Twilight: How Renesmee Cullen’s Powers Change Vampires
The Twilight series has infamously specific lore and rules for its fictional vampires, but the late arrival of Renesmee Cullen’s half-vampire, half-human changes the saga’s definition of them considerably. Released in 2008, Thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight was the first film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling teen paranormal romance saga of the same name. Despite failing to win over critics, the Twilight movie adaptations did serious business at the global box office and made instant stars of lead actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
The Twilight series focused on moody teen vampire Edward Cullen and his romance with small-town human girl Bella Swan, but the saga’s version of vampires was different from the typical depiction of bloodsuckers in numerous ways (some of which proved contentious for fans of more traditional horror lore). For one thing, Twilight’s vampires infamously sparkled in daylight instead of dying or turning to dust, and they were able to survive on a diet of animal blood if they so chose.
However, the offspring of Bella and Edward, Renesmee, complicated these rules somewhat when she was born near the middle of the final installment’s action. As a rapidly growing human-vampire hybrid, Renesmee has plenty of powers that no one else in the series (her parents included) can boast, and her combination of abilities implies that her existence could alter Twilight’s version of vampire lore for good going forward. With some human characteristics but many vampire abilities as well, Renesmee seems able to bridge the gap between species in a way no other figure of the franchise can.
Unlike the vampires of the Twilight series, Renesmee is warm-blooded. This seemingly minor detail actually affects her character a lot as, due to this fact she can live out in the day-lit human world since she doesn’t have the tell-tale sparkle of the saga’s vampires. Renesmee can live a relatively normal human life anywhere on earth, where the likes of the Cullen clan are forced to live only where their skin will never be exposed to sunlight, in cloudy corners of the world like Forks. This ability to travel worldwide while living outside as a vampire could prove crucially useful in Renesmee’s future, and it’s one of the powers she has that none of the saga’s other bloodsuckers can boast, with many of them living by night or hiding out in dingy corners of the planet and sleeping through the day.
Although she can survive as a traditional vampire (and has the requisite hard fangs to prove it), Renesmee can also choose to sleep and eat like a human. This is another revolutionary element of her character’s powers that allows her to move seamlessly between the world of people and bloodsuckers, implying that she could be the next evolutionary step for vampire kind in the Twilight mythos. The fact that Renesemee prefers blood to human food does imply that she may be more vampire than human in terms of taste, but the ability to survive as a human if she chooses to still opens up the opportunity for her to have a far more normal life than even her parents, let alone all of her vampire ancestors.
Bella’s mind can’t be read by anyone in the Twilight series, even the typically telepathic Edward, as she is what the Twilight series refers to as a "Shield". Meanwhile, Edward can read minds, with this being his unique ability (every vampire in the Twilight series has one, be it super strength, precognition, or the ability to change the emotions of others). Combining her father’s telepathy and mother’s guarded mind, Renesmee is capable of an ability that is not seen in any of the Twilight franchise’s other vampires.
She can transfer her thoughts, memories, and emotions onto others through touch, an ability that could prove invaluable in settling the centuries-long conflict between various vampire factions. If the likes of the Volturi, the southern vampires, and the Romanian coven are ever to know peace, it will likely be through the intervention of the only vampire who can enforce empathy by making others feel her emotions, an ability that only Renesmee is known to have.
Traditionally, the trait that got most newborn vampires killed throughout history was the murderous mood swings they experienced during childhood and adolescence. However, unlike almost every vampire in the series, Renesemee can not only control her bloodlust, but also her mood swings, a giveaway that usually got half-breed human-vampires hybrids found and killed in earlier centuries. One of the Twilight movie adaptations features a flashback that depicts the Volturi hunting and killing vampire children by tracking the bloody swathe of their inevitable mood swings, but viewers soon learn that the peaceful, tranquil Renesmee carries no such risk. As a result of this exceptional self-control, Renesmee could again prove invaluable to taking down the Volturi as she will never take their bait. The group often control rival vampire populations by leading them into a fight and then claiming they needed to kill them off to maintain peace, but with Renesmee being an essentially peaceful and non-territorial new breed of vampire, such a predictable plan won’t work on her.
In Breaking Dawn, news of Renesmee’s birth reaches the Volturi and almost causes an all-out war throughout the vampire world. Luckily, the conflict is averted at the last second in an ending that was infamously badly mishandled in Breaking Dawn's movie adaptation. Unfortunately for fans who want more fast-paced action from the series, Renesmee’s abilities make it unlikely for her to be an effective Twilight protagonist in any continuation of the series, as her impressive powers and peerless self-control mean she will be almost impossible to fight. That said, Superman has proven a pretty compelling protagonist over the years despite concerns that his morally upright attitude and immense power make him an un-engaging figure, so a Twilight sequel centered around Renesmee could still work if the character’s flaws and human side are as much in focus as her powers and abilities.
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