The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (24 page)

Aro made one of his best discoveries around 800
A.D.:
the young twins Jane and Alec. Having already created a prohibition against immortal children, Aro left the talented humans to grow up in their native village, planning to transform
them when they reached adulthood. Unfortunately, Jane’s and Alec’s psychic gifts were very pronounced for mere humans, and drew the notice of the other humans around them. Though still children, Jane and Alec were condemned as witches and burned at the stake. Aro arrived immediately upon hearing the news and found them still alive, but barely. He freed them and set the transformation in motion at once. Then, having revealed his true nature in a rather dramatic way, he was compelled to destroy the entire village in order to obey his own law. He left no witnesses, and brought home his two most valuable assets.

“T
HE GIFT WAS PRESENTED IN AN ORNATELY CARVED
,
ANCIENT WOODEN BOX INLAID WITH GOLD AND MOTHER
-
OF
-
PEARL
,
ORNAMENTED WITH A RAINBOW OF GEMSTONES
.”

—Bella, on Aro’s gift (
Breaking Dawn
, Chapter 27)

Just because a human or a vampire has a special talent doesn’t guarantee that Aro will add him or her to the coven. Aro seeks out talents that will make him more powerful, especially on the battlefield. For example, in Aro’s mind, Alice Cullen’s ability to see into the future—a skill he’s never had access to—is far more useful than Jasper Hale’s ability to manipulate emotions, as he already has Chelsea and Corin, whose gifts are similar to Jasper’s, but more suited to Aro’s purposes. Aro is deliberate and patient by nature. When he locates a desirable new talent, such as Alice’s, he plans carefully the best way to acquire it. He doesn’t make a move if he believes that doing
so might destroy that talent. Instead, he bides his time and explores other avenues toward his goal. For example, he might convert human psychics in the hope of duplicating the talent. If a vampire’s talent is no longer needed—if Aro finds a vampire with a superior version of the same talent or, as in the case of Didyme, one vampire’s presence interferes with another vampire’s needed talent—Aro will restructure the guard. Sometimes, as with Didyme, he will do so by execution. However, Aro will allow an amicable separation when he sees no possible threat from releasing the talent, or if he thinks he might need access to that gift in the future but has no way to hold on to it now. This was the case with Eleazar.

Occasionally, vampires approach the Volturi directly to seek a position in the coven. Usually, Aro already has a better version of the gift or skill being offered, but if not, the applicant is gladly accepted. Vampires who are not satisfactory are allowed to leave in peace. Other vampires visit the Volturi simply out of curiosity. Aro encourages such pilgrimages, as it gives him a chance to read their minds. More than just a tactical advantage or a chance to locate other talented vampires, these readings provide Aro with much-needed entertainment throughout the millennia. Aro is endlessly interested in any kind of curiosity.

“T
HE NECKLACE WAS SIMPLE
—
GOLD WOVEN INTO A THICK ROPE OF A CHAIN
,
ALMOST SCALED
,
LIKE A SMOOTH SNAKE THAT WOULD CURL CLOSE AROUND THE THROAT
. O
NE JEWEL HUNG SUSPENDED FROM THE ROPE
:
A WHITE DIAMOND THE SIZE OF A GOLF BALL
.”

—Bella, on Aro’s gift (
Breaking Dawn
, Chapter 27)

When Carlisle Cullen arrived in Volterra in the early 1700s, Aro was impressed and intrigued by Carlisle’s “vegetarian” philosophy. Aro tried to convince Carlisle that drinking human blood was natural. He continually teased, prodded, and tested Carlisle (for example, by having a member of the guard deliver a profusely bleeding human body to the library where Carlisle was studying, just to see what Carlisle would do).

Aro was torn between wanting Carlisle to stay strong—the limits of Carlisle’s resolve fascinated him—and wanting him to surrender to his true nature. After about two decades, Carlisle left the Volturi coven on good terms to travel to America. Before he left, his visit with the Volturi was captured in a painting by Francesco Solimena, an Italian painter who favored the Baroque style. Aro intended to drop in on Carlisle later in his life, in four or five hundred years, to see how things had turned out for him.

C
AIUS

Caius was immediately attracted to the idea of joining forces with the gifted vampires.

Caius was born at least a century before Aro, and was transformed into a vampire when he was in his late forties. Before he met Aro, he’d run afoul of the Romanian coven. Caius escaped with his life but developed a great hatred for the powerful Romanians. He met a female vampire named Athenodora and they began to travel together as a bonded pair. Caius met Aro for the first time when Aro was only a few years into his
vampire life. Young though he was, Aro was already formulating his plan to dominate the vampire world. He had formed a coven with another talented vampire, Marcus. Caius was immediately attracted to the idea of joining forces with the gifted vampires. He didn’t like feeling weak, knowing that the Romanians—or anyone stronger than him—would be able to destroy him at will. He wanted to be powerful and strong as much as Aro did. Though Caius had no psychic gift, Aro was drawn to Caius’s ambition and passionate capacity to hate; he saw a great potential for manipulation in what could be both a weakness and a strength.

Caius and Athenodora doubled Aro’s numbers, and then they were quickly joined by Aro’s sister, Didyme, and later Aro’s romantic interest, Sulpicia. Aro and Caius worried about diluting their power further, and from then on brought vampires into the coven as subordinates only.

Aro and Caius were in agreement again after Didyme’s death devastated Marcus: The wives must be protected at all costs. Thanks to the unchanging nature of the vampire, Caius is still as devoted to Athenodora as he was when they first fell in love. He is able to reconcile this love with her prisonlike circumstances by telling himself that it is the only way to protect her.

Caius was not as patient as Aro, but was willing to follow Aro’s long-term plan because he could see that doing so gave him a better chance of getting what he wanted than seeking it head-on would. He supported Aro’s cause, enforced vampire discretion, because it brought him to his ultimate goal: war against the Romanian coven.

After the Romanians were mostly destroyed, Caius was
satisfied to spend his time punishing offenders of Aro’s law, while leaving the rest of the decision-making to Aro. Caius wouldn’t have been quite as satisfied without Chelsea’s influence, but Aro made sure that she kept him tightly bound to the coven.

After the Romanians were all but extinct, Caius kept himself occupied with other crusades. One was his campaign to wipe out the werewolf population. Similar to his response to the Romanians, Caius had once felt vulnerable and powerless during an attack by a werewolf. His characteristic reaction was to attempt to destroy the entire species that had made him feel helpless. (The werewolves he hunted to near extinction are also known as the Children of the Moon. They are not related to the Quileute wolves.)

Caius led most of the hunting parties and always participated in the destruction of offenders.

Another crusade was the offensive against the immortal children. Caius led most of the hunting parties and always participated in the destruction of offenders. He also oversaw the clean-up after the Southern Wars, making sure the newborn armies and their creators were utterly annihilated. Caius is always at the head of any Volturi punishing expedition, leaving Aro free for more important projects.