Kellan Lutz’s gentle giant Emmett Cullen has no powers in the Twilight movie adaptations, a character detail that is surprisingly consistent with the novel saga. The Twilight saga changed traditional vampire lore quite a lot, but the novels and movies weren’t always consistent when it came to how these changes worked. For example, many of Twilight’s vampires gained individual supernatural powers tailored to their skills and aptitudes when turned.
However, just as many of Twilight’s vampire characters have no apparent superpowers with no apparent reason for this disparity. This can make it difficult to decipher who does and doesn’t have powers, particularly when some vampires only get to utilize theirs in the novel saga and not in the movie adaptations. Fortunately, The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide provides a clear answer to the apparent plothole.
This guide to the series explains why Esme Cullen has no powers in the Twilight movies, as it transpires that she has no supernatural abilities in the source novel canon either. Similarly, although it is sometimes assumed that Emmett Cullen’s strength is a power gained from his vampiric transformation, he actually has no canonical powers. Emmett was absurdly strong in life too (hence his near-death experience wrestling with a bear) and has just maintained the strength he already had, along with the extra strength enjoyed by every vampire in the series. The reasoning behind his lack of powers is presumably that none of the Twilight franchise’s villains—James, Victoria, the Volturi—are particularly physically imposing, so a vampiric Hulk-like Emmet could rid the series of most of its biggest threats if he were any stronger and thus sap the story of its stakes.
Much like his mate Rosalie Hale’s lack of powers, Emmett’s absence of a quantifiable supernatural ability ensures that he doesn’t draw focus away from the saga’s central trio and detract from the conflict of the Twilight series. This is effectively proven when Bella beats him in an arm wrestle during the final movie, 2012’s Breaking Dawn Part 2, as evidence of her newborn vampire strength. While Emmett is strong, he is not so strong that he could handle any of the saga’s antagonists alone, thus ensuring that the Twilight movies maintain tension.
While this doesn’t account for Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, and Jasper Hale having supernatural powers, there is an explanation for this, too. While their adopted father Carlisle Cullen has no powers, the siblings have powers that they can only utilize in a few choice moments when the abilities are necessary to the plot. Alice’s foresight, for example, plays a role in the finales of two Twilight franchise installments, but it is not a decisive power like super strength. If Emmett were to be imbued with super-strength, this would derail the story of the Twilight saga and make him much more powerful than the rest of the Cullen clan, whereas Edward, Alice, and Jasper’s more modest powers don’t put a swift end to the conflicts in the series.
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Author: Cathal Gunning
