The Cullens donât value human life, or: Carlisle, honey, Iâm so sorry
So, Carlisle is in a miserable situation.
He was forcibly turned into a vampire under traumatic circumstances, and became a cannibalistic demon. Against all odds he discovered that he didnât actually have to kill people: however, he was still lonely. Fast forwards a few lonely years, he found a BFF and homoerotic academic in Aro, and spent decades trying to persuade him to his diet. Failed. Decided to travel the world in search of likeminded - failed.
Fast forwards to 1918, Carlisle has spent centuries trying to get someone, anyone, to understand this seemingly simple concept. Donât eat people, please, itâs literally the only thing Carlisle asks. And heâs still asking too much.
We know how history then unfolded itself - Carlisle was going to let the Masens die, as countless patients had before, and then Elizabeth Masen said ânu uh, not my son he wonât!â, and that was the kick in the butt Carlisle needed to create his own companion. Converting others had failed, but maybe a brand new vampire who has never known anything different and who looks to Carlisle for guidance will follow the diet.
And it works. Edward follows Carlisleâs diet. A few years later Carlisle repeats the experiment, now heâs in a coven of three vampires who are actually doing the diet. What a world. Iâm sure he was walking around in a daze for a solid portion of that time.
The coven grows, soon Carlisle has a whole squad of vegetarians, and even a cousin squad. (Although since the Denali sister went for the diet because they wanted to have sex with the same men multiple times, I can only picture Carlisleâs delight upon finding them quickly turning into a thousand yard stare.)
Anyway, Carlisle has what he always wanted, let there be happiness galore.
Unfortunately, none of the Cullens actually care about human life.
Edward left Carlisle for years. This by itself is a dealbreaker, he had all the love and support he could ever ask for, and turned his back on it because heâd rather kill people. Killing rapists wasnât even his first instinct, at first he killed homeless junkies, since no one would miss them. He only turned to rapists because junkies taste awful. He turned back not because he learned the error of his ways, but because life wasnât fulfilling. He has learned nothing: when we meet him in 2005, he would have eaten Bella and the Biology class if it werenât for Carlisle, contemplates killing all the Quileutes, and in Volterra he would have gone on a massacre, again if it wasnât for Carlisle. This guy doesnât care about human life, and he never becomes a better person. He abstains from human blood for Carlisle, to feel like less of a monster, and because it plays into his superiority complex.
Esme makes it very clear sheâs fine with Bellaâs untimely death. Sheâd let Bella die to satisfy Edwardâs thirst, or to keep him in Forks. Her vote for Bella to live has nothing to do with Bella, and she later gives Edward implicit approval to eat her if he wants. Itâs additionally damning that Edward isnât at all surprised by her behavior. She does the diet for her family.
Rosalie used not wanting to move to a new place and start over as an argument in favor of killing Bella. She later places her bet that Bella will be eaten in the meadow. She adheres to the diet better than anyone in the family, but she doesnât actually care for the individual human life, not even when itâs an innocent girl. Her main reason for following the diet is that she wants to be as close to being human as possible, and maneating demon is about as far from human as you can get.
Emmetâs response to Edward having a singer is âTreat yourself, bro!â and when Bellaâs becoming a vampire, he makes a bet about how many people sheâll kill. He could not care less. He follows the diet for Rosalieâs sake.
Alice lives the way she does because her visions told her that she should live with the Cullens. She cares about Bella because Bella is her barbie, and she treats her like an accessory rather than a person. When push comes to shove she brings Bella to Volterra, knowing what the Volturi do to humans who know the secret. She never appears to care about humans for the sake of humans, at one point we see her try to help Jasper control his thirst: âIt helps if you think of them as people!â
Jasperâs gift is essentially a shock collar that made a human diet unsustainable for him.
Bella chooses vampirism, knowing that thereâs a chance sheâll kill people. When told of Jasper and Emmetâs newborn Bella body count bet, she is not at all concerned. And the thirst is never a problem for her, she doesnât have to struggle to stay on the diet. She eats animals because sheâs a Cullen, Cullens eat animals. Duh.
(I know this is a bit reductive, I do have far more to say on each of these, but Iâm trying to be a succinct person)
Theyâre not doing the human diet for altruistic reasons.
This is the thing that makes Carlisle a tragic character to me.
Loneliness is his whole thing, and all he ever wanted in a companion someone who shared his ideals, who would value human life as he does. What he ends up with is the Cullens, who all believe theyâre amazing people for not eating people and morally superior (they wonât say it aloud, but- well theyâll absolutely say it aloud. And they do.) to other vampires, but they donât actually care at all.
We see it in Rosalie, Emmet, and Jasper deciding to kill Bella in Midnight Sun, we see it in- well, I just wrote a bunch of examples above. We see it again and again, these people care about human life up until the second itâs inconvenient for them to do so.
And all Carlisle can do is live in intense double think denial where his family is filled with wonderful people who care about humans so much, but he also has to make them go to their victimâs funerals in a desperate, and very telling, bid to make them understand that humans are people.
The whole point of the Cullens is that after centuries of loneliness Carlisle finally has a family of vampires who share his ideals, but when they donât actually care-
Carlisle, honey, Iâm so sorry.
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