Bella Swan

Isabella Marie Cullen, née Swan, is a fictional character from the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. The series is told from Bella's point of view, with the exception of the epilogue of Eclipse and the series' upcoming companion novel, Midnight Sun as well as the second book contained in Breaking Dawn.

Early life
Isabella Marie Swan was born on September 13 1987 to Renée Dwyer and Charlie Swan, a young couple living in the small town of Forks, Washington. Bella's parents divorced when Bella was six months old, and Renée took Bella with her when she moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Very little of Bella's life in Phoenix is mentioned, although she does allude to not fitting in very well at her old school, never having any romantic relationships or many friends, and that she spent a lot of time with her mother. She mentions briefly taking piano lessons, which she complained about until her mother let her discontinue her lessons, and having (and killing) a few pet fish - three in a row. It is also known that she used to take ballet lessons in a studio near her house, and that she wasn't very good; she was always placed, to Bella's relief, in the back at recitals. The dance studio is the sight of a future fight between Bella, Edward, and James.

Twilight
At the start of the first book, Bella's mother has recently married Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player who is much younger than herself. Phil travels a lot due to his profession, and Bella notices how much her mother wants to be with him while he travels. So, to make it easier for them, Bella moves back to her birth town of Forks, Washington, to live with her father Charlie Swan. She enrolls at Forks High School and notices that the boys there are immediately attracted to her (Mike Newton, Eric Yorkie, and Tyler Crowley in particular) although she dismisses their advances. She makes a few new friends, including Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Mike Newton.

The one group of people at Forks High School that truly intrigues Bella are the Cullens, a mysterious family consisting of five adopted children. Edward Cullen, in particular, captures her attention. As the story progresses, Bella finds out from a family friend, Jacob Black, that the Cullens are supposedly vampires. However, they are different from other vampires in that they are "vegetarian"– that is, they substitute human blood for animal blood, refusing to hunt humans.

As Edward and Bella get to know each other better, it is hard for Edward to be near her, because he feels a particular draw to the scent of her blood. Although he does not drink human blood, Edward constantly lusts for it, and Bella's blood is especially tantalizing for him. He must constantly control his desire. He also finds that his mind reading capabilities do not work on her.

Despite his desire for her blood, Edward and Bella fall passionately in love. Edward introduces her to his family, and soon after she is invited to watch their baseball game. During the game, danger reveals itself in the form of a visiting vampire coven consisting of Laurent, Victoria, and James. Victoria's mate, James, is a sadistic tracker vampire who has set his sights on killing Bella. He tricks her into confronting him alone, and the Cullen family must rush to Bella's aid. They destroy James before he can kill her, though the other vampires of his coven, Victoria and Laurent, survive. Bella spends time in a hospital with Edward constantly by her side, where he admits that his sister Alice saw a vision of Bella becoming a vampire. However, he is determined to keep her human, despite her own determination to become a vampire. The reasons behind his intentions are revealed in New Moon.

At the end of the novel, Edward takes Bella to their prom, despite her broken leg and angry protests. There are high levels of tension as the book ends, caused by Edward and Bella's differences of opinion about turning Bella into a vampire. Bella is determined to be with Edward forever, but at the age of 17. Edward wants her to stay human saying that he will love her at any age.

New Moon
The events of New Moon begin on Bella's eighteenth birthday. Bella is especially upset because it is the day that she becomes older, physically, than Edward, who will always be 17. It didn't help that she also had a nightmare, where she was with, what she thought to be her Grandma Marie, for which she was partly named after, turned out to be her. Edward came to her side in the dream and was just as young and flawless as always. Edward persuades her to come to his house on the evening of her birthday for a party thrown by his sister, Alice Cullen. Bella receives a paper cut while opening one of her gifts, drawing a single drop of blood and causing Edward's brother, Jasper Hale, to try to attack her. Edward, in the process of defending Bella from Jasper, throws her into a table filled with crystal, which results in Bella getting a deep cut from her wrist to her elbow. Although Bella's injuries are not life-threatening, Edward later decides that she would be safer without him, his family, and his dangerous style of life, so he deceives Bella into thinking that he does not love her any longer and leaves Forks with his family.

Bella sinks into a deep depression for four months, until she is 'awoken' by Charlie Swan, her father. He threatens to send her back to live with her mother in Jacksonville, Florida because he is worried about her behavior. To appease her father, she tries to engage in normal, teenage-like behavior. She invites her friend Jessica to go to Port Angeles with her for dinner and a movie. While there, she carelessly approaches four men standing outside a bar. This results in her hearing Edward's voice inside her head, warning her to turn around. Bella soon realizes that whenever she puts herself in a dangerous situation, she can hear Edward's voice with perfect clarity.

With this discovery in mind, Bella seeks out Jacob Black and convinces him to fix a motorcycle for her and teach her how to ride. Jacob and Bella become friends, when suddenly Jacob refuses to answer any of her calls and asks her not to come to his house anymore. It is not until a week later that Bella learns what has happened to her friend: he has become a werewolf and is avoiding Bella for her own safety. She also learns that Victoria has returned to kill her, out of revenge for Edward killing Victoria's mate, James, in Twilight. Bella and Jacob reconcile, and she assists his werewolf pack of brothers in hunting down Victoria.

To hear Edward's voice again, Bella attempts cliff-diving and nearly drowns. When Alice, who has the power to see the future, sees Bella jump, she believes Bella had committed suicide and subsequently returns to Forks. Edward, isolated from his family by his own volition, is told by Rosalie, his other adopted sister, that Bella is dead. Alice finds Bella and tells her that Edward is going to Volterra, Italy to ask the Volturi to kill him, because he believes Bella to be dead. Bella and Alice quickly pursue Edward to Italy, and stop him from being killed. Afterwards they are brought to speak with the Volturi, where they make a promise to change Bella into a vampire so that they can be let free.

Back in Forks, Edward explains why he had to leave and begs her forgiveness. He tells her that he loves her and had always loved her, and promises to never leave her again. When Edward once again refuses to transform Bella into a monster, she decides to let his family decide whether she should become a vampire and thus join their family. All except Edward and Rosalie vote affirmatively for her to be changed. Edward later agrees to change her himself if she agrees to marry him first. Later, Jacob meets with Edward and Bella to remind Edward and his family of the treaty made between the Cullens and the La Push werewolves, which states that no Cullen may bite a human. Bella is thus left in a difficult position: if she does not become a vampire, the Volturi will come to kill her. However, if the Cullens do make her a vampire, they will have broken their treaty with the La Push werewolves, which would start a war with the Cullens.

Eclipse
Eclipse begins with Bella reading a letter from Jacob that says that they can't be friends anymore. She is upset about this, but her mood greatly improves when Edward comes to visit her. Edward is trying to convince Bella to fill out more application forms for college, but Bella thinks that college is pointless since she will be turning into a vampire soon anyway. Edward then sees an article in the newspaper about a series of mysterious killings in Seattle and explains to Bella that these killings are most likely a newborn vampire, unable to control its thirst. Later on that day in school, Bella witnesses Alice having a vision: Victoria is coming back to Forks to hunt Bella.

Ultimately, Edward must go hunting and leave Bella. For fear of Bella putting herself in danger, he bribes Alice with a yellow 911 Porsche Turbo to watch over Bella while he's gone and keep her away from Jacob. Bella is furious at Edward's presumption and manages to slip away to see Jacob. Upon returning to the Cullens' house, she encounters Edward. He is not upset that Bella ran away, and realizes that he has been overprotective. Bella thanks Edward, and he begins occasionally taking her to the La Push line for regular visits with Jacob. During one of the visits, Jacob admits that he is in love with Bella and forcefully kisses her. Bella is furious and punches him in the face, succeeding only in breaking her hand. Edward later threatens to break Jacob's jaw for Bella if he ever kisses her without her permission again.

Meanwhile, Bella still has her heart set on joining Edward and his family as a vampire. But, after consideration, she decides that there is one thing she would like to do while human: have Edward make love with her. Edward immediately refuses this "demand", explaining that although he wants her as much as she wants him, he could easily kill her if he lost control. Bella insists that he would never allow himself to let that happen. Eventually, Edward agrees that they can "try", but she must marry him first. Bella reluctantly agrees, because of her parent's early divorce, and becomes Edward's fiancée.

Moments before Bella's graduation, she realizes that the army of newborn vampires are under the control of Victoria and therefore will be coming after herself. Having no other allies, the Cullens and the La Push pack of werewolves join forces to battle Victoria and her army. Before the battle, Jacob tells Bella that he will go in battle with the intentions of dying because she won't love him back. Bella tells him to kiss her so he will think she loves him back, but as she kisses him, she realizes that she loves Jacob as well. She also recognizes that her love for Jacob is no comparison to the love she holds for Edward. Once the battle is over and Victoria and her army are defeated, Bella visits Jacob and tells him of her decision to stay with Edward.

Breaking Dawn
In the first chapter of Breaking Dawn, it is revealed that Bella and Edward have told both of her parents about their engagement and both given their blessing, though Charlie is still slightly resistant to the thought of their marriage. Alice is busy making preparations for the wedding, which is only a few days away. Meanwhile, Edward has bought her a super-strength safety car, which she sees as either a sign of compassion and caring or as over-protectiveness and worry about her safety. This car is for temporary use until she is changed into a vampire, when she will not need the protection. During Bella and Edward's honeymoon, Bella feels a bump on her belly and misses her period, and she realizes she is pregnant with Edward's child.

She becomes pregnant at an extremely fast rate, and she becomes very sick. She can't keep food down, and is dying. Also, the baby inside of her is so strong it has been breaking her ribs by accident. Edward had asked Jacob to try to convince her to kill the baby that was killing her, but Bella couldn't, because she loved it. Edward then suggests for Bella to drink blood, and she becomes stronger. Edward realizes that he can hear the baby's thoughts, and starts to want to not kill the baby anymore when he hears that the baby "absolutely adores Bella." Jacob remarks that Edward could never hate anyone who loved Bella, which is why Edward did not hate him.

Bella accidentally causes her hardened placenta to detach, and Edward, Rosalie, and Jacob are forced to perform an emergency birthing. Bella's body is nearly destroyed in the process - several ribs are broken, she loses vast amounts of blood, and her spinal cord is snapped. She names her child Renesmee, but then her heart stops beating. Edward injects her heart with some of his own venom and bites her body in several places, turning Bella into a vampire. Jacob imprints on Renesmee, unbeknown to Bella.

Later, Bella is with Jacob and Renesmee in the forest when a vampire, Irina, sees her daughter and mistakes her for an immortal child, a heinous crime of the vampire world. When Alice learns that the Volturi Coven and the entire guard is coming to destroy the Cullens, she flees with Jasper on a secret mission which she doesn't tell anyone. The Cullens look for other vampires to be witnesses, including nomads and other covens, such as the Irish coven and Amazon coven. In the meantime, Kate, a member of Tanya's coven, tries to teach Bella to project her power, so she could protect others from the Volturi's powers. The Cullens and their allies manage to convince the Volturi that Renesmee really is growing (with the help of the werewolves that are actually shape-shifters, Alice's research, and Bella's gift) though Irina pays for her mistake with her death. Edward, Bella, and Renesmee are now free to live their lives forever.

Physical appearance
Bella is described as having a very pale complexion with long, straight, dark brown hair and wide chocolate brown eyes. Beyond this information, a detailed description of Bella's appearance is never given in the series. Stephenie Meyer explains that this is because she wanted her readers to "step into Bella's shoes" more easily. However, she has provided a more detailed description of her own interpretation of Bella on her website: she has a heart-shaped face, a widow's peak, a thin nose, and a narrow jaw with a pointed chin and full lips. Her fingernails are stubby, as she has a nervous habit of biting them. She stands at 5'4" and weighs about 110-115 pounds. Bella also has a small crescent-shaped scar on her hand where she was bitten by James, a tracker vampire, in Twilight. The scar is described as being pale, always a few degrees colder than the rest of her body, and shines like a vampire's skin when in the sunlight. After Bella is changed into a vampire by Edward Cullen, she becomes even more pale, with fuller lips and blood red eyes. Her hair comes down to her waist and a man on the streets says she has a rocking body and the face of a supermodel.

Personality and traits
Bella is described as being exceptionally clumsy, dropping and tripping over everything in sight. She is deeply in love with Edward Cullen. She also cares for the rest of the Cullen family, her father Charlie and mother Renée, and her friend Jacob Black. She hates dressing up, saying that makeup "is a pain" and that she feels uncomfortable in unpractical, elegant clothes. She has a very private mind, which is thought to be why Edward is unable to see her thoughts, and she is determined to become a vampire. She is also said to be a terrible liar, but demonstrates good acting ability in Twilight when she makes her father believe that she has dumped Edward and is leaving Forks. She also gets faint at the sight or smell of blood, as demonstrated in Twilight.

Bella has a dry sense of humor, and is understanding and caring. She puts Edward before herself, but several selfish tendencies emerge. (As when Bella asked Edward to stay with her instead of fighting the vampires in Eclipse). Stephenie Meyer has stated that Bella's "tragic flaw" is her lack of self-knowledge. This is most obviously illustrated in her consistent denial of any romantic feelings for Jacob Black in Eclipse, despite the fact that she later realizes she is, indeed, in love with him.

Vampiric Traits
When she turned into a vampire, she had described that she is more clear in her view of the world. She is also very self controlled as a vampire, being able to run away from human blood. She also has a special gift, which is to shield her and those around her from being affected by other vampires special talents. Bella appears to have an aptitude for being a vampire, even saying that she felt like she was born to be one. Ironically, Bella is very graceful -- even for a vampire.

Edward Cullen
Bella's first and only boyfriend is Edward Cullen, a vampire who has renounced drinking the blood of humans. She loves him unconditionally, believing Edward to be absolutely perfect, and does not consider herself worthy of his love. She often describes him as god-like in appearance, and hopes that by becoming a vampire she will become beautiful and graceful like him and his family, the Cullens. Edward disapproves of this and always reassures her that she is more than worthy, and has his heart.

Edward proposes to Bella in New Moon and she eventually accepts in Eclipse, looking down on the prospect of marriage but not entirely opposed to it. As part of a deal with Edward, she promises to marry him if he promises to have sex with her and then change her into a vampire. She sees this as the only part of the marriage to look forward to.

In Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the series, Bella overcomes her fear of marriage and happily marries Edward, becoming Bella Cullen. During their honeymoon on a private island, Edward and Bella consummate their marriage and conceive a child - a half-vampire/half-human child. During the birth, complications occur and Edward, after delivering their baby, is forced to inject Bella with his venom, thereby changing her into a vampire, to save her life.

At series end, Bella and Edward live happily together, presumably forever, as husband and wife with their daughter, Renesmee (Nessie) Cullen.

Jacob Black
Jacob Black, a Quileute and the son of Charlie Swan's friend, Billy Black, also loves Bella and spends a lot of time with her during the period of Edward's absence. While Edward was away, Bella found that Jacob's presence soothed the "hole" in her chest that resulted from Edward leaving her. Being around Jacob brought a measure of happiness back to Bella's life, though he was unable to replace Edward. Bella felt that Jacob was a good friend, and that he was her own "personal little sun" which would beam happiness in every direction wherever he went. When Jacob underwent his transformation into a werewolf, it put a distance in their friendship.

In Eclipse, Jacob acts upon his romantic feelings for Bella, and tries to convince her to leave Edward for him. Jacob thinks that, since he is more human than Edward, he will be safer for Bella to have a relationship with. Edward sees this, but is still willing to fight for her. Jacob forcefully kisses Bella, resulting in her punching him and breaking her hand almost ending their friendship. Nevertheless, Jacob overhears that Bella and Edward are engaged and makes Bella kiss him, saying that if she doesn't he will risk his life. She does so, and realizes that she is in love with Jacob but that her love for Edward is much greater. She later tells him that she still plans to marry Edward.

In Breaking Dawn it is revealed that Jacob's strong interest in Bella was due to his eventual imprinting on her daughter, Renesmee, as was Bella's interest in him only because of this, revealing that they were never actually in love.

Mike Newton
Mike Newton is a generically popular boy at Bella's new high school who is instantly attracted to Bella. He is friendly and Bella thinks he possesses traits like a golden retriever: his happiness and loyalty in walking her to class and speaking with her every day. Mike frequently tries to ask Bella out, but she always declines. He becomes jealous when he realizes that Bella and Edward Cullen are dating.

In New Moon, after a movie date with Bella, Jacob and Mike, Mike has seemingly given up on Bella, and tells her that "girls are cruel". Mike develops a new romantic relationship with Jessica Stanley when he accepts that Edward is Bella's boyfriend. In New Moon, Bella tries to rekindle their friendship after four months of 'being a zombie' after the Cullens leave Forks. Mike becomes her friend again, although not with the same enthusiasm and also never forgets his fondness of Bella.

Tyler Crowley
After nearly killing Bella in a car accident, Tyler feels obligated to make things even. He unsuccessfully asks Bella out to the turnabout dance. After Bella declines, insisting that she must go to Seattle that day, he insists on taking her to prom. He tells the whole school and convinces most of the students that he is taking Bella to prom, much to her annoyance. He shows up at Bella's house on prom night, only to be told over the phone by Edward that she would be unavailable every night as far as anyone but himself was concerned.

Eric Yorkie
Eric, like Mike Newton, immediately took an interest in Bella when she arrived in Forks. Bella described him as being the "overly eager" chess club type, and he was one of the three boys (Mike, Tyler and himself) who asked Bella to the spring dance, though she declined all three. He develops a rivalry with Mike Newton, and later a dislike for Tyler as well. His friendship sways and mostly falls after Bella goes through a depression in the absence of Edward and the rest of the Cullen family.

Movie portrayal
On November 16, 2007 it was announced that Kristen Stewart was to play the role of Bella. Meyer stated that she is "very excited" to see Stewart play the part.