History Characters / StevenUniverseDiamondAuthority

* {{Matriarchy}}: Homeworld is this by default, since Gems don't actually have a gender due to being sexless sentient rocks, but their projected bodies are always female presenting and use female pronouns. They aren't better off or worse than humanity due to explicitly being female (again, they're only female by default), but they certainly aren't exactly enlightened. Despite their advanced technology, their race is highly class based and act as viruses by draining a planet's resources to create more Gems, prompting Rose Quartz to lead a rebellion against her (by default) matriarchy.

* PhysicalGod: They're unaging, gigantic, nearly indestructible, have incredible power, and were able to personally create an empire's worth of {{Servant Race}}s with incredible powers of their own. One reason why they're defeated by talking them into a HeelFaceTurn that is that it's doubtful they ''can'' be defeated in battle; the Crystal Gems have only ever managed to hold them off for a moments.

* FantasticMedicinalBodilyProduct: The Diamond Authority's sweat[[labelnote:note]]Or more precisely, steam that's condensed on their body--full gems don't really sweat.[[/labelnote]] can [[CreatingLife bring some materials to life]], and is part of what other [[SiliconBasedLife gems]] are made of. [[spoiler:It's likely Steven's spit and Rose's tears are a different form of the same substance. Combining the essence of all four Diamonds together cures [[TheCorruption gem corruption]] and can [[BackFromTheDead repair a shattered gem from their fragments]].]]

* PhysicalGod: They're unaging, gigantic, nearly indestructible, have incredible power, and were able to personally create an empire's worth of {{Servant Race}}s with incredible powers of their own.

[[folder:General]]

* NotSoDifferent:
** As shown with the interactions between Blue and Greg in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E10StevensDream "Steven's Dream"]], both the Diamonds and the Crystal Gems (and their allies) have lost a loved one in the past, and are still grieving their losses. [[spoiler:Both of them were unaware for a long time that they are grieving the loss of ''the same'' loved one.]]
** Starting in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E12JungleMoon "Jungle Moon"]], Stevonnie realizes that Pink Diamond's poor relationship with the others were just like Connie's relationship with her parents. And [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E19NowWereOnlyFallingApart "Now We're Only Falling Apart"]] further shows that Pink's life choices were still controlled by her older matriarchs, just like Connie's life was meddled with by her parents. As a result, [[StrictParentsMakeSneakyKids they had to keep secrets from their family out of fear of disappointment]]; Connie with her membership in the Crystal Gems and healed eyesight, and Pink with her [[spoiler:foundation of the Crystal Gems and Rose's true origins]].

[[Characters/StevenUniverseCrystalGems Crystal Gems]] ([[Characters/StevenUniverseStevenQuartzUniverse Steven Quartz Universe]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseGarnet Garnet]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseAmethyst Amethyst]] | [[Characters/StevenUniversePearl Pearl]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseRoseQuartz Rose Quartz]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseConnieMaheswaran Connie Maheswaran]] | [[Characters/StevenUniversePeridot Peridot]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseLapisLazuli Lapis Lazuli]]) | [[Characters/StevenUniverseGemFusions Gem Fusions]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseHomeworldGems Homeworld Gems]] | '''Diamond Authority''' ([[Characters/StevenUniverseYellowDiamond Yellow Diamond]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseBlueDiamond Blue Diamond]] | [[Characters/StevenUniversePinkDiamond Pink Diamond]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseWhiteDiamond White Diamond]]) | [[Characters/StevenUniverseYellowDiamondsCourt Yellow Diamond's Court]] ([[Characters/StevenUniverseJasper Jasper]]) | [[Characters/StevenUniverseBlueDiamondsCourt Blue Diamond's Court]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseSpinel Spinel]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseOffColors Off Colors]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseGemMonsters Gem Monsters]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseLittleHomeworld Little Homeworld]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseHumans Humans]] ([[Characters/StevenUniverseGregUniverse Greg Universe]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseLarsBarriga Lars Barriga]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseSadieMiller Sadie Miller]]) | [[Characters/StevenUniverseOther Other]] | [[Characters/StevenUniverseS1E33GarnetsUniverse Garnet's Universe]]]]-]]]

* FreudianTrio: According to [[WordOfGod the second art book]], ''End of an Era'', the Diamonds are actually a rare Freudian ''quartet,'' with White as the superergo, Pink as the id, and Blue and Yellow sharing the role of the ego. [[spoiler:Also a justified example, given the implication they're a case LiteralSplitPersonality due to White trying to separate her flaws from herself.]]

* FreudianTrio: According to [[WordOfGod the second art book]], ''End of an Era'', the Diamonds are actually a rare Freudian ''quartet,'' with White as the superergo, Pink as the id, and Blue and Yellow sharing the role of the ego.

* LackOfEmpathy: The Diamonds' defining trait. They don't care that colonizing planets would kill off the species and wildlife there, and every Gem who serves them are treated as wholly expendable. Even Pink, who was nicer by comparison, acted like a spoiled brat [[spoiler:[[CharacterDevelopment at first]].]] They do care for each other, as Yellow attempted to comfort Blue and persuade her to move on from Pink's death; [[spoiler:it was after continuing to treat Pink like an immature kid up until she faked her shattering that they started getting the empathy they should have showed her, but they dealt with it in their own, unhealthy ways.]] Even then, it's shown they have difficulty truly understanding one another, [[spoiler:until Steven manages to get all three of them to realize their capacity for having empathy by having them realize how much enforcing Homeworld's doctrine, or rather '''''[[WellIntentionedExtremist White Diamond's]]''''' doctrine, has caused them to hurt for eons.]]
** [[spoiler:[[WordOfGod Rebecca Sugar and her Crewniverse confirm]] [[FreudianExcuse that the Diamonds didn't have time to learn about empathy throughout their entire existence]]; they were always doing their jobs as intergalactic rulers throughout their entire existences, and it isn't until eons later that they slowly learn about empathy through Pink Diamond's rebellion. [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]] shows a deeper meaning behind it; from the moment they first came into being, the Diamonds have spent their entire existences as the rulers of Homeworld, having to uphold and live up to White Diamond's extremely high standards for eons. Yellow, Blue, and Pink eventually grew tired of it, but still put with it in order to avoid facing White's wrath, leading them to lash out at other Gems, with Yellow and Blue lashing out at Pink. It isn't until Steven openly rebels against Yellow and Blue in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]] that they finally show empathy for Pink and regret everything they put her through, and it's completely deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'', where the Diamonds finally realize how much they've hurt so many Gems during their monarchy, leading them to develop new powers to heal and help other Gems to undo all the damage they've done and make up for all the trouble they've caused for eons.]]
** Individually, each of the Diamonds represent certain aspects of the trope: Yellow Diamond represents the NeverBeHurtAgain aspects, repressing all of her grief and other negative emotions to avoid emotional pain, and violently lashing out at things (and people) that cause that pain to resurface. Blue Diamond represents the ItsAllAboutMe aspects, blaming others for her grief and forcing them to feel her pain while [[NeverMyFault ignoring that she's part of the problem]]. Pink Diamond represents the InnocentlyInsensitive aspects, doing things with the best intentions yet always screwing up in the end because she never considers how others might feel or think about her actions for the long-term. White Diamond represents the BelievingTheirOwnLies aspects, believing that she is perfection itself and forcing others to follow her standards, never realizing that those same standards are flawed to begin with until she is given a (figurative) slap to the face.

* WorldsStrongestMan: The Diamonds are undoubtedly the strongest Gems in existence, with even their weakest member being magnitudes stronger than any other Gem.

* DemotedToComicRelief: TheMovie and ''Future'' reduces their roles to wacky elder relatives who all adore and want to greatly spoil Steven, much to his chagrin.

* OnlyFriend: It's gradually revealed that because of how the Diamonds genuinely believe themselves superior to, and different from, everyone else, Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond are the only one who treat each other as equals. [[spoiler:This leads to Pink Diamond "dying" when she tries to win her fellow Diamonds' love, only to be rebuffed for not being like them.]]

* TheComicallySerious: They are all-powerful beings, but squabble over nonsense, while at the same time not understanding others' nonsense.

* FreudianTrio: According to [[WordOfGod the second art book, ''End of an Era'']], the Diamonds are actually a rare Freudian ''quartet,'' with White as the superergo, Pink as the id, and Blue and Yellow sharing the role of the ego.

* FreudianTrio: Pink Diamond (Id), Blue Diamond (Ego), and Yellow Diamond (Superego). [[spoiler:After Pink's HeelFaceTurn, the roles between her and Yellow are reversed.]] According to Rebecca Sugar, this is intentional, but Yellow is ultimately also the Ego while White is the sole Superego.

* PhysicalGod: They're unaging, gigantic, nearly indestructible, have incredible power, and were able to personally create an empire's worse of {{Servant Race}}s with incredible powers of their own.

* LiteralSplitPersonality: [[spoiler:White implies that the other Diamonds are aspects of herself that she's separated into individual beings in order to cleanse herself of what she thinks are flaws.]]

* TheAtoner: ''Homeworld Bound'' reveals that [[spoiler:after relinquishing control of the empire they've dedicated their lives to [[MustMakeAmends doing everything in their power to fix the damage they've done to other gems]]]].

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: [[spoiler:''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'' reveals that one of Steven's rules for Era 3 changes on Homeworld is for them to no longer be in charge.]] Later, ''Homeworld Bound'' shows that [[spoiler:they're all [[DeconstructedTrope a lot happier without their power and authority]].]]

* SiblingSenioritySquabble: Nominally, the are supposed to be equals, but the youngest one, Pink, often found herself overruled by her older siblings Yellow and Blue. [[spoiler:To the point that they usurped control of the Earth from her when she decided that the native Earth life should be allowed to thrive in peace without Gem interference. Later, it's shown that despite their alleged equal standing, White is obviously the one in charge.]]

** [[spoiler:For Pink, she assumed that her "sisters" didn't love her at all due to PoorCommunicationKills and their own actions, which (partially) led to her rebelling and ultimately "dying". It echoes the situation of many teenagers who, due to being unloved, either run away, commit suicide, or both out of the belief that their loved ones would be better off without them.]]

** Yellow Diamond, the first member introduced, is a LadyOfWar who has conquered more planets than any other Gem, has [[ShockAndAwe lightning powers]] that can instantly incapacitate any rebel and is generally considered the greatest warrior in the universe. However, she's also dealt with the loss of her younger "sister" Pink Diamond by repressing all of her emotions and trying to eradicate everything that Pink ever touched, essentially refusing to grieve and therefore heal. She also suffers from [[ItsAllMyFault extreme guilt]] for granting Pink a colony of her own (namely, Earth), which in turn led to the Crystal Gem uprising and Pink's death. Later episodes also reveal that she deeply resented Pink as well, as White Diamond (the leader of the Diamond Authority) appeared to [[ParentalFavoritism favor the younger Gem]] even though Yellow is the most successful at bringing colonies under Homeworld's control.

* TheHecateSisters: If we're going by the Diamonds revealed first, Pink Diamond (the most childlike and implied to be the youngest) is the Maiden, Blue Diamond (the most openly caring for her "sisters") is the Mother, and Yellow Diamond (stoic and businesslike) is the Crone. Going by current members of the Diamond Authority, Blue Diamond (most openly emotional) is the Maiden, Yellow Diamond (the responsible one) is the Mother, and White Diamond (implied to be the oldest) is the Crone.

* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:The Diamonds' condescending and emotionally neglectful treatment of Pink Diamond helped lead to her rebellion, believing the other Diamonds didn't care about her and what she believed in/thought at all. This led to both Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond grieving for millennia... until they find "Pink" in the form of Steven, which they are delighted by. Despite suffering firsthand the consequences of what they had done to their little "sister", Blue and Yellow are eager to resume their old lives before Pink "died" and try to do everything to mold "Pink" into a model Diamond, completely missing the fact that they're repeating the exact cycle that drove Pink away in the first place. Subverted in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]], in which Blue and Yellow finally realize how horrible they've been to Pink and that they've been repeating the exact cycle that drove Pink away in the first place.]]

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Despite outwardly portraying themselves as all-powerful, perfect, and unbreakable, in private, Yellow and especially Blue Diamond are deeply affected by the loss of their "sister", Pink Diamond, and deal with it in their own ways. [[spoiler:And Pink Diamond herself ''hated'' what the Gems were doing to the planets they colonized, but couldn't express it as a Diamond.]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The highest authorities of the Homeworld Gems, and their [[LargeAndInCharge biggest]] and most powerful fighters. To put in perspective, [[spoiler:it took the combined effort of the entire team, including [[PersonOfMassDestruction Lapis]] just to bring Blue Diamond to her knees. When [[GeneralRipper Yellow Diamond]] entered the fray, the battle quickly became a CurbStompBattle and would probably have ended in total annihilation had Steven not managed to reach out to them. Pink Diamond was strong enough to apparently fend off Garnet, Pearl, Bismuth, and two other Crystal Gems while merely ''pretending'' to fight. And White Diamond was so powerful that actually fighting her was a such a non-starter that she had to be [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talked into submission]] instead.]]

* DysfunctionalFamily: While the Diamonds ''do'' love each other, they've got serious issues and don't get along the best. White Diamond is never around and treats the others rather dismissively when she is [[spoiler:and when pushed is a straight up AbusiveParent]], Yellow Diamond seems unable to understand her sisters or take their issues seriously while being desperate for White's attention, Blue Diamond can be condescending to her sisters without meaning to, and Pink could annoy the others without meaning to and seemed unwilling to be open towards them. Back when Pink was around, how her sisters acted towards her ultimately alienated her and [[spoiler:she came to the conclusion they didn't give a darn about her at all]]. Despite Pink Diamond's [[spoiler:faked]] death briefly uniting the other three to use the Corruption attack, the situation doesn't seem to have changed all that much after six thousand years. [[spoiler:In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]], Blue notes to White that they used to be close, and realizes that Pink did the silly things she did to make them happy. At the end of the episode, all three Diamonds have not only made a HeelFaceTurn, but have become close with each other again, putting an end to this trope for them.]] As the major theme of the show is interpersonal relationships, it's understandable the main antagonists would represent a negative one.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling:
** Before her death, Pink Diamond was seen as the Foolish sister by the older and more Responsible Yellow and Blue, since she acted like an immature, spoiled brat. [[spoiler:Later reversed, deconstructed and PlayedForDrama; Pink eventually matured and gained empathy after spending time on Earth, her own colony, but her attempts to sway Blue and Yellow into leaving Earth alone caused her "sisters" to continuously label her as ungrateful and ignore her. Pink rebelling sparked a war that led to her supposed death, and Blue and Yellow haven't been the same ever since.]]
** In Pink's absence, Yellow Diamond is the Responsible sibling, trying to keep Homeworld together while Blue, the Foolish sibling, spends her days neglecting her position in favor of grieving Pink's death and trying to find her dead sister's killer. [[spoiler:Reversed in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]], in which Blue, the Responsible sibling, makes a HeelFaceTurn and realizes how unfair her and the other Diamonds' treatment of their subjects is, whereas Yellow, the Foolish sibling, attempts to uphold White's example and stop Blue from helping Steven and Connie return to Earth.]]

* TheHecateSisters: If we're going by the Diamonds revealed first, Pink Diamond (the most childlike and implied to be the youngest) is the Maiden, Blue Diamond (the most openly caring for her sisters) is the Mother, and Yellow Diamond (stoic and businesslike) is the Crone. Going by current members of the Diamond Authority, Blue Diamond (most openly emotional) is the Maiden, Yellow Diamond (the responsible one) is the Mother, and White Diamond (implied to be the oldest) is the Crone.

* TheHorseshoeEffect: Blue Diamond wallows and obsesses over her grief for Pink Diamond, doing everything she can to preserve what was left of her dead sister's legacy, including adopting her Gems, visiting Earth at her grave site, tending to her Zoo and taking Greg to save him from the Cluster. Yellow Diamond on the other hand has become [[EvilIsPetty petty]] and defensive, pretending to have moved on and wishing to ''destroy'' Pink Diamond's legacy just to prove it. Either way, they are ''both'' miserable.

* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:The Diamonds' condescending and emotionally neglectful treatment of Pink Diamond helped lead to her rebellion, believing the other Diamonds didn't care about her and what she believed in/thought at all. This led to both Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond grieving for millennia... until they find "Pink" in the form of Steven, which they are delighted by. Despite suffering firsthand the consequences of what they had done to their little 'sister', Blue and Yellow are eager to resume their old lives before Pink "died" and try to do everything to mold "Pink" into a model Diamond, completely missing the fact that they're repeating the exact cycle that drove Pink away in the first place. Subverted in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]], in which Blue and Yellow finally realize how horrible they've been to Pink and that they've been repeating the exact cycle that drove Pink away in the first place.]]
* IndividualityIsIllegal: When Jasper said that no Gem is allowed to behave outside of the Diamond's caste system, that includes ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Diamonds themselves]]''. A lot of the tension between Pink and Blue and Yellow was Pink's desire to act how she wanted, in contrast to what her sisters expected of her based on the standards White sets. [[spoiler:When Pink begged them one time too many to leave Earth to the natives, they usurped control of Earth from her and reduced her to a PuppetQueen. Pink did ''not'' take it well.]]

* Ambiguous Disorder: All four of the Diamonds appear to suffer from [[https://www.bridgestorecovery.com/borderline-personality-disorder/types-borderline-personality-disorder/ different subtypes of borderline personality disorder]], and neatly slot into the [[https://outofthefog.website/personality-disorders-1/borderline-mother-types four types of borderline parent]]. While all have self-destructive features, White and Pink are Petulant, while Yellow is Impulsive and Blue is Discouraged. As to their parenting styles, White is the controlling and narcissistic Queen, Yellow is the angry, embittered Witch, Blue is the passive-aggressive, depressed Waif, and Pink is the secretive, rebellious Hermit.

* {{Adorkable}}: All four Diamonds are to this to some degree [[spoiler:especially after their individual [[HeelFaceTurn Heel-Face Turns]]]], and show it in unique ways with Yellow being a DeadpanSnarker and NotSoAboveItAll, Blue being LiteralMinded and prone to TearsOfJoy, White being a full blown DramaQueen, while the deceased Pink was [[spoiler:an adorable FunPersonified Diamond]]. When put it in a situation where all are enjoying themselves together they are clearly this, as seen when [[spoiler:they are having fun together near the end of [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]], and pretty much all their interactions in [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie the movie]]]].

* EvilAunt: [[spoiler:They don't know it until [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E23Reunited "Reunited"]], but Yellow and Blue are essentially Steven's maternal aunts. That said, ''once'' the know it (sort of), [[CoolAunt they're a lot nicer to him]], and even them violently turning against him for fusing with Connie results in them seeing the error of their ways.]]