As with most book-to-movie adaptations, some creative liberties must be taken to work for the big screen and The Twilight Saga was no different. The Twilight novels, written by Stephenie Meyer, took the world by storm and became bestsellers. Each of the four books contained plenty of lore and backstory for each character — including the Volturi, despite primarily focusing on Bella (Kristen Stewart), the Cullen family, and Jacob (Taylor Lautner). When the books were inevitably adapted for the screen fans flocked to the theater, and there was simply no escaping Twilight — it was everywhere, on t-shirts, on posters, and shelves. Needless to say, it was successful and gained a large following that still hangs on to this day.
The movies did stay rather faithful to the source material for the most part. Yes, there were some big changes such as the famous dream fight sequence in Breaking Dawn Part 2 that had fans leaping out of their seats in the theaters, but other than that there weren’t too many huge differences throughout the films. So it’s a little surprising that one of the most poignant pieces of the films is never actually mentioned in the books, and solely originated from the movies; The Cullen family crest.
The Twilight Saga
When Bella Swan moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, she falls in love with Edward Cullen, a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire.
What Is the Cullen Family Crest?
The Cullen crest is exactly what it sounds like, a family crest designed to show uniformity among the Cullen clan. Given that they’re technically a coven to the vampire world, with each member having been created by Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli), the crest is used to show that they’re more than that. The crest represents that the Cullens are a family, as well as to show their loyalty to one another, with each member of the family wearing the crest in some form.
Edward (Robert Pattinson), Emmett (Kellan Lutz), and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) all wear the crest on a leather cuff bracelet. Rosalie (Nikki Reed) wears a necklace with a large pendant featuring the crest. That pendant was later shrunk down in size in Eclipse, and again in Breaking Dawn, but her method of displaying it never wavered. Alice (Ashley Greene) has the most versions of the crest. When we first meet her in Twilight she wears a choker-style necklace featuring the crest, but in later films, such as New Moon she can be seen wearing a turquoise bracelet with the crest. In Breaking Dawn she once again has a new form of the crest, this time wearing it on a long necklace. Carlisle wears a silver ring, while Esme (Elizabeth Reaser) wears a silver bracelet, a sweet little nod to their coupling. As for Bella, it was pretty much inevitable that she would eventually become a Cullen, despite basically being accepted as one from the get-go. In New Moon during Alice’s vision of a future vampire Bella, she can be seen wearing a red and green ring featuring the crest. But in Breaking Dawn, after officially joining the family and becoming a vampire, she’s seen wearing a leather cuff bracelet, smaller in size but similar to the one worn by Edward, Jasper, and Emmett. And despite the hecticness that is the events of Breaking Dawn, Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy) is not forgotten and wears a locket that features the crest on it.
What Does the Cullen Family Crest Represent?
Each member of the Cullen family wears the crest in some form, something that can be noticed in much of the first Twilight film especially, but what exactly does the crest mean? Surely since it’s such a pivotal part of each of the Cullen’s wardrobes it has to have a deeper meaning behind it. The cast briefly touched on this back in 2008 when they were gearing up for the release of the film. In an exclusive with MTV, they revealed the Cullen crest and Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper, gave a descriptive breakdown of the crest’s design. “What we’ve got up here is we’ve got this arrow, three shamrocks, a lion, and a hand above the lion.” He explained. “What all this means, I don’t know. I could make up a lot of stuff, but I don’t know.” Of course, we know the crest is used to show uniformity among the Cullen family, as well as represent loyalty, but given how intricate the design is there’s definitely more to its meaning. Now, so many years after the first film’s release, we have a lot more insight into what the crest represents; each individual part of the crest represents a trait or value that the Cullens hold near and dear to them.
The focal point of the crest is a lion, which represents ferocity and strength, as well as their hunting prowess. Vampires are often associated with their strength and the brutality that comes about when they hunt. But lions also represent nobility, which is very in line with the Cullen’s “vegetarian” lifestyle and their general empathy towards humans. Not to mention, lions are often referred to as the “king of beasts,” and the Cullens are quite powerful vampires, placing them high in the ranks of other vampire covens. So really it’s no wonder that a lion is the focal point of the crest, it quite literally represents the Cullens themselves. Just above the lion is a hand which represents faith and sincerity. This reiterates the loyalty among the Cullen family, as well as representing the fierce protection they have for one another. And finally, below the lion is a trefoil, perhaps better known as a shamrock. The trefoil represents perpetuity, which means everlasting, signifying the Cullen’s immortality.
While subtle, the Cullen family crest is quite a unique way to deliver some of the more nuanced aspects of the Cullen clan without doing an exposition dump. The books delve plenty into the lore and backstory of the Cullen family, what they stand for, what they believe in, and why they’ve opted for an animal-blood diet. The movies would be too long, and frankly a little redundant, had they included all of this exposition and background into the movies, not to mention the pacing would be all over the place. But the Cullen family crest is just subtle enough that if you catch it you can look it up for yourself and learn all about it, but not so in your face that it begs for an on-screen explanation. It’s a perfect balance, and a unique addition to the films that worked quite well. Plus, once you know about it, you can look for it in each movie, and that’s just an added bonus.
