While most of Twilight‘s vampires are pretty powerful, the majority of the Cullen family members don’t have any special superhuman abilities. The vampires seen in the Twilight novels and their movie adaptations infamously stray from conventional depictions of the mythical creatures. While there is no one correct way to portray vampires, Twilight’s bloodsuckers earned a lot of criticism at the height of the franchise’s popularity, since they weren’t hurt by sunlight, they didn’t need to feed on human blood to survive, and they couldn’t transform into bats, rats, or other animals. However, these vampires did have a few new abilities to make up for these shortcomings.
Twilight’s vampires were super strong, superfast, and had heightened senses. This meant that they often functioned like superheroes, since rewatching the Twilight movies proves that the saga’s vampire characters displayed more varied superpowers as the series progressed. The final movie in the series, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part II, even introduced a vampire who could bend the elements to his will. However, most of Twilight’s Cullen family members have no special powers. Twilight’s vampires technically had powers before their transformation, since, if they had a gift in human life, it was amplified into a superpower as a vampire. These gifts aren’t very common, resulting in most of the Cullen family lacking them.
5 Esme Cullen
Edward’s adoptive mother couldn’t turn love into a superpower
There are only 40 vampires with superpowers listed in Stephenie Meyers’ official companion to the Twilight mythos, which is a small portion of the thousands of vampires found in the franchise’s world. As such, it is no surprise that most of the Cullens have no powers. Esme Cullen has no powers in the Twilight movies since she didn’t have a pronounced gift before her transformation at the hands of her future mate, Carlisle. Like most of the franchise’s vampires, Esme does possess super strength and super speed. However, if she had a power, it would likely be hyper-empathy or a trait similar to the abilities her daughter-in-law Bella Swan boasts.
Edward says that his adoptive mother Esme has a strong ability to love passionately, a comment that suggests she is capable of forging deeper emotional bonds than most of the franchise’s vampires. Since Bella and Edward’s powers involve reading the thoughts of others and masking them, it is clear that special vampire power can be related to emotions and feelings. As such, it would make sense if Esme’s powers involved emotional manipulation. However, the villainous potential of this power could jar with her caring persona, which may explain why the character was never granted any powers in the series.
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4 Carlisle Cullen
Carlisle’s ability to survive on animal blood doesn’t count as a power
Like Esme, Carlisle Cullen has no powers in the Twilight movies. However, Carlisle was the first known vampire to survive on animal blood, instead of feeding on humans, in the world of the series. This ability to override his basic biological needs for the sake of avoiding harm proves that Carlisle is extraordinarily resilient, meaning he could be stronger than some of the franchise’s other vampires. Carlisle doesn’t have a specific superpower like Edward’s mind reading or Alice’s foresight, but his ability to live without feeding on humans reshaped life for Twilight’s vampires and was pretty heroic, if not technically superhuman.
3 Emmett Cullen
Emmett’s immense strength was impressive but apparently not superhuman
Edward’s adoptive brother is a confusing case since Twilight’s official companion states that Emmett Cullen has no superpowers. However, Emmet’s bizarre Twilight backstory saw him become a vampire after he died while wrestling with a bear and was revived by Rosalie. This feat of superhuman strength proves that Emmett was both extremely physically powerful and incredibly brave during his life, which should theoretically mean that his vampiric super strength would be magnified by his transformation. However, the movies disprove this when Bella handily beats Emmett in an arm wrestling competition shortly after she is transformed into a vampire by Edward.
Admittedly, Twilight’s lore makes it clear that vampires are at their strongest when they are newborns and can’t yet control their powers. However, if Emmett were any stronger than the rest of the Cullen family, he would still have been able to beat Bella and his powers would be listed in the franchise’s companion. As such, viewers can be assured that Emmett’s bear-wrestling was not enough to grant him superpowers after he became a vampire. Instead, he is no more powerful than the rest of the Cullens, despite his sizable frame.
2 Rosalie Hale
Rosalie’s beauty didn’t quite qualify as a power despite its benefits
Like her mate Emmett, Rosalie is a somewhat unusual case when it comes to Twilight’s superpower rules. Twilight’s Rosalie Hale has no superpowers, but she is described as angelically beautiful and the entrancing effects of this beauty are sometimes viewed as a power by other characters. This seems like it could be a borderline case, since Rosalie’s beauty does allow her to hold sway over other characters, but her power is not listed in the author’s official companion. It is also not as easily quantifiable as the powers of Edward, Jasper, and Alice. As such, Rosalie can be considered a powerless vampire.
1 Only 3 Of The Cullen Vampires Have Powers
A minority of the Cullens have Twilight powers that count
Edward, Jasper, and Alice Cullen all have superpowers. After her transformation, Bella and her daughter Renesmee could also count, as Bella married into the Cullen family, and she and her daughter both have superpowers. Alice’s powers allow her to see into the future, while Jasper’s strength is manipulating the behavior of others. Jasper can sense the emotions of others and use this power to alter situations, avoiding fights and defusing tension when convenient. Edward can read the minds of others, which was what sparked his initial interest in Bella; he was bemused when he realized he couldn’t hear her thoughts.
Bella’s transformation into a vampire saw her develop this into a power of her own. Bella can shield her thoughts and protect others from psychic attacks via her vampire powers, another case of a character’s existing abilities being amplified by their supernatural changes. This means that Bella can stop the Volturi from tracking her and Edward when they try to hide their child from the vampire authorities. However, Bella’s abilities are still limited. Like the rest of the Twilight franchise’s heroes, she needs all of the Cullen family to defeat the villains of the series.
Twilight
- Release Date
- November 21, 2008
- Director
- Catherine Hardwicke
- Cast
- Robert Pattinson , Ashley Greene , Peter Facinelli , Rachelle Lefevre , Elizabeth Reaser , Kristen Stewart , Nikki Reed , Jackson Rathbone , Cam Gigandet , Kellan Lutz , Taylor Lautner , Anna Kendrick , Billy Burke
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 121 minutes
- Genres
- Romance , Fantasy , Drama
- Franchise(s)
- The Twilight Saga
