Aro

"I haven't seen a prospective talent so promising since we found Jane and Alec. Can you imagine the possibilities when she is one of us?"

Aro is one of three vampires who lead the Volturi. 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.

Early life
Approximately a decade after having been transformed into a vampire, Aro changed his sister Didyme, with hope that she would possess an ability related to his. However, she 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. It is unknown whether Didyme used her powers (of making people happy) to woo Marcus, akin to a love potion, or whether she was truly in love with him. In order to prevent their leaving the Volturi, Aro killed Didyme: Marcus was too integral to his plans to lose. Marcus never found out what Aro did, and then he had Chelsea use her ability to ensure Marcus remained loyal to the Volturi.

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

It can be assumed that Aro has a habit of collecting items from different eras based on the comment Carlisle Cullen made in Breaking Dawn about the necklace which Bella received from Aro.

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. However 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.

Edward's request
At one point, Edward Cullen, one of Carlisle's adopted children, comes to the Volturi. Edward was deeply depressed because he believed his love, Bella Swan, had committed suicide, and as such was himself suicidal. Aro is interested in Edward’s ability to read minds from a distance, and tries to recruit him to join the Volturi instead, saying it would be a waste to kill him. He later meets Bella, after she and Alice prevent Edward's suicide attempt. He is both surprised and intrigued in Bella's ability to block Edward's powers, and even more intrigued when she resists his and Jane's powers. He allows Edward to take Bella back to Forks only after Alice shows him in a vision that Bella will eventually be transformed into a vampire.

Newborn crisis of Seattle
When an army of newborns begin to run a killing spree in Seattle, Aro sends Jane, Felix, Demetri, and two unknown vampires to 'deal with the newborns'. In fact, Edward notes that by delaying his company, Aro may want to let the newborns decrease the Cullens' numbers, however this is more likely believed to be Caius as Aro values his friendship with Carlisle.

Dealing with the Cullens
In New Moon, Alice allows Aro to touch her, therefore reading her mind, so he can see the vision of the future she has had of Bella as a vampire. It is described by Edward that Aro searches through not only the vision of Bella, but much more, delving deeply into Alice's mind so he ends up "knowing her better than she knows herself." He is described as seeming "enthralled" and "delighted" by her talent, and Edward mentions in Breaking Dawn that there's nothing Aro wants more than Alice's power.

Sometime after Bella and Edward's wedding,Bella receives a necklace from Aro. Alice had mailed the Volturi an announcement for Bella and Edward's wedding, and Aro in return sends Bella the necklace as a wedding gift. It is described as being ostentatious with a very large jewel, and is said to have been part of the English crown jewels.

Sometime later, Irina, a vampire from the Denali Coven, comes to Volterra to inform the Volturi that the Cullens had created an Immortal Child. In response to this breach of their laws, the Volturi gathered the entire guard together (including the wives) and set out for Forks to destroy the Cullens. Aro, meanwhile, intends to use the situation to try and force Edward and Alice into joining the Volturi.

When the Volturi arrive, Aro and the others are shocked to discover that the Cullens have assembled a vampire army to oppose them, furthering Aro's belief that they'd created an immortal child. Bella also describes Aro "scanning the crowd" as though searching for a certain face - most likely Alice's - and Bella feels suddenly glad Alice isn't with them after all. The Volturi only stop launching an immediate attack when they notice the line of werewolves behind the undead army. Aro, in his usual fashion, acts as speaker for the Volturi. After reading Edward's mind and learning about Renesmee, the so-called immortal child, Aro is both astounded and delighted to discover that she is actually half human. He is also amused at the idea of having the werewolves, whom he believed were the Cullens' pets, as guard dogs. Unfortunately, the angry snarls from the wolves inform him that it would never happen.

Despite Aro's attempts to keep the encounter from turning violent, Caius declared that Renesmee had to be killed because he wasn't sure if she would become a threat. Aro also was still unsure, although he did not wish to harm the child. But unknown to everyone else except Edward, his attitude changed when Bella's power was revealed. Realizing Bella's mental shield rendered all the Volturi's powers useless, Aro knew they were at a huge disadvantage and no thanks to Caius, killing Irina, had to do some fast and serious smooth talking to prevent the situation form turning really ugly. Soon after, Alice and Jasper show up with another vampire half-breed named Nahuel. The knowledge that there are other half-breeds in the world gave Aro the excuse he needed to leave, and he retreats with the rest of the Volturi with their confidence shaken. Edward knows Aro sees them as a threat and expects them to try to pick them off one by one later, however this is speculation on Edward's part. Aro desperately wants Edward, Alice and Bella to join the Volturi, however in the end, he was genuinely sad to lose Carlisle's friendship and hopes to regain it.

Physical description
Aro is described as having almost translucent skin, and it is repeatedly compared to onion skin throughout the series. When Bella first meets Aro, she feels compelled to touch his skin to see if it is smooth and cold like Edward's or powdery like chalk. His hair is very long and jet black. When he moves, it appears as though he's floating. His eyes are a milky red color that has a tendency to unsettle people. This red eyecolor is also due to his diet on human blood.

Personality
Aro normally carries himself in a cheery disposition and has shown to be polite to the point of being at complete ease with even the most objectionable of situations. However, beneath this facade of optimistic giddiness, he is power-hungry and highly manipulative. He finds Bella Swan's immunity to mental powers, including Jane's "pain" power, intriguing. He invites her to be in the Volturi Guard twice after she becomes a vampire, but both times she refuses. This upsets and surprises Aro, but does not infuriate him.

He holds power over everything and is willing to go to any length to secure his status, even if it means killing those he loves, as exemplified when he murdered his sister Didyme in order to keep Marcus in the Volturi.

He has shown himself to be an avid collector of talented vampires that he finds desirable to recruit for the Volturi guard especially his personal guard, Renata, and Jane. He deeply believes that the Volturi is necessary for the survival of the vampire species, with its bylaws that hold secrecy of the existence of vampires to the utmost importance. Due to humanity's continuously advancing technological prowess to the point where there are already weapons in existence that can kill vampires, he speculates that it is only a matter of time before they create more devastating constructs that may be able to wipe out the entirety of vampire-kind on Earth.

Aro is very childlike in manner, like a child, is impatient and can be immature. He is also the most curious of the Volturi and is also the one with the most zeal. He is power hungry and the Volturi do abuse their power, but when it boils down, Aro is afraid to lose that power and will do whatever it takes to protect it, himself, his family and at large the vampire world. He is akin to a frightened child, and does not feel safe without his Guard, sadly a common feeling amongst those who abuse their power. Aro is not a cruel person and will avoid a fight, or killing if he can avoid it (unlike Caius). It stands to reason that if the Volturi keep going the way they are going one does not need Alice’s powers to see that things may end badly for them, which is the last thing the Volturi would want. Perhaps Carlisle will be the one to help them soften their edges a little, teach them how they can still govern the Vampire world fairly without losing their power or influence, but learning how to use that power wisely and effectively and govern with a firm, but kind hand, and rather than disaster for the Volturi and the Vampire world, they will earn that respect from love, as opposed to fear, Aro can grow out of the need to be called ‘master’ but without losing his unique flair and it can be one of those very special and rare happy endings he loves so much.

Powers and abilities
As the apparent leader of the Volturi, Aro is exceptionally talented. Being a vampire, Aro is gifted with superhuman strength and speed, vastly enhanced senses, grace and immortality.

Tactile Telepathy
Aro also possesses the supernatural ability of tactile telepathy, an ability that allows him to read minds; his ability is far more powerful than Edward Cullen's because he is capable of hearing every thought a person has ever had, however, his powers are limited since he can only read minds while touching the vampire or person.

Etymology
Aro is Hebrew for "bright" or "light." This could be a reference to Aro's peppy personality, light, feathery voice and fluttering movements. The name Aro can also mean "mountain of strength" in reference to his power over the Volturi and his vampiric strength. Interesting to note the name "Carlisle" also means 'bright.'

Film portrayal
Welsh actor Michael Sheen plays the role of Aro in the film New Moon.

Appearances

 * Twilight (Mentioned only)
 * New Moon (First appearance)
 * The Twilight Saga: New Moon
 * Eclipse (Mentioned only)
 * Breaking Dawn