I remember telling myself that I would finally stop ranting about Twilight. For a while, I have ceased talking about it, although I have entertained hateful thoughts about it from time to time. Also after finally reading all four books and the spinoff novella in PDF and the first three movies, I have also decided that the Twilight series is not worth the attention it is getting. When it comes to the hatedom, however, I believe that it is necessary to promote understanding as to why Twilight is what I and countless others like me think it is.
Perhaps what contributed to my recent silence toward the series is that I have been busy writing a couple of pieces of fan fiction set seven years after the series finale, with my favorite character, Leah Clearwater in the lead. Time and again, I have expressed through my stories my own interpretation of the characters particularly those I dislike, like Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Sam Uley. Hell, I have even criticized otherwise likeable Dr. Carlisle Cullen, blaming him along with Bella for any unnecessary and pointless conflict in the series and their tragic outcomes. I am referring in particular to the death of poor Bree Tanner, who was executed by the Volturi just for being involved; she hasn’t done anything, not even stepping foot into the actual battlefield. I am also talking about the dozens of innocent people who were either turned into vampires and then killed or killed by these vampires as their meal.
Anybody who has read Twilight or the movie adaptations tend to blame Victoria for the unnecessary tragedy. But I blame Bella nonetheless. If she hadn’t been there on that fateful baseball game, James wouldn’t have run after her; Edward wouldn’t have killed him, driving Victoria on a vengeful rampage. I would even say that Victoria was a brave woman to have gone through the trouble of risking tipping off the Volturi just to kill one puny human with unnecessary protection, but that’s for another essay.
What concerns me now is an entirely different matter. Last year, I wrote a blog entry bemoaning the lack of appropriate conclusion for Leah Clearwater. I wrote a piece of fan fiction to appease my grief over the injustice of it all. Then, to see if the happy ending does not falter, I wrote a sequel set eight years after the ending of the first one; I suggest you read it here before you continue reading.
The plot concluded the way I wanted and the way it would naturally flow according to the circumstances. So far, I’ve only had two reviews. One is pleased with the ending, and another is not. The latter said: “Was a asome plot and story up till the last chapter. I hated it not that Im a bella and Edward lover but It really was off of character that stephine meyers made them to be. yeah Edward is real pain when it comes to protecting his family but I don't think he would be that way. Like Said great story up to last chapter.”
If you have read the story, you would see that I somehow made all characters as close to the canon as possible. But as a fan fiction writer, I believe it is also my duty to incorporate some of my interpretation into the story and into the characters. If you would check the author’s profile page, I made it clear that I am not a fan of Twilight, and I don’t share the fans’views about it. However, my general opinion of the books is mostly irrelevant here; the matter on hand is the character of Edward Cullen.
Edward has always struck me as an arrogant, devious and intrusive stalker who resorts to deceit and emotional manipulation to get what he wants. I think that, even in his few moments of genuine affection, he gets carried away by his own emotions because of his stunted maturity. He has no reason to love Bella, much less a reason to hate Jacob or his wolf-brothers (and sister). And even if I believe he does, Edward doesn’t give me a reason to care. The primary reason I don’t care for anything he thinks or says or does is because I blame him and Bella (and to a lesser extent, Carlisle Cullen) for anything that ever happens in the series; in fact, I root for Victoria for wanting to kill the little bone-bag and going through the trouble of making a newborn army just to kill someone who doesn’t deserve my sympathy.
If a heartbroken vampire is an unstoppable destructive force, isn’t Victoria only acting upon her own instinct and emotion suitable to that of a true vampire? And James, he wouldn’t have died if Bella wasn’t even in the secret baseball field with the damn Cullen family!
Okay, let’s think of it this way: if Bella did die, wouldn’t Edward be pissed and go on a quest to kill Victoria? If he is the protagonist, you would have rooted for him, right? Well, the same thing happened to Victoria; why would you still root for Edward and not her? What is it about Bella that she is so important?—that she is his “true love”? WHY is she his true love? That’s what I don’t understand! And I don’t need anybody to tell me to understand anymore. I’ve read all four books and the pointless spinoff novella. I’ve seen the three movies, and I am willing to see the next two. The series is ending, and nothing is there that could show me why I should care that Edward and Bella should be together.
In fact, I don’t think they deserve a happy ending. Leah Clearwater does because her life sucks, and she doesn’t deserve to feel hurt. Feel free to read my blog entry here to see why.
Now, as I have stated, Edward is a selfish, overbearing jerk with no contribution to society and therefore does not deserve to exist. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. There are many other characters—well-written characters of any given alignment—that have little or no contribution to their society. And that’s barely even the problem; my issue with Edward is that he doesn’t have a reason for me to care about him. His fangirls might try, but so far, anything important or ‘good’ I’ve heard about him are the shallow stuff: that he’s affectionate, “protective” and “devoted” to the point of being annoying but it’s okay because he’s hot and his heart is in the right place so he practically can do no wrong.
Except that he does get carried away by his passionate and fiery temperance and even those who love him (fellow characters or real-world fangirls) admit that he does make silly decisions or thoughts. So now we get to my final point: why would he then not act the way he did in the climax of “Wolf People II”? Based on his fans’ interpretation on him, how else would he have handled the fear that the only other supernatural beings closely allied to his family is keeping a secret that one of them is married to what they all consider a true monster? Why would the fans “not think he would be that way”? Under the given conflict and circumstances, what would he have done based on the intended character structure Stephenie Meyer intended him to be?
Okay, maybe dragging a man by his hair to his wife’s feet was a tad cruel coming from Edward Cullen. But think about this: openly insulting the second closest man to his significant other’s heart is not that much of a stretch. If he can repeatedly call Jacob Black with derogatory terms instead of his proper name, how much crueler can Edward Cullen possibly be to someone he has identified as an enemy? For goodness sake, he tore off a heartbroken woman’s head because he killed her mate! He didn’t bother to see Leah’s point of view when she berated Bella and made her cry; he was arrogant enough to claim he knows what Bella is feeling but Leah’s mind is an open book to him, and he doesn’t understand why she’s angry with Bella for breaking Jacob’s heart. If Leah wasn’t remotely important to Jacob, Edward might have killed her if you ask me. So what’s to stop him from wanting to kill Nanuq?
What else could he have reasonably done? Come on, my Twilighter friends. Enlighten me.
Perhaps what contributed to my recent silence toward the series is that I have been busy writing a couple of pieces of fan fiction set seven years after the series finale, with my favorite character, Leah Clearwater in the lead. Time and again, I have expressed through my stories my own interpretation of the characters particularly those I dislike, like Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Sam Uley. Hell, I have even criticized otherwise likeable Dr. Carlisle Cullen, blaming him along with Bella for any unnecessary and pointless conflict in the series and their tragic outcomes. I am referring in particular to the death of poor Bree Tanner, who was executed by the Volturi just for being involved; she hasn’t done anything, not even stepping foot into the actual battlefield. I am also talking about the dozens of innocent people who were either turned into vampires and then killed or killed by these vampires as their meal.
Anybody who has read Twilight or the movie adaptations tend to blame Victoria for the unnecessary tragedy. But I blame Bella nonetheless. If she hadn’t been there on that fateful baseball game, James wouldn’t have run after her; Edward wouldn’t have killed him, driving Victoria on a vengeful rampage. I would even say that Victoria was a brave woman to have gone through the trouble of risking tipping off the Volturi just to kill one puny human with unnecessary protection, but that’s for another essay.
What concerns me now is an entirely different matter. Last year, I wrote a blog entry bemoaning the lack of appropriate conclusion for Leah Clearwater. I wrote a piece of fan fiction to appease my grief over the injustice of it all. Then, to see if the happy ending does not falter, I wrote a sequel set eight years after the ending of the first one; I suggest you read it here before you continue reading.
The plot concluded the way I wanted and the way it would naturally flow according to the circumstances. So far, I’ve only had two reviews. One is pleased with the ending, and another is not. The latter said: “Was a asome plot and story up till the last chapter. I hated it not that Im a bella and Edward lover but It really was off of character that stephine meyers made them to be. yeah Edward is real pain when it comes to protecting his family but I don't think he would be that way. Like Said great story up to last chapter.”
If you have read the story, you would see that I somehow made all characters as close to the canon as possible. But as a fan fiction writer, I believe it is also my duty to incorporate some of my interpretation into the story and into the characters. If you would check the author’s profile page, I made it clear that I am not a fan of Twilight, and I don’t share the fans’views about it. However, my general opinion of the books is mostly irrelevant here; the matter on hand is the character of Edward Cullen.
Edward has always struck me as an arrogant, devious and intrusive stalker who resorts to deceit and emotional manipulation to get what he wants. I think that, even in his few moments of genuine affection, he gets carried away by his own emotions because of his stunted maturity. He has no reason to love Bella, much less a reason to hate Jacob or his wolf-brothers (and sister). And even if I believe he does, Edward doesn’t give me a reason to care. The primary reason I don’t care for anything he thinks or says or does is because I blame him and Bella (and to a lesser extent, Carlisle Cullen) for anything that ever happens in the series; in fact, I root for Victoria for wanting to kill the little bone-bag and going through the trouble of making a newborn army just to kill someone who doesn’t deserve my sympathy.
If a heartbroken vampire is an unstoppable destructive force, isn’t Victoria only acting upon her own instinct and emotion suitable to that of a true vampire? And James, he wouldn’t have died if Bella wasn’t even in the secret baseball field with the damn Cullen family!
Okay, let’s think of it this way: if Bella did die, wouldn’t Edward be pissed and go on a quest to kill Victoria? If he is the protagonist, you would have rooted for him, right? Well, the same thing happened to Victoria; why would you still root for Edward and not her? What is it about Bella that she is so important?—that she is his “true love”? WHY is she his true love? That’s what I don’t understand! And I don’t need anybody to tell me to understand anymore. I’ve read all four books and the pointless spinoff novella. I’ve seen the three movies, and I am willing to see the next two. The series is ending, and nothing is there that could show me why I should care that Edward and Bella should be together.
In fact, I don’t think they deserve a happy ending. Leah Clearwater does because her life sucks, and she doesn’t deserve to feel hurt. Feel free to read my blog entry here to see why.
Now, as I have stated, Edward is a selfish, overbearing jerk with no contribution to society and therefore does not deserve to exist. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. There are many other characters—well-written characters of any given alignment—that have little or no contribution to their society. And that’s barely even the problem; my issue with Edward is that he doesn’t have a reason for me to care about him. His fangirls might try, but so far, anything important or ‘good’ I’ve heard about him are the shallow stuff: that he’s affectionate, “protective” and “devoted” to the point of being annoying but it’s okay because he’s hot and his heart is in the right place so he practically can do no wrong.
Except that he does get carried away by his passionate and fiery temperance and even those who love him (fellow characters or real-world fangirls) admit that he does make silly decisions or thoughts. So now we get to my final point: why would he then not act the way he did in the climax of “Wolf People II”? Based on his fans’ interpretation on him, how else would he have handled the fear that the only other supernatural beings closely allied to his family is keeping a secret that one of them is married to what they all consider a true monster? Why would the fans “not think he would be that way”? Under the given conflict and circumstances, what would he have done based on the intended character structure Stephenie Meyer intended him to be?
Okay, maybe dragging a man by his hair to his wife’s feet was a tad cruel coming from Edward Cullen. But think about this: openly insulting the second closest man to his significant other’s heart is not that much of a stretch. If he can repeatedly call Jacob Black with derogatory terms instead of his proper name, how much crueler can Edward Cullen possibly be to someone he has identified as an enemy? For goodness sake, he tore off a heartbroken woman’s head because he killed her mate! He didn’t bother to see Leah’s point of view when she berated Bella and made her cry; he was arrogant enough to claim he knows what Bella is feeling but Leah’s mind is an open book to him, and he doesn’t understand why she’s angry with Bella for breaking Jacob’s heart. If Leah wasn’t remotely important to Jacob, Edward might have killed her if you ask me. So what’s to stop him from wanting to kill Nanuq?
What else could he have reasonably done? Come on, my Twilighter friends. Enlighten me.
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