HOBBIES: He is a natural scholar and an avid reader. He has a shrewd mind for both business and battle tactics.
VEHICLE: Jasper has the silver Ducati motorcycle given to him by Edward.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: He is married to Alice Cullen. He considers Carlisle and Esme Cullen to be his parents; Edward Cullen, Rosalie Hale, and Emmett Cullen to be his siblings; Bella Cullen to be his sister-in-law; and Renesmee Cullen to be his niece. He also feels brotherly affection for nomadic vampires Peter and Charlotte.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Jasper Whitlock grew up in Houston, Texas. When he was almost seventeen, he lied about his age and volunteered to join the Confederate Army. He rose quickly through the ranks, being promoted over older, more experienced men. People thought of Jasper as charismatic. This was likely due in part to early traces of the psychic ability Jasper would develop after his transformation. Even as a human, Jasper had a gift for empathizing with and influencing the emotions of those around him.
By the time the Battle of Galveston began, Jasper was the youngest major in the Confederate army. After leading a group of refugees from Galveston to Houston, he encountered three extraordinarily beautiful women — Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. Maria — a vampire and head of her coven — decided to transform Jasper into a vampire for the newborn army she was creating.
?I WAS ALMOST SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD WHEN I JOINED THE
CONFEDERATE ARMY IN 1861.?
— Jasper (
Maria chose her newborns more carefully than was usual. She‘d chosen Jasper first because of his rank — which meant he‘d had success in a military system — and second because of that charismatic quality that had always drawn other humans to him. Jasper was naturally gifted as a warrior and a leader. His ability to control the emotional environment around him, although not yet fully developed, made Maria‘s army more effective.
A bond formed between Jasper and Maria. She came to depend on him more and more and grew quite fond of him. For Jasper, Maria‘s army was the only vampire life he had known, and he had no idea anything else was possible for him.
One of Jasper‘s regular tasks was to execute members of the coven who had outlived their newborn strength and developed no other skills that made them valuable to the army.
Eventually he had help in this task from Peter, another former newborn who had proved himself worthy of being kept around. Jasper liked Peter for his oddly civilized nature. They became friends.
One night as he and Peter were carrying out the grim task of dispatching age-weakened newborns, Jasper could feel the unusually difficult emotional toll it was taking on his friend.
When Jasper called out a newborn named Charlotte, Peter suddenly erupted in fear and fury. He yelled for Charlotte to run, then bolted after her. Jasper could easily have caught them, but he chose not to.
As the years passed, Jasper became depressed, tired of always being surrounded by the devastating emotions of those he killed. Maria was not pleased with this alteration. He began to notice a change in her emotions around him; sometimes she was fearful, sometimes malicious.
He knew Maria was thinking about getting rid of him, and Jasper began planning how he would destroy her first.
At this critical moment, Peter came back to find Jasper. He told Jasper of an alternative he had never imagined: Peter and Charlotte had been living peacefully in the North for the last five years, meeting several other covens that coexisted amicably. Jasper left with Peter immediately.
He traveled with Peter and Charlotte for a few years, but even in the more peaceful North, his depression didn‘t lift. Though he was killing only humans now, he was still subject to their emotions as they died.
Jasper‘s misery stayed with him, and eventually he left Peter and Charlotte. He tried to kill less often, but the thirst always grew overwhelming.
When Alice held out her hand, he took it. And he felt an unfamiliar emotion: hope.
In 1948, Jasper encountered Alice. She approached Jasper as if they were close friends and told him he‘d kept her waiting a long time. Jasper was puzzled and wary, but Alice‘s joyful emotions impacted him greatly. When Alice held out her hand, he took it. And he felt an unfamiliar emotion: hope.
Alice explained her vision of the Cullens, and she described the lifestyle of Carlisle and his family. Jasper found it all hard to believe, but he and Alice set off to find them. Once they did, Alice and Jasper were quickly welcomed into the family. Jasper started using the last name Hale because he and Rosalie looked related, and people assumed they were siblings. It made sense to go along with what humans already seemed inclined to believe. At Carlisle‘s suggestion, Alice and Jasper were married shortly after joining the Cullens.
Jasper became fond of the members of his new family but never developed the deep bonds with them that Alice did. Jasper chose to live with the Cullens in order to stay with Alice, and because the ?vegetarian? lifestyle, though exceptionally difficult for him, freed him from the negative emotions that had so depressed him.
FAMOUS QUOTES
NAME: Isabella Marie Swan Cullen; preferred name: Bella DATE OF BIRTH: September 13, 1987
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: September 11, 2006, at age 18
