Caius

"So the Cullens sided with the shape-shifters against our own kind - against the friend of a friend, even."

- Caius on the Cullens' relationship with the werewolves

Caius is a vampire and one of the three ancient leaders of the Volturi, a vampire coven in Volterra, Italy who live what Edward describes as a very civilized and educated lifestyle. Caius has a wife named Athenodora who is not very well known and rarely leaves Volterra.

Early life
Caius was born about 1300 BC, and at some point became a vampire. He later joined the Volturi, along with Aro and Marcus. It is unknown if Caius ever met or knew Didyme, Marcus's wife and Aro's biological sister, or if he knows that Aro killed her himself. Later two female vampires joined the Volturi: Sulpicia and Athenodora, who both were cousins. Athenodora later became Caius's wife. Some 2000 years before Breaking Dawn, he was nearly killed by a werewolf in a fight, and never got over it, so he hunted werewolves to near extinction. He also participated in the extermination of the Immortal Children, which he deemed to be dangerous.

New Moon
In New Moon, Caius was insistent that Bella not be allowed to leave Italy alive. When it was determined that Edward planned to change Bella, Caius was disappointed, but Aro assured him that they would try again to persuade them to join. He wanted Bella to be killed rather than changed but let her go.

Breaking Dawn
In Breaking Dawn, Caius, along with the rest of the Volturi, travel to Forks to destroy the Cullens. They had heard that the Cullens, particularly Bella and Edward, had created an immortal child, a creation they had outlawed. When they arrived, however, they found not just the Cullens defending the child, but many other vampires and a large number of werewolves. Aro, after learning that the child was actually half-human, tried to solve the confrontation peacefully. Caius, however, wanted a fight to break out. To accomplish this, he stressed the fact that the Cullens had allied with werewolves (something the Volturi did not tolerate) and had Irina, the vampire who had informed them of Renesmee, killed. His efforts failed, and Aro ordered the Volturi to leave peacefully once he was convinced to do so.

After the confrontation, Edward tells everyone that Caius has great fear of werewolves - not the shape-shifters of La Push - but "real" werewolves and had them hunted to near-extinction. This is because he was nearly killed in a fight with a werewolf two thousand years ago.

Physical description
Caius has very pale skin that is almost translucent. It is described as being similar to onion skin. His hair is shoulder length, and white. It is very close to his skin tone. His eyes are red due to the fact that he drinks human blood as opposed to animal blood. He finds animal blood repulsive, and he thinks it is wrong to deny what you are by drinking animal blood, instead of the blood intended - human blood.

Personality


Of the three Volturi leaders Caius can easily be identified as the cruelest one, and is ever merciless, never extending mercy to anyone. Whenever the opportunity presents itself he advocates for more draconian methods of handling situations, and is usually in favor of executions. This may be due to the emotional scarring of his near-death experience with Werewolves, but it is not certain.

He has shown on occasion some willingness to argue against Aro whenever he disagrees on his decisions, however he is ultimately subservient to his superior's wishes.

Etymology
The name "Caius" seems to be Latin for the word "rejoice" ("Caius" is pronounced kah-EE-us). The name also seems to be Roman. The name could also be spelled as "Gaius". Gaius or Caius was a common Roman praenomen (given name) of uncertain derivation. It has been suggested it might relate to the Latin 'gaudere', "to rejoice". It might also be linked to an Etruscan phrase, or to the Greek 'Gaia'. It was used among the Romans as a first name, with examples such as Gaius Julius Caesar and Gaius Caligula. Caius is mentioned in the Bible and is the name of numerous saints as well. Caius is now considered a variant of Gaius, but was probably the original spelling. At the time the letter C, which occupies in the Roman alphabet the place of the Greek Gamma, was in some cases pronounced [G]. Caius (pronounced "Keys") is also the common short name for Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, England.

Appearances

 * Twilight (Mentioned Only)
 * New Moon (First Appearance)
 * The Twilight Saga: New Moon
 * Eclipse (Mentioned Only)
 * Breaking Dawn

Film portrayal
Jamie Campbell-Bower was cast in the role of Caius for the New Moon film.