Misti has contributed 3 character breakdowns for our OBS New Moon book club this month. The 3rd and final character breakdown is for Edward. Try not to swoon ladies!

Full Name: Edward Anthony Masen Cullen
Birthday: June 20, 1901
Parents: Edward and Elizabeth Masen / Carlisle and Esme Cullen
Hair Color: Bronze
Eye Color: Originally Green / Liquid Topaz

We don’t see a lot of Edward in New Moon (9 chapters), but considering what we see we learn a lot more about him.

We know Edward loves Bella, we see this in the first chapter when they discuss how he was willing to end his life when he thought she died last spring “Well, I wasn’t going to live without you” NM pg 19 . We also know that he is unwilling to change Bella into a vampire.   So when Jasper tries to attack Bella, we see Edward willing to kill his brother for the girl he loves. Bella knows something is wrong, but she also learns a lot about what Edward believes from Carlisle “Edward’s with me up to a point. God and heaven exist…and so does hell. But he doesn’t believe there is an afterlife for our kind … You see, the thinks we’ve lost our souls” NM pg 37.  So, when Edward leaves Bella, tells her he doesn’t he doesn’t love her “I’ll always love you…in a way.  But what happened the other night made me realize that it’s time for a change.  Because I’m…tired of pretending to be something I’m not.  Bella, I’m not human” NM pg 70 — you almost believe him.  We then the real reason Edward does what he did…Edward loves Bella!!!  So much that he was willing to live in agonizing pain for all time so that she would be “safe and happy”.

But here is where Edward seems to be a little blind sided.  He underestimated Bella’s “human” feelings for him “Don’t worry.  You’re human–your memory is no more then a sieve.  Time heals all wounds for your kind” NM pg 72 His feelings never changed, if at all possible they grew stronger,  so one can only guess what went through his mind when Rosalie called to say Bella was dead. (side note – you can actually read Edwards POV on this on Stephenie Meyer’s website) All he knew was that he one reason to live was gone so he must die too.  To Edward, the one reason to keep living was that Bella was somewhere on this Earth, even if he couldn’t be with her, as long as she was alive and safe that was all the mattered.

When Edward learns Bella is alive, he realizes that is he was wrong, that he felt he had to do something but that “something” was not right, both almost died from that attempt.  Edward is now left with having to deal with aftermath, he  feels like he needs to earn Bella’s trust back (not realizing it’s herself that she doesn’t trust).  When Edward tries to tell Bella that he will always love her, he is almost shocked/mad to find out she doesn’t really believe it “You don’t believe me, do?…Why can you believe the lie, but not the truth?” NM pg 511

He now feels determined to prove his love to Bella and that he won’t ever leave her again, not even when she grows old.  When he sees that Bella is dead set on becoming a vampire (something that was promised to the Volturi as part of their release), and that Bella is going to involve his family in this matter, he comes up with a condition.  It’s also interesting to see that at the beginning of New Moon Edward believes that when he became a vampire he lost his soul, but as Bella points out, he might not truly believe that deep down “If you really believed that you’d lost your soul, then when I found you in Volterra, you would have realized immediately what was happening, instead of thinking we were both dead together.  But you didn’t – you said “Amazing. Carlisle was right”…There’s hope in you, after all” NM pg 546.

Misti Schindele is the writer for both MistiSchindele.com and TwilightFanSource.com

What do you think of the character breakdown? What would you add if you could?