Esme Cullen

"You're what he wants, it will work out, somehow."

- Esme to Bella

Esme Cullen (née Platt, previously Evenson, born 1895) 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, Rosalie and Jasper. Esme is also the adoptive mother-in-law of Bella Cullen and the adoptive grandmother of Renesmee Cullen, as well as the ex-wife of Charles Evenson.

In 1921, after losing her child, Esme attempted suicide, but was unsuccessful at completing it. Later, 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 in 1895. Little is known about her early life, except that she lived on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. As a teenager, she had troubles developing a grown woman's personality, thus resulting to mischief like the day she met Dr. Carlisle Cullen for the first time. 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 in the town and marry. At the age of twenty-two, she married Charles Evenson, hoping to please her parents and making an attempt to be happy, but soon realized her husband was an abusive man. Despite it, she tried to be a good wife, and her parents coached her to keep quiet. Much to her relief, her husband was drafted during World War I.

Esme enjoyed a happy period of time while Charles was away, but Charles returned in 1920, his abuse coming back with him. 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. She was presumed dead, and brought to the morgue, 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. Rosalie once mentioned that her record is almost as clean as Carlisle, even better than Esme, indicating that Esme had lost control of her thirst a few times.

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. She later married Carlisle, and in time, Rosalie and Emmett were transformed by Carlisle, and Alice and Jasper joined the family, becoming her surrogate children. She was easily able to welcome Bella into their "family" due to her warm nature as she did with the rest of the coven. Esme has a special place 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 at their home outside of Forks. She and Carlisle are both warm and friendly towards Bella, and Esme welcomes her with open arms, acting as though she were already part of the family. Knowing her son had created a song inspired by his love for Bella, Esme asks Edward to play it for her on the piano, which he does. It is mentioned that he had already composed several pieces for Esme as she loves to hear him play.

The Cullens later invite Bella to play baseball with them, and she and Esme act as umpires. Before the game begins, Esme tells Bella a little about her human life and says that she is thankful that Edward and her have come to love, as he was her first and favorite adoptive child. She even stated that she has always worried that he would never find true love. When James' coven arrives, the Cullens try to pass Bella off as a vampire, but James catches her scent and attempts to attack her. All the Cullens spring into action to protect Bella, much to the nomads' amazement. James' coven leaves and the Cullens return home, though James and Victoria had begun to hunt Bella. Esme swaps clothes with Bella so that they could try to disguise her scent. Esme remains at home with Rosalie during Bella's escape to Phoenix with Alice and Jasper.

Esme does not play a major role in the movie, and is seen only a few times. She first appears in the kitchen, preparing dinner with Carlisle, Emmett, and Rosalie, when Edward brings Bella to meet his family. Esme becomes increasingly excited once she realizes Bella has arrived (catching her scent, like the rest of the Cullens). She is seen again during the baseball match where she acts as umpire with Bella. When the nomads arrive and James attempts to attack Bella, the Cullen family spring into action and form a protective barrier between her and James' coven.

New Moon
Esme is seen briefly at Bella's birthday which Alice organized; she hugs Bella and wishes her a happy birthday. Alice gives Bella a present from Esme and Carlisle, which is two plane tickets to Jacksonville to visit Renée. While opening her present, Bella cuts her finger on the wrapping paper and Jasper attempts to attack her. Edward shoves Bella out of the way to protect her, but she crashes into the table containing her birthday cake and a pile of plates which smash, and cuts her arms on the broken shards of china and glass.

Once Jasper is subdued, the rest of the Cullen family, with the exception of Carlisle, smell Bella's blood and are suddenly ravenous. Emmett and Rosalie drag Jasper outside and Esme follows them, apologizing to Bella and deeply ashamed that she is tempted by the smell of her blood. Carlisle cleans and stitches up Bella's wounds and she leaves; in the living room, she passes Esme who is cleaning up the spilled blood.

Esme is not seen again until the end of the book, when she, Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie go to pick Edward, Alice and Bella up from the airport after Bella and Alice prevented Edward from committing suicide. She is very grateful to Bella for having saved Edward's life, and makes her son promise never to scare her like that again. The next day, Bella asks the Cullens to vote on whether or not they are willing to turn her into a vampire and let her join their coven. Esme votes "yes", and says that she already considers Bella part of the family.

Eclipse


Esme is present at Bella, Edward and Alice's graduation and the party held afterwards at their house. The Quileute shape-shifters meet with the Cullens several times for training, as Jasper is an expert on newborn vampires and teaches the Cullens how to fight them. Bella says that she is unable to watch as Jasper fights Esme. Due to her loving nature, Esme is not as skilled a fighter as Edward, Jasper or Alice. However, she is not to be underestimated; she is greatly able to handle her opponents. During the battle, Esme and Carlisle find an intimidated newborn, Bree Tanner, and offer her asylum if she surrenders. However, despite this, she is executed by the Volturi guard.

Breaking Dawn
At the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Esme is present at Bella and Edward's wedding and helps Bella to change into her going-away outfit after the ceremony and reception party. As a wedding present, she allows the newlyweds to stay on Isle Esme, a small island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro that Carlisle presented her with years ago, for their honeymoon. She already grows close to Bella's mother, Renée before the wedding.

When Bella becomes pregnant and she and Edward return to Forks, Esme sides with Rosalie and Emmett to protect Bella and her baby, something that also affects Carlisle. She is affectionate towards Jacob and his renegade pack when they break away from Sam's pack to protect her daughter-in-law, and she and Carlisle especially are extremely grateful for their sacrifice. Esme provides Jacob and his pack with clean clothes and food, and offers to let them sleep in the beds in the Cullens' house, though most of them would decline.

After Bella gives birth to Renesmee Cullen, a half-human half-vampire hybrid, Esme welcomes her into the Cullen family like the rest of them, caring for her while Bella is turning into a vampire.

For Bella's nineteenth birthday, Esme and the rest of the Cullens give her and Edward a little cottage in the forest that they renovated. There is an extra room which Esme hadn't found a use for, which later became Renesmee's bedroom.

Three months after Renesmee's birth, Irina mistakes her for an immortal child and reports this breech of vampire law to the Volturi. Esme and her family gather a large number of vampire friends to be witnesses, testifying that Renesmee is not an immortal child but a half-human, half-vampire hybrid. After a brief confrontation with the Volturi, they are able to prove that Renesmee is not dangerous and the Italian vampires leave. Once the threat has passed, the Cullens are able to return to their normal lives... for now.

Physical appearance
"She had the same pale, beautiful features as the rest of them. Something about her heart-shaped face, her billows of soft, caramel colored hair reminded me of the ingenues of silent-movie era. She was small, slender, yet less angular, more rounded than the others."

-Bella on seeing Esme for the first time 

Esme is described as being 5'6", with billows of gently waving, caramel-colored hair. 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 as being extremely beautiful; Jacob says she has dimples, and Bella says that she reminds her of "the ingenues of the silent movie era" and that meeting her was like "meeting a fairy tale – Snow White, in the flesh". She is also described as having delicate eyebrows. 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 passionately. She has always had strong maternal instincts, which is why she is able to open her heart so easily to her adoptive children and Bella. This is due to the death of her first and only child when it was only a few days old, during her human life. Esme is very family motivated, and loves Carlisle, her adoptive children, Bella and Renesmee dearly. She is very protective of them, and is even affectionate towards Jacob Black's pack when they stay with the Cullens. She is described as being as intelligent as her husband, and a very kind and gentle person. Esme is very creative and artistic, and enjoys renovating old properties.

Powers and abilities
Esme didn't develop any prominent special abilities, but her transformation did enhance her ability to love the people around her passionately in a maternal way, making them comfortable around her.

Occupation
Esme, a very creative and artistic person, works as an architect and enjoys restoring old houses. In New Moon, Alice tells Bella that Esme has been restoring a 17th century house in the forest north of Ithaca, and in Breaking Dawn she restores a cottage over a hundred year old on the Cullen estate for Bella and Edward. Her desk is said to be stacked with plans and blueprints.

Relationships
Esme is the mother figure of the Cullen family, the ex-wife of Charles Evenson and the wife of Carlisle Cullen. She is the adoptive mother of Alice, Emmett and Edward Cullen and Rosalie and Jasper Hale, the adoptive mother-in-law of Bella Swan, and the adoptive grandmother of Renesmee Cullen, Edward and Bella's daughter. Esme has particular care for Edward, being the first of her adoptive children.

Charles Evenson
In Esme's human life she was married to Charles Evenson. All of her friends had already married, and her parents encouraged her to marry Charles who was a family friend and had good prospects. He was abusive, however, and shortly before her suicide attempt Esme, then pregnant, ran away from him. The baby died soon after birth and Esme jumped off a cliff in an attempt to end her life. Her body was taken to the hospital morgue though her heart was still beating, and Carlisle Cullen found her and turned her into a vampire.



Carlisle Cullen
Carlisle Cullen is Esme's second husband. They met when she was very young, and clearly made an impression on each other - Esme found no other man who measured up to him, and his affection for her was strong enough that he turned her into a vampire when he found her dying after a suicide attempt following the loss of her newborn child ten years later.

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

Carlisle bought Esme an island in Brazil for their honeymoon and named it Isle Esme.



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

- Edward on Esme Cullen

Edward Cullen was Esme's first adoptive son, and was turned into a vampire by Carlisle shortly before she was. Initially, they pretended to be brother and sister, but after Esme and Carlisle fell in love she began to pose as his adoptive 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 adoptive child, and is very thankful that he has found his true love in Bella. Throughout their years together she had worried that he would never find his soulmate, until Bella came along. Esme fondly criticizes Edward and says that he is too much of a gentleman, as he told Bella that she fell off a cliff rather than jumped.

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



Rosalie Hale
Rosalie Hale was Esme's first adoptive daughter, though it was Carlisle who turned her into a vampire. Esme was always very affectionate towards Rosalie and Rosalie grew to love Esme just as much. Before Rosalie transformed, she had met the Cullens before and was very jealous of their beauty, especially Edward's and Carlisle's. Esme tells Bella that she and Carlisle originally hoped that Rosalie would be a mate for Edward, but then she found Emmett and they fell in love.

After Emmett joined the family, he and Rosalie were very passionately involved for several decades and destroyed numerous houses during their lovemaking, forcing Esme and Carlisle to kick them out on several occasions but always taking them back in after a short time.

Rosalie strongly resents her inability to have children, as female vampires' bodies cannot change to accommodate a child. She acknowledges that Esme, though disappointed that she cannot have children of her own, doesn't feel as resentful about her infertility as she has her, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice as substitutes to her lost child.



Emmett Cullen
Emmett Cullen was Esme's second adoptive son. He joined their "family" in 1935 after Rosalie found him and brought him back for Carlisle to transform.

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

In Breaking Dawn, when Bella challenges Emmett to an arm-wrestling match, they are about to use Esme's favorite antique dining table when Alice points out that Esme will be upset if it gets broken. Emmett agrees, and this implies that he doesn't want to upset his mother.



Alice Cullen
Alice Cullen is Esme's second adoptive daughter. Not much is known about Esme and Alice's relationship, but 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 the most devastated, thinking that they have abandoned the family, but respects their decision to leave. However, Alice and Jasper return during the confrontation with the Volturi with the hybrid Nahuel and a battle is avoided. Upon their return, Esme greets them with a tight hug.



Jasper Hale
Jasper Hale was Esme's third adoptive son. Not much is known about Esme and Jasper's relationship, but Esme loves him 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 the most devastated, thinking that they have abandoned the family, but respects their decision to leave. However, Alice and Jasper return during the confrontation with the Volturi with the hybrid Nahuel and a battle is avoided. Upon their return, Esme greets them with a tight hug.



Bella Swan
Bella Swan is Esme's daughter-in-law, married to her son Edward. When Bella first comes into the Cullens' lives, Esme notices a change in Edward and is glad of it, as she had previously worried that he would never find happiness. After Edward and Bella started a romantic relationship, Esme accepts her into the family and loves her as much as her other adopted children, which she admits when Bella asks to join their coven.

After Edward and Bella's wedding, Esme lets them stay on Isle Esme for their honeymoon and renovated a cottage on the Cullens' land for them to live with Renesmee.

Renesmee Cullen
Renesmee Cullen is Esme's adoptive granddaughter, and the biological daughter of Edward and Bella. During Bella's pregnancy, Esme sides with Bella, Rosalie and Emmett to protect the baby as she believes that Bella should be allowed to make her own decisions and understands her desire to have children.

After Renesmee was born, Esme adores the baby like the rest of the family, even sacrificing her second-favorite silverware to keep Nessie entertained. She worries the first time that Bella meets Nessie as Bella has only just transformed into a vampire and they are unsure of her self-control, so she convinces her to feed before meeting her daughter, as it will make it easier for Bella to control her thirst.



Jacob Black
Jacob Black is a member of the Quileute tribe and a close friend to the Cullen family. Jacob initially disliked Esme and her family due to the natural enmity between vampires and shape-shifters, but after an alliance was formed to protect Bella from Victoria's army, they were able to tolerate each other. During Bella's pregnancy, Jacob forms a renegade pack comprised of himself, Seth and Leah Clearwater. Esme was deeply grateful for their sacrifice and felt genuine affection for Jacob's pack, providing them with food, clean clothes and even offering to let them use the beds in the Cullens' house if they don't want to sleep outdoors. She and Jacob grow even closer after he imprinted on Renesmee, and it is implied that he has also been accepted as part of the family.

In Book 2 of Breaking Dawn, Jacob mentions that Esme's kindness reminds him of his mother.

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 the two-part Breaking Dawn.

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight film
 * New Moon
 * New Moon film
 * Eclipse
 * Eclipse film
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn - Parts I and II
 * The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner