Edward Cullen

"There's something... strange about the way you two are together... The way he watches you—it's so... protective. Like he's about to throw himself in front of a bullet to save you or something."

- Renee Dwyer on Edward.

Edward Cullen (born Edward Anthony Masen Jr. on June 20, 1901) was a vampire and a member of the Olympic Coven. He was the adoptive son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen and the adoptive brother of Alice and Emmett Cullen, as well as Jasper and Rosalie Hale respectively. Edward was the husband of Isabella Cullen and the father of Renesmee Cullen.

After contracting Spanish influenza in 1918, Edward was transformed into a vampire by Carlisle Cullen, as the only alternative to death. Over the next ninety years the pair gathered a family of vampires around themselves, and devoted their lives to "vegetarianism". Edward eventually fell in love with Isabella Swan and with her fathered a half-vampire and half-human daughter, Renesmee Cullen, before transforming his beloved into a vampire so that they could be together for all eternity.

Early Life
Edward Cullen was born Edward Anthony Masen on June 20th 1901. He wanted to be a soldier and fight in World War I while he was growing up. However, that changed when he and his parents caught the Spanish Influenza in 1918. His father, Edward Masen Sr., died in the first wave of the influenza. His mother Elizabeth Masen asked the physican Dr. Carlisle Cullen, who was taking care of them to do everything within his power to save her son before she died a few hours later. Carlisle acted on her wishes and took Edward from the hospital shortly after he took Elizabeth to the morgue. He brought him to his house where he changed him into a vampire in 1918. Edward had a very rebellious period at the beginning of his vampire life and used his ability to read minds to prey on only the worst people of society. He later regretted everything he did and went back to Carlisle's side and his way of life. Over the next 80 to 90 years, Edward watched his family grow, with the additions of his adoptive brothers Jasper Hale and Emmett Cullen, and adoptive sisters Rosalie Hale and Alice Cullen. Rosalie was originally meant for him, but he never saw her as anything more than a sister. He also watched how everyone in his family found love and that he was the only one who didn't. However, that all changed when he met Bella Swan and thirsted for her blood. He convinced himself that he loved Bella and not her scent, and she agreed.

Twilight and Midnight Sun
Edward is rather manically depressed and sullen, and his family notices his brooding misanthropy. When the new girl, Bella Swan, moves to town, he listens to everyone's thoughts about her, and how all of the boys already like her. He feels protective of her, trying desperately to rationalize his feelings of lust over her scent. For example: she is forced to sit next to him in Biology and he smells her blood. He insanely wants to kill her, and thinks about massacring the whole class as well. Upon revealing his feelings to his family, it is suggested he leave for Denali, should he cause disappointment to his parents, in particular Carlisle. Edward then travels to Denali, Alaska to stay with some family friends. A week later, he returns, with his family being extremely overprotective of him, watching for any signs of danger. He then introduces himself to Bella, and is fascinated by her blood and by the fact that he can't read her mind, and because of that he isn't quick to dismiss her like he would any other human. She answers all of his questions in different ways than he thought she would, mostly because he cannot read her thoughts ahead of time. He saves her from Tyler's van, and then refuses to speak to her for several months. But after all the time not speaking to her, the other boys, Mike Newton in particular think that nothing is going on between the two and decide to make a move on her. As Edward watches them, he realizes that he starting to feel jealous of these boys and decides to dismiss it. However, after sneaking into her room one night to watch her sleep, she says his name and he realizes that he is in love with her. Over the next few weeks, he starts to pursue her and after one night together in Port Angles, he discovers that she knows what he is and that she has fallen in love with him too. The two then start a passionate love affair. After a while, Edward invites Bella over to his house to meet his family who immediatley have a great liking to Bella.

With that, he then invites Bella to go watch them play baseball. They do so, but then three vampires show up, and one of them, a tracker, James, decides that Bella is his new victim. Edward goes crazy, and sends Bella down to Phoenix with Jasper and Alice. When he learns from Alice that Bella will eventually end up in the same room as James, (neither know that she is planning on giving herself over to him to save everyone else) he gets on a plane to Pheonix. When he arrives, he learns that Bella has escaped. He gets to the ballet studio just in time, and saves Bella from James, but refrains from killing him, letting Emmett and Jasper do it instead. He sees that James bit Bella, and he sucks the venom out, which he says was the hardest thing he ever had to do, and that it was impossible to stop. He then takes a very reluctant Bella to prom,



New Moon
The story of New Moon begins with Bella being very upset by her 18th birthday, because she'll be older than the permanently 17-year-old Edward. During her birthday party Bella accidentally cuts herself, and his brother Jasper's instinctive hunger for Bella's blood reminds Edward of the continual danger their relationship puts her in. In a misguided attempt to protect Bella, he convinces her that he does not love her anymore and moves away with his family, leaving her heartbroken as if her life as she knew it ceased to exist. Although Edward lived as a vampire without romantic love for nearly a century before meeting Bella, he finds it difficult to live without her, becoming severely depressed at the prospect of an infinitely long and meaningless life. After he mistakenly learns from his sister Rosalie that Bella has committed suicide, Edward attempts to convince a group of Italian vampires, the Volturi, to kill him. Together with his sister Alice, Bella rushes to Italy and stops Edward before the Volturi can destroy him. Bella met the Volturi and Edward and Alice found out that Bella is immune to other vampire powers. After he and Bella return from Italy, Edward explains why he left and apologizes to Bella. She forgives him entirely, and they continue on with their relationship as if Edward had never left. Upon realizing that their current situation– fear for Bella's humanity while they are together– is untenable, Bella successfully seeks the support of Edward's family for the idea of turning her into a vampire. Edward becomes furious at the thought of Bella losing her humanity in order to be with him, but later agrees to change her himself if she agrees to marry him first.

Eclipse
Eclipse continues the drama of Bella and Edward's relationship. Edward explains that he is reluctant to change Bella into a vampire because he believes that vampires are souless creatures who have no place in heaven. Bella, whose opinion of marriage is jaded by the early divorce of her own parents, agrees to marry Edward on the condition he will make love with her while she is still human. He initially refuses, saying that he could easily lose control in the heat of the moment, however, seeing how important it is to Bella, he agrees to try and make love with her while she is still human, but only after they are married.

The plot is driven by the machinations of the vampire Victoria, who first met Bella and the Cullens during the first book, Twilight. Victoria, seeking revenge for the death of her mate James, is hunting Bella and creating Newborn vampires to build an army. To combat this threat, a grudging truce is made between the Cullens and the Native-American werewolf pack led by Sam Uley and Jacob Black, a friend of Bella's who was there for her when Edward broke her heart. However, the truce is endangered when Bella, despite her engagement to Edward, realizes that she also loves Jacob. Edward surprisingly accepts this, and Bella realises that she loves Edward more than Jacob. Soon after this, Victoria finds Bella's hiding spot, but Edward kills her.

After the battle, Bella visits Jacob and tells him that she has chosen Edward over him. Edward spends the night holding Bella as she cries. After she calms down, Edward asks Bella if she is sure that chosing him was the right decision, since he had never seen her in such pain. Bella, who had been in worse pain when Edward left her, assures him that she can live without Jacob, but not him. After hiring Alice to plan out their wedding, Edward tells Bella that they can sleep together before they get married, as he realizes that she spends too much of her life trying to please other people. However, she refuses his offer and says that she will do everything the right way: marriage, making love, and then becoming a vampire. Bella then tells Edward that they need to tell Charlie about their engagement.

Edward later secretly invites Jacob to his and Bella's wedding, thinking that Jacob deserves the choice to come or not.

Breaking Dawn
Near the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Edward marries Bella in a beautiful ceremony orchestrated by Alice. The reception, however has a minor disturbance: Jacob unexpectedly arrived, and eventually became violent towards Bella when he found out about her plans to make love with Edward while she was still human. Soon after, Edward and Bella spend their honeymoon on Isle Esme, a small island that was given to Esme as a gift from Carlisle. They consummate their marriage, but Edward's passionate lovemaking sparks a fight between the newlywed couple: Edward is horrified that he has bruised and battered his new wife, but Bella insists that she is fine and wants Edward to lie with her again. He vows not to make love to her again whilst she is still human, but eventually gives in. Soon afterwards, Bella becomes very sick, and realizes that she is pregnant.

Edward falls into a state of shock and rushes Bella off the island to see Carlisle, who, as a doctor, confirms that she is expecting Edward's child. Edward had previously heard of stories about women dying because they are carrying a vampire's child. Unable to stand the thought of losing Bella, he tries to coerce her into having an abortion in order to save her own life. However, Bella feels a bond with her unborn child and insists on giving birth. Edward doesn't give up so easily, going as far as to ask Jacob if he would conceive a child with Bella. The baby, however, eventually wins Edward over: when it developed enough, Edward was able to hear his child's thoughts, and was both shocked and delighted to find out that it already loves Bella and him. Bella nearly dies giving birth in an emergency c-section, but Edward successfully delivers his baby girl, whom Bella had named Renesmee. Edward then injects Bella's heart with his venom, thus healing her wounds by turning her into a vampire. During Bella's painful transformation, Jacob goes crazy with rage when he thinks Bella died. Blaming Renesmee, he goes to kill her, but ends up imprinting on her instead.

After Bella woke up from her transformation, Edward took her out on her first hunt. He was impressed when Bella was able to resist the smell of human blood. By this time, Edward and Jacob appear to have become friends, despite Edward's annoyance about Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee.

Sometime later, Irina, a vampire from the Denali Coven, mistakes Renesmee for an immortal child, a creation that is forbidden in the vampire world. Irina goes to the Volturi, and the Volturi gather their entire guard together to destroy the Cullens. In the month it takes for the Volturi to arrive, the Cullens turn to all their allies (the La Push werewolves, the Denali Coven, and other vampires) for assistance. When the Volturi arrive, the confrontation comes close to a fight. In the end, however, the Volturi are convinced that Renesmee is not a threat, and they flee.

With the confrontation over, Edward, Bella and Reneesme are free to live their lives forever.

Personality and traits
Like all the vampires in the Twilight series, Edward is described by Bella as being impossibly beautiful. At various points in the series, she compares him to the mythical Greek god Adonis. His skin is "like marble"– very pale, ice cold, and sparkles in the sunlight like diamonds. She describes his facial features as being perfect and angular - high cheekbones, strong jawline, a straight nose, and beautiful, full lips. His hair, which is always in casual disarray, retains the unusual bronze shade that he inherited in his human life from his biological mother. His eyes, once emerald green, are now described as a liquid, golden topaz. His fingers are described often as slender and he is said to have a dazzlingly crooked smile. His appearance changes if he goes long without feeding: his eyes darken, becoming almost black, and purple bruises appear beneath his eyes. Edward stands at 6'2", and he has a slender but muscular build.

Edward is described in the book and by Bella as being charming, polite, determined, and very stubborn. He always puts Bella's safety, humanity and welfare before anything else. He often over-analyzes situations and has a tendency to overreact, especially in situations where Bella's safety is at risk. He retains some of the traditional mindset and outdated speech from his human life in the early 20th century, and can be very romantic. The development of the Edward Cullen character was influenced by Gilbert Blythe, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Edward Rochester– particularly the latter, who, like Edward Cullen, sees himself as a "monster". Edward is also musical, able to play the piano like a virtuoso. He enjoys a wide range of music, including classical, jazz, progressive metal, alternative rock, punk rock, but dislikes country. He prefers indie rock to mainstream, and appreciates rock and classical music equally. He mentions in Twilight that he likes music from the fifties better than the sixties, and dislikes the seventies entirely and comments that the eighties were "just bearable". A hobby of Edward's is collecting cars. He owns a Volvo S60R and an Aston Martin Vanquish as a "special occasion" car. He also gave his sister Alice a Porsche 911 Turbo as a gift in Eclipse. He bought a motorcycle to ride alongside Bella, but gave it to Jasper after Bella didn't believe she could keep up with Edward's bike. He is described as a gentleman by Esme in the books.

Powers and Abilities
Edward, like all vampires in the Twilight series, possesses superhuman beauty, strength, speed, endurance, and agility. Also, Edward is said to be the fastest out of the Cullen family. His scent and voice are enormously seductive, so much so that he occasionally sends Bella into a pliant daze entirely by accident. In Twilight, Edward explains that like other vampires, he does not need to breathe, though he chooses to do so out of habit and because it is helpful to smell his environment. He cannot digest regular food, and compares its attractiveness for him to the prospect of eating dirt for a regular person. As well, like other vampires, Edward is not able to sleep. Edward also posseses the ability to read people's thoughts. However he cannot read Bella's thoughts as she is a "shield".

Relationships
Edward Cullen is brother to Emmett Cullen, Alice Cullen, Rosalie Hale, and Jasper Hale. He is an adopted son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen. He is also the husband of Bella Swan and father of Renesmee Carlie Cullen.

Bella Swan
Bella Swan is Edward's wife. Edward had a strong attraction to Bella's blood, making it extremely difficult for him to even be in her presence. Early on in Twilight, Edward struggled to stay away from Bella in an attempt to protect her, but he eventually convinced himself that his lust for her scent was a budding love for her despite his apprehensions. For this reason Edward sees himself as selfish, knowing that he should stay away from Bella for her safety, but not being able to bring himself to do it. As much as he loves her scent, Edward was averse to changing Bella into a vampire, despite her strong desire to become one, because of his belief that vampires are damned and soulless creatures. However, in Eclipse he agrees to do so after they are married, and she eventually accepts his proposal. Bella and Edward marry during Breaking Dawn, and Edward later changes her into a vampire to keep her from dying in childbirth. In the end of Breaking Dawn, Edward and Bella are free to live their lives with their daughter Renesmee  Nessie  Cullen.

Rosalie Hale
Rosalie Hale was changed into a vampire by Carlisle Cullen after he found her near death in the street. She has blonde hair and is described as the most beautiful woman in the world. Carlisle had originally hoped that she would be a daughter to him and a romantic companion for Edward. However, their feelings for each other remained those of loyal siblings, and Rosalie eventually fell in love with Emmett Cullen instead. Initially, Rosalie was very irritated by the fact that Edward never showed any romantic interest in her, but she soon found out no one had been good enough for Edward until Bella's scent 'sang' to him and he could not read her thoughts.

Tanya
Tanya is a strawberry-blonde vampire who lives in Denali, Alaska with her family, the only other known group of vampires who, like the Cullens, have chosen not to feed on the blood of human beings. She expressed an interest in Edward when they first met, but he turned her down in a characteristically gentlemanly way. Edward later tells Bella that Tanya poses no threat to their relationship, teasing Bella that he prefers brunettes.



Etymology
Edward means "rich guard". This name might refer to his protective love for Bella.

Behind the scenes
Stephenie Meyer claimed on her website that "The only actor I've ever seen who I think could come close to pulling off Edward Cullen is Henry Cavill." She also felt that any actor who portrayed him must be younger than 21. Amongst the fans on her site, Hayden Christensen was the most popular choice for an actor, and Robert Pattinson was second. However, as she notes there, neither she, nor they, could choose the actor. In the end, Robert Pattinson was cast as Edward Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight.

Appearances

 * Twilight (First appearance)
 * Twilight (film)
 * New Moon
 * Eclipse
 * Breaking Dawn