Understand what imprinting is and how it works according to Twilight mythology
Despite having its own mythology, the Twilight universe, created by Stephenie Meyer, is based on some concepts that already exist in real life. Among the examples, we have imprinting, which is a theme quite explored among the werewolves in the saga, mainly by Jacob, played by taylor laurentwho believed he would imprint on Bella for much of the plot.
But after all, what is an imprint?
In the real world, imprinting is a term in English that can mean impression, mark, imprint, stamp, among other adjectives that describe the fact of marking something or someone. From this definition, the word can be used to describe some concepts and phenomena of genetics and psychology.
Among the various notions about the term, the one that comes closest to what we see in the Twilight movies is about the phenomenon where a newborn recognizes his mother at the time of birth. Such a moment strengthens the bond and attachment between mother and child.
in the books of Meyer, imprinting has a more loving character, that is, when a werewolf imprints on someone, it means that that person is his soulmate and he has to protect her with his whole life. However, it wasn’t just trying to understand what this phenomenon is that left fans confused, but also the point that Jacob imprints on Renesmee as soon as she is born.
Jacob’s imprinting
Throughout the saga it is explained several times by Quileute tribesmen that imprinting cannot be forced. This is clear during all the events before Renesmee’s birth, as Jacob tried with all his might to imprint on Bella, who he swore was his soulmate. It was because of this that the love triangle between a werewolf, a human and a vampire arose.
Jacob has an imprint at the exact moment he sees Bella and Edward’s daughter for the first time, right after giving birth. After Bella is reborn as a vampire, he explains that the attraction he felt, in fact, was not for her, but for Renesmee, as if he knew, somehow, that the girl would be born and be her soul mate.
However, many fans did not like the idea of a newborn already having a possible romantic relationship from the day he was born. What few know is that there are four stages in this phenomenon, which would end up sparing the large age difference between the two. Such stages work according to the mythology of Twilight.
In the first phase of imprinting, the werewolf will have an older sibling bond with Renesmee. Already in the second stage, when the girl is older — which we can consider will be in a short time because she is a hybrid — the connection between the two would be platonic and they would be best friends. It is from the third stage of the phenomenon that romantic feelings begin to blossom, and only in the fourth and final stage of imprinting does love become concrete, being truly pure.
Renesmee can reject Jacob, but this is almost impossible to happen, because the idea is that imprinting only happens when there is a “perfect match” between two souls. But if he is rejected, the werewolf would feel indescribable pain, which could lead him to take his own life.
There is no exact reason why the phenomenon happens among werewolves, but some pack members have their theories. For Sam Uley, imprinting happens to the person in whom there is a greater chance of reproduction. As for Billy Black, Jacob’s father, the phenomenon appears so that the shapeshifter becomes stronger.
Despite all the explanations, many fans still don’t approve of the idea of imprinting between Jacob and Renesmee. Some even claim that the girl lost some autonomy in her life, having her destiny traced with Jacob so early.
Source: Recreio
