It's been over a decade since the release of Breaking Dawn, the final installment of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, hit bookshelves worldwide and forced readers to say their goodbyes to Forks and the beloved vampires, shapeshifters, and humans that resided there. For some Twi-hards, however, it hasn't been quite so easy. Fans continue to write fan-fiction, binge-watch Summit's Twilight Saga films and argue over which of Meyer's dynamic and captivating characters is the best.
The central trio of Edward, Bella, and Jacob are definitely the most popular and memorable of the Twilight franchise, but optimistic psychic Alice Cullen and lovable tough guy Emmett Cullen also continue to resonate with readers and viewers alike and have solidified their places as fan-favorites. Carlisle Cullen, the comionate and brilliant leader of the Olympic coven, can also make a case for being one of the series' best characters, but fans don't seem to be able to recall too much about him.
Without Carlisle Cullen, the Twilight series wouldn't have been possible. Edward and Bella never would have met had Carlisle not turned Edward into a vampire to save his life and brought the Cullen family to Forks so they could live their lives without fear of sunlight exposing their secret. Bella never could have survived the variety of supernatural threats that came her way without Carlisle and his family's help. The kind-hearted doctor's contributions are undeniable, but only the most hardcore fans know some of the details of Carlisle's history and development into a fascinating "vegetarian" immortal.
Here are 20 Wild Details Only True Fans Know About Carlisle Cullen.
20. HE THINKS HE WAS BORN AROUND 1640
Most Twilight fans know that Alice can't recall the details of her life before becoming a vampire, but she's not actually the only Cullen who isn't quite sure of when they were born. Carlisle believes he was born sometime around 1640, but he's not entirely positive.
"Carlisle was born in London, in the sixteen-forties, he believes," Edward explained to Bella in Twilight. "Time wasn't marked as accurately then, for the common people anyway." While he's not sure of his birth date, Carlisle does at least that he was born during a time of religious and political upheaval, to an Anglican pastor father and a mother who tragically ed away giving birth to him.
19. HIS FATHER HUNTED SUPERNATURAL CREATURES
Back in the sixteen-hundreds, pastors didn't simply give sermons and oversee their churches. Carlisle's father and several of his fellow pastors in London also regularly led hunts for supernatural creatures such as werewolves, witches and vampires, in an attempt to rid the world of evil and sin.
Unfortunately, several of the individuals they captured and eliminated ended up being mere innocents, and weren't the monsters the pastors believed them to be. As Carlisle's father aged, Carlisle was instructed to follow in his footsteps and lead these raids, a task he accepted very reluctantly as he wasn't as at ease with taking lives as his father was.
18. HE WAS BITTEN DURING A VAMPIRE HUNT
While Carlisle didn't enjoy leading these hunts for supernatural beings as much as his father did, his intelligence still made him a phenomenal hunter and helped him find a real coven of vampires who were hiding away in the sewers of London.
Carlisle led the hunt after these immortal blood-suckers, but in the ensuing chaos, he was bitten by one of the vampires and left bleeding in the street. His knowledge of the supernatural prepared him for what was to come, and he hid in a potato cellar to prepare for his painful transformation. Three days later, he emerged as a vampire, the very creature he had pledged to help his father eliminate.
17. HE TRIED ENDING HIS OWN LIFE
Carlisle's father had taught him throughout his entire life to loathe and fear vampires, so when Carlisle was turned into one, he was disgusted by his own existence. He was too kind-hearted to want to take the lives of others, but he didn't shy away from trying to take his own life so he wouldn't have to be the monster he was conditioned to hate.
Carlisle tried various ways of ending his life. He starved himself, tried to drown himself and jumped off of cliffs. None of these methods worked, and eventually, he found himself so desperate for blood that while he was hiding in a cave in a forest, he attacked and fed on a herd of deer.
16. HE IMMEDIATELY BEGAN HIS "VEGETARIAN" DIET
As a vampire, Carlisle was granted enhanced speed and strength, skin that was tough as diamonds and sparkled in the sunlight, and significantly stronger senses. He couldn't appreciate his superhuman gifts, however, because he was frightened by his thirst for blood and worried that he'd use his new talents to hunt humans.
When he attacked the herd of deer and discovered that he could survive off of animal blood, he instantly accepted his new life as a vampire. He considered feeding off of animals far more humane than drinking the blood of a human and potentially ending their life in the process, so he began the "vegetarian" vampire diet that the rest of the Cullen family eventually adopted as well.
15. BECOMING A VAMPIRE GIFTED HIM WITH UNPARALLELED COMION
When humans transform into vampires, their special skills and talents occasionally get enhanced and develop into additional powers. As a human, Alice would occasionally get premonitions of the future, so when she was turned, she acquired the ability to see an individual's future based on their present decisions. Human Edward was incredibly sympathetic and was great at understanding others, so as a vampire, he was able to actually read minds.
Carlisle wasn't gifted with psychic talents the way Alice and Edward were, but when he became a vampire, his comionate nature was greatly enhanced and helped him always stick with his diet of solely animal blood. Stephenie Meyer has even stated that his "comion-motivated self-control is really so incredible that it almost crosses the line into 'superpower'."
14. HE PERFECTED HIS BLOODLUST AFTER TWO CENTURIES
While Carlisle decided to follow a "vegetarian" diet as soon as he fed on some deer and his incredibly comionate nature helped him follow through with that plan, it wasn't always easy for him to stifle his thirst for human blood.
By the time Bella was introduced to the Cullen family in 2005, Carlisle was an accomplished doctor who seemed perfectly capable of being in the same room as human blood without giving in to his monstrous nature. No one in the Forks hospital had any reason to suspect he was secretly a vampire. Only the biggest Twilight fans know that it actually took two whole centuries for him to develop this level of self-control and perfect his ability to resist the bloodlust caused by the scent of human blood.
13. HE LIVED WITH THE VOLTURI FOR 20 YEARS
The Volturi are the largest and most powerful coven of vampires in the entire world, and while Edward told Bella and Jacob in Breaking Dawn that they are "the foundation of our peace and civilization," it's impossible to deny that the enforcers of vampire law were the most dangerous villains of Meyer's franchise.
While Carlisle was studying in Italy, he stumbled across the Volturi and actually decided to live with them for two decades. He was put off by their constant attempts to convert him to his natural food source of human blood, but he appreciated that they were much more educated and refined than the vampires who lived in the sewers of London.
12. HE MOVED TO AMERICA TO BECOME A DOCTOR
After living with the Volturi in Italy for twenty years, Carlisle decided to move on to the New World and become a doctor so he could spend his eternal life helping others. During the two centuries he avoided with humans so he could get over his bloodthirst, Carlisle spent most of his time studying.
By the time he finally decided to put what he'd learned to good use, he knew everything there was to know about medicine and surgery. Since his enhanced vampire abilities gave him superhuman focus and reflexes, he was as skilled as he was knowledgeable, and it didn't take long for Carlisle to establish himself as one of America's best doctors. His inability to age forced him to frequently travel across the country so people wouldn't notice he was immortal, and his medical talent helped him find work everywhere he traveled.
11. HE MET ESME YEARS BEFORE TURNING HER
Edward and Bella's love story is the focus of the Twilight saga, but it's definitely not the only beautiful romance featured in Meyer's beloved series. All of the Cullen family marriages are inspirational examples of how fate can help people find their true soulmates.
While Carlisle was working as a doctor in Columbus in 1911, he was assigned to treat a young teenager named Esme Anne Platt, who had broken her leg falling out of a tree. He and Esme felt a strong mutual attraction, but their first encounter was brief. A decade later, Carlisle was again called upon to treat Esme, who had suffered fatal injuries after a failed attempt on her own life. He turned her into a vampire to save her. She ed their first meeting and had always considered Carlisle her ideal of a perfect gentleman, and they got married shortly after.
