Pyrope

“	You know, you really have been quite the unruly house guests. Oh Prism! I think it's time we see our guests out.	”
—Unleash the Light

Pyrope
Nickname(s)	Beloved Pyrope (herself) Perfect Pyrope (herself) Crustiest of the uppercrusts (Bismuth) Silly Garnet (Hessonite)
Characteristics
Species	Gem
Weapon(s)	Handheld fan (summoned) Gem Technology; specifically Light Prism (non-summoned; formerly)
Sex	Sexless
Gender Pronoun	She/Her
Age	6,000+
Traits
Complexion	Pink
Hair	Crimson
Eyes	Maroon
Gemstone	Pyrope
Gem Type	Garnet
Professional Status
Affiliation(s)	Gem Homeworld Blue Diamond (former superior)
Occupation(s)	Aristocrat (formerly) Prism-bearer (formerly)
Alignment	Homeworld Gems (formerly; rogue)
Personal Status
Status	Inactive (poofed)
Friend(s)	Demantoid (formerly) Hessonite (formerly)
Media
First Appearance	Unleash the Light
Voice Actor	Kari Wahlgren

Pyrope is one of the main antagonists and a boss in Unleash the Light. She is an Era 1 Garnet and a former holder of one of the remaining Light Prisms. She is also the former owner of the Palace of Light and former ruler of Blue Colony 4.

Appearance

Pyrope's build is similar to that of Hessonite and Demantoid, with pink skin and a crimson hairstyle resembling an afro. She also has thin, pastel pink eyebrows, and a dark inverted-triangle skin marking over the top half of her face that resembles a shadow or veil. She wears a crimson dress with pastel pink shoulder pads and poofy sleeves. Her dress opens in the lower half showing pastel pink boots with rose accents and dark fuchsia pantaloons. Her rectangular-faceted gem is located in her midsection.

Personality

Pyrope acts in a cheerful yet snobbish manner and had a very high opinion of herself, which made sense considering her former status in Homeworld's Empire. According to Hessonite she could be easily distracted to the point of immediately abandoning a task when something else got her attention and could also be oblivious to information that was clear to others, such as Hessonite being an ally to the Crystal Gems but not realizing it until her disguise was removed. She firmly believed all Gems needed a ruler and were lost without one. However, despite her cheery disposition, she can still lose her temper, which was put on full display when the Crystal Gems directly confronted and defeated her and Demantoid before they were poofed by each other.

History

Over 6,000 years before the present day, Pyrope ruled a colony from the Palace of Light, but took it offworld when lesser Gems began encroaching on the Palace's outer reaches and cut off all communications and contact with Homeworld. She was also closely acquainted with Hessonite and later Demantoid.

Unleash the Light

At the start of Era 3 under the peaceful ruler of Steven Universe, son of Pink Diamond, Pyrope and Demantoid put into action a plan of seizing rulership after being liberated from the Great Diamond Authority. They ignored Steven's orders to liberate colonies and relinquish weapons, instead establishing a base at Pyrope's old Palace while simultaneously cutting off all other colonies from Homeworld, banning their Gems from speaking of Era 3 and replacing them with constructs from their Prisms. When Steven and the Crystal Gems came to request an audience she immediately panicked and sent them away without warning. Despite this she appeared on a monitor to interrupt a disguised Hessonite's meeting with the Crystal Gems to her dismay; Hessonite allowed her to drone on before she was sidetracked by messages on another Homeworld channel. She appeared on another monitor to taunt the Crystal Gems and interrupt Hessonite again; when Demantoid came into the conversation she cut her off just before she could be informed of Hessonite's identity.

She was surprised at seeing the Gems in her room proudly boasting about her status to the annoyance of everyone else and expressing irritation at their persistence before engaging them. When Demantoid arrived she was scolded for her pride before Hessonite entered and was shocked after unmasking her. She expressed her outrage at Hessonite's actions and looked on eagerly as Hessonite's Prism, George, was forced by Demantoid to combine with the other Prisms. After being defeated, Pyrope ordered Demantoid to get the Prisms to attack again but was pushed off by her fellow Garnet. When Bismuth took away their Prisms and Demantoid's Limb Enhancers the two argued about how their failure was each other's fault ending with them attacking and poofing each other.

Abilities

Pyrope possesses standard Gem abilities: bubbling, shapeshifting, fusion, regeneration, agelessness, gravity shifting, weapon-Summoning, photokinesis, gem storage, and superhuman strength/durability.

Skillset

• Light Prism: Pyrope owned a Prism of Light which she used to fight the Crystal Gems.  However, it was eventually taken away from her.
  • Holographic Projection: Pyrope can project holographic images from the help of her Prism, although she mainly uses this to throw off her enemies in a fight.
• Handheld Fan Proficiency: Pyrope is able to summon a fan as her weapon. She could use her fan to attack by throwing it like a boomerang and easily poofing other Gems if they were hit with it enough times.

  

  Pyrope's fan.

  • Wind Boost: She could also boost wind waves against opponents and this energy could be concentrated into a larger red whirlwind that crossed all opponents at the same time.

Natural Abilities

• Enhanced Strength: Pyrope is decently strong, her superhuman strength is able to hurt the Crystal Gems. She was also able to poof Demantoid with her bare hands.
• Enhanced Durability: Pyrope is also durable, since she can withstand attacks from the Crystal Gems without serious damage, only ever poofing against another Garnet, Demantoid.

Unique Abilities

• Levitation: Pyrope can briefly float in the air with her dress.

Trivia

• Her design and fan could be inspired by or may reference the feminine style from the French Baroque era prior to the French Revolution. These features also highlighted Pyrope's position in the hierarchy. Her choice of the baroque-designed Blue Colony 4 also supported this.
  • According to Grumpyface Studios, Pyrope's design was based off of Marie Antoinette and the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.
• In her initial designs:
  • Her hair was potentially going to be very short, with the option to be tall and cylindrical.
  • Her eyebrows had the potential to be a pointy M-shaped unibrow, closer to the standard unibrows of other Garnets.
  • She was originally going to have visibly long eyelashes that extended off her face and ended in circles/spheres.
  • Her gemstone was originally going to be triangular or square-shaped as opposed to the standard rectangular shape of other Garnets, and was originally located on her left cheek (akin to a beauty mark) rather than her stomach.
  • Her face was going to be more tear-drop shaped with a pointed chin, as opposed to the standard rectangular shape of other Garnets.
  • Her dress was originally going to be shorter and more spherical.
• As indicated by the variations in her initial concept designs, the dark marking over the top half of Pyrope's face appears to be a skin marking (similar to that over Hessonite's left eye) that resembles a shadow or veil, rather than an actual shadow cast by her hair. This is further confirmed by Hessonite and Demantoid lacking shadows over their own faces despite also having large hair.
• She is the only known non-fusion Garnet to not have a unibrow.
• Pyrope having a fan as her weapon was Rebecca Sugar's idea.
• Originally her “duplicate/illusions” battle ability was going to initiate from her taking out and admiring herself in a mirror , but Grumpyface Studios had to simplify the animation for time.

Gemstone

Image	Description
	Pyrope's gemstone is located in her midsection. It is reddish-pink and rectangular in shape and has facets around the edge similar to Hessonite and Demantoid's gemstones.

References