Renesmee Cullen

'Renesmee (ruh-nez-may) Carlie Cullen' is the fictional half vampire, half human daughter of Edward Cullen and Isabella Cullen, in the fictional "Twilight" series. She is first seen in the novel Breaking Dawn, and plays a vital role throughout the book.

Name Origin

Renesmee's name derives from the amalgamation of the names of Bella's biological mother, Renée, and her mother-in-law, Esme. Her middle name, Carlie said like Kar-lee, is a combination of the names Carlisle, Bella's father-in-law, and Charlie, Bella's biological father. Jacob Black gives her the nickname "Nessie" because he considers her full name too much of a mouthful; by the end of the book, all of the characters have adopted this shortened version, even Bella, who was initially opposed to the nickname because it reminded her of the Loch Ness Monster.

Personal History

Bella's Pregnancy

After Edward and Bella are married, they travel to Isle Esme on their honeymoon where Edward fulfills his promise to Bella of finally making love to her. After a week or two, Bella begins to notice certain emotional swings, peculiar eating habits and vomiting spells which confuse her. After realizing that her period was late, and finding a lump in her belly, she realizes she is pregnant with Edward's child. Edward takes her home to Carlisle so he can remove the fetus, but Bella does not want to lose the baby. Enlisting Rosalie Hale's help, Bella refuses to have an abortion, determined to carry the child to full term. As the baby continues to grow at an alarmingly rapid rate, Bella's health worsens. She develops an unhealthy pallor; her stomach is bruised in multiple places from the baby's movement as it has inherited a vampire's inhuman strength; her ribs, pelvis, and spine (just shortly before birth) all are broken. Her body has been rejecting human food, and only when Jacob Black bitterly thinks about the "creature" wanting blood is Edward's, who has the ability to read thoughts, able to find the solution. The Cullens allow Bella's to sample some donated human blood from Carlisle work at the hospital. To Bella's surprise, the blood smells and tastes appealing, and revives her to an extent. Beside's the growing baby's strength and appetite, evidence of its vampire heritage is apparent in the fact that the amniotic sack is so thick and hard that ultrasounds are useless. As Bella's pregnancy nears its completion, the child wins even Edward - who had been desperate to perform an abortion for Bella's own safety - over when he begins to hear its thoughts, finding out that the baby loves Bella and the sounds of its parents' voices. Bella insists the baby is a boy and calls it EJ (Edward Jacob), though she admits that she has decided on the name Renesmee for a girl. The pregnancy continues its rapid progression, and Bella goes into violent labor even sooner than expected when the placenta is unexpectedly detached. Rosalie begins to perform an emergency C-section on Bella, but is overcome by her instincts toward human blood and is forced to leave, so Edward continues with the C-section as Bella loses consciousness. Edward uses his vampire teeth to bite through the amniotic sac, and the child breaks free, with Bella very near death. Edward injects vampire venom directy into Bella's heart and bites her in several places, maximizing her odds of being healed by the process of turning into a vampire and preventing her death. Jacob and Edward perform CPR to try to keep Bella's heart beating, until Jacob leaves in despair because he believes Bella to be dead, after which Edward continues alone. It is revealed that, despite Bella's certainty that the child would be a boy, it is a girl: Renesmee.

After the Birth

Jacob Black, previously determined to destroy the "monster" which he believed to have killed Bella, imprints on Renesmee as soon as he sees her. Renesmee becomes key to a truce between the werewolves and the vampires; other werewolves would not hurt her because of the pack traditions forbidding any harm to come to imprinted ones. She is protective of him, thinking of him as her Jacob. When he is present in her memories, she never takes her eyes off of him. She loves spending time with Jacob. He goes hunting with her, and for Christmas braided her a bracelet that is the Quileute version of a promise ring. It is stated that she loves her Mother at the same level as Jacob, even before officially meeting Bella.

Renesmee grows at an exceptional pace, her first word being "Momma" (followed by her first sentence "Momma, where is Grandpa?") and said only seven days after birth. It is stated at the end of the book that she will probably reach complete physical maturity after about seven years, at which point she will stop aging and live forever. She learns faster than she grows and acquires the ability to speak rapidly, but prefers using her gift to communicate. She inherited two gifts; she can show thoughts through touch (the opposite of her father's gift) and can break through any shield (the opposite of her mother's). Much to Bella's extreme anger, Jacob, and eventually the rest of the family take to calling Renesmee "Nessie". Bella lashes out furiously when she discovers her precious baby has been nicknamed "after the Lochness Monster", though towards the end, Bella accepts the nickname and finds more tolerance towards it.

The Volturi

While Bella, Jacob, and Renesmee are in the woods hunting together, they are spotted by Irina, a member of another coven who is mad at the Cullens for not avenging her mate's death. Irina saw Renesmee jump, and took her to be one of the immortal children, or in other words, a child that was bitten. Because of their inability to control themselves, "Immortal Children" are not allowed to exist, and Irina [whose mother had been killed for making an immortal child] turns her in to the Volturi. Irina is not aware, however, that Renesmee is not an immortal child, she is half human, half vampire, growing and learning. The Volturi make the decision to come to Forks, and destroy the immortal child. Alice sees this in a vision and decides there is no hope. She tells the Cullens they need to prepare a witness, and leaves a clue for Bella to figure out how to get Renesmee and Jacob alibis, and then flees. When the Volturi show up, the Cullens have gathered witnesses from all over the world, who have seen what the child is. Though at first, the Volturi are ready to kill, they soon see through all the people willing to protect the child that she is special and should not be harmed. The deal to let her live is set when Alice shows up near the end of the trial with another child like Renesmee, one the Volturi have never known of. That child manages to tell the Volturi how he ages and matures, how old he is, and about his diet. They no longer see Renesmee to be a threat, and leave. Yet, a gloomy promise of their return hangs over the Cullens' heads. They accept that next time, the Volturi will be more prepared and stronger.

Physical Appearance

Renesmee is described as having the facial features of her father, Edward, as well as his reddish-brown hair color. However, she inherited curly hair from her grandfather, Charlie Swan. Her eyes are described as chocolate brown, just like her mother, Isabella Cullen's were while she was still human. She has pale, though non-vampiric, skin which has a blush to it because her heart pumps blood. Her skin is assumed to be as tough as a vampire's, but her temperature seems to be unusually warm, only a few degrees below that of a werewolf. Similarily to her family's skin, Renesmee's skin glows in the sunshine rather than sparkling like diamonds. She was born with small perfect (non-venom coated) teeth.

Diet

Renesmee is able to survive on both blood and human food, though she prefers blood. She seems to have absolutely no problem resisting the urge to hunt humans, but doesn't much like the taste of animal blood. It is assumed that she will follow her family's "Vegetarian" life style for vampires.

Special Traits

Renesmee, often called “Nessie�, for short, is what is known as a vampire hybrid. She is very much alive, complete with a beating heart (given, a speeding heart) and veins filled with her own blood. Just like a human, she cannot fully function without it.Unlike the rest of her vampire family, she is also able to sleep. However, she is also immortal. She will continue to grow until the age of seven although she will appear to be about twenty, at which point she will cease aging. The Cullens know this only because of their encounter with another hybrid, who told tales of him and his sisters. She is not venomous, as that appears to be a male trait among hybrids. Nessie is also gifted, like some vampires. If she wishes, she may touch someone’s face and show them one of her memories. Ironically, this is the reverse of her father’s power who can read any thought that happens to pass someone's mind. This came in handy before she could speak, as she could use it to communicate. She is able to penetrate Bella’s protective shield, and Edward theorizes that this is because, as her gift is the opposite of Edward's, it is also the opposite of Bella's (the ability to shield anyone from a mind-related attack). Edward stated that, as Bella keeps everyone out of her mind, no one keeps Renesmee out.