Aro and Alice...

[scoundrel]

When Alice extends her hand, she gives. When Aro extends his, he takes.
Alice offers friendship and with her talent, she gives aid to one's future. Aro offers false friendship and with his talent, he sucks from one's past and present.

I have a weakness for talking around a point. This hits the nail right on the head.

I thought of an extra contrast. Aro parades his power and his menace. Alice deliberately conceals her own power and menace.

Alice very rarely unsheaths her claws but has the ability to be extremely dangerous to her enemies; she just isn't on any ego-trip and doesn't need to indulge in power displays. I think the confrontation in Breaking Dawn goes against Aro in no small part because he just didn't grasp that this sweet, pretty and gentle-seeming spirit is resourceful and capable of very effective counter-measures. He thought it would be easy to capture and enslave her. He was wrong.

Off topic here but I can't resist; at the very end of Breaking Dawn, Bella has almost perfected a refinement of her talent. She can join hands with Edward and lead him past the shield which guards her mind, so that she can share with him the most intimate and loving thoughts and memories one could imagine. This is an astonishing and very erotic moment; also intensely moving as a demonstration of absolute trust and unconditional love. I think as well that that scene is the measure of how incredilbly intimate an act this lowering of the mental barriers truly is; I really feel for Alice that she must submit to it from such a deadly enemy as Aro. I described it in an earlier post as almost tantamount to mind-rape and when you compare Alice's experience with Aro to Bella's experience with Edward, you can appreciate what a violation Aro is perpetrating here. Her ability to endure it so calmly and even her laconic "I'm glad you enjoyed it" after the link is broken tells me she looks fragile but is made of something tougher than titanium alloy; maybe that's the bit she concealed from Aro, the full revelation of how strong she is, and how dangerous she can be to her enemies?

[Joanne Maria]

Scoundrel-Alice is very strong. Just the fact that she made it through her human life (life??? if that's what you can call it) Shows her strength. Upon becoming a vamp her strength of mind grew. Tiny Alice is a huge ball of strength and patience. For all that she sees, both good and bad, Alice holds onto the bright side, always looks at the glass as 1/2 full. I love Alice.

"When Alice extends her hand, she gives. When Aro extends his, he takes.
Alice offers friendship and with her talent, she gives aid to one's future. Aro offers false friendship and with his talent, he sucks from one's past and present." SHIMMER-this is priceless in more ways than one!!!

[scoundrel]

He says "That was fascinating!" Now you've got me curious! I never gave it much thought before..I've got it in front of me..While Aro is seeing what Alice is showing him it says "I heard Edward's teeth snap together." Maybe what he saw made him angry? I don't know! Good questions!

The clue to this is in Breaking Dawn, first released into bookstores on 2nd August 2008. Here is a good example of how the author already envisaged and indeed planned her developing storyline. Edward can see what is going on in Aro's head and has just discovered that through his own actions he has placed Alice Cullen in terrible jeopardy. Aro already knew about Alice from Edward, and was intrigued by her as well as by Bella. Remember his enthusiastic greeting in the Tower scene?

"And Alice and Bella too!" he rejoiced, clapping his thin hands together. "This is a happy surprise! Wonderful!"
I stared in shock as he called our names informally, as if we were old friend dropping in for an unexpected visit.

He is the chameleon of the Volturi, able without a moment of delay to reshape himself at will. But, though extremely double-edged and full of latent menace, his effusively friendly greeting is not actually fake. He is genuinely delighted that these two have fallen into the palm of his hand and he intends to profit by his good fortune, once he has decided where the profitable choices lie.

It is when Alice voluntarily offers him the palm of her hand that the dynamic changes. This is a desperate act which suggests to me that she has foreseen the execution of Bella, then Edward, then herself. Its hard to see her agreeing to return home alone even if she gets the offer; she has staked her honour on Bella's safe return. To avert the final meltdown, she has decided to let Aro see exactly what powers she commands; I doubt if she has failed to look into the future and assess what Aro will do. I think she knows what she is doing and what the price could be.

The snapping together of Edward's teeth is uncharacteristic. He is a great poker player, able to remain bland and outwardly calm in very stressed situations. Something really extreme prompts that involuntary reaction, something bad. I think this marks the instant when Aro decides that, one way or another, he intends to recruit Alice Cullen.

[scoundrel]

Reading another thread, it has occurred to me that the Volturi have posed for centuries as the guardians of the vampire society. By the end of Breaking Dawn their hypocrisy and villainies are wide open for all vampires who have eyes to see and who are willing to accept such disillusionment. But Edward knew in advance of the gathering scene what Aro was planning, and devised a counterplan which would damage the Volturi in various ways, both by combat losses and by publicising the danger they represent to peaceful covens minding their own business. Edward expects to die, and to lose Bella to death as well, but he means to make the Volturi sincerely regret that they ever met either of them.

In the Vote chapter, none of the Cullens offers the Volturi as a reason why Bella must be changed. Bella is the one who does that. For the Cullens, the Volturi have become a sort of elephant-in-the-room. Possibly this is good manners; it would be crass and counter-productive to use the Volturi to put pressure on Bella. Edward explains a strategy for defying the Volturi and the female Cullen vampires unanimously and curtly dismiss it, whereas both Emmett and Jasper are pleased by the devious ingenuity of Edward's thinking, even though they both vote for Bella to join the family full time. It seems as though Jasper as well as Emmett is on board for a fight with the Volturi in some form, likes the tactical weakness Edward has identified, but merely thinks the fight can wait for a better opportunity. I see a subtext in this. I think that there are ripples spreading in the pond, from the impact of the rock which was thrown when Aro joined hands with Alice. Emmett and Jasper are by no means opposed to a reckoning with the Volturi; they only want to be intelligent about it and bide their time. When you are a vampire, time is on your side.

Aro gained terribly dangerous and tempting knowledge when he read Alice's entire life experiences. But it seems to me that Aro paid a higher price for this knowledge than he knew. Less than 24 hours before, Edward Cullen had never met the Volturi and knew of them only from Carlisle, and a little bit pf hearsay from Jasper, both predisposed in the Volturi's favour at that time, prior to Aro's encounter with Alice. Now, as he reads Aro's mind reading Alice's soul, Edward knows a lot more; more than Aro realises, I think. Alice has unmasked Aro by tempting him; his covetousness is exposed to Edward's vision. In the Vote conference, the Cullens have already learned that the Volturi are likely to become their enemies because they envy the Cullens on several levels; maybe the Volturi even envy the simple happiness of their being a real family and wish them ill for the effrontery of daring to live peaceful lives. But most definitely Aro wants to collect Alice Cullen and neither Jasper, Carlisle nor Emmett would entertain that for a second. There is no thought of appeasement in that conference; the Volturi aren't friends anymore, or even respectable authority figures, but secret enemies whose machinations need to be guarded against. Stealth and subterfuge have been Aro's weapons for centuries; I am not sure he realises how comprehensively Alice has exposed his true face.

[LadyEsme]

Reading another thread, it has occurred to me that the Volturi have posed for centuries as the guardians of the vampire society. By the end of Breaking Dawn their hypocrisy and villainies are wide open for all vampires who have eyes to see and who are willing to accept such disillusionment. But Edward knew in advance of the gathering scene what Aro was planning, and devised a counterplan which would damage the Volturi in various ways, both by combat losses and by publicising the danger they represent to peaceful covens minding their own business. Edward expects to die, and to lose Bella to death as well, but he means to make the Volturi sincerely regret that they ever met either of them........

But it seems to me that Aro paid a higher price for this knowledge than he knew. Less than 24 hours before, Edward Cullen had never met the Volturi and knew of them only from Carlisle, and a little bit pf hearsay from Jasper, both predisposed in the Volturi's favour at that time, prior to Aro's encounter with Alice. Now, as he reads Aro's mind reading Alice's soul, Edward knows a lot more; more than Aro realises, I think. Alice has unmasked Aro by tempting him; his covetousness is exposed to Edward's vision. In the Vote conference, the Cullens have already learned that the Volturi are likely to become their enemies because they envy the Cullens on several levels; maybe the Volturi even envy the simple happiness of their being a real family and wish them ill for the effrontery of daring to live peaceful lives. But most definitely Aro wants to collect Alice Cullen and neither Jasper, Carlisle nor Emmett would entertain that for a second. There is no thought of appeasement in that conference; the Volturi aren't friends anymore, or even respectable authority figures, but secret enemies whose machinations need to be guarded against. Stealth and subterfuge have been Aro's weapons for centuries; I am not sure he realises how comprehensively Alice has exposed his true face.

Exactly so, Scoundrel. Aro doesn't realize who he is up against. Or how he has shown his hand. He is supremely overconfident.

It is not surprising that SM made Aro's vital mistakes in his planned invasion in BD those of underestimating the ability of Alice to elude his clutches and the possibility that the Cullens would be the first coven to protect themselves from the invincible Volturi. Their techniques of subjugation have had centuries of unparalleled success - the travesty of a sham trial of an immobilized "cowering" coven with a show of mercy to the potential new Volturi member in front of witnesses brought by the Volturi.

Aro has had a constant existence of omnipotence. He has been a master manipulator with self-fulfilled meglomaniac dreams. His major pleasure is surrounding himself with talented vampires who are his slaves. He is especially excited with Alice's powers being useful to him. She is his Waterloo.

In the end, Aro has been out-manouvered by an expert, our dear Alice.....
with orchestration by Edward, Bella, etal.
When Aro finds he cannot use his usual tactics of secretly cheating by using his talents in the guard, he knows that in a fair fight, he could lose. He is forced to retreat with as much dignity as he can recoup. He has made no "Plan D, E or F" for this eventuality.

I can just picture how impossible he will be to please for the next century or two. His huge ego has taken a beating. The Volturi guard will be tiptoeing carefully.

One of the reasons I can see Aro having no doubts that he would succeed in "collecting" Alice and annihilating the Cullens is that he sees Evil as a much greater power than Goodness.
He is wrong.

Cheers, LadyEsme

[scoundrel]

Aro has had a constant existence of omnipotence. He has been a master manipulator with self-fulfilled meglomaniac dreams. His major pleasure is surrounding himself with talented vampires who are his slaves. He is especially excited with Alice's powers being useful to him. She is his Waterloo.

Absolutely.

One of the reasons I can see Aro having no doubts that he would succeed in "collecting" Alice and annihilating the Cullens is that he sees Evil as a much greater power than Goodness.
He is wrong.

Just that one little passage, barely half a page long, when Alice joins hands with Aro and buys her life, Edward's life and Bella's life by doing so is (at least for me) utterly iconic; you could make it into a stained glass window. It is an elemental meeting between good and evil. What makes it even more intensely interesting are the moral ambiguities. Alice isn't 100% good. Aro isn't 100% evil. I think that there is a level on which both of them enjoy this meeting; just the same as when Bella joins hands with Aro she is repelled but attracted too. Alice is also fascinated by Aro and also curious; curiosity is one of Alice's biggest driving forces and a major ingredient in her supernatural gift. She wants to know more about Aro and since she must join hands with him in order to save the whole Cullen party from death, she uses the joining of hands to learn more.

As Edward learns to distinguish the mental "voice" of another, he can hear their thoughts from further away. I wonder if something like this applies to Alice too; even when she stopped actively watching Bella's future, her gift forced her to see Bella jump off the cliff for no other reason than that Bella is still her closest friend and she can't stop seeing what becomes of someone she still dearly loves. With Aro, it is opposite; Aro is Alice's worst enemy, more dangerous by far than James ever could have been, had James not been sidetracked by Bella. Alice would have killed James, not the other way around, because she is far more powerful. If Alice had learned of her past and of the Old Vampire, and of James killing the Old Vampire, nice girl though Alice is, I suspect she would have avenged the Old Vampire and killed James very slowly. No such luxuries with Aro; he's met his match in Alice and doesn't know it, but Alice knows, without needing to be told, that Aro is far more deadly than anyone or anything she has ever met before. By touching hands, Alice is discovering her enemy's psychic identity. She is later quite able to monitor the Volturi via her gift; this is made easier, I think, precisely because she touched hands and opened her mind to her worst enemy in the world.

So when Aro and Alice join hands, there is a tremendous frisson, rather akin to the touching of swords before a duel.

Postscript: I wrote this nearly two years ago when discussing New Moon with friends:
"This is a decisive moment, in which Alice trades something not specified, but most bitterly costly to her, in order to rescue her companions and save the day. Various symbolic interpretations of this transaction are possible." At the time I saw the joining of hands as a quasi-sexual encounter, deeply repugnant to Alice and enjoyable for Aro on a sexual level, and to some degree I still see it that way. But it is much more complicated even than that, and even more sinister than that implies. It is almost as though Aro is tempting Alice with her own dark side.

Very gothic.

[Shimmerskin]

One of the reasons I can see Aro having no doubts that he would succeed in "collecting" Alice and annihilating the Cullens is that he sees Evil as a much greater power than Goodness.

I love how you've expressed this and I think you're correct in your assessment.

So when Aro and Alice join hands, there is a tremendous frisson, rather akin to the touching of swords before a duel.

What powerful imagery, Scoundrel. Your description has turned this moment into a "stained glass window" for me, too.