Isabella "Bella" Marie Cullen (née Swan) is the protagonist character of the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer.

Jacob Black, a member of the Quileute tribe who is also a shape-shifter taking a werewolf form, comforts the distraught and severely depressed Bella.

On their honeymoon, she becomes pregnant after having sex with Edward, and, due to the peculiar nature of her baby, Bella nearly dies giving birth to their daughter, Renesmee.

The premise for both Bella and the Twilight series originated in a dream Stephenie Meyer had in which an "average girl" and a "fantastically beautiful, sparkly... vampire... were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods."

In this dream, the pair "were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that... they were falling in love with each other while... the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her.

[2] Meyer has said that there are similarities between Bella and the title character of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, a novel which she has cited as an influence on the Twilight series.

[3] Bella, who first appears in Twilight, is a 17-year-old human girl who moves from her mother's home in Phoenix, Arizona, to live with her father, Charlie Swan, a police chief, in her birthplace of Forks, Washington.

Desperate to hear his voice again, Bella continually seeks out danger and convinces her friend Jacob Black to repair two old motorcycles and teach her how to ride them.

Alice and Bella follow Edward to Italy, barely in time prevent him from showing himself in daylight to humans, an act that would result in his execution.

Victoria, seeking to avenge the death of her lover James, hunts Bella while building a new vampire army to wipe out the Cullen coven.

The Cullens gather vampire witnesses to verify Renesmee's mortality, only to realize later the Volturi always intended to destroy their coven and recruit Alice for her foresight ability.

Edward and Bella stand with the other Cullens and their allies to convince the Volturi that Renesmee is not an immortal child or poses a threat to their existence.

Bella is shown to possess uncanny intelligence and is able to put pieces together in her mind, figuring out with only a little help from Jacob Black that the Cullens are vampires.

Bella also shows her courage, selflessness, and intelligence multiple times by outwitting Alice and Jasper and deciding to go alone to meet the vampire James in an attempt to save her mother.

This depth of compassion and sharp intuition seen by Edward is not as apparent in the original Twilight story, due to Bella's own perspective of herself being from a place of lower self-esteem.

There are several references to Bella's hair having a red tinge to it which is only very visible in the sunlight; in overcast and dimly lit conditions, it appears browner.

As for distinguishing features, Bella has a small crescent-shaped scar on her hand where she was bitten by James, a tracker vampire, in Twilight.

The scar is described as being pale, always a few degrees colder than the rest of her body, and it shines like a vampire's skin when exposed to the sunlight.

After Bella is changed into a vampire by Edward, she becomes extremely beautiful with even paler skin, straight waist-length hair, and crimson red eyes that eventually turn gold after months of drinking animal blood.

Her love for the Cullen family is deep and devoted, as well as that for her husband, Edward, her daughter, Renesmee, her parents, Charlie and Renée, and her friend, Jacob Black.

Bella refused to condemn her unborn child Renesmee and fully intended to give her own life in order to sustain her daughter should it have come to it.

Ironically, she demonstrates good acting ability in Twilight when she makes her father believe that she has dumped Edward and is leaving Forks.

Bella is also shown in Breaking Dawn, to have a good mood climate, and is able to run away from the smell of human blood when she goes on her first hunting trip as a vampire.

Bella has a sarcastic sense of humor, and is able to engage often in banter and verbal sparring with Edward, Jacob, Emmett, Quil or Embry especially when she is angered or frustrated at their behaviour.

Bella can surprisingly be very brave, despite being human and therefore arguably one the most physically fragile characters in the series, she is able to block painful thoughts and memories (hence her special vampire ability), and tends to come face-to-face with life-threatening danger head-on, even though she can get scared later.

[11] Stewart wears contact lenses in the films in order to achieve a chocolate brown eye color as described in the books.

[13] Lilah Lohr of the Chicago Tribune compares Bella's character to the story of the Quileute wolves and describes it as "less satisfying.

"[14] During Twilight, Kirkus Reviews stated that "Bella's appeal is based on magic rather than character", but that her and Edward's "portrayal of dangerous lovers hits the spot".

"[18] The Washington Post journalist Elizabeth Hand noted how Bella was often described as breakable and that "Edward's habit of constantly pulling her onto his lap or having her ride on his back further emphasize her childlike qualities", continuing to write that "the overall effect is a weird infantilization that has repellent overtones to an adult reader and hardly seems like an admirable model to foist upon our daughters (or sons).

"[19] Gina Dalfonzo, in an article posted on the National Review website, calls Bella "self-deprecating" before her transformation into a vampire, and afterwards she is "insufferably vain".