The Twilight books and movies brought together humans, vampires, and werewolves, though these last ones are not called that, and are instead referred to as “shapeshifters” – here’s why. In 2005, Stephenie Meyer shared her unique vision of the aforementioned creatures in the novel Twilight, the first in a series of four books. The core of the series was the often problematic romance between vampire Edward Cullen and mortal Bella Swan, who came across different obstacles over the course of four books, such as a clan of vampires called “the Volturi”, and Jacob Black, Bella’s best friend who was actually a werewolf.
The events of the books and movies were kickstarted by Bella moving to Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie. Readers and viewers then followed her as she adapted to her new life, which obviously included making new friends. Bella wasn’t completely alone at the beginning as she soon came across Jacob, a long-time close friend of hers as Charlie and Jacob’s father, Billy, were best friends. Jacob became her best friend and was by her side when she needed him most, specifically during most of New Moon. In that same book and movie, Twilight fans learned that Jacob wasn’t a regular boy, and he could transform into a wolf, but he wasn’t exactly a werewolf.
Werewolves are humans with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, and this can happen for different reasons: either they were placed under a curse, were bitten or scratched by another werewolf, or is a genetic affliction. This transformation only happens during the night of a full moon, as seen in numerous TV shows and movies focused on these creatures. Now, the Quileute tribe in Twilight are not werewolves as they don’t need the full moon to transform into wolves, and instead do it at will, thus earning the term of “shapeshifters”. Within the Twilight universe, this term is applied only to the direct descendants of Taha Aki who have “phased”, so with that in mind, Harry Clearwater, Joshua Uley, Quil Ateara III, and Billy Black are not shapeshifters, because even though they have the genes and potential to phase, they weren’t exposed to vampires while growing up, so they never transformed, as their children did.
However, there are werewolves in the Twilight universe, but they are referred to as “Children of the Moon” (for obvious reasons). They have the same basic characteristics of traditional werewolves, transforming into these during the full moon. Unlike shapeshifters, the Children of the Moon have the strength and power to kill a vampire without much effort, which led the Volturi to get rid of werewolves in Europe and Asia. Unlike shapeshifters, Children of the Moon lose their human consciousness once they transform, which makes them extremely dangerous, and just like traditional werewolves, they can spread their species by infecting humans with a bite (and if those infected have children, their abilities pass on to them). Shapeshifters, on the other hand, don’t have to “infect” others, as all those from the Quileute tribe are born with the potential of phasing.
Although Twilight’s shapeshifters have been referred to as “werewolves” for years, that’s not the correct term for them, even if they have the same idea. The Twilight mythology can be complicated sometimes, and while mistaking the Quileute shapeshifters with werewolves is not an unforgivable nor serious mistake, it’s fun to know the differences between them and the Children of the Moon as well.