twilight fact file

carlisle cullen

Carlisle Cullen

Carlisle Cullen (pronounced Car-lyle), also known as "stregone benefico", was born in 1640 in London, England, is the founder and leader of the Olympic coven. He is the second husband of Esme Cullen and the adoptive father of Emmett, Alice, Edward Cullen, and Jasper and Rosalie Hale. He is also the adoptive father-in-law of Bella Swan and adoptive grandfather of Renesmee Cullen.

Carlisle has an unparalleled gift of compassion; this allowed him to perfect his lifestyle as a "vegetarian" among vampires, to the point that he is able to completely resist the temptation of human blood even if it is in large amounts and pass this restraint to his family

Carlisle Cullen was the son of an Anglican pastor. He was born sometime in 1640 in London, during a time of religious and political upheaval. His mother died giving birth to him. Carlisle's father and other pastors led hunts for werewolves, witches, and vampires, claiming that they were attempting to rid the world of evil and sin. Many a time, however, these groups would end up killing innocent citizens. As his father aged, Carlisle took over the raids. He was less at ease about killing as his father was, but he was intelligent enough to find a real coven of vampires inhabiting the sewers of London. Carlisle led the hunt after them, and in the chaos that ensued, he was attacked and left bleeding in the street by a vampire. Knowing what his father would do, Carlisle hid himself in a potato cellar for his painful transformation, emerging three days later as a vampire. Carlisle was repelled and horrified by what he had become, and tried various ways of killing himself, including starvation, drowning, and jumping off cliffs. Eventually he was so desperate for blood that while he was hiding in a cave in a forest he attacked and fed on a herd of passing deer. He found that he could survive off animal blood and he considered this much more humane than drinking the blood of a human, thereby killing them.

Carlisle found new life in this fact and over the course of about two centuries was able to perfect his ability to resist the bloodlust caused by the scent of human blood. During these two centuries, Carlisle studied at night, becoming a "nighttime patron of the arts." As a result of his meticulous studying, Carlisle was able to become a brilliant doctor. One of the first vampires he met after his transformation was Alistair, who completely shunned company, but because Carlisle had been lonely for centuries, he'd managed to make Alistair respond a little bit before they parted ways on odd terms. Carlisle was studying in Italy when he stumbled across the Volturi, the dominant vampire coven that was led by three vampires named Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They were much more educated and refined than those living in the sewers of London, but still lived on human blood. While they attempted to convert Carlisle to his natural food source, their attempts were unsuccessful. After living with the Volturi for two decades, Carlisle moved on to the New World, where he became a doctor and used his skills to help people