Leah Clearwater

"She puts on a brave face. She’s going to be a bridesmaid."

- Jacob Black on Leah. Leah Clearwater is the daughter of Harry Clearwater and Sue Clearwater, older sister of Seth Clearwater, ex-girlfriend of Sam Uley and sole female member of the La Push pack. She transformed into a shapeshifter during the events of New Moon, around the same time as her brother, Seth. She also has deep unsettling issues (plus a broken heart) and is almost overprotective of her little brother. Leah is the only female shapeshifter known to have ever existed.

History
During her freshman year and before his change, Sam and Leah dated. They truly loved each other, but Sam changed into a werewolf. He disappeared for two weeks and Leah was frantic with worry. She and her family spent the entire time looking for him, fearing that he had gotten into an accident in the woods. When he finally did return he did not explain his absence, and people began to assume that he had gotten into something shady. Leah stuck by him, even though she was frustrated by the secrets she knew he was keeping from her. One day Leah’s cousin Emily came from the Makah reservation to visit Leah and Leah introduced her to Sam. Sam imprinted on Emily, forcing him to break up with Leah. This broke her heart not only because she loved Sam, but because Emily had always been like a sister to her. Leah was forced to sit back and watch the love of her life court her cousin, though, as Jacob noted, "She puts on a brave face. She’s going to be a bridesmaid."

New Moon and Eclipse
During, Leah and Seth both change into werewolves (their transformation was not known until Eclipse ). However, the shock of their transformations causes Harry to have a fatal heart attack. Leah's transformation causes her further pain because she is mentally linked with Sam and has to be connected to him on a daily basis. Though she understands the impossibility of controlling an imprint, she uses this mental connection to punish Sam and her pack brothers with memories of the torment she suffered and thoughts about things the rest of the pack would rather forget. Jacob describes her as a "harpy".

Breaking Dawn
After Bella married the vampire Edward, she became pregnant with their daughter. Sam, after finding out about this, decided to lead an unprovoked attack to kill Bella and the baby. Jacob and Seth, however, refused to follow Sam on this, and broke away from the pack to aid the Cullens. Leah, despite her dislike of vampires, decides to join them so that she can protect her brother and get away from Sam. Her choice actually hurts Sam, who sends a messenger to try to persuade her to come back to his pack. She wants to remain in Jacob's pack until she can stop being a werewolf, and despite the initial antagonism between the two of them, they soon form a closer bond due to their shared broken hearts. She is so loyal to Jacob that she goes so far as to confront Bella about her tormenting Jacob. She does not enjoy spending time around the vampires, but does so out of loyalty to her new pack. After Leah and Seth join their pack, Jacob names Leah as his Beta. Leah, along with the rest of the werewolves, stand with the Cullens when the Volturi, an Italian vampire clan that are like royalty, arrive to kill Renesmee, Bella's daughter. Their efforts succeed in repelling the Volturi without a fight breaking out. The resent events have made Leah a much happier person, and she is now "pretty satisfied with life."

Sam Uley
Leah and Sam dated in high school and they cared about each other very much, even though Sam could not tell her that he was a werewolf. Though their relationship ended when Leah brought her cousin, Emily, for a visit and Sam imprinted on her. Leah was very upset by this and became very bitter towards everyone. Although she acts as if she hates Sam, it is revealed that she still loves him and wants the very best for him.

Seth Clearwater
Seth is Leah's little brother. She is very protective of him as seen in Breaking Dawn when she joins Jacob's pack in order to keep an eye on Seth and protect him. She idolizes him for being more understanding and friendly than she is. She also has a brotherly love for him which we see alot of in Breaking Dawn.

Jacob Black
Originally, Jacob and Leah didn't like each other. When Jacob and Seth broke off from Sam's pack and joined the Cullens, Leah decided to join them. Though they were originally hostile towards each other, Jacob and Leah gained a new understanding each other and became good friends. Leah was later named Jacob's "beta".

While some fans believe that Leah fell in love with or imprinted on Jacob during Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer has said this isn't true. This would simply have made their interactions too complicated, since she started out disliking Jacob, then they gain a "friendly" understanding. If Leah had imprinted on Jacob at any time, it would have been the first time she saw him after her first transformation, and she would have had a compulsive need to be with/near him from that moment on. This is not the case.

Personality and Traits
Leah is described as beautiful in an exotic way. She has perfect copper skin, glistening black hair, and eyelashes "like feather dusters". She stands at 5'11 and has short hair. When in wolf form, Edward describes her as a "smaller grey wolf".

Leah is portrayed as angry and bitter as a result of her broken heart. She has a quick temper and often uses the pack's mental connection to remind the other shape-shifters of things they would rather forget -- ostensibly to vent her pain at being connected to Sam and possibly even to punish him. However, she also demonstrates considerable loyalty to her pack and protectiveness of her brother, and by the end of Breaking Dawn, Leah has matured remarkably. While she is one of the very few characters in the series who does not receive a thoroughly happy ending, she is also the only character who shows considerable development. Despite the unfortunate hand she has been dealt in life, she takes her own destiny in hand, and rather than pine and sulk uselessly over her lost love or run to another man (the way Bella does until her happy ending is handed to her on a silver platter), she takes independent steps to rebuild her life. She mentions to Jacob that she is considering community college as well as methods for working out her anger issues. She also implies that she intends to quit being a werewolf as soon as she is able to control herself -- that is, rather than basing her identity on extraneous magical powers, she chooses to earn a better life for herself. Leah is arguably one of the most complex and well-written characters in the story; unfortunately, given the context of the story, it is likely that this multifaceted character was stumbled upon by accident -- clearly, Stephanie Meyer did not recognize the opportunity for a much-improved story and instead chose to default the center stage to vapid characters such as Bella, Edward, and Alice.