Vigilante - Official Illustrated Guide, pg 100
Further info, via SM and the Lex:
Another Edward point: Edward was never trying to be a superhero—some darker version of the dark knight. That was not his purpose. He was rationalizing, pure and simple. Edward was tired of being in pain, but no so far gone that he would hunt innocents. Back to the burning hand metaphor—he was determined to quench the fire, but for his conscience’s sake, he was going to be particular about which bucket of ice water he used. He was not so much of a vampire after being “raised” by Carlisle that he could be cavalier about it. But he doesn’t share Carlisle’s faith to think he’s got anything to lose in the process. Hopelessness + pain = compromise.
A note on Edward’s victims: we’re not talking about some guy who killed his wife ten years ago and has a guilty conscience. We’re talking about serial killers and serial rapists. He always hunted the hunters. As he says in the first chapter of Midnight Sun: “My victims were, in their various dark pastimes, barely more human than I was.” He didn’t look for the guilty post-act, he searched for other hunters pre-act. So he did save a lot of lives during his rebellious years.
Except… Esme’s ex-husband was very much a post-act killing. He went out and hunted him down. He didn’t stumble across him and hear his thoughts and realize “oh, he’s going to hurt someone else.” No, according to the guide, he tracked him down with the intention of killing him. Some see this as a ‘sweet’ gesture to Esme; I beg to differ.
Esme left Charles in 1920, and Edward didn’t leave Carlisle until 1927. Carlisle and Esme had plenty of time to kill Charles themselves (like Rosalie did with her attackers) if they wanted him dead—the fact that he was still alive in 1927 makes it pretty clear to me Carlisle and Esme weren’t after revenge.
Very interesting! Excellent…
