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".

The Olympic Coven (Cullen Clan)

"And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town... They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes - purplish, bruise-like shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night... Their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful."

―Bella on seeing the Cullens for the first time

The Olympic Coven, better known as the Cullen family, Cullen clan, or Cullen coven, is a coven of vegetarian vampires. It consists of Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Emmett, and Edward Cullen, as well as Rosalie and Jasper Hale. Later in the series, Bella Swan and her daughter with Edward, Renesmee Cullen, also become members of the coven.

They are known to be very loyal to each other and put more value on human life than most other vampires. Abstaining from human blood takes the competitive aspect out of their hunting instincts, and as a result allows them to form stronger family bonds than traditional vampires. They currently live in Forks, Washington, which they have no plans of leaving, unless forced to.

The Cullens prefer to stay in one place as long as possible, choosing cloudy climates where they can go outside during the day without revealing their inhuman nature. But after 6-7 years, they are forced to move on before their lack of aging is noticed. They own several residences so that they can return to places they have especially enjoyed - but only after enough time has passed that they won't be recognized as the same people who once lived there.

Each member maintains several well-tended identities, complete with documents to support them, which allows the Cullens to establish themselves in new locations as necessary.

Each time the Cullens move to a new place, the relationships they claim to share with one another may shift, too. In one place, two members might pose as father and adopted son, in another, brothers, or uncle and nephew. Regardless, the bonds of love and respect between them are the same.

They form four couples: Carlisle and Esme, Edward and Bella, Emmett and Rosalie, Alice and Jasper. Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett were turned by Carlisle, Jasper by a vampire named Maria and Alice by an unknown vampire at a mental asylum. Bella was turned by Edward, seconds after giving birth to their daughter Renesmee.

The Cullens are the second largest and most powerful vampire coven, with only the Volturi ranking higher in number and power, but more mature and stable than most of the others, a result of abstaining from human blood.