Bella Swan
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Isabella Swan, known as Bella Swan, is the fictional main character of the novels Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. She is planned to appear in the upcoming novel Eclipse, which is due to come out in August 2007.
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[edit] Personal history
[edit] Early life
Isabella Marie Swan was born on September 13, 1987 to Renee and Charlie Swan, a young couple living in the small town of Forks, Washington. Her parents divorced when she was six months old. Her mother moved her to California and then, eventually, to Phoenix, Arizona. Bella has always been a bit of a loner with few friends. She is also incredibly clumsy, which leads her to avoid all sports.
Her mother eventually remarries Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player who was much younger than she. Phil is forced to travel the country a lot due to his profession, and Bella often sees how much her mother wants to be with him. Instead of making Renee choose between Bella and Phil, Bella decides to move back to Forks to live with her father, whom she only sees during summer vacation.
[edit] Twilight
At age 17, Bella packed her bags and moved back in with her father, enrolling at Forks High School. Boys are immediately attracted to her, although she dismisses most. She makes quite a few friends, including Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Mike Newton.
The one group of people in Forks that truly intruiges Bella is the Cullens, a mysteriously beautiful family whose five adopted children attended the high school there. In particular, the youngest, the perfectly handsome Edward Cullen, captures her attention. At first, Bella is sure that he hates her — they are forced to sit next to each other in biology class, and he gives her a frightening look of loathing. Later on, she finds him in the office trying desperately to switch out of the class. Despite this strange behavior, Bella finds herself drawn to him, but still believes that she is the reason he wants to switch classes - to be away from her.
It isn't until two weeks later that Bella finally speaks to Edward. He is pleasant and civil, and she notices that his eyes, which were jet black when she first met him, are now a beautiful shade of topaz. The two get along as acquaintances until, later on, Edward saves her from being hit by an out-of-control van with what seemed like supernatural speed and strength. A suspicious Bella confronts him about it, but he reveals nothing. As the story progresses, Bella discovered that Edward and his family are vampires. They differ from the typical vampire in that they are able to survive by drinking only animal blood, in fact refusing to hunt humans, which sets them apart from their species.
Even as Edward and Bella become romantically involved, it is hard for them to be together. Although he does not drink human blood, Edward constantly lusts for it, and Bella's blood is especially tantalizing for him. He must control his desires at all times. At the end of Twilight, he saves Bella from a tracker vampire called James.
[edit] New Moon
The events of New Moon begin on Bella's eighteenth birthday party. Bella receives a papercut while opening one of her presents, causing Jasper (Edward's brother), and the 'newest' member of the family, to try to attack her. Because Edward believed that she would be safer without him, he and his family left Forks.
Bella sinks into a deep depression for four months, until she is awoken after Charlie, her father, threatens to send her back to live with her mother in Phoenix because he is worried about her behavior. Still depressed, she becomes closer friends with Jacob Black, who fixes a motorcycle for her and teaches her to ride. Bella realizes that whenever she puts herself in a dangerous situation, she can hear Edward's voice in her head. Jacob and Bella become very good friends, verging on the edge of romance, until suddenly Jacob refuses to answer any of her calls and asks her not to come to his house anymore. It is not until a few weeks later that Bella realized what her best friend had become: a werewolf.
In order to hear Edward's voice in her head again, Bella goes cliff diving and nearly drowns. Alice, Edward's sister, has the power to see the future, or at least possible futures, and when she sees Bella jump she believes Bella had committed suicide, and subsequently returned to Forks. Edward, isolated from his family by his own volition, is told by Rosalie, his other sister, that Bella is dead. Alice tells Bella that Edward is going to Italy to be killed by the Volturi, possibly the most powerful group of vampires in the world and can compared to the royal family of vampires, because he could not bear to live in a world without Bella. Bella and Alice take off to Italy instantly.
In Italy, Bella finds Edward about to step into the sunlight, something that would make him visible enough for the Volturi to notice, because above all, they do not want the human world to know of vampire existence. Bella convinces Edward just in time to not step into the sunlight, but they are soon confronted by other vampires and taken into the base of the Volturi. The Volturi make Alice and Edward swear that Bella will be made a vampire, or else they will kill her. Here, it is made known that some vampire "powers" do not affect Bella at all, although the nature of Bella's ability is left ambiguous.
Back in Forks, Bella and Edward also struck up a deal - he will change her if she promises to marry him and finish high school. Later, Jacob reminded Edward of the treaty made between the Cullens and the La Push werewolves, which stated that no Cullen would bite a human.
[edit] Appearance
Bella is very pale, which bothered her in Phoenix, but makes her feel like she fits in with rainy Forks. Her hair is dark brown and straight and has bangs that have been said to cover her face, and her eyes are brown as well. Stephenie Meyer describes her as slender but not at all muscular. She has a heart-shaped face, full lips, and straight eyebrows.[1]
[edit] Romantic relationships
[edit] 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 and became depressed when he broke up with her and left Forks. Bella believes Edward to be completely and utterly perfect and does not consider herself to be worthy of his love; when Edward is telling Bella goodbye in New Moon, Bella instantly believes that he does not want her anymore. Even after being reunited with Edward, Bella believes that Edward merely felt guilty that he could not save Bella and so asked to die for not protecting her; still not thinking that Edward really loves her. Bella hopes that by becoming a vampire, she will be beautiful and graceful like the Cullens and will be worthy of Edward's love. At the end of "New Moon" Bella finally realizes that Edward truly loves her.
[edit] Jacob Black
Jacob Black, a Quileute and the son of Charlie Swan's friend, Billy Black, he also loves Bella and spent a lot of time with her during the period of Edward's absence. Bella sought Jacob's help in repairing some motorcycles she hoped to use to activate the illusion of Edward's voice which she could only hear when doing something life threatening. While Edward was away and Bella was depressed, Bella found that Jacob's presence soothed the "hole" in her chest that resulted from the Cullens leaving. Being around Jake brought happiness back to Bella's life but he was unable to replace Edward. Bella has no romantic history with Jacob Black; she loves him as a brother. But Bella did consider giving up on Edward and accepting Jacob; she thinks of Jacob as a very good friend and did not wish to accept him as a boyfriend because she thought that he deserved more than a broken girl but still wished to retain a bond with him to keep him near her. Bella's decision to become a vampire caused them to drift even farther apart and caused a problem because of a treaty the Cullens have with the warewolves. The Cullens are not allowed to bite a human. Bite, not kill.
[edit] Mike Newton
Mike Newton is a popular boy at Bella's high school who, with other boys, is instantly attracted to Bella. He is friendly and Bella thinks he possesses traits not unlike a dog in his happiness and loyalty in walking her to class and speaking to her. Mike frequently tries to ask Bella out, she always declines. In New Moon, after a movie date consisting of Bella, Jacob and Mike, Mike has seemingly given up on Bella, and tells her that "girls are cruel."
[edit] Tyler Crowley
After nearly killing Bella in a car accident, Tyler felt obligated to make things even. He unsuccessfully asks Bella out to a dance, and when Bella says "no", he believes that he's taking Bella to prom. When prom comes along, Tyler shows up at Bella's house when Bella already is going to prom with Edward. Edward informs Tyler about it, and Tyler's reaction was not mentioned.
[edit] Eric Yorkie
Eric was the first boy Bella met at school, he's described as "a gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an oil slick". Bella's first impression about him was that he was one of the chess-club helpful types. He also unsuccessfully asked Bella out to the dance. He wasn't mentioned much after that in the book, in "New Moon" he went out on a date with Jessica but only because Jessica didn't know how to turn him down.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Twilight FAQ". Accessed January 01, 2007.
[edit] External links
- "Official website of Stephenie Meyer"
- "Twilight Lexicon"
- "Juliet" - a Bella fanlisting
