Dr. Carlisle Cullen

This is where you can find information about Carlisle's human life, appearance, personality, hobbies, and his private space in the Cullen family home. This information has been compiled both from the Twilight books and Stephenie Meyer's personal correspondence found at Twilight Lexicon. If there is something about Carlisle that isn't included here, please feel free to contact me.

Birth Date & Place

Carlisle was born in London, England in the 1640s.

Change to Vampire

Carlisle was changed by an unnamed ancient vampire from the London sewer. This took place in the 1660s when he was 23 years old.

Current Family

Carlisle is married to Esme Cullen. The couple act as parents to the younger members of their coven; Alice Cullen, Edward Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Jasper Hale, and Rosalie Hale.

Appearance

Carlisle is physically only 23 years old and is 6'2" tall. Like the rest of his family, he has 'vegetarian' vampire gold/black eyes and white skin. He is described within the books as follows.

Twilight, Page 52:

He was young, he was blond… and he was handsomer than any movie star I'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles under his eyes.

Like Esme, his casual clothing has been described as being light coloured.

Personality

Carlisle's most prominent personality trait is his compassion. Stephenie Meyer has said that his "compassion-motivated self-control is really so incredible that it almost crosses the line into 'superpower.'" His loneliness in the years before he changed Edward and his love for his "children" also indicate that, like Esme, he is very family motivated.

Religion

Carlisle is the most religious in the family. Specifically, he believes that vampires haven't lost their souls and that if they try to live good moral lives they may not be damned for all eternity.

Hobbies & Interests

In the seventeenth century, Carlisle travelled through Europe studying music, science, and medicine at various Universities. It was in practicing medicine, however, that he found his calling. As he told Bella, "What I enjoy the very most is when my… enhanced abilities let me save someone who would otherwise have been lost" (NM 34). However, given that he is a vampire, learning not to react to human blood has not always been easy. Edward describes this as follows.

Twilight, Page 297:

"I can't adequately describe the struggle; it took Carlisle two centuries of torturous effort to perfect his self-control. Now he is all but immune to the scent of human blood, and he is able to do the work he loves without agony. He finds a great deal of peace there, at the hospital…"

Car

Carlisle drives a Mercedes S55 AMG. It is black with dark tinted windows.

Private Space

In the family's Forks home, Carlisle has a study and separate library on the second floor. His study has been described within the books as follows.

Twilight, Page 292:

Edward opened the door to a high-ceilinged room with tall, west-facing windows. The walls were paneled again, in a darker wood – where they were visible. Most of the wall space was taken up by towering bookshelves that reached high above my head and held more books than I'd ever seen outside a library. Carlisle sat behind a huge mahogany desk in a leather chair.

From his study, Esme's smaller study is also able to be accessed. Additionally, Carlisle and Esme share a bedroom, bathroom, and closet on the top floor of the house.

Human & Vampire Life Before 1911

Coming soon! To find out information about his life after 1911, please refer to the relationship page.