islakariese:

One thing I’m wondering about with some of the plot twists lately was how Garnet and Sapphire haven’t seen any of it coming, and I think I’ve come up with some sort of theory about it. Back in Keystone Motel, Sapphire’s issue was that she was spending so much time focusing on what the future would bring that she was neglecting her relationships in the present. It’s possible that she – and Garnet by extension – took that lesson to heart and stopped relying so heavily on Future Vision. That’s why so she was so nervous tricking Blue Diamond, why she had to be prompted to look forward to what Ruby was going to do next and was surprised by her proposal, why she didn’t see Bismuth coming back either time, with the added meta-bonus of letting viewers and characters alike be stunned by what’s coming next.

The theory’s got some kinks, I’m sure, but I’d like some feedback on it regardless.

My personal theory is that future vision works based on what the person using it already knows as fact; remember back in Cry for Help when Pearl kept fixing the tower to fuse with Garnet? Garnet was sure that Peridot was the one fixing it, and therefore couldn’t predict that Pearl was the one doing it.

Another, smaller, piece to this theory is Garnet’s fighting with Jasper. When Garnet first tried to fight Jasper, Jasper pulled out a destabilizer, something Garnet had no knowledge of existing and therefore couldn’t predict. But in the next episode, during Garnet and Jasper’s rematch, when Jasper tries to use the destabilizer again, Garnet is able to dodge every hit.

So, if Garnet had no reason to believe that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were the same Gem, she would be unable to predict it.

As a side note, I think the reason Sapphire was able to predict Ruby returning dressed as a cowboy, was because she had the information that Greg owned a cowboy comic, and her future vision was able to use that to predict the rest.