Victoria

"I'm the one with the wicked curve ball."

Victoria was a nomadic vampire who was a member of James' Coven. She was the mate of James and began a vendetta against Bella Swan in revenge for his death by Edward and the Cullens. To this end, she spearheaded several plots to end Bella's life, including creating a newborn army in Seattle, with the express purpose of killing her and destroying the Olympic Coven. However, at the conclusion of the newborn crisis in Seattle, Victoria's life of violence and malice was ended by Edward Cullen in the battle with the newborn army.

Early life
It is unknown who turned Victoria, but sometime after she became a vampire, Victoria became the mate of the tracker James and was a member of his coven, along with Laurent.

Twilight
After coming across the Olympic Coven in Twilight, Victoria assisted James, her lover and coven leader, in tracking Bella. When he tricked Bella to going to Phoenix, Edward saved Bella and killed James. Since then, Victoria declared revenge on Edward, and as such, secretly began to plan to kill Bella. Since Edward killed James, she thought it would be fair if it was mate for mate.

In the Twilight movie, she, James and Laurent feast on the people in Washington State, including one of Charlie Swan's close friends, Waylon Forge. She is also seen dressed in a prom dress with make-up on, spying on Bella and Edward as they dance to prom music at the end of the movie.

New Moon
Victoria returned to Forks in New Moon in the hopes of killing Bella to get back at Edward for killing James. She even sent Laurent to check if she was still under the Cullens' protection. However, she failed to attack Bella due to the vigilant protection of Jacob and other Quileute wolves. Bella saw what she thought was fire on the water after she went cliff diving, but it was actually the flowing red-orange hair of Victoria, who was forced to retreat into the ocean by the pursuing Jacob and the other Quileute wolves.

Eclipse
In Eclipse, Victoria made an army of newborns in Seattle, where she killed over 30 people of all ages, races, and sizes to build her army. Eventually, while her army was fighting with the Cullens and wolves, she and Riley came across Edward, Bella, and Seth. She then fought Edward while Riley battled Seth. Seth killed Riley, and Victoria tried to escape, but Edward caught her and killed her. Victoria and Riley's remains were then burned, and her newborn army was defeated by the other Cullens and Quileutes.

Physical description
Victoria was described as feline or cat-like with long, curly red orange hair that was usually described as looking like fire. She possessed a terrible beauty and had a soft, high soprano of a voice that contrasted with her fierce looks. She moves at a quick pace with perfect, lethal steps, as of her agility. When Bella heard Victoria speak for the first time in Eclipse, she described her voice as 'belonging to blond curls and pink bubblegum'.

Powers and abilities
Victoria, like all vampires, possessed inhuman beauty, speed, strength, endurance, and agility. Clearly Victoria was also a very capable fighter, "lethal" as Bella describes it. Because even Edward, who could read her mind and was an equal fighter to Jasper, couldn't finish her immediately; they danced for a thrilling while, woven within a deadly blur. But it is assumed that it was Victoria's special ability, self-preservation, that made her a skilled combatant. Because, as is described by Stephenie Meyer, "her feet were dragged to safe spots and places". Many think she was skilled within fighting, but mostly relied on her gift.

Self preservation
Victoria's special ability was self-preservation, which is how she managed to escape being killed by the Quileute wolves in New Moon. How this ability carried over from her human life is unknown. Edward identified her ability as self-preservation, which was the instinctive need to do what is necessary to stay alive. This ability works by instinctively knowing how to evade an enemy's attack and where to run in order to survive.

In Eclipse, Victoria resisted her survival instincts in order to kill Bella, but that brought her to her death when Edward ripped her body apart and burnt the pieces.

Personality
Victoria is shown to have a mysterious but elegant personality. She could best be described as calculating however she was frequently bloodthirsty, whether it was when she was dying to kill Bella for her delicious blood on the baseball field in Twilight or when she was stalking Bella for revenge in New Moon and Eclipse. She is also marked as one of the most persistent and ruthless characters in the series. Like most archetypal vampires and femme fatales, she is seductively charming and rather vain.

Etymology
Victoria means 'victory' in Latin. However, this is ironic, because Victoria is defeated along with her newborn army in their attempt to get revenge on Edward.

James
Victoria was in love with James when they met the Cullens. She searched for Bella in the South, trying her best to help James' hunt in any way. When she learned of James' death, she spent months plotting her slow torture and murder of Bella.

When Victoria made her last try to kill Bella, Edward taunted her by saying James only kept her around because of her ability to escape. Whether this is true or not is unknown.

Laurent
Laurent was an original member of James' Coven, but when James and Victoria went to hunt down Bella, he told the Cullens that he was sick of James' games. After, he went and lived with the Denali Coven and soon Irina became his mate.

As Laurent was passing through Forks in New Moon, he found Bella in Edward's meadow and was about to kill her but was destroyed by Jacob Black and four other werewolves.

Riley
Riley was a newborn who Victoria told she loved. She didn't really have any feelings for him, she was still in love with James. Victoria's only reason to lie to him was so he would obey her without questioning.

Film portrayal
To prepare for her role of Victoria in the Twilight film, Rachelle Lefevre watched lion attacks on Youtube and acted like a cat for a day to get used to acting feline. During her audition, she jumped on a chair and hissed at director Catherine Hardwicke, assuring her of her scary cat abilities. She also wrote a letter to Hardwicke about how she bonded and had a relation to Victoria. As in the novel, Victoria was portrayed as fierce and beautiful, but while in the book she didn't speak, in the movie she had a few lines and at the end during Bella's prom she appeared to be planning a way to get revenge for her mate, James. Lefevre reprised her role as Victoria in New Moon, but will be replaced with Bryce Dallas Howard in Eclipse.

Appearances

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

Trivia

 * Victoria's first book appearance was in Twilight, but the first time she spoke was in Eclipse
 * Bella says she was expecting Victoria's voice to be more feline-like, but her voice was almost like a little girl.
 * Victoria speaks in the Twilight film, but doesn't in New Moon.
 * In a deleted scene from New Moon she is seen in a car talking to a woman about her mate James