Caius

"We do not offer second chances."

- Caius

Caius is a vampire, one of the three ancient leaders of the Volturi, who are based in Volterra, Italy, and who, according to Edward Cullen, lead a very civilized lifestyle. Caius has a wife named Athenodora, who lives a very retired life in Volterra. He is the most ruthless of all three leaders.

Early life
Caius was born around 1300 BC, and at some point became a vampire. He was born at least a century before Aro and was transformed into a vampire in his late 40s.

He met Athenodora after running afoul of the Romanian Coven, and they began traveling together as a bonded pair, with her later becoming his wife. When they came across Aro, he was quite taken of the vampire's ambitious but long-ranged plans of domination. By the time they met, Aro had already formed a coven with a talented vampire named Marcus. Caius was immediately attracted to the idea of joining forces with the gifted vampires. Though Caius had no psychic gift, Aro was drawn to his ambition and passionate capacity to hate; which was a great potential for manipulation in what could be both a weakness and a strength.

Aro's sister Didyme joined them quickly afterwards; and later Aro's wife, Sulpicia. Aro and Caius were in agreement after Didyme's death had devastated Marcus that the wives must be protected at all costs. By bringing more vampires into the Volturi as subordinates, they brought about his ultimate goal: a war against the Romanian coven. After the Romanians were mostly destroyed, Caius became satisfied to spend his time punishing offenders of Aro's law due to Chelsea's power that kept him bound to the coven.

Some 2000 years before Breaking Dawn, he was nearly killed in a fight with a werewolf, which prompted him to hunt them to near extinction. He also took part in the extermination of the immortal children and cleaning up after the Southern Vampire Wars, making sure that newborn armies and their creators were destroyed. He kept himself occupied with other crusades such as the werewolves, immortal children and the clean-up of the southern wars, making sure the newborn armies and their creators were destroyed, but when he felt bored, he would have Corin use her power to make him happy.

Twilight
While not making an appearance, Caius is mentioned by Edward when he shows Bella a portrait of Carlisle with the Volturi leaders.



New Moon
Caius makes his first appearance in New Moon. He is insistent that Bella not to be allowed to leave Volterra alive. When it is determined that the Cullens will change her, Aro assures him that they should let her leave. In truth, Aro is hoping to persuade them to join their coven. Even though she is allowed to leave, he is of the opinion she had to be killed, but does nothing to persuade Aro's mind. When the Cullens leave, he warns them to follow change her soon, because the Volturi give second chances.

In the movie adaptation of New Moon, Caius remains mostly in the background, observing Bella's immunity to Aro and Jane's powers, confirming that she is a liability due to her knowledge of vampires, Edward's attempt to protect her from Felix, and later advises the Cullens to turn her before they sent a portion of their guard after her.

Eclipse
"Caius will be so interested to know you're still human, Bella. Maybe he'll decide to visit."

- Jane

Caius makes no appearance in Eclipse, but he is mentioned when Jane expresses his interest of Bella still being human, only to be countered by Alice Cullen's words "the date is set". In the film, it is Bella who says it.



Breaking Dawn
In Breaking Dawn, Caius joins the rest of Volturi on the trip to Forks caused by the "supposed immortal child" crisis. When they arrive, however, they find not just the Cullens defending the child, but many other vampires and a large number of werewolves. Aro, after learning that Renesmee is actually half-human, tries to solve the confrontation peacefully, i.e. kill the child and obtain the gifted vampires that he covets. Caius, however, is in favor of a bloodbath. To accomplish this, he stresses the facts that the Cullens' alliance with werewolves (something the Volturi did not tolerate), and later execution of Irina's false report. During the charade of a counsel, he votes that Renesmee and everyone who defends her must be destroyed. All his efforts failed, and Aro orders the Volturi to leave peacefully once he was forced to do so to protect his coven.

Physical appearance
Caius is described as having "skin so white that it's almost translucent", comparable to an onion's skin. His eyes are dark red, though cloudy or milky like Aro's and Marcus's. His snow white hair is shoulder-length, and very close in colour to his skin tone. He was transformed in his late 40s, with an average build and is very graceful: almost looking like floating when he moves.

In the films, his apparent age is of early 20s and his hair is silky blonde, being the exact opposite of Marcus, who was said to be transformed at age 19 in the books and yet bears the appearance of a middle-aged man in the films.

Personality
Of the three Volturi leaders, Caius can easily be considered the cruelest one, and is seen as 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 depends on the fact that he is actually a very intimated individual, and enjoys abusing his power over the vampire world to feel powerful.

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

Caius also thinks that animal blood is repulsive and a vegetarian lifestyle is "warped". This thinking may also be supported by his deep hatred of werewolves.

In Breaking Dawn, Caius was out-voted in the decision on the Renesmee crisis. However, Caius found a way to shed blood in Irina. He pressed charges against her for false accusations and had her immediately "disposed of". He likes the sight of bloodshed, war and is very stubborn when it comes to fighting or killing.

Athenodora
Athenodora is Caius's wife. Not much is known about their relationship, but the Romanians' recognition of the wives suggests they might have been together before the Volturi came to power. It is also known she never leaves Volterra without him, which might indicate a dependency on him, similar to Kebi's towards Amun in the Egyptian Coven. When she appears in Breaking Dawn, it seems he went to great lengths to make sure she is protected in case of battle, proving even though he thinks little of life, he does value her life.



Aro
Aro is the unofficial leader of the Volturi. Caius has a type of business-like relationship with Aro. He works with Aro and Marcus to keep order, but is mainly just minding his own business while Aro and Marcus do most of the work. He also feeds with them.

There are many times that he finds Aro's decisions absurd, but does nothing to disobey him. It can be assumed that his obedience is affected by Chelsea's power to manipulate relationships, which kept Caius from overthrowing him.



Marcus
Marcus is a co-leader of the Volturi, sitting alongside Caius and Aro. Caius has a type of business-like relationship with Marcus, just like he does with Aro. They work together to keep order to the vampire world, but is mainly minding his own business while Aro and Marcus do most of the work. He also feeds with them.

Caius is also noted to treat Marcus like a non-existent person.

Film portrayal
Jamie Campbell-Bower was cast in the role of Caius for the New Moon film. He will reprise his role as Caius in Breaking Dawn.

Appearances

 * Twilight (Mentioned only)
 * New Moon (First appearance)
 * New Moon (film)
 * Eclipse (Mentioned only)
 * Eclipse (film) (Mentioned only)
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn - 1 and 2