Spinel

Lore & Background

Spinel's backstory is revealed when Steven follows her to a desolate garden in space. There, she recovers her memory and explains that when Pink Diamond began the Gem colonization of Earth, she tricked Spinel into "playing a game" in which Spinel was to stand frozen in the garden. Spinel was left alone there for 6,000 years before learning that Pink Diamond no longer exists, as expressed in the song "Drift Away." After Steven tells her that Pink was wrong to treat her that way, Spinel initially turns off her injector, but when Steven shifts his attention to others, she accuses him of using her and attacks again.

Steven eventually convinces her that she can change, and their fight destroys the injector. Spinel relents after realizing how much she hates what she has become. The Diamonds arrive and take an immediate liking to her because of her goofy personality and how she reminds them of Pink Diamond. She happily goes with them, now with a family who will love her—though Steven remains their family as well.

Reader's Guide

Spinel was created to be Pink Diamond's playmate on Homeworld, but was left behind when Pink took charge of the Gem colonization of Earth. Her personality is initially chaotic, volatile, and deeply childlike yet terrifyingly unstable due to her trauma. Her key relationships center on Pink Diamond (Rose Quartz), whose abandonment defines her existence, and Steven Universe, who becomes the catalyst for her healing. Furious that Pink abandoned her and never returned, she tries in revenge to kill Steven and destroy life on Earth. She reappears in Steven Universe Future living with the Diamonds.