Whether you are a parent who wants to know what the Twilight series of books and movies are all about or just a new fan who wants to catch up before the latest movie release occurs, you can use this guide to learn about the characters, plot and more.
Be warned that there may be spoilers ahead.
The Twilight Series
The Twilight series consists of four books, (plus a short spin-off novella that isn’t always counted) written for young adults. The main characters of the novels are Bella (Isabella Swan), Edward (Cullen) and Jacob (Black).
The setting is Forks, Washington, and the novels are basically told from Bella’s point of view, although there are exceptions in which Jacob tells his story.
Edward is a vampire and Jacob is a werewolf, natural enemies.
The Books/Movies in the saga are: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn is the new movie coming out in the fall, so I haven’t covered it here.
Twilight
Bella moves from sunny Arizona to live with her Dad in Forks. She meets and is drawn to a mysterious boy named Edward and eventually learns that he is a “vegetarian” vampire who drinks animal blood instead of human blood. Edward is equally fascinated with Bella because she is the one person for whom his gift of mind reading does not work.
The two fall in love. A “bad” vampire, James, is attracted to Bella’s scent and tried to kill her. The Cullen family comes to her rescue and James is killed.
New Moon
Edward realizes that he is endangering Bella’s life so he moves away with his family. Bella misses Edward and becomes depressed. She grows closer to Jacob and finds out that he can change into a wolf. Victoria, another vampire, is seeking revenge against Bella for the death of James.
Edward falsely believes that Bella is dead and seeks out the powerful vampire group, the Volturi in Italy to beg for death. Bella and Edward’s sister Alice stops him, but they must all promise the Volturi that Bella will be changed into a vampire in the future.
Eclipse
Victoria creates an army of newborn vampires in order to destroy Bella and the Cullens. Jacob and his wolf pack team up with the vampires to fight the army. Bella ultimately chooses Edward over Jacob and agrees to marry him.