| “ | You can have your happily ever after as much as you like, Steven. Cause your little Universe will soon be mine. | „ |
| ~ Black and White |
Black Rutile (specifically Black Rutile Facet-1E3F Cut-7WQ) is the main antagonist of the Steven Universe Alternate Future series of fanfictions, serving as the primary antagonist of Steven Universe: Alternate Future & Two Sides of the Same Gem, the overarching antagonist of The Black Pearl Brigade, and the main villain protagonist of The Trial of Black Rutile and Little Homeworld Life. She is a villainous Rutile who formerly served as a member of White Diamond's court as an intelligence officer until the beginning of Era 3. Throughout her appearances in the series, Black Rutile has proven herself as one of Steven Universe's deadliest adversaries, thanks in part to her genius intelligence, manipulation of others, and her hatred of Pink Diamond driving her forward.
Personality[]
In "Black and White", Black Rutile presents herself as a kindly reporter to Steven and the Crystal Gems, wanting to learn more about their history prior to the beginning of Future. She seemingly has a good sense of humor, when shown laughing along to Steven's Cookie Cat story, and also passes herself off as very compassionate to him.
However at the end of the episode, this personality is nothing more than a ruse hiding her true nature. In reality, Black Rutile is a conniving & opportunistic mastermind who sees most others as beneath her. The interviews she held with the Gems were a ploy to gather as much info on their strengths & weaknesses so she can prepare for an eventual attack alongside new allies that happen to be past enemies of the Crystal Gems who haven't been reformed. Rutile is fiercely dedicated to her goals and sees everything as a means to an end, from the Diamonds no longer being in power to Steven's fragile mental state.
She believes herself to have a strong sense of reality, as shown when she tells Steven that not everyone can be forgiven for absolutely horrendous actions with a cute song in "Enemy of my Enemy." Black Rutile also shows no remorse in her actions despite knowing what having a sense of guilt is like, yet she doesn't care enough to have one since she claims most Gems were natural sociopaths until Era 3.
Despite her subordinate White Topaz's undying loyalty towards her by referring to her as "my Rutile" and "your clarity" to stroke her ego, Black Rutile shows no affection in return, often bullying her for being a incompetent softie and blaming a good portion of their failed plans on her kindness, though Black Rutile does admit another part is thanks to her lack of foresight when getting too deep into her plans.
Part 2 of Alternate Future is also where her hunger for power starts to come into play, starting with manipulating Yellow Zircon's electoral campaign and turning it into a rally against Era 3 for all the Gems voting for her, and later ordering White Topaz to fuse with her to defeat Stevonnie.
However, despite her high intelligence and sociopathy, Black Rutile has a bad habit of going mad when something doesn't go as planned, throwing tantrums and becoming bent on revenge. In "Enemy of my Enemy", she starts ranting and raving when her allies are defeated with herself, White Topaz, Aquamarine & Eyeball being all that's left, though she was able to compose herself enough to vow revenge.
In contrast, "Made Me Realize" ends on Black Rutile staring out into space as White Topaz flees with the Diamonds after freeing them from captivity to help Steven. Rutile keeps a calm smile as she takes off her visor, gazes at it for a few moments before she abruptly snaps it in two and shrieks Steven's name at the top of her lungs. From "Be-All, Cure-All" onward, Rutile goes mad with revenge and plots to kill every Gem that stood in her way whether they be of the Crystal Gems or Homeworld before merging their shattered remains with the Cluster & Steven's monster form to create a monster that she will use to conquer the universe.
Despite her plans having been foiled by the end of Alternate Future and being forced to enroll in Little Homeschool as punishment for her actions, Black Rutile still plots to reign supreme with Bluebird & Holly Blue as her last remaining allies and now joined by Cat's Eye. This is also where a different side of Rutile that hasn't been revealed up until now is revealed, when she feels lonely after being turned away by her former allies while trying to reunite with them.
Beginning in Little Homeworld Life, Black Rutile shows more facets to her character as she's forced to spend time at Little Homeworld as punishment. Though she's no longer seen as much of a threat due to losing everything except for a few of her allies, Black Rutile retains her genius manipulation tactics and opportunistic tendencies, best exemplified when she plotted to use the Internet to once again turn the human race against the Gems. Through this, Black Rutile discovers that she has a surprising amount of followers who are incels, conservatives, homophobes, skinheads, conspiracy theorists, users utilizing the tag to fantasize about their favorite Korean boy bands, and just people abusing the Internet's power of anonymity to get away with whatever they want.
However, Black Rutile also begins to display a more vulnerable side to her as she admits her feelings of loneliness to Dr. Rebecca Sucrose and how she feels like everyone is against her for what she's done. As Rebecca describes it, she's attached to the identity she's built for herself and everything associated with it because of her refusal to accept change. In a way, she can be considered an evil counterpart to Steven, who also suffered from refusing to accept change. When talking about this to James Brenner, he states that her behavior screams trying to get everyone's attention and be praised for being the smartest person in the room, yet she never quite gets that praise. Despite the mental help, Black Rutile declared to Rebecca that she's comfortable with who she is now, and would rather be shattered thousands of more times than be anything else.
In the second season of Little Homeworld Life, Black Rutile begins preying on Gems who were restored to life from being shattered to bolster her forces, revealing to them the true nature of Pink Diamond and the Rebellion and offering them a chance at getting revenge for their lives being ruined. She would later use this tactic on Lapis Lazuli to convince her to join the Rutile Rebels after manipulating her into quitting the Crystal Gems, By the end of the story however, she's now back to square one after her plans were foiled yet again, and she began serving time at her former headquarters on Revanche 666, which was turned into a prison, as punishment. Black Rutile's final scene has her sitting in her prison cell while wondering to herself if this is still worth it.
History[]
Pre-Series[]
Part 1: Little Homeschool[]
Part 2: Graduation[]
Part 3: Fragmented Mind[]
Part 4: We Will Always Be Your Family[]
The Black Pearl Brigade[]
The Trial of Black Rutile[]
Little Homeworld Life[]
Two Sides of the Same Gem[]
Abilities[]
Black Rutile shares standard Gem abilities.
Fusions[]
- When fused with White Topaz, they form Lepidolite/Chrysanthemum Stone.
- When fused with Bluebird Azurite (Aquamarine and Eyeball Ruby), they form Pietersite/Eagle's Eye
Unique Abilties[]
- Weapon Enhancement: Black Rutile can increase the size of her bowie knife, mostly shown changing it into a regular sword and a sword similar to the Buster Sword wielded by Final Fantasy's Cloud Strife.
Skillset[]
- Intelligence: Many have dubbed Black Rutile a genius perhaps on par with Pearl and Peridot. She boasts that in her song "Wither the Rose" that when she was created to serve White Diamond, Black Rutile studied rigorously to become the mastermind she is now.
- Knife Proficiency: Rutile uses her knife in close combat to great efficiency. She also applies it as a tool to threaten others with, and is also strong enough to shatter Gems.
- Swordsmanship: When turning her knife into a sword, Rutile is shown to be a match for other swordfighters such as Hessonite, Pearl, Connie and Stevonnie.
- Fighting Style: When forced to fight up close, Black Rutile shows proficiency in a fighting style drawing from both Capoeira and gymnastics.
Trivia[]
- In designing her personality, Black Rutile's creator Lightyearpig took inspiration from Disney villains Captain Hook & Yzma, Frieza from Dragon Ball Z, Dr. Nefarious from Ratchet and Clank, N. Tropy from Crash Bandicoot, The Hacker from Cyberchase, Lord Dominator from Wander over Yonder (whom she shares a voice actor with), and Megabyte from ReBoot.
- Adding onto the comparisons to Hook & Yzma, her relationship with White Topaz is similar to their relationships with Mr. Smee with Kronk, where the henchman is far more benevolent than the villain.
- In addition, Black Rutile's song "Wither the Rose" is very similar to "Snuff Out The Light", a song that would've been sung by Yzma in Kingdom of the Sun, the film that would become The Emperor's New Groove during its production.
- Steven and Black Rutile's relationship is compared to that of Superman & Lex Luthor, Optimus Prime & Megatron, Goku & Frieza and Samurai Jack & Aku.
- Additional inspirations include Lex Luthor, Megatron, Aku, Bradford Buzzard from the Ducktales reboot, Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Handsome Jack from Borderlands, Lilith Clawthorne from The Owl House, Vergil from Devil May Cry, Grogar from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cinder Fall from RWBY, Doctor Doom, and Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts.
- Black Rutile has diagnosed herself to be on the autism spectrum disorder as of ''The Trial of Black Rutile''. Also in the same story, Dr. James Brenner diagnoses her with narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and even sadistic personality disorder, the latter of which isn't even listed in the DSM-5 anymore.