The Life and Death of Edward Cullen

Full Name: Edward Anthony Masen Cullen
Status: Vampire
Born: June 20, 1901
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois
Parents: Edward and Elizabeth Masen
Transformed: 1918
Transformed by: Carlisle Cullen
Special Talents: mind reader
Eye Color: Green in human life. Gold or black as a vampire depending on his level of thirst.
Hair: bronze colored, untidy
Height: 6' 2"

Bella describes Edward as being tall and lanky. She also often describes him as having an angelic face and the features of a greek god or statue.

Edward lived a fairly uneventful life as a human. His father was a lawyer and the family enjoyed a fair amount of wealth. The family's biggest concern was World War I and the fact that Edward was only a year away from being old enough for the draft. But Edward was excited to join the army and to do his part for the country.

In September of 1918 the Spanish Influenza hit Chicago, killing both of Edward's parents and leaving Edward at death's door. Before she died, Edward's mother begged Dr. Carlise Cullen to save her son. Elizabeth Masen seemed to know that Carlisle had extra abilities that would enable him to keep Edward alive. Carlisle did in fact have a way that he could save Edward. Carlisle was a vampire but he considered himself a "vegetarian", he only hunted animals. After years of working as a doctor Carlisle was not concerned that he would lose control and kill Edward, but he wasn't exactly sure how to perform the transformation either.

After Elizabeth Masen died, Carlisle took Edward out of the hospital. Carlisle had never transformed anyone into a vampire before so he decided to give Edward the same wounds that had been inflicted on him. Carlisle later claims that this probably made the transition more painful for Edward. Regardless, it worked and after several days of intense pain Edward's heart stopped beating and he awoke to his new life as an immortal vampire.

This is a synopsis of the first book, Twilight. For more information please read the book!

When Edward learned that a new student would be joining the Junior class at Forks High School he was not nearly as interested in her as the rest of the student body seemed to be. He assumed that she would be like all of the other humans.

However, when he first saw Isabella (Bella) Swan in the school cafeteria he was very intrigued by her because he could not read her mind. She was the exception to the rule.

After lunch Edward and Bella both had a Biology class. Edward was interested to discover if he could penetrate her mind in a closer, less crowded environment. However, when Bella walked by Edward's seat and he was able to smell her for the first time he nearly went mad with thirst. Bella's blood smelled more appetizing than any human he had ever come into contact with. Edward spent the entire Biology class trying to decide if he should kill her or not. He fought with himself because he did not want to do anything to make Carlisle feel ashamed of him. Edward later claimed that it was the longest hour of his life. But, he managed not to kill Bella and after driving his family home he drove straight to Alaska where the Denali coven lives.

After a week in Alaska, Edward decided to return to Forks to face his demons. Edward befriended Bella and became more intrigued with her the more they talked. Eventually Bella figured out what Edward was with some help from Jacob Black, a kid from the La Push reservation.

Bella decided that it didn't matter to her what Edward was, she loved him. Edward knew that he was falling in love with Bella too but he thought it would be better for her if she stayed away from him.

The turning point came one sunny day when Edward decided to show Bella why vampires can't be seen in public in the sunlight. He took Bella to a secluded meadow and showed her how his skin sparkles in the sunlight. He also showed her other vampire attributes such as strength and speed.

And then Edward and Bella declared their love for each other in the now famous quote:

Edward: "and so the lion fell in love with the lamb..."
Bella: "Stupid lamb."
Edward: "Sick, masochistic lion."

Edward and Bella's relationship was threatened when a new vampire coven passed through Forks. James, Victoria and Laurent were different from the Cullens, they were vampires who feasted on humans. When James caught a whiff of Bella he instantly wanted to hunt her. Edward crouched down to protect Bella, making James all the more intent on killing her.

Edward sent Bella to Phoenix and tried to take James down but he escaped from the Cullens and followed Bella. James nearly killed Bella but Edward got there in time to save her. When they discovered that James had bitten Bella, Edward had to suck the venom from her blood so that she would not be transformed into a vampire. This act could have killed Bella if Edward had lost control but he was successful and he saved Bella's life.

By the end of the book Bella desperately wants to become a vampire but Edward does not want to take her life away from her. The books ends with Edward and Bella stuck at this impasse, neither one willing to compromise.

This is a synopsis of the second Twilight book. For more information read New Moon!

New Moon opened on the day of Bella's 18th birthday. She was not happy to turn 18 because she knew that Edward would forever be 17. At this point Edward was still opposed to making her a vampire because he strongly believed that vampires have lost their souls and he didn't want to take Bella's from her.

After the couple watched Romeo and Juliet together Edward confessed that he had contemplated suicide when he thought that James might have killed Bella. Bella was horrified but also curious to know how a vampire would kill himself. Edward explained that planned to go to Volterra, Italy and "provoke the Volturi".

Edward described the Volturi as three ancient vampires who are like a royal family. They are very protective of their city and would not hesitate to kill a vampire who tried to expose them. Alice later explains that the Volturi are commited to enforcing the vampire's only rule: to keep the secret.

After Bella made Edward promise that he would never do anything that stupid, the two of them went to the Cullen's house to celebrate Bella's birthday. While unwrapping presents, Bella got a paper cut and the smell of her blood caused Jasper to go into a frenzy and try to attack her. Edward jumped in between the two and knocked Bella into a table where she cut herself on broken glass.

All of the Cullens with the exception of Carlisle and Edward were forced to leave the room while Carlisle stitched Bella up. While Carlisle worked Edward berated himself for putting Bella in danger.

After Bella's nearly disatrous birthday party, Edward decided to leave Forks in order to protect her. He figured that Bella deserved to have a normal, mortal life and it was too risky for her to be around vampires all of the time.

In order to leave Edward was forced to tell Bella that he didn't want her anymore. Bella believed his lie because she never truly believed that she was good enough for Edward.

Of course, Edward still did love Bella and it hurt him to be away from her. He describes this time apart by saying,

"Before you, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars -- points of light and reason... And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything"

Not much is known about the time Edward was away from Bella. He spent most of his time tracking Victoria, a vampire who helped James hunt Bella during the first book.

This task led Edward to Texas and eventually to South America but Edward never found Victoria.

While Edward was in South America he received a phone call from his sister, Rosalie. She told him that Alice had "seen" (Alice has visions of the future) Bella jump from a cliff and die.

Edward had never planned to outlive Bella for long. Edward immediately took off for Volterra, Italy to ask the Volturi to kill him. The Volturi refused his request so Edward made plans to disrupt the peaceful town of Volterra by exposing himself as a vampire. It would be simple, all he had to do was step out into the sunshine (vampire's skin glitters in the sun) and the Volturi would kill him for betraying their secret.

Unknown to Edward, Bella (who had not died from cliff jumping) and Alice were racing the clock to reach Volterra and prove to Edward that Bella was still alive. Bella was able to reach Edward just in time. At first he thought he was already dead and in heaven with Bella. He quickly realized he was alive when he saw two members of the Volturi guard walking toward him.

The Volturi guard took Edward, Bella and Alice into their hideaway where they met with Aro, Marcus and Caius the three original Volturi. Aro was astounded to discover that Bella was immune to the gifts of vampires. He asked Edward, Alice and Bella if they were interested in joining the Volturi. When the trio refused Aro was prepared to let them go but Caius thought that Bella should be killed since she knew the vampires' secrets. Alice convinced Aro that she had seen Bella becoming a vampire in the future. So, the Volturi let them go with a promise that they would visit Bella and Edward soon to make sure Bella was no longer human.

After returning to Forks, Edward decided that he was too selfish to leave Bella again. He couldn't bear to be away from her. He also realized that his leaving hadn't exactly been good for Bella.

He was, however, still convinced that vampires had lost their souls so he refused to transform Bella. However, Bella took it to a vote with the entire Cullen family. Everyone with the exception of Edward and Rosalie voted that it would be best for Bella to become a vampire. Carlisle agreed to transform Bella after graduation. Edward was so angry about this decision that he ran into the living room and destroyed the Cullen's brand new flat screen TV.

At the end of the book Edward is still determined to get Bella to go to college, as a human. He tells her that he will give her the one thing she really wants, that he will transform her himself as long as she agrees to marry him first...