Edward Cullen

"I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that. As if you could outrun me. As if you could fight me off. I'm designed to kill."

Edward Cullen (born Edward Anthony Masen to Edward and Elizabeth Masen on June 20, 1901) is a vampire and a member of the Olympic Coven. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is the husband of Bella Cullen and the father of Renesmee Cullen. Edward is the adoptive son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen, as well as the son-in-law of Charlie Swan and Renée Dwyer. He is the adoptive brother of Emmett and Alice Cullen, as well as the adoptive brother of Rosalie and Jasper Hale.

After contracting Spanish influenza in 1918, Edward was transformed into a vampire by Carlisle Cullen, as the only alternative to death. Over the next ninety years the pair gathered a family of vampires around themselves, and devoted their lives to "vegetarianism". Edward eventually fell in love with Isabella Swan and with her fathered a half-vampire and half-human daughter, Renesmee Cullen, before transforming his beloved into a vampire.

Early Life
Edward was born on June 20th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. Though he has mentioned that he doesn't remember it too well, he grew up in an old-fashioned family life style. Edward wanted to enlist in the army during World War One while he was growing up. That changed, however, when he and his parents became sick from the Spanish Influenza in 1918. His father, Edward Masen Sr., died in the first wave of the influenza. Before she died, Edward's mother, Elizabeth, begged the doctor who was taking care of them, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, to do everything within his power to save her son. A quote from Elizabeth: "You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward." (New Moon, pg. 40) Carlisle acted on her wishes when Edward was near death himself. After Elizabeth died, Carlisle took Edward from the hospital, brought him to his house, and changed him into a vampire.

Edward had a rebellious period at the beginning of his vampire life and used his mind reading ability to attack the worst people of society. He later regretted this decision and returned to Carlisle's way of life in which animals' blood, not humans', is their source of sustenance. Over the next 80 to 90 years, additional vampires were created by Carlisle as a last resort for the nearly dead and left-for-dead and they became part of the Cullen family, known to vampires as a coven. Esme, a distraught, grieving mother of a dead child, became Carlisle's mate and Edward's adoptive mother. Rosalie Hale, a would-be socialite intended as Edward's mate, never became more to him than a sibling. Emmett Cullen became Edward's adoptive brother after Rosalie found him near death from a bear attack and fell in love with him. Already vampires, Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen sought out and found the Cullens and adopted themselves into the family after both escaping tragic pasts.

Edward, the only member of his family without a mate, never felt a connection to anyone in that way, although in his human life he'd expected that he would marry young, as was the norm. However, that changed when he met Isabella "Bella" Swan and fell in love with her. At first, he was afraid that he would succumb to his true nature and threaten to expose his family by attacking Bella, who forced him to take rash actions to avoid this.

Twilight and Midnight Sun
At the beginning of Twilight, Edward is rather manically depressed and sullen, and his family notices his brooding. They know that he is missing something from his life, but he himself doesn't know. When the new girl, Isabella (Bella) Swan, moves to town, he listens to everyone's thoughts about her to find out what he can, and realizes that all of the boys already like her. He feels protective of her, trying desperately to rationalize his feelings of lust over her scent. For example: she is forced to sit next to him in Biology and he smells her blood. He insanely wants to kill her, and thinks about massacring the whole class as well. Promptly after leaving class he left for Denali, where a fellow "vegetarian" coven lived, to avoid causing disappointment to his parents, in particular Carlisle. A week later, he returns, with his family being extremely overprotective of him, watching for any signs of danger. He then introduces himself to Bella, and is fascinated by her blood and by the fact that he can't read her mind, and because of that he isn't quick to dismiss her like he would any other human. She answers all of his questions in different ways than he thought she would, mostly because he cannot read her thoughts ahead of time. He saves her from Tyler's van, and then refuses to speak to her for a long period of time. But after all the time not speaking to her, the other boys, Mike Newton in particular, think that nothing is going on between the two and decide to make a move on her. As Edward watches them, he realizes that he is starting to feel jealous of these boys, but decides to dismiss it. However, after sneaking into her room one night to watch her sleep, she says his name and he realizes that he is in love with her. Over the next few weeks, he starts to pursue her and after one night together in Port Angeles, he discovers that she knows what he is and that she has fallen in love with him too. The two then form a rather emotional relationship, unlike Rosalie and Emmett's. After a while, Edward invites Bella over to his house to meet his family, who with the exception of Rosalie, immediately take a great liking to Bella.

Alice, Edward's sister, invites them both to come play baseball later. Edward takes Bella to the field, but some unexpected guests show up: James, Laurent, and Victoria. James catches her scent and decides to hunt Bella for sport, as tracking was his obsession. After some thoughts from Bella, Alice, and Emmett, Edward allows them to try to use Bella's plan: Bella convinces Charlie that she is leaving town, and Alice and Jasper take her to hide in Phoenix. Edward tries to lead James away, but loses his trail. He then flies to Phoenix to see Bella and finds James, who has mortally wounded Bella and bitten her hand. Edward's family arrive and destroy James, while Edward sucks the venom out of Bella's system to prevent her from becoming a vampire herself. After they return to Forks, Edward takes Bella to their prom, much to her dismay. He resolves that he isn't going to change her into a vampire, but she is adamant that the discussion isn't over.

New Moon
The story of New Moon begins with Bella being very upset by her 18th birthday, because she'll be "older" than the permanently 17-year-old Edward. During her birthday party Bella accidentally gets a paper cut while unwrapping a present, and Edward's brother, Jasper, attacks her, although members of the Cullen family hold him back while Edward knocks Bella behind him in an attempt to get her away from Jasper. Bella falls through a glass table, receiving an arm laceration and forcing Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, a worried Edward and an apologetic Esme to leave the room. Jasper's instinctive hunger for Bella's blood reminds Edward of the continual danger their relationship puts her in.

In a misguided attempt to protect Bella, he convinces her that he does not want her anymore (though he still loves her), and abandons her in the forest. He moves away with his family, leaving her heartbroken and depressed, as if her life as she knew it ceased to exist. Although Edward lived as a vampire without romantic love for nearly a century before meeting Bella, he finds it difficult to live without her, becoming severely depressed at the prospect of an infinitely long and meaningless life. After he mistakenly learns from his sister Rosalie that Bella has committed suicide, Edward attempts to convince a group of powerful Italian vampires, the Volturi, to kill him. Together with his sister Alice, Bella rushes to Italy and stops Edward before the Volturi can destroy him. Bella meets the Volturi, and Edward and Alice find out that Bella is immune to other vampires' powers as well as theirs. After he and Bella return from Italy, Edward explains why he left and apologizes to Bella. She forgives him entirely, and they continue on with their relationship as if Edward had never left. Upon realizing that their current situation– fear for Bella's humanity while they are together– is untenable, Bella successfully seeks the support of Edward's family for the idea of turning her into a vampire. Edward becomes furious at the thought of Bella losing her humanity in order to be with him, but later agrees to change her himself if she agrees to marry him first.

Sometime later, Jacob Black, a La Push werewolf and friend of Bella who helped her while Edward was gone, confronted them. Edward thanked Jacob for protecting Bella while he was gone, and asked if there was anything he could do to repay him. Jacob said that he wanted Edward to leave and never return, but Edward said that was only in Bella's power. Jacob also reminded Edward (though he hadn't forgotten) about the treaty, saying that it would be broken if he bit Bella. This sparked anger from Bella, protesting that it was none of his business and that it was her choice. Her fury is interrupted by Charlie, who demands that Bella comes inside, and she storms home.

Eclipse
Eclipse continues the drama of Bella and Edward's relationship. Edward explains that he is reluctant to change Bella into a vampire because he believes that vampires are soulless creatures who have no place in heaven. Bella, whose opinion of marriage is jaded by the early divorce of her own parents, agrees to marry Edward on the condition he will make love with her while she is still human. He initially refuses, saying that he could easily lose control in the heat of the moment. However, seeing how important it is to Bella, he agrees to try and make love with her while she is still human, but only after they are married. Meanwhile, Jacob Black declares his feelings for Bella and forcibly kisses her, trying to convince her to leave Edward for him. Bella and Edward are both furious at Jacob for this, and Edward vows to break Jacob's jaw if he ever kisses Bella without her consent again.

The plot is driven by the machinations of the vampire Victoria, who first met Bella and the Cullens during the first book, Twilight. Victoria, seeking revenge for the death of her mate James, is hunting Bella and creating Newborn vampires to build an army. To combat this threat, the Cullens call on the Denali Coven for help, but the Denalis abandon them when the Cullens refuse to let them avenge Laurent's death. It is apparent that Irina was in love with him during a brief stay with her coven. Without any other options, an alliance is made between the Cullens and the Native-American werewolf pack led by Sam Uley and Jacob. However, before the battle starts, Jacob tricks Bella into kissing him and she realizes that she is also in love with him, despite her engagement to Edward. Edward surprisingly accepts this, saying that no matter who Bella chooses he'll be happy as long as she is. Bella realizes that she loves Edward more than Jacob, and chooses him. Soon after this, Victoria and Riley, a newborn whom she pretended to love, find Bella's hiding spot. Edward manages to kill Victoria, with Seth Clearwater killing Riley. The Cullens and the Quileute werewolves, meanwhile, destroy her newborn army.

After the battle, Bella visits Jacob and tells him that she has chosen Edward over him. Edward spends the night holding Bella as she cries over pushing Jacob away. After she calms down, Edward asks Bella if she is sure that choosing him was the right decision, since he had never seen her in such pain. Bella, who had been in worse pain when Edward left her, assures him that she can live without Jacob, but not him. After hiring Alice to plan out their wedding, Edward tells Bella that they can sleep together before they get married, as he realizes that she spends too much of her life trying to please other people. However, she refuses his offer and says that she will do everything the right way: marriage, making love, and then becoming a vampire. Bella then tells Edward that they need to tell Charlie about their engagement.

Edward later secretly invites Jacob to his and Bella's wedding, thinking that Jacob deserves the choice to come or not. The ending shows Jacob running away in his wolf form after seeing the wedding invitation.

Breaking Dawn
Near the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Edward marries Bella in a beautiful ceremony orchestrated by Alice. The reception, however has a minor disturbance: Jacob unexpectedly arrived, and eventually became violent towards Bella when he found out that Edward was going to make love to her before she becomes a vampire, as he fears that Edward will kill her. Soon after, Edward and Bella spend their honeymoon on Isle Esme, a small island that was given to Esme as a gift from Carlisle. They consummate their marriage, but Edward's passionate lovemaking sparks a fight between the newlywed couple: Edward is horrified that he has bruised and battered his new wife, but Bella insists that she is fine and wants Edward to make love to her again. He vows not to so again while she is still human, but eventually gives in. Soon afterwards, Bella becomes very sick, and realizes that she is pregnant when she discovers unused tampons.

Edward falls into a state of shock and rushes Bella off the island to see Carlisle, who, as a doctor, confirms that she is expecting Edward's child. Edward feared that the pregnancy would kill Bella. Unable to stand the thought of losing Bella, he tries to coerce her into having an abortion in order to save her own life. However, Bella feels a bond with her unborn child and insists on giving birth. Edward doesn't give up so easily, going as far as to ask Jacob if he would conceive a child with Bella. The baby, however, eventually wins Edward over: when it developed enough, Edward was able to hear his child's thoughts, and was both shocked and delighted to find out that it already loves Bella and him. Bella nearly dies giving birth in an emergency c-section, but Edward successfully delivers his baby girl with Jacob's help, whom Bella had named Renesmee. Edward then injects Bella's heart with his venom, thus healing her wounds by turning her into a vampire. During Bella's painful transformation, Jacob goes crazy with rage when he thinks Bella died. Blaming Renesmee, he goes to kill her, but ends up imprinting on her instead.

After Bella wakes up from her transformation, Edward takes her out on her first hunt. He is impressed when Bella is able to resist the smell of human blood. Edward and Bella are extremely annoyed by Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee, but Edward later accepts that it was not involuntary. By this time, Edward and Jacob appear to have become friends. Sometime later, Irina, a vampire from the Denali Coven, mistakes Renesmee for an immortal child, a creation that is forbidden in the vampire world. Irina goes to the Volturi, and the Volturi gather their entire guard together to destroy the Cullens. In the month it takes for the Volturi to arrive, the Cullens turn to all their allies (the La Push werewolves, the Denali Coven, and other vampires) for assistance. When the Volturi arrive, the confrontation comes close to a fight. In the end, however, the Volturi are convinced that Renesmee is not a threat, and they flee. With the confrontation over, Edward, Bella and Renesmee are free to live their lives forever.

Physical appearance
Edward is noted to be extremely attractive, like all other vampires in the series. Bella has often described his appearance as similar to the mythical Greek god Adonis. His skin is hard as marble, very pale, and ice cold as described by Bella when she touches his hand, and it sparkles in the sunlight. His facial features are described as perfect and angular - high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a straight nose and full lips. His hair, which is always messy, retains the unusual bronze shade that he inherited from his human life from his biological mother, Elizabeth Masen. His eyes, once green, are now described as topaz. His appearance changes if he goes long without feeding: his eyes darken, becoming pitch black, and purple bruise-like shadows appear beneath his eyes. Edward stands at 6'2", and has a slender but muscular body, and is physically still 17 years old.

Personality and traits


Edward is described in the book and by Bella as being charming, polite, determined, and very stubborn. He easily dazzles human females and persuades them to do his bidding. He always puts Bella's safety, humanity and welfare before anything else, and goes to great lengths to protect her from what he sees as danger. He often over-analyzes situations and has a tendency to overreact, especially in situations where Bella's safety is potentially at risk- evident in his rash decision to disable her vehicle to prevent her from visiting Jacob Black. He retains some of the traditional mindset and outdated speech from his human life in the early 20th century. The development of the Edward Cullen character was influenced by Gilbert Blythe, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Edward Rochester– particularly the latter, who, like Edward Cullen, sees himself as a "monster". Edward puts his free time to great use. The hours when humans sleep but vampires don't are spent reading books and studying languages and music, and is a virtuoso on the piano. Edward enjoys listening to a wide range of music, including classical, jazz, progressive metal, alternative rock, punk rock, but he dislikes country. He prefers indie rock to mainstream, and appreciates rock and classical music equally. He surprises Bella in an early car ride by having Debussy in his CD player. Edward mentions in Twilight that he likes music from the fifties better than the sixties, and dislikes the seventies entirely and comments that the eighties were "just bearable". Edward and his family all enjoy driving fast. A hobby of Edward's is collecting cars. He owns a Volvo S60R ( A C30 in the movie adaptation of Twilight ) and an Aston Martin Vanquish as a "special occasion" car. He also gave his sister Alice a Porsche 911 Turbo as a gift in Eclipse. He bought a motorcycle to ride alongside Bella, but gave it to Jasper after realizing that riding is something that Bella does with Jacob. He is described as a gentleman by Esme in the books.

Powers and abilities
Edward, like all vampires in the Twilight series, possesses superhuman beauty, strength, speed, endurance, agility and durability. Edward is the fastest member of the Cullen family. He and Jasper are the best fighters in their coven, though they are not physically the strongest. His scent and voice are enormously seductive, so much so that he occasionally sends Bella into a pliant daze entirely by accident. In Twilight, Edward explains that like other vampires, he does not need to breathe, though he chooses to do so out of habit and because it is helpful to smell his environment. He cannot digest regular food, and compares its attractiveness for him to the prospect of eating dirt for a regular person. As well, like other vampires, Edward is not able to sleep. Edward also possesses the ability to read people's thoughts as they think them. This is different to Aro's gift which is limited to touch but can access every thought ever heard by one. However he cannot read Bella's thoughts as she is a "shield".

Relationships
Edward is the husband of Bella Cullen and the father of Renesmee Cullen, as well as the son of Edward and Elizabeth Masen. He is also the son-in-law of Charlie Swan and Renée Dwyer and the stepson-in-law of Phil Dwyer. He is the adoptive son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen and the adoptive brother of Emmett, Alice, Rosalie and Jasper.

Edward's relationship with his biological parents, Edward Senior and Elizabeth Masen, was very old-fashioned. He loved them, and it was apparent that his mother loved him as well. In New Moon, Carlisle mentions that it was Elizabeth who made up his mind to transform Edward into a vampire, in order to save his life.

Bella Swan
"Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars—points of light and reason… and then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything."

- Edward to Bella Swan

Bella Swan is Edward's wife. Edward had a strong attraction to Bella's blood, making it extremely difficult for him to even be in her presence. The Volturi called Bella, in their own words, la tua cantante (meaning his singer, because they said that Bella's blood was singing to him). For Edward, Bella is the center of his existence. Early on in Twilight, Edward struggled to stay away from Bella in an attempt to protect her, but he eventually convinced himself that his lust for her scent was a budding love for her despite his apprehensions. For this reason Edward sees himself as selfish, knowing that he should stay away from Bella for her safety, but not being able to bring himself to do it. As much as he loves her scent, Edward was averse to changing Bella into a vampire, despite her strong desire to become one, because of his belief that vampires are damned and soulless creatures. However, in New Moon he agrees to do so after they are married, and she eventually accepts his proposal. Bella and Edward marry during Breaking Dawn, and Edward later changes her into a vampire with venom straight to the heart to keep her from dying in childbirth. At the end of Breaking Dawn, Edward and Bella are free to live their lives with their daughter Renesmee Carlie "Nessie" Cullen.

Rosalie Hale
"I don't want Edward that way, Bella. I never did ― I love him as a brother, but he's irritated me from the first moment I heard him speak."

Rosalie Hale was changed into a vampire by Carlisle Cullen after he found her near death in the street. She has blonde hair and is described as the most beautiful woman in the world. Carlisle had originally hoped that she would be a romantic companion for Edward. However, their feelings for each other remained those of loyal siblings, and Rosalie eventually fell in love with Emmett Cullen instead. Rosalie maintains a deep irritation by the fact that Edward never showed any romantic interest in her, but remains loyal to him as a sister.

Tanya
Tanya is a strawberry-blonde vampire who lives in Denali, Alaska with her family, the only other known group of vampires who, like the Cullens, have chosen not to feed on the blood of human beings. She expressed an interest in Edward when they first met, but he turned her down in a characteristically gentlemanly way. In Twilight, Edward goes to Alaska to buy his time and to think. Tanya helps Edward get through his pain and convince him to go back to Forks. Edward later tells a jealous Bella that Tanya poses no threat to their relationship, teasing Bella that he prefers brunettes.

Seth Clearwater
"Man, you can cook."

- Seth Clearwater to Edward

Seth Clearwater is one of the youngest wolves of the La Push wolf pack.

Originally, there was no interaction between Edward and Seth. When the wolves and Cullens agreed to join together to fight Victoria's army, Seth and Edward ended up fighting side-by-side against Victoria and Riley. After defeating them, there was clearly no hostility between Edward and Seth, despite the fact that wolves and vampires were natural born enemies.

By Breaking Dawn, Seth and Edward have become close friends. This friendship is part of the reason Seth joins Jacob in his revolt against Sam's authority as Alpha when Sam decides to launch an unprovoked attack on the Cullens. Seth also stands with Edward and his family when the Volturi arrive to destroy them.

Jacob Black
"Though you hate me, I must admit that I don't feel the same about you. I think of you as a... a brother in many ways."

- Edward to Jacob

After changing into a werewolf, Jacob develops antagonistic feelings towards Edward because wolves and vampires are mortal enemies. This hatred was also due to the fact that he developed romantic feelings for Bella.

Jacob eventually declares his feelings for Bella, becoming Edward's rival for her love. Despite this, Edward never feels any hatred towards Jacob, even when Jacob tricks Bella into kissing him and Bella realizes she has feelings for him as well. When Bella tells Jacob that she had chosen Edward, Jacob's hatred for Edward reaches its peak while Edward regrets the pain that Jacob is in.

In Breaking Dawn, Jacob's hatred begins to die down when Bella becomes pregnant with Edward's child. While Jacob is furious that Edward has impregnated Bella with a baby that is killing her, they form an unlikely bond because of their mutual hatred for the baby. Jacob feels betrayed when an unborn Renesmee wins Edward over. After her birth, Jacob imprints on Renesmee. While Edward is annoyed by this, he understands that Jacob's imprinting is involuntary. Their relationship becomes much friendlier after this.

When the stand against the Volturi looks like it is going to turn into a fight, Edward says goodbye to Jacob, referring to him as his "son". The situation, however, doesn't turn violent, and by the end of book there is no longer any hostility between Edward and Jacob.

Etymology
Edward means "rich protector". This name might refer to his protective love for Bella. The Gaelic root word 'Evart' also denotes a substance with sparkling qualities.

Behind the scenes
Stephenie Meyer claimed on her website that "The only actor I've ever seen who I think could come close to pulling off Edward Cullen is Henry Cavill."

She also felt that any actor who portrayed him must be younger than 21. Amongst the fans on her site, Hayden Christensen was the most popular choice for an actor, and Robert Pattinson was second. However, as she notes there, neither she, nor they, could choose the actor. In the end, Robert Pattinson was cast as Edward Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight.

Robert Pattinson also played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter.

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight (film)
 * New Moon
 * The Twilight Saga: New Moon
 * Eclipse
 * Breaking Dawn