Imprinting

[spicey16]

yeah, Rings i did think about that too.. imprinting may help pass make stronger wolves, but then why wouldnt they all imprint and make the most elite pack? does that mean the ones who do not imprint are less wolf, because that could imply that their genes were not good enough to pass on.

[ringswraith]

...

[Dxplora07]

yeah, Rings i did think about that too.. imprinting may help pass make stronger wolves, but then why wouldnt they all imprint and make the most elite pack? does that mean the ones who do not imprint are less wolf, because that could imply that their genes were not good enough to pass on.

That's exactly Leah's questions, because no one has imprinted on her, or vice versa, and her lady stuff was all messed up because of her turning into a wolf "froze" her, so she isn't having her cycle, which means she can't conceive, or pass down the wolf gene....hmm...it is something to ponder

[Asheleyo]

it doesnt say "he imprinted" but it says he found in his third wife "his true spirit wife". I do not think that imprinting is just to pass on the gene, i think it is more like finding a sole mate. more like finding your better half, someone who will help you deal with all the changes/hard times in your life. **cheezy alert** you find the one that completes you.

as for taha aki being the first to imprint, i dont think we have any way of knowing unless SM says

Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't remember the wording used, and I agree that makes it pretty obvious that she meant he imprinted on his third wife.

[Starla]

Imprinting, really, is like a cosmic lobotomy. I am going to take it a step further and argue that it is, in fact, the anti thesis of love.

The free will vs fate argument has been around longer than all of us put together but whichever side of the fence you fall on that one, no one can argue that when it comes down to it---we as humans always have options.

We cannot choose to be singled out by a predator as we are walking down the street at night but we CAN choose whether to fight back, to keep quiet, to curl up in a ball etc.

We can't choose who we have feelings for but we can choose NOT to confess our undying love for our sister's boyfriend or our best friend's husband.

It's not even that esy to stop loving someone who hurts us but we CAN choose to remove ourselves from that situation.

We can't choose when or how we die but we can choose to die with a smile, with bitterness, to keep fighting, to give in etc

Imprinting takes away all those options that give us free will, even in the face of fate. There is no choice. Sam has no other option but to love Emily because the very aspect of humanity that allows us to assess situations and CHOOSE how we want to deal with them has been wiped away. He can't fight his way out of his entrapment because he doesn't know he's in a cage.

And why would fate, if it is her at work, make it so? Because what could be a bigger threat to imprinting than choice? What could be a bigger threat to Sam and Emily's future progeny than his choice to love Leah?

And if it is destiny, if they were meant to be, why would there be any need to eradicate such a choice? Could Sam not have, of his own free will, decided he loved Emily more than Leah? Why must such feelings be borne from an animalistic impulse?

If imprinting is the only choice, then why is there no choice to begin with? When we take away that choice then imprinting becomes a compulsion, perhaps like the kind that animals feel when mating season comes around.

There is something that separates us from other animals and that is our ability to choose, if not who we love, then HOW we love. A wolf in the wild will mate with the most fertile female, whether it be his mother, daughter, sister etc simply to procreate.

But as humans we need something more. Our process is more refined, more emotional. The man standing at the bar might find you attractive, he might unconciously think about having children with you but he can CHOOSE to resist the impulse to pin you down and claim you as a mate. And that is the difference between him and the wolf. Both are creatures hardwired with biological responses but only one can choose to A)ignore them or B)chat you up or even C) Attack you as you leave.

Our choices make us human. The human compassion, intelligence, emotion, creativity that has led to us having these options is belittled by imprinting, a force in which there are no options and no choice.

How can it ever be good? No matter what the outcome is, no matter how much they might appear to love each other when they have no other option they have been stripped of one of the most crucial aspects of humanity. The males have been relegated to an animal like status, bound by instinct and impulse that override their basic ability to choose.

Jacob, the Alpha of his pack, must have some biological impulse to protect his pack yet he was willing to abandon them in the fight against the Volturi, to leave them without their strongest fighter, to possibly leave them to die. Imagine an army without a general, a commander---without the cohesion an Alpha brings a wolf pack can barely function. Yet he didn't even think about this because for him, there was no other option but protecting Nessie and getting her away from the threat.

Could Sam choose to protect his pack over Emily? What happens to humans when there is no pack around to protect them? Would he let the humans only protection against vampires be wiped out because of his imprint? Yes, there's no other option.

Imprinting is the very opposite of love because love no longer matters. There is no option to love your friends, your family, yourself etc when only one thing chains you to this world.

Some people find this romantic, I do not. I believe imprinting is a destructive force and I think it makes a mockery of love.

[Pendragon]

Imprinting, really, is like a cosmic lobotomy. I am going to take it a step further and argue that it is, in fact, the anti thesis of love.

The free will vs fate argument has been around longer than all of us put together but whichever side of the fence you fall on that one, no one can argue that when it comes down to it---we as humans always have options.

We cannot choose to be singled out by a predator as we are walking down the street at night but we CAN choose whether to fight back, to keep quiet, to curl up in a ball etc.

We can't choose who we have feelings for but we can choose NOT to confess our undying love for our sister's boyfriend or our best friend's husband.

It's not even that esy to stop loving someone who hurts us but we CAN choose to remove ourselves from that situation.

We can't choose when or how we die but we can choose to die with a smile, with bitterness, to keep fighting, to give in etc

Imprinting takes away all those options that give us free will, even in the face of fate. There is no choice. Sam has no other option but to love Emily because the very aspect of humanity that allows us to assess situations and CHOOSE how we want to deal with them has been wiped away. He can't fight his way out of his entrapment because he doesn't know he's in a cage.

And why would fate, if it is her at work, make it so? Because what could be a bigger threat to imprinting than choice? What could be a bigger threat to Sam and Emily's future progeny than his choice to love Leah?

And if it is destiny, if they were meant to be, why would there be any need to eradicate such a choice? Could Sam not have, of his own free will, decided he loved Emily more than Leah? Why must such feelings be borne from an animalistic impulse?

If imprinting is the only choice, then why is there no choice to begin with? When we take away that choice then imprinting becomes a compulsion, perhaps like the kind that animals feel when mating season comes around.

There is something that separates us from other animals and that is our ability to choose, if not who we love, then HOW we love. A wolf in the wild will mate with the most fertile female, whether it be his mother, daughter, sister etc simply to procreate.

But as humans we need something more. Our process is more refined, more emotional. The man standing at the bar might find you attractive, he might unconciously think about having children with you but he can CHOOSE to resist the impulse to pin you down and claim you as a mate. And that is the difference between him and the wolf. Both are creatures hardwired with biological responses but only one can choose to A)ignore them or B)chat you up or even C) Attack you as you leave.

Our choices make us human. The human compassion, intelligence, emotion, creativity that has led to us having these options is belittled by imprinting, a force in which there are no options and no choice.

How can it ever be good? No matter what the outcome is, no matter how much they might appear to love each other when they have no other option they have been stripped of one of the most crucial aspects of humanity. The males have been relegated to an animal like status, bound by instinct and impulse that override their basic ability to choose.

Jacob, the Alpha of his pack, must have some biological impulse to protect his pack yet he was willing to abandon them in the fight against the Volturi, to leave them without their strongest fighter, to possibly leave them to die. Imagine an army without a general, a commander---without the cohesion an Alpha brings a wolf pack can barely function. Yet he didn't even think about this because for him, there was no other option but protecting Nessie and getting her away from the threat.

Could Sam choose to protect his pack over Emily? What happens to humans when there is no pack around to protect them? Would he let the humans only protection against vampires be wiped out because of his imprint? Yes, there's no other option.

Imprinting is the very opposite of love because love no longer matters. There is no option to love your friends, your family, yourself etc when only one thing chains you to this world.

Some people find this romantic, I do not. I believe imprinting is a destructive force and I think it makes a mockery of love.

'Applauds greatly and loud' Starla I must say that I love your statement. You've pointed out all the faults with imprinting and how it can not equal true love. Smeyer said in one of her earlier interviews that one of predominate themes in the series is 'choice'. Yet imprinting contradicts this statement. When she was asked about why imprinting was breaking away from the theme of choice, she replied that she believes that when you fall in love you lose all choice. I think while she may have been trying to convey this message with imprinting ( a more extreme version of the message), I have to disagree with her statement. I believe choice plays an important role in love and like you said Starla, while we can't really choose who we fall in love with, we do have a choice in how to handle our feeling and how we wish to express them. Sam fell in love with Leah and choose to reciprocate those feelings with her. With Emily, he had no choice what so ever.

[holdingoutforjacob]

Starla, I completely agree with all of your statements, with one exception. I don't think you can choose to love. You don't really have any control over who you love, because we can't control how we feel. However, we can control our reactions to those emotions, both in our actions and our thinking.

[Twilightvampire]

whatever happens the whole in tire thing is just plain confusing!!!

[tennisnutter]

Well said, Starla.

The moment I heard of imprinting as described in the Twilight series, I knew I would never agree with because it takes away the choice. I hated that as soon as someone had been imprinted on, they were pretty much pressured to accept the imprinter whether they liked it or not. Not to mention the imprinter destroyed a good relationship that they already had (*ahem*SAM*ahem*).

No need for me to say anything more; you already said it all.

*applauds*

[Alphie]

I knew that the imprinting idea was controversial but I don't think I've ever looked at it from the stand point that you all are seeing it from. I agree with you that it does take away the choice in the end, but just being a werewolf takes away some of their choices. They don't have any choice over their genes and are basically forced to become werewolves. They can choose to give up the ability to phase and remain as humans if they want. I think it could be argued that they choose to give themselves over to the possibility of imprinting by remaining as werewolves. In fact Jacob runs around in Breaking Dawn looking for someone to imprint on. He is wanting to imprint on anyone at that point so that he doesn't feel what he feels for Bella. So I feel in his case that his imprinting was a good thing. I completely see how harmful it can be when you look at the Sam/Emily/Leah relationship, but I don't think it's always necessarily a completely bad thing.

Also, I've been reading about werewolves for years now. I wrote loads of Remus Lupin fan fiction and many of my friends and readers back then were totally on boards with the idea that werewolves mated for life... which is some what similar to imprinting in a way. I've seen this concept over and over again in werewolf stories, which is why I was able to accept imprinting in the Twilight series.