The Twilight Saga had a couple of surprises up its sleeve, but some of these didn’t make much sense, and though they have already been explained, there continue to be various theories offering new perspectives, such as one explaining why Leah Clearwater is the only female shapeshifter in the series. Stephenie Meyer shared her unique vision of vampires and werewolves in the Twilight book series and its film adaptations, both haunted by controversy due to the toxic relationship of the main characters and the many plot holes and nonsensical twists and reveals in their stories.
Twilight followed the forbidden romance between mortal Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, and to make it more dramatic and complicated, Bella was caught in a love triangle as her best friend, Jacob, was also in love with her. Jacob was revealed to be a shapeshifter in New Moon, which is Twilight’s version of werewolves, and through him, his pack was introduced, among them Leah Clearwater. Shapeshifters are male, but Leah is the only female shapeshifter in her pack and in Quileute history, which raised many questions, and while it was explained why she ended up phasing, a theory gives another explanation by linking her to Bella and Renesmee.
Twilight Theory: Leah Clearwater Was a Backup If Renesmee Was a Boy
A Reddit user found another possible, yet perhaps a bit strange and disturbing, explanation as to why Leah Clearwater is the only shapeshifter in Twilight, and it’s all because of Renesmee. The author explains that Leah phased due to her proximity to the Cullens (as vampires and shapeshifters are long-time enemies) and to Bella, and with the latter was for the same reason Jacob was attracted to Bella: Renesmee… or more like the egg cell inside Bella that would become Renesmee. After realizing he had imprinted on baby Renesmee, Jacob explained to Bella that he was never actually attracted to her and was instead drawn to her thanks to Renesmee, as she developed inside Bella’s body.
Leah, then, phased as a backup in case the egg cell Jacob was being attracted to inside Bella ended up being a boy (a “Charlisle”, as the male version of Renesmee is referred to by many), so if Bella had given birth to a baby boy, Leah would have ended up imprinting on him, just like Jacob did with Renesmee. The author presents a quote from Eclipse to support the theory, in which Leah confronts Jacob for making her grieve over Bella as if she was in love with her too, stating that it made her sick. This is assumed to be part of the telepathic link between the members of the pack, but it might have been because Leah was attracted to Bella just like Jacob was in case Bella and Edward’s kid was a boy.
Why Leah Clearwater Is The Only Female Shapeshifter
The Twilight Saga completely ignored the reasons for Leah to phase and the consequences of it, but the books expanded a bit more on this. Leah is the daughter of Sue and Harry Clearwater and the older sister of Seth Clearwater, who is also a shapeshifter. Leah was in a serious relationship with Sam Uley, the first of his generation to phase, who later imprinted on Emily and left Leah, who turned bitter and never truly recovered from this heartbreak. In New Moon, Leah grew angrier and her body started to change, and her anger, along with the strong vampire presence in Forks thanks to the Cullens and the enemies they attracted, caused her to phase. This was too shocking for her father, who suffered a fatal heart attack after seeing her phase, which in turn caused Seth to phase.
Leah growing bitter after Sam left her, her dormant gene, the strong vampire presence around her, and her growing rage are the reasons given by Meyer in the Twilight books for Leah to phase but don’t really answer the question of why she’s the only female shapeshifter in the series – surely, she wouldn’t be the only woman in the Quileute tribe with a dormant gene and dealing with a lot of range.
How Twilight’s Imprinting Works
One of the most controversial elements of the Twilight books and movies is the concept of imprinting. This is an involuntary mechanism through which the shapeshifters of the Quileute tribe find their soulmates, and it’s described as a profound and intimate phenomenon. When a shapeshifter imprints on a woman, he is unconditionally bound to her for the rest of his life, and it can happen at any moment after a shapeshifter’s first phasing.
Imprinting can happen with anyone the first time the shapeshifter sees the imprintee, regardless of previous personal feelings, but it’s something that can’t be forced on anyone, which is why Jacob failed to imprint on Bella. The process of imprinting is deemed as bringing together the “perfect match”, so it’s assumed that it’s impossible for the shapeshifter to be rejected by the imprintee, but if it ever happened, it’s believed he would feel unspeakable pain and might want to end with his life. Now, as Leah is the first and only shapeshifter in the tribe’s history, it’s unknown how imprinting would be for her, but she did express wanting to imprint or be imprinted on, which made her story even sadder.
How This Theory Changes The Twilight Saga
Imprinting and the reasoning behind Jacob being so attracted to Bella are not only nonsensical but also raise even more red flags in the Twilight Saga, and the theory of Leah being a backup in case Renesmee was a boy can either bring a bit of logic into the mix or raise more red flags. There was no way Jacob could have known Bella and Edward would have a daughter (they didn’t even know it could be possible!), so Leah phasing so she would imprint on Renesmee if she had been a boy makes a bit more sense, but it doesn’t make imprinting and this happening to Bella’s kid before they were even born less creepy. The Twilight books and movies are full of nonsensical and cringe-worthy elements, and it’s up to viewers to decide if this theory makes the Jacob/Leah/Bella storyline better or worse.