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Behind The Cards: Gem-Knight Allusions
Franco Ferrara
8/2/2012 9:45:00 AM  I love gems and minerals. Since the beginning of time, man has used them for their beauty, strength and supposed supernatural powers. Many of us wear them on a day-to-day basis, but most of us know very little about their significance, much like how many of us play decks with little regard for why we personally enjoy the cards. The same can also be said about how we perceive the cards, letting the subtle references slip by. When I saw the first wave of Gem-Knights released, I was excited to see what different gems they would base the characters on, and to see if Konami was giving the right Gem-Knights the right properties of the gemstones themselves. Seeing the past and future of the Gem-Knights, it has and will always be my absolute favorite archetype! The Gem-Knights haven't made much of an impact on TCG metagames yet, but stop and take a look at the actual cards. They're rife with clever clues that few would pick up on, unless they were really into gemology. Want some examples?! Gem-Knight Emerald: The actual image of Gem-Knight Emerald has little significance, but if you read the text of the card, the secret is hidden in the effect of this monster. Emeralds, like all gem stones are not always perfect and contain colored inclusions: particularly red, yellow, or blue. These inclusions make emeralds structurally weaker than most precious gems, and they're usually enhanced to create a stronger emerald. Armed with this knowledge, consider the effect of Gem-Knight Emerald: by banishing emerald and a normal monster – let's call this monster an ‘inclusion’ for argument's sake – you can Special Summon a stronger Gem-Knight from your graveyard. Are you beginning to see where I’m going with this? Let's say you banish a Normal Gem-Knight monster: Garnet, Tourmaline or Sapphire who are red, yellow and blue respectively, to summon a stronger Gem-Knight from your graveyard. You're effectively transforming an Emerald with an inclusion into a stronger Gem-Knight. We can also see this need to be enhanced with the ‘inclusion’ of a Gusto monster to form the Xyz Monster “Daigusto Emerald.” Gem-Knight Alexandrite: Gem-Knight Alexandrite’s image portrays much simpler armor than the other Gem-Knights released with him; Garnet, Tourmaline, and Sapphire. Alexandrites are pleochroic, meaning that when viewed at different angles they appear to be different colors. Gem-Knight Alexadrite’s effect allows you to Tribute it to Special Summon a Normal Gem-Knight from your deck: either Gem-Knight Sapphire, Gem-Knight Ruby, Gem-Knight Tourmaline or Gem-Knight Crystal. The effect is revealing to us that this Gem-Knight is using its Pleochroic powers, becoming another Gem-Knight. Note the differently-colored auras and shards surrounding Alexandrite in the card art. Gem-Knight Amber and Gem-Knight Iolite: Each of these Gem-Knights is portrayed in the card art using a weapon that matches their typing. The Thunder-Type Amber has twin lightning knives, while the Aqua-Type Iolite is firing a liquid projectile from its arm cannon. The typing for these Gem-Knights are steeped in their names and mythology. Amber has been proven to create a static charge, and even the root of the word 'electric' is derived from the word Amber, hence the Thunder typing. Amber is also made of tree resin, and not a mineral or stone. Iolite is actually known as Cordierite, named after French Geologist George Cordier. The same stone is known as Iolite in gemology, and Cordierite in mineralogy. Alternate names include 'the Water Sapphire' (likely responsible for the card's typing) or 'Viking's Compass', and Iolite is actually Greek for “violet.” It has the amazing power to determine the direction of the sun on overcast days. They're pleochroic and range from sapphire blue, to blue violet, and even yellow grey, all colors that are represented in the card art. Gem-Knight Obsidian: Obsidian is another example of a Gem-Knight that isn't actually a mineral, but a mineraloid. As a glass, it isn't crystalline in structure. Obsidian's effect to bring forth a Gem-Knight used in a Fusion Summon could very well be a reference to the fact that crystal structures sometimes become trapped inside of Obsidian on occasion. (We'll revisit that when we discuss Pyroxene Fusion.) Gem-Knight Crystal, Gem-Knight Amethyst and Gem-Knight Prismaura: Gem-Knight Crystal is named for the second-most abundant mineral in the earth, quartz. Many of the cards involving or making references to this monster are related to different varieties of quartz, including Gem-Knight Amethyst. Notice on Amethyst the clusters of purple crystals on the character's shoulders; these are the same shape as those seen on Gem-Knight Crystal and Gem-Knight Prismaura. Now here’s where things get interesting. Amethyst is in fact a variety of quartz that has been affected by iron and other elemental impurities, resulting in the violet coloring that turns quartz into amethyst, a slightly more valuable gemstone. If we look at the background of Amethyst, as well as the yellowish markings on his side, we can see yellow shards. This might be a reference to amethysts found with yellow citrine inclusions, known formally as ametrine.
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While on the topic of altered quartz, we come to another member of the Gem-Knight Crystal strain, Gem-Knight Prismaura. This card’s name had me stumped since its OCG release, but one day I was in a specialty shop that sold gems, and then I saw it... aura quartz. When quartz has been enhanced with gold or other minerals, it's classified as an ‘aura quartz’ and there are many types including aqua, flame and even ruby aura quartz. Gem-Knight Citrine: Another Gem-Knight Crystal fusion. When this card’s name was localized into English, its name was translated to “Citrine,” while in Japan this card’s name was written and pronounced as “Madeira.” Madeira is a variety of citrine: it's a deep orange and named after a sweet fortified wine of the same color from from Madeira, a region of Portugal. Citrine's hands have the orange and yellow typically found in citrine stones, specifically madeira citrines. Gem-Knight Seraphi: Look closely at Seraphi's card art, and you can see Seraphinite on the character's chest as well as on the discs surrounding it. Seraphinite is a semi-precious stone that has reflective feather-like growths within it. The possible interpretation here is that the Gem-Knights and Constellar monsters fused together and made this Gem-Knight. If you look even closer, you can also see the silver Seraphinite wings in front of her Constellar wings: they're the bright silvery protrusions obscuring your full view of her Constellar wings. Gem-Knight Master Dia and Gem-Knight Zirconia: Diamonds disperse light as flashes known as “fire,” which radiate in all the colors of the rainbow. Master Dia has the ability to use any of the seven Gem-Knight Fusion Monsters' effects, who all coincidentally fall into one of the seven expected colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (in order of Ruby, Citrine, Topaz, Seraphi, Aquamarine, Prismaura and Amethyst). They're all featured as inlays on Dia's sword. I’m sure we all know that the man-made mineral zirconia has been used as a cheaper diamond substitute for a very long time. Master Dia and Zirconia are nearly identical in every way: they share the same ATK and DEF, and even their armor shares similar patterns and coloring, albeit Zirconia is more heavy set. Notably, Gem-Knight Crystal and Prismaura share similar armor with Master Dia and Zirconia. Evilswarm Heliotrope: This pseudo Gem-Knight is interestingly not a corruption of an existing card, but entirely its own monster much like Constellar Pollux. I've seen people write about Evilswarm Heliotrope being the original Gem-Knight Emerald, but there's nothing linking either of them besides color. In fact, we can see Gem-Knight Heliotrope in the form of a gemstone in one of the Gem-Knight cards: look at Pyroxene Fusion, and there is in fact a heliotrope in the mix of gemstones. Heliotrope, also known as bloodstone, is a pinkish-purple color, and we can see the Evilswarm symbol on his chest is just that, the color of heliotrope. Gem-Knight Lazuli: Interestingly enough, this card's name is “Lazuli” and not “Lapis Lazuli.” Lapis Lazuli’s name originates from the word azure, whereas Lapis is stone. Lazuli is one of the only monsters to have its gemstones in the background of the card in full view, without a gem in the crest on its chest. Moving along past the monsters, the Gem-Knight Fusion cards are pretty interesting themselves. Many of the cards feature a specific gemstone pertaining to particular Gem-Knights. Two monsters’ gemstones are never featured on any of the fusion cards, Obsidian and Pearl. These fusion cards represent the different ways in which gemstones are created or enhanced. Pyroxene Fusion: Pyroxenes are crystals found embedded in volcanic glass, which are created before lava erupts. As noted earlier, we can in fact see that Heliotrope is in this card’s artwork on the left hand side, above the ruby and beneath the garnet. Doublet Fusion: A doublet is used to strengthen, imitate or enhance a gemstone. Pieces of a weak or broken stone are glued together and backed with metal, then glass or quartz are placed over top the stone. Interestingly enough, we see Gem-Knight Crystal (quartz) in this card's artwork, and we also notice that the monster Special Summoned is destroyed in the end phase, referring to the weakness of the original stone. Particle Fusion: This process is also known as sintering if performed with metals and glass, or in this case is referred to as a composite when performed with gemstones. It's the method used to create objects from other objects, including powders, combining them so that even though the pieces don’t necessarily fit to a perfect match, they're forced together and look complete from the outside. Composite rubies are a major problem for consumers because they're unnatural, and are usually treated and passed off as real gemstones, carrying a hefty price tag. The Gem-Knights are a fascinating archetype with some unique play mechanics. I don’t know if they'll see much play in the TCG, but I'll continue to use them regardless, and I hope some of you out there will too! -Franco Ferrara 
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this card!