Paul Lahote

"I'm sure the leech-lover is just dying to help us out!"

- Paul on Bella Swan

Paul Lahote is a Quileute shape-shifter. He was the third one to join the pack, by the age of sixteen, and is the most violent member of the pack, becoming so enraged upon learning that Jacob informed Bella about them that he turned into a wolf and attempted to kill her. He later seems to have no ill feelings towards Bella or Jacob. He is prone to angry outbursts, causing him to burst into his wolf form, but has learned to restrain himself after he imprinted on Rachel Black.

He is a distant relative of the Uley family through his great-grandmother.

Early life
Paul Lahote was born in Tacoma. When his parents divorced Paul was eight, his father took him back to La Push and the tribe. He still lives there with his father. He wasn't close to either Sam or Jared, though he was in the same year of school as Jared. He showed himself to be a shape-shifter after Sam and Jared, roughly at the age of sixteen. He had his own circle of friends, so it drew attention when he abruptly stopped hanging out with them and instead became inseparable from Sam. Since he was temperamental as a human, he had a hard time controlling himself and frequently phased by accident, which forced Sam to stay close to him to keep him from being noticed.

After Emily was injured by Sam because of his brief loss of control, Paul began to take his temper problems more seriously and improved somewhat, though he still found control more difficult than the others.

New Moon
In New Moon, Paul is first present in wolf form while hunting Laurent. After Bella found out what they are, he instantly loses his temper, phases into his wolf form and tries to attack Bella, but is stopped by Jacob and Sam. He joins his pack in defending Bella and Charlie against Victoria.

In the movie, he phases after Bella slapped him for laughing at her accusation of Jacob being afraid of Sam and his pack.

Eclipse
After the Cullens return, they try to hunt Victoria on both lands. When Emmett attempts to attack Victoria, she leaps out of the way causing him to smack into Paul by accident. Then Rosalie defends Emmett which almost turns into a fight until Jasper and Carlisle calm everyone down. He is present at the Quileute council campfire, where he takes most of the hotdogs.

After the campfire, Paul isn't directly mentioned in the book, but it's clear that he participates in guarding Bella's house and the fight against Victoria's newborn army along with the rest of the pack and the Cullens.

In the Eclipse movie, Emmett attempts to cross over to the Quileute border while chasing Victoria, and Paul knocks him back, sending him into the river. He is later seen coming out from Emily's house, mocking "Jacob's obsessive inner monologue" in front of Bella.

During the fight in the movie, two newborn vampires climb onto his back, making him unable to attack until Emmett throws off one of them and Paul flings off and destroys the other. After the fight, he carries the injured Jacob back to his house and is last seen when Bella walks up while Paul and the others are waiting outside of their house while Carlisle is tending to his wounds.

Breaking Dawn
Sometime before Breaking Dawn, Rachel Black, Jacob's older sister, came home after graduating from college, and Paul imprinted on her while walking down the beach. He then told her everything and Rachel agreed to stay in La Push for a while to see how things work out for them. Though Billy Black and Jacob are happy to have Rachel at home longer, they are greatly annoyed by Paul for always being at their house, constantly using their television and eating their food. Billy deals with his presence by staying at the Clearwaters' to keep Sue company.

One night, Jacob finds him overly annoying as he was eating all the food and being obsessive about controlling the TV. Jacob punches him in the face and breaks his nose after he playfully agrees to not tell Rachel if he does, but to Jacob's surprise and annoyance, he remains calm and doesn't fight back. This is because Paul is learning hard to restrain himself for Rachel's sake.

He is present during Jacob and Jared's conversation about what to do with the Cullens while Bella is pregnant with Renesmee, after Jacob, Seth and Leah broke away from Sam's pack. His last appearance in the saga is during the Volturi's "trial" against the Cullens for having committed a "crime" by creating an immortal child, with Bella protecting him and his pack.

By this time, their pack has expanded to twelve, due to the increasing numbers of additional vampires.

Physical appearance
Paul is known to be at least 6 feet tall and muscular, with brown eyes and black hair. In New Moon, Jacob says that "Paul's just sixteen, too, shorter than me and not as beefy as Quil." This was before he joined Sam's pack. Now he's as big, tall and muscular as his "brothers".

Wolf form
Bella describes Paul's wolf form as "dark silver fur and a size five-times larger his size — a massive, crouched shape, ready to spring". He is also shorter than Sam, swift, and dark-eyed.

Personality
Paul is described as annoying, very short-tempered (which sets off his transformation frequently), cocky and dominating, despite his young age. In Breaking Dawn, he learns to control his temper and keep himself from phasing, as when he gets punched in the face by Jacob. This is due to his newfound love for Jacob's sister, Rachel Black, whom he imprinted on and has promised to learn to control his anger so that he may someday stop phasing altogether and leave town with her. He can, however, be fun-loving and childish.

Paul dislikes Bella out of her relationship with the Cullens, he does not therefore talk to her very much in New Moon.

Relationships
Paul lives with his father in La Push after his parents' divorce.

Rachel Black
Paul imprints on Rachel sometime after Eclipse and before Book 2 of Breaking Dawn, when she comes back to La Push to visit her family. This annoys both Billy and Jacob, for he is always at their house eating their food, taking up most of the space on their couch, and watching their TV; however, Billy is happy that Rachel is sticking around longer because of it.

Film portrayal
Alex Meraz played Paul in the film New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

Appearances

 * New Moon
 * New Moon film
 * Eclipse
 * Eclipse film
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn - Parts 1 and 2