Twilight (novel series)

For the cycling race, see Twilight Series.

Twilight series

File:Twilight Boxed Set.jpg
Author	Stephenie Meyer
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Romance,Horror, Fantasy,Young Adult
Publisher	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Twilight is a series of vampire-based fantasy/romance/horror novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. It follows the adventures of Isabella Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks, Washington and finds her life turned upside-down when she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen.

The series is told primarily from Bella's point of view, with the epilogue of Eclipse and a portion of Breaking Dawn being told from the viewpoint of Jacob Black. Midnight Sun, if published, will be told from Edward Cullen's point of view of Twilight.

The series is currently one of the most popular books written for young adults, with 50 million copies sold worldwide and over 7.7 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. The series has been translated into over 20 different languages around the world.

Plot

Twilight

Isabella (Bella) Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to allow her mother, Renée, to travel with her new husband, Phil (who is a baseball player). After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome boy, Edward Cullen, who turns out to be a 'vegetarian' vampire, (a vampire who drinks animal blood, as opposed to human blood). They fall in love, and must fight off a rival vampire who wants to drink Bella's blood. Bella escapes to Phoenix, Arizona where she is tricked into confronting James, a sadistic vampire who wishes to kill her.

New Moon

Edward and his family leave Forks because of his belief that he is constantly endangering Bella's life by his presence. Bella falls into a deep depression, until she develops a strong friendship with wolf shape-shifter Jacob Black. Jacob and the other wolves in his tribe must protect her from Victoria, an evil vampire who intends to avenge the death of James, her mate, by killing Bella. A misunderstanding occurs, and Edward is led to believe that Bella is dead. Edward decides to commit suicide in Volterra, Italy, but he is stopped by Bella and Alice. They meet with the Volturi and are let go on the condition that Bella be turned into a vampire in the near future. Bella and Edward are reunited, and the Cullens return to Forks.

Eclipse

The vampire Victoria has amassed an army of "newborn" vampires to battle the Cullen family and kill Bella. Meanwhile, Bella is forced to choose between her relationship with Edward and her friendship with Jacob. Edward's family of vampires and Jacob's pack of werewolves join forces to successfully destroy Victoria and her army of vampires. In the end, Bella chooses Edward's love over Jacob's. Jacob, devastated to hear of Bella's choice and her decision to become a vampire, runs away from Forks.

Breaking Dawn

Bella and Edward marry, but their honeymoon is cut short by Bella's realization that she has become pregnant. Bella's pregnancy progresses at an extremely fast rate, and makes her very weak. She nearly dies while giving birth to their half-vampire-half-human daughter, Renesmee, but Edward injects Bella with his venom to save her life by turning her into a vampire. A vampire from another coven sees Renesmee and mistakes her for an "immortal child", the existence of which violates vampire rules, and informs the Volturi. The Cullens gather vampire witnesses who can verify that the child is not one of the immortal children. The Cullens convince the Volturi that Renesmee is not a danger to vampires or their secret, and they are left in peace.

Main characters

See also: List of Twilight characters

Bella Swan - The protagonist of the series, Bella is perpetually clumsy and a "danger magnet"; she is often portrayed as having low self-esteem and not being able to grasp Edward's love for her. Bella has dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. An important trait of hers is her immunity to supernatural abilities that involve the mind, such as Edward's mind reading. Once transformed into a vampire in the saga's fourth installment, Bella acquires the ability to immunize both herself and others from the "mental harm" caused by opposing vampires' abilities.

Edward Cullen - Edward is a vampire who lives with a coven of like-minded vampires known as the Cullen family, who feed on animals instead of humans. At first, Edward feels a mutual hatred toward Jacob Black due to his love toward Bella. In Breaking Dawn, he comes to see Jacob as a brother and a friend. Like some vampires, Edward has a supernatural ability; his gift is mind reading, allowing him to read the thoughts of anyone within a few miles of himself. Bella is immune to his power as a human, but learns to let down her "shield" once she becomes a vampire.

Jacob Black - A minor character in the first novel, Jacob is introduced as a member of the Quileute tribe. He resurfaces in New Moon with a much larger role, becoming a werewolf and Bella's best friend as she is struggles through a her depression of losing Edward and being hunted by Victoria. Although he is greatly in love with Bella, she initially sees him as just her best friend. In Eclipse, Bella realizes that she loves Jacob as well; in fact, her love for Jacob is only eclipsed by her love for Edward Cullen. In Breaking Dawn, Jacob imprints on Bella and Edward's daughter Renesmee, thus ridding him of his heartache for Bella.

Alice Cullen - One of Edward's adopted sisters, Alice is described as "pixie-like" due to her small frame and spiked hair and her movement is noted to be very graceful and strikingly quick. She loves to shop, dress up Bella, and throw extravagant parties. Her special ability is seeing the future as soon as someone makes the decision to head down that path. This ability is very useful, as it gives the family forewarning to any dangers. However, she cannot see the future of werewolves. She is married to Jasper Hale, who is her soul-mate, and she loves Bella as if she were her own sister.

Jasper Hale - One of Edward's adopted brothers, and Alice's husband and soul-mate. He can sense and influence the emotions of people around him. He has the most trouble with the Cullens' "vegetarian" lifestyle, since he and Alice are the newest members of the family, and before joining them he spent almost a century living off human blood. He became a vampire sometime during the American Civil War. He was initially involved in vampire wars, creating new vampires and forming them into armies, until he met Alice and became a part of the Cullen family.

Rosalie Hale - Edward's adopted sister, who is self-absorbed and described as being the most beautiful person in the world. At first, she appears to play an antagonistic role in the story. She became a vampire when Carlisle saved her life after several men, including her fiancé, beat and raped her, leaving her to die. She is the wife and soul-mate of Emmett Cullen. Rosalie initially disliked Bella for her willingness to give up humanity to become a vampire, but her opinion changed once Bella fought to keep her unborn child in Breaking Dawn.

Emmett Cullen - Edward's adopted brother, and Rosalie's husband and soul-mate. He is described as being an extremely muscular and cheerful guy, with dark, curly hair and dimples; he also enjoyed cracking jokes about Bella when she was human. As a human, Emmett was attacked by a grizzly bear and nearly killed before Rosalie, who was hunting, interceded. She saved and carried him 100 miles to Carlisle, in hopes of saving his life by turning him into a vampire.

Carlisle Cullen - The adoptive father of the Cullen children and husband of Esme Cullen. Born in London as the son of a Anglican pastor, he is around 360 years old and works as a doctor in Forks. After becoming a vampire, he spent hundreds of years resisting the smell of blood so that he could become a doctor. He transformed Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett into vampires to save their lives.

Esme Cullen - As Carlisle's wife and the Cullen children's mother, Esme is regarded as sincerely kind, caring, and loving. As a human, Esme tried to commit suicide after the death of her newborn baby. She jumped off a cliff and was severely injured, but she was found by Dr. Carlisle Cullen who decided to change her into a vampire. Carlisle and Esme soon fell in love and got married.

Renesmee Cullen - Renesmee is the half-human, half-vampire daughter of Bella and Edward Cullen. Her birth nearly killed Bella, but Edward and Jacob kept Bella's heart beating long enough for Edward's venom to transform her into a vampire. Jacob imprinted on the baby, much to her parents' dislike. Renesmee's special gift is to allow others to see what she is thinking when she touches their cheek. As well, she can get past all mental barriers- including Bella's.

Setting

The story is set primarily in the town of Forks, Washington, where Bella Swan and her father, Charlie Swan, live. Other cities in Washington briefly appear in the series or are mentioned, such as Port Angeles, Olympia, Seattle and La Push. Some events in Twilight take place in Phoenix, Arizona, where Bella was raised. Volterra, Italy is featured in New Moon, when Edward travels there to commit suicide and Bella rushes to save him. Jacksonville, Florida is mentioned in Eclipse when Edward and Bella visit her mother, who has moved there with her husband. Seattle, Washington is mentioned in Breaking Dawn when Jacob goes there to try to imprint, and when Bella tries to locate J. Jenks. A fictional 'Isle Esme' is mentioned in Breaking Dawn, where Bella and Edward spend their honeymoon.

Future books

Stephenie Meyer originally planned to write a companion book to Twilight called Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun would be the story of Twilight told from the point of view of Edward Cullen. She stated that Twilight was the only book that she planned to rewrite from Edward's point of view. However, a copy of the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the internet in its raw format. Stephenie Meyer has put the first twelve chapters of the book on her website so that her fans wouldn't feel guilty about reading it, but has put the project on hold indefinitely due to her upset at the situation. She stated, "If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely."

Confirmed on Meyer's website are two companion books to the Twilight series: The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, due to come out December 30th, and Twilight: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion, due to come out in November of 2008.

Film adaptations

Main article: Twilight (2008 film)

A screenplay for Twilight was written by Melissa Rosenberg and has been adapted into a film by Summit Entertainment. The film is being directed by Catherine Hardwicke, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the leading roles of Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen, respectively. It is set to be released on November 21, 2008.

Reception and influence

Economically, the town of Forks, Washington, setting for the Twilight series, has improved due to tourism from fans of the books. The town also hosts Twilight tours, which visit places such as La Push's First Beach, the hospital where Carlisle Cullen works, and a two-story house meant to portray the Swan residence.

Merchandise

Godiva has released a Twilight-themed chocolate bar. Hot Topic has also released a Twilight-themed line of clothes, which includes t-shirts and hoodies.

External links

• Stephenie Meyer's website
• The Twilight Series's official website
• Twilight Saga Wiki
• Twilight Lexicon