OMFG I'm a happy bitch!
So I wrote this gigantic essay on Edward/Bella, and well ,I won't ramble, I wanted to post it to my private journal so that I could link to it for E/B fans' pleasure.
Enjoy, and read all my little notes which are bolded and in italics. Please don't be put off my it's length, I think it's pretty good. There is more I could add but then it would be a book, not an essay.
EDIT- I had one part out of order, it's all fixed now.
So this is a manifesto. Kind of . It’s more along the lines of me venting my feelings on Edward/Bella and all that concerns them in a somewhat organized manner using canon evidence. Is that a manifesto? =] I’m going to tackle the whole “forbidden fruit” deal along with Jacob/Bella [I’m using points that are made by actual fans], and the reasons why there is no one else out there that will fit perfectly with Edward and Bella as they do with each other.
FIRST SIGHT | INTRODUCTION
Edward. Bella. Two very ordinary names. Edward and Bella. Magic. The Twilight series has been around since 2005. And since that year it’s fan base has been growing so fast, when a new fan is thrown into its world, they always bring another few with them, who in turn bring more. It’s a cycle. But why is it so popular?
When asked what the book is about, people will most likely say “A human girl that falls in love with a vampire.” or a variation that is not far off from it. Edward and Bella’s relationship is the reason behind all of the buzz. Sure, there are other things that make up the fandom, “points of reason” as Edward may call them. There’s a whole cornucopia of characters, relationships, and events that have a substantial amount of fans. But it’s Edward and Bella’s love story that made everyone want to read the books. They are the two that are always mentioned, the series revolves around Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. There’s no denying it.
FORBIDDEN FRUIT | THE CORE
I think a good place to start would be the things that make Edward and Bella the way they are. The very first, and most likely, the most important of the first things that happened between Edward and Bella is the first time they had Biology class together. Right away Edward Cullen alone attracted your attention, the same questions that flew through Bella’s mind flew through ours. As readers however, if we’d read the back cover prior to reading the novel, we already know that Edward is a vampire and that he lusts for Bella’s blood. But we don’t know how strong that hunger is until that very moment. The hostility radiating from Edward is not towards Bella personally. He later explains that he saw her that first day as if she was his own personal hell, there to destroy everything he’d worked so hard to acquire.
The fact that Edward wants Bella’s blood, but can’t have it for just one little taste would drive him over the edge to kill her is the very heart and soul of the first novel. The “forbidden fruit” tagline is often used in regards to the first book. I know that is what attracted me personally and a majority of the fandom to the books in general. I’m injecting a little idea of mine here, but only because people have mentioned things relating to this before and I feel as if it would make sense to address it here. The first book of the trilogy is known to be the favorite. There are many who like New Moon or Eclipse best, but Twilight is known to be the favorite of the general public because it is where it all began and people have mentioned before that it all dates back to the blood lust, the feeling that any moment Bella’s life could end and Edward’s would continue on in agony.
Edward overcomes his desire. There are reasons as to why he does so, but one is more dominant. Edward begins to want Bella Swan. He likes the blush that comes to her cheeks, he’s actually interested in what she has to say. He doesn’t understand her reactions at times and very desperately wants her to explain them. The blood is something that will satisfy him for a while, but Bella is something that will make happy as long as she is around. This, above protecting his family, above staying in hiding, takes priority. Keeping Bella alive. And so the real love story begins to unfurl.
THE LEFTOVER | JACOB BLACK
Quick little note by me, I am not a Jake fan. However, I am not anti-Jake and I do my best to be unbiased when talking about Jake. His character is pleasant, and I’m somewhat grateful for his presence in New Moon. But I see no reason for him to be with Bella, in fact I dislike his relationship with Bella and find it, sorry to offend any fans but I specifically wrote this as a pro E/B type thing, I find Jacob/Bella to be quite stupid. You can’t compare it to her relationship with Edward ESPECIALLY in the romantic sense. I find that all the points that are pro Jacob can be easily contradicted. So I’m sorry if I may get a little mean, I’ll do my best to control myself, you have been warned.
Bella calls Jacob Black the “left over character” of her fairy tale. The prince and princess are Edward and Bella…so where does that leave Jake? He’s not the villain, no. Where does he fit in? The problem is, Jake doesn’t fit into Bella’s world. Bella has joined Edward’s world of vampires where Jacob Black does not fit in. Let me start with some of the most popular pro-Jacob points. Some are taken word for word, others are paraphrased because they were stated mid-sentence.
Directly from sortofbeauitful live journal, which is a pro Jacob/Bella community. These are points that kept coming up, which the foundation of Jacob/Bella is built upon.
Bella does not have to give up anything to be with Jacob. She can have a life, an education, children, grow old, mature
She gives up Edward. That is a huge something to give up for Jacob. She can have a life with Edward as well, Bella has stated that all she needs is him. She can have an education with Edward as well, Edward has been through medical school twice and he’s encouraging Bella to go to collage. So yeah, that falls through. She can’t have children with Edward, this is very true. In fact, Bella places herself in a state of mind in Eclipse where she can see what it would be like if she chose Jacob. She saw the kids running, playing. So what was her choice in the end? Edward Cullen. That shows that above all, she wants him more than anything Jacob has to offer her. Edward’s love for Bella, in Bella’s mind, is something more than anything Jake has to offer. How do the E/B fans know? Because she picks him time and time again. She doesn’t hesitate when it comes to Edward. I’ll stop here and move on…
Edward is constantly saving Bella, they are not equal.
I chose this point for a specific reason. Why? Because it’s not completely true. This statement implies that Bella is always in need of saving, and it’s usually Edward who is doing it. I’m sure of this because the person who said it also said that Edward and Bella are not equals and Jake and Bella are. This really bothers me, I’m sorry if I’m over analyzing this, but it seems to me J/B fans like to point out that Edward is controlling and has the upper hand in the relationship. Basically, they’re saying that Edward wears the pants in the relationship. The way I see it, Bella is the one that wears the pants. Edward specifically states, and I’m quoting him from New Moon “I’m here until she orders me away.” One word from Bella is all it will take. Edward will remain in love with her, but if she chooses otherwise in regards to him, he will step aside and let her live on without him. Edward is unselfish in this sense and a lot more mature than Jacob, may I please bring back the eleventh hour of Eclipse when he told Bella he would let himself get killed during the fight so that she would kiss him. Or when he got upset that Edward didn’t make a fuss over Bella kissing Jake. Edward lets Bella make her own choices. He saves her in Twilight and she saves him in New Moon. In Eclipse, Bella is powerless to what is going on. In that case it is Edward, Jacob, and both werewolves and vampires who save her because she is human and fighting vampires period, let alone ones like Victoria are not within her list of skills. There’s not much more to it.
Jacob/Bella are real.
In this case I’m going to work off of something Stephenie Meyer said on her site. This is in regards to Bella falling in love with Jake.
Does this love devaluate her love for Edward? Not for me. For me, it makes that perfect true love stronger. Bella has another option. She has a really good one. An option that’s easier in many ways, that takes nothing-like her family, present or future-away from her. She would have love, and friendship, and family-an enviable human future. But she chooses Edward over all of this. This makes it real for me.
I like Steph Meyer. She’s a cool lady. I happen to agree with this statement that she made. Excuse me, I’m about to drop my formal language and basically speak my mind for a second. Jake and Bella are all chill and easy and gradual love and all that jazz. Good stuff right? Sure, it is, when it stands alone. If the novel was written just about Jake and Bella and their pretty pretty gradual love, it would be nice and real. But it doesn’t compare or add up to anything when put next to Edward/Bella. In the words of my science teacher “kid, you got no shot.” The fact that Bella chooses Edward above Jacob and all she can have with Jacob makes their love so real, so true, so deep, so unbreakable. Nothing else matters. And I stand by this explanation given by the woman who wrote the books in the first place, and so do my fellow E/B shippers.
I’m going to end off here because I can go on and then everyone would get bored of reading =]. In conclusion, I raise my nose in the air to Jake and Bella because we have Edward and Bella and that is what the books focus upon. There are lots of discussions as to why Bella is better with Edward. The thing is, Bella is better off with Jake, but she loves Edward more. She said it very bluntly in Eclipse:
Edward: You love him.
Bella: But I love you more.
So that’s that, I’m done.
DAZZLING FREQUENTLY | SWEPT OFF HER FEET IN LOVE, WHY E/B IS UNBREAKABLE.
Sorry for the long title, I couldn’t explain the next few paragraphs in just a few words. There is canon evidence, which I will state, that backs up the notion that Bella and Edward’s love is unbreakable. It is not only the fact that Bella said her love for Edward is irrevocable (Twilight) or that Edward told her that her hold on him is unbreakable, that they are to be together forever (New Moon).
What made me think that Edward and Bella will be together as long as they both shall live, is the end of New Moon when Bella first sees Edward after their separation. I have New Moon sitting next to me, I shall quote the back which is the part I’m talking about
I knew we were both in mortal danger. Still, in that instant, I felt well. Whole. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, the blood pulsing hot and fast in my veins again. My lungs filled deep with the sweet scent that came off his skin, It was like there had never been any hole in my chest. I was perfect, not healed, but as if there had never been a wound in the first place.
Damn.
No, seriously, damn. In the one second that she sees Edward, feels him next to her, nothing else exists in that second. Bella says to Edward once they are back in Forks that she was never really able to breathe up until that point, so even if Jake was there, it was never enough. Bella said that Jake smoothed out the rough edges of the hole in her chest, but the second she sees Edward it’s as if the hole never existed. The kind of effect that E/B have on each other is immense, and the paragraph that I just quoted is only a small portion of evidence to support E/B.
Here is another, and I’m quoting from New Moon again, even though it has the least amount of E/B in it I think it really speaks volumes for the love between Edward and Bella. This one is during Bella’s epiphany at the end of New Moon.
I thought of that night in Port Angeles when I’d had my first delusion. I’d come up with two options. Insanity or wish fulfillment. I’d seen no third option. But what if…What if you sincerely believed something was true, but you were dead wrong? What if you were so stubbornly sure that you were right, that you wouldn’t even consider the truth? Would the truth be silenced or would it try to break through? Option three: Edward loved me. The bond forged between us was not one that could be broken by absence, distance, or time. And no matter how much more special or beautiful or brilliant or perfect than me he might be, he was as irreversibly altered as I was. As I would always belong to him, so would he always be mine.
It is impossible to counter such a statement. The odds piled up high against Edward and Bella. He was a vampire, she was human and a complete danger magnet. He was struggling between right and wrong, she was in love with someone else and hurting that person at the same time. But in the end the two of them find their way back to each other, and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if Jacob is the easy way, it doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous, it doesn’t matter if the odds are against them. Bella loves Edward, he is the most important thing in her life, the center of her universe (as she’s stated), and the same goes for Edward (as he’s stated). They are real because they are love because nothing matters to them more than each other, they are the Edward and Bella.