, a fusion containing two Gems, is smaller than Sugulite, that must mean Sugulite is made up of more than one Gem, say, three?

But we're not done with Sugulite. I found some of her dialogue interesting. Her first line is 'I forgot how great it feels to be me'. Later, when Pearl pleads with her, saying she's been fused too long and as a result Garnet and Amethyst are losing themselves, Sugulite responds "I am myself, and I'm sick of being split up!" This is fascinating. Hearing that line with my headcanon offers an interesting thought: perhaps Ruby and Sapphire, while born separate, were just more comfortable being Garnet. That's why the one picture we see of the Crystal Gems from the past just happens to feature Garnet, and not the two separate. And maybe, just maybe, after Rose lost her physical form, the two couldn't stand it. Maybe they didn't think they were strong enough on their own. So they became Garnet for the last time, and just never split up. Two became one. 

**UPDATE** Ok guys, this is it! The big one! In the episode Fusion Cuisine, all three of the Crystal Gems fuse into one being called Alexandrite. Naturally, though, the gals need their space, and Alexandrite falls apart. Now many of you told me about the supposed single frame where Garnet appears to split into two beings rather than one, while others argued it was just an animation error, as it was hard to draw Garnet's two gems evenly as opposed to Amethyst and Pearl's one. I was inclined to agree with the latter, as I watched the scene over and over again and just didn't see anything I thought was noteworthy. Then I remembered youtube lets you slow down and speed up videos. I played the scene for the millionth time at x0.25 speed, and THERE IT WAS! THE SINGLE FRAME! That's right, for a split micro second our gal Garnet is very distinctly dividing into two beings. Man, and I thought the close up of the temple door was definitive proof I was right. This is so exciting!

**UPDATE** This one was so obvious, AND IN EVERY EPISODE. If you look closely behind Garnet in her opening title card, you can see not one but TWO shooting stars. Coincidence? I think NOT!

**UPDATE** In 'Steven and the Stevens', we see all the Gems can play at least one musical instrument. Pearl has the graceful violin, Amethyst has the energetic drums, and Garnet has a Keytar, a FUSED instrument! Props to my friend Matt for pointing that out. 

**UPDATE** The one everyone saw a mile away. In 'Alone Together', Garnet both states that fusing comes easily to her, and gives the newly formed Stevonnie an inspiring pep talk regarding their fusion following an outburst of glee. Really seems like fusion is important to Garnet. 

But that's just my idea. What are your thoughts? Oh, and if you like my theory, what do you think Ruby and Sapphire's weapons would be? Remember, they have to combine into gauntlets, the same way Amethyst's whips and Pearl's spear combined into a bow. I've got nothing and it's bugging me xD
nobutseriously, I want to hear all your thoughts! Half the reason I do things like this is because I like discussions. So have at it!

All pictures taken from the Steven Universe wiki. 

My review of The Return and Jail Break