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crack_van2007-12-16 07:16 pm
antisocial47.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2007-12-16 07:16 pm
The Twilight Series Overview
Step one to the Twilight fandom: Put all your other Vampire mythology away.
In Stephenie Meyer's vampire-verse, they don't die from sun exposure, your stake would shatter if you tried that method, beheading them is nice, but they can be put back together, garlic doesn't so much as make them sneeze, and one of them has a big ol' penchant for Jesus. Hence, crosses? Not a problem.
Plot
Twilight
Twilight is the tale of Isabella "Bella" Marie Swan and her vampire love, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen.
That's the short version, anyway. What follows is way too detailed, but the sequels are far less complicated, so those synopses will be shorter.
Bella lives in Arizona with her mother, Renee, and her shiny new stepfather, Phil. And she doesn't like it. Bella feels like she's smothering Renee, who really just wants to be traveling around with Phil for his minor league baseball career, so Bella, martyr that she is, moves to Forks, Washington – rainiest place in the country – to live with her biological father, Charlie Swan.
Bella's first day at Forks High is twelve kinds of awkward, and she manages to attract. Every. Single. Male. In. School. With her super pretty paleness, newness, and clumsiness.
(Don't worry – we make fun of her too.)
Bella finds some girl friends who aren't attracted to her too, though, and the not so lovely Jessica leads Bella into the cafeteria to eat lunch with Jessica and her friends. There, Bella sees a group of super beautiful people sitting together and not talking. They're all beautiful, pale, and kind of eerie.
They're the Cullens and the Hales.
Specifically, Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Rosalie Hale, and Jasper Hale. The official story involves adoption by Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme.
Jessica glances at them, says they think they're all high and mighty, and, yes, Edward Cullen is the only single one and isn't he pretty? But he doesn't date, Jessica says with a scoff. Apparently none of the girls at Forks High are good enough for him.
(Oh, Jessica.)
In Biology, Bella finds herself sitting next to – guess who – Edward. But Edward's not so happy about the situation – he looks at Bella like he could kill her (literally) and she's more than a little put off by it, understandably.
Then, Edward doesn't show up for a week. Bella feels odd that she misses him, but she does, and when he's back she's both relieved and annoyed at his return, an annoyance that only grows when Edward pleasantly addresses her in biology, quite a shift from how he had behaved previously.
And things are pretty calm from there – Edward keeps being pretty and allusive, tells Bella he's dangerous, that she should stay away from him, but then can't leave her alone himself. And there's a lot of flirting and it's all sort of amazing in that creepy I Love This sense.
Everything changes when Bella almost dies.
For the first time, that is.
It's icy one day, and Bella's high school classmate, Tyler, loses control of his car, which comes hurtling toward Bella before she can even react. It's like in the movies, when everything goes in slow motion and you want to yell "GET OUT OF THE DAMN WAY" but no one's moving and you're just watching the heroine get crushed underneath a set of tire wheels and it's coming, the loud crack of bones –
Only it doesn't, because Edward somehow manages to cross the entire parking lot in the span of a millisecond and pull Bella out of the way. Bella ends up with some scratches, Tyler's a little worse off, and while they're both in the hospital, Bella corners Edward and demands an explanation for the superhuman speed. She saw him on the other side of the parking lot before the crash, knows there is no way he could have made it to pull her out of the way in time. Edward refuses to speak about it and gets more than a little feisty about the whole thing.
At school, Edward invites her to sit at lunch with him (to make amends for acting kind of freakish... all of the time), but then informs her that he is skipping the rest of the day. In Biology, their teacher decides that, because the blood drive is coming up, the students should know their blood types. This doesn't sit well with Bella. You know why?
Bella cannot stand the sight or the smell of blood. No, I am not kidding.
She faints and is escorted to the nurses’ office by Edward, who magically appears in the nick of time to help. Oh, that Edward. He manages to talk the nurse into letting him take Bella home.
Skip some time, and Mike Newton, one of the boys who are in loff with our dear Bella and is in her group of friends, invites Bella to go with him and their friends to the beach. There, Bella meets Jacob Black, a Native American of the Quileute tribe. Bella's father, Charlie, is best friends with Billy Black, Jacob's father, and, as a child, Bella spent some time with the Black children. Bella remembers spending time with Jacob's sisters, but she doesn't seem to remember Jacob. That's not important, though.
What is important is that Bella knows that Jacob knows something about the Cullens, because one of the Quileutes who is with Jacob, Sam Uley, makes a remark about how the Cullens aren't allowed on Quileute soil. Jacob meets this comment with a sigh and a roll of the eyes. Bella flirts and manipulates Jacob into a solitary walk along the beach, and he tells her Quileute legends, including one about the Cold Ones. Vampires. Apparently, the Cullens are those Vampires. Jacob thinks it's all lunacy.
It is time for the dance at Forks High. Bella and Edward have gotten to be friends (kind of), but Bella still has no idea what the heck his problem is. Two of Bella's friends, Jessica and Angela, invite her to go dress shopping with them. Bella has already decided that she is not going to the dance, because she has been asked out by every male in school and is the least coordinated person, in her opinion, ever. But she agrees to shop at Port Angeles with Jess and Angela, because she thinks that it would be fun, and also to get her mind off of a certain Edward Cullen. He hasn't gone to school for the past couple days, and it's been remarkably sunny lately.
Huh.
Jess and Angela have picked out their dresses and the threesome decides to go and have dinner. But Bella, being the bookworm that she is, wants to find the bookstore and check it out first. And again, being incredibly danger-prone, she meets some thugs who soon start following her. Luckily, Edward Cullen suddenly drives his car up, yells at her to get in, and speeds off. And then takes her to dinner. Even though the pretty waitresses can't stop staring at him, all he cares about is Bella and if she's okay. This gives her the confidence to ask about the Quileute legend and Edward doesn't deny anything about it.
He also informs her that, in addition to not exactly being human, some of the Cullens have... abilities. Alice can see the future, Jasper can change people's moods, and Emmett is crazy strong. And Edward has a tendency to read minds. Of everyone except Bella, that is. For some reason, her blood is infinitely more enticing than any other human's blood, and he can't read her mind.
Over the next couple of days, Edward and Bella grow very close. Since he can't read her mind, he is eager to know everything he can about her, and Bella wants to know all that she can about him. She is still in a state of shock concerning her and Edward. She thinks that she is completely plain and that he is almost a god, and just being near him makes her feel more and more unremarkable.
Edward reveals that he has been spying on her in her house, and watching her sleep. (It is revealed less creepily in the book, I promise.) He takes her to his meadow and she finds out that the reason vampires can't come out into the daylight is because their rock-hard skin literally sparkles in the sun. This explains all of the Cullens' absences from school. Edward also explains that they have to feed off blood, true, but not human blood- they hunt deer, bears, and other types of wild animal and eat those.
And so, all is well and good for awhile. At this point, Edward is only a little schmaltzy and he and Bella are ridiculously nervous and happy and adorable around each other. All of Edward's family (except Rosalie, but that is explained later) love Bella to death, mainly because of the effect she has on Edward. See, Edward is a little... moody, but around Bella he is happy and adorkable.
This, like all happiness in the Twilight series, doesn't last long.
A pack of vampires passing through the area spot the Cullen clan, and are immediately curious as to why they are with Bella - a human - and not eating her. James, the leader, teams up with his mate, Victoria, in trying to track Bella down and feed off of her. The third vampire in the pack, Laurent, goes to live with friends of the Cullens up in Alaska. The Cullens agree that Bella needs to leave town and decide to take her back down to Phoenix, Arizona - her original home. James, however, is intelligent and realizes that the way to get to Bella is through her mother.
Bella receives a message on the phone of her mother screaming for her, and she panics. James tells her to meet him at a dance studio and he'll let her mother go. Bella cares about her mother more than anything - she considers her mom her best friend, so she doesn't exactly do an incredibly large amount of thinking after she gets the phone call. So, she immediately escapes the Cullens and runs off to meet the vampire she knows is going to kill her.
He doesn't kill her. I bet you didn't see that coming! The Cullens enter after James has knocked Bella unconscious and... deal with him. It turns out that James just had a recording of Bella's mom, she was always safe. James did, however, end up biting Bella. Though reluctant, Edward sucks out all of the venom and Bella is rushed to the hospital. Her mother comes up and meets Edward and the rest of the Cullens.
And then Bella goes to prom. Yay!
New Moon
At this point, Bella and Edward have been together for about six months. Bella wants nothing more than to be changed into a vampire so that she can stay with Edward forever, but Edward is understandably reluctant about this. He loves the idea of her aging, so he and the rest of his family gets together to throw her a birthday party. Mixed in this, Edward also reveals that if James had killed Bella in the last book, he would have found someway to end his life. (Edward can be kind of a mood killer.)
Bella and Edward are very happy and flirty and cute as they walk over to the Cullen household. Unfortunately (cue dramatic music), this doesn't last. Bella gets a papercut opening one of the Cullen's presents and Jasper, who hasn't been used to this whole "no human" diet for very long, tries to take a chunk out of Bella once she starts bleeding. Edward solemnly takes her home, and Bella can tell that something has changed.
Well, Bella was right. He breaks up with her soon after, in a way that kind of HURT MY SOUL, to be honest. Bella has always been very insecure about their relationship, and didn't truly think that she was bringing anything to it. Edward simply tells her that he doesn't want her, and Bella, though heartbroken, isn't surprised.
This leads to months and months of depression. Bella is only doing enough to keep herself somewhat coherent- she's eating, doing her schoolwork, and... that is about it.
Until Jacob Black comes in. *cue rabid Jacob fangirls*
Charlie convinces Bella that she needs to socialize and have fun, OR ELSE. She invites a couple of friends from school out to the movies, but in the process discovers something. Whenever she puts herself in danger, she can hear Edward's voice in her head, warning her to stop being an idiot. This is like a drug to Bella.
She finds two junky motorcycles for sale by someone, and quickly buys them so that she can put herself in further danger, making it possible to hear Edward's voice. She thinks that her friend Jacob will be the perfect person to help her with this. And because Jacob still has an adorable crush on her from the previous book, he quickly agrees.
Bella and Jacob become quick, natural friends. They fix up her bikes and do homework together, which helps Bella more than she realizes. Even though she's still putting herself in danger (to the point where she has to visit the Emergency Room multiple times), she starts to realize her self worth with Jacob around. They're each other's best friends and are essentially joined at the hip.
That is, until Jacob starts acting bizarre. She goes to the movies with him (in what Mike tries to make into a date between him and Bella), and Jacob's forehead feels freakishly hot. He complains about not feeling well for the next couple of days, and Bella gets very worried. Whenever she tries to call the Black household, Billy keeps on telling her to stay away, which (of course) makes Bella even more curious and worried about what's happening to her best friend. And, because her last boyfriend was a freaking vampire, she knows that it could be some SERIOUS SHIT.
To get her mind off of things, she visits the meadow where she and Edward basically announced their undying love without actually announcing their undying love. And Edward sparkled. To her surprise, she finds Laurent (one of the three vampires that the Cullens found in the last book- he's the one who went up to Alaska) in the middle of the meadow. Since most of the vampires she knows (at this point) are all pretty calm and collected and not people-eating, she is pretty calm around Laurent. And then she remembers that Laurent eats people, and freaks out. She hears Edward's voice in her head again, and is about to start running away when five wolves come in and scare Laurent away.
Over the next couple of days, Bella starts getting even more worried about Jacob, and starts trying calling him every half-hour, waiting in her truck outside his house, etc. She finally figures out that he's hanging around with a new group of people, and she goes to confront him. All Jacob will tell her is that he can't hang out with her (deja vu, anyone?), and that she needs to leave.
Bella is not happy about this.
To her relief, Jacob shows up outside her window one night, and says that he misses her a lot. He explains that he's not allowed to tell her what's happening with him, but that she can try and guess. Jacob reminds her of when she flirted with him in the last book, and he told her all of the vampire legends. It takes her a ridiculous amount of time to figure out what the reader had figured out fifty pages earlier, which was that Jacob was a werewolf.
Now that she is finally in the loop, Jacob can talk to her whenever he wants. They hang out some more and Jacob promises to take her cliff-diving (an activity in which you dive off of a cliff, in case you were wondering).
Unfortunately, our impatient Bella wants to go now, so she jumps off of a cliff herself. Jacob was in the vicinity and runs and saves her before she drowns. This brings the two even closer together. When Jacob drops Bella off at her house, he moves in to kiss her, and Bella isn't resisting -- and Alice Cullen shows up. Bella is delighted to see her, and Jacob? Not so much.
Alice explains that she had a vision of Bella committing suicide, but Bella explains that it was just cliff-diving, and that she wasn't trying to commit suicide at all. She was just having fun. Alice is understandably displeased by this.
More displeasing: Alice soon finds out that Rosalie told Edward about Bella’s suicide attempt. He tries to call the house, while pretending to be Carlisle Cullen. Jacob answers the phone and tells Edward that Bella’s father is at “the funeral.” What Jacob means is Charlie’s good friend Harry Clearwater’s funeral, but Edward thinks that Jacob means Bella’s funeral. He believes that she is actually dead, so he has gone to Italy to try and get the Volturi, who are essentially vampire royalty, angry.
This leads to Bella and Alice hopping on the next plane to Italy, intent on keeping Edward… well, not dead. When they get to Italy, they immediately steal a sports car and rush off to save Edward from his inevitable demise. He plans on stepping out into the sun shirtless, so that everyone around him will see his skin sparkle, and thus will know of vampires. The Volturi, who control the area, are obsessed with keeping the truth about vampires hidden, so Edward figures that this will make them angry enough to kill him.
He’s actually pretty correct about this. So, just as Edward is about to step into the sun… Bella runs up to him and tries to stop him. He looks at her lovingly, and isn’t sure if he’s in heaven or in hell, but he loves it because he is able to be with her. Bella realizes that he thinks that they’re both dead and she finally snaps him out of it.
The Volturi go and take Alice, Bella, and Edward into their headquarters. The Volturi meet with the three and decide that Bella needs to be turned into a vampire, if only to see what power she has. We find out that Bella isn’t affected at all with vampire ~*mind powerz*~. Edward promises to turn her into a vampire, and they all leave.
They all fly back to Forks. Charlie is NOT HAPPY with Bella, especially because she is back with Edward, who abandoned her months before and basically left her a zombie. Bella still thinks that Edward doesn’t love her, but FINALLY, while Edward is taking her back over to the Cullen’s house, she has an epiphany and realizes that Edward loves her. The Cullens all agree (except Rosalie) that Bella should be turned into a vampire. Bella wants Edward to do it. He agrees, but only if they get married. This, for some lame reason, freaks her out more than BEING A VAMPIRE.
Two weeks later, Jacob brings her two motorcycles over to her house. Charlie grounds her, which is just what Jacob wanted. He tried to keep Edward and Bella apart, but that won’t happen. Tru ~*luv*~!
Eclipse
Jacob and Bella’s relationship has been extremely strained ever since Edward came back. It’s about a month after Jacob has gotten Bella grounded, and they haven’t seen or spoken to each other since. Edward definitely plays a role in this, because he’s worried Jacob is going to freak out and accidentely hurt Bella. (Yes, he is way too overprotective.)
Bella still hasn’t agreed to marry Edward, because she thinks it’s ridiculous. Which, yes, is lame. But Edward and Bella have been able to see each other, under Charlie’s constant supervision. One day at her house, they discuss all of the recent killings in Seattle. Edward is convinced a vampire is doing these, and he’s worried about it.
Because Edward is so worried about Bella, he (somehow) convinces Charlie to let the two of them fly down to Florida and meet Bella’s mom. Bella knows that something is going on, but Edward keeps acting very nonchalant about why they came.
When the two get back to Forks, everyone is gearing up for graduation. Edward is being very…. persuasive to different colleges, trying to get them to let Bella still apply. He is ridiculously enthusiastic about her going to college. In fact, he has helped her get into Dartmouth.
At school one day, Jacob decides to show up. Bella is ridiculously happy to see him, but he and Edward are being macho and confrontational. Mike thinks that Jacob could beat up Edward. Jacob figures out that Edward hasn’t told Bella something, and says that he would never keep any secrets from her, like Edward always does, and leaves.
Edward tells Bella that Victoria has been in Forks, and she’s horrified. It turns out that the reason Edward and Bella went to Florida was because Victoria was there, and the vampires and werewolves chased her off. Then the two groups got into a fight over borders, but everyone is okay. Bella’s pretty freaked out.
Then, Edward goes hunting and Bella decides to go and visit Jacob! And the two are adorable and cute and we, as readers, have really missed the two. Because regardless of who you prefer to ship Bella with, you have to agree that Bella and Jacob are pretty darn cute together. The two catch up on old times and talk about some stuff, like imprinting. Imprinting is an entirely messed-up concept in which werewolves, once they imprint upon someone, basically serve the person as a lover, a brother, a friend, whatever the girl or boy needs. They are in “love” with that person until they die. Jacob hasn’t imprinted on Bella, which is good for everyone involved. It turns out that werewolves also don’t age until they phase, which makes Bella want to be a vampire even more. Bella tells him that Edward is her boyfriend and he is her best friend. She is Switzerland- completely neutral.
The next day at school, Bella is kidnapped. By Alice. See, Edward is worried about her and has gotten Alice to convince Charlie to let Bella sleep over. That is one complicated sentence. Anyway, Bella is obviously unhappy about this. Bella and Rosalie get to talking, and Rosalie is really against Bella becoming a vampire. We find out that Rosalie was a society girl back a couple decades back, and she was set to get married to this great, rich guy. Unfortunately, this rich guy decided to get drunk and gang-rape Rosalie with a bunch of his pals, then leave her to die in the street. Luckily, Carlisle happened upon her and turned her into a vampire, intending her to be a mate for Edward. The two of them (as far as we know) were never attracted to each other.
The next day, Bella is getting a little sick of the fact that Edward is being so overprotective. So, she escapes during the school day and runs off with Jacob. They have fun and are adorable like last time. However, this time, Bella seems to get it into her head that telling Jacob that, if she has her way, she’ll be turned into a vampire soon, is a GOOD IDEA.
Not so much, Bella. Jacob freaks out but Bella manages to calm him down. Edward soon comes home and they agree that the best thing to do is to let Bella see Jacob when she wants to, including when Edward is off hunting. This makes everyone happy. Yay!
Bella wakes up the next morning and realizes that some things are missing from her room. For the longest time she can’t figure out what happened, but Edward realizes that another vampire has been inside her home. Jacob comes over to investigate what happened, because of his sensitive nose. They don’t find anything… yet.
It’s gotten even closer to graduation. Bella and Edward have decided that she’ll be turned on graduation night, and Alice decides to throw a party. While Bella is at Edward’s house, we also find out how Jasper got turned. He was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, and was on the road when a woman walked up to him and turned him. The family that turned him was part of a group in the southern United States whose job it was to turn newborns, so the newborns could work for them. It’s all rather confusing, but equally hardcore and messed up. It was only because Alice had a vision of Jasper that the two were able to leave their lives and go and find the Cullens.
At this point, shit is about to hit the fan. Bella decides to spend a day in La Push with Jacob, who ends up confessing his love for her. Then, in a scene that is incredibly uncomfortable to read because it’s kind of out-of-character, Jacob forces himself on Bella and kisses her, ignoring her protests and the fact that she’s trying to pull away. Some people have tried to justify this, saying that his strength is so new to him that he can’t control it and that he mistook Bella trying to break free as passion, but either way it’s uncomfortable. Bella finally stops trying to move away and waits for the kiss to be over and, when it is, punches him.
They both come back to Bella’s house, Bella still understandably not happy. Charlie and Edward notice this and ask Bella about her mood. Jacob admits that he kissed her, and Charlie couldn’t be more happy. Which is another bizarre scene. After telling the two that she also punched him afterward, Edward threatens him.
During the graduation party, Bella (again, late) figures out what every reader figured out a couple hundred pages earlier: Victoria is behind the recent killings in Seattle and the fact that Bella has some possessions missing. The La Push werewolves show up at the Cullen’s house and agree to an alliance with the vampires, to protect Bella.
The wolves and the vampires have figured out that Victoria is using newborns to kill humans. This is especially dangerous, because newborns are very strong and don’t have much control over all of their power. They tend to be very impulsive and to not think all of their decisions through. The vampires try to train the wolves to deal with all of the newborns. After hearing about how dangerous the newborns are, Bella begs Edward to sit the fight out, and he agrees.
Then there is sex. EXCEPT NOT. Bella tries to have sex with Edward but is denied. He is too worried that he’ll hurt her because he is crazy strong and she is accident-prone. They finally come to an agreement: if Bella agrees to marry Edward, they’ll have sex on their wedding night and then he’ll turn Bella. He gives her an engagement ring and Bella is still more freaked out about marriage than being a vampire. No, this does not make sense to us, either.
To lure Victoria and the newborns, Bella leaves her scent all over the forest by the Cullen’s house. Then, she changes into different clothes and she, Edward, and Jacob stay at their campsite. The tension is obviously very thick, and the fact that Edward and Jacob keep mocking each other isn’t helping. To keep her warm with his crazy high body temperature, Jacob and Bella sleep against each other. The next morning, Jacob realizes that Bella and Edward are engaged and freaks out, only to be calmed down by Bella kissing him. This makes her realize that she’s actually in love with him, too. Like she doesn’t have enough problems.
After Jacob leaves to fight, the only people left at the campsite are Edward, Bella, and another werewolf named Seth. Victoria figures out where Edward and Bella are and, with another newborn, try and kill them. Edward and Seth defeat the newborn, so only Victoria is left. Edward rips off Victoria’s head and, after her and the newborn’s remains are burnt, is considered dead. They finish off the rest of the newborns… when the Volturi decide to make an appearance. They notice that Bella is still human and the Cullen’s tell them that it will be dealt with soon.
At the very end of the book, Bella visits an injured Jacob. In different words, she tells him that she has chosen Edward and will be made into a vampire after their wedding. This kind of destroys Jacob, but he understands. I kind of love him when he’s not being a jerk. Bella has asked Alice to be her maid of honor at the wedding, and things don’t look so bad at the end of the book. But, we must not forget that this is the Twilight series, so long-lasting happiness is a rarity.
This overview wouldn't have been possible without without help from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anythingbutgrey. Basically, the good parts of this (meaning the first half of the Twilight portion) is her work.
In Stephenie Meyer's vampire-verse, they don't die from sun exposure, your stake would shatter if you tried that method, beheading them is nice, but they can be put back together, garlic doesn't so much as make them sneeze, and one of them has a big ol' penchant for Jesus. Hence, crosses? Not a problem.
Plot
Twilight
Twilight is the tale of Isabella "Bella" Marie Swan and her vampire love, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen.
That's the short version, anyway. What follows is way too detailed, but the sequels are far less complicated, so those synopses will be shorter.
Bella lives in Arizona with her mother, Renee, and her shiny new stepfather, Phil. And she doesn't like it. Bella feels like she's smothering Renee, who really just wants to be traveling around with Phil for his minor league baseball career, so Bella, martyr that she is, moves to Forks, Washington – rainiest place in the country – to live with her biological father, Charlie Swan.
Bella's first day at Forks High is twelve kinds of awkward, and she manages to attract. Every. Single. Male. In. School. With her super pretty paleness, newness, and clumsiness.
(Don't worry – we make fun of her too.)
Bella finds some girl friends who aren't attracted to her too, though, and the not so lovely Jessica leads Bella into the cafeteria to eat lunch with Jessica and her friends. There, Bella sees a group of super beautiful people sitting together and not talking. They're all beautiful, pale, and kind of eerie.
They're the Cullens and the Hales.
Specifically, Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Rosalie Hale, and Jasper Hale. The official story involves adoption by Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme.
Jessica glances at them, says they think they're all high and mighty, and, yes, Edward Cullen is the only single one and isn't he pretty? But he doesn't date, Jessica says with a scoff. Apparently none of the girls at Forks High are good enough for him.
(Oh, Jessica.)
In Biology, Bella finds herself sitting next to – guess who – Edward. But Edward's not so happy about the situation – he looks at Bella like he could kill her (literally) and she's more than a little put off by it, understandably.
Then, Edward doesn't show up for a week. Bella feels odd that she misses him, but she does, and when he's back she's both relieved and annoyed at his return, an annoyance that only grows when Edward pleasantly addresses her in biology, quite a shift from how he had behaved previously.
And things are pretty calm from there – Edward keeps being pretty and allusive, tells Bella he's dangerous, that she should stay away from him, but then can't leave her alone himself. And there's a lot of flirting and it's all sort of amazing in that creepy I Love This sense.
Everything changes when Bella almost dies.
For the first time, that is.
It's icy one day, and Bella's high school classmate, Tyler, loses control of his car, which comes hurtling toward Bella before she can even react. It's like in the movies, when everything goes in slow motion and you want to yell "GET OUT OF THE DAMN WAY" but no one's moving and you're just watching the heroine get crushed underneath a set of tire wheels and it's coming, the loud crack of bones –
Only it doesn't, because Edward somehow manages to cross the entire parking lot in the span of a millisecond and pull Bella out of the way. Bella ends up with some scratches, Tyler's a little worse off, and while they're both in the hospital, Bella corners Edward and demands an explanation for the superhuman speed. She saw him on the other side of the parking lot before the crash, knows there is no way he could have made it to pull her out of the way in time. Edward refuses to speak about it and gets more than a little feisty about the whole thing.
At school, Edward invites her to sit at lunch with him (to make amends for acting kind of freakish... all of the time), but then informs her that he is skipping the rest of the day. In Biology, their teacher decides that, because the blood drive is coming up, the students should know their blood types. This doesn't sit well with Bella. You know why?
Bella cannot stand the sight or the smell of blood. No, I am not kidding.
She faints and is escorted to the nurses’ office by Edward, who magically appears in the nick of time to help. Oh, that Edward. He manages to talk the nurse into letting him take Bella home.
Skip some time, and Mike Newton, one of the boys who are in loff with our dear Bella and is in her group of friends, invites Bella to go with him and their friends to the beach. There, Bella meets Jacob Black, a Native American of the Quileute tribe. Bella's father, Charlie, is best friends with Billy Black, Jacob's father, and, as a child, Bella spent some time with the Black children. Bella remembers spending time with Jacob's sisters, but she doesn't seem to remember Jacob. That's not important, though.
What is important is that Bella knows that Jacob knows something about the Cullens, because one of the Quileutes who is with Jacob, Sam Uley, makes a remark about how the Cullens aren't allowed on Quileute soil. Jacob meets this comment with a sigh and a roll of the eyes. Bella flirts and manipulates Jacob into a solitary walk along the beach, and he tells her Quileute legends, including one about the Cold Ones. Vampires. Apparently, the Cullens are those Vampires. Jacob thinks it's all lunacy.
It is time for the dance at Forks High. Bella and Edward have gotten to be friends (kind of), but Bella still has no idea what the heck his problem is. Two of Bella's friends, Jessica and Angela, invite her to go dress shopping with them. Bella has already decided that she is not going to the dance, because she has been asked out by every male in school and is the least coordinated person, in her opinion, ever. But she agrees to shop at Port Angeles with Jess and Angela, because she thinks that it would be fun, and also to get her mind off of a certain Edward Cullen. He hasn't gone to school for the past couple days, and it's been remarkably sunny lately.
Huh.
Jess and Angela have picked out their dresses and the threesome decides to go and have dinner. But Bella, being the bookworm that she is, wants to find the bookstore and check it out first. And again, being incredibly danger-prone, she meets some thugs who soon start following her. Luckily, Edward Cullen suddenly drives his car up, yells at her to get in, and speeds off. And then takes her to dinner. Even though the pretty waitresses can't stop staring at him, all he cares about is Bella and if she's okay. This gives her the confidence to ask about the Quileute legend and Edward doesn't deny anything about it.
He also informs her that, in addition to not exactly being human, some of the Cullens have... abilities. Alice can see the future, Jasper can change people's moods, and Emmett is crazy strong. And Edward has a tendency to read minds. Of everyone except Bella, that is. For some reason, her blood is infinitely more enticing than any other human's blood, and he can't read her mind.
Over the next couple of days, Edward and Bella grow very close. Since he can't read her mind, he is eager to know everything he can about her, and Bella wants to know all that she can about him. She is still in a state of shock concerning her and Edward. She thinks that she is completely plain and that he is almost a god, and just being near him makes her feel more and more unremarkable.
Edward reveals that he has been spying on her in her house, and watching her sleep. (It is revealed less creepily in the book, I promise.) He takes her to his meadow and she finds out that the reason vampires can't come out into the daylight is because their rock-hard skin literally sparkles in the sun. This explains all of the Cullens' absences from school. Edward also explains that they have to feed off blood, true, but not human blood- they hunt deer, bears, and other types of wild animal and eat those.
And so, all is well and good for awhile. At this point, Edward is only a little schmaltzy and he and Bella are ridiculously nervous and happy and adorable around each other. All of Edward's family (except Rosalie, but that is explained later) love Bella to death, mainly because of the effect she has on Edward. See, Edward is a little... moody, but around Bella he is happy and adorkable.
This, like all happiness in the Twilight series, doesn't last long.
A pack of vampires passing through the area spot the Cullen clan, and are immediately curious as to why they are with Bella - a human - and not eating her. James, the leader, teams up with his mate, Victoria, in trying to track Bella down and feed off of her. The third vampire in the pack, Laurent, goes to live with friends of the Cullens up in Alaska. The Cullens agree that Bella needs to leave town and decide to take her back down to Phoenix, Arizona - her original home. James, however, is intelligent and realizes that the way to get to Bella is through her mother.
Bella receives a message on the phone of her mother screaming for her, and she panics. James tells her to meet him at a dance studio and he'll let her mother go. Bella cares about her mother more than anything - she considers her mom her best friend, so she doesn't exactly do an incredibly large amount of thinking after she gets the phone call. So, she immediately escapes the Cullens and runs off to meet the vampire she knows is going to kill her.
He doesn't kill her. I bet you didn't see that coming! The Cullens enter after James has knocked Bella unconscious and... deal with him. It turns out that James just had a recording of Bella's mom, she was always safe. James did, however, end up biting Bella. Though reluctant, Edward sucks out all of the venom and Bella is rushed to the hospital. Her mother comes up and meets Edward and the rest of the Cullens.
And then Bella goes to prom. Yay!
New Moon
At this point, Bella and Edward have been together for about six months. Bella wants nothing more than to be changed into a vampire so that she can stay with Edward forever, but Edward is understandably reluctant about this. He loves the idea of her aging, so he and the rest of his family gets together to throw her a birthday party. Mixed in this, Edward also reveals that if James had killed Bella in the last book, he would have found someway to end his life. (Edward can be kind of a mood killer.)
Bella and Edward are very happy and flirty and cute as they walk over to the Cullen household. Unfortunately (cue dramatic music), this doesn't last. Bella gets a papercut opening one of the Cullen's presents and Jasper, who hasn't been used to this whole "no human" diet for very long, tries to take a chunk out of Bella once she starts bleeding. Edward solemnly takes her home, and Bella can tell that something has changed.
Well, Bella was right. He breaks up with her soon after, in a way that kind of HURT MY SOUL, to be honest. Bella has always been very insecure about their relationship, and didn't truly think that she was bringing anything to it. Edward simply tells her that he doesn't want her, and Bella, though heartbroken, isn't surprised.
This leads to months and months of depression. Bella is only doing enough to keep herself somewhat coherent- she's eating, doing her schoolwork, and... that is about it.
Until Jacob Black comes in. *cue rabid Jacob fangirls*
Charlie convinces Bella that she needs to socialize and have fun, OR ELSE. She invites a couple of friends from school out to the movies, but in the process discovers something. Whenever she puts herself in danger, she can hear Edward's voice in her head, warning her to stop being an idiot. This is like a drug to Bella.
She finds two junky motorcycles for sale by someone, and quickly buys them so that she can put herself in further danger, making it possible to hear Edward's voice. She thinks that her friend Jacob will be the perfect person to help her with this. And because Jacob still has an adorable crush on her from the previous book, he quickly agrees.
Bella and Jacob become quick, natural friends. They fix up her bikes and do homework together, which helps Bella more than she realizes. Even though she's still putting herself in danger (to the point where she has to visit the Emergency Room multiple times), she starts to realize her self worth with Jacob around. They're each other's best friends and are essentially joined at the hip.
That is, until Jacob starts acting bizarre. She goes to the movies with him (in what Mike tries to make into a date between him and Bella), and Jacob's forehead feels freakishly hot. He complains about not feeling well for the next couple of days, and Bella gets very worried. Whenever she tries to call the Black household, Billy keeps on telling her to stay away, which (of course) makes Bella even more curious and worried about what's happening to her best friend. And, because her last boyfriend was a freaking vampire, she knows that it could be some SERIOUS SHIT.
To get her mind off of things, she visits the meadow where she and Edward basically announced their undying love without actually announcing their undying love. And Edward sparkled. To her surprise, she finds Laurent (one of the three vampires that the Cullens found in the last book- he's the one who went up to Alaska) in the middle of the meadow. Since most of the vampires she knows (at this point) are all pretty calm and collected and not people-eating, she is pretty calm around Laurent. And then she remembers that Laurent eats people, and freaks out. She hears Edward's voice in her head again, and is about to start running away when five wolves come in and scare Laurent away.
Over the next couple of days, Bella starts getting even more worried about Jacob, and starts trying calling him every half-hour, waiting in her truck outside his house, etc. She finally figures out that he's hanging around with a new group of people, and she goes to confront him. All Jacob will tell her is that he can't hang out with her (deja vu, anyone?), and that she needs to leave.
Bella is not happy about this.
To her relief, Jacob shows up outside her window one night, and says that he misses her a lot. He explains that he's not allowed to tell her what's happening with him, but that she can try and guess. Jacob reminds her of when she flirted with him in the last book, and he told her all of the vampire legends. It takes her a ridiculous amount of time to figure out what the reader had figured out fifty pages earlier, which was that Jacob was a werewolf.
Now that she is finally in the loop, Jacob can talk to her whenever he wants. They hang out some more and Jacob promises to take her cliff-diving (an activity in which you dive off of a cliff, in case you were wondering).
Unfortunately, our impatient Bella wants to go now, so she jumps off of a cliff herself. Jacob was in the vicinity and runs and saves her before she drowns. This brings the two even closer together. When Jacob drops Bella off at her house, he moves in to kiss her, and Bella isn't resisting -- and Alice Cullen shows up. Bella is delighted to see her, and Jacob? Not so much.
Alice explains that she had a vision of Bella committing suicide, but Bella explains that it was just cliff-diving, and that she wasn't trying to commit suicide at all. She was just having fun. Alice is understandably displeased by this.
More displeasing: Alice soon finds out that Rosalie told Edward about Bella’s suicide attempt. He tries to call the house, while pretending to be Carlisle Cullen. Jacob answers the phone and tells Edward that Bella’s father is at “the funeral.” What Jacob means is Charlie’s good friend Harry Clearwater’s funeral, but Edward thinks that Jacob means Bella’s funeral. He believes that she is actually dead, so he has gone to Italy to try and get the Volturi, who are essentially vampire royalty, angry.
This leads to Bella and Alice hopping on the next plane to Italy, intent on keeping Edward… well, not dead. When they get to Italy, they immediately steal a sports car and rush off to save Edward from his inevitable demise. He plans on stepping out into the sun shirtless, so that everyone around him will see his skin sparkle, and thus will know of vampires. The Volturi, who control the area, are obsessed with keeping the truth about vampires hidden, so Edward figures that this will make them angry enough to kill him.
He’s actually pretty correct about this. So, just as Edward is about to step into the sun… Bella runs up to him and tries to stop him. He looks at her lovingly, and isn’t sure if he’s in heaven or in hell, but he loves it because he is able to be with her. Bella realizes that he thinks that they’re both dead and she finally snaps him out of it.
The Volturi go and take Alice, Bella, and Edward into their headquarters. The Volturi meet with the three and decide that Bella needs to be turned into a vampire, if only to see what power she has. We find out that Bella isn’t affected at all with vampire ~*mind powerz*~. Edward promises to turn her into a vampire, and they all leave.
They all fly back to Forks. Charlie is NOT HAPPY with Bella, especially because she is back with Edward, who abandoned her months before and basically left her a zombie. Bella still thinks that Edward doesn’t love her, but FINALLY, while Edward is taking her back over to the Cullen’s house, she has an epiphany and realizes that Edward loves her. The Cullens all agree (except Rosalie) that Bella should be turned into a vampire. Bella wants Edward to do it. He agrees, but only if they get married. This, for some lame reason, freaks her out more than BEING A VAMPIRE.
Two weeks later, Jacob brings her two motorcycles over to her house. Charlie grounds her, which is just what Jacob wanted. He tried to keep Edward and Bella apart, but that won’t happen. Tru ~*luv*~!
Eclipse
Jacob and Bella’s relationship has been extremely strained ever since Edward came back. It’s about a month after Jacob has gotten Bella grounded, and they haven’t seen or spoken to each other since. Edward definitely plays a role in this, because he’s worried Jacob is going to freak out and accidentely hurt Bella. (Yes, he is way too overprotective.)
Bella still hasn’t agreed to marry Edward, because she thinks it’s ridiculous. Which, yes, is lame. But Edward and Bella have been able to see each other, under Charlie’s constant supervision. One day at her house, they discuss all of the recent killings in Seattle. Edward is convinced a vampire is doing these, and he’s worried about it.
Because Edward is so worried about Bella, he (somehow) convinces Charlie to let the two of them fly down to Florida and meet Bella’s mom. Bella knows that something is going on, but Edward keeps acting very nonchalant about why they came.
When the two get back to Forks, everyone is gearing up for graduation. Edward is being very…. persuasive to different colleges, trying to get them to let Bella still apply. He is ridiculously enthusiastic about her going to college. In fact, he has helped her get into Dartmouth.
At school one day, Jacob decides to show up. Bella is ridiculously happy to see him, but he and Edward are being macho and confrontational. Mike thinks that Jacob could beat up Edward. Jacob figures out that Edward hasn’t told Bella something, and says that he would never keep any secrets from her, like Edward always does, and leaves.
Edward tells Bella that Victoria has been in Forks, and she’s horrified. It turns out that the reason Edward and Bella went to Florida was because Victoria was there, and the vampires and werewolves chased her off. Then the two groups got into a fight over borders, but everyone is okay. Bella’s pretty freaked out.
Then, Edward goes hunting and Bella decides to go and visit Jacob! And the two are adorable and cute and we, as readers, have really missed the two. Because regardless of who you prefer to ship Bella with, you have to agree that Bella and Jacob are pretty darn cute together. The two catch up on old times and talk about some stuff, like imprinting. Imprinting is an entirely messed-up concept in which werewolves, once they imprint upon someone, basically serve the person as a lover, a brother, a friend, whatever the girl or boy needs. They are in “love” with that person until they die. Jacob hasn’t imprinted on Bella, which is good for everyone involved. It turns out that werewolves also don’t age until they phase, which makes Bella want to be a vampire even more. Bella tells him that Edward is her boyfriend and he is her best friend. She is Switzerland- completely neutral.
The next day at school, Bella is kidnapped. By Alice. See, Edward is worried about her and has gotten Alice to convince Charlie to let Bella sleep over. That is one complicated sentence. Anyway, Bella is obviously unhappy about this. Bella and Rosalie get to talking, and Rosalie is really against Bella becoming a vampire. We find out that Rosalie was a society girl back a couple decades back, and she was set to get married to this great, rich guy. Unfortunately, this rich guy decided to get drunk and gang-rape Rosalie with a bunch of his pals, then leave her to die in the street. Luckily, Carlisle happened upon her and turned her into a vampire, intending her to be a mate for Edward. The two of them (as far as we know) were never attracted to each other.
The next day, Bella is getting a little sick of the fact that Edward is being so overprotective. So, she escapes during the school day and runs off with Jacob. They have fun and are adorable like last time. However, this time, Bella seems to get it into her head that telling Jacob that, if she has her way, she’ll be turned into a vampire soon, is a GOOD IDEA.
Not so much, Bella. Jacob freaks out but Bella manages to calm him down. Edward soon comes home and they agree that the best thing to do is to let Bella see Jacob when she wants to, including when Edward is off hunting. This makes everyone happy. Yay!
Bella wakes up the next morning and realizes that some things are missing from her room. For the longest time she can’t figure out what happened, but Edward realizes that another vampire has been inside her home. Jacob comes over to investigate what happened, because of his sensitive nose. They don’t find anything… yet.
It’s gotten even closer to graduation. Bella and Edward have decided that she’ll be turned on graduation night, and Alice decides to throw a party. While Bella is at Edward’s house, we also find out how Jasper got turned. He was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, and was on the road when a woman walked up to him and turned him. The family that turned him was part of a group in the southern United States whose job it was to turn newborns, so the newborns could work for them. It’s all rather confusing, but equally hardcore and messed up. It was only because Alice had a vision of Jasper that the two were able to leave their lives and go and find the Cullens.
At this point, shit is about to hit the fan. Bella decides to spend a day in La Push with Jacob, who ends up confessing his love for her. Then, in a scene that is incredibly uncomfortable to read because it’s kind of out-of-character, Jacob forces himself on Bella and kisses her, ignoring her protests and the fact that she’s trying to pull away. Some people have tried to justify this, saying that his strength is so new to him that he can’t control it and that he mistook Bella trying to break free as passion, but either way it’s uncomfortable. Bella finally stops trying to move away and waits for the kiss to be over and, when it is, punches him.
They both come back to Bella’s house, Bella still understandably not happy. Charlie and Edward notice this and ask Bella about her mood. Jacob admits that he kissed her, and Charlie couldn’t be more happy. Which is another bizarre scene. After telling the two that she also punched him afterward, Edward threatens him.
During the graduation party, Bella (again, late) figures out what every reader figured out a couple hundred pages earlier: Victoria is behind the recent killings in Seattle and the fact that Bella has some possessions missing. The La Push werewolves show up at the Cullen’s house and agree to an alliance with the vampires, to protect Bella.
The wolves and the vampires have figured out that Victoria is using newborns to kill humans. This is especially dangerous, because newborns are very strong and don’t have much control over all of their power. They tend to be very impulsive and to not think all of their decisions through. The vampires try to train the wolves to deal with all of the newborns. After hearing about how dangerous the newborns are, Bella begs Edward to sit the fight out, and he agrees.
Then there is sex. EXCEPT NOT. Bella tries to have sex with Edward but is denied. He is too worried that he’ll hurt her because he is crazy strong and she is accident-prone. They finally come to an agreement: if Bella agrees to marry Edward, they’ll have sex on their wedding night and then he’ll turn Bella. He gives her an engagement ring and Bella is still more freaked out about marriage than being a vampire. No, this does not make sense to us, either.
To lure Victoria and the newborns, Bella leaves her scent all over the forest by the Cullen’s house. Then, she changes into different clothes and she, Edward, and Jacob stay at their campsite. The tension is obviously very thick, and the fact that Edward and Jacob keep mocking each other isn’t helping. To keep her warm with his crazy high body temperature, Jacob and Bella sleep against each other. The next morning, Jacob realizes that Bella and Edward are engaged and freaks out, only to be calmed down by Bella kissing him. This makes her realize that she’s actually in love with him, too. Like she doesn’t have enough problems.
After Jacob leaves to fight, the only people left at the campsite are Edward, Bella, and another werewolf named Seth. Victoria figures out where Edward and Bella are and, with another newborn, try and kill them. Edward and Seth defeat the newborn, so only Victoria is left. Edward rips off Victoria’s head and, after her and the newborn’s remains are burnt, is considered dead. They finish off the rest of the newborns… when the Volturi decide to make an appearance. They notice that Bella is still human and the Cullen’s tell them that it will be dealt with soon.
At the very end of the book, Bella visits an injured Jacob. In different words, she tells him that she has chosen Edward and will be made into a vampire after their wedding. This kind of destroys Jacob, but he understands. I kind of love him when he’s not being a jerk. Bella has asked Alice to be her maid of honor at the wedding, and things don’t look so bad at the end of the book. But, we must not forget that this is the Twilight series, so long-lasting happiness is a rarity.
This overview wouldn't have been possible without without help from
anythingbutgrey. Basically, the good parts of this (meaning the first half of the Twilight portion) is her work.
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everthat I want to write a fan letter to someone who wrote a synopsis of a book series. However after reading this I feel moved to. I only hope the books are half as entertaining as your summary.no subject
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PS One thing that threw me off for a split second, though, was this: Bella gets a paperclip opening one of the Cullen's presents and Jasper, who hasn't been used to this whole "no human" diet for very long, tries to take a chunk out of Bella once she starts bleeding.
I'm assuming that was supposed to be paper cut? :D
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Until Jacob Black comes in. *cue rabid Jacob fangirls*
worddddd.
great job, bb.
although if i were doing this you know that the entire thing would be from an entirely different perspective, so thus you and i will have some points of contention on this tru luv business. :D!!
♥
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Thanks, Ely.
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Bella finally stops trying to move away and waits for the kiss to be over and, when it is, punches him.
INCORRECT STEPH SAID SHE KISSED HIM BACK.
i will cling to that fact for the rest of my life. otherwise it just sounds like glorified masturbation, him "moving his lips against hers" or whatever the hell and she just doesn't respond? that's gross. and, how the hell could you wait for someone to stop kissing you with a kiss THAT intense? oh, bella. i would never buy that.
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