Still in the Attic

Name: Oz Side Blog: Rosalie-Hale Blog Type: TwilightEstablished: 2015 Current Status: Having a cold one with the cold ones.

[renegadepack]

anti-racism resource post for twilight fans

this post is now a carrd!!

back when midnight sun was officially announced, i wrote a post talking about my experience as a white fan of the series, back when i was younger and as i’ve grown and educated myself and interacted with the fandom more and more. now that tumblr lets you pin a post, i wanted to make a new post for resources, because the original post is a lot to scroll through and i wanted the links to be more accessible + easier to find.

under the cut is links to learn about racism (both in general and specifically anti- indigenous, as that is the largest issue present in the twilight books), ways to help, and links to check out various indigenous creators that deserve your support. always open to suggestions of links to add, in any of the categories. if i have linked your post/blog/website/etc. and you do not want it linked, please let me know and i will remove it asap. updated often.

most important: the quileute tribe is currently working on their move to higher ground project. many of their lands are currently in flooding danger zones, and this project is (as the name suggests) working to move to safer areas so they can continue to thrive. if you are able, please consider donating to that project here.

great news! the quileute tribe has begun construction on the new school.(x) there are still many phases to this project however, so please continue donating to them if you are able!

please let me know if a link is incorrect, if i made any type of error, or if there is a way this can be easier to navigate! 

Keep reading

[panlight]

The number of Twilight fans in the notes saying things like "I didn't even realize there was a part of the USA called the Olympic Peninsula" or "I thought they named themselves after the Greek gods" just proves my point that centuries-old vampires from all around the world would not necessarily know about the Olympic Peninsula. That's very specific! Much more likely to be called like, Pacific Northwest Coven, although that doesn't address the problem of what they were called before they moved there.

These old-ass vampires DO know about Carlisle though (a lot of them are his friends!), hence "Carlisle's coven" or "The Cullen Coven" makes more sense.

[panlight]

I know the movie did away with it, but book-wise, how much is having Jacob and Renesmee around going to mess with Alice's visions going forward?

All during the pregnancy she complained about having a headache trying to see the hazy future involving Renesmee. Is this still a problem? Could she not see because of the reason Alice proposed (she can see vampires because she is one, humans because she used to be one, but she can't see shifters or hybrids because she's never been one) or was Renesmee's future just so tied up with Jacob's that it would have been blocked anyway?

Are Edward and Bella's futures also going to be hard to see because Renesmee is presumably always in them?

[illbeintheattic]

I'd love it if it were the case that Alice still couldn't see them. But I have a feeling that smeyer would somehow have Alice adapt to them living there. Or that Alice would somehow learn to be able to focus in specifically on one person regardless of who else is in it. So she would be able to see Edwards future despite Renesmee being a part of it. And she'd skirt around the whole can't see Jacob or Renesmee's future thing.

[panlight]

Something that comes a lot with the idea of the Cullens having the possibility to become human again is this idea that they wouldn't do it, or would regret it, because they romanticize humanity but don't actually want the reality of it.

But people also defend Bella's decision to become a vampire to the death, saying it's the right choice for her, and she knows herself well enough, etc.

It's an interesting contrast, isn't it? Bella has never been a vampire, she's trusting some sort of gut instinct, not actual experience. But the other Cullens have been vampires AND humans. It's not like they were never human! Sure, the memories have faded, but other than Alice, they do remember some of it. So, arguably, they are better positioned to know what they want, what is right for them, than Bella ever was.

In MS, Edward says that he, Rosalie and Carlisle would do anything to be human and people are skeptical.

I mean take Rosalie. People often say she doesn't really want to be human because she would get old and lose her beauty. But she's had much longer than Bella to think about all this. Her dream, in her own words, is to grow old with Emmett and watch their grandchildren play. Her happy ending is being under a gravestone.

It's interesting that, in general, fandom trusts that Bella knows what she wants (to be a vampire) but that Rosalie doesn't (to be human).

[panlight]

Since we've been talking about it (read all the choices first!):

If a cure for vampirism existed, would Carlisle take it?

No, he enjoys being a vampire

No, doesn't love being a vamp, but he can do more good as immortal doctor

No (some other reason)

Yes, so he and Esme can have children

Yes (some other reason)

Eventually. May stay a vampire for a few decades or centuries more first

Depends on what Esme wants

Depends on what the family as a whole wants

He invented the cure, and would take it

He invented the cure, but wouldn't take it himself

Other / Nuance

I don't go here.

Voting ended onMay 5

[panlight]

Hello! Do you think that the speculation some readers have that Carlisle might have a gift of being likeable or charismatic could be true?

I certainly see where people get it from, but personally, I hope it's not true. I've never been into superheroes or whatever. That's not what interests me.

Carlisle as a character would be significantly less interesting to me if he had a superpower to get people to like him. And I know the canon of Twilight is that superpowers are based on who you are as a person, are generally enhanced versions of traits you already have, etc. But, IDK, it would just feel fake to me? It's like imprinting. I know it's cosmic fated true love but it feels fake because it's magic, it's some outside thing that forces people together. Carlisle charming and winning people over by his personality and presence is more 'real' than people just being supernaturally forced to like him, IMO.

Because, see, I think it's really interesting that this random guy, who doesn't have a power, has managed to accomplish all he has accomplished! He's managed to navigate and survive in both the human and vampire worlds for centuries just on wits and charm alone. That's interesting! If he had some magical aura that just makes everyone like him? Significantly less interesting to me, personally.

So I don't think it's a power. I think it's just who he is. Humans respond to his calming presence, a caring bedside manner. Vampires are thrown off-guard by how chill and friendly he is when they first meet. Usually vampire on vampire meetings can be fraught. There could be a territory dispute. Could lead to a fight. And he's just like, "Hello, my name is Carlisle Cullen" and reaches out to shake their hand and then they notice his yellow eyes and they get to talking and then walk away like "That was the strangest vampire I have ever met (laudatory)."

And in a Word of God sense, it's pretty clear SM doesn't intend for him to have a power. She's said his "compassion-motivated self-control" is "so incredible" that it almost crosses the line into superpower, but doesn't. I think her intent is that he's just a genuine, friendly, charming person who makes a good impression on people.

But again, I see why people headcanon or write it that way. Read and write what makes you happy! I'm just not into the superpower stuff and think doing what he's done just by being himself is more interesting and impressive.

[fuckmeyer]

tbh i think Bella & Edward's marriage is only happy and romantic for young people who don't know yet what a happy marriage looks like? which sounds kinda harsh since they're not unhappy, but...

there's an element of friendship that's missing. a deepening intimacy that comes with being newlyweds. constantly having sex is a stereotype & a fraction of what married life entails! i wish they had come back from their honeymoon with inside jokes and funny stories. i wish we'd seen them bickering over their idiosyncrasies as they adjust to living together. like. if you're going to write Twilight as a cozy paranormal romance, why cut out the coziest part of marriage?

beneath it all, what bothers me is that we never really get this emotional payoff. Edward & Bella struggle with their attraction, struggle to stay together despite the danger, struggle through their own insecurities and physical relationship... but there's no real reward for the reader after Bella becomes a vampire. we go right from the wedding to Bella getting pregnant, a possible war with the wolves, demon baby, then a confrontation with the Volturi.

when do we see them really be comfortable with each other as partners? the few lines we get of them reading together or discussing the plot don't feel enough for a series that uniquely prioritizes the "slice of life" aesthetic. why don't we see them take up new hobbies? or having discussions that would have been impossible for their unmarried virgin selves? when marriage goes symbolically hand-in-hand with flawless immortality, how come we don't get to learn what it means to to be married to your best friend forever?

[howlonghaveyoubeenseventeen]

was wondering whether twilight vampires can fart then realized that if they could smeyer would probably say their farts smell like flowers or something

[illbeintheattic]

To counter the 'no vampire farting' problem, at the bare minimum they can burp.

They, Emmett more specifically, could eat the most awful food, suck up some air, and then let out complete rancid burps.

Which I know I've sidetracked this from farts... but then doesn't that just raise the question on how do they fully clear out food?

Apparently they don't digest food. So how do they know that they've gotten it all out? What if there are some parts of the food that can't be brought back up, goes all yucky, and then the Cullen's now have foul ass smelling breath unless they gurney out their insides. All cus they decide to play human.

Maybe that's why so many vampires are avoiding the cullens. Maybe that's the true reason the wolves "hate their smell". Their breath is just yucky and putrid.

[howlonghaveyoubeenseventeen]

you know what no I’m still mad about this edward claims the wolves have no control and it’s dangerous to be around them but literally the first day he met bella he just barely stopped himself from killing her and everyone in the classroom

[psychcalice]

The whole “Alice is obsessed with Edward” discourse is kind of invalid to me because, honestly, Alice (and almost every female character in Twilight, for that matter) is 👏 badly 👏 written 👏

I know we all know this but everyone who is not Bella is more or less two-dimensional. In Alice’s case, in theory she’s a really interesting character (like most), one of the most powerful and influential characters of the saga actually (she literally drives some of the big plots in the books) But when you look at how she moves throughout the books and how her personality plays out in it she has no interiority at all. She exists almost exclusively for Edward and Bella’s relationship. She feels like an NPC programmed to work for them.

So when people say she’s weird for doing this or that I can’t help but think of how it’s null to judge her because of how badly written she is.

The character is literally trapped in Edward’s orbit. The whole family works around him. We know lack of character buildup is a classic here.

Anyway this is also a bit of an illogical defense because this user and profile pic are not for nothing, she was my favorite character when I first read the saga. But yeah, critically thinking as well, none of these characters (specially the female ones) can be ruthlessly judged when they’re so mediocrely written.

[panlight]

Something I think about a lot is how carefully SM tried to make it so that Bella couldn't really be 'blamed' for anything. I'm not sure I'm articulating that right. But it came up the other day with the ask about the top five things that don't make sense and the tent scene.

It seems to me that SM found herself surprisingly interested in the Jacob/Bella dynamic. That was never part of her original plan; remember, she wrote Twilight and then Forever Dawn (which was basically had all the same plot points as Breaking Dawn eventually did). She had already written E/B's wedding, birth of Renesmee, Bella being a vampire. Jacob was just a family friend with a minor crush. But it's pretty clear he took on a life of his own in the middle books that SM had not originally planned for and my theory has always been that SM liked the idea of Jacob/Bella but not as much as the Edward/Bella endgame she had literally already written. So what to do? She wants them to kiss, so she makes Jacob force himself on Bella so that Bella is blameless. She wants them to snuggle, so she puts them in a cold tent where Bella literally needs Jacob's body heat so Bella is blameless. She wants them to kiss again, so Jacob threatens getting himself killed, so Bella is blameless.

And none of the Cullens seem at all bothered by whatever is going on with her and Jacob, and they don't have the details because Alice can't see him. It would be natural for some of them to be like, "uhhhhh, what? Is she cheating on Edward?" but no! She is innocent and blameless and they all (except Rosalie) adore her! Part of the family already! Don't even worry about it! Alice even says something like "wow it must be hard to have two good options" like she is a neutral observer and one of the options isn't her brother. They aren't even bothered by her making Edward, the only mind-reader and the only one who can communicate with the wolves when they are in wolf form, sit out the fight to the death that their relationship caused. They're cool with it. Because no one can resent Bella for anything, and if they do, they're bad.

And then we have Breaking Dawn. Bella's been begging for vampirism for awhile now, but maybe wanting immortality and power and beauty might be selfish? Can't have that. She's dying in childbirth. Now it's not just an emergency transformation to save her life, she's sacrificing herself for someone else. She's absolved, and so is Edward.

Even with silly stuff, like the clothes and parities. It might be selfish of Bella to want those things, so she doesn't, but Alice just gives them to her anyway.

It's okay for your protagonist to be selfish sometimes! It's okay for them to be blamed for stuff! Let Bella be messy and take the blame! It's okay.

[robertphilip]

Every Twilight character throughout the Saga: Esme Anne Cullen (Twilight - Breaking Dawn pt. 2)

[archae-heart-deactivated2021012]

I meant to spend all my light on you

[pupupuphuca]

headcanon jasper's scars because i can

[aniksar]

Twilight movie stills illustration 🌲🌧️🤍

[morticiaaddams13]

[lunastwilightblog]

Werewolves (children of the moon) kill humans because they can’t control themselves. They just kill because it’s in their nature, and humans are food

Vampires kill humans because it’s what they do to feed, to survive

Humans kills humans because they want to. They accuse each other of being witches and/or cursed and kill and torture them; they murder for fun; they can kill thousands of their own kind at the push of a button and they don’t care

No wonder Bella was confused at Edward thinking he was a monster. It’s humans who are the monsters - and Aro has every right to be afraid of the technology humans may yet create

[illbeintheattic]

Aro genuinely has a right to be afraid, or at least worried. It's far too late for them to now oust themselves to humans to try and make peace, to live amongst them known.

Humans would easily let millions upon millions of people die if the end goal meant winning/survival.

Vampires are virtually indestructable. But they are not completely indestructable. And because they technically aren't human anymore either, many humans will not care about what happens to them. They won't care about trapping them and experimenting on them in order to find an advantage against them.

As much as some vampires may hate The Volturi, you gotta admit, they are a necessary evil. If in breaking dawn, a war did happen and they did actually get wiped out, then who exactly is stepping up and taking their role? I don't think there would be many vampires who would want to.

But there would be many vampires who would want to be out and open with humans and try to control humans. Which would go very, very badly.

(I think about this far more than I should).