Edward Cullen
Edward Cullen was born Edward Anthony Masen Cullen on June 20, 1901, to Elizabeth Masen and Edward Masen Sr. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in an old-fashioned family life style. Edward wanted to enlist in the army during World War One while he was growing up. That changed, however, when he and his parents became sick from the Spanish Influenza in 1918.
His father, Edward Masen Sr., died in the first wave of the influenza. Before she died, Edward’s mother, Elizabeth, begged the doctor who was taking care of them, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, to do everything within his power to save her son. Carlisle acted on her wishes when Edward was near death himself. He took Edward to his home and changed him.
Edward had a rebellious period at the beginning of his vampire life and used his mind reading ability to attack the worst people of society. He later regretted this decision and returned to Carlisle’s way of life in which animals’ blood, not humans’, is their source of sustenance.
Later on, more vampires were created to save them from near death expiriences. Esme became Edward’s adoptive mother. Rosalie was Edwards’ mate, but was nothing more than a sibling. Then came Emmett, Edwards’ brother. Alice and Jasper came later, already vampires, due to a vision Alice had.
Edward, the only member of his family without a mate, never felt a connection to anyone in that way, although in his human life he’d expected that he would marry young, as was the norm. However, that changed when he met Isabella “Bella” Swan and fell in love with her. At first, he was afraid that he would succumb to his true nature and threaten to expose his family by attacking Bella, who forced him to take rash actions to avoid this.
Edward is noted to be extremely attractive, like all other vampires in the series. Bella has often described his appearance as similar to the mythical Greek god Adonis. His skin is hard as marble, very pale, and ice cold as described by Bella when she touches his hand, and it sparkles in the sunlight. His facial features are described as perfect and angular – high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a straight nose and full lips. His hair, which is always messy, retains the unusual bronze shade that he inherited from his human life from his biological mother, Elizabeth Masen. His eyes, once green, are now described as topaz. His appearance changes if he goes long without feeding: his eyes darken, becoming pitch black, and purple bruise-like shadows appear beneath his eyes. Edward stands at 6′2″, and has a slender but muscular body, and is physically still 17 years old.
Edward is described in the book as being charming, polite, determined, and very stubborn. He easily dazzles human females and persuades them to do his bidding. He always puts Bella’s safety, humanity and welfare before anything else, and goes to great lengths to protect her from what he sees as danger. He often over-analyzes situations and has a tendency to overreact. He retains some of the traditional mindset and outdated speech from his human life in the early 20th century.Edward puts his free time to great use. The hours when humans sleep but vampires don’t are spent reading books and studying languages and music, and is a virtuoso on the piano. Edward enjoys listening to a wide range of music, including classical, jazz, progressive metal, alternative rock, punk rock, but he dislikes country. He prefers indie rock to mainstream, and appreciates rock and classical music equally. He surprises Bella in an early car ride by having Debussy in his CD player. Edward and his family all enjoy driving fast. A hobby of Edward’s is collecting cars. He owns a Volvo S60R and an Aston Martin Vanquish as a “special occasion” car. He also gave his sister Alice a Porsche 911 Turbo as a gift in Eclipse. He bought a motorcycle to ride alongside Bella, but gave it to Jasper after realizing that riding is something that Bella does with Jacob. He is described as a gentleman by Esme in the books.
Edward possesses superhuman beauty, strength, speed, endurance, agility and durability. Edward is the fastest member of the Cullen family. He and Jasper are the best fighters in their coven, though they are not physically the strongest. His scent and voice are enormously seductive, so much so that he occasionally sends Bella into a pliant daze entirely by accident. Edward explains that like other vampires, he does not need to breathe, though he chooses to do so out of habit and because it is helpful to smell his environment. He cannot digest regular food,and compares its attractiveness for him to the prospect of eating dirt for a regular person.Edward is not able to sleep. Edward also possesses the ability to read people’s thoughts as they think them.However he cannot read Bella’s thoughts as she is a “shield”.