The mysteries associated and sublimated in the American conscience relative to the native American Indian has long been a source for what some call tribal magic and others a confusion of North America with a type of Eden whose inhabitants were basically nomadic, lived off the land and communed with spirits. South America had native inhabitants that built cities and pyramids that resembled in some fashion to what the Europeans who invaded North America could associate with their known cultures. But, the North American Indians were very uncomfortably perceived for the puritanical and religiously obsessed European intruders, too much like people living off the land and getting advice and comfort from their spirits.
New Moon Quileute Legend of Werewolf
The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer’s uses the commonly known past of the native American Indian, his history, his legends and the legends that people who came into contact with them made up or witnessed. Of course, she occasionally uses her writer’s prerogative of filling in the spaces with make believe by bringing legends and beliefs common to Europeans that somehow make sense when adopted to the spirit world of the native American Indian.
The new moon Quillayute Legends concern the Quileute tribe, native American Indians that live in the upper parts of the state of Washington.
The main characters, Jacob Black, who is portrayed by Taylor Lautner, and Billy, his father, played by Gil Birmingham are human members of the quileute tribe that has managed to keep their “transformation into a wolf” a secret. Edward Cullen who is portrayed by Robert Pattinson plays the part of “The Cold One”, the “Apotamkin”. The merged vampire and werewolf lore of the familiar Transylvania stories are merged with the spirit lore of native American Indians.
The American Indian custom of keeping skins of animals and using feathers and other keepsakes to control the spirit of their conquered animal has been given European symbolism. What the native American Indians saw in their animals were kindred spirits who were as keen and powerful as them in staying alive and their culture grew out of studying the bravest and most cunning of the animals whose land they shared and making the behaviors of those animals part of their training as hunters and as men as well.
The native American Indian strange relationship with the animals whose land belonged to all who lived on it, was a very different concept from the European tradition of seeing animals as theirs to kill or to raise, a tradition coming down from Judaic and Christian beliefs in the Fall, a legend the native American Indian obviously do not share.
The new moon Quileute legends adds the romance of the vampire who sought his prey at night and preferably found solace in initiating beautiful women by drinking their blood. The Quilette transform into werewolf like vampires but have the saving grace of being aware of how terrible their nature is and how filled with remorse they become in trying to block their bloodthirsty inhuman transformations into those who prey on humans.
The legend is really very typical to the legends used by other European settlers who needed some explanation for the survivability of native Indians who did not build permanent cities but roamed the vast tracts of land that were part of their home. The native American legends of men or Indians becoming bears or wolves was actually part of their rituals in learning how to live and how to hunt like bears and wolves. The romanticized merging of native American lore with the romantic Adam and Eve cast out of heaven legends and seeking immortality by changing shapes has wonderful fictional qualities in The Twilight Series.
