Bree Tanner

"How can you stand it? I want her."

- Bree, about Bella Swan

Bree Tanner was a vampire created by Victoria, with the purpose of fighting to kill the Cullen family with her army of newborn vampires. Despite her ignorance of the vampire laws, her act of surrendering, and showing adequate control of herself, she was cruelly executed by members of the Volturi by Jane's order.

Early Life
Bree lived with her abusive father while she was a human. Her mother left when she was younger. When she felt that she'd had enough of her father's abusive treatment, she ran away from home. Food was a big problem for Bree once she left home; she either stole or looked in garbage. Three weeks later, she encounters Riley, who "offers her a burger", and takes her to Victoria (her face shrouded from the shadows) and turned her into a vampire and a member of her army.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Three months after she became a vampire, Bree went hunting with Kevin, a blond kid calling himself "Spider-Man", and an obedient vampire named Diego. After breaking away from the two kids, Bree and Diego went hunting alone and used the time to talk to each other. They later discover that vampires aren't vulnerable to sunlight, but rather sparkle like diamonds. When their army left Seattle without leaving a clue, Bree and Diego set off to find them on their own until they finally caught their scent and followed it to their new location.

While Riley went to visit Victoria, Bree and Diego followed him to tell him of their discovery, only to find out more than they've expected about the world of vampires. Diego proceeded his plan while Bree went back to their group and awaited their return. However, Riley told Bree later that Diego had gone with Victoria to watch the Cullens after he told the army of the plan to destroy the "yellow-eyes". Though Bree was suspicious of their real agenda, she decided to stick with them. When the army prepares for war, her friend, Fred, decided to leave and explore the world, and asked Bree to join him. Though she wanted to, she decided to stay until she found Diego.

When the Cullens and werewolves had destroyed most of her army, she found no trace of Diego whatsoever and figured out that Victoria and Riley had killed him. She surrendered to the Cullens to save herself, and Carlisle agreed to be responsible for her and teach her the vampire laws, but in the end she died because Jane ordered Felix to kill and burn her.

Eclipse
When the Volturi arrived in Forks, Washington with other members of the Volturi guard, Jane demanded Bree tell her about her creator - Victoria. Bree knew nothing of Victoria, as most of the newborns never got to see her face or know her name. She didn't remember much of the night she was transformed, except for feeling this burning on her skin". Victoria never allowed the newborns to see her at all, she made Riley do all the controlling. It was Riley that manipulated them all into fighting; telling them that they must destroy the "yellow eyes".

It is obvious she didn't contribute that much, because otherwise she would have been killed instantly by the Cullens. Bree was the last of the newborns to be killed. Once Victoria and Riley had been killed and burnt, Edward and Bella made their way over to the rest of the Cullens, where they stood by Bree. She had surrendered, as she didn't see the point of fighting, asking that they wouldn't kill her, and she wouldn't attack them. She found it very hard to resist Bella's blood, but managed. The Volturi arrived, and Jane asked them questions. Jane concluded that Bree was a criminal, despite her ignorance of the laws, and ordered her to be killed after torturing her with her power. Felix killed her; she didn't fight back, and she was burnt to death.'

Carlisle was deeply saddened about what happened, and he would have welcomed her to his coven as she showed her the ability to control her thirst from Bella.

Physical appearance
Bree is described as a young girl of about 15. She is said to be slender with waist-length dark hair. She possesses the glowing, red eyes indicative of a newborn vampire. She has a high-pitched voice and a shrill scream.

Personality and traits
Bree didn't really like being a vampire, although she was used to it. She longed for her normal life. She liked to read books, and was in love with one of the other newborn vampires, Diego. She believed in urban vampire legends and, at first, was afraid of stakes and the sun. When she discovered these couldn't harm her, she was relieved. Although she was on the bad side, she did not wish to be bad, but was forced to be. She only played along with it to ensure her own safety. When the army came to attack the Cullen family, she sided with them. However, Bree did not recieve a chance or a choice from the Volturi, and she was punished anyway.

Although Bree found it hard to resist her desire for Bella's blood, she demonstrated a great amount of self control, especially for a newborn vampire. She also seems mildly innocent to Victoria's plans.

Diego
"Diego grinned at me, his face beautiful with light, and suddenly, with a deep lurch in my stomach, I realized that the whole BFF thing was way off the mark. It was just that fast....But even though Diego looked like his normal self again -not made of blazig light anyway- I knew he would never look the same to me. That tingly sensation in the pit of my stomach was still there. I had a feeling it would be there permanently."

- Bree on Diego about having fallen in love with him

Diego was one of the Seattle newborn army. He was Bree's only vampire friend and proved to her that vampires did not die in sunlight. He and Bree spend time together one night when they are out hunting and he shows her undue kindness in letting her drink the blood of a girl he has knocked out. After spending time together in a cave to escape the sunlight the two of them become good friends and Bree falls in love with him when she sees him sparkling in the sunlight. He and Bree find out that they are not being told the truth by Riley and that they are just pawns in Victoria's vampire army. Diego confronts Riley about being able to survive sunlight and Riley kills him in case he tells the other newborns.

Fred
Fred was part of the newborn army, and the only one with a gift. Because his "gift" allowed him to repulse vampires who wanted to pick a fight with him, Bree was constantly hiding in his shadows to stay out of trouble. About six days before the army moved out to attack the Cullens, a vampire approached Diego to pick a fight, and Fred inflicted him and his group with his power to save her. About one day before they fought the Cullens, Fred and Bree started forming a friendship together. Fred wanted to explore the vampire world on his own, and asked Bree to come with him. Though she agreed, she told him she needed to go with the group to find Diego. Fred agreed to wait for them in Riley Park, in Vancouver, but he would wait no longer than one day, then he would go alone. Right before the Volturi killed her, she telepathically asked Edward to be nice to "him" if they ever were to meet him in the future.

Film portrayal
In the film of Eclipse, Bree will be portrayed by Canadian actress Jodelle Ferland. Jodelle is best known for starring as the main character in Silent Hill. She has starred in films with Renee Zellwegger. Her voice was used in the game BioShock 2, as the little sister.

In the movie, a couple of elements from The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner will be used to show what was going on in Seattle.

Appearances

 * Eclipse (First appearance)
 * Eclipse film
 * The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Etymology
Bree is derived from Irish brígh meaning "power, high". Sometimes Bree is short for Brianna, derived from the male form Brian and meaning "brave and strong". It can also mean "hill", the place where the vampire army fought.

While writing Eclipse, Meyer created the character and named her after a fan because she felt the name fit so well.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
On June 5, 2010, Meyer released The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner which tells Bree's story of her final moments of being a vampire. The book picks up a couple of days before her appearance in Eclipse.