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Character tropes found in The Story of Black Pearl. For the original series, click here.
Black Pearl
Black Pearl/Pink Pearl/Rosa
click here to see her as Pink Pearl
The former, as well as the first, Pearl of Pink Diamond. After her mistress's shattering, she was taken up by Yellow Diamond and thrown into Project Black. Though she survived the procedure, it took a heavy toll on her mental state. Now she only has one goal: Find Rose Quartz, the gem who shattered her Diamond.
- Almighty Janitor: Even before becoming Black Pearl, she's shown to be a lot more influential than gems of her status usually are. In a flashback it's revealed that she was the one responsible for Pink Diamond receiving Earth as a colony.
- Always Someone Better: After Black Pearl's cover is blown, she ends up crossing swords with the Crystal Gems' Pearl. While both of them were trained by Pink Diamond, Pearl proves herself the superior swordswoman, by not only matching Black Pearl blow-for-blow, but also shattering her sword. It's only because of her Stain abilities that she has an edge over the Crystal Gems' Pearl at all.
- An Arm and a Leg: Several of her limbs have been destroyed due to 'Project Black'. The Stain formed replacements, though the discoloration is still visible.
- Appropriated Appellation: She's been called many things, but took a liking to 'Black Pearl' after hearing some of the rebels refer to her as such.
- Ax-Crazy: Black Pearl is an absolute menace both on and off the battlefield. She shattered and poofed multiple gems during her breakout in Project Black, as well as threatened the head scientist with death to cooperate with her.
- Been There, Shaped History: While not yet revealed within the comic proper, a Tumblr post revealed that she created multiple species now found on Earth - including humans, who were originally made for Pink Diamond's entertainment.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: She was subject to constant agony under Project Black, and the millennia of torment lead to her becoming a sociopathic killer who can only derive pleasure from suffering (both her own and others').
- Berserk Button:
- Talking about Pink Diamond. It usually either triggers her Berserk Mode or causes her to deliver a savage No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the offending party.
- A lot more subtle, but she seems to dislike other gems name-calling her. When a rebel Agate calls her a freak, she gives her a Death Glare and impales her right arm with the Stain. Later on, the Pyrite captain referring to her with this causes her to pause for a second before she answers.
- She's also infuriated when Chrysoberyl presents her with what she believes to be faulty information, as the official report claims that Pink Diamond's Pearl was with her at the time of her shattering.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When she first meets Steven, she plays herself off as an innocent, frightened Gem who just wants to escape from the cruelty of Homeworld, all while hiding that she's a sadistic, manipulative sociopath using him for her own gain.
- Body Horror: The inclusion of the Stain into her form resulted in several of her limbs being damaged as well as the loss of her right eye.
- Clothing Combat: Black Pearls weapon is a ribbon that she wields as a whip, though she seems to prefer hand-to-hand combat.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Due to her Sense Loss Sadness, pain, both her own and others' became addicting to her as it's really the only thing she still can feel.
- Determinator: One thing that can be said about Black Pearl is that she does not give up. She's relentless both in battle and in her quest to find the truth about Pink Diamond. In Bad Omen, it's revealed that she's basically the gem equivalent of a walking corpse, but keeps herself together solely through her desire to uncover the conspiracy around Pink Diamond's death.
- Eye Scream: She's missing her right eye, courtesy of Project Black. This can't really be seen in the comic, due to her covering up her damaged eye-socket with her bangs.
- Fantastic Racism: Black Pearl doesn't think too highly of humans, collectively referring to them all as "mongrels". This dislike turns into full-on hatred after she finds out the truth - that Pink Diamond abandoned her for those very "mongrels".
- Faux Affably Evil: She's a ruthless, sadistic assassin who relishes in pain and torment, all while acting courteous and friendly with her victims even as she torments them. Of course, her polite demeanor is all an act to off-balance her enemies and show how little she thinks of them.
- Femme Fatalons: Which are sharp enough to cut glass, as she demonstrates for Chrysoberyl.
- Fusion Dance: The Stain grants her the ability to weaponize this; she can forcibly fuse with others by overpowering their will, ravaging their body, and leaving them an shattered shell of their former self.
- Glamour Failure: Whenever she gets especially riled up about something, the Stain starts creeping out to cover her body and face.
- Glass Cannon: While the inclusion of the Stain has made her immensely powerful, Black Pearl is still just a Pearl. Adding to that, her powers de-stabilize her body and mind. If an opposing, stronger gem got close enough to actually get their hands on her, she'd likely poof in less than a second.
- Guile Hero: Back when she was Pink's Pearl, she was clever enough to support her Diamond's desires through careful manipulation and string-pulling. Despite her humble station, she was resourceful enough that she set things in motion for Pink to receive Earth as her first colony. Of course, such skills are being put to much darker ends now...
- I Am Not Left-Handed: In Bad Omen 3, part 1, White Diamond, through White Pearl, seeks out Black Pearl in her cell to test her abilities and deliberately steps over the safety line on the floor. When Black Pearl proves to be even more volatile and violent than reported, she retreats back behind said line again, only for Black Pearl to tell her that the line is meaningless, because she only pretended those were the limits of her abilities.
- It's All About Me: Black Pearl's life was undeniably a tragic one, but that doesn't change the fact that, in the present, she has no empathy for the people around her and reduces the stakes of the Homeworld-Earth war to her personal vendetta against Rose Quartz. When confronted with the Awful Truth that her own Diamond was the rebel leader responsible for her suffering, she resolves to destroy Earth and all the innocent people living on it just so "Pink Diamond" (Steven) will talk to her properly.
- I Reject Your Reality: After finding out the Awful Truth about Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz, namely, that they're one and the same, as well as the fact that Pink gave up her body to create Steven, Black Pearl's mind is so thoroughly broken she goes into deep denial mode. Rather than accept the truth, she thinks Steven is still Pink taking on a different form and all she has to do to draw her Diamond out is destroy the Earth.
- Killing Intent: When she sees that Connie has Rose's sword (the very same allegedly used to shatter Pink Diamond), she lets out a wave of pure murderous intent that briefly paralyzes Connie with fear, all while Black Pearl maintains her pleasant, innocent demeanor.
- Mask of Sanity: Black Pearl can put up a convincing one when with Steven and Connie. Though sometimes it slips, making Connie realize that there's something seriously wrong with the Gem.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Black Pearl couldn't care less about the on-going war between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems. The only thing she cares about at this point is avenging Pink Diamond and if supporting Homeworld's side will get her closer to that goal, she'll gladly play the part of their attack dog.
- Omnicidal Maniac: After she learns the Awful Truth, that Pink Diamond faked her death to become Rose Quartz, she fully devolves into this, intent on wiping out the entire planet both to force Pink Diamond out of Steven (refusing to believe she's gone) and as an act of petty spite towards Earth for being something her master loved more than her.
- One-Winged Angel: Her "fusion" with all of the Pyrite soldiers into Arsenopyrite by impaling them all with her black spikes and then basically absorbing them pretty much serves as this as unlike usual gem fusions, she entirely takes control of the fusion and keeps the exact same conscience when she was Black Pearl. As Arsenopyrite, she is absolutely massive, completely towering over everyone.
- Pay Evil unto Evil:
- Her actively strong-arming Chrysoberyl into helping her on the threat of death would be pretty horrific, though considering that the Gem scientist was responsible for remorselessly torturing her over the millennia of Project Black (not to mention shattered countless other gems over the course of said project without a shred of guilt), it isn't exactly unwarranted either.
- She's on the receiving end in Episode 13. After numerous instances of seeing her effortlessly destroy rebel gems and torture those who she doesn't immediately shatter, all for her own sick amusement, it's a bit hard to feel for her when White Diamond subjects her to Cold-Blooded Torture and firmly establishes herself as a greater evil than Black Pearl will ever be.
- Power at a Price: The Stain used to modify her body has granted her incredibly frightening powers, but her body and mind have become unstable as a result. Many of her senses have been deadened to the point that she no longer derives any enjoyment from them. There's also how she's effectively a walking corpse, held together only by sheer determination.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Believes that all of the official reports about what happened to Pink Diamond are based on faulty information. While she's correct that they don't have the full story, the detail that she thinks proves their falsehood is that they claim Pink's Pearl was with her at the time. And since she wasn't there, there's no way that could be correct... right?
- The Scapegoat: Yellow Diamond considered her a bad influence on Pink since she encouraged her to pursue her dreams of being treated as an equal and arranged for her to receive her first colony. Thus, she blamed her for Pink's shattering and threw her into Project Black as punishment.
- Sense Loss Sadness: Several of her senses, such as taste, smell, and the ability to perceive colors, have been lost or deadened. Scenes entirely from her point of view are Deliberately Monochrome in order to reflect this. She admits to herself that part of her wished her interactions with Steven could help fix that.
- Slasher Smile: She has one on certain occasions. And it is horrifying.
- Team Killer: Heavily implied to be this in Proposition and supplementary material. Homeworld Gems that get sent on missions with her always seem to wind up shattered.
- Tempting Fate: After Moonstone's attempt to read her future results in nothing but vague feelings of pain, sorrow, rage and betrayal, Black Pearl dismisses the entire vision as useless. She does briefly wonder about the 'betrayal' she will supposedly feel, but then brushes it off, musing how there's no one left she could feel betrayed by. As it turns out, there actually is: Pink Diamond. The reveal that Pink faked her own shattering completely breaks Black Pearl.
- Villain Protagonist: She's the eponymous main character of the comic and she also serves as the main villain, with her goal being to get vengeance on those whom she blames for the death of Pink Diamond.
- The Worf Effect: She's shown to be an unstoppable killer, but in Episode 13, a flashback depicts her as being utterly helpless against White Diamond. For all her lethality, she's still thoroughly outclassed by beings as strong as the diamonds.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: After arriving on Earth, she pretends to be just an ordinary runaway Pearl, in order to get Steven to trust her and take her in. It works.
- You Are Number 6: After being subjected to Project Black, she is named 'Subject 27'. '27' for short.
Homeworld Gems
Yellow Diamond
- Demoted to Extra: While her role in the story is by no means small, she ultimately gets a lot less characterization and screen-time than she does in the original series.
- Greater-Scope Villain: She isn't the primary villain of the story given that Black Pearl is the Villain Protagonist, but she is the main reason for how Black Pearl became the monster that she is now and she's also the one who sends her to Earth, kickstarting the main plot.
- Large and in Charge: She's one of the rulers of Homeworld and much taller than the gems under her command.
- Never My Fault: In her Breaking Speech to Pink (soon to be Black) Pearl, Yellow claims Pearl's failure to protect Pink Diamond as would have been her duty as a Pearl was the reason Pink ended up shattered. The only reason Pink Pearl wasn't at her mistresses' side when the "shattering" happened was that the other Diamonds, Yellow included, deliberately split them up to see how Pink would fare without her hypercompetent Pearl.
- We Have Reserves: Does not care about all of the gems who were destroyed in Project Black... including the research team. Chrysoberyl learns the hard way after half of her colleagues got wiped out by Black Pearl.
Chrysoberyl
- Asshole Victim: It's a little hard to feel bad for her when Black Pearl strong-arms her into being a spy, seeing as she previously tortured Black Pearl with no remorse and is more or less responsible for her being what she is now.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: She wears a pair of big round glasses and was complicit in experimenting on and presumably shattering countless gems for Project Black.
- Hourglass Plot: After all of her work on Project Black, she finds herself at the mercy of her greatest 'success', effectively powerless.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Has those until "Project Black: Aftermath" to symbolize her ruthlessness and general Lack of Empathy. After Black Pearl gets the upper hand on her, her eyes are visible almost all the time, showing that she lost all power she had over her former test subject.
- Villains Want Mercy: Ignored all of Black Pearl's cries and pleas while working on her, but stammers and begs to be spared by her former victim.
Pyrite Guard
- Amazon Brigade: They're a heavily muscled elite force and identify as female, like all gems.
- Badass Cape: The Pyrite Captain wears one, most likely as a sign of her high rank.
- Elite Mooks: They're all incredibly competent soldiers who have Yellow Diamond's total trust.
- A Father to His Men: The Pyrite Captain is shown to care a lot for her soldiers, complimenting a Pyrite when she reports taking out a rebel ship. She also seems to have a soft spot for AQ8, who is a lot smaller than the other Pyrites but gets treated just as respectfully by her as them. She was also unwilling to send troops into the fight alongside Black Pearl out of a (most likely justified) fear she would hurt or shatter them.
White Diamond
- Always a Bigger Fish: Is this to Black Pearl. For much of the story, Black Pearl had been treated as an unstoppable, terrifying force. When White Diamond shows up, she easily restrains, torments, and imprisons Black Pearl, reminding her and the readers that no matter how dangerous she can be, the Diamonds are in a league of their own.
- Faux Affably Evil: She stays impeccably polite during the entirety of Black Pearl's and her "talk", all while nonchalantly torturing Black Pearl.
- People Puppets: She first contacts Black Pearl through her own mind-controlled White Pearl, by making her act as her Mouth of Sauron.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Bad Omen implies she knew all along that Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz were the same person.
Rebel Gems
In General
- Fire-Forged Friends: They've been fighting Homeworld for millennia and have become very close in the process, to the point where performing a Heroic Sacrifice so a fellow rebel can get away is something they'd do without hesitation.
- La Résistance: A notorious group of insurgents who have been fighting Homeworld long before the Crystal Gems were founded.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: They're comprised of many different kinds of gems from all over Homeworld.
Jade
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Hers are so wide they grow way over her forehead.
- Butch Lesbian: A big heavily muscled gem identifying as female and in a loving relationship with Moonstone.
Moonstone
- Blessed with Suck: Her foresight requires more concentration than Future Vision, and shows what will happen to the subject rather than possibilities. Unfortunately, that means that whatever she sees cannot be prevented. Even if she warns them or takes action to try and shift course herself, her visions have already accounted for such measures.
- The Cutie: Her small and fragile physique coupled with her always-prevalent concern for others make it hard not to take an immediate liking to her.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Lets Black Pearl take her back to Homeworld to protect Jade and the other rebel gems.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Black Pearl at one point bargains a reading out of her by tempting her with the possibility of Jade and the other rebels coming to her rescue. When Moonstone obliges, she is overcome with all of Black Pearl's constant pain and suffering, to the point she can't see anything but darkness.
- Lipstick Lesbian: A small elegant and very feminine gem and Jade's lover.
- Waif Prophet: She is a lot smaller and thinner than most of the other rebels and has the ability to see into the future. And unlike with Sapphire, who can only see possible paths, the future she sees is bound to happen and can't be changed.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Any vision that she sees is effectively set in stone, as said vision accounts for things such as any actions the subject might take to try and avoid that result.
