Twilight Teased An Even More Dangerous Mythical Creature Than Vampires
Bella's search for mythical creatures in Twilight teased a more dangerous monster than vampires, but it did it all wrong. Let's take a look.
Twilight is all about vampires and werewolves, though a different version from the classic monsters, and the movie included a tease of a more dangerous mythical creature than vampires – here’s what it is. In 2005, Stephenie Meyer shared her unique vision of vampires and werewolves and how they would co-exist with humans in the novel Twilight, the first entry in a series of four books. The core of the story is the often problematic romance between mortal Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, who come across different obstacles as their relationship is not well-seen among vampires and also among werewolves/shapeshifters
The Twilight novels were a big success, quickly building a loyal fanbase that grew even more once the books made the jump to the big screen. The Twilight Saga was released between 2008 and 2012, with the final novel, Breaking Dawn, being split into two movies, and though they were (and still are) heavily criticized and mocked, they were financially successful and met their goal of appealing to their target audience, mostly the fans of the books. A lot has been said about the Twilight movies over the years, with viewers pointing out their many flaws, including one in the first movie that mentions a mythical creature a lot more dangerous than vampires, but that is mistakenly referenced as a type of vampire.
In Twilight, when Bella (Kristen Stewart) begins to suspect there’s something not entirely human about Edward (Robert Pattinson) and the rest of the Cullens after he saved her from being hit by a car with minimal effort, she investigates what he could be, and takes a look at some legends, especially after her friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) told her what the Quileute legends said about the Cullens and their “type”. Bella does what any other teenager with access to the internet would and goes to a search engine to look for information about a creature that in a book is mentioned as “The Cold One”. The first result is a creature named “Apotamkin”, and while Twilight made them look like vampires under a different name, they are actually a lot more dangerous.
The Apotamkin (or Apotampkin) is a creature in Native American mythology described as a giant sea monster with fangs that lives in the Passamaquoddy Bay. Because the image of a giant sea serpent with fangs wasn’t scary enough, the legends say this creature would drag people in to eat them, and was especially fond of careless children. The Apotamkin is also said to have long red hair and there are some versions that say it took the shape of a human woman before going back to its natural serpent form. The legend of the Apotamkin was used to instill fear into children so they wouldn’t dare go into any areas alone. Since the release of Twilight, it has been pointed out many times that the movie mistakenly called the Apotamkin a “vampire”, and that its legend is completely unrelated to vampires.
The addition of the Apotamkin in Bella’s search in Twilight can be seen through different lenses: Meyer has been open about taking inspiration from different legends and more to build her characters, so the Apotamkin as a “Cold One” could be seen as a piece of that research and inspiration, or it can be pointed out as a mistake from the crew, who lacked some attention to detail. In the end, the appearance of the Apotamkin in Twilight sparked interest in this mythical creature, which is ultimately a lot scarier and dangerous than a vampire, especially those in the Twilight universe.
