Ruby

Ruby is character in Steven Universe, voiced by Charlyne Yi.

Ruby is a member of the Crystal Gems who was originally a Homeworld Gem soldier 5,750 years ago. After accidentally fusing with Sapphire, the two fled in order to prevent Ruby from being shattered at the hands of Blue Diamond. Ruby later joins the Crystal Gems. She made her official debut in "Jail Break". She is currently fused with Sapphire as Garnet.

Appearance

Ruby has bright scarlet skin, burgundy irises and dark burgundy, square shaped hair. She is slightly taller than Steven and has a thick build. She wears a maroon and brown tank top and a matching maroon headband tied around her hair. Her ensemble also includes mid-thigh burgundy shorts, and short, pointed maroon boots similar to Amethyst's. Her gemstone is located in the palm of her left hand and has a square facet.

Before her and Sapphire's regenerations in "Jail Break", Ruby's top was black and maroon, and she still had her maroon headband and boots and brown shorts, as seen in "Three Gems and a Baby".

In "The Answer", which flashbacked to the Rebellion and when Ruby was still a soldier for Homeworld, Ruby's outfit was similar to her current one, except she had a maroon belt, she did not have a headband, and there was more brown than maroon on her tank top.

History

Approximately 5,750 years ago, Ruby lived on Homeworld as a common foot soldier.

Homeworld was attempting to create a new colony on Earth, which was overseen by Blue Diamond. She was part of the diplomatic team sent to stop Rose's Rebellion on Earth, as one of the three Rubies assigned to guard Sapphire, an aristocratic Gem with prophetic vision, adamant for destroying the uprising in its crib. When the rebels attacked, the three Rubies fought back, attempting to fulfill their jobs, only for two of them to be poofed by Rose Quartz and Pearl before turning to Sapphire.

Before her imminent poofing, Sapphire thanked Ruby for her service, at which point Ruby realized Sapphire had already predicted this and that she knew her physical form would be destroyed. Unable to accept that she had failed her mission of protecting her, Ruby tackled Sapphire to defend her from Pearl and caused them to accidentally form Garnet, changing the prophecy foretold by Sapphire. They immediately de-fused and were surrounded by an angry crowd. Furious that Ruby interfered with the outcome of the battle (and participating in an unsanctioned fusion with a member of her court), Blue Diamond ordered that she be shattered. However, Sapphire grabbed Ruby and jumped out of the Cloud Arena towards the Earth below, landing them softly with her levitation.

Ruby was distraught that she was unable to protect Sapphire. When it began to rain, she carried Sapphire to a cave for shelter, where she saw Sapphire's single eye for the first time. The two talked about their experience and feelings being fused as Garnet.

Ruby and Sapphire grew closer and eventually decided to fuse again. Garnet was found by Pearl and Rose shortly after forming. Upon being met with acceptance and not revulsion, she began to bombard Rose with questions about the events and circumstances that allowed her to become Garnet, as well as her own feelings about existing as a fusion. Rose told her to "never question this", and said that she was already the answer to all her questions—love. This would be the beginning of Ruby's existence as part of Garnet for the next few millennia, fighting the Gem Homeworld with the Crystal Gems to protect Earth.

In the episode, "Three Gems and a Baby", soon after Steven is born, Garnet de-fuses to show Steven, who she believes is a kind of fusion, how to unfuse, but Ruby and Sapphire re-fuse once baby Steven begins to cry due to missing Garnet.

In the episode, "The Return", Garnet is poofed by Jasper and as a result Ruby and Sapphire reform separately after being kept as prisoners on the Gem Warship with the other Gems.

In the following episode, "Jailbreak", Sapphire sings in her cell in order to signal to Steven and Ruby. After Steven finds and frees Sapphire, she and Ruby reunite in the center of the ship. They make sure they are both okay before fusing once more into Garnet.

In the episode, "Keeping It Together", Ruby and Sapphire converse while they are Garnet after they see the Cluster Gems. Ruby becomes enraged and Sapphire tries to calm her down. Garnet almost unfuses, but Ruby and Sapphire find peace once again.

In the episode, "Keystone Motel", Garnet unfuses because Ruby and Sapphire have a conflict over Pearl's deception in "Cry For Help". Ruby believes that Pearl tricking Garnet into forming Sardonyx is an unforgivable act, while Sapphire is more open to Pearl redeeming herself. After Ruby storms out of the motel room, Sapphire sits quietly on a bed, expecting Ruby to calm down and see that Sapphire is right. The next day, at The Best Diner in the World, Sapphire says that Ruby will burn herself out eventually, causing Ruby to summon her gauntlet and smash the table onto its side. Steven leaves the diner, upset, and Ruby and Sapphire follow him out to see what is wrong. After realizing the effect of their conflict has on Steven, they make up and re-fuse into Garnet.

In the episode "Hit the Diamond", a Ruby squadron arrives at the Barn, leading Garnet to unfuse so Ruby can get them to leave. Ruby fails at this, but Steven convinces the Rubies that they can't search the barn until they win at baseball against a team of humans, and they have to leave if they lose. Sapphire, Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis Lazuli all pretend to be humans and play on Steven's team. At the end of the game, Ruby encourages Sapphire until she finally hits the ball and wins the game for the humans. Out of pure joy and pride, Sapphire jumps into Ruby's arms and the two accidentally form Garnet, blowing the Crystal Gems' cover.

In the episode, "Mindful Education", when Garnet is teaching Stevonnie how to stay fused under stress, Ruby is shown to get frustrated, but then have Sapphire comfort her, teaching Steven and Connie that they have to work together to stay together.

In the episode, "Gem Heist", Garnet unfuses and Sapphire devises a plan to sneak into Pink Diamond's Zoo undetected. The Crystal Gems pretend to be Homeworld Gems delivering Steven as another human for the zoo. Sapphire asks Holly Blue Agate to take her, Ruby, and Pearl on a tour of the zoo, hoping to find a door to the enclosure through which Greg Universe can escape. Holly Blue shows them one, and Ruby and Sapphire distract Holly Blue by telling her that their ship's engine is in danger of exploding. Sapphire leaves with Holly Blue to give the other Crystal Gems time to figure out how to open the door. They fail to open it, however, and Steven is sent into the enclosure alone.

Later, in the episode, "That Will Be All", Sapphire continues traveling with Ruby, Pearl, and Holly Blue. Inside of the Rose Quartz Bubble Room, Sapphire begins to freeze up in front of Blue Diamond when pressured to explain why she delivered Steven to the zoo, but Ruby holds Sapphire's hand to comfort her, and Sapphire is able to maintain their facade. Once Sapphire, Ruby, and Pearl are reunited with Amethyst, Steven, and Greg, they try to sneak back to their ship while hiding Steven and Greg from Holly Blue. However, Holly Blue realizes what's going on and attacks the Crystal Gems, and Ruby and Sapphire fuse once more to protect the others.

Personality

Ruby's rage outbursts.

According to Steven Universe's creator, Rebecca Sugar, Ruby "has no sense of what's going on around her" and "can only focus on one thing only at the expense of all things".

Ruby mainly embodies Garnet's strength and courage, while Sapphire embodies Garnet's cool nature and calm under pressure. Ruby is extremely passionate and emotional. She is known to have a short temper and violent ways of exhibiting her anger; this is best seen in "Keystone Motel", when she is infuriated to the point of using her thermokinesis and boiled the motel pool, even summoning her weapon at The Best Diner in the World. Despite her wild emotions, Ruby is still very willing to admit when she has taken her anger too far and will admit when she is in the wrong. She seems to put the welfare of Sapphire above all else, doing everything to find her and immediately made sure that Sapphire was well. When Garnet is extremely disturbed, Ruby also appears to show the most visible reaction in comparison to Sapphire. This is best demonstrated in "Keeping It Together" when Garnet's left eye began crying. After poofing the big Cluster prototype, Ruby and Sapphire start conversing with each other through their respective sides of Garnet, Ruby stating that the forced fusion experiments are Homeworld's retaliation against the Crystal Gems for their rebellion. While Sapphire shakily tries to calm themselves from this revelation, Ruby is clearly angered at the revelation of Homeworld's experiments and became hysterical. In "Gem Heist", Ruby shows animosity from the fact that Holly Blue Agate sees Blue Diamond as being merciful and starts to rant about its contradictions.

When not angry, Ruby is a suave romantic, soft with words, and quite flirtatious towards Sapphire. When she channels her emotion on love rather than on rage, she can be affectionate and extremely caring, feeling the need to protect, and even cool down for those whom she truly loves. These moments of calm also bring out the playful tease inside her, which is for the most part trapped under her wild emotions. Ruby also places much value in trust and fusion, being absolutely outraged with Pearl when she learns she was tricked into fusing into Sardonyx. She appears to be a bad conversationalist, occasionally speaking in somewhat unintelligible mumbles, a trait which she carries onto Garnet.

In "The Answer", it is seen that Ruby originally has very little sense of self-preservation or individuality, willing to take the blame for fusing with Sapphire and is content with her own inevitable destruction, arguing that there are "tons of her" in reference to the various identical Rubies found on Homeworld. She still possesses this to an extent as seen in "Jail Break" when she is only worried about Sapphire and said "Who cares?" when Sapphire asked if she is hurt.

In "Hit the Diamond", she is more calm and collected in terms of her anger than she had been in the past, but she seemed to get really nervous when she did not know what to do. She is also seen to be bad at lying under pressure, giving the Rubies the idea to search the barn. Her romantic nature is also on full display when she spends most of the game flirting with Sapphire to the point it affects the Crystal Gems' chances of winning. It is only when Steven talks to her that she focuses on the game and pushes Sapphire to do the same.

Abilities

Ruby's gauntlet.

Like all other Era 1 Gems, Ruby can change shape, invoke a weapon, take refuge in her gemstone to heal, and adapt to any extraterrestrial environment's gravity. Ruby seems to possess greater strength than most Gems, as she was able to shake the walls of her prison with a single punch, lift Sapphire with little effort in "Jail Break", and flip a diner booth table with relative ease in "Keystone Motel". Like all Gems, Ruby can fuse with other Gems.

Fusion

• When fused with Sapphire, they form Garnet.
• When fused with Sapphire and Amethyst, they form Sugilite.
• When fused with Sapphire and Pearl, they form Sardonyx.
• When fused with Sapphire, Pearl, and Amethyst, they form Alexandrite.
• When fused with other Rubies, they form a larger Ruby.

Skillset

• Gauntlet Proficiency: Through sheer anger and feeling the need to release it through violence, Ruby can summon a gauntlet like Garnet's. Although only seen once, it is clear that Ruby possesses some knowledge of how to use it.

Unique Abilities

• Thermokinesis: Ruby can increase the temperature and generate heat. This is shown in "Keystone Motel" when her body gets so hot that it begins burning the carpet of the motel room, and when she boils the pool to nothing but steam in a very short amount of time. It is shown to be related to Ruby's emotional state, as the ability manifested itself when she got furious in the aforementioned episode and when she felt infatuated in "The Answer," as she set the grass beneath her ablaze when Sapphire thanked her. In "Hit the Diamond," another Ruby was so enraged at her team's potential loss that she set a baseball ablaze.
  • Pyrokinetic Touch: This ability allows Ruby to set fire to whatever she touches depending on how angry she is. This is shown in "The Answer," where Ruby accidentally sets fire to the grass beneath her the minute she got flustered, and "Hit the Diamond" where another Ruby angrily throws a ball, setting it on fire.
• Heat Resistance: Ruby has not demonstrated this ability, but it was confirmed that the only reason Garnet can swim in lava is by Ruby.
• Enhanced Density: As seen in Keystone Motel, Ruby can walk underwater.

Trivia

• Although she is not formally introduced until "Jail Break", her first appearance is in "Fusion Cuisine".
  • When Alexandrite is separated, her silhouette, along with Sapphire's, is noticed. The left of "Garnet" is seen as Ruby, and the right of "Garnet" is seen as Sapphire.
• Garnet and the other Crystal Gems had planned to wait for Steven's birthday to introduce Ruby and Sapphire to him.
• When asked if Ruby is blind, Joe Johnston merely stated that she was "used to being fused with Sapphire, and so, used to having two types of vision."
• Ruby possibly has her own room in the Crystal Temple, as the Temple Gate has a red gemstone and a blue gemstone that Garnet opens simultaneously.
• Most of Garnet's sensitive side seems to come from Ruby; whenever Garnet cries, her tears fall from her right eye (the red-colored one) that represents Ruby.
  • Ruby cried when she and Sapphire met again in "Jail Break" while Sapphire herself appeared to remain calm in "Keeping it Together" after meeting the Cluster Gems.
• Ruby is the birthstone of Rebecca Sugar.
• During times of great conflict of opinion, she and Sapphire can talk to each other individually through Garnet, as shown in "Keeping it Together" and "Keystone Motel".
• The first hint of Ruby along with Sapphire was in the episode "Together Breakfast" when Garnet opens the door to her room. This shows two red and blue stones resembling gems light up creating an entrance for Garnet.
• In "We Are the Crystal Gems", Ruby is shown to be cracking or holding her knuckles, a sign of toughness, or that she is ready to fight while Sapphire is holding her hands together, interlocking her fingers.
  • This shows that she is calm, graceful and passionate. On the other hand, Ruby seems calmer than expected from her, and Sapphire more upbeat than usual, possibly indicating that being Garnet brings balance to their personalities.
• Ruby is denser than water, and, as such, she sinks in the pool in "Keystone Motel".
  • According to Peridot, this comes from gems' ability to manipulate gravity, making them able to float, and adapt to any planet's gravity.
• Ruby's thermoregulation of directly raising the temperature opposes Sapphire's thermoregulation of lowering the temperature, representing their polar opposite personalities.
  • Ruby's ability to raise the temperature is somewhat of a pun, being that in "Keystone Motel", where Ruby is quite literally letting off steam, and acting like a "hothead". This is also shown when Sapphire says, "She'll eventually just burn herself out."
  • Ruby and Sapphire's relationship is synonymous to the phrase, "fire and ice."
  • Garnet's electrical manipulation stems from Ruby and Sapphire's combined abilities, as thunderstorms can result from the formation of masses of cold and warm air.
• Ruby (as well as any other Rubies) are in lower class of the Gems hierarchy as foot soldiers, although in reality, rubies are nearly as rare and valuable as a diamond, it most likely Ruby was mistaken with Spinel, a common gemstone found in large amounts in countries with hot weather.
  • More proof of that is that actual rubies have a bright red or bloody pink colors, while spinels have a yellow-ish tone of red.
• Although Ruby's gemstone is in her left palm, she is shown summoning her gauntlet on her right hand.
• Ruby's gemstone cut is a square while Sapphire's is a triangle. While triangles are self-sustaining in that each side of a triangle supports the other two, squares are not (i.e. a free-formed square can be changed into a rhombus without stretching or contracting sides). This could be a metaphor for Ruby being the hotheaded counterpart to Sapphire, as she is shown to "collapse" easily as well.
• According to Garnet in "The Answer", Ruby and Sapphire met 5,750 years ago.
• Ruby's instrument has been confirmed to be "a crude waveform in between a square and a saw wave."
  • In addition, her instrument was reverse-engineered from Garnet's as seen in "Keystone Motel".
• Ruby's gauntlet greatly resembles the anti-hero Hellboy's "Right Hand of Doom".
• Ruby and Sapphire's relationship is based on Ian Jones-Quartey and Rebecca Sugar's relationship.
• Currently, Ruby has the most known fusions out of all the Crystal Gems.
• "Hit the Diamond", marks Ruby's as well as Sapphire's first appearance outside of a StevenBomb.
• Since Rhodonite appears to be a fusion of a Ruby and a Pearl, it is safe to assume that Ruby would also be able to form Rhodonite if she would fuse with a Pearl.
• Ruby's design is a reference to Ian Jones-Quartey's character, K.O., from OK KO!: Let's Be Heroes!.