The Diamonds & Duty

the diamonds & duty

one of my favorite highlights of the post-”a single pale rose” SU fandom, has been seeing everyone slowly let go of this cliché supervillain persona they’d built up for yellow diamond.

it’s not actually that uncommon to be angry and frustrated in the face of trauma. both yellow and blue take it out on others, and on themselves, in different ways. blue completely loses sight of her work - she focuses entirely on her own feelings. yellow explicitly calls this out, which i thought was a nice commentary on how sadness isn’t “better” than anger, or automatically more sympathetic. yellow channels her anger into a twisted sort of productivity, while blue completely neglects being a leader at all.

rebecca said they’re equals and opposites. i’d argue their flaws are, too.

yellow is rigid, blue is drooping. yellow is the rock blue needs to lean on, and she knows it. she essentially steers the ship, while blue has given up… but it’s not out of some selfish desire for power. yellow wants to “fix” things. she doesn’t verbally say she cares, but her focus is on actions, not words.

nothing makes it more clear than right after “what’s the use of feeling blue?”. blue’s focus is on her feelings, and yellow’s asking what she can do about it. blue is sad about earth specimen dying out? that gives yellow focus. it gives her something to do: abducting humans for the zoo. her goal - and the goal of the entire yellow sector - is to fix everything. taking action in accordance to what’s logical. this is a big part of peridot’s character, and i’d argue being transferred into that sector has affected jasper, too.

which brings us to “reunited”, aka my favorite of their interactions to date.

i love this moment. they’re such a team. none of that cliché secret hatred between female antagonist-types. there really isn’t a “bad guy” in the relationship between them. yellow criticizes blue for being too emotional, but her ultimate goal is to get her out of her depression by any means necessary. she’s basically trying to “fix” her way out of it.

in terms of interpersonal and coping skills, they’re both broken af. but yellow’s rudeness towards blue (calling her hysterical, rolling her eyes at her constant wallowing) isn’t selfish. she’s been trying her damnest to make blue feel better for literal ages, and she feels a sense of duty to her leaderless gems.

in doing so, she hopes to make herself feel okay with things, too.

“how miserable. i knew pink couldn’t handle her own colony. but, i gave in. and now, i’m to blame for her fate.”

the subject of pink diamond is just as fraught for yellow as it is for blue. she may express it in a way that isn’t so stereotypically sympathetic, but she loved her. she always did. it’s no wonder she was offended during the trial- zircon accused her of being exactly what yellow thinks of herself: the gem responsible. not just for pink’s fate, but for keeping everything running. it’s her fault, as a leader, whenever things go wrong.

that’s the thing about yellow’s vision of leadership - it’s never been about what she wants. she’s just always had this role, and believes it’s her duty. she has to fix everything, even if she’s miserable. it’s comparable to mayor dewey in “dewey wins” - he works himself to the bone during the campaign, but when presented with a better alternative for the city, he gives in and steps down. dewey was fine with not being in charge. even if he liked some aspects of the job, the greater good mattered more.

what he wanted, was to keep things running smoothly. what he needed was to step down, leaving the city in good hands with someone who would change not only the leadership itself, but the very notion of its hierarchy.

someone who believes in working together in a communal, non-hierarchical way, rather than strict roles that stifle self-expression.

like bismuth said… someone is making the others believe in the future.

when garnet’s not there, the crystal gems may not have a traditional leader - but they still have their heart. maybe the other diamonds can believe in him, too.

More Posts from Maskedtako and Others

maskedtako

1 year ago

Fellow Chaggie shipper, here and I wanted to ask you a question. Could you please do an analysis post on the Chaggie argument from Hello Rosie. I know this will sound weird but I can't get over the level of icy anger Charlie had towards Vaggie or how despite everything going on, Charlie is more hurt from Vaggie not being honest with her. Just angst all around.

Oh yeah sure I'd love to!

I'm not sure there's a lot I can say about that argument that isn't already super obvious, so I wanna talk about Charlie's anger because of something my brother said as we watched episode 7. He loved that episode apparently because "When they're separated, it's even more obvious that Charlie is the one who's more quick to lose her cool." Which, looking back, is actually true!(To an extent)

Fellow Chaggie Shipper, Here And I Wanted To Ask You A Question. Could You Please Do An Analysis Post

Vaggie and Charlie are both quite quick to anger. Charlie is just better at hiding it because she's a chronic people pleaser. Although Charlie wouldn't immediately show her anger at a person being a jerk to her specifically, she's immediately summoning fire and brimstone over anyone who hurts/insults her friends or the cause she's fighting for.

Love this lil bit in "You Didn't Know". How Vaggie is the one telling Charlie to calm down, as if she knows what's about to happen. She knows that if she doesn't at least try to reel in her girl Charlie would be spitting literal fire at a goddamn seraphim.

It would seem like such a surprising role reversal, but if you look at all the times Charlie would lose it whenever Vaggie's not there to tell her "babe, chill", then it makes sense.

But then when their fallout happens, Charlie's short temper is even more apparent. She calls Alastor an asshole to his face even though she considered choosing his support over her father's. She openly glares and rolls her eyes at Rosie when she jokes that her and Alastor look like an item even though she still kept things cordial with Valentino after he licked her arm. She flips the bird at some old lady even though she didn't take visible offense at all the demons that inserted their crude and rude selves in "Happy Day in Hell." While she was cold and subdued even when upset with Vaggie, she was explosive and in ur face when she was pissed at everyone else.

Vaggie reigned in both the girl in Charlie who dreams a little too big and the demon who's waiting to lash out in flames. It really makes me wonder if there's a difference in the kind of person Charlie used to be before Vaggie. Before she had friends to be angry on behalf of and a person to calm her down. And then, in the wake of their argument, Charlie is left with a lot of anger that is easy to ignite.

But I love love love that despite all that anger, Charlie can't bring herself to deny that she loves Vaggie with all of her hurt heart.

This little moment is one of my favorite parts in the series. My brother mentioned that this episode and episode three were his favorites because he liked the beats the dialogues followed. So he looked back--

(the man literally paused the episode to check the opening credits of ep 7 and 3. I was a little annoyed because I just wanted my Chaggie dammit! We'd make terrible youtube reactors with all the pausing and discussing mid-episode that we do...)

--and was satisfied to see that it was written by the same person, Ariel Ladensohn. Apparently she's in a sapphic relationship too and projected her own experiences whenever she wrote Vaggie and Charlie, and it must have paid off because the moments she wrote with them felt so real.

Charlie expressing her fear that even Vaggie's support and love could also be part of the lies she told was understandable considering the betrayal she felt. But immediately following that she goes "Oh that's a horrible to thing to think!" which I love even more. Even when she's understandably mad she thinks about how Vaggie would feel over Charlie thinking that of her. Because although Vaggie lied about who she is, Vaggie was always sincere about how she felt for Charlie. Vaggie's past may have been a lie, but the things she did for, to, and on behalf of Charlie were very real and held dear in Charlie's heart.

I dont have anything smart to say to conclude this. Sorry, I'm not even sure where I went here. Let's all just appreciate the smile Charlie has on her face when she thinks about Vaggie even when she's under a lot of stress I guess.

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maskedtako

1 year ago

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maskedtako

1 year ago

OHOHO

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maskedtako

1 year ago

More Lute headcanons from your resident @ask-lute because idk:

She struggles with alexithymia and being detached from her own emotions. This causes her to dive into her work, she avoids her difficulty with emotions by putting all her energy into stuff she's passionate about.

She's a people pleaser, though it's in more subtle ways than just doing stuff for everyone.

She seeks praise and affirmation though she would never admit it. This is why she can't seem imperfect. Her identity is tied to being flawless in the eyes of Heaven.

She was in love with Vaggie. But because she struggles with emotions it caused Lute to grow resentment towards her.

She loved Adam too, but didn't pursue anything serious with him because she knew he wasn't the best at handling her when she needed someone to listen.

Adam and Lute did share intimate and loving moments but they were disguised as a no strings attached deal.

Conversely Vaggie was her emotional support, much like Vaggie is there for Charlie she was absolutely there for Lute. But when she started feeling more for Vaggie, Lute started withdrawing and treating her like an inconvenience.

When Lute says "you were always weak" she is not only referring to the incident with the cannibal child, but the fact that Vaggie was so open with her feelings around her, and Lute couldn't understand her own so she saw any kind of emotional display as weakness.

She overlooked Vaggie sparing sinners before, but because her resentment grew she took the cannibal child as an opportunity to 'deal with her'.

I don't think Lute, herself, would spare anyone, I do think she is that sadistic, but it comes from the inability to process her own issues appropriately. (Not an excuse, just an explanation)

She loves puns, I've said this one before, she thinks they're so bad that she loses her shit over them.

Despite being authoritarian, she enjoys anti-authoritarian music most. Punk and Grunge being her favorites, but she listens to most anything.

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maskedtako

8 months ago