Volturi

"The Volturi aren't supposed to be the villains, the way they seem to you. They are the foundation of our peace and civilization."

- Edward Cullen to Bella Cullen and Jacob Black

The Volturi are a civilized coven of vampires, the largest and most powerful one in the series, and enforce the laws of the vampire world.

The equivalent of royalty in the vampire world, the Volturi consists of 5 core members: Aro, Caius, Marcus, Aro's wife Sulpicia, and Caius's wife Athenodora. Marcus's wife (and Aro's sister), Didyme, was also a member before she was killed by her brother. Aside from these head members, it also consists of a collection of powerfully imposing vampires, known as the Volturi guard, three of which are most powerful.

Background
The Volturi act as the unofficial royalty of the vampire world, and operate from the city of Volterra, Italy. They have existed for at least 3000 years, and are the largest coven in existence, followed by the Olympic and the Denali covens. Carlisle Cullen lived with them for a while in his early years before he came to America. However, they do not follow a vegetarian diet, as seen in New Moon, in which they capture and murder several humans in a carefully planned "meal". The Volturi deal swiftly and decisively with anything they consider a threat to their city or to the vampire world; for example, they protect vampires' existence in secret. They destroy anyone who attempts to overthrow them or resist their authority and, at Caius' insistence, have hunted werewolves (true werewolves, not shape-shifters) to near extinction in Europe and Asia.

Purpose
Although they are not the 'official' royal family of vampires, they still act as though they are, and are an incredibly influential coven. They are also considered 'nighttime patrons of the arts' as, because of their inability to sleep, they study the arts at night. The Volturi act as guardians, keeping the secret society of vampires hidden from the human world as needed. They often send their agents to travel from Volterra to destroy overzealous covens from exposing vampires through mass eradication of every vampire (and any humans) present.

In the Twilight series, the Volturi are becoming an increasing problem, as they want Bella turned into a vampire as soon as possible. Edward opposes the idea, as he believes it would destroy Bella's soul. They also went to Forks, Washington to destroy Victoria's army of young vampires, as they were being a menace to the neighboring city, Seattle. However, by the time they arrived the fight had already ended, and the werewolves had to escape as the Volturi do not tolerate truces with werewolves. In addition, in the last book Breaking Dawn, they are seen to come to destroy Renesmee along with those who created and protect her, as they wrongly think she is an immortal child.

Laws
Acting as the unofficial royalty of vampires around the world, the Volturi have implemented and are enforcing a number of rules of conduct, or laws, that all vampires are expected to obey or get sentenced to death if they don't comply with the laws. There aren't many of them, and they mainly concern the secrecy surrounding the existence of vampires.

Throughout the centuries, many vampires are born after the laws were established, and every vampire was taught of these laws by their creator. Though they think of the laws as an accepted fact, they do not know that it is really the Volturi's scheme to maintain control of the vampire world. But to this day, many vampires still continue to obey this law. Like the Cullens are obeying, which leads them to move approximately every 6 to 7 years to stop talk in the human world.
 * Incapable of self-control, and therefore a threat of exposure, immortal children are not to be created. Sasha and Vasilii were executed under this law.
 * Dealing with Children of the Moon, except for the purpose of extermination, is prohibited.
 * False witness, regardless of intent, is forbidden. Irina was executed under this law.
 * Hunting is forbidden in Volterra, the town of residence of the Volturi; their food is brought from outside, sometimes from quite far away.
 * Hunts must be inconspicuous, with victims unlikely to be missed; their remains must be disposed of and territory must be changed often.
 * Newborn vampires must be trained before they can be released on their own. Methods have been identified to do so, and they often require more than one mature vampire to be used.
 * Rebellion against the Volturi is prohibited. Of course, it is nearly impossible to succeed.

History
The Volturi were founded by Aro, Caius and Marcus, along with Aro's wife Sulpicia, Caius' wife Athenodora and Marcus' wife Didyme, who was also Aro's sister. The coven originated in Greece and proceeded to gather vampires with useful talents to build up their power and relocated to Volterra, Italy. When the coven became strong enough, the Volturi usurped control of the vampire world from the Romanian coven, the original ruling coven. After the Romanians were defeated in the century-long war, their next target was the Egyptians, with only two survivors from the demise, Amun and Kebi. At some point the Romanian coven tried to regain control, but the Volturi defeated them easily.

The Volturi have ruled the vampire world for 25 centuries by the start of the series. During that time, they did a number of things to ensure stability in the world, including eradicating the immortal children, cleaning up after the Vampire Wars in the southern parts of America and creating their own vampires to spread their law across the world of vampires. At some point, Caius was almost killed in a fight with a werewolf. Becoming terrified of his people's mortal enemies, he pushed the Volturi to hunt them to near extinction in Europe and Asia.

At one time, Marcus and his wife Didyme, who was also Aro's sister, planned on leaving the Volturi. Aro was upset by this, but appeared to give them his support; however, Aro later secretly killed Didyme to prevent Marcus from leaving, because he found his brother-in-law's power much more useful than his sister's. Marcus spent a majority of time trying to find the murderer (he never realized it was Aro who did it), when he failed, he became suicidal. At this point, Aro met Chelsea and realized that she had the power to manipulate relationships and used her to keep Marcus loyal to the Volturi. The death of Didyme, however, prompted Caius and Aro to ensure tight security surveillance to their mates. As Chelsea's power is the key to their civilization, Aro always gives her what she wants (for example, her mate Afton, who is far less skilled than her), but he also uses Corin's gift to keep her from leaving. With Chelsea on their side, they were able to recruit Demetri, Renata and Heidi without much problems.

Their power increased after recruiting Jane and Alec; two vampire twins with extremely powerful gifts, and subsequently made the Volturi untouchable.

Carlisle, at one time, came to stay with them. The Volturi liked him greatly, but were unable to persuade him to hunt humans instead of animals. Carlisle eventually left after two decades and established his own coven in America. Eleazar also was once part of the Volturi Guard, but left with Carmen. The two later found the Denali coven and stayed with them.

Twilight
Although they do not make any appearances in Twilight, Aro, Marcus and Caius are mentioned by Edward as the inspiration of the gods in several Italian paintings that belong to Carlisle.

New Moon
The Volturi first appear in New Moon. Near the beginning of New Moon, Edward says to Bella that irritating the Volturi was the perfect way to get yourself slaughtered. When Edward thought Bella killed herself, he goes to Volterra to ask the Volturi to kill him; they refuse. Aro, in particular, wants Edward to join them, and Edward decides to force their hand by exposing himself to the humans of the city.

Bella and Alice, however, are able to arrive in the city and find him before he revealed and got himself killed. Three guards (Jane, Felix, and Demetri) bring Edward, Alice, and Bella back to Aro, Marcus, and Caius. Aro is intrigued when he sees Bella is immune to Jane's, Edward's and his powers. After Edward, Alice, and Bella refuse to join the Volturi, Caius tells them that Bella must die because she knows their secrets, which Edward refuses to allow happen. But Alice is able to convince them to let them go when she "shows" Aro a vision of Bella becoming a vampire in the future. They are then allowed to leave the city after midnight.

Eclipse
"Either we let them do what they were created for... or we end them."

- Jane on the Seattle newborn army



The Volturi appear only at the end of Eclipse, though they are mentioned many times. At first, the Cullens suspect that the Volturi may be creating a army in Seattle. However, they know that even if it isn't them, they will soon have to come to sort it out. This causes worry that they will stop in to see if Bella is still human. After finding out about the army of newborns created by Victoria, the Volturi send a portion of their guard to destroy the army: (Jane, Demetri, Felix and two other vampires). However, in the film they send Alec rather than the "two other members". But by the time they arrive, they find that the Cullens (with the aid of a werewolf pack) have already eradicated the army. The guard merely kill a young girl named Bree, the only newborn who had surrendered. They also promise to come back and check Bella's mortality soon before leaving.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
"There were only four of them, like the last time. But it didn't make a difference that there were seven of the yellow-eyes. I could tell that they were as wary of these dark-cloaks as Riley and my creator had been. There was something more to them than I could see, but I could definitely feel it. These were the punishers, and they didn't lose."

- Bree Tanner

In The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, the Volturi guard find and visit Victoria and Riley in a small house. As it turns out, they have been aware of the army's actions for awhile and suspect that its creation was to be used for the destruction of the Olympic Coven. Jane makes an offer to Victoria: a five-day limit to serve their purpose or they will end them. When Victoria asks what would happen after they have served their purpose, Jane simply replies, "That depends on how successful you are." However, they are unaware that their conversation was overheard by two newborns, Bree Tanner and Diego.

Right before Felix destroyed Bree, she telepathically gave all information she could provide to Edward Cullen, including the guard's secret visit to Victoria and Riley.

Breaking Dawn


Caius is planning to send a hunting party to Forks to see if Bella has become a vampire or not. To stop this, Alice sends the Volturi an announcement for Bella and Edward's wedding. The announcement delays the Volturi's plans because they aren't sure if it means that they had actually gotten married or Bella had been turned. In the end, Aro decides to send Bella a wedding gift - a thick, gold-chained necklace with a diamond the size of a golf ball accompanied by a note saying, "I so look forward to meeting the new Mrs. Cullen in person," which worries Bella.

She decides to go to Italy alone to let the Volturi know that she has been turned and hide the fact that she has mothered a half-human/half-vampire daughter named Renesmee. Before she can, however, the vampire Irina mistakes her daughter to be an immortal child, vampire children that are forbidden to exist, and informs the Volturi of this "case". They gather the entire guard together and, with their wives, set out to destroy the Cullens. It takes them one month to do so, as they take the time to gather witnesses. Though they take up the pretense of justification, Aro really has another reason for gathering the entire guard: he is determined to bring Alice, as well as Edward and Bella, into the Volturi.

When the Volturi arrive, they find that the Cullens have gathered what appears to be an army to oppose them, made up of 27 vampires, including their old rivals - the Romanians, and a large number of "werewolves". In reality, the Cullens' 'army' is really a group of witnesses that could testify that Renesmee, the so-called immortal child, is really the hybrid daughter of Edward and Bella. Aro is convinced of this after seeing Edward's memories, and Irina admits her false accusation. Caius, in an attempt to start a fight, kill Irina, and also tries to use the werewolves as an excuse to attack, but Edward says that they were not real werewolves, and Aro agrees, referring to them as shape-shifters. Though they agree that Renesmee was not an immortal child, they are not convinced that she would not become a threat. While pretending to counsel, the guard attempt to use their powers to immobilize the Cullens and their allies, only to be blocked by Bella's power. This almost leads to a fight, but the timely arrival of Alice and Jasper changes that: they have found another human-vampire hybrid named Nahuel, who is able to convince Aro that the few hybrid vampires in the world pose no threat, and the Volturi leave the Cullens in peace, but have also been disgraced by the incident.

After the confrontation, Edward reveals that Aro was actually scared of a fight breaking out: after finding out about Bella's power to block powers that involve the mind (which rendered all the Volturi's powers useless), Aro realized there was a good chance the Cullens and their allies would've destroyed them. The Cullens and their allies, however, suspect that the Volturi will attempt to avenge the humiliation they suffered in the future. They intend to gather again if it happens to end the Volturi once and for all.

Members
"There were thirty-two of them. Even if you did not count the two drifting, waifish black-cloaked figures in the very back, who I took to be wives - their protected position suggesting that they would not be involved in the attack - we were still out numbered."

- Bella Swan

Leaders
Aro, Caius and Marcus are the leaders of the Volturi. They command the Volturi Guard and act as representatives when dealing with other covens. They rarely leave the city, but will do so occasionally when the situation demands it.


 * Aro: The official leader. His power of tactile telepathy allows him to access every thought a person has ever had by making physical contact with them. He is the most greedy, careful, yet ambitious and manipulative leader, always looking for ways to collect the gifts that he desires.


 * Caius: Aro's partner and co-leader of the Volturi. He does not possess any special talents, but his ambitions and hatred toward the Romanian Coven impressed Aro so much that he decided to recruit him when they formed the coven. He is often in disagreement with Aro, but Chelsea's power has kept Caius loyal to him.


 * Marcus: A co-leader with the power of relational empathy. With it, he can read the emotional bonds of others and see the weaknesses. Aro uses his gift to find the weakest spots of their enemies' emotional bonds and then use it against them. Marcus has been completely apathetic and uninterested in everything since the death of his mate, Didyme.

Wives
Mates of the Volturi leaders. The wives are also powerful figures of authority, but only go to trials with their husbands on behalf of extremely important matters, not leaving their tower in Volterra but once every few centuries. Since then, the wives became virtual prisoners in their tower. To keep them happy and content, Aro sent Corin to keep them company, using her power of being able to provide people with an addictive contentment. The wives are well protected in their tower.


 * Athenodora: Caius's mate. She has been part of the coven since before they rose to power.


 * Sulpicia: Aro's mate. Aro created her, because he wanted to make a mate instead of finding one in order to avoid complications. She is completely loyal to him.
 * Didyme used to be Marcus' mate, but was killed by her brother Aro after he became aware of her and Marcus' plans of leaving the Volturi together. Due to this, Aro and Caius realized that their wives needed to be protected in order to stop themselves from becoming apathetic of the Volturi's matters, as Marcus did after the death of his wife.

Guard
"... Don't bother. I think you know who we are, so you must know that there is no point in trying to surprise us. Or hide from us. Or fight us. Or run."

- Jane to Victoria and Riley

The Volturi Guard is a group of vampires with powerful capabilities. The Volturi has been shown to invite mostly vampires with incredibly powerful gifts that the leaders see as useful to ensuring that their authority amongst the other covens goes unchallenged. Aro only allows the ones with the best of skills to join the guard. When a vampire is invited into the Volturi, he or she is forced to feel content about joining due to Chelsea's gift to manipulate emotional bonds, usually guaranteeing a swift initiation into the group. When the Volturi find a vampire more gifted than one of their guards, they would try to recruit him or her to replace the member, or at least to join the organization.

The present day Volturi guard currently stands at nine permanent members and a number of more transitory guard members. Each guard member wears a cloak, whose color is an indication of their status/ranking; the darker its shade is, the more valuable that vampire is considered. The transitory guard members wear the gray cloaks while the nine permanent members wear the darker cloaks. Jane and Alec have the second darkest cloaks, while Chelsea's is almost the pure black of the leaders.

Their most powerful members are the twin vampires: Alec, who can cut off all senses of a person, and Jane, who can implant an illusion of pain into a target's mind. Though their talents are merely an illusion, they have made the Volturi untouchable.

Though the Volturi guard mostly consists of gifted vampires, there have been exceptions. If a physically imposing vampire impresses the Volturi, he will be invited to join them as a warrior.


 * Chelsea: She is the linchpin of the Volturi due to her power of relationship manipulation, which allows her to break the emotional bindings of the Volturi's enemies as well as make a wanted vampire willingly join them. She is also the center of the coven's organization, as she made the members more connected with one another. Because of this power, she shares a special relationship with Aro and often receives what she wants, one occasion involves letting her mate, Afton, stay in the Volturi.


 * Jane: One of the two most powerful weapons of the Volturi; the other being her younger twin brother, Alec. Her power of illusionary pain works by implanting a thought into a single target to make them think they are being burned alive. This makes her frightening to other vampires. Her power is effective in maintaining a peaceful confrontation.


 * Alec: One of the two most powerful weapons of the Volturi; the other being his older twin sister, Jane. Alec has the power of sense deprivation, which allows him to block all senses of those he directs at, making them simple targets during slaughter. For this reason and his ability to affect several people at the same time, he is the single most powerful weapon in battle.


 * Renata: Aro's personal bodyguard. She has a powerful shield that allows her to repel an attacker and make them go another way. Her main responsibility in the guard is to protect Aro, but when Caius and Marcus are in need, she is assigned to protect them as well.


 * Heidi: The "fisher", also the "bait", of the coven. Her power of physical attraction allows her to attract people, vampire or human, which is why she is mainly responsible for luring "food" to the Volturi's castle.


 * Demetri: A tracker. His power allows him to pick up the essence of someone's mind and then follow it over any distance across the world to hunt them down. Because of this, he is the main threat to those who wish the escape the Volturi's slaughter.


 * Afton: One of the lowest ranked members in the guard. Though he has the gift of mental invisibility, he owes his state to his mate, Chelsea, who is the prominent member of the Volturi. His power is only enough to protect himself from pursuers by becoming "invisible", but it can be easily seen through by someone with a sharper focus.


 * Corin: A guard with the power of addictive contentment, therefore she is assigned with keeping Sulpicia and Athenodora company in their tower. Though her power is useful in making others feel content and happy with their situations, it has a side-effect: anyone exposed to her power for too long will feel physically uncomfortable if they are not exposed to it for a period of time. Her power is the main reason that Chelsea is unable to leave the Volturi.


 * Felix: The physically strongest warrior the Volturi has ever had. His superior strength and knowledge in combat skills makes him an intimidating opponent to those who try to fight him. It would be suicide to challenge him physically.


 * Santiago: Another physically imposing vampire, though his strength and skills aren't as impressive as Felix's.

Former members

 * Eleazar: A former member of the Volturi. He was invited into the coven because Aro thought his ability to sense the gifts and potential gifts of others was useful for when the Volturi scouted for new members. He resigned after meeting his spouse, Carmen, and joined the Denali Coven sometime later. Aro only permitted his resignation to preserve his gift for later use. Eleazar is the only known guard member to willingly leave the Volturi.


 * Didyme: Marcus's deceased wife and Aro's younger sister. She had a gift to inflict those around her with an aura of happiness. She and Marcus fell in love, and as they grew tired of the Volturi's lifestyle, they decided to leave the coven to find a more peaceful lifestyle. But before they could, Aro killed his own sister in order to keep Marcus within the Volturi, because he found his brother-in-law's power far more useful than hers. Till this day, Marcus doesn't know who her killer is.


 * Gianna: She was the Volturi's human secretary and appeared only in New Moon. She had hoped to become a vampire also, but Stephenie Meyer has said that Gianna did not survive and was instead killed to sustain the Volturi.


 * Bianca: She was the Volturi's human secretary after Gianna's disposal, and only appeared at the end of the first Breaking Dawn movie. Because of her bad spelling and grammar, Aro had her disposed.


 * Unnamed tracker: According to The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, the Volturi had a tracker once before, but they had him replaced after Demetri joined them since his skill proved more efficient. Whether he still lives today remains a mystery.

Other members
There are supposedly more unnamed members of the Volturi Guard, some of them described as brawny as Felix, making the entire Volturi based on approximately 32 vampires in Breaking Dawn, including the leaders and their wives.

Desired members
"They have something I want."

- Aro on his desire for the Cullens' members.

There has been a few vampires who were invited into the Volturi, but refused. Some of their superior emotional bonds were the exceptions to Chelsea's gift. The only vampire who is immune to most of their powers is Bella Swan, who has the ability to block invasive psychic powers and can shield others from them.


 * Alice Cullen: A member of the Olympic Coven. Invited several times by the Volturi due to her ability to see the future; she declined each time. Edward said that Aro never wanted anything more than Alice's power.


 * Bella Swan: A member of the Olympic Coven. Aro was impressed with Bella's ability to block mental powers when she was still human. He invited her to join the Volturi when she was still human, and again when she had been turned into a vampire; she declined both times. Since her gift is strong enough to block the Volturi's strongest members' powers, she is an immense threat to them.


 * Benjamin: A member of the Egyptian Coven with the unique ability to control the elements of nature. He was offered a place with the Volturi at the confrontation in Breaking Dawn; he declined.


 * The Black and Uley packs: During Renesmee's "trial," Aro saw memories of the Cullens' interactions with the La Push wolves. Thinking the Cullens had somehow tamed the wolves to be their pets, he was intrigued by the idea of the wolves working for him as guard dogs. The wolves snarled in response, effectively putting an end to that line of thinking.


 * Carlisle Cullen: The leader of the Olympic Coven. Carlisle stayed as a guest with the Volturi for two decades. Though he didn't have a special talent that the Volturi saw as useful, they still enjoyed his company. He left due to his reverence of human life, and created the Olympic Coven in the United States.


 * Edward Cullen: A member of the Olympic Coven. Invited several times by the Volturi because of his ability to read minds at a distance; he declined every time.


 * Kate: A member of the Denali Coven with the ability to shock others with an illusionary electric current on her skin. She was offered a spot with the Volturi at the confrontation that took place in Breaking Dawn; she, like the rest who were offered, declined.


 * Renesmee Cullen: The resident half-human half-vampire hybrid member of the Olympic Coven with the abilities to communicate others through touch and pass through their mental defenses. Since Renesmee is one of few half-vampires in existence, the Cullens assumed that Aro would want her in his "collection." However, while Aro was intrigued by her, an offer for her to join the Volturi was never made.


 * Zafrina: A member of the Amazon Coven with the ability to project illusions into the minds of others. She was offered a place with the Volturi at the confrontation in Breaking Dawn; she declined.

Behind the scenes
In the New Moon and Eclipse films, every member of the Volturi wears a V pendant signifying their status.