Sardonyx has vermilion skin and pale apricot-colored hair, styled into a tetrahedron with very rounded corners, and a gap between her front teeth. Her torso and legs greatly resemble Garnet's, but with less mass. As a fusion, she has four arms and inherits the same locations of her gemstones as her components.
Post-regeneration (previous)
She wears a black, tailcoat tuxedo-leotard with a tangerine bow tie and a small, black star on her chest. This tailcoat comes from Pearl's sash ribbon. The underside of the tail of her tailcoat is the same shade of tangerine as her bow tie. She wears two-toned, mauve-gray leggings under crimson tips surrounding the top part of her feet. On her first set of arms, she wears white gloves, exposing her hands except a white covering on her middle fingers like Garnet's. On her second set of arms, located on her abdomen, she wears white gloves that closely resemble Sapphire's gloves that extend to her elbows.
She wears round shades that resemble those of Alexandrite's previous forms, but are slightly transparent and tinted with a dark reddish-ginger color, which reveals that Sardonyx has four eyes, two on the bottom which are large and round, and two on the top which are thin, small, and narrow. Her top pair of eyes are magenta, while the bottom pair are crimson-colored. Sardonyx appears to have a small gap between her front teeth and plump lips. Her face is rather triangular, and her feet have small, bright pink diamonds on them.
Second regeneration
Sardonyx's design is not seen in full due to her shapeshifting into Steven during "Snow Day". Her glasses now sport a sharp curve at the top, resembling a butterfly. They are tinted a lighter, more vibrant orange, though this may just be from the lighting. She also wears Ruby and Sapphire's wedding rings on her upper hands.
Personality
“
What's this? An encore performance? Just couldn't get enough of me, could you?
”
—Sardonyx, "Cry for Help"
"Elegant."
Sardonyx appears to have a combination of Garnet and Pearl's personalities, acting decidedly theatrical while also being able to keep up an intelligent conversation. Her demeanor is, for the most part, quite dramatic, as she prefers conversing with her peers in a manner similar to how a master of ceremonies would be to her audience, which fits her formal dress appearance. She seems to be snarky and witty, often laughs at her own jokes and remarks in a very pompous and comedic manner. She also seems to hold a very cheerful attitude towards almost anything as seen when she takes down the Communication Hub. She thinks very highly of herself and can be rather cocky at times, occasionally forgetting about others' feelings.[2] Despite this, Sardonyx is completely capable of being serious when necessary; when Garnet and Pearl fuse to escape a crushing deathtrap, Sardonyx breaks out without hamming it up or sticking around any longer than necessary. Unlike some other fusions, such as Sugilite, Sardonyx seems to possess no extra desire to exist as herself, as upon taking her final bow the first time she appears, she tells the others that if they need her "lovely" self again, to "Let Garnet and Pearl Know" before defusing without a struggle.
The Crystal Gems head to the Communication Hub where they discover Peridot has repaired the structure in an attempt to contact Yellow Diamond. Recalling Sugilite's rampage during their last visit to dismantle the hub, Garnet decides to fuse with Pearl. They fuse together, and Sardonyx introduces herself to an excited Steven and an irritated Amethyst. The fusion cheerfully greets Steven, delighted at finally meeting him. Sardonyx proceeds to impress him by forming her hammer and disabling the hub, during which she describes herself using numerous adjectives. She promptly unfuses after finishing. The Crystal Gems later observe Peridot's message being broadcasted again and travel back to the hub where Sardonyx dismantles the structure.
During their pursuit of Peridot inside a derelict Gem spaceship, the Crystal Gems fall into a trap. Garnet and Pearl are confined in an enclosed pit which gradually contracts. They eventually fuse together, and Sardonyx drills out of the pit with her hammer, after which she unfuses.
Sardonyx smashing her hammer into the Ruby fusion.
On the Moon Base, "Doc" and her squad of Rubies fuse together to fight the Crystal Gems after discovering their deception. Steven opens the airlock on the base, pulling the fusion partially through the door. Garnet and Pearl quickly form Sardonyx, who smashes her hammer into the Ruby fusion, forcing her to unfuse. As the Rubies are sucked out into space, Sardonyx and Amethyst watch in horror as "Eyeball" drags Steven out with her.
At the Beach House, Steven and Amethyst fuse into Smoky Quartz to show Garnet and Pearl. The two Crystal Gems are surprised and overjoyed. As Smoky begins to demonstrate their yo-yo tricks, destroying parts of the house in the process, Garnet and Pearl fuse into Sardonyx. She is excited to meet Smoky and suggests that they need a bigger "stage" to get to know each other.
Sardonyx and Smoky Quartz in Sardonyx Tonight!
She takes them to her room in the Crystal Temple, where she hosts her show, Sardonyx Tonight. At the start of the show, Sardonyx asks Smoky questions, hoping to learn more about them and their abilities. Smoky admits that they "ain't exactly a deck of cards," not having much to talk about other than their yo-yo. Determined to learn the full extent of their repertoire, Sardonyx begins the next part of her show during which she has Smoky perform a series of tests.
Sardonyx feeling embarrassed for what she's done.
Smoky is compared to the other fusions in their tests involving archery, strength, and fire-breathing. Sardonyx is disappointed to see them perform poorly on all the tests, after which Smoky begins to disparage themselves. As she observes Smoky's self-deprecation, Sardonyx realizes that she had ruined their initial plan to impress Garnet and Pearl. She unfuses in dismay, prompting the room to begin falling apart.
In battles, Garnet and Pearl can fuse into Sardonyx. She has two attacks; "Lovely Hammer", and "Try Your Luck". Like all other fusions, there is an option for Sardonyx to unfuse back into Garnet and Pearl. This is also an option on the roulette wheel using her "Try Your Luck" move.
Pearl and Garnet, shapeshifted into Steven, form Sardonyx (who is also shapeshifted into Steven) in order to catch Steven while playing Steven Tag, throwing large snowballs at him. They unfuse immediately afterwards so Pearl could fuse with Amethyst to form a Steven-formed Opal.
Abilities
Sardonyx's war hammer.
Sardonyx possesses standard Gem abilities: bubbling, shapeshifting, fusion, regeneration, agelessness, gravity shifting, weapon-Summoning, photokinesis, gem storage, and superhuman strength/durability.
When in battle, Sardonyx is both graceful and accurate, but also powerful and rather playful, messing with her opponents or audience with tricks and jokes. Despite this, she is usually quite tactical, thinking things up before acting, to make things perfect.
When fused with Amethyst and Rose Quartz, they form Obsidian.
When fused with Amethyst and Steven, they form the hybrid fusion Obsidian.
Skillset
War Hammer Proficiency: Sardonyx can combine Garnet's gauntlets and put them on the end of Pearl's spear facing inwards to make a hammer. Her use of the war hammer is methodical in approach. She uses precise, keen strikes on specific areas to inflict the most damage while also reducing the amount of effort needed to take down a structure or opponent. She describes herself and her style of combat, as "specific, intelligent, accurate, faultless, elegant, controlled, surgical, graceful, and powerful!" (But yes, occasionally, she is known to smash).
Sardonyx, forming her hammer.
Drill Transformation: By rapidly spinning the top part of her hammer, Sardonyx can transform her weapon into a drill that could easily break through the walls of the Ancient Gem Colony Ship that Garnet's gauntlets and Pearl's spear alone could not even dent.
Natural Abilities
Immense Strength:
Sardonyx smashing the Rubies.
Sardonyx has immense levels of strength, she can cover massive distances by jumping and uses her War Hammer to destroy even large buildings such as the Communication Hub pillars.
Shapeshifting: Like most other Gems, Sardonyx is capable of altering her physical form, shown as she shapeshifts into "Classic" Steven during a game of Steven Tag in "Snow Day".
Unique Abilities
Sardonyx's ability to spin parts of her body.
Anatomy Manipulation: Sardonyx has been shown to have "doll joints," body segments that have full rotation independent of the rest of her body. During her initial attack on the rebuilt Communication Hub, she was seen to spin her upper body above the sash while talking to Steven, her sash arms are seen moving separately from the rest of her body throughout the scene, and during the final strike, her whole body is spinning on one joint while her feet remain pointed up and immobile. In "Back to the Moon", it is shown that not only can her waist spin in this fashion but also her neck. She can swing her body around without taking her eyes off the Ruby fusion. In "Know Your Fusion", Sardonyx was able to move through the cramped space of the house and the Temple Gate with minimal difficulty.
Enhanced Calculations: Sardonyx could knock out the correct pillars to make sure the hub did not collapse until she wanted it to. She may have inherited this from Garnet, who mentions her ability to sense structural integrity in the episode "Cheeseburger Backpack". Alternatively, this could have come from Sapphire's future vision; she may have been able to see if knocking down a certain pillar may have caused the entire hub to collapse. She may have also inherited this from Pearl, who is precise and accurate. As with Garnet, it is currently unknown whether this is a Gem ability/power that is inherited from Ruby/Sapphire unique to both Garnet and Sardonyx or simple observation.
Sardonyx, like the rest of the Crystal Gems, has a positive opinion of Steven, as she interacted with Steven frequently, is happy to meet him, embraces him, and calls him a "sweet little charmer." Sardonyx has shown that she is quite fond of Steven, telling him jokes and performing tricks. She even compares herself to the more destructive Sugilite to impress him even more. While doing this, she shows off her anatomy manipulation, precision with her weapon, and names the qualities about herself that counter Sugilite's.
When we fuse, I can feel what it's like to be you. Confident and secure, and complete. You're perfect. You're the perfect relationship, you're always together, I just... I wanted to be a part of that.
”
—Pearl, "Friend Ship"
Pearl and Garnet fusing.
Sardonyx's component Gems. In "Cry for Help", When Garnet tells Pearl to fuse with her, Pearl is very emotional and excited to fuse with her, in order to take out the Communication Hub. After doing so, however, Pearl begins secretly repairing the Communication Hub just to form Sardonyx continuously. However, Steven and Amethyst call Pearl out for her actions, angering Garnet. Pearl tries to reason with her, saying that she wanted to share more victories with her, but Garnet refuses to believe her and decides to fuse with Amethyst to form Sugilite to destroy the Communication Hub.
After Garnet unfuses, Ruby expresses her feelings towards being manipulated by Pearl to form Sardonyx with Sapphire.
Throughout the events of the third StevenBomb, Garnet refuses to speak to Pearl for her selfish actions despite Pearl trying to apologise to her. In the second episode of the StevenBomb, "Keystone Motel", Garnet unfuses after Ruby and Sapphire argue, with Ruby refusing to forgive Pearl for her treachery and expressing how hurt she felt by being tricked into forming Sardonyx, whilst Sapphire is more willing to forgive Pearl only believes that Ruby is choosing to take the situation personally. Eventually, once they realize their fight over Sardonyx's fiasco has upset Steven, the two manage to reconcile and fuse back into Garnet. After this point, Garnet decides to only talk to Pearl when necessary, still choosing to not interact with her.
Garnet and Pearl reconciling.
In the final episode of the StevenBomb, "Friend Ship", Pearl expresses the reason why she tricked Garnet, as she feels confident, secure and complete when she's fused with Garnet as Sardonyx, showing how she admires Ruby and Sapphire's relationships together and wants to feel complete with them. Garnet is able to understand and come to terms with Pearl's reasoning, and encourages her to stay strong on herself, so that Pearl would need to earn back Garnet's trust if she wants to fuse again. As Pearl finally understands, the two fuse into Sardonyx to break out of their enclosing pit.
Throughout time, Pearl and Garnet gain a better understanding and mutual trust between each other, and are now able to have a more stable and trusting bond when fused into Sardonyx, as evidenced by "Back to the Moon" and "Know Your Fusion", in which the latter episode shows them fused as Sardonyx throughout nearly the entirety of the episode.
Hm... 'smash' is the word one would use to describe what... someone else might do.
”
—Sardonyx, "Cry for Help"
Amethyst's irritation towards Sardonyx's formation.
Amethyst appears to dislike Sardonyx, visibly annoyed when the fusion forms in "Cry for Help". In this episode, Amethyst sings a song, "Tower of Mistakes", implying that her dislike of Sardonyx stems from feelings of envy. Sardonyx's presence serves as a reminder to Amethyst that Garnet, whom she enjoys fusing with, had decided to fuse with Pearl instead of her. This, in turn, reminds Amethyst of the flaws of her own fusion with Garnet, which ultimately contributes to her feeling of inadequacy. Sardonyx generally ignores Amethyst, more focused on Steven in the episode "Cry for Help". She does, however, allude to Sugilite's volatility, much to Amethyst's vexation.
Amethyst on Sardonyx's shoulder.
In "Back to the Moon", Amethyst is seen on Sardonyx's shoulder while forming and hitting the Quintuple Ruby Fusion. In "Know Your Fusion", Smoky Quartz shows no dislike toward Sardonyx, suggesting that Amethyst may no longer hold any negative feelings of the fusion.
Sardonyx first meets Smoky Quartz after Steven and Amethyst fuse to show Garnet and Pearl. Sardonyx takes them into her room in the temple where she hosts her late-night talk show during which she interviews Smoky to learn more about them. She has them play games to try to find out what their special abilities are. This shows that, while she is interested in Smoky, she is very self-centered in her treatment of them, which causes Sardonyx to de-fuse when Pearl and Garnet realize how they were acting.
Always running 'round Kindergartens and causing trouble! Boy, that didn't quite work out for her. Guess she should go back to preschool, am I right, folks?
”
—Sardonyx mentioning Jasper, "Know Your Fusion"
Sardonyx talking about Jasper.
Although never meeting Jasper before, she mentions her on her own show, Sardonyx Tonight, that she was "Always running 'round Kindergartens and causing trouble," and joking about how she should go back to preschool. This implies that Sardonyx (and by extension Garnet and Pearl) does not have a kind heart for Jasper, calling her a troublemaker and insulting her in disdain.
She was announced in a Crewniverse Tumblr post.[3]
She is revealed in a clip shown at the official Adventure Time/Steven Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2015.
Sardonyx's outfit unusually features both diamonds and stars, with pink diamonds on her shoes, and a black star on her chest. The pink diamond design on her shoes also appears on Pearl's outfit in "Space Race", though in the middle of her torso, and indicates her former service to Pink Diamond.
Sardonyx asks Steven if she is "worth the wait," referencing the fact that she took significantly longer than the otherCrystal Gemfusions to appear the show.
According to Matt Burnett, Garnet and Pearl fused into Sardonyx with a hand-based dance in "Friend Ship".[4] This supports the fact that fusion dances may vary depending on the situation, the time they have, and how the Gems are feeling.
Her top set of eyes function as eyebrows, similar to Malachite.
Despite real life sardonyxes being quartz gems, Sardonyx herself doesn't include any Quartz-type gem as a component.
Sardonyx's eyes occasionally glow a brighter orange when she is talking to Steven, telling jokes, or when summoning her weapon. It is unknown whether this is from lighting, a mistake in animation, or if they naturally brighten when she gets excited.
According to Joe Johnston, he added a gap between Sardonyx's teeth because he also has a slight gap in his.[6]
Her war hammer is made with the gauntlets facing inward, yet the design has them facing outward.
According to Aivi Tran and Surasshu, Sardonyx's theme song shows the influence of Garnet and Pearl's respective music on each other (and as such, their personalities as well).[7]
Garnet's presence has influenced Pearl's piano to become confident and bombastic, while Pearl's presence has influenced Garnet's bass and synth sounds to become theatrical and jazzy.
Rebecca Sugar hoped for Sardonyx to have a musical number in the show.[8]
Her comical personality, coupled with the gloating of her own qualities around Amethyst, might be inspired by the word "sardonic", meaning "disdainfully or ironically humorous".
As shown in "Know Your Fusion", she shows evidence of being aware of the 4th wall, referencing directly Cartoon Network, merchandising being necessary for her show to be on air, and Sugilite's voice actress being paid for her voice being featured despite not actually being in the episode nor recording any new lines.
Smoky Quartz used the phrase "You're like twenty feet tall!" When describing Sardonyx's size, which is commonly used as a figure of speech when describing tall beings.
Cultural References
Sardonyx and Bayonetta, posing in front of the moon
Sardonyx's War Hammer
Fans have noted there are many similarities between Sardonyx, and the PlatinumGames character Bayonetta. Both pose dramatically in front of the moon before performing an attack, both are classy and self-confident, graceful yet incredibly strong, and both have a fondness for children (Bayonetta with Cereza & Loki, Sardonyx with Steven). They both taunt before finishing off their targets, and both have the same snarky means of addressing bystanders during battle.
Coincidentally, the way Sardonyx uses her war hammer is identical to how Bayonetta uses her hammer weapon, the Takemikazuchi, from Bayonetta 2.
Sardonyx's theme is also similar to the upbeat Bayonetta series soundtrack.
Her outfit is similar to a traditional mid-20th-century stage magician, show hostess, and Broadway dancer costumes.
The way she appears (pulling and opening a curtain that explodes into dragonflies) also plays into her stage magician theme.
Also, when she summons Pearl's spear and Garnet's gauntlets to create the war hammer, her actions resemble that of a performer.
It fits in perfectly with the way she talks, how she acts, and her personality, evocative of that type of entertainer.
Her showman-like personality is in many ways similar to Ruby Rhod, Chris Tucker's character in The Fifth Element.
Matt confirming Sardonyx's Main in SmashBros.
Based on her quote "But yes, occasionally, I am known to smash," fans jokingly asked Matt Burnett which character Sardonyx uses the most, or "mains", in Super Smash Bros. was, to which he replied "King Dedede", a character in the game who also uses a giant hammer.[9]
Sardonyx's hairstyle resembles an onigiri rice ball. This is referenced in a sketch by Hilary Florido.
Sardonyx's defusion resembles smoke bombs used by magicians when they disappear.
Sardonyx's upper set of eyes appears to be partly off her face. This is a common feature of cartoon characters with glasses, particularly in comedic shows.
The war hammer Sardonyx holds has a star at the end, resembling that of a magician's wand.
Pearl and Garnet's fusion dance for Sardonyx is based on choreography from multiple music videos by Kpop artist Sunmi.
The storyboard animation for the dance is also initially timed to Sunmi's track titled "Full Moon".[10]
Sardonyx is said to enhance willpower, vitality, confidence, stamina, integrity, and optimism as well as bring happiness and stability to marriages.
Sardonyx's personality and behavior, as well as Pearl's description of being fused with Garnet, seems to match perfectly with the attributes of her.
Pearl's gemstone on Sardonyx, completely smooth without facets. It is located on Sardonyx's forehead. The gemstone has a peach and orange complexion.
Ruby's gemstone on Sardonyx, featuring a square facet. It is a decahedron. It is located on Sardonyx's left palm. The gemstone has a mix of red, rose pink, light orange, and peach.
Sapphire's gemstone on Sardonyx, featuring a triangular facet. It is an octahedron. It is located on Sardonyx's right palm. The gemstone has a mix of red, rose pink, and peach.
↑"[Steven and Amethyst] wanted to impress us! They were planning this all morning; we hijacked their show! I was excited! It's not about us!!" - "Know Your Fusion"
