Renesmee Cullen

"Half mortal, half immortal. Conceived so, and carried by this newborn while she was still human."

- Aro on Renesmee's hybrid status.

Born on September 10, 2006 Renesmee (pronounced Ruh-nez-may) "Nessie" Carlie Cullen is the resident vampire/human hybrid member of the Olympic coven. She is the daughter of Edward and Bella Swan and the imprintee of Jacob Black. Renesmee's biological paternal grandparents are Edward Sr. and Elizabeth Masen, while on the maternal side, they are Charlie Swan and Renée Dwyer. She is also the adoptive granddaughter of Carlisle and Esme Cullen and the adoptive niece of Jasper and Rosalie Hale, and Alice and Emmett Cullen.

Renesmee is considered to be Edward and Bella's "miracle", because of what it took to keep her and her mother alive through the pregnancy. She has the abilities to show people her thoughts by touching them and presumably break through their mental defenses. Bella initially gets angry and attacks Jacob for giving her daughter the nickname "Nessie" as well as imprinting on her. Irina of the Denali Coven sees Renesmee and believes she is an immortal child, a human child who had been turned by a vampire. She informs the Volturi, as immortal children are not permitted to live. The Volturi reach Forks intent on killing Renesmee and the Cullens. However, the Cullen family members gather witnesses from around the world to prove that Renesmee is not an immortal child. Alice brings another vampire-human hybrid, Nahuel, who explains that hybrids pose no danger to the vampires. Convinced that Renesmee is not a threat, the Volturi leave, and Renesmee and her family are left in peace. She is the only hybrid currently known to show supernatural gifts.

Before birth
"What happened to change everything was that a soft little nudge bumped my hand—from inside my body."

- Bella realizing she is pregnant.

After Edward and Bella are married, they spend their honeymoon on an island the Cullen family owns off the coast of Rio de Janeiro: Isle Esme, a gift from Carlisle to Esme. At this point, Edward couldn't deny Bella the human experience of sex any longer despite his fear of harming her, as they had a deal, and they make love on several occasions.

However, as the honeymoon progresses, Bella begins to experience mood swings, peculiar eating habits, terrible nightmares and severe morning sickness, which confuses her. After finding tampons in her bag, she notices that her period is five days late, and a hard, growing, bump protruding from her hips, realizing she is pregnant. This realization took Bella out of Alice's "sight" as she cannot see a future involving half-vampires; she calls Bella in a panic to see if she is alright. Edward knows that there have been stories of women who died while giving birth to a vampire's child. Therefore, he leaps into action, as always, only caring about the safety of Bella, and insists that she let Carlisle remove the abnormally rapid-growing fetus. However, Bella won't allow it.

Enlisting Rosalie's help as a bodyguard, with support from Emmett and Esme, Bella refuses to have an abortion, determined to carry the child, trusting that Edward will save her by turning her into a vampire after she gives birth and that Carlisle will save the baby if something goes wrong. Carlisle is also unwilling to disagree with Esme. As the baby continues to grow at an alarmingly rapid rate, Bella's health deteriorates. She develops an unhealthy pallor; her stomach is bruised in multiple places from the baby's movements (as it has inherited a vampire's superhuman strength); her ribs and later her pelvis, are broken. Her body has been rejecting human food, and it is only when Jacob Black bitterly thinks about the "creature" craving blood, that Edward, with his ability to read thoughts, thinks of a solution. The Cullens allow Bella to sample some donated human blood from Carlisle's work at the hospital. To Bella's surprise, it smells and tastes appealing, and revives her, to an extent. Jacob however is not entirely thrilled. Besides the strength and appetite of the growing baby, evidence of its vampire heritage is apparent in the hard and thick amniotic sac, endurance resembling the skin of a vampire, making ultrasounds and amniocentesis impossible. Bella isn't the only suffering individual during the pregnancy; Jacob describes Edward as a "burning man", lifeless and self-loathing, thinking of the child as a possible case of "Rosemary's Baby": a child born of a demon, the spawn of the devil. Edward still is not completely convinced that he is not a monster and that he does have a soul.

As Bella's pregnancy nears its completion, Edward begins to hear the baby's thoughts; he quickly realizes that the baby loves Bella, can recognize the sounds of its parents' voices, and can even understand simple conversations. This new knowledge quickly wins over Edward's affection (Jacob Black states that Edward cannot hate anyone who loves Bella). After listening to its parents, the baby understands what hurts her mother and tries to avoid injuring her further. Bella is convinced that the baby is a boy and calls it "EJ" (which is short for "Edward Jacob"). However, she does admit that she may be wrong and the baby could turn out to be a girl. She decides that "Renesmee Carlie" would be what she would call her baby, should it be a girl (with the latter being a portmanteau of Charlie and Carlisle, the grandfathers' names). The pregnancy continues its rapid progression, and Bella goes into violent labor even sooner than anticipated when the placenta is unexpectedly detached. Carlisle and Esme, who originally planned to be there for delivery the next day, are out hunting, so Edward, Rosalie, Jacob, and Alice help to deliver the baby by C-section. Although Edward wants to wait for the morphine to spread and ease Bella's pain, Bella commands him to perform the C-section without delay, thrashing and screaming that "He can't breathe!". Rosalie starts the C-section but, due to the amount of blood involved, loses control, forcing Jacob and Alice to tackle and drag her from the room. Edward continues with the C-section in Rose's place, eventually using his teeth to bite through the hard amniotic sac. Bella is severely injured during the birth due to the baby's violent thrashing, breaking many ribs, losing a lot of blood, and eventually snapping her spine, which requires Jacob to provide CPR to keep her breathing.

After delivering the baby, Edward declares that it is a girl, despite Bella's previous certainty that it was a boy, naming her Renesmee. As Bella holds her, Renesmee's vampire heritage become apparent when she bites Bella, showing her inherited sharp teeth and natural desire for human blood. As Bella loses consciousness again due to her injuries, Edward hands the baby to Rosalie, injects his venom into Bella's heart and bites her in several places, maximizing her odds of survival. After every bite, he runs his tongue over the wound and heals it, trapping the venom into her bloodstream and preserving her already low blood supply. Despite Jacob's CPR support and Edward's venom, Bella's heart stops beating. Believing Bella is beyond saving, Jacob follows Renesmee, intent on killing her in revenge. Still with Bella, Edward provides CPR himself which, combined with the venom, eventually results in Bella's heart recovering, and her conversion into a vampire.

After birth
"A very talented family. A mind reader for a father, a shield for a mother, and then whatever this extraordinary child has bewitched us with. I wonder if there is a name for what she does, or if it is the norm for a vampire hybrid. As if such a thing could ever be considered normal. A vampire hybrid indeed!"

- Eleazar on Renesmee and her family

Jacob Black, previously determined to destroy the monster which he believed to have killed Bella, imprints on Renesmee the moment they look into each other's eyes. Because of this, Renesmee becomes the key to a permanent truce between the werewolves and the Cullens; by the absolute pack law, the object of a wolf's imprinting cannot be harmed by other wolves, and there is no exception to this rule.

After Bella's transformation and recovery are complete, Edward takes her out hunting, telling her that she needs to be in control before she can meet her daughter, who is half-human and has her own blood. When they return, Jacob tests Bella's control by standing in front of her, and after that is secured, Renesmee and Bella finally meet face-to-face. When Bella finds out about Jacob's imprinting on her child, she angrily confronts him. She eventually lunges at him when she also finds out that he has nicknamed her "Nessie", a nickname derived from the Loch Ness Monster.

Bella realizes that Renesmee is gifted with the ability to share her thoughts with people by touching them, when she shows her the very first picture of her human face. The Cullens are preparing to leave for Alaska when Jacob suddenly tells Charlie about the supernatural world, as he wishes to keep Renesmee in Forks and knows that Charlie is the main reason that they are leaving. By telling Charlie about the world having supernatural forces and that Bella has changed (without specifying anything), he does a huge favor for Bella, the Cullens and himself. Renesmee meets Charlie for the first time when he comes to see Bella, and they both grow incredibly fond of each other.

In the upcoming months, Renesmee grows at an exceptional pace, mentally and physically, forming full sentences one week after her birth and learning to walk after three weeks. Since no one is certain of her development, the Cullens plan on making a trip to South America to study the legends that involve her species.

The Volturi
While Bella, Jacob and Renesmee are in the woods hunting together, they are spotted by Irina, a member of the Denali coven, who is mad at the Cullens for not avenging her mate's death. Irina sees Renesmee from a distance and assumes her to be an immortal child, a human child transformed into a vampire. By the Volturi's laws, such children are not allowed to exist because of their inability to control themselves, and Irina, whose mother had been killed for creating one, reports to the Volturi about her. Irina is not aware, however, that Renesmee is a vampire/human hybrid, growing and learning. The Volturi make the decision to come to Forks, and destroy the child and the entire Cullen family. Alice sees this in a vision and tells the Cullens they need to gather witnesses to testify that Renesmee is a half-vampire and that she is able to control her instincts; she leaves a clue for Bella to locate a lawyer named J. Jenks to help Renesmee escape in case the Volturi do end them, and then flees with Jasper without so much as a goodbye.

In the next month, the Cullens gather many friends to help them testify that the child is not an immortal child. Renesmee wins over many with her gift and sweetness, and makes many new friends. To spend her first Christmas, Bella, Edward and Jacob take her to Charlie's house to celebrate, and she receives an MP3 player from Edward, a golden locket inscribed with the words "plus que ma propre vie" ("more than my own life" in French) from Bella, and a handwoven charm bracelet - the Quileute equivalent of a promise ring - from Jacob.

Knowing that the Volturi will stop at nothing to not only destroy, but acquire half of her family, Bella pleads Renesmee to leave with Jacob when the time comes. When the Volturi and their witnesses arrive, the Cullens and their witnesses prove to them that the child is a hybrid between vampires and humans. Aro is very intrigued with Renesmee's existence, but is determined to achieve his secret ambitions - to add Alice, Edward, Bella and some of the other gifted vampires into his collection. He and Caius come up with multiple schemes to provoke a battle between the Volturi and the Cullens. In Alice's vision of the probable battle, Renesmee and Jacob are escaping the slaughter with Volturi guard Santiago running after them. When he flies through the air to catch them, Jacob fights back, bites off his head and escapes with Renesmee.

The deal to let her live is set when Alice and Jasper show up near the end of the trial with a mature half-vampire like Renesmee, one the Volturi have never known of. Said hybrid, Nahuel, informs the Volturi of his past, his age and his diet. This persuades Aro to no longer see Renesmee as a threat, and, more importantly, threatened by Bella's gift, and leave in disgrace. The Cullens are safe again, and Renesmee is able to stay with her family.

Nahuel states that Renesmee will probably reach complete physical maturity around seven years after her birth, at which point she will stop aging and live to an unknown extent of years.

Future
Since Jacob has imprinted on her, he has acted as a brother to her. It is likely that Jacob's feelings will become romantic when Renesmee comes of age. As happened to Nahuel, when she stops maturing at the age of seven, she will look like a seventeen year old teenager and cease to age for at least many centuries.

Near the end of Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Alice somehow learns to perceive visions that involve shape-shifters and vampire hybrids, given how she is able to see Jacob and Renesmee escape the battle while also perceiving the wolves' involvement. At the end of the movie, she shares a vision with Edward, where they see a fully grown Renesmee together with her parents and Jacob - her mate.

Stephenie Meyer has mentioned in an interview that if she were to write further books in the Twilight universe, she would likely narrate from Renesmee's or Leah Clearwater's perspectives, since the love story of Bella and Edward has reached its ending. She also mentioned in another interview that there is a chance that she might go back to writing The Twilight Saga, and refused to answer any question regarding Renesmee's future.

Physical appearance
"Her tiny face was so absolutely perfect that it stunned me. She was even more beautiful than her father. Unbelievable. Impossible."

- Bella upon seeing Renesmee for the first time.

Renesmee is depicted as being immensely beautiful; even more gorgeous than Rosalie and Edward. She has inherited both of her parents' exceptionally good looks, having the facial features of her father Edward (high cheekbones, straight nose, strong jawline, and full lips), as well as his unusual bronze hair color (brown in the movie), with her eyes being chocolate brown, just like her mother Bella's were when she was still human. However, she has also inherited curly hair from her grandfather Charlie Swan, portrayed as ringlets that fall past her waist.

She has pale skin, which has a blush to it because her heart pumps blood, with a faster beat than a normal human heart, and has had perfect shiny square teeth since her birth. Unlike her family, Renesmee's skin glows slightly in the sunshine like back-lit alabaster rather than sparkle like diamonds. Thanks to the blood flowing in her veins and her heart beating, she has pink rosy cheeks, shell-pink lips, pale lavender eyelids, and pink palms. Her scent is a balance of both vampire and human, with enough vampire scent to keep it from being too appetizing to vampires; she also has a dimpled smile as opposed to her father's crooked smile.

Personality
"She is special, that little one. Hard to resist."

- Tanya on Renesmee

Renesmee is depicted as a kind, overwhelmingly intelligent, and fun-loving child. She has a competitive streak that prompts her to accept Jacob's hunting challenges, which keeps her motivated to drink animal blood.

As a vampire's mind is highly superior to a human's, Renesmee's mind gets into high gear even before she was born; she finds out that her movements in the womb have been hurting her mother, and tries to stop. She also likes to hear the voices of her parents, and shows affection towards Jacob. After she was born, she learns the vampire laws and limitations very quickly and understands their consequences. She can memorize perfectly anything she sees or experiences, and understands people without much problem. Bella comments that she is already more intelligent than most adults, and has better control over her thirst than any of them.

She likes to read books and listen to music, something she shares with her parents. She likes to hear Bella reading bedtime stories, but hates hearing the same ones twice, expecting therefore to hear new ones each and every time. In Breaking Dawn - Part 2, she learns to play piano from Edward.

Renesmee is fascinated by everyone in her surroundings, despite their being different species. She mostly prefers not to speak out loud and instead use her power to communicate with others, because she finds words insufficient to describe her feelings. However, she will talk if she has to or if she is unable to touch someone. She is also depicted as a brave and headstrong character.

Traits of species
"How much is she like you? How much like me? Or like I was anyway." "It seems a fairly even divide."

- Bella and Edward discussing Renesmee's traits

Renesmee, often called "Nessie" for short, is a vampire-human hybrid, and therefore shares traits from both species. Similar to Alice's inability to see the future of werewolves, because she had never been one herself, Alice also cannot see Renesmee or her kind. This is something that annoys her as much as her inability to see the wolves.

She is immensely beautiful, and her body temperature is slightly higher than a human's. Renesmee has a rapidly beating heart and veins filled with her own blood. Her hardened skin glows faintly rather than sparkle like diamonds upon exposure to sunlight, which allows her to blend in the human society much more easily than vampires. Unlike the rest of her vampire family, she is also able to sleep, and unlike Nahuel, she is not venomous, a trait that she shares with the other female hybrids (Nahuel's half-sisters). Her scent is a mixture of human and vampire.

Her attractive traits and kind nature draw people (vampire or human) to her. Tanya once commented her on as being a "special little one, hard to resist".

Diet
"Suuuure you're not thirsty, Nessie. You're just afraid I'll catch the biggest one again!"

- Jacob Black to Renesmee while hunting.

Renesmee can survive on either human food or blood. She doesn't like human food much and will rarely eat it. She doesn't mind drinking animal blood in order to conform to the vegetarian lifestyle and due to her love of humans. However, like most vampires, she prefers human blood and sees the donated blood that Bella drank while pregnant as an acceptable compromise. Given the difficulties involved in acquiring enough donated blood and in order to encourage Renesmee to drink animal blood, Jacob Black would start a friendly hunting competition between them for the biggest prey, which keeps Renesmee motivated.

Rapid growth
As a child, Renesmee grows at an outstanding rate; this information caused great worry to the Cullens as they were unable to predict her future, and all of them worried how long her lifespan would be. This worry comes to an end when Nahuel, another vampire-human hybrid, explains about his and his half-sisters' experience on the matter. It is implied that Renesmee's growth will slow down until it ceases at the age of seven, by which she will have the appearance of a young woman. She may be able to live for centuries minimum, if not more. Her physical growth is greatly outstripped by her mental development.

Powers and abilities
Being half-vampire, Renesmee displays the same supernatural senses and capabilities of vampires, such as heightened senses, enhanced physical strength and speed, though not as potent as true vampires. At three months old, she can already leap 15 feet into the air. Her skin is also almost as impenetrable as that of vampires, but no one has tested its endurance.

She is born with sharp teeth that allow her to bite through skin and drink blood, but is not venomous. Whether by chance inheritance or gender difference is unknown, but it has been pointed that Nahuel is the only half-vampire known to possess vampire venom.

Tactile thought projection and shield penetration
"It's an interesting twist. Like she's doing the exact opposite of what you can."

- Carlisle on Renesmee's opposite gift of her father's

As the offspring of two gifted vampires, Renesmee has inherited the exact opposite versions of her parents' powers; while Edward can read people's minds from a distance, she can place her own thoughts and images (even feelings) into their minds through physical contact. This power works most effectively in communication.

She can unconsciously use this power when she is asleep, allowing people to see what she is dreaming about; and while Bella acts as a mental shield that blocks psychic powers from her mind, Renesmee can penetrate others' mental defenses, being the only person capable of making her power effective on Bella.

It is yet unknown how this opposition came to be.

Relationships
Renesmee is the biological daughter of Bella Cullen (née Swan) and Edward Cullen, as well as the biological granddaughter of Charlie Swan, Renée Dwyer, Edward Sr. and Elizabeth Masen and step-granddaughter of Phil Dwyer and great granddaughter of Marie Higginbotham, and Geoffrey and Helen Swan. She is also the adoptive granddaughter of Carlisle and Esme Cullen, and the adoptive niece to Rosalie and Jasper Hale, and Alice and Emmett Cullen. Renée and Phil are the only ones who are unaware of her existence.

Bella Swan
"I love you too... more than my own life."

- Bella, to Renesmee.

Bella Swan is Renesmee's mother.

After Bella finds out that she is pregnant, she acquires a deep love for her daughter, mistakenly believing her unborn baby is a boy. Even when everyone, except Rosalie, tries to convince her to abort the baby, she refuses. Once Edward discovers that he can hear the baby's thoughts and it can understand them, Renesmee does everything she can to keep from hurting the mother she loves deeply. After the conception, deadly birth, transformation and first hunt, Renesmee and Bella finally meet for the first time. Renesmee has an unbreakably close bond to Bella, and she even loved Bella from the womb, as discovered by Edward on Bella's final day of pregnancy.

Fearing that Alice foresaw the Cullens losing against the Volturi, Bella secretly prepares legal documents for Renesmee and Jacob so that they may escape. Convinced that she and Edward would not survive the encounter, Bella also gives Renesmee a golden locket for Christmas as a memento with a photo of Bella, Edward, and Renesmee inside along with the engraved French inscription of "plus que ma propre vie", meaning "more than my own life".

She is capable of breaking through her mother's shield and showing her what she is thinking about - it is thought that at least some elements of this power are inherited from Bella. Aside from this, she has also inherited Bella's chocolate brown eyes.

After the confrontation with the Volturi is resolved peacefully, Renesmee continues to live with her parents in a small cottage not too far away from the Cullen house, and Bella finally begins to call her "Nessie" after months of repelling the nickname.

Edward Cullen
"I'm her father. Not her creator - her biological father."

- Edward, to the Denalis about Renesmee.

Edward Cullen is Renesmee's father.

During their honeymoon, Edward and Bella unknowingly conceived Renesmee. When they realized this, Edward was far from happy. Fearing that he would lose Bella, Edward became desperate to get rid of the baby. At first, Edward asked Carlisle to remove the baby, so it wouldn't kill Bella, but she refused to have an abortion under any circumstances.

As Bella's pregnancy continued, an unborn Renesmee kept hurting her and Edward's hatred of his child continued. However, on the final day of the pregnancy, the unborn Renesmee developed to the point where she had a mind for her father to read. Edward heard that Renesmee already loved her parents, understood that she was only accidentally hurting her mother, and was now trying to restrain herself. After hearing all this, his hatred for his daughter vanished and replaced with immense love.

When Bella went into sudden labor, Edward was the one who delivered Renesmee. She has spent considerably more time with her father than with her mother, as Bella had to recuperate from her vampire transformation. She says dozens of times that she loves her "momma and daddy" very much, even crying when she found out that Edward and Bella would have to leave her and shared a very close goodbye with Edward before facing the Volturi.

Since Edward can read minds, Renesmee does not need physical contact to communicate with him like she does with everyone else.

Because the nickname "Nessie" appears in everyone's thoughts, it attaches to Edward very quickly.

Jacob Black
"The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood." "It was the baby girl in the blonde vampire's arms that held me here now." "Renesmee."

- Jacob, upon imprinting on Renesmee.

Jacob Black is the shape-shifter who has imprinted on Renesmee.

He was originally in love with Renesmee's mother, Bella. After unsuccessfully trying to take Bella from her vampire boyfriend Edward, Jacob fell into a state of depression caused by a broken heart. Soon after this, Bella became pregnant with her and Edward's baby. Jacob was repulsed because he saw the baby the same way he saw Edward: a monster. Jacob made his hatred for the baby clear on multiple occasions, including when he became angry at Bella for saying that the baby reminded her of him. Bella nearly died giving birth to the baby, whom she named Renesmee. During Bella's transformation into a vampire, Jacob believed that she had died, and attempted to kill Renesmee for revenge. But when he made eye contact with Renesmee, he involuntarily imprinted on her. He then realized why he and Bella were pulled toward each other during her pregnancy: because Renesmee was a significant (due to the similarities between her and her mother as a human) part of Bella, and that makes her his object of imprint.

Renesmee loves Jacob as much as she loves her parents. Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee helps end the warring tension between the Cullens and the Uley pack, because while she is imprinted on, she becomes untouchable to the other wolves due to pack law whereas, the person a wolf imprinted upon was not to be harmed by other tribe members. Jacob is the one who nicknamed her "Nessie". As part of the imprint, he would do anything for her and visit her every single day. Renesmee is shown to be possessive of Jacob, and seems to enjoy his company just as much as he enjoys hers. While Renesmee is a child, Jacob is near her to protect her, nurture her, and be her best friend. Because of the inevitable hardships of being away from her, he abandons his initial plan of living the rest of his life as a wolf and dedicates to protecting Renesmee. His desire to please Renesmee makes his own opinions secondary.

On Christmas night, Jacob gives Renesmee a handmade bracelet, which is the Quileute version of a promise ring. Edward is annoyed by the gift, but Bella has learned to accept his devotion. When her maturity completes, Jacob's feelings are expected to become romantic in response to Renesmee's own feelings.

Rosalie Hale
"Do you have a backup plan? What if he's a she?" "Um, I kicked a few things around. Playing with Renée and Esme. I was thinking... Ruh-nez-may." "Ruhnezmay?" "R-e-n-e-s-m-e-e. Too weird?" "No, I like it. It's beautiful. And one of a kind, so that fits."

- Rosalie and Bella discussing Renesmee's name.

Rosalie Hale is Renesmee's adoptive aunt.

Rosalie has always wanted to have her own children, but is unable to fulfill this wish as a vampire since her body can no longer undergo changes. When Bella became pregnant, she came to her aid, protecting her from the rest of their family who wished to abort the baby. After Renesmee was born, Rosalie took the baby downstairs while Edward injected his venom into an agonizing, almost dead Bella. Rosalie took care of her while Bella was becoming a vampire.

Rosalie is very protective of Renesmee. Even though Bella survives, Rosalie still treats Renesmee like her own child, and learns to accept Bella as a sister because she knows that she was willing to give up her life for her baby, the same choice Rosalie would have made. Renesmee enjoys Rosalie combing her hair, which she admits during a silent conversation with Bella.

Alice Cullen
"She's going to be the most spoiled half-vampire in existence."

- Alice on Renesmee

Alice Cullen is Renesmee's other adoptive aunt.

Before she was born, Alice hated her niece for causing overwhelming pain to Bella's body and blocking her vision, but learned to love her after she was born.

She and Rosalie enjoy dressing her up to make a baby album that looks years old rather than weeks. Although Alice loves her niece, she is distraught by the fact that she cannot see her future and everything that involves her, even before she was born. She points out that trying to see a future that involved her causes an unusual kind of headache.

When Alice and Jasper left the family before the confrontation with the Volturi, Renesmee expresses how much she likes her aunt, a liking that she shares with her mother. Alice and Jasper return just in time with their witnesses to save their family and prevent a fight with the Volturi.

Carlisle Cullen
Carlisle Cullen is Renesmee's adoptive paternal grandfather.

He initially wanted to abort Renesmee when Bella was pregnant with her, but Esme's decision to side with Bella affected his choice.

After she is born, they grow fairly close as he comes to love his new granddaughter. He keeps track of her growth rate everyday to calculate her maturity process. He also occasionally feeds her with donated human blood, but does his very best to shift her diet to animal blood and, sometimes, human food.

Esme Cullen
"Esme sacrificed her second-best silver service to keep the little monster entertained."

- Rosalie

Esme Cullen is Renesmee's adoptive paternal grandmother.

While Bella was pregnant with Renesmee, Esme sided with Rosalie and Emmett to protect them both, because she understood Bella's desire to have children and believed that she should be able to make her own choices in the matter.

She also prepared an extra room in the cottage that Bella and Edward live in, which later became the baby's bedroom. During Bella's transformation, Esme would cradle the baby to sleep, while also sharing the experience with Rosalie and Jacob.

Like the way she welcomes everyone into the family, she quickly adapts to Renesmee's birth and grows fond of her new granddaughter and vice versa.

Charlie Swan
"Prettiest baby I ever saw, including you, kid. Sorry, but it's true."

- Charlie to Bella on Renesmee

Charlie Swan is Renesmee's maternal grandfather.

The Cullens initially intended to let Charlie believe that she is an adoptive child to Bella and Edward, "orphaned after his brother's death", but he figures out the truth from her chocolate brown eyes, which she inherited from him, but decides to stick with the public story to protect her and Bella. He grows extremely fond of her after their first encounter, but Bella wouldn't let him hold Renesmee until she fell asleep as she was attracted to his blood. Bella also mentions that she has inherited her curly hair from him.

By December, they have grown very close. Charlie always visits the Cullens, though Bella, Edward and Renesmee occasionally visit him. Renesmee wholeheartedly accepts her parents' prohibition from biting, talking out loud, and using her power in Charlie's presence in order to help him cope as easily as possible, though she can accidentally startle him by doing something too advanced for an infant.

Emmett Cullen
Emmett Cullen is Renesmee's adoptive uncle.

He quickly adapts to her unexpected birth like the rest of his family and calls her "Nessie".

He was one of the family members who defended Renesmee's safety when Bella was still pregnant with her, but only because Rosalie and Esme were on her side.

Though he seemingly shares the weakest link to his niece, he does indeed care for her enough to willingly miss out on a fighting opportunity for her safety, as proven when he proposes the idea of gathering witnesses to testify in their favor against the Volturi, which will very likely prevent a fight.

In Breaking Dawn - Part 2, while Renesmee is playing the piano, Emmett is among those who listen to her performance before they were interrupted by Alice's vision.

Jasper Hale
Jasper Hale is Renesmee's adoptive uncle.

While Bella was pregnant with Renesmee, Jasper was forced to sit on the sidelines, only acting as Bella's bodyguard from Sam's wolf pack. When Bella was newly turned to a vampire, Jasper was always near Bella's side to prevent her from losing control, but he was also concerned for Renesmee's safety. On one occasion, he mistook Bella's thirst to wanting Renesmee's blood and immobilized her while giving the baby to Edward. This indicates that he has grown a sense of caring for both Renesmee and Bella.

It is unknown how close Renesmee is to her uncle after her birth since they never shared a moment together. Seeing as they are members of the same family, it is suggested that they do care for each other.

Carmen
"May I hold you, bebé linda?"

- Carmen to Renesmee.

Carmen is a member of the Denali coven.

She becomes interested in Renesmee as soon as they meet. When Edward explained that she was half-human, Carmen is the only one in her coven to show any belief in the story at all. To show her the truth, Renesmee uses her power to show Carmen her story from birth to the moment they met, and convinced her completely that her half-breed lineage was truth. After she was convinced of this fact, she helps convince her mate, Eleazar, to believe the truth, along with Tanya and Kate. Carmen is willing to testify in the Cullens' favor, and do everything in her power to protect Renesmee and her family.

Their relationship is much less pronounced in the movie.

Zafrina
"We shall be great friends, my Nessie."

- Zafrina to Renesmee.

Zafrina is a member of the Amazon coven.

She meets Renesmee when Alice sends her and her "sister", Senna, to Forks in hopes to help her family testify against the Volturi about a false accusation. To keep Renesmee entertained, Zafrina often shows her pretty pictures with her "gift", which is to project vivid illusions. Renesmee likes her entertainment so much that she becomes very attached to her, and vice versa. Although Renesmee likes Zafrina, Bella finds her intimidating and prefers to keep them at a distance. During her stay in Forks, she distracts Renesmee with her "pictures" to keep her entertained.

By the end of Breaking Dawn, Zafrina makes Bella promise to bring Renesmee to South America sometime in the future, and promises Renesmee that they will be great friends.

Their friendship is much less described in the movies, though they do share a moment together before Zafrina returns to South America.

Nahuel
"... Maybe he was looking at Nessie... He couldn't be oblivious to the fact that Nessie was the only female of his kind that wasn't his half-sister."

- Bella

Nahuel is one of the few known human/vampire hybrids in the world.

When the Volturi come to destroy Renesmee and her family, Alice and Jasper find Nahuel in South America and bring him back to Forks to present evidence that hybrids are not a threat to the world of vampires. Prior to meeting the Cullens, Nahuel lived believing he was inherently evil because of accidentally killing his mother during his birth and thirsting for human blood. After seeing Renesmee's family, he realizes what his parents could have been if they were like Bella and Edward. Because of this, he comes to understand that his existence isn't simply evil and begins to forgive himself.

At the end of Breaking Dawn, Edward mentions that Jacob may have quite competition when Nessie comes of age, implying that Nahuel might come to them again in the future.

Benjamin
Benjamin is a member of the Egyptian coven, gifted with the ability to control the elements of nature.

The two first meet when Renesmee's family asks for the Egyptians' aid against the Volturi. Benjamin willingly allows Renesmee to show him her power and shows open fondness toward her. The two rarely interact with each other in the novel; however in the movie adaptation, Benjamin uses his power over air and earth as a means to entertain her the first time they meet. She shows clear fondness of his power.

Renée Dwyer
Renée Dwyer is Renesmee's maternal grandmother.

She is currently kept in the dark about her granddaughter's existence in consideration to Renesmee's extremely rapid physical and mental development so drastically surpassing that of normal children. Bella wants to introduce her daughter to Renée, but is unsure that she would be able to handle the truth; it is therefore unknown if Renée will ever meet her.

Etymology
"Her name is Renesmee. Like Renée and Esme put together."

- Bella Swan

Renesmee's name derives from an amalgamation of the names of Bella's mother, Renée, and her adoptive mother-in-law, Esme. Her middle name, "Carlie", is a portmanteau of Bella's father-in-law, Carlisle, and Charlie, Bella's biological father. Her full name is Renesmee Carlie Cullen.

Jacob Black gives her the nickname "Nessie" because he thinks her full name is a "mouthful". At first, Bella refuses to use this nickname because of the obvious allusion to the Loch-Ness Monster, but by the end of the series she eventually warms to it.

Film portrayal
On October 7, 2010, Stephenie Meyer released a message on Twilight Facebook that said Renesmee Cullen was to be portrayed by Mackenzie Foy in Breaking Dawn - Part 1 and Breaking Dawn - Part 2.

It has been acknowledged that a number of young actresses are used as Renesmee's body doubles. The young actresses are: Rachel St. Gelais, Eliza Faria, Abigail Cornell, Isabella Ianuzzi, Milli Wilkinson, Tate Clemons, Taylor Diane Robinson, Kailyn Stratton and Blythe Barrington-Hughes.

Teenage actress Christie Burke portrayed an adult version of Renesmee. All of their faces are replaced by Mackenzie's through technological devices.

Mackenzie personally acknowledged that she had never expected to receive the role, and has only watched the first two movies.

Appearances

 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn - Part 1
 * Breaking Dawn - Part 2