Winter Forecast brought up some questions. They still don’t have answers, but they’ve been around since before this site was launched so now is as good a time as any to take a stab at them, especially given the extra information we’ve been given.
What is the shooting star?
In Monster Buddies (the last episode that aired before we launched), Pearl referred to the shooting star as an “ancient elemental”. This was always perplexing: elementals are usually thought of as being thinking entities, while the shooting star is always referred to as a thing to be used. If it was a formerly sentient entity that was transformed into a weapon, it wouldn’t be the first time the Gems had done something similar.
We know that a Gem’s gem contains the ability to pour out massive amounts of energy. If that energy was all released at once, it could easily account for the explosion shown when it detonates. It being some kind of precursor species, or a more powerful but less numerous variant that the Gems fought for dominance and defeated, could explain why Pearl refers to the shooting star as “ancient”.
The question then shifts to what such a powerful weapon would be doing on Earth in the first place. It’s not being kept in a very secure location, and it’s doubtful that it was launched there because however long the Gems have been on Earth it’s exceedingly unlikely it was long enough for a mountain to grow up over it.
We’ve just been shown so little about the shooting star. Perhaps it (and more weapons like it) will come up in the future if the history of the Gems is ever delved into in any more detail. Until then it’s one big mystery.
Gem space travel
It should be fairly self-evident that Gems don’t need the Warp to get around from planet to planet. It’s certainly far more convenient to use, but you have to get to a planet to set up warp pads somehow. Pearl removed all guesswork from the matter by saying that the homeworld could find another way to get to Earth.
Now with the Galaxy Warp almost certainly destroyed, we’re about to see how long it takes for the Gems to arrive. Unless the season finale involved a reactivated Kindergarten, we’re probably going to see an invasion fleet of Gems show up on Earth just several months after the destruction of the Galaxy Warp.
You know what excites us most of all? The prospect of seeing an actual Gem starship.
2 comments
Honestly, whe you said ancient elemental the first thing I thought was Lapis Lazulli.
My personal theory is that there are a small group of gems who exhibit powers beyond anything other gems can do. These being the elemental gems (For lack of a better term). We already know two of these gems: Lapis Lazulli (Water) and Rose (Plants). Maybe the shooting star was a dormant fire elemental gem.
Also, I’m pretty sure “Diamond” is an elemental (Being the leader and all of that).
When you said Elementals the one thing I though about was lapis Lazulli.
I have a personal theory that the strongest gems out there (Lapis, Rose, “Diamond”), are called elemental because thet have a huge degree of control over a given element or thing (ater, plantlife, etc). Going from that logic, maybe the shooting star was an inactive or contained fire elemental of some sort.