Edward Cullen

"I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that. As if you could outrun me. As if you could fight me off. I'm designed to kill."

―Edward to Bella on being a vampire.

Edward Cullen (born Edward Anthony Masen, Jr., on June 20, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois) is a telepathic vampire and a founding member of the Olympic Coven, as well as a main protagonist of the Twilight Saga.
He is the husband of Bella Swan and the father of Renesmee Cullen. Edward is the adoptive son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen, as well as the son-in-law of Charlie Swan and Renée Dwyer. He is the adoptive brother of Emmett and Alice Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale.
After nearly dying from the Spanish influenza in 1918 in Chicago, Edward was turned into a vampire by Carlisle, as the only alternative to death. Over the next ninety years, the pair gathered a family of vampires around themselves and called themselves "vegetarians".

Biography

Early life

Edward Anthony Masen was born on June 20, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois; the only child of Edward and Elizabeth Masen. His father provided Edward with many advantages as a successful lawyer, including music lessons and the opportunity to attend private school; however, he and his father were rather emotionally distant due to his busy career that often drew him away from home for business. This absence was made up for by his relationship with his mother; he was the center of her life.

A dying Edward found by Carlisle.

Edward excelled at his studies and became an accomplished pianist. As he grew older, Edward became enamored with the life of a soldier. World War I raged during most of his adolescence, and Edward dreamed of joining the army as soon as he turned 18, which he reminisced about in Midnight Sun, saying that his love for his mother was the only thing that made him reluctant to the thought other than his underage. That changed, however, when he and his parents became sick with the Spanish Influenza in 1918. His father died in the first wave of the influenza. Edward's mother later contracted the Spanish Influenza and begged the doctor who was taking care of them, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, to do everything within his power to save her son. (Elizabeth: "You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward.") Carlisle acted on her wishes when Edward was near death himself. Shortly after Elizabeth died, Carlisle took Edward from the hospital, brought him to his house, and there changed him into a vampire.
Edward formed a deep bond with Carlisle, who became a father figure to him, gaining Edward's trust and love the way his natural father never had. It was Carlisle who first realized Edward's telepathic abilities; he noticed Edward answering questions that Carlisle had not asked aloud. Edward had always had a knack for reading people; after his transformation, this ability blossomed into a true psychic talent. In 1921, Edward gained a mother when Carlisle changed Esme into a vampire to save her life after her suicide attempt. Edward was still young enough to appreciate a mother's care, and Esme gave it to him.

Edward had a rebellious period at the beginning of his vampire life and left Carlisle and Esme in 1927. During his lone time, he used his mind reading ability to attack the worst people of society, thinking that, as long as he was serving justice, it would not matter that he was feeding on humans. His first victim was Esme's abusive ex-husband, Charles Evenson. A few years later, he regretted this decision and returned to Carlisle's family and their diet of animal blood in 1931. In 1933, Carlisle changed a would-be socialite named Rosalie Hale into a vampire after finding her left for dead by her fiancé. Carlisle and Esme were sometimes concerned that he had no romance in his life, which was partly what prompted Carlisle to change Rosalie. However, as stunningly beautiful as Rosalie was, Edward could not stand her shallow and self-absorbed mind, and the two became nothing more than siblings, and weren't always on good terms. Emmett Cullen became Edward's adoptive brother when Rosalie found him near death from a bear attack and fell in love with him in 1935. Already vampires, Jasper and Alice sought out and found the Cullens in 1950, and adopted themselves into the family after both escaping their tragic pasts. The moment they arrived, Alice moved into Edward's room, much to his dismay.
When the Cullen family were living in Alaska, they encountered the Denali Coven, the only other group that shared their diet of animal blood. The leader Tanya showed affection toward Edward, but he did not share that interest.
By 2005, he had attended several colleges and universities, earned two medical degrees and studied several subjects. With his natural parents both passed away, he inherited the Masen house in Chicago, and about every 50 years, he would inherit his family fortune from himself, pretending to be a new heir.

Twilight

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."
"What a stupid lamb."
"What a sick masochistic lion."

―Edward and Bella

At the beginning of Twilight, Edward is rather depressed, sullen and brooding, and his family notices it. They know he is missing something from his life, though he himself doesn't. When Bella Swan moves to town, he feels frustrated by his inability to read her thoughts and is forced to listen to everyone else's thoughts about her to find out what he can, and realizes that all of the boys already like her. He feels very protective of her, trying desperately to rationalize his feelings of lust over her overwhelmingly attractive scent. When she is forced to sit next to him in Biology and he smells her blood, he insanely wants to kill her, and thinks about massacring the whole class as well. Promptly after leaving school he left for Denali, where a fellow vegetarian coven lived, to avoid causing disappointment to his parents, in particular Carlisle Cullen.

A week later, he returns after some persuasion from Tanya, the leader of the coven in Denali, with his family being extremely protective of him, watching for any signs of danger. Not wanting to leave a bad memory to Bella, he introduces himself to her in Biology, and is fascinated by her blood and by the fact that he can't read her mind, and because of that, he isn't quick to dismiss her like he would any other human. She answers all of his questions in different ways than he thought she would, mostly because he cannot read her thoughts. He saves her from Tyler's van, and then refuses to speak to her for a long period of time. But after all the time not speaking to her, the other boys, Mike Newton in particular, think that nothing is going on between the two and decide to make a move on her. As Edward watches them he realizes that he is starting to feel jealous of them, but decides to dismiss it. However, after sneaking into her room at night several times to watch her sleep, she says his name and he realizes that he has fallen in love with her. Over the next few weeks, he starts to pursue her and after one night together in Port Angeles, he discovers that she knows he is a vampire and that she has fallen in love with him too. The two then form a deep emotional relationship. After a while, Edward invites Bella over to his house to meet his family, who, except for Rosalie, immediately take a great liking to Bella.

Alice, Edward's sister, invites them both to play baseball with them. Edward takes Bella to the field, but some unexpected guests show up: James, Laurent, and Victoria who are nomadic vampires. James catches her scent and decides to hunt Bella for sport, as tracking was his obsession. After some thoughts from Bella, Alice, and Emmett, Edward allows them to try to use Bella's plan: Bella convinces Charlie that she is leaving town, and Alice and Jasper take her to hide in Phoenix. Edward tries to lead James away, but loses his trail. He then flies to Phoenix to see Bella and finds James, who has bitten her. Edward first thinks she's dead and goes crazy with pain and guilt. Bella describes him as "an angel that is unfortunate to be so unhappy that he cries tearless broken sobs". This makes him more beautiful than she ever has seen, besides the time he became outraged because she didn't care at first that he wanted to kill her. Edward's family arrive and destroy James, while Edward sucks the venom out of Bella's system to prevent her from turning, though it takes a high level of willpower to keep him from killing her. He then lifts her up and carries her out of the burning building. At the hospital, he tries to talk Bella into moving to Florida to live with her mother in order to protect her from his world, but she talks him out of the idea. After they return to Forks, Edward takes Bella to their prom, much to her dismay. He resolves that he isn't going to change her into a vampire, but she is adamant that the discussion isn't over.

New Moon

"Bella, you're everything to me. You're everything."

―Edward to Bella

The story of New Moon begins with Bella being very upset by her 18th birthday, because she'll be "older" than the permanently 17-year-old Edward. During her birthday party Bella accidentally gets a paper cut while unwrapping a present, and Edward's brother, Jasper, attacks her, although members of the Cullen family hold him back while Edward knocks Bella behind him in an attempt to get her away from Jasper. Bella falls through a glass table, receiving an arm laceration and forcing Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, a worried Edward and an apologetic Esme to leave the room. Jasper's instinctive hunger for Bella's blood reminds Edward of the continual danger their relationship puts her in.
In a misguided attempt to protect Bella, he convinces her that he does not want her anymore and abandons her in the forest. He moves away with his family, leaving her heartbroken and depressed, as if her life as she knew it ceased to exist. Although Edward lived as a vampire without romantic love for nearly a century before meeting Bella, he finds it difficult to live without her, becoming severely depressed at the prospect of an infinitely long and meaningless life. To keep his mind occupied, he leaves his family up North and tries to hunt Victoria, but loses her trail in somewhere in South America.

After he mistakenly learns from his sister Rosalie that Bella has committed suicide based on a vision Alice had of Bella cliff diving - which is later explained to be done for recreational purposes - Edward becomes completely broken and attempts to convince a coven of powerful Italian vampires, the Volturi, to kill him, by explaining that he broke one of the most important vampire laws: telling Bella, a human, about the existence of vampires, but Aro, the leader of the Volturi, refuses as he finds his power useful to their collection. Then, Edward decides to expose himself by appearing under sunlight during the St. Marcus Festival to make them kill him. Alice immediately has a vision of his death, and she and Bella rush to Italy to stop him before he fulfills his plans. During the festival, he is about to step into the light, but Bella manages to stop him and show him that she was still alive. Bella is then brought to meet the Volturi, and Edward and Alice find out that she is immune to other vampires' powers as well as his. Though Aro is intrigued with Bella's immunity, they think of her as a liability that must be disposed of, until Alice shows them a vision she previously had of Bella becoming one of them in the future, and wins the permission to leave Volterra peacefully.
After they return from Italy, Edward explains why he left and apologizes to Bella. She forgives him entirely, and they continue on with their relationship as if Edward had never left, with him promising never to leave her ever again. His family also moves back to Forks to continue the way things were before they left. Upon realizing that their current situation – fear for Bella's humanity while they are together – is untenable, Bella successfully seeks the support of Edward's family for the idea of turning her into a vampire. Edward becomes furious at the thought of Bella losing her humanity in order to be with him, but later agrees to change her himself if she agrees to marry him first. Bella, traumatized by her parents' fate, argues against this.

Edward fighting with Felix, being knocked down.

Sometime later, Jacob Black, a Quileute werewolf and friend of Bella who helped her while Edward was gone, confronts them. Edward thanks Jacob for protecting Bella while he was gone, and asks if there was anything he could do to repay him. Jacob says that he wants Edward to leave and never return, but Edward says that is only in Bella's power. Jacob also reminds Edward (though he hasn't forgotten) about the treaty, saying that it would be broken if he bit Bella. This sparks anger from Bella, protesting that it is none of his business and that it is her choice. Her fury is interrupted by Charlie, who demands that Bella comes inside after Jacob turned in her secret motorcycle, and she storms home.

Eclipse

"The outside world holds no interest for me without you."

―Edward to Bella

Eclipse continues the drama of Bella and Edward's relationship. Edward explains that he is reluctant to change Bella into a vampire because he believes that vampires are soulless creatures who have no place in heaven. Bella, whose opinion of marriage is jaded by the early divorce of her own parents, agrees to marry Edward on the condition he will make love with her while she is still human and change her into a vampire. He initially refuses, saying that he could easily lose control in the heat of the moment. However, seeing how important it is to Bella, he agrees to try and make love with her while she is still human, but only after they are married.
At first, Edward completely despises of the idea of having Jacob Black or the wolves near Bella and does everything he can to prevent their encounter, even buy Alice a yellow Porsche in exchange for a slumber party with Bella while he goes on a weekend hunting trip. Eventually, he realizes how much he is forcing Bella based on his privilege on the wolves and agrees to tolerate her visits on a few conditions. He also learns from Bella that the Quileutes only turned into werewolves when they cross paths with vampires, allowing him to realize that they aren't really werewolves, but shapeshifters with the power to transform into wolves. This revelation is delivered to the Quileutes and the Volturi in Breaking Dawn. Meanwhile, Jacob Black declares his feelings for Bella and forcibly kisses her, trying to convince her to leave Edward for him. Bella and Edward are both furious at Jacob for this, and Edward vows to break Jacob's jaw if he ever kisses Bella without her consent again.
The plot is driven by the machinations of the vampire Victoria, who first met Bella and the Olympic Coven during the first book, Twilight. Victoria, seeking revenge for the death of her mate James, is hunting Bella and creating newborn vampires to build an army. To combat this threat, the Cullens call on the Denali Coven for help, but the Denalis abandon them when the Cullens refuse to let them avenge Laurent's death. It is apparent that Irina was in love with him during a brief stay with her coven. Without any other options, an alliance is made between the Cullens and the Native-American werewolf pack led by Sam Uley and Jacob. However, before the battle starts, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella's marriage plans, and threatens to get himself killed because Bella won't love him. Bella agrees to kiss Jacob if he stayed and while doing so, she realizes that she is also in love with him as well, despite her engagement to Edward. Edward surprisingly accepts this, saying that no matter who Bella chooses he'll be happy as long as she is. Bella realizes that she loves Edward more than Jacob, and chooses him. Soon after this, Victoria and Riley, a newborn whom she pretended to love, find Bella's hiding spot. Edward manages to kill Victoria, with Seth Clearwater killing Riley. The Cullens and the Quileute werewolves, meanwhile, destroy her newborn army.

After the battle, Bella visits Jacob and tells him that she has chosen Edward over him. Edward spends the night holding Bella as she cries over pushing Jacob away. After she calms down, Edward asks Bella if she is sure that choosing him was the right decision, since he had never seen her in such pain. Bella, who had been in worse pain when Edward left her, assures him that she can live without Jacob, but not him. After hiring Alice to plan out their wedding, Edward tells Bella that they can make love before they get married, as he realizes that she spends too much of her life trying to please other people. However, she refuses his offer and says that she will do everything the right way: marriage, making love, and then becoming a vampire. Bella then tells Edward that they need to tell Charlie about their engagement.
Edward later secretly sends Jacob an invitation to his and Bella's wedding, thinking that Jacob deserves the choice to come or not. The ending shows Jacob running away in his wolf form after seeing the wedding invitation.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

"The vampire with the dark red hair met my eyes with a fierce warning glare, and I knew I would die if I tried for the girl, but the agony in my throat made me feel like I would die if I didn't. It hurt so much that I screamed out loud in frustration."

―Bree Tanner

In The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Edward is referred to as the "redheaded mind reader" by Bree Tanner. Right before she dies, she uses her thoughts to tell him what she knows about Jane and Victoria's agreement, and also asks him to be nice to her surviving friend, Fred, if they ever cross paths in the future. In Eclipse and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Edward tells the Volturi that Bree didn't know what she was doing and invites her into their coven, but the Volturi disagree. In the movie Eclipse, Carlisle and Esme are the ones to speak up.

Breaking Dawn

"It would be hard to find someone less sad than I am now. Impossible, I'd venture. Not many people get every single thing they want, plus all the things they didn't think to ask for, in the same day."

―Edward on his happiness

Near the beginning of Breaking Dawn, Edward marries Bella in a beautiful ceremony orchestrated by Alice. There is, however, a disturbance: Jacob's unexpected arrival, who eventually becomes violent towards Bella when he finds out that Edward is going to make love to her before turning her, as he fears that Edward will kill her. Soon after, Edward and Bella spend their honeymoon on Isle Esme, a small island presented to Esme by Carlisle. They consummate their marriage, but Edward's passionate lovemaking sparks a fight between the newlywed couple: Edward is horrified that he has bruised and battered his new wife, but she insists that she is fine and wants Edward to make love to her again. He vows not to do so again while she is still human, but eventually gives in and is glad to know that he has managed to avoid bruising Bella again. They spend their honeymoon hiking in the jungles, diving and keeping themselves occupied with all kinds of games. After a short period of time, Bella becomes very sick, and realizes that she is pregnant when she discovers a box of unused tampons. Bella soon receives a phone call from Alice, and asks to speak to Carlisle. Edward soon falls into shock when he listens to their conversation. He realizes that what grows inside Bella needs to be killed.

Edward rushes Bella off the island to see Carlisle, who confirms she is expecting his child. Edward fears that the pregnancy will kill her, and, unable to stand the thought, he tries to convince her into having an abortion. However, she feels a bond with her unborn child and insists on giving birth. Edward doesn't give up so easily, going as far as to ask Jacob if he would conceive a child with Bella. The baby, however, eventually wins Edward over; when old enough, is able to let him hear its thoughts, and he is both shocked and delighted to find out that it already loves the two of them. Bella nearly dies giving birth in an emergency c-section, but Edward successfully delivers his baby girl with Jacob's help, whom Bella had named Renesmee. Edward then injects his venom into Bella's heart, thus healing her wounds by turning her into a vampire. During Bella's painful transformation, Jacob goes crazy with rage when he thinks she is dead. Irrationally blaming Renesmee, he tries to kill her, but ends up imprinting on her instead.
During Bella's transformation, Edward sits patiently by her side, waiting for her to recover. He is also relieved by the renewed peace between the wolves and his family, and more importantly, the arrival of their half-human daughter.

When Bella wakes up from her transformation, Edward takes her out on her first hunt so she won't attack Renesmee. He is impressed by her ability to resist the smell of human blood, but still irritated by his inability to read her mind. They are also given a cottage renovated by Esme as a present. Edward and Bella are extremely annoyed by Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee, but they later accept that it was involuntary. By this time, Edward and Jacob appear to have become friends, who does them a "favor" by telling Charlie about the supernatural world but restrains from telling him about vampires, which allows the Cullens to stay in Forks for a while longer.

Three months later, Irina, of the Denali Coven, reports Renesmee to the Volturi as an immortal child, whose creation is forbidden. The Volturi gather their entire guard against the Cullens. In the month it takes for them to arrive, the Cullens turn to all their allies (the La Push werewolves, the Denali Coven, and numerous other vampires) for assistance. When the Volturi finally arrive, the confrontation comes close to a fight. Bella's gift becomes apparent in the fact that she can protect her and others around her from the Volturi's mental attacks. This causes the Volturi to rethink their position. In the end, however, the Volturi are convinced that Renesmee is not a threat, and they leave. With the confrontation over, Edward, Bella and Renesmee are free to live their lives forever.
At the end of the story, Bella removes her shield, allowing Edward to read her mind for the first time, which brings them even closer. And from there on, their happily ever after begins.

Physical appearance

"Time had not made me immune to the perfection of his face, and I was sure that I would never take any aspect of him for granted. My eyes traced over his pale white features: the hard square of his jaw, the softer curve of his full lips- twisted in a smile now, the straight line of his nose, the top of his forehead - partially obscured by the tangle of rain-darkened bronze hair..."

―Bella Swan

Edward is noted to be extremely attractive. Bella has often described his appearance as similar to the mythical Greek god, Adonis. His facial features are described as perfect and angular - high cheekbones, a strong jawline, a straight nose and full lips. His untidy hair retains the unusual bronze shade that he inherited from his biological mother, Elizabeth Masen. His eyes, once green, are now described as topaz or liquid gold. His appearance changes if he goes long without feeding: his eyes darken, becoming onyx black, and purple bruise-like shadows appear beneath his eyes. Edward stands at 6'2", and has a thin and lanky but muscular body, remaining frozen physically at 17 years old, though he is technically over a hundred.
He usually wears light colored clothes accompanied by a light beige leather jacket.
In the book, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Bree describes Edward as the "redhead mind reader", as she never knew his name.

Personality and traits

"I'm nothing if not traditional."

―Edward

Edward is usually described as brooding and stubborn, but also very kind and compassionate. Bella also describes him as charming, polite, and determined. He easily dazzles human females with his beauty, scent and body, and persuades them to do his bidding. He always puts Bella's safety, humanity and welfare before anything else, and goes to great lengths to protect her from what he sees as danger. Edward is also a bit of a romantic at heart. He often over analyzes situations and has a tendency to overreact, especially in situations where Bella's safety is potentially at risk - evident in his decision to disable her vehicle to prevent her from visiting the emotionally unstable Jacob Black.
He retains some of the traditional mindset and outdated speech from his human life in the early 20th century. The development of Edward Cullen's character was influenced by Gilbert Blythe, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Edward Rochester – particularly the latter, who, like him, sees himself as a "monster". Edward puts his free time to great use. Since vampires do not sleep, he employs the night hours reading books and studying languages, science, business and music, becoming a virtuoso on the piano he owns in his house. Edward enjoys listening to a wide range of music, including classical, jazz, progressive metal, alternative rock, punk rock, but he dislikes country. He prefers indie rock to mainstream, and appreciates rock and classical music equally. He surprises Bella in an early car ride by having Debussy in his CD player. Edward mentions in Twilight that he likes music from the fifties better than the sixties, and dislikes the seventies entirely and comments that the eighties were "just bearable". He never comments on the music from his own teen years, as well as the twenties swing music which came a few years after his turning.

Edward and his family all enjoy driving fast. He has a hobby of collecting cars. He owns a Volvo S60R, which becomes a C30 in the movie adaptation, and an Aston Martin Vanquish as a "special occasion" car. He also gave his sister Alice a yellow Porsche 911 Turbo as a gift in Eclipse. He bought a motorcycle to ride alongside Bella, but gave it to Jasper after realizing that this was something she did with Jacob. Esme described him as a gentleman. Although Edward appears convinced of his own soulless status, Bella noted that he must believe on some level that he possesses a soul as, when he saw her in Volterra while believing that she was dead, his automatic assumption was that he had gone to Heaven with her rather than that she was still alive.
Stephenie Meyer explains that Edward started out as a pessimistic character. He always thought of himself as an abomination of nature, not deserving happiness nor believing that his relationship with Bella would last, until he gave her a daughter and brought Bella more happiness than he could have ever imagined. To him, Bella's happiness was everything; furthermore, he was the one who gave her that. At the end of Breaking Dawn, he has become a much more positive person and fearlessly faces the Volturi.

Powers and abilities

Edward is the fastest vampire in the Cullen family. He and Jasper are the best fighters in their coven, though they are not the strongest. As a vampire, he has sharp senses, superhuman strength, speed, endurance, healing factor, and agility. He describes himself as the most dangerous predator in the world whereas his appearance, scent and voice are enormously attractive to his prey, so much so that he occasionally sends Bella into a daze entirely by accident. Edward explains that vampires do not need to breathe, though they often do so out of habit and to retain their ability to smell. He cannot digest human food, and compares its attractiveness for him to the prospect of eating dirt for a regular person. He also compares his family's "vegetarian" diet to a human only eating tofu, as it gives them the same strength as human blood but never fully satisfies them.

Telepathy

"I can read every mind in this room. Apart from yours."

―Edward to Bella on his gift

Edward possesses the gift to read others' thoughts. His gift is different from Aro's, which is limited by his need to touch the target and can access every thought a person has ever had. Aro is very intrigued by Edward's power because he can read people's minds from a distance and what is going through their mind at that moment, and wishes to make him part of the Volturi Guard. However, Edward refuses.
Edward's power seemingly comes from his dormant ability to read people as a human, which became a supernatural talent when he became a vampire. He can hear all "voices" in close proximity with him, but has learned to block out the ones he is uninterested in by focusing on one voice or something in particular. Edward mentions that his ability is like being in a room where everyone is talking at once. He can tune out the "voices" so that it's just a low buzzing in the background. The closer and more familiar he is to his target, the farther away he can reach when he wants to, but can only keep track of a person within a few miles. He mentions in Twilight that he can use it to dismiss people who feel attraction toward him and his family. He can also telepathically experience Alice's visions and keep track of a shape-shifter's telepathic link to his pack when he is within range. However, he cannot read Bella's thoughts as she is shielded, which is part of what made him curious about her when they first met.