Bella Swan

Isabella Marie Swan, known as Bella Swan, is the fictional main character of the novels Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer.

Personal history

Early life

Isabella Marie Swan was born on September 13 1987 to Renée and Charlie Swan, a young couple living in the small town of Forks, Washington. Her parents divorced when she was six months old, and she and her mother moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Bella has always had few friends, never quite 'fitting in'. She is also incredibly clumsy, which leads her to avoid all sports and dancing.

As the first book opens, her mother has married Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player who is much younger than her. Phil travels a lot due to his profession, and Bella sees how much her mother wants to be with him. Bella decides not to force Renée to choose between traveling with Phil or staying in Phoenix with Bella. Instead, Bella moves back to Forks to live with her father.

Twilight

At age 17, Bella moved back in with her father, enrolling at Forks High School. Boys are immediately attracted to her, although she dismisses the advances. She makes quite a few new friends, including Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Mike Newton.

The one group of people at Forks High School that truly intrigues Bella are the Cullens, a mysteriously beautiful family, comprised of five adopted children. In particular, the youngest, the absurdly handsome Edward Cullen, captures her attention. At first, Bella is sure that he hates her — they are forced to sit next to each other in biology class, and he gives her a frightening look of loathing. He clenches his fists and grinds his teeth, not even glancing her way. Later on, she finds him in the office trying desperately to switch out of the class. Despite this strange behavior, Bella finds herself drawn to him, but still believes that she is the reason he wants to switch classes as he wants to be away from her, which puzzles her exceedingly.

It isn't until a week later that Bella finally speaks to Edward. He is pleasant and civil, and she notices that his eyes, which were jet black when she first met him, are now a beautiful shade of gold. Shortly after, Edward saves her from being hit by an out-of-control van with what seemed like supernatural speed and strength. A suspicious Bella confronts him about it, but he reveals nothing. As the story progresses, Bella finds out from a family friend, Jacob Black, that the Cullens are vampires. They differ from the typical vampire in that they are able to survive by drinking only animal blood, in fact refusing to hunt humans, which sets them apart from their species.

Even as Edward and Bella become romantically involved, it is hard for them to be together. Although he does not drink human blood, Edward constantly lusts for it, and Bella's blood is especially tantalizing for him. He must control his desires at all times, and finds out to mild annoyance that his mind reading capabilities do not work with her. Eventually, the two confess their love for one another and grow closer, asking each other questions and getting to know each other better. Edward introduces her to his family, and she joins their baseball game, in which three vampires suddenly crash, one a tracker vampire called James, who wants to kill her. At the end of Twilight, Edward and his family save Bella from James, although Victoria and Laurent, the other vampires of his coven, escape. Bella does not escape unscathed though, as James bit her, and the bite left a crescent-shaped scar on her hand which meant she would have been turned into a vampire, but Edward was able to suck the venom out of her body before it could happen. Bella spends time in a hospital with Edward constantly by her side, and where he admits that his sister Alice saw a vision of Bella becoming a vampire, though he is determined that she stay human, despite her own determination to become a vampire. The book ends with Edward taking Bella to the prom, despite her broken leg. There they confess once more that they love each other. The book ends with Edward and Bella fighting about turning her into a vampire.

New Moon

The events of New Moon begin on Bella's eighteenth birthday party. Bella is especially upset because it is the day she is older than Edward. Though she refuses presents at first, Bella receives a paper cut while opening one of her presents, causing Jasper (Edward's brother, also the 'newest' member of the family) to try to attack her. Edward believes that she would be safer without him, his family, and his dangerous style of life, so he and his family leave Forks. He does this by deceiving Bella into thinking that he does not love her any longer. He promises that she will have nothing to remember him by, and makes her promise to be safe. He says 'it will be as if I'd never existed'.

Bella sinks into a deep depression for four months, until she is 'awoken' out of her depression by Charlie, her father. He threatens to send her back to live with her mother in Jacksonville, Florida, because he is worried about her behavior. To appease her father, she tries to engage in normal, teenage-like behavior. She invites her friend Jessica to go to Port Angeles with her for dinner and a movie. Whilst there, they run into four men standing outside a bar. She feels drawn to them, and starts to approach them. Just then, she can hear Edward's voice inside her head his 'velvet soft' voice taking on a slight angry tone, telling her 'Bella, stop this right now! Turn around and go back to Jess'. Bella quickly realizes that whenever she puts herself in a dangerous situation, she can hear Edward's voice in her head again with perfect clarity.

Still depressed, she becomes closer friends with Jacob Black, who fixes a motorcycle for her and teaches her to ride. Jacob and Bella become very good friends, verging on the edge of romance, until suddenly Jacob refuses to answer any of her calls and asks her not to come to his house anymore. It is not until a few weeks later that Bella becomes completely incapable of dealing with Jacob's distance. She drives to the reservation where Jacob lives, La Push, to confront him. Through small clues he is able to give her, she finally realizes what her best friend has become: a werewolf. She discovers that Victoria (the mate of the vampire James, whom Edward killed in the previous book, Twilight) has returned to kill her, and that the werewolves have powers which rival those of the vampires.

After Jacob promises to take Bella cliff divng and doesn't show, Bella decides that she wants to hear Edward's voice again. In order to hear Edward's voice in her head, Bella goes cliff diving and nearly drowns. When Alice, Edward's sister (who has the power to see the future), sees Bella jump, she believes Bella had committed suicide, and subsequently returns to Forks. Edward, isolated from his family by his own volition, is told by Rosalie, his other sister, that Bella is dead. Alice tells Bella that Edward is going to Italy to be killed by the Volturi. The Volturi are the oldest and most powerful coven of vampires in the world, described by Alice as the "royal family" of vampires. They have held their city for three thousand years, and are known as 'rulekeepers' to all vampires. In reality, there is only one rule to be kept: humans must not know about the existence of vampires. Edward goes to the Volturi to be killed because he could not bear to live in a world without Bella. Bella and Alice take off to Italy instantly.

In Italy, Bella finds Edward about to step into the sunlight in the city that the Volturi control. In doing this, his skin would sparkle like diamonds, exposing himself to humans as 'otherworldy', something that would surely bring a swift death. Bella convinces Edward just in time to not step into the sunlight, but they are soon confronted by other vampires and taken into the 'home' of the Volturi. The Volturi, after demonstrating their powers 'en masse', make Alice swear that Bella will be made a vampire, or else they will kill her. Here, it is made known that psychological vampiric "powers" do not affect Bella at all.

Back in Forks, Bella and Edward are together again, and he promises her that he has always loved her, and will never leave her again. They also strike up a deal - he will change her if she promises to marry him or she must stick to the deal she made with Carlisle, in which when she finishes high school first, and Carlisle will change her. Later, Jacob reminds Edward of the treaty made between the Cullens and the La Push werewolves, which stated that no Cullen could bite a human. Bella is left in a difficult position: if she does not become a vampire, the Volturi will come after her to kill her. However, if the Cullens do make her a vampire, the La Push werewolves will drive the Cullens away from the area.

Eclipse

From Stephenie Meyer's official website: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob—knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Bella struggles to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship/love with Jacob. There is danger all around her, and she fears the presence of the dreaded ancient vampire family, The Volturi. If that isn't enough, her ruthless vampire enemy Victoria (who is intent on killing Bella to punish Edward for killing her mate, James in Twilight) could be waiting to pounce. Meanwhile Bella is determined to become a vampire, but Edward has conditions against that. When he tells her he would "change" her into a vampire himself and have sex''Link title'' while she is human, if she married him first, she finally agrees to marriage, making herself Edward's fiancée.

Appearance

Bella is very pale, which bothered her in Phoenix, but makes her feel like she fits in with the rainy Forks folk. Her hair is long, straight, with an auburn edge to her brown hair.. Bella's eyes are described as large, chocolate-brown, and menacingly sweet. Stephenie Meyer describes her as slender but not at all muscular. She has a heart-shaped face with prominent cheekbones, a thin nose, and a narrow jaw with a pointed chin. She also has lips that are "a bit too full for the jaw line", and straight eyebrows that are slightly darker than her hair. Bella's nails are described as stubby because she has a nervous habit of biting them. She stands at 5'4" and weighs approximately 115 pounds.

Romantic relationships

Edward Cullen

Bella's first boyfriend is Edward Cullen, a vampire who has renounced drinking the blood of humans. She loves him unconditionally and fell into depression when he "broke up" with her and left Forks. Bella believes Edward to be completely and utterly perfect and does not consider herself to be worthy of his love; when Edward is telling Bella goodbye in New Moon, Bella instantly believes that he does not want her anymore. Even after being reunited with Edward, Bella believes that Edward merely felt guilty that he could not save Bella and so asked the Volturi to kill him, for he could not protect her, still thinking that Edward didn't really love her. It is truly opposite of that though, as Edward later explains to her that he could not live in a world without Bella, and by leaving her in Forks, he only wished that she'd be able to get on with normal human life. Even in this four month period, it was excruciatingly painful for them to be separated. Bella hopes that by becoming a vampire, she will be beautiful and graceful like the Cullens and will be worthy of Edward's love, although Edward always reassures her that she'd always been more than worthy, as she has his heart, totally and utterly. She also wishes to save the family of the burden of always protecting her.

At the end of New Moon Bella finally realizes that Edward truly loves her, and the fact that she was hearing his voice in her head meant that they had a strong bond that even separation cannot break. Throughout the book, Edward still holds onto the fact that he does not want Bella to become a vampire, but realizes in the end that he cannot fight against the wishes of his family and Bella, after the majority of them vote that they want her to become a member of their family. After unsuccessfully trying to buy more time until her transformation, Edward finally caves in, telling Bella that he will turn her into a vampire only after she marries him, knowing that she is adverse to the idea of marriage yet wants Edward to be the one who changes her. Bella at first does not agree.

In Eclipse, we find out that Edward is having Bella fill out college applications to schools far away from Forks, so they can be together for college and still be near wilderness to hunt. Bella is still hoping that "going to college" will be a cover for her once she becomes a vampire. After graduation, Bella convinces Edward not to participate in the upcoming battle with Victoria and her vampire army, fearing she would not be able to bear being separated from him again. They spend a night together in his home alone, where Bella tells him what she wants more than anything is to make love to him before she becomes a vampire. He refuses at first, but eventually agrees on the condition that they are married before they do so. He proposes to her and she accepts, although looking down on the prospect of marriage but not entirely opposed to it, sees that her being turned into a vampire is clearly the best part to look forward to.

Jacob Black

Jacob Black, a Quileute and the son of Charlie Swan's friend, Billy Black, also loves Bella and spent a lot of time with her during the period of Edward's absence. Jacob is a part of pack of werewolves, and only recently underwent his transformation in New Moon. Bella sought Jacob's help in repairing some broken down motorcycles. She was going to use the motorcycle to as a way to break promises that she feels Edward has already broken. Also, by riding the motorcycle, she hears her "delusions", which is Edward's voice telling her not to do anything risky or that would put her life in danger. While Edward was away and Bella was depressed, Bella found that Jacob's presence soothed the "hole" in her chest that resulted from Edward leaving her. Being around Jake brought a measure of happiness back to Bella's life, but he was unable to replace Edward fully. Bella felt that Jacob was a good friend, and that he was her own "personal little sun" which would beam happiness in every direction wherever he went. When Jacob underwent his transformation into a werewolf, it put a distance in their friendship. Bella's decision to become a vampire so soon also caused them to have difficulties. Her plans also had a conflict though with the treaty the werewolves and vampires had made and signed.

In Eclipse, the third book of the Twilight series, Jacob Black acts upon his romantic feelings for Bella Swan, and tries to convince her to leave Edward for him. Jacob thinks that, since he is more human than Bella's fiancé, Edward Cullen, he will be safer for Bella to have a relationship with. Edward sees the amount of common sense behind this, as is mentioned in the book, but is still willing to fight for her, just as Jacob says. Jacob also kissed Bella; the first time he forced himself on her, and she punched him (damaging her hand since he is stronger) and was put in a sling by Dr. Cullen for weeks. Edward agrees that, if Bella wants to, he would be okay with her kissing Jacob. However, he makes it clear that if Jacob were to initiate it like he did before, he would break his jaw. Nevertheless, before the battle, after Jacob overhears that Bella and Edward are engaged, he tricks her by telling her he would be sure to get killed if she did not kiss him. Finally, she agrees and cheats on Edward. Only moments later, she begins enjoying the kiss and admits that she is in love with Jacob.

Despite these feelings, she loves Edward more, claiming that he is her life and she would never live without Edward. In the last chapter of the book, the Epilogue, Edward, unbeknownst to Bella, sends him a wedding invitation, giving Jacob the final message that he and Bella would never be together. Edward includes a note in with the invitation, informing Jacob that he does not have to come to the wedding, but if Edward would have been in Jacob's position, he would have wanted the opportunity to go to the wedding, but that Jacob is under no obligation to come. The book ends with Jacob in his wolf form, running to escape from the pain he's feeling from Bella's final choice.

Mike Newton

Mike Newton is a fairly popular boy at Bella's new high school who, with other boys, is instantly attracted to Bella. He is friendly and Bella thinks he possesses traits like a dog; his happiness and loyalty in walking her to class and speaking with her everyday. Mike frequently tries to ask Bella out, but she always declines. In New Moon, after a movie date consisting of Bella, Jacob and Mike, Mike has seemingly given up on Bella, and tells her that "girls are cruel." Mike develops a new romantic relationship with Jessica Stanley when he sees that Edward is her boyfriend. In New Moon Mike changes his hairstyle, trying to make it look just like Edward's, but Bella said Edward's hair is something that could never be copied.

Tyler Crowley

After nearly killing Bella in a car accident, Tyler felt obligated to make things even. He unsuccessfully asked Bella out to a dance, and Bella said "no." Due to Edward's interference, he deludes himself into thinking that he's taking Bella to their high school prom in Twilight. Edward instead picks Bella up for prom, leaving a dumbfounded Tyler single at the dance.

Movie Portrayals

The author, Stephenie Meyer, though she has no influence on any movie made, has selected Emily Browning, Ellen Page and Danielle Panabaker as possible actors that she would like to see portraying Bella if there is a Twilight movie.

See also

• Twilight
• New Moon
• Stephenie Meyer
• Edward Cullen
• Jacob Black
• Carlisle Cullen
• Jasper Hale
• Mary Alice Cullen
• Rosalie Hale
• Esme Cullen

External links

• "Official website of Stephenie Meyer"
• "Twilight Lexicon"
• "Juliet" - a Bella fanlisting