Chelsea

Chelsea is a vampire and a member of the Volturi guard. She is first introduced in Breaking Dawn. She has the supernatural gift of undoing and strengthening the emotional ties of relationships. She is mated with Afton, another member of the Volturi guard.

Physical description
Chelsea is described as being tall and statuesque, with supernatural beauty comparable to that of Rosalie and Heidi. Her hair is dark blonde, and her eyes crimson.

History
Chelsea, originally named Charmion, was born in Greece, before 1100 BC. She changed her name a few times over the millenia to keep it from attracting attention while frequently interacting humans and vampires outside the city of Volterra. In 1950's, she changed her name to Chelsea.

Aro discovered her in the midst of a difficult time for the Volturi, since his brother-in-law, Marcus, failed to find the killer of his wife, Didyme, and became suicidal. Aro had Chelsea use her power to tightly bind Marcus to the Volturi. Since then, Chelsea became the linchpin in the Volturi as she keeps the other guards unified and the coven more functional. Because of her vital role, she often gets what she desires from Aro, who also uses Corin's gift to keep her in the Volturi.

Much of her history remains unknown throughout the series. However what is known is that Aro used her gift to bind Marcus to himself and Caius (thus making him remain loyal to the Volturi). With this it can be assumed then that Chelsea was with them when the Volturi first began and later rose to power.

It is shown multiple times in the series that vampires either travel alone (nomadic vampires), with a mate, or in a small coven. Which is due to their diet of human blood as their needs are always driven by kill and satisfaction. The Volturi, however, seem to be the only exception; with Chelsea's gift of manipulating emotional ties, the Volturi's numbers hover around thirty-two, including the guard and their leaders, Aro, Caius and Marcus, and their wives. With this said, Chelsea can be considered one of - if not the - most important member of the Volturi, since without her they could not exist nor add more to their numbers.

Her role in the Volturi is explained in detail by Eleazar in Breaking Dawn: in battle she separates the allegiances between allied covens, thus preventing them from fighting as a whole, allowing the Volturi to defeat them much easier. She also distances the innocent members in a coven emotionally from the guilty, thus justice without unnecessary brutality.

Relationship manipulation
Chelsea is gifted with the supernatural talent of reading the emotional ties between people and influencing those ties, either by weakening or strengthening them. Aro, one of the Volturi leaders, used her gift to keep Marcus loyal to the Volturi after Didyme's death. Due to the importance of her gift, Aro thinks of her as one of the high ranking members of the Volturi, along with Jane and Alec (the Volturi's strongest offensive gifted members).

Chelsea's main purpose in the Volturi guard is to distance the innocent emotionally from the guilty severing the bonds that are shared. Also when a vampire Aro is interested in appears, she creates the ties of that vampire to the Volturi, prompting them to serve willingly. Eleazar suspects that Aro had been using her power to make the Volturi guard co-exist easier, as well as strengthening their willingness to obey the leaders. However, as stated by Eleazar, she cannot as easily influence the emotional ties of people when those ties are stronger than just friends or acquaintances. She could not have changed the way Bella and Edward felt about each other, for example, or the ties between a true family.

Her power is also mental, as proven when she unsuccessfully tries to bind Bella, Edward, Benjamin, Zafrina, and Kate to the Volturi during the conflict in Breaking Dawn, only to be blocked by Bella's shield that blocks mental powers. Chelsea's power is described as a fluttering pressure against Bella's shield.

Afton
Chelsea has a mate, Afton, who is also part of the Volturi guard, and whose character has not been described, except for having an unspecified special power.

Appearances

 * Breaking Dawn