Talk:Edward Cullen/@comment-50.9.66.239-20130630181146

Edward Cullen is a very poor character. Why? Well let's examine him. He's flawlessly attractive, exorbitantly wealthy (none of which he obtained through his own actions), highly intelligent, musically gifted, it's firmly established that if he wanted to he could have any woman he wanted, and he not only has the standard vampire superpowers (strength, immortality, invulnerability) but can also read minds. And that is why he is a poor character. His problems and inner conflicts are trivial at best, he lacks any believable flaws, and those he does possess are viewed as being "endearing" and not really weaknesses at all. He is completely unsympathetic to the audience and totally irrelatable. In fact, his only real purpose in the story is to be Bella's love interest. He has no further value beyond that.

Now, let's compare and contrast him with say...Hellboy (the film version). Not only is Hellboy not handsome, he's a slob as well who binges on chili and junkfood. But on the other hand; he works a thankless job, has a boss who's an obnoxious pain in the ass, has a soft spot for cats despite his tough guy persona, and at the end of the day all he really wants to do is watch cartoons and have a beer with his girlfriend. When you factor in the nature vs nurture theme of his character (it's his destiny to destroy the world but the influence of his adoptive human father inspires him to fight to save it instead ) the isolation of being a demon all alone in a world of humans that fear him despite the fact that he means them no harm; and it's clear that he is the superior character to Edward as the audience identifies and sympathizes with Hellboy because they see something of themselves in him.