Bella Swan and Edward Cullen



Bella Swan and Edward Cullen are the featured couple throughout the Twilight Saga.

Twilight
When they first meet in Twilight, Edward finds it hard to be around Bella; even though he is a "vegetarian" vampire, he lusts for her blood. The want is so overwhelming, he considers killing her on the spot, as well as the twenty other surrounding students, to remove all living witnesses. He attempts to change his biology class to avoid being with her, but fails. He also discovers that his mind-reading powers do not affect her, and instantly believes her to be of interest because he cannot read her droll thoughts and dismiss her, as he has done for most of his vampire life. He temporarily runs away from her, to Alaska, where he stays for a short while. The day after he returns, he saves Bella from being hit by a van, exposing his superhuman strength and speed.

Edward is infatuated with Bella, and can't get her out of his mind. So much to the point that, he sneaks into her room at night to watch her sleep. Then one night, while Bella was dreaming of Edward she said his name in her sleep. Edward then realized that he loved her. After yet again saving Bella in Port Angeles, Bella tells him that she knows about him being a vampire and that it "doesn't matter", proving that she loved him as well.

Bella and Edward become closer; Edward invites her over to meet his family, and she is later invited to their baseball game. During the game, danger reveals itself in the form of a visiting vampire coven consisting of Laurent, Victoria, and James. James tricks Bella into confronting him alone in a ballet studio she once went to as a child, and all of the Cullens come to her aid, destroying James before he can kill Bella. 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 wanting to become one. At the end of Twilight, Edward takes Bella to the prom, despite her broken leg and her angry protests. As the book ends, there is high tension between the couple over Bella's reasons for wanting to become a vampire, and Edward's reasons for wanting her to stay human, admitting that Carlise is physically younger than Esme and proving that he would "love her at any age".

New Moon
Then the next book in the series, New Moon, begins with Bella is celebrating her eighteenth birthday. She is depressed, because this is the day that she becomes physically older than Edward, who is perpetually 17. Edward invites her over to his family's house to celebrate. She receives a paper cut while unwrapping one of her gifts, and Edward's brother, Jasper Hale, tries to attack her.

As result, Edward leaves Forks and Bella, telling her that he no longer loves her, because he thinks that leaving her is the best thing he can do for her. Bella then goes into an immense depression. Bella soon finds out that when she is in danger, she can hear Edward's voice clearly in her mind. When wanting to hear his voice again, she attempts cliff-diving, and nearly drowns in the process. When Alice, who can see into the future, sees her jump, she believes that Bella has committed suicide, and travels to see Bella and see for herself. Edward, believing Bella to be dead from Alice's vision, loses the will to live and travels to Volterra, Italy to have the Volturi kill him, and end his Bella-less misery.

When they stop the Volturi from killing Edward, Edward begs Bella's forgiveness, and then tells her that he loves her, and had always loved her, and always will, and promises to never leave her again. Bella forgives him entirely. Later, after his family votes in favor of Bella becoming a vampire, Edward agrees to do it himself if Bella will marry him first.

Eclipse
When Eclipse begins, Bella receives a letter from Jacob, saying that they cannot be friends anymore. She is saddened by this, but Edward visits her, and her mood greatly improves. Edward becomes "banned" from her home for awhile but he ignores it. Later, while Bella is visiting Jacob, he admits that he is in love with her, and forcefully kisses her, saying that she must either have him as her boyfriend or not at all. Bella is furious at Jacob for this, and nearly ends their friendship.

Meanwhile, Bella still has her heart set on joining Edward and his family as a vampire. But, after consideration, she decides that there is one thing she would like to do while human: have Edward make love with her. Edward immediately refuses this "demand", explaining that although he wants her as much as she wants him, he could easily kill her if he lost control. 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, because of her parent's early divorce, and becomes Edward's fiancée.

Moments before Bella's graduation, she realizes that the army of newborn vampires are under the control of Victoria and therefore will be coming after herself. Having no other allies, the Cullens and the La Push pack of werewolves join forces to battle Victoria and her army. Before the battle, Jacob tells Bella that he will go in battle with the intentions of dying because she won't love him back. Bella tells him to kiss her so he will think she loves him back, but as she kisses him, she realizes that she loves Jacob as well. She also recognizes that her love for Jacob is no comparison to the love she holds for Edward. Once the battle is over and Victoria and her army are defeated, Bella visits Jacob and tells him of her decision to stay with Edward.

Breaking Dawn
In the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Bella and Edward are married, in a beautiful ceremony, orchestrated by Alice. Edward and Bella ask Mr. Webber to change the words, "till death do us part" to the more appropriate "as long as we both shall live". During Bella and Edward's honeymoon, Bella feels a bump on her belly and misses her period, and she realizes she is pregnant with Edward's child. Her pregnancy progresses at an extremely fast rate, and she becomes very sick. She can't keep food down, and is dying. Also, the baby inside of her is so strong that it has been accidentally breaking her ribs. Edward asked Jacob to help him convince her to kill the baby that was killing her, but Bella wouldn't, because she loved it. Jacob then suggests for Bella to drink blood, and she becomes stronger. Edward realizes that he can hear the baby's thoughts, and when he hears that the baby "absolutely adores Bella", he no longer wishes to kill it. Jacob remarks that Edward could never hate anyone who loved Bella, which is why Edward did not hate him.

Bella names her child Renesmee, and Edward injects her heart with some of his venom, turning her into a vampire. Jacob imprints on Renesmee, unknown to Bella. After a vampire named Irina mistakes Renesmee for an immortal vampire child (a creation that is forbidden in the vampire world), the Volturi arrive to destroy the Cullens as punishment for the alleged transgression. Edward stands with Bella and their allies to convince the Volturi that Renesmee is not an immortal child and poses no threat to their existence. Once the Volturi leave, Edward and Bella feel free to live their lives in peace with their daughter. Bella removes the shield on her mind to let Edward read her thoughts for the first time.