There are many things in the Twilight universe that don’t make sense, such as Jacob imprinting on Renesmee – but what is imprinting?
The Twilight universe has its own mythology and added some new werewolf lore, including the infamous Twilight imprinting concept. The Twilight saga hasn’t aged well in a lot of ways, with many of the characters’ relationships feeling problematic in a modern context — especially Jacob imprinting on Renesmee. While the Twilight books and movies glossed over the lore, it’s not difficult to define imprint logic in Twilight, but how it changed the Jacob and Renesmee dynamic has been controversial nonetheless.
Imprinting had been integral to Jacob’s character arc in Twilight, and who a werewolf imprints on was established as having huge — and immutable — spiritual significance. Imprinting is incredibly significant for Twilight werewolves, as it’s how Jacob’s soulmate would be determined. In a shocking twist, Bella and Edward’s daughter Renesmee was Jacob’s true imprintee, even though she was still a baby. The Renesmee and Jacob relationship is incredibly complicated, and it’s not only critics and Twilight detractors who find imprinting a little unsettling.
What Imprinting Is In Twilight, And What It Means For Jacob And Renesmee
To define imprinting in Twilight lore is easy enough. Imprinting is an involuntary mechanism through which shape-shifters of the Quileute tribe (werewolves) find their soulmate. It can’t be forced on anyone, as it is a profound and intimate phenomenon. This is why, as hard as Jacob tried to imprint on Bella, he couldn’t, leading to a lot of frustration and tension between them and making the love triangle more complicated. A werewolf can imprint anytime during their life, regardless of previous personal feelings, and there are four stages to it for all pairings.
First, when the imprintee Renesmee is young, her werewolf imprinter Jacob will have an older sibling-like bond. In the second stage, as Renesmee grows older, she and Jacob will have more of a platonic, best-friend-type connection. During the third stage, romantic feelings start to develop. Jacob will fall in love with his imprintee Renesmee, acting toward her as he did her mother Bella when the latter was pregnant. By the fourth and final stage, true romantic love is in full swing — which is where much of the criticism comes from.
Why Jacob Imprinted On Renesmee And Not Bella
The Jacob and Renesmee interactions in Breaking Dawn further explain the Twilight imprinting concept. In Breaking Dawn, Jacob was convinced Bella died during birth and Renesmee was to blame, and was determined to kill this “monster” – but the moment he looked at baby Renesmee, he realized he had imprinted on her. This was obviously hugely unexpected for many reasons, not least of which being that Renesmee was still a baby in utero.
Jacob explained to Bella that he was never actually attracted to her but to the baby, Renesmee, developing in Bella’s womb, an explanation that has troubled people ever since. Imprinting is described in Twilight as being “gravitationally pulled” toward the imprintee while “a glowing heat fills” the imprinter. Everything and everyone else becomes secondary, leaving the imprinter with a need to protect and please their soulmate at all costs. By imprinting on Renesmee, Jacob has imbued her with protection from other werewolves in his tribe.
Prior to taking her on as a romantic partner, Jacob would first act as an older brother to Renesmee until she grew up – which won’t take long given her hybrid nature, which makes her age more quickly. Of course, if the vampire hybrid Renesmee wanted to, she could reject Jacob, though that’s supposedly impossible as the imprinter is deemed the “perfect match” to the imprintee. But if it were to happen, the imprinter would supposedly feel unspeakable pain that could lead him to end his life.
As for why imprinting happens, the reason was never revealed, but members of the pack have their theories on this matter. Sam Uley, for example, believes that a shape-shifter imprints on the person he has the best chance to reproduce (though in the case of Renesmee and Jacob that seems highly unlikely), while Billy Black, Jacob’s father, thinks imprinting happens to make the shape-shifter stronger.
Explaining Imprinting Doesn’t Make It Any Less Weird
Even with all the rules/stages established by Meyer, Jacob’s imprinting on newborn Renesmee has unmistakably problematic undertones and has been criticized since Breaking Dawn was published (and continued when the movie was released). No matter how much diehard fans try and defend the plot, most failed to find it romantic at all. Imprinting could have been an interesting concept in Twilight had it been addressed differently. However, Jacob imprinting on an unborn baby in Bella’s womb, despite romantic/physical desires not due in Jacob’s mind until her rapid-onset adulthood, was a misguided direction.
Twilight is full of bizarre canon and strange narrative directions from Stephanie Meyer. None feel as unnecessary as the Jacob and Renesmee imprinting though. Imprinting isn’t a concept Meyer came up with all on her own, but the Twilight version of the phenomenon is distinctively hers. Ultimately, there’s little-to-no justification for Jacob’s imprinting on
Renesmee as a narrative decision.
Imprinting brings an uncomfortable “child bride” aspect to Twilight that’s both controversial and offensive. Meyer tried to make it acceptable by saying that they would just start out as friends and gradually turn into lovers as she gets older (since she conveniently ages so rapidly) — but the strange betrothal that imprinting represents robs Renesmee of any autonomy.
She gets no say in this, and as Twilight lore clearly states, if she dares reject Jacob, he’ll more than likely take his own life. Renesmee wasn’t able to consent to become the imprintee of the werewolf. While Meyer has tried to justify this by suggesting that imprinting also makes the imprintee develop a bond, this doesn’t make it any better. It’s morally no different from Renesmee being drugged or brainwashed into compliance.
Taylor Lautner Wasn’t Comfortable With The Twilight Imprinting Scene Either
It wasn’t just audiences who didn’t understand imprinting in Twilight, or why it was even necessary for the story. In the years since Breaking Dawn’s release, Taylor Lautner has been open about how uncomfortable the scene made him during filming.
Lautner was also, for understandable reasons, keen to downplay the romance aspect of imprinting, and wanted to make sure his portrayal
However, he has also since revealed in interviews that, as far as he’s concerned, Jacob and Renesmee do end up together and are happy — despite how uncomfortable the imprinting aspect of their story arc may make some fans and audience members. Speaking to E! News in 2022 on whether he’d return to play Jacob, Lautner fielded some questions about what he thought happened to Jacob and Renesmee after the Twilight saga.
With the news that a new Twilight TV reboot is on the way, there’s been a resurgence of analysis of the Twilight saga, especially its more problematic elements such as Jacob imprinting on Renesmee. Audience tastes and perceptions have changed considerably since the original Twilight movies. Many aspects of the Twilight saga will more than likely need to be altered and adapted to ensure the story is palatable for modern audiences, especially when it comes to questions on what supernatural elements like imprinting, or even the supernatural allure of Bella’s blood to Edward, mean for consent.
While Taylor Lautner himself may have made peace with Jacob’s highly questionable arc, it might be that Jacob imprinting on Renesmee is a story twist future retellings of the Twilight saga should leave out.
Imprinting Is Still One Of The Biggest Twilight Running Jokes
Along with being an uncomfortable bit of lore, the Twilight imprinting drama has also become an unintentional joke that the franchise is now known for. Even outside of Twilight fans, the bizarre plot twist has become famous on the internet with endless memes dedicated to poking fun at imprinting and the baffling idea to include it in the movie.
While the Twilight movies still have plenty of fans, the imprinting scene in particular, and the concept as a whole, is one aspect that’s been consistently ridiculed — and tarnishes the legacy of the Twilight franchise to some degree. The storyline remains controversial years later, with it recently being brought up again when it was revealed that it was one of the main reasons Sofia Coppola turned down the opportunity to direct Breaking Dawn.
Coppola’s hilarious reaction to the bizarre story also answers the question of whether or not the people behind the movie ever considered that the storyline was a mistake. Having an Oscar-winning filmmaker turn down the movie because of Jacob imprinting on Renesmee should have been enough to make them second guess concluding the Twilight story with such a disturbing plot twist.
