Charlie Swan

"No matter what side I'm on, if someone kisses you without your permission, you should be able to make your feelings clear without hurting yourself."

- Charlie on Bella Swan hitting Jacob Black

Charlie Swan is the father of Bella Swan and the grandfather of Renesmee Cullen and Chief of Police in Forks, Washington. He is also the father-in-law of Edward Cullen, Bella's husband.

History
Charlie and Bella's mother, Renée, were not married for long, possibly because they got married very young. Renée left her husband soon after Bella's birth and took Bella with her, leaving Charlie heartbroken. Bella only saw her dad for two weeks in the summertime. Charlie was still in love with Renée, but came to accept that she didn't love him any longer. Charlie is good friends with Billy Black, who lives on a reservation near La Push. Billy's son Jacob, becomes a good friend of Bella.

Twilight
Charlie lives in Forks, Washington, and when his daughter Bella is 17 she moves in with him while her mother moves to Florida with her new husband. After a couple of months, Bella falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire who also lives in Forks. Charlie is surprised, and tentatively accepts Bella's choice, oblivious to the fact that Edward is a vampire. The couple believes that it is for the best that Charlie doesn't know the truth about Edward and his family. In the Twilight movie, Charlie is constantly making sure that Bella has pepper spray with her. When she goes to prom, he puts a new can of pepper spray in her bag, not trusting Edward after what happened when she went out with him previously. However, he is accepting of Edward being Bella's boyfriend.

New Moon
In New Moon, Edward leaves with his family, claiming he no longer loves Bella, with the intention of keeping her safe. Bella falls into a deep depression, leaving Charlie hurt because of his inability to help her. He decides that Bella should go to Jacksonville to live with her mother, to no avail. Later, Alice Cullen, believing that Bella was dead, had come back in confusion, and upon hearing that Edward is going to commit suicide Bella runs off with her, leaving Charlie worried sick. After their return, Charlie bans Edward from the house, no longer trusting him, and forbids Bella from seeing him again. Bella threatens to move out if he doesn't retract his decisions, and Charlie grudgingly agrees though still grounds her in hopes of putting some distance between her and Edward. Charlie shows an obvious preference for Jacob Black, as he "stitched Bella up" after Edward left.

Eclipse
In Eclipse, Charlie still mistrusts Edward and worries that Bella's whole life is revolving around the Cullens. As a result, he agrees to end Bella's grounding under the condition that she spend time with her other friends, particularly Jacob. Charlie makes it clear that he wants Bella to choose Jacob over Edward, especially when he approves of Jacob forcing a kiss on Bella.

Throughout the book Charlie is very worried about the mysterious murders happening in Seattle, which are being committed by Victoria, the mate of James, a vampire who once tracked Bella and was killed after the attempt. Towards the end of the book, he spends time in La Push with Billy as a ploy by Bella and the werewolves to keep him safe during the fight against Victoria and her army of newborn vampires.

Near the end of the book, Charlie has a feeling that he is going to lose Bella, and tells her to give him a warning if she decides to run off. Sometime later, Bella comes home after visiting Jacob and tells Charlie that she had chosen Edward over him, and that they had broken off. Charlie is disappointed over it, and also disapproves of her telling Jacob while he was recovering from his injuries. Charlie is forced to accept her choice, pointing out that Edward seems to care for Bella's safety more than Jacob does. Bella and Edward later decide to tell him about their engagement, saying that it is highly dangerous, as he will probably be against it.

Breaking Dawn
At the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Bella reminisces on the day she and Edward informed Charlie about their engagement. Charlie reacts with rage when he initially thinks Bella is pregnant, but calms down when told that this isn't the case. Knowing that Renée is strongly against early marriage, Charlie does not express his own disapproval, but tells Bella that she will have to inform her mother about it herself. It turns out, however, that Renee's feelings about marriage apply only to herself and Charlie, and she accepts Bella's choice wholeheartedly. After this, Charlie feels like there is nothing he can do, and begrudgingly accepts Bella's marriage to Edward. Meanwhile, Charlie also starts a search for Jacob who ran away after being rejected by Bella.

When Charlie hears that Bella and Edward are back from their honeymoon, he is told that he can't see her. He goes crazy with worry when Carlisle falsely tells him that Bella has picked up a rare illness in South America. In reality, she was pregnant with a half-human half-vampire baby, and it was growing at an abnormal rate.

A little over a month later, Bella gives birth to Renesmee. Jacob imprints on the baby, Renesmee, curing him from his broken heart over Bella. When Jacob learns about the Cullens' plans of moving, he believes that Charlie is the reason. Unwilling to be separated from Renesmee, he informs Charlie about their world, in the hope that his new knowledge will keep the Cullens around, going to the extent of phasing into his wolf-form in front of him. Charlie is shocked to discover the existence of a mythical world, but orders Jacob (and later Bella) not to let him know any more than what is necessary. He talks to Bella (who by now had become a vampire), and meets his granddaughter for the first time. Edward says Renesmee is his niece, and that he and Bella are adopting her. Charlie, however, figures out the truth when he stares into Renesmee's chocolate brown eyes; his chocolate brown eyes. He agrees, however, to stick with what is going to be the public story to protect them. He coos over Renesmee constantly, and states that she is prettier than any baby he has ever seen, including Bella. He is also cheered by the fact that Renesmee's middle name is Carlie, a combination of Carlisle and Charlie. He and Bella also agree not to tell Renée about the mythical world or about Renesmee, since they knew she wouldn't be able to handle it.

By the end of the book, Charlie has grown close to his new family, and appears to have developed a romantic relationship with Sue Clearwater. His friendship with Billy Black, however, is said to not be what it once was.

Personality
Edward finds Charlie's thoughts hard to read at times, and he feels the emotional direction behind his thoughts is opposed to the words. When Bella got in a near-car accident in Twilight/Midnight Sun, Edward saw that Charlie loves and cares for Bella much more than he likes to let her know. Also, he enjoys spending time by himself watching baseball or fishing; this was passed on to Bella, who was quite the loner herself before meeting the Cullens. It is also stated that Bella got her clumsiness from Charlie.

Bella has said that her relationship with her father is quite odd, but she found Charlie easier to live with since he respects her privacy when she needs it even though he is protective of her. Charlie is described as overbearing at times but loving. It is made obvious in the book, that Charlie has a hard time trying to be involved in Bella's life because he is shyer than her mother. Charlie tries to accept Edward as Bella's boyfriend in Twilight, but he resents him after he leaves in New Moon causing Bella's depression.

Physical appearance
He has a mustache and curly brown hair. However in the movies he has straight brown hair.

Relationships
Charlie is the father of Bella Swan, the ex-husband of Renée Dwyer, the father-in-law of Edward Cullen and the maternal grandfather of Renesmee Cullen.



Bella Swan
"One of the best things about Charlie - he doesn't hover."

- Bella on Charlie

Bella Swan is Charlie's daughter. He loves her deeply even though they don't speak often. When Charlie got a divorce from his wife, Renée Dwyer, she moved to California taking Bella with her. In the early years after the divorce Bella used to visit him in Forks every summer, when it became apparent that Bella hated Forks. While she was there, they would go fishing, among other things which Bella also hated. Eventually it became Charlie who went to visit her. At the age of seventeen, in her junior year of high school, Bella moved back to Forks in order to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer. Charlie respects her privacy, and they often spend comfortable moments of silence together. After moving in, Bella began to do the cooking around the house which Charlie seemed to appreciate, even though he doesn't say anything. He is very protective over her, rushing to her school when he heard there was an accident, and even distrusting Edward after the fight they had. He was sad when Bella told him she was leaving, being reminded how Renée had left him.

After Bella married Edward, mothered Renesmee and became a vampire, Jacob tells him of the supernatural world and that Bella has become more involved with it, without telling her that she's become a vampire. Despite he was shocked by the change, he learns to cope with it and stay as a part of her life.



Renée Dwyer
"She seems different, she seems happy. Phil sounds like an alright guy."

- Charlie on Renée

Renée Dwyer is Charlie's ex-wife, who divorced him after having Bella, since she realized she had rushed into marriage too early and too young. He begged her to stay, but she refused and left with Bella, who was still a baby at the time. Charlie still cares about Renée and expresses to Bella his contentment in her happiness with Phil, her second husband. Renée remains in touch with Charlie occasionally.

After he learns that Bella has become involved with the supernatural and gone through a "change", he agrees to keep Renée in the dark to protect her, and makes her think that Bella has contracted an illness that prohibits her from visiting. He also keeps her in the dark about their grandchild, Renesmee.

Renesmee Cullen
"Pretty baby."

- Charlie murmuring to the sleeping Renesmee

Renesmee Cullen is Charlie's granddaughter. Bella gave birth to Renesmee one month after she married Edward. He first meets her after Jacob tells him about the mythical world.

Although Edward and Bella tell him that they're adopting her, he discovers their biological relation once he looks into her eyes (which he recognizes as his own) for the first time, but decides to stick to the adoption as their public story.

It does not take long before he devotes his love to her, and, by the end of the year, they have grown very close to each other. He also calls her by the nicknames "Nessie" and, sometimes, "Ness". Bella and Edward have prohibited Renesmee from using her powers, biting him, or speaking aloud, since she appears physically too young to be able to speak, though she still unintentionally startles him by doing something too advanced for her apparent age.



Edward Cullen
Edward Cullen is Charlie's son-in-law. Even though Charlie liked the Cullens, he became a little defensive when Edward started dating his daughter Bella. His dislike grows into hatred when Edward and his family leave Forks, leaving Bella in an emotional depression that lasted for half a year. Though his return made her normal again, Charlie's dislike of him continued, but he came to respect his daughter's choice, even walking her down the aisle to marry Edward.

They grew closer to each other once he was introduced to the supernatural world, now being able to see Edward, Bella, and Renesmee more often.



Alice Cullen
"Me he likes."

- Alice to Bella on Charlie's fondness of her

Alice Cullen is Charlie's in-law-family member, Edward's adoptive sister. Despite he doesn't like Edward, he takes fond of Alice, which he shows when she visits Bella in New Moon. This fondness continues to take place in Eclipse. However, after finding out that Alice is part of the supernatural world, they seem to have slipped off, though Charlie visits her family daily.



Jacob Black
Jacob Black is the son of Charlie's best friend, Billy Black. Charlie had always thought of Jacob as a good kid, but after Jacob helped Bella become happier and normal after Edward's departure, Charlie began to like him even more. Charlie also states that he'd prefer Bella being with Jacob rather than Edward, saying that it wouldn't hurt for Edward to have a little competition. But after believing Jacob was injured in a motorcycle accident, he realizes that Edward does care for Bella's safety a bit more than Jacob does. When Jacob disappeared, Charlie set out the force to find him to no avail. When Bella chose Edward over Jacob, Charlie was a little disappointed but quickly respected her choice.

In Breaking Dawn when Jacob reveals to Charlie that he can transform into a giant wolf, Charlie becomes a bit frightened and tense around Jacob. However, they remain on good terms, and Charlie begins to cope with this fact, becoming more comfortable around him.



Billy Black
Billy Black is Charlie's best friend, and a disabled Quileute elder. They have always been close to each other. Both of them enjoy watching baseball and fishing. Because of this relationship, Billy kindly warned Bella about being involved with the Cullens.

However, after he found out about the supernatural in Breaking Dawn, Bella notices that their friendship is not as it used to be.



Sue Clearwater
Sue Clearwater is the mother of Leah and Seth Clearwater, and Harry Clearwater's wife.

After Bella married Edward and became a vampire, Sue started visiting Charlie to keep him company and help him adjust to the supernatural. She becomes his personal cook, and is always at his house to make dinner for him, mostly due to his terrible cooking. It has often been assumed, but never proven, that a romantic relationship exists between the two of them.

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight film
 * New Moon
 * New Moon film
 * Eclipse
 * Eclipse film
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn Part I
 * Breaking Dawn Part II
 * Midnight Sun

Film portrayal
Actor Billy Burke was given the role of Charlie in Twilight. He reprised his role in New Moon and Eclipse, and has been confirmed to reprise his role one last time in Breaking Dawn. He is often given most of the jokes in the first three films, and has been acclaimed as the saga's most lovable character.