SPECIAL ABILITIES: He can read the thoughts of anyone in close proximity to him, with the exception of Bella Cullen.
EDUCATION/OCCUPATION: He has two medical degrees but has never worked as a doctor. His other graduate degrees are in literature, mathematics, law, mechanical engineering, several languages, art history, and international business. Edward owns his family's house in Chicago, and about every fifty years or so, he "inherits" his family fortune from himself.
HOBBIES: He loves music--he plays a variety of instruments, sings, and has an extensive vinyl and CD collection. He also enjoys collecting cars.
VEHICLES: A silver Volvo S60R and a silver Aston Martin V12 Vanquish
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: He is married to Bella Cullen and has a daughter, Renesmee Cullen. He is the natural son of Edward and Elizabeth Masen, and the "adopted" son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen. He thinks of himself as a brother to Alice and Emmett Cullen, as well as to Rosalie and Jasper Hale.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Edward was born to Edward and Elizabeth Masen on June 20, 1901. He was their only child. His father, a successful lawyer, provided Edward with many advantages, including music lessons and the opportunity to attend private school; however, although his father provided for Edward in material ways, he was emotionally distant and often away from home on business. This absence was made up for by Edward's close relationship with his mother; he was the center of her life.
Edward excelled at his studies and became an accomplished pianist. As he grew older, Edward became enamored of the life of a soldier. World War I raged during most of his adolescence, and Edward dreamed of the day he could join the battle. His mother's greatest fear was that she would lose Edward in the war. Every night she prayed that it would end before her only son turned eighteen and was old enough to enlist.
Nine months before his eighteenth birthday, the Spanish influenza hit Chicago, infecting all of Edward's family. Gravely ill, they were treated in the hospital where Dr. Carlisle Cullen worked. Edward's father quickly succumbed to the disease. On her deathbed and fearing for her son's life, Elizabeth Masen begged Dr. Cullen to do what was necessary to save her son. Somehow she seemed to know Dr. Cullen had a supernatural means to save Edward.
"Unfortunately Edward isn't based on anybody--he is all imagination and wishing. I think his allure is partially due to his old-fashioned manners. He's a gentleman, and those are hard to come by these days." --Stephenie
Moved by Elizabeth Masen's plea and having already thoroughly considered the idea of creating a companion, Carlisle took Edward from the hospital late that night, carrying the unconscious boy to his home. There Edward became the first human Carlisle changed into a vampire.
"AND THEN HIS FINGERS FLOWED SWIFTLY ACROSS THE IVORY, AND THE ROOM WAS FILLED WITH A COMPOSITION SO COMPLEX, SO LUXURIANT, IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE ONLY ONE SET OF HANDS PLAYED."
--Bella, on Edward (Twilight, Chapter 15)
Edward formed a deep bond with Carlisle, who became a father to him, gaining Edward's trust and love the way his natural father never had. It was Carlisle who first realized that Edward possessed mind-reading abilities; he noticed Edward answering questions that Carlisle had not asked aloud. Edward had always had a knack for reading people; after his transformation, this ability blossomed into a true psychic talent.
Edward's new family gained a member when Carlisle transformed Esme to save her life after her suicide attempt. Edward was still young enough to appreciate a mother's care, and Esme gave it to him. Edward grew to love his new "father" and "mother." But as much as he respected Carlisle's ideals and valued Esme's gentleness and tenderness, he couldn't help questioning what it meant to be a vampire.
After almost a decade of living with Carlisle, Edward decided to leave his new parents and experience an alternate style of vampire life. He began drinking human blood instead of animal blood. Rather than become a true villain in his own estimation, he became a vigilante. Edward used his mind-reading abilities to target serious criminals as his victims--murderers, rapists, abusers, pedophiles, and the like. For his first victim, he tracked down Charles Evenson, Esme's abusive ex-husband. In the end, though, he couldn't accept taking so many human lives, no matter the justification, and in 1931 he returned home to Carlisle and Esme and their way of life.
"I like that Edward's not so clean-cut, that he has a dark side, that he's doing things that are not clearly legal or illegal." --Stephenie
Edward knew from hearing their thoughts that Carlisle and Esme were sometimes concerned that he had no romantic love in his life. When Carlisle transformed Rosalie Hale and brought her into the family in 1933, Edward knew that Carlisle and Esme hoped she and Edward would become a couple. But as stunningly beautiful as Rosalie was physically, Edward was not attracted to her somewhat shallow and self-absorbed mind. The feeling was mutual. Edward and Rosalie always treated each other as brother and sister, and were not always on the best of terms.
When the Cullen family lived in Alaska, Edward had another opportunity to find romance, this time with Tanya, the leader of the Denali coven, a group that also practiced a "vegetarian" lifestyle. Though Tanya was interested in Edward, he did not return that interest. It wasn't until the Cullen family returned to Forks in 2003 that anyone captured Edward's attention. There Edward met a human girl named Bella Swan. Bella was markedly different from every other person he'd ever met in two impossible-to-overlook ways: First, her blood "sang" for him the way no other human's had; second, her mind was the first he'd encountered that was entirely closed to his mind-reading abilities.
FAMOUS QUOTES
"On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read." Twilight, Chapter 2
"No blood, no foul." Twilight, Chapter 3
"What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?" Twilight, Chapter 5
"Honestly--I've seen corpses with better color. I was concerned that I might have to avenge your murder." Twilight, Chapter 5
"I've decided that as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly." Twilight, Chapter 5
"Your number was up the first time I met you." Twilight, Chapter 8
"You aren't concerned about my diet?" Twilight, Chapter 9
"Hadn't you noticed? I'm breaking all the rules now." Twilight, Chapter 10
"Be safe." Twilight, Chapter 12
"Yes, you are exactly my brand of heroin." Twilight, Chapter 13
"I may not be a human, but I am a man." Twilight, Chapter 14
"It will be as if I'd never existed." New Moon, Chapter 3
"Amazing. Carlisle was right." New Moon, Chapter 20
"Marry me first." New Moon, Chapter 24
"Well, I'm nearly a hundred and ten. It's time I settled down." New Moon, Chapter 24
"I was all braced for the wrath that was going to put grizzlies to shame, and this is what I get? I should infuriate you more often." Eclipse, Chapter 8
"I was that boy, who would have--as soon as I discovered that you were what I was looking for--gotten down on one knee and endeavored to secure your hand. I would have wanted you for eternity, even when the word didn't have quite the same connotations." Eclipse, Chapter 12
"The way you regard me is ludicrous." Eclipse, Chapter 19
"Would you please stop trying to take your clothes off?" Eclipse, Chapter 20
"I lived through an entire twenty-four hours thinking that you were dead, Bella. That changed the way I look at a lot of things." Eclipse, Chapter 21
"But if I had been able to take your place last night, it would not have made the top ten of the best nights of my life. Dream about that." Eclipse, Chapter 23
"I just beheaded and dismembered a sentient creature not twenty yards from you. That doesn't bother you?" Eclipse, Chapter 25
"I love you. I want you. Right now." Eclipse, Chapter 27
"You're awfully small to be so hugely irritating." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 4
"I'm not ready for you to kill me yet, Jacob Black. You'll have to h
ave a little patience." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 9
"Even you, Jacob Black, cannot hate me as much as I hate myself." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 9
"I am truly sorry for the pain this causes you, Jacob. Though you hate me, I must admit that I don't feel the same about you. I think of you as a... a brother in many ways. A comrade in arms, at the very least. I regret your suffering more than you realize. But Bella is going to survive and I know that's what really matters to you." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 17
"Now it's your turn to not break me." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 20
"It goes against the grain, letting you wrestle with lions. I was having an anxiety attack the whole time." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 21
"Maybe I'm hoping she'll get irritated and rip your head off." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 22
"I am her father. Not her creator--her biological father." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 30
"Don't be sad for him. He's happy now. Today, he's finally begun to forgive himself." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 39
"THIS IS ISLE ESME.... A GIFT FROM CARLISLE--ESME OFFERED TO LET US BORROW IT."
--Edward, to Bella (Breaking Dawn, Chapter 5)
NAME: Esme Anne Platt Evenson Cullen
DATE OF BIRTH: 1895
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: 1921, at age 26
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Carlisle Cullen
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Columbus, Ohio
HAIR COLOR: Caramel brown
EYE COLOR: Brown (human); gold/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5'6"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Esme has a heart-shaped face. Her body is small and slender, but curvy.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
EDUCATION/OCCUPATION: She has degrees in architecture and art, and has also studied photography.
HOBBIES: She loves to restore old houses.
VEHICLE: None; she borrows one of her family members' cars whenever she needs a vehicle.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Before her transformation, she was married to Charles Evenson and had a son who died shortly after birth. She is currently married to Carlisle and considers Edward Cullen, Rosalie Hale, Emmett Cullen, Alice Cullen, and Jasper Hale her children; Bella Cullen her daughter-in-law; and Renesmee Cullen her granddaughter.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Esme Anne Platt grew up on a farm outside of Columbus, Ohio. As a child, she lived a happy life, although in her teen years she found it hard to conform to the behavior that was expected of a respectable young lady at the time.
Although she mentioned it to no one at the time, meeting Carlisle affected her deeply.
In 1911, Esme fell and broke her leg while climbing a tree. The local doctor was away, and she ended up being treated by Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Although she mentioned it to no one at the time, meeting Carlisle affected her deeply. He was unlike anyone she had ever met--genuinely thoughtful, and truly interested in what she had to say. Unfortunately, he was in town only briefly and soon left, but she never forgot him.
Esme's friends began to marry, and before long she was the only one still unwed. Esme wanted to fall in love herself, but she never found anyone who measured up to her memory of Carlisle. Esme tried to persuade her father to allow her to pursue a teaching position in the West, but he didn't think it was respectable for a lady to live alone in the wilds. Instead, her father pressured her to accept the son of a family friend who wanted to marry her. Several years Esme's senior, Charles Evenson had good prospects. Esme was indifferent to Charles, but not opposed to him, so she agreed to the marriage to please her father.
Esme quickly discovered that the marriage was a mistake; Charles's public face was very different from his private one. He physically abused her. Her parents rejected her plea for asylum; they counseled her to be a "good wife" and keep quiet. When Charles left to fight in World War I, it was an enormous relief. When he returned unscathed in 1919, it was a nightmare.
Soon after his return, Esme became pregnant. The baby was Esme's motivation to escape--she would not bring a child into Charles's home. Esme ran away and went to stay with a cousin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When her husband discovered her whereabouts, she fled to Ashland, Wisconsin, where she posed as a war widow. In order to support herself, Esme pursued her old dream of being a schoolteacher.
Esme began building a life for herself and her baby. She loved the unborn child more than her own life. But two days after her son was born, he died of lung fever. Feeling as if she had lost everything, Esme walked to a cliff outside of town and jumped.
ESME'S CHILDHOOD HOME IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, IN THE EARLY 1900S
Esme regained consciousness in excruciating pain. Despite the pain, Esme was amazed to see Carlisle again, not sure if she was in heaven or hell. When the transformation was over, Carlisle explained that he'd turned her into a vampire in order to save her life. Esme was not as upset as he had expected. Adjusting to her new vampire nature had its challenges, and there were times when the call of human blood was too strong for her to resist; still, she was happy to be with the man she'd always idolized. Her youthful crush transitioned easily into full-fledged love.
Before long, Carlisle and Esme married. She never lost her maternal instincts, and as the oldest of the Cullens, she automatically fell into a mothering role with Edward and, later, the other members of the family.
FAMOUS QUOTES
"Well, I do think of them as my children in most ways. I never could get over my mothering instincts--did Edward tell you I had lost a child?" Twilight, Chapter 17
"He's been the odd man out for far too long; it's hurt me to see him alone." Twilight, Chapter 17
"I prefer to referee--I like keeping them honest." Twilight, Chapter 17
"We'd never allow anything to happen to you, sweetheart." Eclipse, Chapter 4
"They ended up being vampires in the way they are because I have strong opinions on free will. No matter what position you're in, you always have a choice. So I had these characters who were in a position where traditionally they would have been the bad guys, but, instead, they chose to be something different--a theme that has always been important to me." --Stephenie
NAME: Rosalie Lillian Hale
DATE OF BIRTH: 1915
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Late 1933, at age 18
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Carlisle Cullen
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Rochester, New York
HAIR COLOR: Golden blond
EYE COLOR: Dark blue, almost violet (human); gold/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5'9"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Rosalie has strikingly beautiful features and a stunning, statuesque physique. Her wavy blond hair falls halfway down her back.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
EDUCATION/OCCUPATION: She has earned degrees in electrical engineering, business, and astrophysics, and has studied medicine (the last as a favor to Carlisle, to help keep him up-to-date with the latest advances).
HOBBIES: She enjoys enhancing cars and doing anything mechanical.
VEHICLE: Red BMW M3 convertible
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: She is married to Emmett Cullen. She considers Carlisle and Esme Cullen to be her parents; Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, and Jasper Hale to be her siblings; Bella Cullen to be her sister-in-law; and Renesmee Cullen to be her niece. Before her transformation, she grew up with her biological parents and two younger brothers.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Rosalie Hale was born to a banker and his wife in Rochester, New York. Luckily, the bank her father worked at stayed solvent through the stock-market crash and resulting economic downturn. The Great Depression did not seriously impact Rosalie's family the way it did many less fortunate families. Her parents were eager to do better, though--to move in higher social circles. As Rosalie grew and her beauty increased, they hoped her loveliness would open doors for them.
Rosalie enjoyed her parents' pride in her looks, her father's pleasure in buying her beautiful clothes, her gi
rlfriends' envy, and the admiration of every man she passed. The result of all this attention was that Rosalie tended to be self-absorbed and rather shallow, with a focus on the material.
"I WAS THRILLED TO BE ME, TO BE ROSALIE HALE. PLEASED THAT MEN'S EYES WATCHED ME... HAPPY THAT MY MOTHER WAS PROUD OF ME AND THAT MY FATHER LIKED TO BUY ME PRETTY DRESSES."
--Rosalie, on her human life (Eclipse, Chapter 7)
At eighteen, Rosalie was considered the most beautiful girl in Rochester, and possibly the state of New York. Her family was moderately wealthy and she wanted for nothing. Rosalie envied no one... except for her friend Vera. Vera had a husband who loved her and the most adorable baby boy, Henry. Rosalie longed for a husband and a baby of her own. When Rosalie caught the eye of Royce King II, the son of the richest man in Rochester, she felt that she was on her way to having absolutely everything she'd ever wanted. Her parents were overjoyed; a whirlwind courtship and plans for an extravagant wedding quickly followed.
One night, a week before the wedding, Rosalie was walking home after a visit with Vera. A few blocks from her street she heard the drunken laughter of a group of men. A moment later, she realized one of them was Royce. She'd never seen Royce drunk before, and didn't know the dark side of his character. Royce and his friends brutally assaulted and raped Rosalie. Thinking her dead, they abandoned her in the road.
Moments later, Carlisle Cullen found Rosalie and transformed her to save her life. He hoped that Rosalie might make a suitable companion for Edward, but they never viewed each other in that way, though they did come to love each other as brother and sister.
One of the first things Rosalie did as a vampire was to take revenge on Royce and his friends. She hunted her attackers down one by one, saving Royce for last because she wanted him to suffer psychologically from the fear of knowing that something was coming for him. She tortured all of her attackers to death, but she didn't drink their blood; she was repulsed by the idea of having any part of them inside her. She and Carlisle (and, later, Bella) are the only vampires in the Cullen clan who have never killed humans for blood.
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