The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (21 page)

Maria chose her newborns more carefully than was usual. She’d chosen Jasper first because of his rank—which meant he’d had success in a military system—and second because of that charismatic quality that had always drawn other humans to him. Jasper was naturally gifted as a warrior and a leader. His ability to control the emotional environment around him, although not yet fully developed, made Maria’s army more effective.

A bond formed between Jasper and Maria. She came to depend on him more and more and grew quite fond of him. For Jasper, Maria’s army was the only vampire life he had known, and he had no idea anything else was possible for him.

One of Jasper’s regular tasks was to execute members of the coven who had outlived their newborn strength and
developed no other skills that made them valuable to the army. Eventually he had help in this task from Peter, another former newborn who had proved himself worthy of being kept around. Jasper liked Peter for his oddly civilized nature. They became friends.

One night as he and Peter were carrying out the grim task of dispatching age-weakened newborns, Jasper could feel the unusually difficult emotional toll it was taking on his friend. When Jasper called out a newborn named Charlotte, Peter suddenly erupted in fear and fury. He yelled for Charlotte to run, then bolted after her. Jasper could easily have caught them, but he chose not to.

As the years passed, Jasper became depressed, tired of always being surrounded by the devastating emotions of those he killed. Maria was not pleased with this alteration. He began to notice a change in her emotions around him; sometimes she was fearful, sometimes malicious. He knew Maria was thinking about getting rid of him, and Jasper began planning how he would destroy her first.

At this critical moment, Peter came back to find Jasper. He told Jasper of an alternative he had never imagined: Peter and Charlotte had been living peacefully in the North for the last five years, meeting several other covens that coexisted amicably. Jasper left with Peter immediately.

He traveled with Peter and Charlotte for a few years, but even in the more peaceful North, his depression didn’t lift. Though he was killing only humans now, he was still subject to their emotions as they died.

Jasper’s misery stayed with him, and eventually he left Peter and Charlotte. He tried to kill less often, but the thirst always grew overwhelming.

When Alice held out her hand, he took it. And he felt an unfamiliar emotion: hope.

In 1948, Jasper encountered Alice. She approached Jasper as if they were close friends and told him he’d kept her
waiting a long time. Jasper was puzzled and wary, but Alice’s joyful emotions impacted him greatly. When Alice held out her hand, he took it. And he felt an unfamiliar emotion: hope.

Alice explained her vision of the Cullens, and she described the lifestyle of Carlisle and his family. Jasper found it all hard to believe, but he and Alice set off to find them. Once they did, Alice and Jasper were quickly welcomed into the family. Jasper started using the last name Hale because he and Rosalie looked related, and people assumed they were siblings. It made sense to go along with what humans already seemed inclined to believe. At Carlisle’s suggestion, Alice and Jasper were married shortly after joining the Cullens.

Jasper became fond of the members of his new family but never developed the deep bonds with them that Alice did. Jasper chose to live with the Cullens in order to stay with Alice, and because the “vegetarian” lifestyle, though exceptionally difficult for him, freed him from the negative emotions that had so depressed him.

Isabella “Bella” Swan was born in Forks, Washington. Her parents, Renée and Charlie, divorced when she was still a baby. Bella lived with her mother, growing up mainly in Riverside, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. Up until 2002, Bella visited her father in Forks for a month every summer. The climate in Forks was unpleasant to Bella, though, and when she was old enough, she insisted that Charlie meet her in California for a few weeks in the summer instead.

“It was a sweet, kind of tender moment. But there was this dark side to it because he was also admitting how much he had wanted to kill her from the first day he met her.”
—Stephenie

Bella didn’t fit in with her peers in California or Arizona. She had the feeling of being a little out of sync with everyone—even the person she was closest to, her mother. Renée was a very extroverted, impractical, and absentminded mother who liked to dabble in a multitude of hobbies; from necessity, Bella turned out quite the opposite. At an early age she took over most of the household responsibilities. When not being the adult, she preferred quiet pastimes like reading, in part because she was extraordinarily clumsy. Her naturally responsible nature carried over into her schoolwork, where Bella usually received A’s. Her plan for the future was to get a degree in education and teach, like her mother. Renée’s career was the one thing Bella truly respected about her mother. However, she intended to teach at the high school level.

“E
DWARD POINTED TO THE COUPLE IN THE MIRROR DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM US
…. T
HE NARROW SHEATH OF THE SHIMMERING WHITE DRESS FLARED OUT SUBTLY AT THE TRAIN ALMOST LIKE AN INVERTED CALLA LILY
,
CUT SO SKILLFULLY THAT HER BODY LOOKED ELEGANT AND GRACEFUL
….”

—Bella, on wearing her wedding dress (
Breaking Dawn
, Chapter 4)

When Renée fell in love with and married minor-league baseball player Phil Dwyer, Bella chose to move in with her father in Forks so Renée could go on the road with her new husband during baseball season. Bella arrived in Forks in January 2005 to finish high school in the town where she was born. On her first day at Forks High School, she met Edward Cullen.