Bella Swan and Edward Cullen

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen are undoubtedly one of the most popular couples in the Twilight series. When they first meet, Edward finds it hard to be around Bella; even though he is a "vegetarian" vampire (he and his family don't attack humans, but rather animals), he lusts for her blood. The want is so overwhelming, he considers slaying her on the spot, as well as the twenty other surrounding schoolchildren, to remove all living witnesses. He also discovers that his mind-reading powers do not affect her. 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.



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, 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, saying that he would "love her at any age".

As the next book in the series, New Moon, begins, 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, and she receives a paper cut while unwrapping one of her gifts, and Edward's brother, Jasper Hale, tries to attack her.

Bella soon finds out that, when she is in danger, she can hear Edward's voice clearly in her mind. When wanting to here 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, because Rosalie tells him what Alice saw, travels to Volterra, Italy to have the Volturi kill him, and end his loveless 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 promises to never leave her again.

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. Later, while Bella is visiting Jacob, he admits that he is in love with her, and forcefully kisses her.

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.

In the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Bella and Edward are married, in a beautiful ceremony, orchestrated by Alice. 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. She becomes pregnant 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 it has been breaking her ribs by accident. Edward had asked Jacob to try to convince her to kill the baby that was killing her, but Bella couldn't, because she loved it. Edward then suggests for Bella to drink blood, and she becomes stronger. Edward realizes that he can hear the baby's thoughts, and starts to want to not kill the baby anymore when he hears that the baby "absolutely adores Bella." Jacob remarks that Edward could never hate anyone who loved Bella, which is why Edward did not hate him.

She names her child Renesmee, but then her heart stops beating. Edward injects her heart with some of his own venom and bites her body in several places, turning Bella into a vampire. Jacob imprints on Renesmee, unbeknownst to Bella.

---