Rose had Steven specifically to fight the homeworld gems in her place.
Greg mentioned rather suspiciously how he definitely wasn’t present for the war, and it was a crazy long time ago. My bet though is that she definitely at least fought a homeworld gem with a gem destabilizer sometime before she had Steven. She thought or somehow knew that a half human half gem would be immune to it, and had Steven specifically to counteract it.
Given how couples can adopt children, and how Rose knew she would die, she must have had an alternative reason, besides just wanting to bring a person into this world. Leaving the Crystal Gems without their renowned General for no reason? Nah bro. She had Steven tactically.
Personally, I really like this idea, because even though she seems to have been a very loving person, we know she also won a war, having killed countless Gems, and probably making life and death decisions in seconds, probably regularly, seeing people die all around her, and her decisions affecting who those people are. So she wasn’t just a loving person, but also a ruthless general, whose tactics were respected by everyone’s favorite big buff cheeto puff of a villain.
And if Steven has kids down the line, maybe without dying, since he’s half human? We’ve got more partial gems who would be a-okay against the destabilizers. Theoretically, eventually, Earth would be able to take care of itself.
Steven wasn’t just her kid, he’s her biggest secret weapon.
This is a terrifying chracterisation of Rose that makes her video to Steven kind of dark and creepy but I it’s really convincing and I hate you for it.
This is an island of things set aside for Steven and guarded by the same being who, it’s worth noting, previously took him to a secret tempe for combat training. Notable items here include an inspirational video from his mother, professing her love, a tshirt of his father’s, and an important sword and battle flag. I could see why she’d want to keepthese things safe, but why not give them to Pearl? She trustes Pearl more than anyone. The only reason to leave them here is as part of her message to him, a signifier of the role he’s expected to play.
Also worth noting is this:
Which is theorised in the above linked post to be one of the Crystal Gems’ fallen comrades, along with the shards that Pearl brought out immediately after learning of Steven’s healing abilities and freaked out about when they were lost in the temple. Why the hell is this here and not with the others?I can think of two possible reasons: one, she’s using magic in her injured state to generate Lion in much the same way that Lapis used the mirror or that dragoplateau theorises (above linked) that White Diamond generated parts of the inverted pyramid labyrinth. Two: she’s dormant like she should be in a gem bubble (which fits better with what we’ve seen but leaves the question of what the hell Lion is unanswered) and knows some extremely important information, valuable information that even Pearl couldn’t be told. Information that she’s meant to pass onto Steven once he knows how to control his healing ability and uses it on her.
Information like, say, a plan to immunise humanity against the gem-specific weapons of her own people while giving them the strength to fight. Something she couldn’t tell a perfectionist, goal-oriented guardian like Pearl for fear she’d unintentionally raise the boy as a weapon instead of as a son. Either way, this theory makes Rose keeping things from Pearl, the specific way Lion dishes out Rose’s secrets to Steven, and most of the things on this island make a hell of a lot more sense.
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.