Aro Twilight: Michael Sheen's Volturi Leader Explained

Aro is one of the Volturi leaders, the powerful vampire group based in Italy, and Michael Sheen plays him in all three films where he appears. Sheen is billed fifth in The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), directed by Chris Weitz, sixth in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011), directed by Bill Condon, and fifteenth in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012), also directed by Condon. The character is credited simply as Aro in all three.

He does not appear in Twilight (2008), where the villains are the nomadic vampires James, Victoria and Laurent. He is also absent from the top fifteen credited cast of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, even though the Volturi turn up near the end of that film through Jane, played by Dakota Fanning, who has a captured newborn named Bree Tanner put to death.

If you are new to the saga and want the wider cast, the twilight characters page lists everyone, and the twilight cast page shows who plays them. Netflix has also ordered an animated series, Twilight: Midnight Sun, which is television rather than a film. No cast has been announced for it, so nothing is confirmed about Aro there.

Aro's relationships are defined by authority: he rules over the Volturi, judges the Cullens, and sizes up Bella as a problem he can solve. On screen, Caius is another Volturi leader named in the credits, played by Jamie Campbell Bower in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, and Jane, played by Dakota Fanning, is the Volturi member who has Bree Tanner killed in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Marcus, the third of the Volturi leaders in Stephenie Meyer's books, is not among the top fifteen credited cast of any of the three films Aro appears in.

With the Cullens, the connection runs through Dr. Carlisle Cullen, played by Peter Facinelli, whose letter reaches the Volturi at the end of Breaking Dawn Part 1. You can read more about him on the carlisle cullen page, and the wider group is covered on the cullen family page. Alice Cullen is the Cullen whose vision ends the finale confrontation, since it exposes how a fight would end. Edward Cullen meets him at his lowest point in New Moon, when he asks the Volturi for death.

With Bella Swan, the key moment comes in New Moon, when Aro rules that she must be changed or killed. In Breaking Dawn Part 2 she has become a vampire, and her mental shield, which she learns to stretch so it protects other people from vampire powers, is part of what the Cullens bring to the standoff. Renesmee is the reason he comes to Forks at all, because the Volturi are told she is an immortal child.

In my opinion, Aro's best scene is the finale in Breaking Dawn Part 2, because Michael Sheen plays a man who badly wants a fight and has to talk himself out of it. The Volturi arrive in the snow with a large army, Irina is put to death, and Aro still angles to take Renesmee. It could be argued that this is the one stretch of the saga where a villain has to lose by argument rather than by a wolf pack or a Cullen punch.

My second pick is his New Moon verdict in Volterra. The saga is usually a love story, and this is the moment it shows the cost of its own secret: Bella is told she can live only if she is changed. It also lifts the stakes of the engagement deal Edward proposes at the end of the film.

Third is the post credit scene in Breaking Dawn Part 1, where the Volturi read Carlisle's letter and their leader says the Cullens still have something he wants. It sets up the whole second half of the story, and it rewards anyone who stayed in their seat.

If you are choosing where to start with him, begin with twilight new moon, then jump to breaking dawn part 2 for the payoff.