Esme Cullen

""You're what he wants, it will workout, somehow,""

- Esme to Bela

Esme Cullen (née Platt, previously Evenson), is a vampire and the matriarch of the Olympic Coven. She is the wife of Carlisle Cullen and the adoptive mother of Alice, Emmett, Edward Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale. Esme is the adoptive mother-in-law of Bella Cullen and the adoptive grandmother of Renesmee Cullen, as well as the ex-wife (when still human) of Charles Evenson.

In 1921, after losing her child, Esme attempted suicide, though Carlisle transformed her into a vampire on her deathbed. Some time later, the pair fell in love and married, starting to build a family of like-minded "vegetarian" vampires around them. Esme possessed an unparalleled capacity for passionate love for those around her, which allowed the members of her adoptive family to consider her as the greatest maternal figure in their lives.

Early life
Esme was born sometime in 1895. Little is known about her very early life, but that she lived on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. She met Dr. Carlisle Cullen for the first time, when she was sixteen years old and had just broken her leg climbing a tree. He soon moved out of town, but Esme never forgot the experience. Initially wanting to move West to become a school teacher, she was pressured by her parents to remain and marry. At the age of twenty-two, she married Charles Evenson, hoping to please her parents and willing to attempt to be happy, but soon realized her husband was an abusive man. Despite it, she tried to become a good wife, and her parents coached her to keep face, and much to her relief, her husband got drafted during World War I.

She enjoyed a happy period while he was away, but Charles returned in 1920, starting his abuse again. Esme struggled to break free from him. She ran away, discovering a few days later that she was pregnant with his son, who was born in 1921, only to die a few days later of a lung infection. After the baby's death, Esme felt that she had no longer any reason to live, and attempted to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. Brought in the morgue, she was presumed dead, but her heart was still beating faintly. Dr. Cullen was working in the area at the time and recognized her as the happy, beautiful young girl he treated ten years earlier. To stop her from suffering any longer, Carlisle decided to change her into a vampire.

After a while she and Carlisle fell in love. When Esme first woke up as a vampire, Carlisle told her all about the vampire world; she joined the Cullens' coven in 1921, and later married Carlisle, and in time, Rosalie and Emmett were transformed by Carlisle and Alice and Jasper joined the family. She welcomed Bella as a part of their "family" because of her warm nature, as she did with the rest of the coven. She has a special spot in her heart for Edward because he was the first of her adoptive children.

Twilight


Esme first appears in Twilight when Edward takes Bella to meet his family. She welcomes her with open arms as though she is already part of the family. Knowing her son had created a song inspired by his love for Bella, she asks Edward to play it for her which he does. The Cullens later invite Bella to play baseball with them, though she is mainly the umpire. Before the game starts, she tells Bella about her human life and that she is thankful to her involvement with Edward, because he is her first adoptive child since she joined the family and had always worried that he would not find true love. When James' Coven arrives, James accidentally catches Bella's scent and wants to attack her and they all spring into action to protect Bella.

Esme does not play a major role in the movie; being only seen a few times. We first see her in the kitchen, preparing dinner, when Edward is ready to introduce Bella to his family. She becomes increasingly excited once she realizes Bella has arrived (catching her scent, like the rest of the Cullens). Esme is then seen again when the Cullens are in the field playing baseball. When the nomad vampires arrive and they all spring into action to protect Bella - Esme stays behind the rest of the Cullens, shielding her from danger.

New Moon
Esme is seen briefly at Bella's birthday party held by Alice. She hugs Bella wishing her a happy birthday, where Alice gives Bella her present, from her and Carlisle. It is here where Bella gets a paper cut, and Jasper tries to attack. Once Jasper was subdued, the rest of the Cullen's noticed the scent of Bella's blood, hissing uncontrollably. Esme vacated the room with the rest of the Cullens, for safety reasons, in case she couldn't resist the smell of her blood any longer. As Bella leaves after Carlisle tended to her wound, Esme is seen mopping the blood off the floor.

Esme is not seen again until the end, where she, Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie pick them up at the airport after Bella and Alice prevented Edward from committing suicide. The next day, Bella asks the other Cullens to vote on whether she will become a vampire. Esme votes "yes", saying that she already sees Bella as part of the family.

Eclipse
Riley, a newborn vampire, sneaks into Bella's house to steal her clothes without the Cullens' noticing. After discovering the intrudor's invasion, they cooperate with the Quileute wolves to protect her. Once they find out that Victoria is forming an army of newborn vampires, they join forces to destroy it. During the battle, Esme and Carlisle find an intimidated newborn, Bree Tanner, and offer her asylum if she surrenders. However, despite this, she is quickly executed by the Volturi guard.

Breaking Dawn
At the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Esme is present to witness Bella and Edward's wedding. She invites them to Isle Esme, a small island near Rio de Janeiro, that Carlisle presented her with years ago.

When Bella becomes pregnant, Esme sides with Rosalie and Emmett to protect Bella and her baby. She begins to show affection to Jacob and his renegade pack.

Three months after Renesmee is born, Irina mistakes her to be an immortal child and reports to the Volturi. Esme and her family gather as many vampire friends to witness in their favor. Eventually, they are able to return to their regular life.

Physical appearance
She is described as being 5'6", with caramel-colored hair. She also has gold/black eyes, pale skin that sparkles in the sunlight, and purple circles under her eyes like the rest of the Cullens. However, these fade when she is well-fed. Her face is heart-shaped, and her figure is described as slender but rounded as she was changed not long after giving birth to her son.

She is described to be extremely beautiful. Esme is described by Jacob to have dimples on her face. Bella describes her as being similar to "one of the ingenues of the silent movie era" and that it was like "meeting Snow White in person". She is also described as having delicate eyebrows. Carlisle describes her to be "utterly stunning, as desirable as a goddess". In the books, Bella is always amazed by Esme's youth and beauty.

Personality and traits
Esme is an extremely warm individual who is gifted with the ability to love the people around her. She always has a maternal ache in her, which is why she is able to open her heart to her adoptive children and Bella. This was caused because her first and only child died when it was only a few days old. Esme is very family motivated. She loves Carlisle, her adoptive children, Bella and Renesmee dearly, and is very protective of them. Esme even shows affection to Jacob Black's pack when they stay with the Cullens. She is also described to be intelligent like her husband. Sometimes, she is portrayed a little wrong, for example on Isle Esme when Edward says that if they completely destroy the house, Esme won't invite them back in. Edward makes a similar comment about the plane tickets Carlisle and Esme gave Bella for her eighteenth birthday, even though Esme wouldn't ever dream of being that snobby.

Abilities
Esme doesn't develop any prominent special abilities. Her transformation only enhances her passion to love the people around her.

Family
Esme is the mother figure of the Cullen family. Esme is the wife of Carlisle Cullen and the ex-wife of Charles Evenson, as well as the adoptive grandmother of Renesmee Cullen, Edward and Bella's daughter. She is the adoptive mother of Alice, Emmett and Edward Cullen, as well as Rosalie and Jasper Hale and the adoptive mother-in-law of Bella Swan. Though she won't admit it aloud, Esme favors Edward since he was the first "son" she had.

Charles Evenson
In Esme's human life, she married to Charles Evenson, being the the last of her friends to get married and being set up by her parents, as he was a friend of the family and had good prospects. The resulting child was the only thing she thought worth living for, and his death led to her being turned into a vampire.



Carlisle Cullen
The relationship between Carlisle and Esme is built on a strong spiritual and intellectual bond, aided by their intense love for each other. Obviously, Esme has never regretted becoming a vampire as she is able to spend eternity with the man/vampire of her dreams.



Edward Cullen
"If Carlisle was the soul of our family, then Esme was the heart."

- Edward on Esme Cullen

Initially, they faked themselves as siblings. But after Esme and Carlisle fell in love, she became his mother. They care for each other deeply and Edward hates to cause her pain.

Esme admits to Bella that Edward means more to her than the rest of her "children", because he was her first son after she became a vampire, and is very thankful that he has found love in Bella.

Throughout their years together, she was worried that he would never find a partner in his life, until Bella came along. She also thinks that Edward is really a gentleman to everyone, since he told Bella that she fell off a cliff rather than jumped.

In the movie adaptation of Twilight, he introduces Esme to Bella as his mother "for all intents and purposes".



Bella Swan
When Bella first comes into their lives, Esme notices a change in her first "son", Edward, and feels glad for it. After Edward and Bella started dating, Esme learns to love her as part of the family, which she admits when Bella asks them to let her join the coven.

When she married Edward, Esme offered Isle Esme as the destination for their honeymoon; and after her transformation, Esme designs a cottage for them to live in with Renesmee.

Renesmee Cullen
Renesmee is the biological daughter of Edward and Bella, which would make Esme her adoptive grandmother. At first, she worried about Bella's health and wished to abort the baby, but Bella's refusal made her reconsider the idea and eventually help Rosalie and Emmett protect them.

After Renesmee was born, however, she came to love her just like everyone else in her family. She also worried when Bella asked to meet Renesmee after her transformation, and convinces her to feed first before she meets her.



Rosalie Hale
Rosalie is Esme's first adoptive daughter. Over time, Rosalie and Esme grew very close as mother and daughter, and Rosalie grew to love her back. Before she joined them, Rosalie had run into them a few times in the streets, and was always disturbed by the fact that there were people more beautiful than her, particularly Edward and Carlisle.

Emmett has mentioned that Esme and Carlisle had kicked them out a few times for ruining houses they bought for them, only to return home again after a while.

Rosalie resents her inability to have children, as female vampires' bodies cannot change, and acknowledges that Esme won't feel the same because she has her, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice as substitutes to her lost child.



Emmett Cullen
Emmett is Esme's second adoptive son. He joined their "family" in 1935 after Carlisle transformed him.

Although Emmett can sometimes be a handful, Esme actually loves him as much as she loves her husband and other "children".

In Breaking Dawn, when Bella challenges Emmett in arm-wrestling, they are about to use Esme's favorite table, but Alice points out that they should leave it alone, which he does not disagree. This implies that he respects his mother's passion for art and love for antique.



Alice Cullen
Alice is Esme's adoptive daughter. Not much is known about Esme and Alice's relationship, but it is known that Esme loves Alice as much as she loves her other children, and they are willing to do anything to protect one another.

When the Volturi come to destroy their family, Alice and Jasper leave Forks without a proper goodbye; Esme is one of the most devastated, thinking they have abandoned the rest of them, but comes to respect their choice. However, Alice and Jasper return on New Year's Eve after they found what they looked for: a primary witness named Nahuel. Upon their return, Esme greets them with a tight hug.



Jasper Hale
Jasper is Esme's adoptive son. Not much is known about Esme and Jasper's relationship, but it is known that they love each other very much and would do anything to protect each other.

When the Volturi come to destroy their family, Alice and Jasper leave Forks without a proper goodbye; Esme is one of the most devastated, thinking they have abandoned the rest of them, but comes to respect their choice. However, Alice and Jasper return on New Year's Eve after they found what they looked for: a primary witness named Nahuel. Upon their return, Esme greets them with a tight hug.



Jacob Black
Jacob initially disliked Esme and her family, because they are vampires, which are the natural enemies of "werewolves". But they learned to cope with one another after they came together to protect Bella from Victoria's army. While Bella is pregnant with Renesmee, Jacob breaks ties from Sam Uley's pack to protect her. Ever since then, they begin to learn to live with each other. They grew even closer after he imprinted on her granddaughter.

Jacob mentions that Esme reminds him of his own mother in Book 2 of Breaking Dawn.

Etymology
Esme means "to be loved" in Old French. This could refer to Esme's unparalleled ability to love those around her passionately.

Film portrayal
It was announced on February 19, 2008 that Elizabeth Reaser would play Esme in the Twilight movie. She reprised her role in both New Moon and Eclipse. She is also confirmed to reprise in Breaking Dawn.

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight film
 * New Moon
 * The Twilight Saga: New Moon
 * Eclipse
 * The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Midnight Sun
 * The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner