Victoria

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

Victoria was a nomadic vampire member of James's Coven. She was his mate and started 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
Victoria was born in London, England in the 1550s. Her mother was a scullery maid and her father was the master of the house. She was the second illegitimate child, after her sister, Anne. Victoria and Anne worked hard as servants from early childhood. Anne was quite pretty, with mahogany hair and a cream and rose complexion, and though the green-eyed, bright red-haired, and freckled Victoria had nice features as well, she was considered "witchy." The sisters eventually got jobs together, Anne as a lady's maid, and Victoria as a kitchen grudge. The master of the house mistreated them; he was not a kind man, quick to beat a servant for any perceived fault--and lecherous as well. Both sisters grew adept at disappearing whenever possible. With her shockingly bright hair, it was difficult for Victoria to avoid notice than most, and she received extra beatings simply for being visible.

Though their jobs kept them fed, the two sisters fled the house when Victoria was twelve years old. They worked for a local pimp, on the condition that they would receive free lodging with the other working girls. The situation was worse for Anne and nearly as bad for Victoria as the house they'd run from, but it was better than the streets of London. One night, Anne went out to find a client--but she never returned. So Victoria had to learn to survive on her own, perfecting her evasion of pursuers. A few years later, her sister returned as a vampire and changed her into one as well, and introduced her to her creator, Hilda, as well as two other vampires, Mary and Heidi. A few years later, they were joined by Noela. Victoria lived a happy life with them, until the Volturi came and claimed that they had drawn too much attention from society and executed Hilda for the crime. Heidi was immediately taken in by the Volturi, under the influence of Chelsea's power. The other four vampires tried to escape, but only Victoria survived.

While in London, she became the target of the tracker James, and she tried to avoid him for months until he found her and made her his mate. She became a member of his coven, which was later joined by Laurent.

Twilight
After coming across the Cullens 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 she killed Bella, striking out at Edward in the same way he struck out at her.

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 in order to make him feel the pain that she'd felt. 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 the other Quileute wolves. While being hunted by the wolves, Victoria jumped into the water for safety. 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. She has also learned from Laurent about the Cullens' powers and limitations, and began to create her newborn army to kill them.

In the movie, Victoria finds Bella in the water and attempts to make a move on her, but Jacob drags Bella out before she could try.

Eclipse
In Eclipse, Victoria made an army of newborn vampires in Seattle, where she killed over 30 people of all ages, races, and sizes to build her army while evading Alice's vision by hiding in the shadows and letting someone else select a member for her. She sent Riley to get an article of Bella's clothing, her red blouse, to give her scent to the other newborns and get them into action.

Bella managed to figure out her plan and gave Alice a connection to the army and Victoria. Eventually, while her army was fighting with the Cullens and wolves, she and Riley came across Edward, Bella, and Seth. She attempted to escape while Seth battled Riley, drawing away her object of distraction, but Edward taunted her relationship to James, angering her to make her resist her survival instincts. She fought Edward while Riley battled Seth. After Seth killed Riley, Victoria tried to escape again, but Edward caught her and ripped her head off. Victoria and Riley's remains were then burned, and her newborn army was defeated by the other Cullens and shape-shifters.



The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
In the Eclipse novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, it is revealed that she started her army almost one year ago. She inflicted the army with the myths of vampire weaknesses in order to control them better and had Riley select the numbers for her to change while she hid in the shadows. One of the members, Diego, figured out the truth, but she killed him to prevent the rest from finding out. The Volturi came to Victoria and Riley one night and gave her a five-day limit to fulfill her army's purpose, which explains why they made a decision to attack the Cullens when they did.

Physical appearance
"Her orange hair was brighter than I'd remembered, more like a flame. There was no wind here, but the fire around her face seemed to shimmer slightly, as if it were alive."

- Bella on Victoria's hair

Victoria was described as having long, curly, brilliant orange hair that was usually described as looking like fire with the usual blood red eyes of a vampire. She had green eyes as a human. She possessed a terrible beauty and had a soft, high soprano of a voice that contrasted with her fierce looks. She moves at a feline 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', and can pass for a helpless girl to lure a target.

Personality and traits
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/or 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. As seen in Eclipse, Victoria is shown to be very manipulative and is willing to use others in order to achieve her own goals. Victoria lied to and manipulated Riley in order to get revenge on Bella Swan, though she felt that Riley was nothing more than a pawn to her. In The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, she is also petulant and spoiled.

Powers and abilities
Victoria was a very capable fighter, and Bella describes her as "lethal", since 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 in a deadly blur. However, her ability was based more on her gift of self-preservation than on fighting skills; according to Stephenie Meyer, "her feet were dragged to safe spots and places".



Self-preservation
"It's what you do, isn't it? It's why James kept you around. Useful, if you like to play deadly games. A partner with an uncanny instinct for escaping."

- Edward taunting Victoria

Victoria's special ability was self-preservation, which is how she was able to escape being killed by the Quileute wolves in New Moon. This ability was carried over because, as a human, she was a servant mistreated by her abusive masters. She had to learn to hide from her masters for long periods of time. Also, when she ran away by herself, she was excellent at sneaking into houses, stealing food, and sleeping somewhere safe without any person or animal knowing. 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 when her life was in danger, how to evade an enemy's attack and where to run in order to survive. It is however undetermined whether this can be classified as a shield. Because of this ability, she became a prominent threat to Bella and the Cullens, as it was impossible to catch her.

In Eclipse, Edward angered Victoria enough to make her resist her survival instincts, but that brought her to her death when Edward ripped her body apart and burnt the pieces.

James
Victoria met James on a hunt. He noticed her scent and immediately decided to hunt her down. He kept on her trail for months. However, she kept on evading him when he got close to her. Interested, James decided not to kill her, feeling that, when playing deadly games, it is always good to have a partner who can escape. He did not know that, because he didn't want to hurt her, her gift didn't work as effectively. She eventually met him in a clearing that had a lot of escape routes, just in case. When they met, he proposed that they team up. She warily accepted and they joined each other.

Victoria quickly began to fall in love with James. She loved his ruthless personality and vicious nature. He found her to be a passionate lover who would be by his side though any situation.

Victoria proved to be a vital part of James' coven. In any situation that he was having trouble getting out of, she would help him escape. Also, she was the one who said that they needed more than just the two of them in their coven. That is why they often had more vampires in their coven. However, it was generally just the two of them.

When they entered the Forks area, they immediately picked up the scent of the Cullens. They met in the field as James was getting the lay of the land. Victoria wanted to add more vampires to their coven. However, James said that Laurent would be enough. She faithfully followed James in the hunt for Bella. She searched for information on Bella's life and told James that Bella's mother lived in Phoenix.

When James was killed, Victoria was a wreck. For the first time in centuries, she felt vulnerable. Due to this, she created Riley and the other newborns to befriend her. However, once she learned about newborn armies, she decided to avenge James, even though he probably wouldn't have gone as far.



Laurent
Laurent was an original member of James's 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. Victoria sought him out. She did this for a few reasons. Mainly, he was still her friend despite him betraying James to the Cullens. She thought that he owed her a debt so she told him to see if Edward was still there Or, if Edward wasn't there, she would find out that the Cullens left.

She asked him to go back to Forks to see if Bella was still under the Cullens' protection. He called her once to tell her that the Cullens' house smelt as if it hadn't been entered in a while. 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 Biers
Riley Biers was a newborn who Victoria created to protect her from the Cullens. He seemed strong and smart so she felt that he would be the perfect tool. She lied to him and said that she had been watching him for awhile and had fallen in love with him. He immediately returned those affections, though they were real for him.

She left him in charge of the newborns when she created them, feeling that Alice would not know to look for his decisions. This proved useful when she had him steal things with Bella's scent on them to see if they could get past Alice. Victoria had Riley train the newborns to fight the Cullens. During the fight, they went in search of Edward. She caught his scent and thought that he would be anywhere Bella was. This proved correct and the fight began. Riley fought Seth while Victoria fought Edward. Edward tried to convince Riley that Victoria didn't love him. However, he believed that Victoria did love him and fought. He lost the fight to Seth and cried out to Victoria, but she didn't even glance his way.

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 was replaced with Bryce Dallas Howard in Eclipse. In the films, Victoria was given the last name "Sutherland".

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight film
 * New Moon
 * New Moon film
 * Eclipse
 * Eclipse film
 * Breaking Dawn (mentioned)
 * The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Trivia

 * In the books, Victoria's first appears in Twilight, and first speaks in Eclipse. Again, she does not speak in New Moon.
 * Bella states she was expecting Victoria's voice to be more feline-like, instead of being almost little-girlish which makes a contrast with her fierce beauty.
 * In a deleted scene from New Moon, she is seen in a car talking to a woman about her mate James.