All you need to know about the Twilight saga characters

Aro

Aro is one of the three leaders of the Volturi - the dominant coven of the vampire world. He is widely accepted as the overall leader of the Volturi, and possesses the gift of tactile telepathy, the supernatural talent to read all the thoughts and memories a person has ever had with a single touch. He is the husband of Sulpicia and the brother of Didyme. He uses Chelsea to change the loyalties of the vampires whom he wants to join the Volturi and secure his power status.

Aro was born in Greece in the 1300s B.C. He was transformed into a vampire in his mid-twenties and joined forces with Marcus and later, Caius.

Approximately a decade after becoming a vampire, Aro changed his sister Didyme, in the hope that she would possess an ability related to his, as well as his future wife, Sulpicia. However, Didyme was blessed with an ability not as useful to him; the power to make people happy. Aro's colleague Marcus fell in love with her, and she with him. However, Marcus and Didyme eventually became discontent. In order to prevent their leaving the Volturi, Aro killed Didyme: Marcus was too integral to his plans to lose. Aro had Chelsea use her ability to ensure Marcus remained loyal to the Volturi, and Marcus never found out the truth.

By 500 AD, the Volturi had usurped control of the vampire world from the Romanian Coven. Along with Marcus and Caius, Aro ruled the Volturi, although he generally acted as its spokesperson. The Volturi, under the three ancients' leadership, set down the laws of the vampire world and punished those who did not follow them, as it posed the threat of discovery of Vampire world.

By the comment Carlisle Cullen made in Breaking Dawn about the necklace which Bella received from Aro, it can be assumed that he is in the habit of collecting items from different eras.

Carlisle Cullen came to live with the Volturi for some time and became close friends with Aro. However, Aro was alarmed at Carlisle's preference of "vegetarianism" and believed that this would only weaken him over time. Carlisle eventually left to find other vampires like himself. Aro became heartened when he saw Carlisle did not weaken over time as he had believed originally and, although he did not share them, Aro respected his friend's ways.

"His skin was translucently white, like onionskin, and it looked just as delicate—it stood in shocking contrast to the long black hair that framed his face. I felt a strange, horrifying urge to touch his cheek, to see if it was softer than Edward's or Alice's, or if it was powdery, like chalk. His eyes were red, the same as the others around him, but the color was clouded, milky; I wondered if his vision was affected by the haze."―Bella on seeing Aro for the first time

Physical appearance

Aro is described to have an average build, being 5'10" tall and having almost translucent skin, which throughout the series is repeatedly compared to onion skin. When Bella first meets him, she feels compelled to touch his skin to verify if it is smooth and cold, and granite-hard like Edward's or powdery like chalk. Although she describes its texture to be more like shale than granite, he, along with Marcus, and Caius, is no less indestructable than any other vampire. His hair is very long and jet black. When he moves, it appears so graceful that it looks like he is floating.

His eyes are a milky red color that has a tendency to unsettle people.

In the books, he is described to have been transformed into a vampire in his mid-20s and therefore very handsome. However, his appearance is much older in the films.