Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26037921-20150309212855/@comment-25524070-20150415175704

I agree with the unrequited love theory. Pearl obviously feels very strongly about Rose. I mean, if she was a close friend, she would understand deeply how much Rose wanted Steven to take her place because of her love for him. As a friend, Pearl would not have acted like the way she did in the episode with Rose's Scabard. Her emotions there were very reminiscent of how Sapphire and Ruby acted when they were separated by Jasper.

Rose definitely loved Pearl as well but not in a romantic way. She would probably be flattered and will treasure her devotion and appreciate it and all that but she would not reciprocate it in the way Pearl would've wished. And yeah, the overprotectiveness over Steven also seemingly leads to her wanting to protect what's left of Rose and not wanting to protect Steven himself. She just... I believe she sees Steven as a substitute for Rose, up until the scene where Steven hugs her that is. After that, I think she finally gets how she should be acting and not the way... you know... from before.