Edward Cullen

On Bella's first day in biology, Edward stares at her like he can't stand being near her and then skips school for days. Later he stops a van that's about to hit her with his bare hand and refuses to explain how. He saves her again in Port Angeles and, when Bella says she knows what he is, he admits it: he's a vampire. He can read everyone's mind except hers, and her scent is the most tempting he has ever known. His family only drinks animal blood.

In the meadow, Edward shows her how his skin sparkles in the sunlight and calls it the skin of a killer. He introduces Bella to his family, but a baseball game draws the tracker James, who starts hunting her. At the ballet studio in Phoenix, Edward gets there in time to save her and sucks the venom from the bite. At prom, she asks to be turned and he refuses.

At Bella's 18th birthday party, a cut on her finger makes Jasper attack. Edward decides the only way to protect her is to disappear. He breaks up with her in the woods, telling her he doesn't want her anymore, and the Cullens leave Forks.

Months later, Alice sees Bella jump off a cliff and Edward concludes she's dead. He travels to Volterra, Italy, and asks the Volturi to kill him. They refuse, so Edward plans to expose himself to the sun in the middle of a festival in the square. Bella gets there in time and stops him. Aro reads Edward's mind and only lets Bella leave alive after Alice shows him a vision of Bella as a vampire. In Forks, Edward agrees to turn her on one condition: she marries him first.

A string of killings in Seattle catches the Cullens' attention: Victoria is building an army of newborns to get revenge on Edward. He proposes to Bella again and keeps from her that Victoria has been circling Forks. The rivalry with Jacob is out in the open, but the Cullens and the wolves team up for the fight.

Bella accepts, and Edward gives her the ring that belonged to his mother. In the mountains, he has to watch Jacob keep Bella warm on a freezing night, and the two rivals talk it out in the tent. In the battle, Edward takes on Victoria and Riley alongside the wolf Seth Clearwater and kills Victoria. Then the Volturi arrive and execute Bree Tanner, a newborn who had surrendered.

Edward and Bella marry and honeymoon on Isle Esme, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Edward is horrified by the bruises he left on her. Two weeks later Bella is pregnant, and Edward, afraid of losing her, wants her to end the pregnancy.

The pregnancy moves fast and wears Bella down. Edward changes his mind when he starts hearing the baby's thoughts and realizes it loves its mother. At the birth, he performs the C-section with Jacob and Rosalie and, when Bella's heart stops, injects his venom straight into her heart and bites her several times to spread it.

Edward helps Bella take her first steps as a vampire and get her thirst under control. When the Volturi come for Renesmee over a false accusation, he helps gather witnesses and gets ready to fight. Facing Aro, Alice's vision shows how much everyone would lose in a battle, and Nahuel proves Renesmee is no threat. The Volturi leave.

At the end, in the meadow, Bella finally pushes her shield away from her mind and Edward reads her thoughts for the first time: memories of everything they've lived through together.

In the books, Edward was born Edward Anthony Masen in Chicago in 1901. In 1918, dying of the Spanish flu, he was turned by Carlisle Cullen at his mother's request. Stephenie Meyer drew on literary heroes like Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. In 2020 she released Midnight Sun, which retells Twilight from Edward's point of view. Robert Pattinson landed the part after an audition with Kristen Stewart at director Catherine Hardwicke's house.