Ruby

Ruby is a member of the Crystal Gems who was originally a Homeworld Gem soldier 5,750 years ago. After accidentally fusing with Sapphire, the two fled in order to prevent Ruby from being shattered at the hands of Blue Diamond. Ruby later joins the Crystal Gems. She made her official debut in "Jail Break". She is currently fused with Sapphire as Garnet.

Appearance
Ruby has bright scarlet skin, burgundy irises and dark burgundy, square shaped hair. She is slightly taller than Steven and has a thick build. She wears a maroon and brown tank top and a matching maroon headband tied around her hair. Her ensemble also includes mid-thigh burgundy shorts, and short, pointed maroon boots similar to Amethyst's. Her gemstone is located in the palm of her left hand and has a square facet.

Before her and Sapphire's regenerations in "Jailbreak", Ruby's top was black and maroon, and she still had had her maroon headband and boots and brown shorts, as seen in "Three Gems and a Baby".

In "The Answer", which flashbacked to the Rebellion and when Ruby was still a soldier for Homeworld, Ruby's outfit was similar to her current one, except she had a maroon belt, she did not have a headband, and there was more brown than maroon on her tank top.

History
Approximately 5,750 years ago, Ruby lived on Homeworld as a common foot soldier.

Homeworld was attempting to create a new colony on Earth, which was overseen by Blue Diamond. She was part of the diplomatic team sent to stop Rose's Rebellion on Earth, as one of the three Rubies assigned to guard Sapphire, an aristocratic Gem with prophetic vision, adamant for destroying the uprising in its crib. When the rebels attacked, the three Rubies fought back, attempting to fulfill their jobs, only for two of them to be poofed by Rose Quartz and Pearl before turning to Sapphire.

Before her imminent poofing, Sapphire thanked Ruby for her service, at which point Ruby realized Sapphire had already predicted this and that she knew her physical form would be destroyed. Unable to accept that she had failed her mission of protecting her, Ruby tackled Sapphire to defend her from Pearl and caused them to accidentally form Garnet, changing the prophecy foretold by Sapphire. They immediately defused and were surrounded by an angry crowd. Furious that Ruby interfered with the outcome of the battle (and participating in an unsanctioned fusion with a member of her court), Blue Diamond ordered that she be shattered. However, Sapphire grabbed Ruby and jumped out of the Cloud Arena towards the Earth below, landing them softly with her levitation.

Ruby was distraught that she was unable to protect Sapphire. When it began to rain, she carried Sapphire to a cave for shelter, where she saw Sapphire's single eye for the first time. The two talked about their experience and feelings being fused as Garnet.

Ruby and Sapphire grew closer and eventually decided to fuse again. Garnet was found by Pearl and Rose shortly after forming. Upon being met with acceptance and not revulsion, she began to bombard Rose with questions about the events and circumstances that allowed her to become Garnet, as well as her own feelings about existing as a fusion. Rose told her to "never question this", and said that she was already the answer to all her questions—love. This would be the beginning of Ruby's existence as part of Garnet for the next few millennia, fighting the Gem Homeworld with the Crystal Gems to protect Earth.

"The Return"
Garnet is poofed by Jasper and as a result Ruby and Sapphire reform separately after being kept as prisoners on the Gem Warship with the other Gems.

"Jail Break"
Steven lets Ruby out of her cell and she immediately begins to look for Sapphire. Ruby only wants to find Sapphire and does not care about any other Gems on the ship like Lapis Lazuli. She listens to Sapphire's singing and heads in her direction. After Steven frees her, Ruby and Sapphire reunite in the center of the ship. They make sure they are both okay before fusing once more into Garnet.

"Keeping It Together"
Ruby and Sapphire converse while they are Garnet after they see the Cluster Gems. Ruby becomes enraged and Sapphire tries to calm her down. Garnet almost unfuses, but Ruby and Sapphire find peace once again.

"Keystone Motel"
Garnet unfuses because Ruby and Sapphire have a conflict over Pearl's deception in "Cry For Help". Ruby believes that Pearl tricking Garnet into forming Sardonyx is an unforgivable act, while Sapphire is more open to Pearl redeeming herself. Ruby storms out of the hotel room and paces outside to vent her frustration. Ruby's rage manifests in giving off intense heat (her rage burns the carpet and makes the pool temperature rise until it eventually evaporates, in contrast to Sapphires "freezing"). The next day, at The Best Diner in the World, Ruby angrily shakes their table. Sapphire says that she will cool down eventually, causing Ruby to summon her gauntlet and smash the table onto its side. Steven leaves the diner, upset, and Ruby and Sapphire follow him out to see what is wrong. After realizing the effect of their conflict has on Steven, they make up and re-fuse into Garnet.

"Hit the Diamond"
A Ruby squadron arrives at the Barn, leading Garnet to unfuse so Ruby can get them to leave. Ruby nervously sneaks over and blends in with the other Rubies. She gets information by asking what the plan is. After finding out they are looking for the leader of the Earth mission, whom Ruby believes is Peridot, she tells the others that she will search the Barn. Ruby returns to the others, who are hiding in the barn, very anxiously. Sapphire calms her down and helps her out by suggesting she go back and telling the other Rubies that the Barn is a human home. Steven goes with Ruby to prove that the Barn is nothing but a human facility. Ruby tries to get them to leave once more, but Doc orders the Rubies to double check the Barn. Steven compromises by saying the Rubies can search the barn if they beat the "humans" in a game of baseball. During the game, Ruby pretends to be an unskilled player so the Rubies can lose, and she also flirts with Sapphire, causing the latter to lose focus. At the end of the game, Ruby encourages Sapphire until she finally hits the ball and wins the game for the Humans. Out of pure joy and proudness, Garnet is accidentally formed, blowing the Crystal Gem's cover.

"Three Gems and a Baby"
Fourteen years ago, Garnet defuses to show Steven, who she believes is a kind of fusion, how to unfuse, but Ruby and Sapphire re-fuse once baby Steven begins to cry due to missing Garnet.

"Gem Heist"
Ruby goes along with Sapphire's plan to disguise themselves in order to enter Pink Diamond's Zoo undetected. Ruby pretends to be Sapphire's personal Ruby, and is the one that holds Steven's hands behind his back when the Gems pretend he is an offering for the zoo. Ruby claims that she left the gravity engine on the Roaming Eye so that the Gems have time to try and open up the zoo door without being noticed. When Holly Blue Agate leaves the area after talking about how great Blue Diamond is, Ruby becomes outraged because Blue Diamond rejected fusion, which is essentially her and Sapphire's love. When trying to open the zoo door, Ruby screams wildly, runs on the door itself (which leaves burn marks) and scratches the door.

"That Will Be All"
Ruby continues travelling with Sapphire and Pearl after Steven is placed into the Zoo. Inside of the Rose Quartz Bubble Room, Ruby holds Sapphire's hand when she begins to freeze up in front of Blue Diamond. She fuses with Sapphire later on to stop Holly Blue Agate from harming Steven and Greg.

Personality
According to Rebecca Sugar, Ruby "has no sense of what's going on around her" and "can only focus on one thing only at the expense of all things".[1]

Ruby mainly embodies Garnet's strength and courage, while Sapphire embodies Garnet's cool nature and calm under pressure. Ruby is extremely passionate and emotional. She is known to have a short temper and violent ways of exhibiting her anger; this is best seen in "Keystone Motel", when she is infuriated to the point of using her thermokinesis and boiled the motel pool, even summoning her weapon at The Best Diner in the World. Despite her wild emotions, Ruby is still very willing to admit when she has taken her anger too far and will admit when she is in the wrong. She seems to put the welfare of Sapphire above all else, doing everything to find her and immediately made sure that Sapphire was well. When Garnet is extremely disturbed, Ruby also appears to show the most visible reaction in comparison to Sapphire. This is best demonstrated in "Keeping it Together" when Garnet's left eye began crying. After poofing the big Cluster prototype, Ruby and Sapphire start conversing with each other through their respective sides of Garnet, Ruby stating that the forced fusion experiments are Homeworld's retaliation against the Crystal Gems for their rebellion. While Sapphire shakily tries to calm themselves from this revelation, Ruby is clearly angered at the revelation of Homeworld's experiments and became hysterical. In "Gem Heist", Ruby shows animosity from the fact that Holly Blue Agate sees Blue Diamond as being merciful and starts to rant about its contradictions.

When not angry, Ruby is a suave romantic, soft with words, and quite flirtatious towards Sapphire. When she channels her emotion on love rather than on rage, she can be affectionate and extremely caring, feeling the need to protect, and even cool down for those whom she truly loves. These moments of calm also bring out the playful tease inside her, which is for the most part trapped under her wild emotions. Ruby also places much value in trust and fusion, being absolutely outraged with Pearl when she learns she was tricked into fusing into Sardonyx. She appears to be a bad conversationalist, occasionally speaking in somewhat unintelligible mumbles, a trait which she carries onto Garnet.

In "The Answer", it is seen that Ruby originally has very little sense of self-preservation or individuality, willing to take the blame for fusing with Sapphire and is content with her own inevitable destruction, arguing that there are "tons of her" in reference to the various identical Rubies found on Homeworld. She still possesses this to an extent as seen in "Jail Break" when she is only worried about Sapphire and said "Who cares?" when Sapphire asked if she is hurt.

In "Hit the Diamond", she is more calm and collected in terms of her anger than she had been in the past, but she seemed to get really nervous when she did not know what to do. She is also seen to be bad at lying under pressure, giving the Rubies the idea to search the barn. Her romantic nature is also on full display when she spends most of the game flirting with Sapphire to the point it affects the Crystal Gems' chances of winning. It is only when Steven talks to her that she focuses on the game and pushes Sapphire to do the same.

Abilities


Like all other Era 1 Gems, Ruby can change shape, invoke a weapon, take refuge in her gemstone to heal, and adapt to any extraterrestrial environment's gravity. Ruby seems to possess greater strength than most Gems, as she was able to shake the walls of her prison with a single punch, lift Sapphire with little effort in "Jail Break", and flip a diner booth table with relative ease in "Keystone Motel". Like all Gems, Ruby can fuse with other Gems.

Fusion

 * Ruby can fuse with Sapphire to become Garnet.
 * Ruby can fuse with Sapphire and Amethyst and become Sugilite.
 * Ruby can fuse with Sapphire and Pearl and become Sardonyx.
 * Ruby can fuse with Sapphire, Pearl, and Amethyst and become Alexandrite.
 * When fused with other Rubies, they form a larger Ruby.

Skillset

 * Gauntlet Proficiency: Through sheer anger and feeling the need to release it through violence, Ruby can summon a gauntlet[2] like Garnet's. Although only seen once, it is clear that Ruby possesses some knowledge of how to use it.

Unique Abilities

 * Thermokinesis: Ruby can increase the temperature and generate heat. This is shown in "Keystone Motel" when her body gets so hot that it begins burning the carpet of the motel room, and when she boils the pool to nothing but steam in a very short amount of time. It is shown to be related to Ruby's emotional state, as the ability manifested itself when she got furious in the aforementioned episode and when she felt infatuated in "The Answer," as she set the grass beneath her ablaze when Sapphire thanked her. In "Hit the Diamond," another Ruby was so enraged at her team's potential loss that she set a baseball ablaze.
 * Pyrokinetic Touch: This ability allows Ruby to set fire to whatever she touches depending on how angry she is. This is shown in "The Answer," where Ruby accidentally sets fire to the grass beneath her the minute she got flustered, and "Hit the Diamond" where another Ruby angrily throws a ball, setting it on fire.
 * Heat Resistance: Ruby has not demonstrated this ability, but it was confirmed that the only reason Garnet can swim in lava is by Ruby.
 * Enhanced Density: As seen in Keystone Motel, Ruby can walk underwater.