Adding children into a well-established property can be a bit tricky. In film and television especially, adding in a child can change the dynamic of the series, whether for better or worse. The addition of Renesmee Cullen (Mackenzie Foy), Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward’s (Robert Pattinson) daughter, was a pretty bold move for The Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer. The character herself didn’t lend much in the way of personality, though she was a cause of controversy amongst fans, in particular when Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) imprinted on her. It’s something that didn't sit well with many fans when the novel was released, let alone years later.
Even so, the concept of half-vampires remained an interesting one. While this was definitely lore fans would have appreciated earlier on, rather than being introduced in the final book (along with “Immortal Children”), it was still an interesting fleshing out of the world. That’s the thing about The Twilight Saga: Meyer had interesting ideas for its world, but they were more incidental to the romance aspects of the book. Romance is not a bad thing, of course, but there were a lot of other interesting things that should have been explored.
In the terms of Renesmee and the differences between half-vampires and full vampires, Meyer did answer a lot of questions in Breaking Dawn. There are some very interesting differences between the hybrid species. It’s no wonder the Volturi were interested in her to begin with. With this in mind, it’s time to study Renesmee Cullen.
Here are 20 Strange Details About Renesmee’s Anatomy.
A Difficult Pregnancy
Being a human throughout her month-long pregnancy with her child, Bella’s body went through the proverbial (and literal) ringer. Most of the actions that a fetus does during a pregnancy are involuntary, so Renesmee didn’t mean anything by it. Even so, the physical drain of a rapidly maturing half-vampire fetus coupled with stronger-than-average kicks wasn’t exactly smooth-sailing for Bella.
Renesmee broke her mother’s ribs. It is a tremendous toll on Bella’s body as well. When she goes into labor with her daughter, Bella is emaciated and had only been drinking blood rather than eating food. The delivery itself was pretty traumatic: Bella’s spinal cord snapped, her ribs were destroyed, and she lost a lot of blood. Luckily, she was injected with vampire venom in time to save her life.
Communicated As A Fetus
During her time in the womb, Renesmee was able to communicate with her father, Edward. As anyone familiar with Twilight knows, Edward has a telepathic ability. In order to stop further internal damage before birth, Edward attempted to communicate with his child in the womb. It surprisingly worked: Renesmee stopped moving when Edward showed her the amount of pain that she was putting her mother through.
She would also communicate with her father on and off throughout the pregnancy. It definitely helped keep her calm. It also proved that she wasn’t a mindless monster like an Immortal Child, which was one of the major concerns for Edward when he learned about the pregnancy.
Needed Edward’s Teeth To Be Delivered
Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) was hunting when Bella’s placenta detached and kick-started the birthing process in earnest. As we previously said, the birth itself wrecked Bella’s body. Without the injection of vampire venom starting the change, Bella would have definitely perished during or soon after the birth. While Dr. Carlisle could not do the C-section, it fell to both Edward and Jacob to handle the delivery.
Honestly, it went about as well as could have, given the unusual circumstances. The half-vampire baby made amniotic sac, which is the fluid-filled sac that protects the baby during pregnancy, especially tough. As a result, Edward had to chew through it with his vampire teeth in order to deliver Renesmee successfully. Ah, the wonder of childbirth.
Emotional Control
Vampires, vegetarian or not, have to maintain a controlled temperament for the most part. If not, then they would chowing down all day, every day. Even the tiniest slight could end in slaughter. The reason the Immortal Children are not allowed by anyone is because of this temperament. They would lay waste to an entire village if someone hurt their feelings because they’re a child with the powers of a vampire. Children, for the most part, do not have perfect emotional control all of the time.
Renesmee, however, is remarkably self-possessed, even as a child. She’s easy-going, content, and sweet-natured. Given that she is still a child, no matter how quickly she may mature, it’s definitely amazing to see. We’re not sure if it’s a hybrid thing or a Renesmee thing, but still this temperament means that she will not go on any feeding frenzies in the meantime.
Vampire And Human Scent
As a human-vampire hybrid, Renesmee tends have the abilities of both. That’s not that surprising, as hybrid tends to describe something that is a combination of two things. While we have no idea what her DNA would look like under a microscope, we do know that she smells like both species. After Bella is turned and adjusts, she describes her daughter’s scent as being not quite as appetizing as a human's and not as sweet as a vampire's.
Unlike vampire scents, which can send animals running, Renesmee’s does not seem to have that effect. The human scent may also keep the vampire scent from being too overpowering. It doesn’t seem to bother the shapeshifters of the Quileute overly much. Likewise, their own “dog” scent doesn’t seem to bother her. Whether or not this is due to Jacob’s imprinting on her, however, is unclear.
Unusually Fast Heartbeat
If we were going to split the difference between vampire and human biology for the hybrids, then it would stand to reason that Renesmee would have a slower than average heartbeat. Vampires have none, while Humans do. The law of averages then would make sense that it would be a slower heartbeat for a hybrid. Instead, however, Renesmee has a higher than average heartbeat for even a human.
While we don’t exactly know the beats per minute, Bella described Renesmee's heartbeat as sounding “like a hummingbird” to her vampire ears. It’s difficult to say what exactly causes this for Renesmee. As far as anyone knows, it is just a quirk of her biology and doesn’t seem to harm her in the slightest.
Her Blood Pumps
In addition to her faster than average heartbeat, Renesmee also has blood to move through her body. The blood that flows through Renesmee is not stolen at all, but instead blood of her very own. This aspect of her appears to come from her human heritage. She has a heartbeat in order to pump the blood throughout her body. It's unknown just how vital the blood is to her survival; if she can survive being drained of it, for example.
It is an interesting difference from vampires, whose blood is frozen by the venom that runs through them after the change. Renesmee is a living girl, rather than a vampire, so it does make a certain amount of sense that she would have a heartbeat.
Ability To Sleep
One thing that a vampire sacrifices for immortality in Twilight is the ability to sleep. According to Edward, they have to fill the hours somehow. It definitely appears to be a drawback: who wants to experience eternity 24/7, after all? Even so, the Cullens seem to fill their days and nights for the most part. Renesmee, however, does need to sleep.
In both the books and the movies, there are instances of her parents tucking her into bed or watching as she sleeps. Unlike most new parents, however, Bella and Edward aren't constantly exhausted. Plus, the pair get to have personal time with each other, and don’t have to deal with a bored child who has to stay up 24 hours a day.
Perfect Control
Much like her mother, Renesmee does not need an adjustment period in order to drink blood without attacking humans. In the womb, her mother had cravings for it. Usually, the Cullens quenched this thirst by warming up cups of donated blood from the hospital for Bella to drink. It seemed to satisfy Renesmee.
When her mother turned into a vampire, there was no adjusting needed in terms of Bella’s bloodlust. While she needed to relearn how to act human around others, she didn’t have to worry about going into a feeding frenzy. Renesmee also had perfect control. Unlike Immortal Children, she didn’t feel the need to harm others in order to get the blood she needed.
Not Quite As Strong Or Fast As A “Pure” Vampire
One drawback to Renesmee’s abilities is that, while she is powerful, she does not have the strength, speed, agility, etc. of a real vampire. For instance, while Renesmee does have hardened skin, she could probably still probably get hurt. While she does possess a majority of vampiric abilities, the human DNA tempers it as well. She’s definitely stronger and faster than a human, but probably cannot match most other vampires.
This is something that has remained untested in the books, however. When the Volturi and the Cullens had their tense stand-off, Renesmee was not directly harmed in the process. As a child, she was also left out of the training.
She Can Survive On Human Food Or Blood
Renesmee has more sustenance options available to her than vampires do. She can consume human food, showing that she has a functioning digestive tract. This is very much the opposite of vampires, who generally refuse to eat, or expel their food later if they do consume it. Renesmee can sustain herself on a human diet, though she shows little interest in consuming such fare during the events of Breaking Dawn.
She also can survive on a blood diet, like the other members of the Cullen. While she prefers human blood, like all vampires, Renesmee can subsist on a "vegetarian" diet. Though she does not prefer it, Jacob Black turns the animal blood diet into a game for her in order to get her used to her family’s way of eating.
She Can Float
Vampires have a variety of abilities that make them superhuman. One that appears unique to Renesmee is her ability to float. This one seems to be more movie-specific. In Breaking Dawn – Part Two, Renesmee’s existence is discovered when she floats to catch snowflakes under Bella’s watchful eye. It’s definitely floating, rather than just jumping. She can hang in the air for an extended period of time.
Whether this is a vampire perception of things, as if they can stand perfectly still while the world moves around them, or she can truly hover in midair, it doesn’t say outright. In the movie, as it looks to be in real time, the implication is that Renesmee can hover once she jumps.
She Doesn’t Produce Venom
A particularly interesting part of the hybrid anatomy comes down to the vampiric venom. This venom is what causes the change from vampires to humans. It’s produced in the vampire body following the transformation, which allows male and female vampires to change others. It works differently, however, for the hybrids. Biologically female hybrids of vampires and humans do not naturally produce venom. Due to this, female hybrids do not have the ability to turn others into vampires. Renesmee, as a female hybrid, does not produce venom.
Male hybrids, on the other hand, can produce it. According to Nahuel (J.D. Pardo), he bit his aunt Hullen (Marisa Quinn), which changed her into vampire. As the only known male hybrid in existence, he alone possesses this ability.
Immunity To Alice’s Visions
One of the more useful powers that a Cullen family member possesses is Alice’s (Ashley Greene) ability to have visions of the future. The power, for the most part, remains the most useful in the Cullens arsenal of abilities. Alice, much to her frustration, does have her blindspots. She cannot see people if they are with the shapeshifters of the Quileute Tribe. She also cannot see vampire hybrids, such as Renesmee.
This, apparently, comes down to experience. Alice has lived as both a human and as a vampire. With that experience, she is able to have visions of humans and vampires. As she has not lived as a shapeshifter or a hybrid, those visions do not come to her.
She Doesn’t Sparkle
The hallmark of the vampire species created by Stephenie Meyer is their sparkling. If anyone knows anything about The Twilight Saga, it’s that these vampires sparkle in the light of the sun, like diamonds. This is due to the cellular changes that a vampire undergoes during their transformation. The skin reflects in sunlight, causing small prisms of light to give the skin a diamond-like appearance.
As Renesmee is half-human, this reflectivity is not prevalent in her skin. Underneath the direct light of the sun, Renesmee does not sparkle, but instead has a soft glow about her. This glow can be written off by other humans, which allows Renesmee a greater mobility amongst the general populace.
Rapid Growth
From the beginning of Bella’s pregnancy, it was clear that Renesmee would grow with a speed never really seen before. Her journey from conception to birth took a mere month. In the time after that, Renesmee continued her rapid physical development. When Bella recovered from her change, Renesmee already looked several months old. Soon after that, she was able to talk and walk.
According to Nahuel, when he was officially introduced to other vampires, he reached physical maturity within seven years. After this, he stopped aging in any real discernible way. Whether or not the hybrids continue aging, however, is not quite clear. Nahuel put his age at around 150 years old during Breaking Dawn and had not changed since reaching maturity.
Rapid Mental Development
In addition to her rapidly growing body, there is also a rapidly growing mind to contend with. While Renesmee will reach physical maturity at the age of seven, her speedy mental development will also put her at a mentally older age as well. It is a good thing that Renesmee’s mind will grow just as quickly as her body. Otherwise, it would make things even ickier on several levels.
Over the course of her development, Renesmee learns the piano from her father. She also reads and listens to her mother tell her stories. Her mental recall appears to near perfect. She is also able to remember her own birth with perfect clarity. Evan as a child, she makes her own clear and logical decisions.
Ability To Draw People To Her
One ability that Renesmee seems to share with her mother is the ability to draw people to her. When Bella arrived in Forks, despite her protestations of being a loner, she clearly drew people to her, vampire, shapeshifter, and human alike. More to the point, Bella was Edward’s "singer," which is another way of drawing vampires to you. This ability to draw people in and have them like you appears to be passed on to Renesmee as well.
Even without her telepathic abilities, Renesmee has a way of swaying those around her to her side. As Tanya (MyAnna Buring) says about Renesmee, “She is special, that little one. Hard to resist.” Whether or not this is unique to Renesmee remains unknown.
Touch Telepathy
Renesmee is special even amongst hybrids in that she has extra abilities. These abilities seem to be the inverse of her parents' own, particularly her touch telepathy. Unlike Edward, Renesmee needs to be in physical contact with a person for her telepathy to work. By touching that person, she is able to share thoughts and images as needed.
This ability was the one most used in Breaking Dawn. In order for the Cullens to convince other vampires to support them, they would have Renesmee prove her origins by showing them her birth, among other things. This would prove she is not an immortal child and also was usually key in gaining the needed support from the other factions.
Mental Shield Penetration
Renesmee also has the inverse ability to her mother's powers. Bella’s ability, even as a human, deals with mental shield. No vampire with a mental ability, such as Edward, Jane (Dakota Fanning), or Alec (Cameron Bright), could use their power against Bella. Once she was changed into a vampire, Bella trained herself in order to encapsulate those around her. This means she could protect a large number of people from such mental attacks, which would have been key in a fight against the Volturi.
Renesmee, conversely, can penetrate mental shields. Her powers have always worked on her mother. Unlike her touch telepathy, however, this power was not used as often.
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What other strange details have you noticed about Renesmee's anatomy in Twilight? Let us know in the comments!