sparkle_ways | Cullen Family Meta -- Opinions one one Dr. Carlisle Cullen

Esme's Opinions

Esme was only sixteen the first time she met Carlisle and he made a huge impression on her. I think she fell a little bit in love with him then.

When she became so despondent over the loss of her child that she attempted to kill herself, Carlisle gave her a new chance at "life" and I'll go out on a limb and say that Esme's vampire life has been happier and more fulfilling for her than her human life.

Carlisle was able to provide the things that Esme desired most - a husband to love and children to care for (never mind that those children aren't exactly children, Esme feels very maternal towards them).

So basically, Carlisle was Esme's knight in sparkling marble skin and she is hopelessly, irrevocably in love with him (to borrow a phrase from Bella).

Edward's Opinions

Oh, where to even start. This one is harder than Alice even, based on time frame and depth. (Which is why I started it hours ago while on break after my classes, obviously....) Edward would literally do anything for Carlisle -- bearing, past Bella's introduction, that it doesn't adversely affect her, but everything else. Everything else. Anything else.

And that clouds everything into a specific filter.

Carlisle gave him life, a purpose, a family. Very much in that order. I think that Edward views them very much as contemporaries because of their age and being the first one made, but he still looks up to Carlisle greatly. He always saw Carlisle as the patriarch, but even more important he always saw the pure idealist.

One who wasn't only dreaming the ideal, in otherwise very un-ideal situations, but who managed to flourish and destroy the standard on his quest. He managed not just not to drink human blood and not to kill, but to get himself to where he didn't feel the urge and need to, because of his passion for helping people. It sets the bar very, very high and makes him some very, very easy to look up to.

The age difference is still present, but I think Edward would have accepted the family dynamics easily after a little rearranging with Esme's change. Because it would have made Carlisle so happy to have her (and how could Edward ever dislike Esme?).

I think they have had their ups and downs and tensions. Namely among them his early years, his rebellion years, and the Rosalie mistake.

I think the early years Edward had to get used to his powers, through and with Carlisle, who was the one who recognized his powers first. I think being able to hear how good Carlisle was (even flawed and human) made him all that much easier to continue to venerate then (and across time).

I think the rebellion years would have been more painfully hard on them than angrily or disappointedly hard. Edward probably made the choice to go after evil people because he could never touch an innocent person based on Carlisle's life and choices. But it was probably very hard to leave them and not exactly easy on any side. I also think coming back was harder for Edward, because Carlisle (and Esme) brought him back in with open arms, as the prodigal son described so in the book, when he learned he couldn't live with killing even evil people because it was still the taking of a life.

I think that discovery? And the discussions which followed it between Carlisle, cemented their bond immensely. Because they both fell into the same category of finding all human life worth remaining alive and untouched by their kinds ways. They both embraced it from the differing sides of their lives and choices, being able to meet in the middle once again.

I do think they came to hard words over Rosalie. Many times. Because Carlisle meant well, and Edward would have been able to see/read that a million times over, but Edward would have been enraged and insulted.

That Carlisle felt it necessary that Edward needed to change and be more than who he was already. That Carlisle felt it necessary to choose someone for his life to make him better, because obviously he was exactly like him in needing someone like Esme. That Carlisle chose for him as his equal Rosalie Hale, a vapid vain creature of beauty and little depth, was just a paramount insult to the view of his self through Carlisle's eyes (even if he knew it wasn't true or correct to view it that way, being able to see Carlisle's thoughts on him. Consider this the actions vs. words dilemma). That he had to give up his present life for her notoriety pre-death and Carlisle's very little thought before it...

Yeah. I have feeling that was a very rough time for Carlisle and Edward......even if he'd still have listened to all his orders and been there for Carlisle and Esme, because they were still his end all and be all. I do have a feeling this was probably the first time since his prodigal return that Edward put his foot down and there was a decree from God that Carlisle would never do this again (in reference to Edward's future/life, not in reference to making family members).

But you know what actually is three to four rough edged years in their eighty together? I mean. Really.

Through Carlisle he got a family, probably without knowing he needed one, gave him people to look after and guard against. He probably feels a great debt of getting to have this life provided to him, for him, molded into being around him, instead of say the Volterra life...because it's not hard to know Carlisle would have recognized Edward's gift as one that group would have wanted and kept him from them for the long shot of his beginning.

Having a family fulfills Carlisle and Edward grew into the notion of it for him, I'm sure at first. Because his position shifted when Esme came in, changing the dynamic from friends/companions/little brother/son/etc to very specifically one or the others siblings, or boths child. Which then once they had Rose and Emmett and Edward it was impossible not to pull on the children routine with three very young looking people.

But giving him more and more family members, Carlisle gave Edward a purpose. To watch over people, both in their family and outside of it. So they could know what was and would be about to happen and be able to protect themselves or handle the fall out, possibly before anything actually fell. The whole idea of there being an eyes and ears conspiracy between them once upon a time, way back when Rose and Emmett were both shiny and new, and a bit rambunctious in their unpredictability, wouldn't surprise me at all.

In many ways, lacking an opposite, Edward has had eighty years to venerate Carlisle's actions in the best way -- imitation. He's gotten a doctorate twice. He's read more books than anyone except Carlisle. He's cultivated languages, music, culture, degrees and the life style of learning, exploring, and indulging in the graces this gift of (un)life could give.

But it's not just the dream, it's also the reality. Carlisle gave him a home, a family, a life. Full of faults and forgiveness and learning to live with life as it continued to come at them each time. He gave him safety and a place to be real, even if that reality was nothing like a human life.

And for all of this -- the dream, the reality, the man, the family, a purpose, the endless possibility -- it's not hard to see that Edward would sit through high school and play the vaguely rough edged, absent minded, stellarly brilliant, family oriented, seventeen year old for a public he couldn't care less about.

It's the least Carlisle could ask of him that he'd give without hesitation. It's like swatting a fly compared to being willing to walk on coals.

Also.

There are secrets of Carlisle's that Edward keeps from his whole family. And has for decades on decades. And he doesn't see this as the wrong choice or a betrayal of the others. It's Carlisle.

That what it all comes down to.

It's Carlisle.

Jasper's Opinions

Carlisle is definitely more "Leader" than "Dad" or "Fatherly Figure" to Jasper.

And - Steph actually mentioned this one time as the way Carlisle tends to be when it comes to Jasper and Alice but it works vice versa too - because Carlisle didn't turn Jasper (and Jasper's coming from a highly different background), he doesn't feel so weird talking to Carlisle about certain stuff that might otherwise be awkward with the fatherly figure.

I actually think he almost feels more weird by thinking of Carlisle as "Dad" than anything.

But Jasper definitely goes to Carlisle for guidance when he needs it, trusts his word and wisdom, and obeys his rules. I also have the feeling that Carlisle is the only one that Jasper doesn't argue with, talk back to, et cetera. He'll let Carlisle know what he thinks, but actually argue? Probably not. Mostly because he refuses to do so out of respect.

Emmett's Opinions

First off with Carlisle, while Emmett's unsure of everything, he's pretty good with being a vampire as evidenced by the lost story "Emmett and the Bear". Emmett calls Carlisle "God" in his story. Now it's not necessarily one that he's absolutely buddy buddy with but in a sense, Emmett probably fears him because he is the one who would be able to take his angel away. At the same time, in a sense, his life was saved by Carlisle's bite. Sure he's still dead but he's also still walking.

Alice's Opinions

Pending

Rosalie's Opinions

I think for the longest time, Rosalie resented him for taking away her death. She couldn't view it as a second chance at life or anything optimistic because, selfishly, she had to remember everything that led up to this point. And how her vanity had ultimately gotten her raped and killed and - if it hadn't - a loveless marriage. She was set on dying and forgetting everything, I feel, and given the time, going to Heaven and being preened over by angels.

Or something.

But Carlisle changed that. He didn't even bother to ask her what she wanted and I think that hurt - especially for a girl so used to being fawned over and respected by just about everyone. NO one takes away Rose's choice, they're just supposed to nudge her in the direction they want. So, yes. Those two things combined - Rosalie resented him. For a long time.

But she's also a very dependent person by nature and by that I mean she needs a family to come back to after all is said and done. She needs love and warmth and Carlisle's family could provide that for her. Which is why I think she stayed - she didn't know how to be alone in the world at first. And in the years that passed, her resentment died down to something akin to fondness.

I am reluctant to put the word love to any of Rose's relationships aside from Emmett but I think it could be there by the time the series starts. If just for the fact that she has the cleanest record aside from Carlisle in never drinking human blood - based on how tempting that can be and how often she seems to be around it, there has to be love and loyalty and respect for Carlisle in there somewhere.