Steven Universe (character)

Steven Quartz Universe is the title character and protagonist of the Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe. He was created by Rebecca Sugar and is voiced by Zach Callison. The character is inspired by and named after Sugar's brother, Steven Sugar, who also serves as a background artist for the show.^[1]

In the series context, Steven is a young boy who is half human and half Gem, the gems being a species of people from another world based on geological objects. Three gems known as the Crystal Gems train him to use his gem powers and defend their home of Beach City.

Role in Steven Universe

Steven is the son of Rose Quartz and Greg Universe. Rose was the leader of the heroic group known as the Crystal Gems, who consist of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. The four are Gems, a species of magical being from another planet. However, Steven and Rose could not both exist at the same time, so Rose gave up her physical form in order for Steven to be born. A part of Rose was infused in Steven, most notably Steven inheriting her gem powers. After Rose's death, Steven was raised by the remaining Crystal Gems in Beach City. When Steven became older, the Gems began training Steven to use the gem powers he inherited from Rose, such as shapeshifting, fusing with other Gems, and summoning his personal weapon, which they discovered to be a shield.

Most of the adventures the gems have involve the discovery of a mythical object, or fighting a monster that invades Beach City, almost all of which are corrupted gems that have been stranded on Earth. Steven also has several friends who live in Beach City, such as his best friend Connie, donut shop employees Sadie and Lars, silent boy Onion, fry shop workers and brothers Pee Dee and Ronaldo, and popular kids Jenny, Buck, and Sour Cream. Eventually, Steven meets a pink lion, who he simply names Lion. Lion becomes Steven's house pet, and also displays mythical powers, such as being able to walk on water and open portals to places that involved Steven's mother.

One day, Steven attempts to master healing tears that the Crystal Gems believe Steven inherited from his mother. He soon discovers though that he has healing spit instead, and it heals Connie's bad eyesight after she has a sip of Steven's drink. Soon after this, the gems show Steven a mirror that can show you any event it witnesses. However, Steven discovers that the mirror is sentient, and finds that a Gem is stuck inside of it. Steven releases the Gem, who is named Lapis Lazuli. She has the ability to control water, and steals the entire ocean, forming all the world's water into a giant tower. Steven, the Crystal Gems, Connie, Greg, and Lion go after her. Steven talks to Lapis, and finds out she wishes to make a tower large enough to reach the Gem's home planet, simply called Homeworld. Steven sees her gem is still broken, and heals her. With her powers at full strength again, she creates water wings and flies to Homeworld, returning the ocean.

Sometime later, the Crystal Gems begin spying on a Gem named Peridot, who is trying to fix a teleporter that leads between Earth and Homeworld. The Crystal Gems realize she is only doing this to have the Gems invade the Earth, just like they did thousands of years ago. They attempt to stop anything Peridot does to invade the Earth, but soon realize all their attempts are useless, as Lapis sends Steven a message that Peridot and another gem are planning on invading the Earth via spaceship. Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet tell the entire town to evacuate, and get Greg to take Steven away. However, Steven goes back for them on the back of Lion, but the four are knocked unconscious and taken on board. Because Steven is half human, he is able to escape through the force field holding cells, and soon discovers Lapis has been taken prisoner as well. He also soon finds two gems named Ruby and Sapphire. After he frees them, Ruby and Sapphire fuse together, and form Garnet, revealing she herself is a fusion, who is a combination of Ruby and Sapphire's love for each other. The leader of this invasion, a gem named Jasper, soon engages Garnet in battle, with Steven going to free Amethyst and Pearl. The three defeat Peridot, and steer the ship to Earth, causing it to crash land. They all survive, but Jasper fuses with Lapis in order to defeat them all. Lapis then gets control of their fusion, forcing her and Jasper into the ocean, she uses her water manipulation to trap the two at the bottom of the ocean, ensuring Jasper will never hurt anyone again.

Relationships

Garnet

Garnet takes on a maternal role for Steven but acts more as a mentor to him, being the one who encourages him most and supportive of his abilities telling him that one day he'd be great at fusion, even when Pearl admitted she thought he wouldn't be able. Her usually calm and stoic demeanor, along with Garnet being the most powerful Gem, ensures Steven and the others are safe. Garnet deeply cares for Steven, and most of the things that she does is in order to ensure Steven's happiness and safety. She also wishes for Steven to understand her better. In the episode "Future Vision,"^[2] she tells Steven about her ability to see future possibilities, as she saw one of the possibilities was him becoming closer to Garnet. Although Garnet uses her future vision to keep Steven safe she admits in "The Test" that there has never been anything or anyone like Steven and that even they don't know what he needs. In the episode "Jailbreak," she reveals that she wanted Steven to meet Ruby and Sapphire as a birthday present.^[3]

Pearl

Pearl is the most maternal of the Gems to Steven, ranging from picking up his dirty clothes and tidying the Temple to constantly wishing to teach him about Gems and his heritage. Her love for Steven and her want to show Steven a better world and beautiful things is usually her first priority. Pearl believes herself to be a good guardian but in "The Test" Amethyst voices her doubts about, not only Pearl's ability to raise Steven, but the entire team's. In "Coach Steven" Pearl expresses her desire for Steven to look up to her and her want to be his rock in a song titled "Strong in the Real Way". In the episode "Space Race," Pearl and Steven build a functional space ship, but as it starts to break down mid-flight, she tries to steer it into space anyways, wanting to show Steven the wonders of the universe, before they have to eject.[4] She is also close to the side of Steven that is part Rose, and in the episode "Rose's Scabbard," she wishes to teach Steven about the strong connection that her and Rose had. [5] .^[4]

Amethyst

Amethyst is the least maternal of the Crystal Gems; she and Steven have more of healthy sibling relationship, possibly due to the fact that Amethyst is the most "human" of the Crystal Gems, choosing to eat food even though she doesn't have to, stating that she likes how "weird" it feels. She usually plays with Steven and the two are frequently seen hanging out together. However, Amethyst is shown to be mature enough to know how to keep Steven out of harm's way in battle and helping him begin to use shapshifting. Amethyst shows that she loves Steven and does care about his future, as in the episode "The Test," she admits that the three of them are bad at raising him, acknowledging she's a bad example and Pearl can't control him.^[5] In "On the Run" she and Steven run away from home to the Kindergarten, where Amethyst was "born" and where Amethyst reveals she doesn't originate from the Homeworld like Pearl and Garnet but from Earth.

Greg Universe

Greg is Steven's father, and a reliable source of advice and comfort. It's not clear from the show how much of a role he has played in Steven's day-to-day life before the events of the show, but his care and influence can be seen in the activities they share and in parts of Steven's upbringing that are clearly human.^[6][7] Although he deeply loves his son, he can still make mistakes, such as in the episode "Maximum Capacity," where he forgets about his promise to see the New Year's fireworks with Steven.^[8] Still, he shows he does wish to be more responsible, as in "Winter Forecast," where he wants to make a good impression on Steven's friend Connie's parents.^[9] Greg generally expresses a preference to stay out of "magical" or "Gem stuff", but will step in to protect Steven,^[10] or to support him when he chooses his own course of action.^[11] Steven looks up to his dad^[12] and values their time together, even when he and Greg don't see eye to eye.^[13]

Connie Maheswaran

Connie is Steven's best friend. Steven first saw Connie at a parade he was in and she dropped her bracelet, which he kept in the hopes of seeing her again and returning it. Connie idolizes Steven's life of magical adventures, and loves hearing stories about him and the Crystal Gems but appreciates his friendship even more so as before Steven, Connie was somewhat of a loner. Although she finds Steven and the Gems fascinating and exciting, she doesn't disclose some of what Steven does to her parents fearing they would stop her seeing him. She also loves being a part of their adventures whenever possible, even if it puts her in harm's way, a fact which Steven fears in "Full Disclosure". In "Alone Together" after a failed attempt at fusion, Steven and Connie dance on the beach and inadvertently fuse together creating an attractive part-Human, part-Gem fusion dubbed "Stevonnie".

References