Imprinting

[Dovrebanen]

Damn new page...I was agreeing with rings...and trying to point upwards...^Agreed. Like Jacob says: When Claire is old enough, Quil will be her perfect match. He will be everything she wants him to be. I see it kind of like falling in love with a childhood best friend when you reach that age. Suddenly you just realize that you're actually in love with this person. So I don't see anything forced about it. And if Claire needs him to just be her friend until she's 30 or something, he will be.

I also agree that it's harder for the imprintee. He can't imagine being with any other girl even while Claire is just a kid. Not because he thinks she will mind, but because for him she is the only important thing. And that is so even if it is not romantic in the least for him yet. Her happiness is all he wants, and if she needs him, he will always be there.

TNO: I know that the concept of imprinting is there to make sure that the best wolf genes survive. They find their perfect match in every possible way. But that's not how it feels for the individual wolf and his imprintee. For them it's something so powerful, that they will fall in love. And I don't think the imprintee is obliged to reciprocate the love to satisfy someone else. But she will fall in love because the guy will be just right for her.

[Starla]

Claire calls Quil 'uncle Quil'. That is just setting her up for a world of confusion and subconcious guilt. As I wouldn't want to enter into a romantic relationship with my 'brother', neither would I want one with my 'uncle'.

Both Claire and Nessie are children. What choice will they have but to love and accept the wolves when they have always been there? And as authority figures (uncles, brothers etc).

As for Sam and Emily. He got mad at something she said and she got hurt. Maybe he didn't mean to lash out directly at her but her injuries are a result of his anger.

It may very well be that Emily is with him out of misplaced guilt. If a man was threatening to kill himself and you are the only person who might be able to stop that, wouldn't you think about it? Especially if there is already some kind of attraction? It is a neat and easy excuse. She's not 'stealing her cousin's man' anymore, she's saving somebody's life but real life is never that easy. There are consequences for every action.

The excuses won't make Leah hurt any less. The fact that it's fate doesn't wipe away all the damage done and Leah should never have had to accept it and get over it. Her love for Sam and the memories they made don't disappear just because she knows they have for him. She was the one hurt and she was the only real innocent in the situation.

Imprinting might be 'meant to be' but there is a real destructive side as evidenced in the books. In my opinion, it is a dark, twisted love hidden under a veneer of polished perfection.

[TNO]

^^Well said. I agree completely. Can't forget the grim reality hiding just under the fairy-tale surface, eh?

[Asheleyo]

When first reading about imprinting, I had no problem with it at all. I completely enjoy the way that Quil is with Claire, being everything she needs him to be throughout her years. It's a refreshing new way to look at love.

After Jacob went looking for someone to imprint on, I already knew he would imprint on Renesmee. I don't know why, but I just knew it, so I had already accepted it before the actual scene. It didn't bother me at all. I thought that Jacob deserved something more than what Bella could give him. From the first time that we learned about Sam and Emily and Leah, I knew that there had to be more out there for Jacob. I knew that Bella was his Leah, but without the reciprocated emotions, so it would be better for him.

I have to say, though, that in principle I don't much care for the idea of imprinting. I feel like, had Bella chosen Jacob, he should have been able to keep her, because that was his choice too. If there had been someone else that came along and he imprinted on them, it would have been horribly unjust. I agree that you can't choose who you love, but I do think you can choose whether to stay with them. Because relationships require work and compromise. They aren't just automatic. Look at everything Bella and Edward went through until they finally got to a good place they could stay at. Their love is effortless, but staying together is not. With imprinting, only the wolf expends the effort. He does everything and the one imprinted on just enjoys the fact that they get everything they wanted, emotionally at least.

[suzzeeQ]

I think it would be worse if the imprintee didn't choose to be with the imprinter.

In BD Jacob asked Quil if he ever considered dating a girl until Claire gets older. He never though about it; he doesn't even see any other girls anymore.

So, lets say Nessie chose to be with somone else, like Nehuel. Jacob would not be able to have a romantic relationship with anyone. The only woman in his life would be Nessie. Any chance of getting married and having kids would be thrown out the window. What is worse is that he wouldn't even want one. Jacob would have the possiblity of being a virgin longer than Edward was.

Imprinting just makes me sad. I see no good side of it.

[holdingoutforjacob]

It's almost like brainwashing, without the "ignorance is bliss" part.

I mean, if the imprintee choses not to be with the imprinter, the imprinter HAS to stay with their imprintee as whatever they need to be. He can't even look at other girls. His entire life centers around that person FOREVER no matter what. But there's nothing that says he won't feel constant, continual pain at that, that it won't eat away at him for eternity. It's sick.

Now, in defense of SM, I don't think she ever thought it through this far. I think she's assumed that of course, if someone imprints on you you end up with them. And she makes a good point - it's hard to resist that level of devotion. So, I think in Twilightland, that particular circumstance could never happen.

But that doesn't change the concept at all, and it's various pitfall and shortcomings.

[Asheleyo]

I don't think it's just a matter of what works in Twilightland. I think that SM thought of it more as something that, sure the imprintee couldn't resist, but that the imprintee was also somehow bound to love the imprinter as well. I don't think that it would be meant to be any other way. It may not have been something they would have realized without the helpful adoration of their wolf, but they were meant to love the wolf just as the wolf was meant to love them.

At least, that's what I'm inclined to believe.

[ringswraith]

Renesmee's behavior towards Jacob- specifically, when she was showing Bella that flashback of the attack, and Bella felt the possessive nature of it- leads me to believe that the imprinting process may actually be two-way.

I mean, here we have an imprintee laying claim to her wolf. I don't think she'd be that attached to him after just two days. Rosalie at least spent about as much time with Renesmee as Jacob did, and yet Nessie's not as vocal about her aunt.

Perhaps the way Kim (was it Kim? Who was scribbling all over her diary) behaved regarding Jared is similar.

Thoughts?

[missp]

^^^^I totally agree. Based on the fact that it was discussed in BD...There was an incredible draw for Bella to have Jake there all the time during her pregnancy. But, it wasn't Bella with the pull, it was Nessie. There is no doubt in my mind that imprinting is a two-way event. I think the object of their imprinting will follow all of the natural phases through life until it's time for romantic love to take over. In other words, I don't believe Claire, or Nessie for that matter, will ever have to go to therapy over falling in love with their uncle. I believe that nature will take its course for them until it's time for them to be Quil and Jake's partners for life. As for Leah, Sam, and Emily...maybe Emily's loyalty to Leah ran so deep she initially had the response she did about telling Sam she would never love him. But, I believe the magnetic pull to her soul mate was so strong that she knew she would end up with Sam in the end.

[Dovrebanen]

Renesmee's behavior towards Jacob- specifically, when she was showing Bella that flashback of the attack, and Bella felt the possessive nature of it- leads me to believe that the imprinting process may actually be two-way.

I mean, here we have an imprintee laying claim to her wolf. I don't think she'd be that attached to him after just two days. Rosalie at least spent about as much time with Renesmee as Jacob did, and yet Nessie's not as vocal about her aunt.

Perhaps the way Kim (was it Kim? Who was scribbling all over her diary) behaved regarding Jared is similar.

Thoughts?

First of all, you're right. It was Kim. So let me see if I interpret you right: You say that the imprintee also is naturally drawn to the imprinter, the same way he is to her?
Well, I always interpreted it to Kim being in love with Jared even before he phased. Like a normal teenage crush? And if that was the case, the imprinting would have nothing to do with it, because he wasn't drawn to her yet since he hadn't phased. Imprinting happens the minute you see that person after you have phased, so for Jared it happened when he saw her after coming back to school. But for Kim it happened long before that. She was already in love with him, regardless of him imprinting on her. So based on this I don't see a two-way imprinting.

But then Nessie sort of throws that whole thing around a bit. She is 3 days old and already so connected to Jacob. Like you say, rings, she got the same amount of attention from Rosalie. It is strange. But here we have what missp talks about as "the pull" during the pregnancy. And that is one of the things that I find hard to accept in BD. That Jacob could be there because he felt the pull towards Renesmee. I think it was SM who really wanted to keep Jacob there with Bella. I want to think he was there because he wanted to be close to Bella, and that he couldn't let go off her before he knew she was either dead or a vampire. I don't want to go down the road of a pull towards Nessie. So again, I see Renesmee's total devotion to Jacob as sort of an easy way out. To make everyone happy. Because if you look at the other imprintees (Emily), she didn't have that connection to Sam. missp, I see your point about Leah but I still think that Emily truly was not drawn to Sam at first.

So..where do I stand..It is certainly an intriguing idea, rings. But I think I believe more that it is like Jacob says. No one can resist that level of attention and devotion, so the imprintee will love the imprinter. It will be the natural path of her life, simply because she falls in love. And I see what happened with Renesmee more as an exception, or an easy way to make everybody accept the imprinting. This is however my opinion, and I didn't like the imprinting much..so my views are colored by that.