There is a possibility that Rose's sword couldn't tell the difference, since Diamond are very different gems it possibly did not recognise them as a gem so the normal rule about not shattering did not apply.
edited 31st May '17 5:49:18 PM by Ultimatum
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverThey've always treated it as death, or even A Fate Worse Than Death. At the very least there doesn't seem to be any coming back from it.
edited 31st May '17 5:51:21 PM by LSBK
They've described themselves as magical, or at least some of their equipment and techniques. Not necessarily the traditional wizard style magic, but it doesn't seem like they're all technology either.
My impression was that the Gems being described as "magic" early on in the show's run is simply a case of Clarke's Third Law; "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Especially after it was revealed outright (not that it hadn't been hinted at to the point of being obvious) that Gems were aliens who came from outer space, the series has generally stopped using the term "magic" to describe gem powers.
edited 31st May '17 6:01:18 PM by CaptainCapsase
Being a way to introduce what is effectively magic into a science fiction setting without calling it that is pretty much the entire point of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, which is basically what the gems are.
edited 31st May '17 6:07:26 PM by CaptainCapsase
That said, some gem have powers tied to their person that their technology can't seem to replicate at all (except in the sense that it can make more of the same gem). Hell, if Peridot is any indication, gems sometimes end up with powers they were never meant to have.
edited 31st May '17 6:10:28 PM by thatother1dude
I would tend to include gem powers under the umbrella of "sufficiently advanced technology" because I'm disinclined to think they evolved naturally like that. My own theory would be that they were created by a precursor race who they either rebelled against and destroyed or outlived through some galactic catastrophe. There's also the possibility of Lost Technology when it comes to the comparative weakness of era-2 gems.
edited 31st May '17 6:13:44 PM by CaptainCapsase
Terminator Ruby and Aggro Ruby never demonstrated that overheating flames...
And it seems like it would've been a constant for the latter Ruby...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.![]()
One of the Rubies (I wanna say Doc) lights the baseball on fire in "Hit the Diamond."
And I agree with Captain Capsase here; the gems abilities are not magic, and they do appear to have stopped using the term after they start meeting other gems.
She can't really use it offensively...
But she can walk in...Swim under lava/magma...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.So unfortunately we didn't get to see White Diamond in the last Steven Bomb. I'm still fairly sure she isn't a fusion because of the gem position and the non-matching number of colonies, but I'm really curious whether she's a first among equals or is in fact of superior rank to the other diamonds, ie holding the title Paragon Diamond/Supreme Diamond rather than merely Diamond.
If it's the latter, here comes a thought regarding the Pink Diamond murder mystery: Yellow Diamond did it on orders from White Diamond,despite really, really not wanting to do it (and in the present is torn between self-destructive guilt and half-hearted rationalization) because she's an ardent believer in Homeworld's caste system.
edited 31st May '17 6:43:03 PM by CaptainCapsase
As for why Rose stuck with the official narrative in this theory, while not many of them wanted to go as far as Bismuth, I wouldn't be surprised if a great many of her followers wanted to see the Diamonds shattered at the very least, thus trying to claim Pink Diamond as a martyr for the rebel cause would at best be very divisive and controversial, and at worst could tear the crystal gems apart from within. After the war she was very reluctant to even discuss Pink Diamond, and continued sticking to her lie out of some mixture of habit and her tendency to corneal things from others with no apparent reason.
For White Diamond's motive, I would suggest paranoia; correctly or otherwise, she had come to suspect Pink—who was probably the single most beloved of the diamonds among the masses—was beginning to sympathize with the rebel cause, and given their closeness, if Pink turned against her, there was every possibility that Blue would as well. To make matters worse, news of the insurrection was beginning to galvanize the populations of other worlds in the empire to demand more rights, and fairer treatment. Fearing a domino effect that would end with her ousted from power and either shattered or bubbled away for all eternity, White Diamond resorted to something drastic, and ordered her most loyal servant to eliminate Pink Diamond in a manner which could be pinned on the rebels, both turning the general public against them and providing a justification to make an example of the entire Earth with the corruption bomb.
@Austin: Many (western and near-eastern) imperial titles included some variation of "King of Kings" in them, so White being the Diamond of Diamonds would be quite appropriate for the autocratic ruler of a space empire.
edited 31st May '17 7:14:48 PM by CaptainCapsase
Re: Sufficiently Advanced: I think the story does a good job at distinguishing between technology and magic. Like, modern Homeworld tech, like Peridot's limb enhancers, Aquamarine's Bullshit Wand, the modern day spaceships, are all firmly in the "technology camp". In contrast, there are some gem abilities that are just, well, abilities. They aren't magic persay, more akin to superpowers in that they're inherent abilities unique to a certain type of gem that just happen to be superhuman in nature. Old Homeworld Tech (aka what we deal with for most of Season 1) is somewhere in the middle, where it's very Ancient Aliens-y cross between ancient aesthetics and structures and far future sci-fi tech. See: Breath of the Wild and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
I'm not sold on "White Diamond is the true villain" theories, but I do place her as having a similar "highest" role. Not necessarily so high that BD and WD are completely subservient to her, all the Diamonds are all the highest, but perhaps out of some sort of seniority WD has the most authority. That is to say, she has the clout to be able to straight up not attend the trial of the murderer of Pink Diamond.
edited 31st May '17 7:22:25 PM by InAnOdderWay
I mean, Steven Universe being what it is, in this scenario I would expect White to also be feeling quite guilty over the matter and desperately reassuring herself that she Did what had to be done despite trying to put on a facade of utter indifference and stoicism and be about as sympathetic as one could expect that sort of villain to be; contemptible but also tragic and on some level almost pitiable.
edited 31st May '17 7:49:52 PM by CaptainCapsase

Since so much weight has been placed on shattering recently as a really serious thing that is literally death to Gems, I kind of want an episode mirroring An Indirect Kiss, except the Gem being cracked (maybe Peridot, Pearl, or half of Garnet) happens deliberately by a Homeworld Gem. The drama of the episode would be finishing the battle and getting Steven to that Gem to heal her before she dies permanently.
edited 31st May '17 5:47:24 PM by PushoverMediaCritic