A series of young adult Paranormal Romance novels by Stephenie Meyer, and the title of the first book. It is about a girl named Bella Swan who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. Bella is a really special girl, and Edward is (a) unable to use his vampire powers to read her mind, (b) totally hot for her blood and (c) madly in love with her. So, Edward wants to form a relationship with Bella while resisting the urge to suck her dry. Things get complicated in the second book when Bella's childhood friend Jacob, who also has the hots for her, reveals himself to be a shirtless werewolf. There's also the occasional Wacky Wayside Tribe, such as the vampire tracker James and the Volturi.Has, perhaps unsurprisingly, its own character page.The series currently consists of four books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn). Stephenie Meyer had plans to make a POVquel called Midnight Sun, which is the plot of Twilight (nearly word-for-word) told through Edward's point of view. Then, leaked copies of the rough draft were released. Meyer has halted the publication until she gets through her reaction over the event, saying "If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die." Depending on whether you're a fan or not, that may either horrify or excite you. She now has written a 200 page "novella" called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which came out on June 5, 2010. A guide has been announced as well, planning to be released on April 12th (after being pushed back to another date multiple times).The film version of Twilight was released in the US in 2008, with The Twilight Saga: New Moon following in 2009, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in 2010, Breaking Dawn, Part 1 in 2011 and Breaking Dawn, Part 2 in 2012. There were also rumors of an anime, but they proved to be false. Manga-style illustrations of the Japanese edition still exist. A graphic novel has been released and while it's not all that bad, it's not entirely... sparkly.Summit Entertainment was recently purchased by Lionsgate, whose CEO has expressed interest in continuing the Twilight saga beyond Breaking Dawn as either a film series or a television series. See here. However a majority of its readers and viewers believe it would kill the franchise as they believe if they are to be more Twilight movies then the studios should base their movies on the book spinoffs.
Books in this series
Twilight (2005)
New Moon (2006)
Eclipse (2007)
Breaking Dawn (2008)
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (2010). Novella that details the last days of a character introduced in Eclipse.
Adaptation Induced Plot Hole: In the film adaption of Breaking Dawn Alice shows Aro a vision of how the fight between the Volturi, Cullens and werewolves would end, however it had been established in New Moon that Alice can't see the werewolves in her visions.
The vampires stopped sparkling in direct sunlight in the Breaking Dawn movies.
The Alleged Car: Bella's classmate Tyler drives a Van. 1980s Chevy Astro to be specific. All we know about it is that it nearly crushes Bella when Tyler is in the driver's seat. It really would have crushed her if Edward hadn't gotten between her and the vehicle.
All Myths Are True: Bella wonders if this is the case after learning about werewolves.
All Therapists Are Muggles: When Bella's erratic behavior after Edward leaves her borders on clinical depression, Charlie tries to get Bella to see a therapist. She refuses, claiming that she couldn't tell a therapist about how the Cullens were vampires and she’d felt therapy wouldn't work if she wasn't 100% truthful.
All Women Are Lustful: Especially Bella. Other female characters display this trope, like Tanya and her succubus "sisters", and all the Cullen women seem to spend their nights having sex with their husbands.
Amicably Divorced: Charlie and Renee. They mainly split up because Renee couldn't stand Forks, and Charlie didn't want to leave. They're shown to be in communication regarding Bella, and on the rare occasion that they are together, they are quite friendly with each other.
Analogy Backfire: In Eclipse, Bella compares herself to Cathy of Wuthering Heights and her love for Edward to Cathy's love for Heathcliff... seemingly forgetting there is actually an Isabella in the same novel who does marry Heathcliff... to disastrous effect.
Subverted in New Moon where the author compares Bella and Edward to Romeo and Juliet. See Lost in Imitation below for why.
Anticlimax: Happens a few times throughout the series:
In the first novel, James is described as an unstoppable killing machine. Laurent isn't even willing to face him with seven other vampires. But we see none of the fight between him and Edward since Bella is unconscious, and so the scary Big Bad is killed offscreen. The movie is somewhat better about this. We don't see his death in explicit detail, but we do see a roughly 30-second fight between Edward and James, and a few glimpses of the other Cullens tearing James apart after he's been subdued — for example, a shot where it's pretty obvious James' head is torn off.
Whereas in New Moon, when Edward was going to off himself and Bella comes to his rescue in the Italian city where the vampire mafia lives whom it's been repeatedly explained to us does not tolerate such abominations as humans who know about the existence of vampires and it seems that they are going to die anyway, it ends up being Handwaved. "Oh, well. If she is going to be a vampire sooner or later, I suppose we can let you all go."
Doubly Subverted in Eclipse. It looks like Edward and Bella will miss out on the battle against the newborn vampires, but then Victoria shows up... but then ... Bella closes her eyes for a minute, and then Victoria's head's been ripped off. So much for the expected Gory Discretion Shot! This is also fixed in the movie, in which not only do we see Edward, Victoria, and Riley fighting on the mountain, but we get cuts back to the Cullens fighting the newborn army.
The final novel, Breaking Dawn ends not with the epic battle which Meyer had been using a third of the book to build up to... but with diplomatic discussion instead. And the main reason why the discussion turns out favorably for the Cullens and their allies is because Alice introduces a Deus ex Machina.
Thankfully, the movie averts this with a ridiculously long fight scene instead, looking like something out of the recent The Avengers movie. Except it turns out to all be a vision Alice was showing Aro of what would happen if his forces attacked them, which would end in his death. When he comes out of it, she tells him he can prevent that future by settling things without fighting. And he does, leading to the actual "diplomatic discussion" ending from the book.
YMMV but the movie may have played it straight for many viewers.
Anti-Magic: Bella has a pretty minor version of this, but most vampire powers (not counting purely physical ones) don't seem to work well on her, even while she's still human. Edward for instance can read nearly every mind but hers, and she can't be found directly with clairvoyance.
Also when Bella finds out Edward has broken into her house, more than once, even before they were dating, to sit in her bedroom and watch her sleep, Bella is more concerned that he heard her talking in her sleep.
Upon discovering that Edward is a vampire and can read minds, she freaks out... because he says he can't read hers, which makes her think that she's the freakish one. This is Lampshaded.
Vampires are stated to freak out when they smell human blood. When Bella gets a freaking papercut, it's like throwing a hunk of meat into a shark tank. So, why don't vampires freak out when a girl is menstruating? It's dead blood.
Considering the fact that sexual desire requires blood flow, there's no way vampires could have sex or sexual desire the way it's portrayed many times in the novels. Meyer says that venom serves the function of blood, but without a heartbeat? Not so much.
Breaking Dawn. Elaborating would practically be a page unto itself.
Although it can be an easy blunder to miss, Rosalie explains in her backstory that her family was well off during the Great Depression because her dad was a banker. Part of the reason why the Depression got as bad as it did to begin with is that most if not all of the US banks went bankrupt after stock market investors hastily withdrew their inflated shares to cut losses after the stock market crashed. Since banks were losing more money than they could cover, it's very unlikely that a banker, of all people, would have been doing any better than anyone else. Then again, perhaps her father was a Joe Kennedy type...
The sewers in London that vampires were hiding in during the 1600's didn't exist around that time.
At one point, the book refers to the west coast of Brazil. The west is probably the only cardinal direction of Brazil that DOESN'T have a coastline.
As if it wasn't obvious by now, the Cullens need to live somewhere which has lots of rainfall and is surrounded by clouds, otherwise people would have found out that the Cullens sparkle in the sunlight and their big secret would be let out. That is why Meyer chose Forks to be the destination of choice. While it is true that Forks does get a lot of rainfall (even compared to the rest of Washington), it can get pretty nasty during summer. Places that are surrounded by hills have really cold winters and really hot summers, thanks to the hills trapping the weather in. Even places as hot and as barren as Burra, South Australia get super cold during winter. Simply googling "Rainiest town in America" does not give the proper answer as to where the place with the least amount of sunshine is. Maybe the Cullens go for a three month camping trip every year? Either way, Meyer needed more research tools other than Google.
When Bella is in the hospital after almost being hit by Tyler's van, they take x-rays of her skull. While this would have been normal before the 1970s, a CT scan is what is used in modern times as it can show not just fractures, but any bleeds in the brain, which are invisible on normal x-rays.
When Bella is cut by broken glass at her birthday party in the second book, Carlisle stitches up the wounds first and applies an antiseptic afterwards. In reality, the wound would need to be cleaned first, because any microbes on the surface of the skin would be able to hitch a ride on the needle as it goes in and enter directly into the bloodstream.
When performing a Cesarean, they sedate Bella with morphine, which is barbaric. Then again, the baby is functionally indestructible, and Bella is going to die at the end of the procedure one way or another, even if you'd think Edward would want her to be in as little pain as possible.
Ascended Fangirl: Christina Perri, a huge fan, was invited to a screening to submit a song for the soundtrack. She ended up with the successful single "A Thousand Years"
Author Appeal: Non-sexual example: Meyer apparently stated that some of her main characters are fans of British alternative band Muse, one of her favorite bands. Also, she claims to have used them in the story a few times. Needless to say, some of the band's older fanbase dislike the new fans gained from exposure from Twilight media.
Something similar happened with The Hunger Games. Meyer's endorsement of the books led to an influx of Twi-hards into the Hunger Games fandom, resulting in Ship-to-Ship Combat similar to the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob wars in the Twilight fandom. This greatly displeased older fans of The Hunger Games, who were more interested in the series' social commentary than the romance.
In a less serious example, Cleolinda Jones suggests that Renesmee being a "perfect" baby (IE not crying, being able to instantly say what's wrong, sleeping soundly through the night) sounds like the fantasy of a woman who's had several children (in the sense of "I haven't slept in three days, oh God help me"). Given that Meyer has three kids, there's probably a bit of Wish Fulfillment there.
Not to mention being grown up, married, and out of the house by about the age of seven!
In a more disturbing and possibly unintentional case, Bella's horrific (but drastically shortened) pregnancy can make one wonder what her own pregnancies were like.
Babies Make Everything Better: After being born, Renesmee brought peace between the Quileutes by having Jacob imprint on her, mended Rosalie and Bella's relationship(as well as creating a peaceable relationship between Edward and Jacob), and won a lot of allies for the Cullen coven against the Volturi.
Bastard Boyfriend: Edward Cullen a lot of the time but he tries his best not to be, unfortunately he fails miserably.
Based on a Dream: A dream of a sparkling vampire lying in a field of flowers, apparently.
The Beautiful Elite: The Cullens are portrayed this way, and with the way Bella's friends disappear from the narrative whenever she has Edward and Alice to spend time with, she clearly has every intention of joining.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Played straight in the first book. James, the first book's evil vampire, is described as being an average-looking vampire because he was ugly as a human. Naturally, all the Cullens were beautiful in life, making them absolutely gorgeous as vampires. The later books avert this with the Volturi. When we first meet them in New Moon, Edward points out, the Volturi aren't technically the bad guys. However, at that point all the Cullens thought the Volturi respected the law and controlled their world in a way that was better than what they will have if vampires became an anarchy with poor humans in the way. By the last book they know the Volturi (specially Aro) are ambitious bastards that will go to any length to get their way, including breaking the law and murdering innocents to achieve power.
Beneath the Mask: Rosalie Cullen's attitude towards Bella is revealed to be this.
In Breaking Dawn, Bella accidentally breaks Seth's shoulder when she learns that Jacob nicknamed Renesmee after the Loch Ness monster.
Jacob when Bella talks about becoming a vampire or when Edward returns.
Edward when Bella is in danger.
Jane of the Volturi did not take it too well in Breaking Dawn, whenever her pain-illusion power was rendered useless by Bella's mental shield. Which went from anger to hatred.
Noted, that vampires in general in this series are not forgiving by nature. And as shown throughout the series, unless you want to face a vengeful wrath never kill their love ones, or their mate.
Better as Friends: Knowing that Jacob has feelings for her and knowing that he's going to go into battle and get himself killed Bella kisses Jacob. When Edward asks if she loves Jacob she tells him that she loves him, that is Edward, more. Later Jacob is accepted as part of the family despite the romance between Bella and Jacob.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl Alice displays signs of temper, spite, and a less innocent side in the later books. She also rips off James' head in the movie.
Typical of her clan, she's especially hostile to members of the Quileute tribe. In the New Moon film, Bella asks if she'll be coming back inside and she responds with "As soon as you put the dog out."
Big Bad Ensemble: Between the Volturi, Victoria (especially in Eclipse), and Sam (in the first half of Breaking Dawn).
The Big Guy: Emmett of the Cullen Family. Felix of the Volturi.
Vampires do this in the sunlight. In the movie? They glimmer. Imagine them ridiculously sweaty, or using a lot of glitter lotion. The effect was done (at least in the first movie) with glitter glue. This time around you don't have to listen to Bella whine about it... and in the movie, there are sparkle noises. It must be seen (and heard) to be believed.
The climax of New Moon revolves around this, where Edward tries to step into the sunlight in the Volturi's city, which would get him noticed by the humans and killed by the Volturi.
The Scene It? spinoff of the movie takes the sparkle motif Up to Eleven. Everything, everything sparkles, and Carlisle's voiceover constantly informs you that you "sparkle like a diamond."
Blondes Are Unpleasant: Most of the book's female antagonists are blonde, whereas the brunettes tend to be portrayed more favorably. Word Of God says this wasn't intentional, but Meyer has admitted several unpleasant people in her life were blonde, and it might have unconsciously informed her writing.
Bloodless Carnage: While it's not completely blood-free, the amount of blood seen on-screen is suprisingly small for a series where at least half of the main cast are vampires.
Rosalie after being turned into a vampire, took revenge on her ex-fiance and his friends after they raped and left her for dead in an alleyway. She wore a wedding dress to do so. She says she made sure none of them splattered blood on it, though.
Played straight in Breaking Dawn, Part 1. Bella has a nightmare in which Edward eats all the wedding guests. Everyone is wearing white, and they all get splattered with blood, including Bella's wedding dress, of course.
Blue and Orange Morality: Within the Twilight universe, vampires in general do not value much of human life let alone see humans as equals. They apparently think nothing much of taking a human life particularly if it means sustaining themselve with human blood which is said to be more appealing than that of blood from an animal. Even ones who don't feed on humans for moral reasons of their own usually have some feeling of superiority, and don't think much of other vampires feeding on humans.
But I Can't Be Pregnant!: Bella's initial reaction to her little nudger. She accepts the fact quickly enough, though.
Breaking and Bloodsucking: Edward breaks into Bella's room at night. Infamously, he doesn't feed on her blood, he watches her sleep. A month before they met too.
Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Edward and Bella. In New Moon, however, gender-flipping this is what kicks off the Jacob/Bella relationship, with him being the gentle guy to Bella's "My boyfriend dumped me so my life is over" brooding.
Brother-Sister Incest: Technically, all of the Cullens, though they're Not Blood Siblings. This is Lampshaded in the first movie, where Mike wonders if that's even legal. Strictly speaking, it would be, since the Cullens are all supposedly foster children, with Edward, Emmett and Alice on the one hand, and Jasper and Rosalie on the other, being presented as a group of biological siblings. Most likely due to their physical similarities, but also extremely convenient for their romantical pairing-up.
Jacob: I'm in love with you, Bella. Bella, I love you. And I want you to pick me instead of him. I know you don't feel that way, but I need the truth out there so that you know your options. I wouldn't want a miscommunication to stand in our way. (Eclispe)
Byronic Hero: Edward, according to some interpretations
C - D
Can You Hear Me Now?: Who smashes their phone because they get bad news? Who does that?
The Cast Showoff: Robert Pattinson plays guitar and piano, and had composer Carter Burwell teach him "Bella's Lullaby" so that he could play it while being filmed instead of having to mime playing it.
Celibate Hero: Edward, as he's afraid that he might hurt Bella.
The Chessmaster: Alice is a nature chessmaster based on her ability. Victoria catches wind of this and becomes a chessmaster herself by using Riley to make her moves for her since Alice isn't watching him.
Childfree Is Not Allowed: Technically, not every woman in the story is capable of reproduction. However, the ones that aren't are universally regarded as having something wrong with them, especially if they don't want to have children. Meyer even contradicts herself to uphold this (she originally said all vampires couldn't have children and later changed it to female vampires can't have children.) In a particularly disturbing passage, an infertile young woman is described as a horror who is less than female.
Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Jacob in the third book suffers from derailment: he goes from a friendly, devoted guy to a possessive jerk to better enable the canon couple. Then, in the last book, he imprints on Bella's newborn baby and conveniently is no longer at all attracted to Bella. In fact, with the notable exception of Leah, basically every major character is wonderfully paired off by the end of the series.
Cock Fight: Edward and Jacob keep fighting over Bella in the name of her safety until she has to tell then to stop and from now on she's Switzerland.
Compelling Voice: Alpha werewolves (to other werewolves, at least). The dazzling from vampires to a certain extent.
All the Cullens have at least one. Even klutzy Bella gets a motorcycle and a sportscar (an S600 Guardian, which is somewhat fitting as it is bulletproof and armored against explosives). Word Of God says the Cullen family likes to drive fast. Meyer's brothers are massive gearheads, so she let them pick cool cars for each of the characters.
Subverted in the New Moon movie with Edward's Volvo XC90. Why such a soccer-mom car? Product Placement, natch. It's also insinuated in Breaking Dawn that the Volvo is one the Cullens keep to drive when they don't particularly want to be noticed, and Bella drives it to Seattle to meet the lawyer who forges Jacob and Renesmee's passports.
Volvo's area in the 2011 LA Auto Show had a raised "building" that resembled the Cullens' house; it just so happened to be the same time as the premier of Breaking Dawn Part I.
Edward: Volvo S60R, Aston Martin V12 Vanquish.
Bella: A S600 Guard and a Ferrari F430 after her piece of junk truck broke down.
Rosalie: BMW M3
Alice: more Porsches than you can probably name.
Cool Loser: Bella is an inversion. She's socially awkward, clumsy and generally uncool, but everyone warms up to her the minute she gets to town and soon enough she has her own little circle of friends.
Creator Breakdown: Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight books, has announced that she has ceased work on the fifth novel of the series (a retelling of the first from the hero's perspective) after someone she knew leaked the first 13 chapters online: "If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working..."
Creator Cameo: Stephenie Meyer makes an appearance in the first film as one of the women in the diner Bella and Charlie visit.She is also a guest at Edward and Bella's wedding in the fourth film.
Creepy Child: Jane, Alec, and Renesmee. The last gets further up in the department since she wasn't intended to be so.
Curse That Cures: This is how Edward views vampirism. On the bright side, he was saved from a horrible, wasting death from Spanish flu and is now impossibly beautiful. On the negative side, he is hard as rock, dead, can't go out in direct sunlight, constantly thirsts to kill people and has to go to high school for the rest of his life (which is forever). This is why he is unwilling to make Bella a vampire, despite the fact that she wants to be one.
Vampirism in general, especially if one survives on a diet of animal blood. It's described as being less tasty than human blood, which basically implies that one gets an eternity of youth, beauty, strength, and some sort of super power, and the only downside is that one has to eat something they don't like. Considering some of the things that people actually do in the name of youth, vitality, strength and beauty? In this world The Masquerade probably doesn't exist in order to keep a vampire genocide from happening, but rather to prevent every vampire in the world from being hounded day and night by desperate people wanting to be turned.
Daywalking Vampire: Twilight vampires are not hurt by sunlight — instead they sparkle.
Defictionalization: Nordstrom and Torrid have massive tie-ins with New Moon, mainly replicating Bella's clothes (apparently there were a lot of requests after the first movie and they just said "screw it, we're selling it ourselves"), which by happy coincidence are in style.
Deadpan Snarker: In the books, Bella tells a number of dry jokes with such a straight face that the others can't tell if she's trying to be funny. In the movies, when when Jessica feels ignored she can be snarky too.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Edward is from the early 1900s. Some of what he does was perfectly acceptable in his native time. Other parts of his behavior, like sneaking into a girl's room every night to to "protect" her, would have gotten Victorian/Edwardian fathers to take out the shotgun (or send the footman with a club).
Word of God says Lauren fell prey to a modeling scam that cost her over a thousand dollars and a good chunk of her hair. What made her deserving of this? She made one relatively minor sarcastic comment about Bella. Fucking Lauren!
In Breaking Dawn - Part 1, Aro orders the death of the secretary because she misspelled "Carlisle" in a note.
"Carlyle? With a Y?"
Distress Ball: Jacob ends up grabbing this when he shoves Leah out of the way just to be crushed by a Newborn Vampire. The book attempts to make it out that Leah was the one in distress because she was fighting the vampire alone to begin with, but... both her and her little brother have defeated newborns in single combat before, and nothing about this fight really necessitated Jacob shoving her out of the way. Of course, all the blame for this goes to Leah. Not to mention the entire reason Jacob gets hurt is that he was too slow for the vampire making this an What an Idiot moment on an even higher level - Leah is the fastest werewolf.
Distressed Damsel: Bella. So. Much. Immediately upon arriving in small town USA, she's beset with life-threatening dangers so that Edward can capture her attention by saving her over and over. Odd, since she's the viewpoint character and female lead.
Door Stopper: The first three books float around 600 pages. The fourth book is over 700 pages.
Double Entendre: Emmett spends a whole chapter and a half of Breaking Dawn making progressively less veiled comments about Edward and Bella's sex life. While her father is around!
Double Standard: Bella once criticizes another girl in her school as shallow for only liking Edward because he is good looking and comes from a wealthy family, yet the things about him that she most often expresses appreciation for are (in order of prevalance) his physical appearance, his equally attractive well-to-do family, his nice house and his expensive car.
Downer Ending: For Charlie and Renee at least, post-Breaking Dawn. Since Bella takes measures to hide her newfound vampirism from them, with the implication that she's never going to tell them the truth, she will likely abandon them in a decade, before they start to notice that she's stopped aging.
Dreaming of Things to Come: In the first book of Breaking Dawn, Bella has a dream about the Volturi coming to kill her and the Cullens. Bella narrates the exact same thing happening in the preface of the third book—literally: Meyer just copy-pasted Bella's dream into the preface.
Bree Tanner. Bad enough she dies for no real reason, but nobody does much to stop it or even really seems to care afterwards.
Irena Denali. Her death being a pointless gesture of cruelty was lampshaded in-story, but they had also made a big deal about the fact that they had an ally able to manipulate the elements. Even if the Volturi tore her apart, they could have re-assembled her afterward if he'd kept them from burning the pieces.
Dull Surprise: Kristen Stewart as Bella in the movies. Her facial expressions are very minimal.
It's not just her. Everyone in the films gets a chance for dullness. In fact, ScreenJunkies made a supercut video of all the times people in the films are staring at each other without talking. The video isjust under half an hour!
Early Installment Weirdness: It's funny now to look back at the first movie and remember how Jacob kept his shirt on the whole time.
Eccentric Mentor: Aro, one of the most cheerful vampires you've ever seen in the entire series, is also the strongly implied leader of the Volturi, and according to Edward, "You don't irritate the Volturi, not unless you want to die." And this is before SMeyer revealed that Aro killed his sister. Among that, it's because he wants to take over the world — or not the world, but he has some sort of domination plans, it being the reason he killed his sister, because didn't want her to run off with Marcus. Puts the guy in a new light, doesn't it?
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Bella is described as having a very pale complexion with long, straight, dark brown hair. She's the "suffer in silence type" who actually wants to be turned into a vampire.
Esme: Attempted suicide after the death of her son (he was only a few days old).
Rosalie: Gang-raped, beaten, and left for dead by her fiance and his friends.
Edward: Just another victim of the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic.
Emmett: Mauled by a bear.
Alice: Was transformed in order to prevent James from hunting and killing her.
Bella: Childbirth complications. Pulverized pelvis, shattered spine, the hole her husband bit in her uterus... y'know, the usual.0
The Quilete werewolves: The gene that causes them to phase (which all members of their tribe apparently possess) is only triggered when there is a significant vampire presence (i.e., the Cullens) in the area. Otherwise, they would have remained human.
Emo Teen: Bella becomes one for a while after Edward leaves her in New Moon. Also, despite his actual age, Edward. It could be argued that Bella is this through the whole series (until she becomes a vampire) she's constantly miserable (in Edwards absence) despite the fact that she gets straight A's with little effort, her father makes little or no effort to control her and everyone loves her. Any other teenager would be thrilled to have her life.
It doesn't matter if a character is a hundred years old or one, their maturity level will correspond to their physical appearance.
Averted by Renesmee.
The Empath: Jasper, who has the ability to control other people's emotions. Which might explain a good portion of the plot...
Enemy Mine: The climax of Eclipse has the Quileutes and Cullens working together to defeat a vampire army headed by Victoria.
When the Romanian vampires show up uninvited to join the Cullens' group in Breaking Dawn, they explicitly state that they don't care whether or not Renesmee is an immortal child as the Volturi believe. They're just thrilled that someone is finally willing to stand up to their old enemies, the Volturi, and they want in on it.
Enforced Method Acting: When Carlisle bites Edward, he whispers in Edward's ear. The in-character "I'm sorry" failed to get the right terrified reaction, as did the equally in-character "My son", so he whispered "You're sexy".
Erotic Dream: Thanks to one of these, Bella gets Edward to have sex with her again while she's still human!
Eternal Love: Seems to be treated as the best part of being a vampire: you can be with your true love for all eternity. Or at least until the sun goes supernova.
Express Delivery: Oh boy. After Edward and Bella get pregnant the first time they have sex, they realize that the baby is growing too fast. In fact, the baby quickly tries to "eat" its way out of Bella, so Edward has no choice but to perform a caesarean on Bella. With his teeth, because they are the only thing sharp enough to cut through the protective barrier around the foetus. The damage the baby and the caesarean causes force Edward to turn Bella into a vampire.
Fainting: Bad news usually causes Bella to collapse. As does Edward kissing her, once. And a teeny tiny drop of blood. And a few other things.
Reaches epidemic levels in the second movie, where most of the male cast wanders around shirtless (or else remove their shirts at the drop of a hat) the entire time. The lupine shape-shifters, especially. It got to a point where it became a running gag for the actors portraying them - Jacob's actor has joked, several times, on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, about ripping his shirt off for every little thing.
"Oh, no, you're bleeding!" (tears shirt off)
This actually reached somewhat disturbing levels when you consider that lifesize (or larger) shirtless photos of (then seventeen year-old) Taylor Lautner were on display all around the world. It was actually something of a Double Standard, as such extremely flagrant sexualization of an underage female actress would probably have triggered more outrage from the Moral Guardians.
Reaches absolutely disturbing levels in Breaking Dawn Part 2 in which Jacob takes off his shirt and pants in front of Charlie to show that he is a werewolf. Instead of squicking like the more level-minded viewers, the fangirls just squeed.
Female Gaze: In a book, no less. Cut out any sentence paying tribute to Edward's godly, wondrous, Adonis-esque physique, and you'll lose maybe more than a third of each book. Even New Moon, which he was only in half of.
Fetus Terrible: The only people who seem convinced that Bella's child is a good thing are Bella and Rosalie. Everyone else just wants her to abort it. Considering that it began feeding on its mother's blood while in the womb, then tried to go after a cup of blood her mother spilled while still in the womb, destroying her mother's pelvis and breaking her spine in half in the process, it might have been a good idea.
Fiction 500: After 300 years of strategic art collecting and 100 years of playing the stock market (with a clairvoyant providing fiancial advice), the Cullens took second place the 2011 Forbes Fictional 15 list with an estimated wealth of $36.2 billion. Apparently, Carlisle has a controlling interest in the blood product company Immuncor. According to the list, Carlisle has more money than both Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne combined.
First Girl Wins: In the books, Edward is the first supernatural male Bella meets and she falls for and keeps him in the end. In the movie Edward becomes Last Girl Wins being Jacob the first one she meets.
Fluffy Fashion Feathers: At least in the first film, Victoria wears a white feather cape while attending the prom.
Follow the Leader: Like the Harry Potter films, the final film is going to be in two parts. The comparison has not gone unnoticed in newspapers and blogs, who think it's just trying to feed off the fandom-feud by doing so.
Forgot I Could Change The Rules: Jacob has to submit to the will of Sam, the Alpha Wolf. When Sam orders him to help destroy the Cullens (and Bella), he remembers that he was born to be the Alpha but he had voluntarily given up the birthright. Choosing to become the Alpha frees Jacob from obeying Sam's orders.
Four Girl Ensemble: The four Cullens women are the snarky Bella, pixie-like Alice, elegant Rosalie, and the motherly Esme.
Freakiness Shame: Bella's positive reaction to Edward's sparkly skin and odd eyes.
From a Certain Point of View: Meyer (in)famously claimed that vampires are unable to reproduce. When Bella later got knocked up, she went back and used Weasel Words to try and claim she actually meant that only female vampires can't have kids all along(evidently by claiming an obscure definition of "have").
Fur Against Fang: Vampires and werewolves really, really hate each other, although Edward and Jacob make friends pretty quickly as soon as Jacob finds out he imprinted on Edward's infant child, despite the decades of hate. Which doesn't upset anyone except Bella, and only enough for her to try and kill him. Seth seems to get along with the Cullens.
Genre Popularizer: Say what you will about the quality, but it triggered an explosion of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Sturgeon's Law is in full effect, but some of them are actually quite good. Though a more accurate statement would be that it brought such a genre into the public consequence as there are/were a number of similar series well before Twilight.
Get A Load Of That Square: The films seem to be going for this with some of Charlie and Billy's dialogue, but it would take an extremely... picky teenager to hold it against them.
Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: Jasper can control the emotions of those around him, and according to Bella, it's impossible to feel anything but what he wants you to feel. It's also not a matter of discussion or consent.
Jacob: Bloody annoying, that's what it is, only you can't be annoyed until after.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: "Better than Freaky Fred's backside" from The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (hinting at anal sex there, are we, Meyer?).
The entire merry Cullen bunch, sans Edward (at least, until Breaking Dawn)
Also Renee and Phil, and it's implied that Charlie and Sue will end up this way too.
Happily Ever After: Bella gets everything she wanted and then some. She marries Edward, becomes a beautiful and powerful vampire, doesn't lose contact with Charlie, the Cullens are all happy and together, she lives in a beautiful cottage, her best friend Jacob finds his own soulmate in her daughter so he can be family now, the Volturi go without a fight, and she gets a beautiful baby girl who requires no raising outside of advice and love, since the kid is well out of diapers and spoon-feeding and screaming by the time she's a year old. However, Bella is an unreliable narrator and it might be Happily till the Volturi come with a plan to destroy the Ever After.
Held Gaze: In the film version of Twilight, Edward and Bella basically do this for two straight hours. Not surprisingly, the novel has them doing the same in a nonvisual form.
Heroic BSOD: Bella has one for a good part of New Moon. Edward also has one when Bella tells him she is pregnant.
Heroic Sacrifice: Leah makes one to save Esme during the final battle that didn't actually happen in the film version of Breaking Dawn.
Heroic Willpower: Edward's resistance of Bella's blood makes him poster boy for this trope. Of course, both Edward and Bella have to resist their regular sexual lust too, for reasons of safety and morality.
An even better example is Carlisle, who is explicitly stated to have trained himself over the roughly three centuries that he has lived as a vampire to the point where he is virtually immune to the smell of human blood.
A lack of this on the part of most vampires is also stated to be the reason why not all humans who are fed on become vampires themselves. Enough of the victim's own blood must be left in their veins to allow the vampire's venom to spread through the victim's body and trigger the change. It requires a level of willpower (though not necessarily of the heroic variety) that very few vampires possess to pull themselves back before completely draining the victim.
Most of them, but Bella and Edward especially, since they mostly think of absolutely nothing but one another, in New Moon especially to the exclusion of common sense. Jacob too, since he spends a lot of time thinking about getting into Bella's pants, as do seemingly all the other boys in the book. Bella's Heroic BSOD in New Moon has particularly unfortunate connotations in this trope, since how it's handled implies that her life is literally nothing without her boyfriend.
The front cover of the first book has someone holding an apple, representing that Edward and Bella are each other's Forbidden Fruit. It was represented on a scene of the film, with the Hacky-Sack Apple of I-See-What-You-Did-There.
Arguably all the movies have had a representation of their respective covers. In New Moon there was a white flower like cotton cloth spilled with blood that looked a bit like the flower on the cover. In Eclipse Bella's thick red line of blood could had represented the red ribbon of Eclipse's one.
And in Breaking Dawn they are playing chess in a red and white pieces board...so full circle with the covers of the books.
The Hunter: Edward preying on criminals during his "rebellious years".
Hypocrite: Jake accuses Bella of being this when she is under the impression he and the other wolves have killed people, referring to them being what they are as "wrong". As if Edward didn't tell Bella straight away that he's killed people before, and she doesn't seem to have any problems forgiving Jasper, who also nearly killed her.
I - K
I Cannot Self-Terminate: Edward has to ask the Volturi for help committing suicide in New Moon. It doesn't work.
I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me!: It takes Bella three books to stop talking like this. Heck, she continues to go on about it at her damned wedding, wondering why Edward would have picked her over the more attractive Tanya or Rosalie.
Inverted. Not one of the main characters is ever angry at the vampire who turned them. They get plenty angry at their current state but never think to blame Carlisle. Hell, Bella is ecstatic to be turned by Edward. Then again, she'd been wanting it since she found out vampires were real, and jumped on every possible chance to get it.
In the case of the Volturi Jane and Alec adore Aro (he saved them from burning at the stake after all). Riley loved Victoria until, sadly, too late for him, he realized that she didn't love him.
In the novella, Bree seems quite loyal to Riley, despite the fact that she remembers him turning her into a vampire by kidnapping her and breaking her arm.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Almost definitely unintentional, but...when the Cullens play baseball, you could refer to their sports equipment as "vampire bats."
Insecure Love Interest: In New Moon, Edward leaves Bella because of this, resulting in much Wangst from both of them.
Inter-Class Romance: Bella's strictly working class. The Cullens are wealthy (its easy to make money if you're immortal and have a clairvoyant handling your investments).
Interrupted Suicide: Edward attempts this on New Moon when he thinks his beloved Bella is dead.
Invincible Hero: Pretty much every protagonist in the series, but especially Edward Cullen.
Jacob's chapters in Breaking Dawn have chapter titles like You Know You've Got Problems When You Feel Bad For Being Rude To Vampires, Good Thing I've Got A Strong Stomach, Waiting For The Damn Fight To Start Already, What Do I Look Like? The Wizard Of Oz? You Need A Brain? You Need A Heart? Go Ahead. Take Mine. Take Everything I Have. This is opposed to the one-word titles Meyer usually uses.
The title of the birth chapter: There Are No Words For This.
It could also be a way to show the differences between Bella and Jacob given that the 12 leaked chapters of Midnight Sun are titled on the same style that Bella's titles are.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Rosalie hates being a vampire, and has admitted she'd give up her beauty and immortality just to have the opportunity to have a child of her own. Edward also wishes he could relate to Bella the way a normal guy would, without the bloodlust and super strength getting in the way.
Informed Flaw: Edward makes much of his dangerous nature but anyone who has read past the first book knows there's no chance in hell he'll hurt Bella.
In Medias Res: Each book (and the three sections of Breaking Dawn) opens with a preface that describes a scene that happens at the climax of that story.
Interspecies Romance: Humans and vampires! Humans and werewolves! Half-humans/half-vampires and werewolves!
Intimate Healing: Clothed version between Bella and Jacob, not that he doesn't try for the naked version.
Invisible to Normals: Edward's stopping of the van about to crush Bella with his bare hands with no one but Bella realizing could fall under this, and it is even mocked in Mark Reads Twilight, where he says this is part of an overused idea he calls "The 'I Am Going To Do Something Spectacular And Clearly Attention-Grabbing In Front Of Plenty Of People, Yet No One Is Going To Notice Except (Conveniently) The Main Character' Phenomenon."
Jail Bait Wait: A rather extreme form, with werewolves falling in love with toddlers, then having to wait for them to hit their mid-late teens before they can do anything physical.
Just Eat Gilligan: Why didn't Carlisle call the Volturi in New Moon and tell them to tell Edward that Bella was alive?
Kill It with Fire: The only known way to get rid of vampires for good. But just fire isn't enough: first you have to rip them up into pieces (which is kind of difficult, considering that their flesh is as hard as stone) and then scatter the ashes. However, since their bodily fluids are flammable, once you have them in little pieces setting them on fire is pretty easy (according to the movie, just ripping off the head is enough before setting the body on fire).
A simple way for them to get set on fire would be through the mouth. And considering the most physically supreme coven in existence(the romanians) died to regular arson(by the Volturi, but still just arson), they are obviously not nearly as impervious as they seem.
Kissing Cousins: Sam and Leah are 2nd cousins. This means that it is also possible that he is related to Emily.
Kiss of the Vampire: Edward and Bella's make-out sessions in early books are decidedly tame for this reason.
At least in the movie of Eclipse. "Do you own a shirt?"
In New Moon too. Alice to Bella: "I've never met anyone so prone to life-threatening idiocy!"
Law of Inverse Fertility: Bella wasn't even trying to get pregnant. Then suddenly she did! Rosalie and Esme, on the other hand, will never be able to have children of their own (although Esme seems perfectly happy with her big family of big immortal adopted children).
Living Forever Is Awesome: Even though the Cullens are not totally convinced they seem to have achieved happiness with their condition (except for Edward and Rosalie, at least at the beginning). Bella has no doubt it is.
Loads and Loads of Characters: Meyer seems to just throw names at the reader sometimes, and then expect them to remember who she's talking about when and if one does something relevant to the plot several hundred pages later.
Bella unquestionably, because of her lack of reaction to the fact that Edward's a vampire - which he often comments on. It gets worse in the movie. After researching vampires, Bella realizes what Edward is. Several people have turned up dead in the area, apparently mauled by animals - which she doesn't believe. So naturally, she goes off into the woods with Edward to tell him she knows his secret... without telling anyone where she's going or with whom.
Not to mention that she constantly get in trouble, walking alone in a dangerous forest, dark alleys, unstable werewolves, evil vampires. How she made it to seventeen before Edward met her is a mystery.
New Moon lampshaded it as well, with a comment from Alice: "I've never met anyone so prone to life-threatening idiocy!"
There's a part in the first book where Bella outright tells the reader she's thinking of deliberately putting herself in danger, and thus forcing Edward to come save her, in order to make him stick around. It's on page 211, chapter 10.
An early one: When Edward takes Bella to meet his family for the first time, she's much more concerned by the possibility that they won't like her than by the fact that she could very well end up as their next meal. Lampshaded, naturally, by Edward.
Lost In Imitation: It's a major complaint for many that Edward and the other vampires are unaffected by sunlight (other than going sparkly), but if you read Dracula, vampires aren't supposed to be vaporized by sunlight, just lose their superhuman abilities.
Imprinting for werewolves, sometimes to a squicky level.
Jacob: It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like ... gravity moves. When you see her, suddenly it's not the earth holding you here anymore. She does. And nothing matters more than her. (Eclipse)
Variant: Edward falls in Love At First Smell, effectively.
Some would say Bella. Considering the first chapter of the first book is entitled "First Sight"...
Magic A Is Magic A: How Alice's precognition worked seemed to vary each time it figured into the plot. Sometimes her visions are infallible, other times unreliable, and sometimes people can avoid showing up on her radar if they know the right tricks. Sometimes she can get visions of things she specifically wants to see, other times what she sees and when she sees it are totally random. Generally the only thing consistent is her power goes dark if the future involves a species she's never been, like a werewolf or half-vampire.
Magical Native American: The werewolves can be counted as part of this trend, given their common ethnicity.
Malaproper: Meyer doesn't know what all of the words she uses mean.
At one point in the first chapter, Bella's schedule is accidentally implied to be covered in fish semen due to the magic of this trope.
Another memorable instance has Meyer say Bella is "translucent," implying this is something that's odd about her. All humans have translucent skin.
In still another Bella watches wide trenches filled with water protecting a fortified building swirl in the air.
To be fair, that's more of a spelling error since the proper word, 'motes', sounds exactly the same.
In the fourth book a little girl plays with one of the werewolves hair like it's periods of rulership.
Martyr Without a Cause: Bella is a variant. It's not that she wants to be a hero, it's that, as other characters sometimes lampshade, she blames herself for anything and everything that goes wrong. This leads to the same type of self-hatred (if not the same quantity) as The Atoner, and while she doesn't often have the opportunity to risk her life, she clearly considers herself more expendable than those around her, particularly Edward, but also her mother, father, unborn baby... (this also seems to be responsible for a good deal of reader hatred, particularly from those who think she's merely Too Dumb to Live, but that's neither here nor there).
A Man Is Not a Virgin: Notably averted with Edward. Oh so averted. Not only that, but Edward clearly never so much as masturbated, considering he had viable sperm nearly a century later.
Mars Needs Women: The imprinting business with the werewolves looks suspiciously like this, especially if all female werewolves are as infertile as Leah. According to Meyer, there were no female werewolves before Leah and it is never said if a female werewolf could imprint.
May Fly December Romance: One of Bella's main reasons for wanting to become a vampire is her concern that, when she grows old, Edward will no longer find her physically appealing.
Probably unintentional, but it is still interesting to note that Bella's last name, Swan, has a meaning in the real-life vampire subculture. Swan is used to refer to people involved in the vampire community, but who are not vampires themselves.
And let us not forget how appropriate Cullen ("culling") is for a family of predators.
Bella is a form of bellum, meaning war in Latin.
"Beautiful Ugly Duckling", anyone?
The Blockbuster Buster pointed out other possible references in Bella's name in his review of Twilight:
"The main character's name is Bella Swan?! Bella as in Bela Lugosi? Swan as in Swan Lake, the opening song from Dracula?"
Pretty much the entire cast. Bella: beautiful. Edward: rich guardian. Jacob: the supplanter. Carlisle: stronghold of light. Esme: loved. Leah: weary. ...it goes on.
Also, any Cinderella-esque heroine is practically obligated in today's fiction world to have an "ella" (or at least an "elle") somewhere in her name.
Specifically Jane and Alec, although most of the Volturi can fall under this category.
Renesmee. Especially disturbing when you think of what she could do once she grows up and gains a better understanding of nightmare fuel. Doubly so since it's heavily implied that anyone seeing her visions can't help but believe them to be true.
Moral Dissonance: Holy HELL is there Moral Dissonance. It starts with the idea that Edward once resented Carlisle for years for trying to stop him from eating people (which Bella finds reasonable).
Muggle and Magical Love Triangle: Bella/Jacob is set up as this in New Moon before Jacob is revealed as a werewolf, shifting it into a Vampire Werewolf Love Triangle. There are three normal guys at school who are also interested in Bella, but she's never interested in them.
Must Not Die A Virgin: Bella wants to experience sex with Edward while she is still human, before she gets changed into a vampire. Doubles as a case of Too Dumb to Live, since Edward explicitly warns her that because of his super-strength, the experience will quite likely be extremely traumatic or even fatal.
Alice being able to see the future (specifically how well it works goes up and down depending on how handy it is or isn't to the plot for her power to work).
Marcus's power was pretty much drudged up to show yet again just how soul-bonded Bella and Edward are.
Victoria's power to always know where to hide was basically a way for the author to Hand Wave how a pack of werewolves and the entire Cullen family together couldn't catch her sooner.
Arguably, Bella's ability to suppress vampires' powers.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In New Moon, when Bella gets a small paper-cut, Edward punts Bella away to prevent Jasper attacking her in a blood-frenzy. This, however, causes her to lacerate her arm.
And of course, vampires don't have periods, because their bodies are unchanging (this ties into the whole "can't bear children" thing).
Played straight with Bella, who, despite having yummy blood, does not trigger a vampire feeding frenzy once a month. Handwaved by saying that menstrual blood is 'dead blood'. An Anatomy Fail on Meyer's part when you realize that menstrual blood has been proven to be cleaner/newer/FRESHER/more alive than normal blood.
Obstructive Code of Conduct: The Volturi enforce laws that all other vampires must follow: any humans who learn of vampires must be turned into vampires or killed, do not turn babies or toddlers into vampires, do not make alliances with werewolves, do not hunt in Volterra, do not lie to or defy The Volturi. The punishment is death, but The Volturi often bends the rules and invites vampires with special talents to join them.
Official Couple: Bella and Edward, pretty much every vampire and imprinted 'couple', and later Renesmee/Jacob and Charlie/Sue in Breaking Dawn.
Oh Crap: In Breaking Dawn Part 2, Aro has one after Alice shows him her vision of the ensuing battle should the Volturi force a fight. A battle ending with him dead. Aro's minions still try to provoke the fight while he shoots down all of their complaints with a slightly desperate and scared look on his face.
One Last Fling: Bella tells Edward that she has until graduation to see Jacob and then she'll be a vampire and he'll hate her forever. At the end of Eclipse Bella gives into her feelings for Jacob and tells him to kiss her knowing how much he loves her. Edward tells Bella that he realizes that she loves Jacob and she tells Edward that she loves him more.
One Steve Limit: Meyer appears to have gone to pains to avoid name overlap, but in Breaking Dawn there's a minor vampire named Charles. As was Esme's first husband.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Movie only, obviously. Robert Pattinson actually puts on a decently convincing American accent (even if it's hard to tell just what part of America), but especially in the first movie, he slips up quite noticeably a few times.
Jasper has little to say throughout the movies until the Training Montage in Eclipse. Up until then, he has a rather generic American accent, but in Eclipse he remembers he was a Civil War veteran from Texas replete with a... jarring southern accent.
Our Werewolves Are Different: The Quileute (also referred to as shape-shifters) are purely hereditary, and they have higher body temperatures, for one. More traditional werewolves are mentioned — the Volturi have hunted them to near-extinction.
Our Vampires Are Different: And how! they're sparkly golem-like creatures made of diamonds that run on explosive oil strained from human blood, without fangs (even cute little ones) and have no problem with the sun, holy symbols or garlic. Hell, Twilight is practically the embodiment of this trope!
Plot-Relevant Age-Up: One-month gestation results in a September birth date. By December, Renesmee is walking, talking, and reading Tennyson. Another half-vampire reveals that maturity is reached at the age of seven.
Poor Communication Kills: In New Moon, one of Charlie's friends dies, and when Edward gets wind of the funeral he is mistakenly led to believe that it was Bella who died, driving him to go to Italy and attempt suicide by sparkling. Why he never thought to call someone to verify this or look in the local paper for her obituary instead of automatically assuming she was really dead is anyone's guess. Or why it never crossed his mind that a small-town police officer would be obliged to go to funerals of town officials, homicide or accident victims, retired officers... basically, anyone in town who'd been influential or died by violence.
The Rifftrax guys mock this to no end, creating "Team Mustache Dad." Then again, no one with a mustache is ever safe from the Rifftrax guys.
P.O.V. Boy, Poster Girl: Gender Inverted, but otherwise played straight. Bella is the generic POV character. Edward and Jacob are both exotic love interests and the focus of all advertising.
Product Placement: The New Moon movie carries ad frames for Volvo, Porshe, Virgin America (who doesn't even do the flights shown in the movie), Burger King, and Nikon (digital camera with included photo printer). The only product that made any sort of sense was Rainier Beer, a brand that you'd actually expect a small town, working class police chief to drink. Oddly enough, the New Moon book features product placement as well, mentioning ESPN, Rotten Tomatoes, Ragu, McDonald's and Comet.
Puny Earthlings: Humans can't possibly compete with or stand up to vampires or werewolves, and it's implied that before the Cullens only werewolves could protect normal people from vampires.
Purple Prose: buckets. Especially when it comes to Edward's appearance.
Rapid Aging: In Breaking Dawn Part 2: Renesmee. As one critic succinctly noted:
Director Bill Condon, who also helmed the previous almost-good installment, opts for some sort of CGI effects with Bella’s half-human/half-Nosferatu baby, Renesmee. The resultant baby looks like one of the E-Trade kids, except this kid isn’t funny... The baby just looks at people with a creepy, janky smile. She grows rapidly, going through a phase with a bad wig—just like her mom in some of the previous Twilight movies!—and finally winds up as young actress Mackenzie Foy.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Bella is described as having a very pale complexion with long, straight, dark brown hair. Even before she became a vampire and inherited god-like beauty, Bella was rather pretty, as she unintentionally attracted the attention of several boys in school, not just Edward.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: To the books instead of in them is the not-quite-blog Reasoning With Vampires, which picks apart word choice, sentence structure, logistical issues, and just about everything else wrong with the series in little infographics that deal with specific, stand-out segments of the book. It's surprisingly respectful, for all that.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: For the vampires that drink human blood, as well as newborn ones.
Reluctant Warrior: Carlisle to the point that the werewolves designated him a non-priority target; he had the most experience and a lot of potential to do harm, but his hesitation made him less dangerous.
Rescue Romance: Edward and Bella were already secretly interested in each other, but it was Edward saving Bella from Tyler's out of control van that laid the groundwork for their relationship.
Revenge by Proxy: Victoria's search to harm Bella after The Cullens kill her mate James
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jacob in Breaking Dawn decides Bella's baby must die, because Bella apparently died giving birth to her. At least, that was until he looked into the baby's eyes.
Mike Newton, Tyler Crowley, and Eric Yorkie. Either humans just aren't good enough for Bella, or she's really socially messed-up if Edward's the only one for her. Tyler could also qualify as Casanova Wannabe.
Jacob Black fits this trope better since he actually was around long enough to let his romantic advances to reach to a point that Bella had to made a choice.
Granted, vampires actually didn't sparkle in sunlight; vampires hating (or even rotting in) the sun is actually Newer Than They Think, the idea having been invented and popularized by Nosferatu.
On the negative side, the myths used to have ugly, short, smelly peasant vampires with reddish not pale skin. They almost always had some sort of shapeshifting and definitely did sleep (during the day at least). Fangs were also common because of the lips of posthumously exhumed corpses being peeled back after death. Telekinetic and other creepy poltergeist abilities were common because if something bad happened in your home it's easier to just blame a dead guy.
On the positive side for werewolves while several myths of werewolves were a little more anthropomorphic the most of the original myths of werewolves actually were just men changing into wolves without anthropomorphic features. Twilight also explicitly mentions the more modern werewolves with their changing on the full moon and bites transferring the infection.
Scenery Porn: The movie has a LOT of it. The atmosphere was the sole thing many people liked about the movie. Haunting and somber, thick with misty moutains, fertile greenery, and soft Jazz-sounding in the background. Some people felt they spent too much time needlessly panning across the various beautiful scenery.
Serial Killer Killer: When Edward was younger, he rebelled against Carlisle's animal blood philosophy, so he used his mind reading powers to only feed on rapists and murderers. But even that proved to be too much for his conscience.
Sexy Discretion Shot: Breaking Dawn. Edward and Bella arrive at their honeymoon destination. She takes a shower and goes out on the beach where Edward is. She takes her towel off, he pulls her into his arms and... Oh look, it's the next morning.
Shaking Her Hair Loose: At the end of the first movie, we see Victoria watching Edward and Bella through a window, all dressed up. As she walks away, she pulls a pin out of her hair and lets it fall to her waist.
According to the Seattle Times, Jacob takes his shirt off thirteen times total in the movies; out of which, three times were in the rain, and not happening at all in the first movie.
Shot to the Heart: Variant: Edward injects vampire venom directly into Bella's heart in an attempt to save her life after a difficult childbirth.
Bella compares her love affair with Edward to Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet. New Moon parallels the latter when Bella and Edward almost commit Tag Team Suicide due to a communication error. Even funnier when considered that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of falling in love too fast, which is exactly what Bella and Edward did! On the more squicky end, one couple is Claire and Quil. Claire is two, Quil is Jacob's age.
Depending on whether Twilight or Full Metal Panic came out first, the Japanese title of the first book (The Boy I Like Is Kinda a Vampire) can be a Shout Out to the title of the first episode of Full Metal Panic (The Guy I Like Is Kinda a Sergeant)
The fact that the Cullen family likes to drive fast could be a Shout Out to the line "the dead travel fast" from Bram Stoker's Dracula. (Which was itself a quote from a famous German poem.)
One could also argue this for Edward and Bella, he is fascinated by even the most mundane things about her and she gushes about how gorgeous he is every time he enters her field of vision and once even swoons over how good his breath smells.
Stag Party: Subverted; the Cullens' idea of a bachelor party is hunting grizzly bears and mountain lions. When Bella asks Edward if there will be strippers, Emmett can be heard yelling "Bo-ring!"
Stalking Is Love: Edward. Following Bella to keep her safe. Sneaking into her room to watch her sleep. Even before he was involved with her. And he gets her in the end, too.
Stuffed into the Fridge: James attempted this trope, video taping him torturing and killing Bella to make Edward seek revenge and start a "game" with him. Lucky for Bella, Edward was fast enough to avert it.
The Stoic: Sam Uley. Forced to deal with his lycanthropy on his own, he cultivated a kind of zen calm to cope, and help the others who came later.
All the vampires, literally. Word Of God is that they are forever frozen at the same level of emotional maturity they were at when they were turned. Hence why Edward manages to become an Emo Teen while being over a hundred years old.
Bella does not change or grow as a person at all throughout the course of the story.
Suck Out the Poison: In Twilight, vampires have no body fluids except for venom, which is used to change people into vampires via biting. When James bites Bella at the climax of the first novel, Edward has to suck out the poison to prevent it from spreading. A very heroic thing, except that A) this technique rarely works in the real world (due to the circulation system almost instantly carrying the poison away from the wound) and B) Edward himself has venom in his mouth. By all rights, Bella should have been a vampire by the end of the first book.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: When the vampires have fed off of non-human blood. When thirsty, they go black, and if they've had human recently, they turn red.
Supporting Protagonist: While Bella is no doubt the protagonist of the series, Edward is The Hero and does all the heroic stuff up until the end of Breaking Dawn.
Surprise Creepy: The "battle" in Breaking Dawn: Part Two, both in- and out-universe. Admit it, you had a big "What the...?" moment when it broke out.
Sympathetic Murder Backstory: Edward Cullen confesses to murdering a whole bunch of people shortly after he was turned, and Bella narrates that it is perfectly reasonable.
Tag Team Suicide: Edward tries this in New Moon when he thinks Bella's dead.
Talking the Monster to Death: At the end of the last book of the series, a great battle pitting vampire against vampire is waived in favor of a lengthy discussion. Everyone goes home without a single punch thrown. This comes after reading through a lengthy training montage that *
if I recall, please clarify which and remove this
is said to take weeks if not months of book time.
Team Mom: Esme, to the vampires; Emily, to the wolves.
Tell, Don't Show: Stephanie Meyers's Modus Operandi. She strongly dislikes the word "said" and almost always provides at the very least an adverb for the verb she decides to use, rather than letting the dialogue speak for itself. She is also a big fan of saying how people feel, which can be jarring, since the books are told from a first-person perspective and (with the exception of Midnight Sun) do not have a narrator who can read minds. At the very least, Bella's supposed to have been socially withdrawn before the story begins, and as a result doesn't sound like somebody who'd be skilled at reading other people.
Theme Naming: Many of the Quileutes have Old Testament Biblical names. (Jacob, Leah, Seth, Samuel, Paul...) Four of them (Jacob, Seth, Emily, and Paul) were named after Meyer's siblings. It can also be attributed to the Mormon belief that many if not all Native Americans are descendants of a Hebrew tribe known as the Lamanites.
Those Two Guys: Bella's human friends, as well as the members of the pack (who aren't Jacob, Sam, Leah, or Seth) fill this role. Quil and Embry fill it especially well.
The Three Faces of Eve: Bella's Naïve Everygirl is contrasted with Esme (wife), who warmly welcomes Bella into her home and later restores a cottage on the Cullen estate for Bella and Edward, Rosalie (seductress), who is jealous of Edward's affection for Bella because she the one who has always been desired by men, and Alice (child), who values Bella's safety above all and cares for her like a sister.
Traumatic C-Section: The scene wherein Edward rips Bella's unborn child out from her body with his teeth. Probably not intended to be as worrying as it is. Though considering that when they tried to do it the normal way, the scalpel broke.
Trans Equals Gay: In Eclipse, the Quilleute shapeshifters' discomfort with opposite genders sharing sexual memories through their telepathy is characterized as gender confusion.
Trend Covers: Practically every other YA novel getting released/re-released since Twilight has a "one symbolic object on dark background" cover. Though Newer Than They Think since this sort of symbolism has popped up in many genres such as mystery due to the pretty basic symbolism/eye catching picture it provides.
Troubled, but Cute: Edward Cullen, described as a fatalist by the author and self loathing by the actor that plays him. Not to mention that he spents half of the time calling himself a soulless monster.
Twist Ending: In Breaking Dawn Part 2, an epic battle takes place with lots of casualties among the Volturi and the Cullens and their witnesses... until it is revealed that the entire battle was Alice's vision shared with Aro. Seeing that he is fated to be destroyed at the end, Aro calls off the fight and the Volturi retreat.
Two-Person Pool Party: The Honeymoon, but in ocean instead of a pool. Good thing it's a private island!
U - Z
Uncanny Valley: Averted in-universe. Lampshaded when a new vampire gets instructions about how to behave human. ("Cross your legs, blink three times a minute, lift your shoulders so it looks like you are breathing.")
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The Cullens attempt to be this to throw off suspicion, though its debatable how effective they are at this. Despite being Genre Blind to their true nature, the rest of the school have noticed that both pairs of adopted siblings are romantically involved, that they always buy lunch but never eat any of it, and that they are absent on sunny days.
Bella is supposed to have low self-esteem about her looks, but the events of the series suggest that she's gorgeous. There are also plenty of probably unintentional examples - for example, Bella becomes convinced that her friend Jessica is using her for popularity and doesn't actually like her, on the basis of absolutely no evidence.
In Bree's novella, the protagonist sees Edward as a good-looking red-headed guy, rather than the marble-perfect tousled, bronze-haired Adonis of Bella's descriptions, suggesting that Bella's viewpoint might be skewed.
Vampire Bites Suck: Extremely painful venom and one of the few things that can actually leave a mark on vampire skin.
Vampires Are Rich: The Cullens own their own island. James, Laurent or Victoria were not rich, however. The nomads vampires in general are not wealthy, just vampires who establish big covens and are old enough to accumulate money.
Vampire Were Wolf Love Triangle: The center of books 2, 3 and 4, though it is mostly defused by the fact that no one ever really doubts that Bella is going to wind up with Edward. (See Red String of Fate)
Vaporware: Midnight Sun, due to the leakage of the rough draft, is to be classified as such until further notice.
Vegetarian Vampire: The Cullen clan of vampires, who hunt, kill and drink the blood of animals for sustenance, call themselves "vegetarians". They make a point to say they are careful not to impact the environment. Considering how fast they move on foot and the excess of money they have, they can travel pretty much wherever is needed in order to be responsible vampires. An easier way of not impacting the enviroment would have been to just go to any butcher shop and outright buy a few litres of pig's blood.
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Bella seems to think that the Cullens refraining from eating humans makes them some of the greatest people who ever lived, even if they actively look down on humans all the time. And have a distinct laissez-faire policy toward bad things happening around them unless it's something that could inconvenience them in some way.
We All Live in America: When Bella is in Italy and narrates the celebration of "Saint Marcus' Day", it sounds very much like Saint Patrick's Day with red instead of green.
Wham Episode: Carlisle's death at the hands of Aro, followed by the deaths of Jasper, Seth, Leah, and every single named member of the Volturi during the ensuing battle, in the film version of Breaking Dawn. Ultimately subverted when it's revealed that this was all Alice's vision shared with Aro to show him how things would play out if the Volturi were to actually provoke said fight and none of it really happened.
What a Piece of Junk: Charlie bought Billy Black's truck for Bella when she decided to move to Forks to live with him. It was a gift to show his appreciation for her moving in. Bella was hesitant to like it at first, worried that it would cost too much money to keep up and that it might be in bad condition, but as soon as she saw it, she knew it was perfect for her. It's a faded red/orange Vintage Chevy pickup, a 1953 Chevy Pick-up truck in the book and a 1963 Chevy Step Side C-10 pickup in the movie.
In New Moon she brings a Honda XL 250 to Jacob telling him that she saved it from the junk yard. He calls it scrap metal. She's knows that it'll take more to fix up than it's worth but it's something for them to do together.
What Measure Is A Human?: Bella doesn't seem to care about fact that Edward and some other Cullens killed some humans in their past. She finds it "only natural" for Edward to go through this phase. She also doesn't care as long as her guests in Breaking Dawn go out of town to find and kill their food.
The Cullens seem to have it the same way: despite their own moral reasons for abstaining from a human diet, they don't really care if humans die by being eaten by vampires, as long as they're not the ones doing it.
On the other hand Bella's freaking out about the tragedy of all the lives being lost at the beginning of Eclipse, so figure that.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Carlisle's power is "compassion", Esme's power is love. But Rosalie's main power, according to Meyer, is beauty. The alternative suggested by Edward, tenacity, isn't much better.
Writers Cannot Do Math: Edward claims at one point that Renesmee gains a year and a half of development in around 1 month. This means she should be around 18 in only a year, not in 7 years like the story claims.
Although it was stated that her aging would gradually slow down as time progressed.
Edward also claims in Twilight that he was born in 1901 and that that was 107 years ago, but when you look it up in the timeline you find that the year in which Twilight took place was 2005, effectively putting Edward in his 104th year.
You Are Grounded: From the last chapter of New Moon to the first chapter of Eclipse.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Victoria had planned to do this with Riley in Eclipse under the guise of "being in love" with him, which Edward tried to warned Riley about.
You Need to Get Laid: Edward's broodiness and fatalism has been linked to the fact that he has never had sex in almost a century. Once he gets married and does the deed he certainly becomes less stressed. Also, Bella had a history of night terrors and talking in her sleep which ceased after her honeymoon.
Bella's skin is "translucent". Translucent means "Allowing light, but not detailed images, to pass through." Skin is slightly translucent, which is why, if a person sticks a flashlight in their mouth, their skin glows red. Why this is so noticeable and unique for Bella is never explained, considering it's a universal human thing.
Not once in the text does Bella/Stephenie use the words "reason" and "reasonable" correctly, as she seems to think the latter means "graceful"; what she means by the former is not known.
Meyer seems to think that "subjective", when applied to Alice's visions, means "can change easily".
Yandere Love Triangle: Edward would like nothing better than to kill off any romantic rivals, at least, if Bella didn't stop him. And Jacob (thanks to the whole wolf rage thing), if he got jealous enough, would likely kill Bella. Averted, though.
, which came out on June 5, 2010. A guide has been announced as well, planning to be released on April 12th (after being pushed back to another date multiple times).The film version of Twilight was released in the US in 2008, with The Twilight Saga: New Moon following in 2009, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in 2010, Breaking Dawn, Part 1 in 2011 and Breaking Dawn, Part 2 in 2012. There were also rumors of an anime, but they proved to be false. Manga-style illustrations of the Japanese edition still exist. A graphic novel
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