Was White Pearl harvested?

jenhedgehog:

Remember this scene way back in Catch And Release?

We never got any sort of elaboration or explanation as to what “harvesting” (which is clearly something absolutely terrifying) actually is.

Let’s take a look at the definition of “harvest” for a moment:

If we look at the verb definition: of course, Gem harvesting isn’t going to be of the crop variety, nor would it be to prepare Gems for “human consumption”!

So, that leaves us with two other possibilites…

• remove (cells, tissue, or an organ) from a person or animal for experiment or transplant; or
• collect or obtain (a resource) for future use. 

If we consider the idea of removing cells etc from someone…

…that leads us nicely onto White Pearl here, who is very clearly missing an eye (which, for all intents and purposes, should be impossible for a Gem).  Is she missing anything else, perchance – like part of her actual mind?  The way in which she speaks is incredibly robotic, and her movement has an eerie stillness about it (as you can see in the above gif, she also just stares forwards with an unblinking eye). 

Does harvesting take a Gem and repurpose them into a different (perhaps more obedient) form – taking a part of their mind and/or physical form away in the process?

Could White Pearl have been repurposed from being Pink Diamond’s original Pearl…?

Their outfits are incredibly similar, and their Gem placement matches up.  Which begs the question – did White and Pink Diamond swap Pearls, leading to something quite horrific happening to Pink’s original Pearl (White’s current Pearl) for reasons unknown?

If White Pearl hasn’t had her physical/mental form repurposed, I have to wonder if she’s suffered a similar fate to Lapis – by which I mean, her Gem has been placed inside a shell and is being used to power a tool of-sorts.  In Lapis’ case, it was the mirror; in White Pearl’s case, could it be a robot that her gemstone has been inserted into and is now powering?  In other words, her actual gemstone was “collected or obtained or future use” (the other remaining definition of harvest), just like Lapis before her. 

This would perfectly explain how she’s been able to take some physical damage – as I mentioned earlier, this should not be possible for a Gem, but it would be possible for a robotic shell.  It also, of course, explains her strangely robotic speech and movement.  And ties in nicely to something that we’ve seen previously on the show (the mirror).