Aro

"I haven’t seen a prospective talent so promising since we found Jane and Alec. Can you imagine the possibilities when she is one of us?"

- Aro demonstrating his selfish personality Aro was one of three vampires who was the head of the Volturi. He was widely considered the overall leader of the Volturi and possessed the supernatural talent to ascertain the thoughts of a person with a single touch.

Early Life
Approximately a decade after having been transformed into a vampire, Aro also changed his sister Didyme in the hopes she possessed an ability akin to his. However, she was blessed with an ability not as useful to him; the power to make people happy. To this end, Aro's colleague Marcus fell in love with her, and she with him. However, Marcus and Didyme eventually became discontent being involved with Aro's rising organization, the Volturi. As such, Aro killed Didyme as Marcus was to integral to his plans to lose. Aro then had Chelsea use her ability to ensure Marcus remained loyal to the Volturi.

By 500 AD, the Volturi had usurped control of the vampire world from the Romanian Coven. Aro ruled the Volturi along with Marcus and Caius, though he generally acted as its spokesperson. The Volturi under the three ancients leadership, set down the laws of the vampire world and punished those who did not adhere to them severely.

Carlisle Cullen eventually came to live with the Volturi for some time and struck up a friendship with Aro. However, they did not agree on Carlisle's adherence to "vegetarianism" and this caused him to leave.

Edward's request
At one point, Edward Cullen, one of Carlisle's adopted children, came to the Volturi with a request to kill him. Edward was in a deep depression because he believed his love, Bella Swan, had committed suicide. Aro had always been interested in Edward’s talents and tried to recruit him to join the Volturi instead of killing him. He later met Bella after she and Alice prevented Edward from forcing the Volturi to kill him. He was both surprised and intrigued in Bella's 'ability' to block Edward's powers, and even more intrigued when she was able to resist his and other Volturi's powers. He allowed Edward to take Bella back to Forks only after Alice showed him that Bella would be transformed into a vampire.

Newborn crisis of Seattle
When an army of newborns began to run rampant in Seattle, Aro sent Jane, Felix, Demitri and two unknowns to 'deal with the newborns'. In fact, Edward noted that by delaying his company, he may have wanted to let the newborns lessen the Cullen's numbers.

Dealing with the Cullens
Sometime after Bella was transformed, she recieved a necklace from Aro with English crown jewels. Alice had sent the Volturi an announcement for Bella and Edward's wedding, and Aro sent Bella the necklace as a wedding gift.

Sometime later, Irina, a vampire from the Denali Coven, came to Volterra and told the Volturi that the Cullens had created an Immortal Child. In response to this breach of their laws, the Volturi gathered the entire guard together and set out for Forks to destroy the Cullens. Aro, meanwhile, planned to use the situation to try to get Edward and Alice into the Volturi.

When the Volturi arrived, Aro and the rest of them were shocked to discover that the Cullens had assembled an army to oppose them, furthering their belief that they had created an Immortal Child. But they were only stopped from launching an immediate attack when they saw the werewolves that had joined them. Aro, in his usual fashion, acted as spokes-person for the Volturi. After reading Edward's mind and learning about Renesmee, the so called Immortal Child, Aro was both shocked and delighted to discover that she was actually half human. He was also intrigued by the idea of having werewolves as guard dogs, but angry snarls from the wolves convinced him that wasn't going to happen.

Soon after, Alice showed up with another vampire half-breed named Nahuel. The knowledge that there were other half-breeds in the world and that they've never been a threat convinced Aro that there was no need for a fight, and he left with the rest of the Volturi. Edward later commented that, after finding out about Bella's shielding ability, Aro was actually afraid of a fight breaking out because he knew there was a chance the Volturi could lose.

Physical description
Aro had very pale skin that was almost translucent and has been said to be similar to onion skin. His hair was very long and jet black. When he moved, it appeared as if he was floating. His eyes were a milky red color that had a tendency to unsettle people.

Powers and Abilities
As one of the leaders of the Voltur, Aro was naturally exceptionally talented. Being a vampire, Aro was blessed with superhuman strength and speed, and had vastly enhanced senses. Aro possessed the supernatural ability to read minds; in fact his ability was far more powerful than even Edward Cullens', as he could hear every thought a person ever had. However, he required physical contact to use his ability, and could not read minds from a distance.

Behind the scenes
Actor Ben Barnes is being considered for the part of Aro in the upcoming movie New Moon.

Appearances

 * Twilight (First mentioned)
 * New Moon (First appearance)
 * Eclipse (Mentioned only)
 * Breaking Dawn