Jasper Hale
First appearance: Twilight
Created by: Stephenie Meyer
Portrayed by: Jackson Rathbone
Species: Vampire
Age: 20 (physically)
Date of birth: 1843
Date of death: 1863
Family
Carlisle Cullen (adoptive father)
Esme Cullen (adoptive mother)
Edward Cullen and Emmett Cullen (adoptive brothers)
Rosalie Hale (adoptive sister)
Spouse: Alice Cullen

Personal History Jasper Hale, formally known as Jasper Whitlock, was born in 1843 and grew up in Houston, Texas. In 1859 when he was almost seventeen, he lied about his age, stating he was 20, and joined the Confederate States Army to serve in the Civil War. He quickly rose through the ranks, and became the youngest Major in the Confederate Army. Jasper was turned into a vampire in 1863 by a vampire named Maria, when he was 20 years old. Maria was fighting a territorial war for claim on the big cities in the south, such as Mexico City, since larger cities allow for more feeding without being noticed by humans or the Volturi (who could be described as the Vampire High Council and act to keep the vampire world unnoticed by the human population). Jasper was turned because Maria recognized that he was high-ranking in the army, and therefore that he already had some knowledge of combat skills. She wanted a strong male vampire who could fight alongside her. When Maria found out about his peculiar ability to control the emotions of those around him, and calm an entire room of extremely volatile new-born vampires, she found him even more useful.
Jasper's responsibility was to train the young vampires and then kill them when they were no longer useful to Maria, usually after about a year when their strength had begun to fade. After about a century of this, he grew wary of the lifestyle. An old vampire colleague of his, named Peter, persuaded him to escape from Maria. For a time, he wandered with Peter and his companion, Charlotte, but soon became aware that he was still depressed with so much human sacrifice. As a result, he ran away and wandered on his own, before he found Alice Cullen, who he later recognized as his true love, waiting for him in a half-empty diner in Philadelphia, where he was sheltering from the rain. She had seen through her prescience they would find the Cullens and live there together in relative peace. He has been with her ever since. He married Alice and she became Alice Whitlock, though when they are under the pretense of youth she reverts to being Alice Cullen around others.
The Cullens tell humans that Jasper is Rosalie's twin brother; for this purpose, they both use Rosalie's surname of "Hale". Out of the whole coven, Jasper has the hardest time being around humans, due to his untrained upbringing as a young vampire in an army environment. He was not taught control or how to regulate his blood lust. Edward states that all human blood is equally tempting to Jasper, unlike the rest of the family, who can notice the variations in blood scent in different humans. Jasper is tired of being the "weakest link," and has taken a bet with his brother, Emmett, that in the year after Edward's girlfriend Bella Swan is turned into a vampire she will kill a great number of humans because of her temper and impatience. This is possibly because Jasper no longer wishes to be seen as the weakest.

Appearance Jasper is 6' 3" tall, has golden honey blond hair and is muscular, but lean. Being a vampire, he has extremely pale skin and bruise-like purple shadows under his eyes, and is extraordinarily good-looking. He has golden eyes, like all animal-feeding vampires, which turn darker as he gets thirstier. He has many crescent-shaped scars on his arms from vampire bites that he got while fighting for dominance with Maria's coven, which are very difficult to see since they are white on his pale skin.

Vampire Abilities Some vampires have extra abilities beyond the norm which is an amplification of an ability they had as a human eg. an intuitive mind could be able to read minds as a vampire. Jasper's extra ability is being able to manipulate the emotions of those around him because of the extraordinary charisma he had as a human. He is also an empath, meaning that he can feel all the emotions of the people who surround him. As all other vampires, he also has super strength and speed, granite hard skin, immortality, and a keen sense of smell and hearing. In Eclipse, during the training Jasper gives the Cullens and Quileutes, it is noted that Jasper was on par with Edward's skills despite Edward's mind reading ability. This is seen during their sparring which only stopped when Carlisle hinted for them to stop suggesting that it could have continued perhaps indefinitely.

Personality Jasper could be mistaken for cold because of his highly analytical and military mindset. However, his relationship with Alice displays his warmer side. The fact that he suffered depression after his years in Maria's service suggests a strong sense of conscience and grief over his perceived wrong-doings. When he was human he was described as being extremely charismatic, and therefore extremely likable. He has also been shown to be a strong and forceful leader through his rapid ascent through the ranks of the Confederate Army. The fact that he is always a soothing presence shows that he wishes others to feel well and at ease, and will do his best to make that occur. Jasper is highly intuitive but also never takes advantage of his miraculous gift, showing that he is not a malicious and chooses not to manipulate others. While the Cullens are gone in New Moon, Jasper studies philosophy at Cornell University. In the opening chapter of the yet to be published Midnight Sun, Jasper is shown as being deeply ashamed of his urge to drain the life from the humans around him. It also shows that he has what could be described as a lower thirst threshold, in that he has trouble controlling his thirst sooner after feeding than the others.

Source: Wikipedia