Bella Swan

Template:Infobox character

Isabella Marie Swan, known as Bella Swan, is the fictional protagonist of the novels Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Midnight Sun, and Breaking Dawn 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 mother left her father, taking Bella with her. When Bella was six months old, her mother moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

Bella has always had few friends, never quite 'fitting in' until she moves to Forks, Washington where there, she is the new girl. She is also incredibly clumsy, which leads her to avoid all sports.

Twilight

As the first book opens, her mother has just recently married Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player who is much younger than she is. Phil travels a lot due to his profession, and Bella notices how much her mother wants to be with him while he travels. So, to make it easier for them, Bella moves back to her birthtown of Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie Swan.

She enrolls at Forks High School and notices that boys are immediately attracted to her, although she dismisses the advances. She makes 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 captivating family, consisting of five adopted children. In particular 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, then clenches his fists and grinds his teeth, never speaking to her. 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 he is trying to switch classes to avoid being near her, which puzzles and upsets her exceedingly.

After a week-long absence, Edward returns and speaks to Bella for the first time. He is pleasant and civil, and she notices that his eyes, which were black/onyx when she first met him, are now a beautiful shade of gold/topaz. 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 at the hospital, but he refuses to talk about it, reluctantly promising to "explain later". Bella soon starts having dreams about Edward. For several weeks, they do not talk to each other.

As the story progresses, Bella finds out from a family friend, Jacob Black, that the Cullens "supposedly" are vampires, or, as they are referred to by Jacob's American Indian tribe (The Quileutes), "the Cold Ones". They are supposedly different from other vampires in substituting animal blood for human blood, refusing to hunt humans. The Cullens call themselves "vegetarians" because only drinking animal blood is like something like eating tofu instead of meat.

Even as Edward and Bella get to know each other better, it is hard for Edward to be near her, because her blood "sings" to him. Although he does not drink human blood, Edward constantly lusts for it, and Bella's blood is especially tantalizing for him. The scent of her blood is so alluring that it causes him actual physical pain to be with her. He must always control his desire, and finds that his mind reading capabilities do not work on her.

Eventually, the two declare 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 is asked to watch their baseball game. Danger reveals itself in the form of a visiting vampire coven consisteing of Laurent, Victoria, and James. Victoria's mate James is a sadistic tracker vampire who has set his sights on killing Bella. Edward and his family save Bella and destroy James, although the other vampires of his coven, Victoria and Laurent, survive. Bella escapes death with broken ribs, a broken leg, multiple fractures, bruises and a permanent crescent-shaped scar on her hand where James had bitten her.

Although being bitten by a vampire would have changed Bella into a vampire, Edward drew out the venom before its effects could take place. Bella spends time in a hospital with Edward constantly by her side, where he admits that his sister Alice saw a vision of Bella becoming a vampire. However, he is determined to keep her human, despite her own determination to become a vampire. The reasons behind his intentions are not revealed in Twilight, but is eventually revealed by Edward in Eclipse.

Edward takes Bella to the prom despite her broken leg and angry protests. And again, they confess their true love for each other. There are high levels of tension as book ends with Edward and Bella's differences of opinion about turning her into a vampire.

New Moon

The events of New Moon begin on Bella's eighteenth birthday. Bella is especially upset because it is the day that she becomes older, physically, than Edward (The love of her life). Edward manages to persuade her to come to his house on the evening of her birthday for a party thrown by Alice. Though she discourages the Cullens from giving her gifts, they insist. Bella receives a paper cut while opening one of her gifts, 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 deceives 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. While there, they run into four men standing outside a bar. She, for some reason, starts to approach them. Just then, she hears Edward's voice inside her head. His 'soft velvet' voice, taking on a slight angry tone, tells her 'Bella, stop this right now! Turn around and go back to Jess'. Bella soon realizes that whenever she puts herself in a dangerous situation, she can hear Edward's voice in her head again with perfect clarity. This eventually endangers her as she begins seeking out hazardous situations and hallucinations of Edward.

Still depressed, she becomes closer friends with Jacob Black, who fixes a motorcycle for her and teaches her to ride. Jacob, however, is completely unaware that Bella wants to ride motorcycles just so she can hear Edward's voice again. Jacob and Bella become very good friends, verging on the edge of romance, when 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 La Push, the reservation where Jacob lives, to confront him. Through small clues he drops, she finally realizes what has happened to her best friend: he has become a werewolf. She learns that Victoria (the mate of the vampire James, whom Edward's brothers, Emmett and Jasper, killed in Twilight) has returned to kill her (Victoria believes to get revenge through a mate for a mate - unaware that Edward left her), and that the werewolves have powers which rival those of the vampires.

After Jacob promises to take Bella cliff diving and doesn't show, Bella decides that she wants to hear Edward's voice again. To experience her hallucination, 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 Volterra, Italy to be killed by the Volturi. The Volturi are the oldest and most powerful coven of vampires in the world, described by Edward as the "royal family" of vampires. They have held Volterra 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 quickly pursue him to Italy.

In Italy, Bella finds Edward about to step into the sunlight in the Volturi's home city. This would make his skin sparkle like diamonds, exposing himself to humans as 'otherworldly' and earning a swift death from the Volturi. Bella convinces Edward just in time to not step into the sunlight, but they are soon cornered and taken into the 'home' of the Volturi. After demonstrating their powers 'en masse', the Volturi make Alice swear that Bella will be made a vampire, or else they will kill her. Here, it is made known that many vampiric "powers" do not affect Bella at all. (It is later revealed that the powers Bella is immune to are those of psychological operation.)

Back in Forks, Bella and Edward are together again (though Charlie has grounded Bella for a long time and hates Edward), 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. She doesn't want to be married (reasons later explained in Eclipse) so the back up plan is for Carlisle to change her after she finishes high school. Later, in the woods, 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 start a war with the Cullens. The book finishes with Charlie yelling at Bella to return to the house and Bella reluctantly coming back, holding Edward's hand, firmly believing that she can face anything with 'her destiny' at her side.

Eclipse

Bella starts out at the beginning of Eclipse in her house, still grounded by Charlie for leaving without notice to Italy, cliffdiving, and motorcycle riding. She is reading a letter from Jacob that says that they can't be friends any more. Bella is upset about this, but her mood improves when Edward comes to visit her. Edward is trying to convince Bella to fill out more application forms for college, but Bella thinks that college is pointless since she's going to be turning into a vampire and won't go to college anyway. Bella then sees an article in the newspaper about a series of mysterious killings in Seattle and finds it interesting. Edward explains that these killings are most likely a newborn vampire, unable to control its thirst. Soon, Charlie 'un-grounds' Bella on the condition that she not spend all her time with Edward. Later on that day in school, Bella witnesses Alice having a vision: Victoria is coming to Forks to hunt Bella. Not knowing the contents of the vision, Bella eventually asks Edward about it. Edward lies about the vision to try to protect Bella, then takes her away from Forks on a weekend trip to Florida to visit Bella's mother. The visit to Florida and the return trip proceeds without incident.

When they get back, Jacob calls Bella and confirms that she will be at school on Monday. The next day at school, Jacob is waiting for Bella and Edward. Bella, Edward and Jacob then get into a fight. No one is hurt, but Bella realizes the true nature of Alice's previous vision. She also finds out that there was a fight between the Cullens and the werewolves over the border line when Victoria came looking for Bella. Bella and Jacob do not spend any time together for a while after this, and Edward considers that a good thing because of his distrust of Jacob. Eventually, Bella gets over her fight with Jacob and goes to his house, much to Edward's displeasure. Bella enjoys this getaway with Jacob, but knows her time is limited. After returning home, she discusses with Edward her belief that the werewolves are safe. Edward disagrees, and they drop the subject.

Ultimately, Edward must go hunting and leave Bella. Since Edward does not want Bella to spend time with Jacob, he bribes Alice with a yellow 911 Porsche turbo (identical to the one they stole in Italy to get to Volterra) to watch over Bella while he's gone and keep her away from Jacob. Bella is furious at Edward's presumption and manages to slip away with Jacob again. Upon returning to the Cullens' house, she encounters Edward. He is not upset that Bella ran away and realizes that he has to let go to some extent and not be overprotective. Bella thanks Edward, and he begins regularly taking her to the La Push line (because the Cullens can't be on La Push land) for regular visits with Jacob. During one of these visits, Jacob admits that he is in love with Bella and kisses her. Bella is furious and punches him in the face, breaking her hand.

Meanwhile, Bella still has her heart set on joining Edward and his family as a vampire. But, after thorough consideration, she decides that there is one thing she would like to do while human: have Edward make love to her. Edward immediately refuses this "demand", explaining that although he wants her as much as she wants him, he could easily kill her. Bella insists that he would never allow himself to let that happen. Eventually, Edward agrees that they can "try", but she must marry him first. Bella reluctantly agrees, making herself Edward's fiancée.

During the fight between the newborn vampires from Seattle, Bella realizes and admits that she is in love with Jacob, but also knows that she can not live without Edward. She kisses Jacob but then tells him shortly after that she can't be with him and leaves to be with Edward. Just before the book ends, Edward takes Bella to the meadow and says that he will do whatever Bella wants without marrying her, because she is trying to make everybody happy, but all Edward cares about is making her happy. Bella refuses this and tells him that she wants to do this the right way (marriage, making love and then being turned), and not just for him, but for herself as well. So Bella and Edward go to break the news of their engagement to her father, Charlie. The rest of the book is finished in Jacob's perspective. Edward 'breaks the rules' by sending a wedding invitation to Jacob. Jacob becomes angry and depressed not because Bella is choosing Edward over him but because Jacob believes she is killing herself by choosing to be a vampire. He phases, and tries to become a pure wolf, leaving Jacob Black behind.

Appearance

Bella is very pale ,with brown hair that has a slight auburn tinge and is long and straight. Bella's eyes are described as large, chocolate-brown, and menacingly sweet. Stephenie Meyer describes her as "slender but soft, somehow". 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 her jaw line", and eyebrows that are slightly darker than her hair, and eyebrows more straight than arched. Bella's nails are described as stubby because she has a nervous habit of biting them. She stands at 5'4" and weighs about 115 pounds. She has a small crescent-shaped scar on her hand where she was bitten by James. The scar is described as being pale and always a few degrees colder than the rest of her body.

Romantic relationships

Edward Cullen

Bella's first boyfriend and later fiancé 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 worthy of his love; when Edward tells 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. The truth, as Edward later explains to her, is 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 a normal human life. Even in this eight 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 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 his 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 tells 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 to "sleep with him" before she becomes a vampire. He refuses at first, but eventually agrees on the condition that they are married before they do so. His rule eventually wavers, and Bella starts to take advantage. They had not gotten past the kissing stage, however, before Bella stops, because she finally agrees to his 'condition' (rule). He proposes to her and she accepts, looking down on the prospect of marriage but not entirely opposed to it. She sees that her being turned into a vampire is clearly the best part to look forward to. She loves Edward with all her heart and says that she couldn't live without him.

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 part of a 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 as a way to break promises that she felt Edward has already broken. Also, by riding the motorcycle, she hears her "delusions", 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, she found that Jacob's presence soothed the "hole" in her chest that resulted from Edward leaving her. Being around Jacob 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 are also in conflict with the treaty between the werewolves and vampires.

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 sense in this, but is still willing to fight for her. Jacob has also kissed Bella; the first time he forced himself on her and she punched him, damaging her hand which ended up in a brace for weeks. Edward agrees that, if Bella wants to, he would accept her kissing Jacob. However, he makes it clear that if Jacob were to do so again without Bella's agreement, he would break his jaw. Nevertheless, before the battle, after Jacob overhears that Bella and Edward are engaged, he manipulates her into kissing him by telling her he would be sure to get killed if she did not kiss him. This results in her realizing that she actually does love Jacob as well as Edward.

Despite these feelings, she loves Edward more, claiming that he is her life and she would never live without Edward. In the epilogue of the book(from Jacob's point of view), Edward, unbeknownst to Bella, sends him a wedding invitation, giving Jacob the final message that he and Bella will never be together. Edward includes a note in with the invitation, informing Jacob that he is under no obligation to come to the wedding, but if Edward would have been in Jacob's position, he would have wanted the opportunity to choose to go to the wedding. The book ends with Jacob in his wolf form, running to escape from the pain he's feeling from Bella's final choice. Though he is hurt by Bella choosing Edward over him but is even more angered by her decision to "kill herself" by becoming a vampire. He also intends to "leave Jacob Black behind".

Mike Newton

Mike Newton is a generically popular boy at Bella's new high school who 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 every day. Mike frequently tries to ask Bella out, but she always declines. In New Moon, after a movie date with 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 accepts that Edward is Bella's boyfriend. Eventually (perhaps because of previous feelings for Bella), Mike changes his hairstyle, attempting to copy Edward's "casual disarray", but Edward's style simply can not be reproduced. In New Moon before Jacob comforted her, Bella tried to become friends again, after four months of 'being a zombie'. Mike became friends although not with the same enthusiasm.

Tyler Crowley

After nearly killing Bella in a car accident, Tyler felt obligated to make things even. He unsuccessfully asked Bella out to the turnaround dance. After Bella declines, insisting that she must go to Seattle that day, he insists on taking Bella to prom. He told the whole school and convinced most of the students that he was taking Bella to prom. He showed up at Bella's house on prom night, only to be told by Edward that she will be unavailable as far as anyone but himself is concerned.

Eric Yorkie

Eric, like Mike Newton, immediately took an interest in Bella when she arrived in Forks. Bella described him as being the "overly eager" chess club type, and he was one of the three boys (Mike, Tyler and himself) who asked Bella to the spring dance, though she declined all three. He develops a rivalry with Mike Newton, and then they both gang up on Tyler. His friendship sways and mostly falls after Bella goes through depression in absence of Edward. He is also the valedictorian of his graduating class.

Movie Portrayals

On November 16, 2007 it was announced that Kristen Stewart had won the role of Bella. Meyer stated that she is "very excited" to see Stewart play the part.

See also

• Edward and Bella
• Bella and Jacob
• Bella and Alice

External links

• "Official website of Stephenie Meyer"
• "Twilight Lexicon"