Twilight: 20 Wild Revelations About Immortal Children

The Twilight saga is a complex beast: some of it is so chilling that it’s rendered the series into the greatest meme fodder since Godwin’s Law, but some of it is so captivating that we can’t help but binge-read/ binge-watch all of it. The immortal children in the series are among the latter, as they speak to some of our deepest, darkest worries and present a reality much more unsettling than a few “vegetarian” vampires who cull the local deer population. They are so spooky, in fact, that many movie-makers insert them as easy, but effective, scare tactics, even in films that don’t explicitly focus on kids. Even Patton Oswalt pointed out how spooky kids can be without even trying.

Immortal children themselves don’t sound all that intimidating at first: so they live forever, like Edward and Bella plan on doing together. Big deal. But, Stephenie Meyer’s revelations have proven that the creatures are much more worrisome than they appear at first glance, and even more dangerous than the Volturi themselves. She’s also demonstrated that there’s really only one way to deal with them, which adds an element of tragedy to their horror. She’s also not alone in exploring their fright factor: we’ve seen chilling, immortal kids in everything from Interview with a Vampire to American Horror Story. They’re some of the most beautiful and formidable creatures on Earth, and there’s a reason why they’re nearly unspeakable subjects among the vampires. Find out why in these 20 Wild Revelations About Immortal Children In Twilight.

20 They Are Too Young To Be “Tamed” And Controlled

One of the most startling revelations about the immortal children is that they are just too young to be “tamed.” Since their growth is stunted at such a young developmental age, they lack the awareness of ethics, not to mention the ability to understand concepts like discretion or consequences. The immortal vampire we saw in the Eclipse film wasn’t even aware of his own impending doom until it was too late. Considering how hard older vampires like Jasper (still considered a “newborn”) are to control, it makes sense.

Many vampires have attempted to do the impossible, likely because they wanted a baby so much. It’s almost like having a rabid pet in your home: no matter how adorable it is, it cannot be trusted or allowed around people due to its inability to be controlled.

19 Those Who Create Them Are Ended

Making a vampire baby is one of the worst criminal acts a vampire can commit, so it carries a price tag to match the deed: immediate destruction, which pretty much translates to being eliminated alongside the infant. It might sound harsh, but in order to prevent the  violence and indiscretion it causes in the human world, it’s understandable. Besides, it’s not like any of the other vampiric policies are exactly without unusual punishment; just ask Bree Tanner, who didn’t even know there were laws to break in the first place.

There is absolutely zero mercy for those who create vampire infants, and even those who love the baby’s “parent” like their own will report them to avoid the same inescapable consequence.

18 Those Who Protect/Know About Them And Don’t Report Are Also  Ended

Although we’re quick to judge the vampires who would so easily report their brothers and sisters for harboring or creating a child vampire, it’s truly an act of self-preservation. The Volturi are merciless when it comes to this law and they don’t only eliminate those who break it themselves, but also any vampire who protects an immortal child or even knows about one without reporting the baby to the Volturi.

Anyone familiar with the Twilight universe knows that the Volturi are ruthless and there’s no judge or jury to appeal to if a vampire breaks the law, and some vampires have had enough experience with the enforcers of the vampire’s policies that they aren’t going to chance anything by not blowing the whistle.

17 Even Covens Were Punished For Making Immortal Children

During a time when creating immortal children was so popular, everyone seemed to be doing it, and the results were so catastrophic that they were dubbed the plague of the immortal children. So many humans were eliminated in such a short period of time that the Volturi had no choice but to destroy an entire coven just to take out a single immortal child. Covens were punished for making these irresistible, ferocious creatures more than they’ve been reprimanded for breaking any other vampire laws in history.

Is it any surprise given how badly both Bella and Rosalie wanted babies of their own? The baby fever runs high in the Twilight universe. It’s too bad that they have such a dislike toward werewolves or else they might enjoy some kind of surrogate relationship. Or adopt them as puppies.

16 They Are So Beautiful They Can Control You With One Look

All vampires are designed to be attractive and able to control humans. Given that vampires are predators, it’s an ingenious adaptation that makes them able to prey on their food more easily. Adult vampires have enough discretion to utilize this gift in an effective and targeted manner, focusing on one casualty at a time in order to only take what they need to satisfy their hunger.

Not only are babies and toddlers hungry all the time, but they also can’t help but be cute 24/7. They have no filter when it comes to getting their needs met, another perfect adaptation thanks to nature. Without it, they wouldn’t be cared for by the adults around them. This adaptation is a complete miss when it comes to vampire babies who constantly exude charm to control humans with a single look.

15 Sasha Kept Vasilii Hidden From Her Daughters To Protect Them

The fact that the vampire Sasha withheld her creation, the immortal child Vasilii, from her three beloved daughters proves the fact that Sasha knew that she was breaking the law when she transformed the child. She had hoped to protect Irina, Tanya, and Kate from being ended by the Volturi for knowing about Vasilii, demonstrating her knowledge of her act ultimately being wrong, at least in the eyes of the vampire law enforcement.

In the end, her secret was discovered and her daughters had to painfully stand by and watch their mother’s demise alongside her toddler, an adorable little boy who had taken out a village with his inexhaustible hunger and untamed vampire skills.

14 Vasilii Was Never Mentioned By Name In The Books

While each vampire who creates immortal children surely believes that they could control their own baby, or that their maternal yearnings are just too strong to deny, it’s ultimately an act of pure selfishness. As important as Vasilii’s story was in conveying the dangers of having immortal children to Bella, Carlisle never mentioned the boy by name in the books. We only became aware of it because of the index, rendering him a footnote in vampire history.

It seems callous to not remember the baby whose human life was stolen. Whether Carlisle knows the name or not, the fact that it’s either unspoken or unknown seems to be an act of disassociation from the vampires who’d rather forget that the monster had been a person.

13 They Are Frozen At Their Developmental Level Forever

Even if turning a human child into an immortal one seems like it satisfies the desire to have the baby, it ultimately proves that the vampire truly has no maternal instincts. If she did, she would refuse to condemn the child to a fate in which the child cannot grow up, enjoy a career, fall in love, and have a family. It would be in a perpetual state of its age when it turned, which is something that no parent, no matter how bittersweet over their child growing into a teen and then an adult, would ever wish up on a child.

That’s why the Volturi allow Renesmee to exist: she can age and develop, which means that she will not succumb to the violence that makes the immortal children so dangerous.

12 They Aren’t Like Human-Vampire Hybrids

As we stated earlier, there’s a difference between Renesmee Cullen and poor Vasilii. Immortal children never age or expire, while human-vampire hybrids can grow and develop, aging rapidly during their first few years of life until they reach their late teens, when they conveniently stop aging to look young and beautiful forever.

While the immortal children have complete vampire characteristics and abilities, the human-vampire hybrids exhibit both human and vampire characteristics, with superior strength and speed that’s not as fast as a standard vampire’s, and women have no venom producing capabilities. Men, on the other hand, can produce venom, and may heal at a similar rate to regular vampires.

11 Irina Assumed Renesmee Was One And Blabbed To The Volturi

Given her own mother’s ending, it’s no wonder that Irina would be so bothered by a possible immortal child made by the Cullen family. She reported her finding to the Volturi, knowing that it would cause the end of the coven similar to her own Denali group, but also understanding that it had to happen to prevent further destruction.

However, after the Volturi discovered that Renesemee was a hybrid, they eliminated Irina instead for her false report. While Irina should have done a little more investigation on her part, the punishment, like many of the Volturi’s actions, was extreme for the vampire’s actions, especially given how she had to watch them destroy her own mother for creating an immortal child. They should have understood her actions, but the Volturi aren’t known for their compassion.

10 Jane And Alec Are Barely Above The Age Of Immortal Children

As hardcore as the Volturi are about enforcing their no immortal children law, it would seem as if they too would avoid creating any youthful vampires that might even toe the line, but Jane and Alec are young vampires barely above the age of immortal children themselves. The Volturi cared much more about the children’s gifts and potential as weapons than their inability to fully grow up prior to working for them, so they turned the twins at age 12 or 13, before they even hit adolescence.

While it’s true that Aro saved the twins from their demise, he could have intervened earlier, offered them protection until they were grown, and turned them as adults, but then they might have been harder to manipulate.

9 There’s Not An Absolute Limit On What Makes An Immortal Child

One of the worst things about immortal children is that there is no absolute definition for what constitutes as such a creature. Interpretation of what makes an immortal child is subjective due to the child’s behavior and ability to comply with vampire law, so the child must be observed in order to be ruled as one or not. That’s why some children, like Alec and Jane, are allowed to exist while others, like Vasilii, are not.

In many cases, the immortal child’s behavior precedes its Volturi observation or interview, such as in the case of Vasilii and his destruction of an entire village of humans. That’s enough evidence to solidify the child’s conviction. In other instances, such as Renesmee’s case, they need to be on site to determine whether or not any lawbreaking has occurred.

8 They Have The Speed And Strength Of A Fully-Grown Vampire

One of the most disconcerting facts that was revealed about immortal children is that they retain the same powers as a fully-grown adult vampire. Just picturing a toddler moving at that speed, with that much strength, and not even understanding why or how is nerve-racking. Even if they could grasp the consequences of their actions, witnessing a two-year-old scale the playground or knock over a schoolyard instigator is like a train wreck you couldn’t look away from.

The revelation also seems to break its own rule, since immortal children aren’t supposed to develop past their chronological age physically nor developmentally. Obviously, these superhuman skills far exceed their own rate of movement and strength according to their ages.

7 They Are A Vampire Taboo

Being a vampire seems to supersede the notion of taboo subjects. If you have superhuman speed and strength, never have to age or sleep, and pretty much live a private life away from human prey, you’d think that any topic might be on the table. But speaking about immortal children, whose creation will get you a trip to the fire pit that has nothing to do with s’mores, is considered a taboo subject.

It’s likely because it is such a threatening topic for vampires; there’s not much that can cause a vampire to lose their life. Vampires may believe that bringing up the topic might make them appear suspect of creating or knowing about an immortal child who exists, so it makes sense that the subject they avoid is one that could cause their demise.

6 The Volturi Kept Two Immortal Children To Experiment On

Like many political and religious rulers, the Volturi often seem to think that one rule will work for the peasants but not for themselves. Why should they have to obey the same laws they instill to control the rest of the vampires? One prime example happened when the Volturi kept two immortal children to experiment on while condemning anyone else harboring or making similar children.

It could be argued that the Volturi were experimenting on the children for the greater good, in hopes of creating a solution for those who did want to have children, but who’s to say that they are the authority on what’s good, or that another scientifically-minded vampires might have better luck at devising a solution with the subjects?

5 The Infant Vasilii Eliminated An Entire Village

Imagining a child younger than five taking out an entire village of people is spooky, but that’s what Stephenie Meyer revealed in the story of Vasilii. When he was found surrounded by humans he’d ended, Vasilii appeared to be so innocent, even covered in the gore. Not only did he see nothing wrong in his actions, but he would never be able to understand that such massacres were forbidden to him.

This isn’t Hogwarts, where underage wizardry can get you a slap on the wrist. It’s a much harsher world in which a child who has been turned into a monster will never understand that he is one, nor why he has to feel such pain before he’s ended.

4 Vasilii Calmly Watched His Mother’s Demise

Witnessing the pain or demise of a parent would be traumatic for a child, but only if he were old enough to understand what’s happening in the first place. Proving Vasilii’s toddler naïveté and how immortal children are simply too young to understand consequences, Vasilii calmly stood and watched his mother succumb to the consequences of creating him. Unlike his sisters, he didn’t cry or scream helplessly, he merely stared.

Had he been an older vampire capable of understanding what was happening, this would have made the scene even more troublesome as it might have pointed toward a soulless being who didn’t care for his mother. But, it’s much more telling of the child’s age and inability to meet the vampire code of ethics.

3 Vasilii Was Thrown Onto The Pyre By Jane

Once Vasilii’s mother, Sasha, paid the ultimate price for transforming the child into a vampire, it was time to do the same to the small child, and it was Jane who carried out the sentence.

Jane is one of the most vicious members of the Volturi, and is it really any surprise given how she became one of them before reaching her own teen years? She might have the ability to follow rules, but Jane is proof that vampires made during their pre-teen youth remain corrupted in other ways. She and her brother seem to have no remorse for their actions. They don’t have compassion and even as children, they were known to make bad things happen to people who didn’t like them and lucky things happen for those who were nice to them.

2 An Immortal Child’s Tantrum Can End You

A typical two-year-old’s tantrum is enough to leave many adults craving a nap or maybe even a new identity, but the tantrum of an immortal child could end your life. Typical toddler behaviors, from stomping and kicking, to biting and scratching are life-threatening when carried out by an immortal child, and just as with a human child, they often can’t stop having the tantrum until they wear themselves out. This has very different consequences than letting a child scream on the floor of a supermarket.

It’s lucky for Edward and Bella that Renesmee isn’t an immortal child for many reasons, but even Bella’s pregnancy would have been life-threatening to her if it were possible to conceive such a child. She was nearly taken apart just by Renesmee’s kicking.

1 They Are Not Allowed To Live By The Volturi Laws

As it’s clear from what happened to little Vasilii and the rest of his kind, the Volturi do not tolerate the existence of immortal children of any kind. With the exception of the two children used as experiments, who were later eliminated, no immortal children are allowed to live by vampire rule as their existence jeopardizes the survival of vampires too much to chance.

However, the Volturi would not hesitate to keep immortal children alive to be used as weapons, as they did with the young twins Jane and Alec, but only if they were able to be controlled. Indeed, that’s likely the goal that inspired the experiments on the children in the first place, rather than any desire to help their vampire kind become parents.

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What are some other revelations about immortal children in the Twilight saga? Let us know in the comments below!

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