The Twightlight Saga: Your Soul for Immortality

(Originally printed in the Spring 2010 MCOI Journal)

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer has sold over 85-million copies in 50 countries.¹http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ Movies have come out based on the first two books, Twilight and New Moon, and movies are due to come out on the last two books of the series, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Eager fans have stood in line to get the first copies of each succeeding book and have excitedly queued up for the movies. A line of merchandise has been spawned as well: jewelry, totes, clothing, wall calendars, perfume, and even bedding. This phenomenon should not be ignored by the Christian who wants to understand the diet our culture feeds on – and craves.

The books depict the romance between a teenager (Bella, age 17) and a vampire* (Edward) whom she meets at school. The obstacles and dangers in the romance, along with Bella’s deepening bond with Edward’s vampire clan, are the focal points of the story. A secondary plot involving Bella’s friend Jacob, a Native American who is genetically a werewolf** (though called a “shape-shifter”*** in the last book), ties into the romance and, ultimately, is resolved though rather bizarrely. Bella’s long­ing to become a vampire leads to explosive drama in the fourth book based on the fulfillment of that desire.

Stephenie Meyer’s Dream

What was author Stephenie Meyer’s inspiration for this tale of a human-vampire romance? Meyer, an observant Mormon, had a dream in 2003.²Lev Grossman, “Stephenie Mey­er: A New J K Rowling?”Time Magazine, April 24, 2008 In the dream, she saw a young girl talking to a sparkling vampire in a meadow; they were in love, and he was explaining to the young girl how hard it was not to kill her.³Lev Grossman, “Stephenie Mey­er: A New J K Rowling?” Time Magazine, April 24, 2008 This dream was the impetus for the books, and Meyer quickly wrote the first book Twilight. She later followed it up with the three sequels. There was another dream to come, a terrifying dream, which will be discussed later in this article.

Erotic Abstinence, Blood Romance

One of the earliest praises of the Twilight books was that Bella and Edward do not have intimate relations. While it is true that they refrain, the reasons are not moral. Rather, Edward, as a vampire (which Bella discovers in the first book), is afraid that in his passion he will actually kill Bella. Although Bella often tries to persuade him to cross the line, Edward, more aware than Bella of his vampire strength and what it can do, resists.

The romance that is the linchpin of these books is some­what tainted by the fact that the reason Edward is attracted to Bella is the smell of her blood. This plays a significant role in the first book. Bella meets and gets to know Edward’s clan, who are called his “family” in the books. This group has sworn to drink only animal, not human, blood; nevertheless, they are still attracted to human blood and must control themselves when they are around people. In fact, Edward is so fiercely drawn to the smell of Bella’s blood that he continually struggles with the urge to attack her. He even says to her, “You only have to risk your life every second you spend with me.”⁴Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 305 As time goes by, his control is better but not total. In a harrowing scene at the end of the first book, when Bella has been attacked by a “bad” vam­pire, she lies badly injured and bleeding on the floor. Edward and some of his clan get there just in time to save her, but Edward and his “sister” Alice have to hold their breath to keep from smelling Bella’s fragrant blood and attacking her. Two vampires in the clan, Emmet and Jasper, are unable to contain their bloodlust and leave the room. There is a similar scene in the second book, New Moon, where Bella has cut herself, and the smell of her blood is too much for the entire clan, save Carlisle, the “father” who is also a doctor (he has mastered his appetite for human blood).

Despite the abstinence, the books are fraught with sexual innuendo and an undercurrent of physical passion steaming just below the surface. After Bella discovers that the pallid Edward has been watching her at night in her room, she allows him to get in bed with her. Although nothing untoward happens, Bella hides this from her father. Is this the kind of behavior parents would hold up as a model for their children? Yet, mothers have read these books with their daughters and seen the movies with them.

Eclipse, the third book, offers one rather racy scene. Ed­ward, in bed with Bella as usual, reaches down Bella’s leg and then, as Bella recounts it, he “pulled my leg up suddenly, hitch­ing it around his hip.”⁵Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 186. After kissing, Edward:

“rolled till he hovered over me. … I could feel the cool marble of his body press against mine,” and then, “Cold as ice, his tongue light­ly traced the shape of my lips.”⁶Stephenie Meyer, <em>Eclipse</em> (NY:
Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 187.

In the same book, Edward, Jacob (a werewolf/shape-shifter who loves Bella), and Bella are in a tent, and the weather is frig­id. Edward, being a cold creature, cannot keep Bella warm; so it falls to Jacob, who relishes getting under the covers with Bella and holding her all night. Edward, who is able to read Jacob’s impure thoughts, becomes sullen and angry; and Jacob taunts him with suggestive remarks and double-entendres. Later, there is a near-bodice ripper scene when Jacob imposes himself on Bella in the tent in Edward’s absence. Jacob kisses Bella “with an eagerness that was not far from violence.”⁷Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 526 The scene is non-graphic, but it is quite erotic and continues with Bella giving in and responding fervently to Jacob’s advances.

After three books of passionate abstinence and innuendo, in the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, Edward and Bella marry. In spite of Edward’s fears, they give in to the desire for marital relations. This leaves Bella horribly bruised all over her body, but alive. Eventually, after Bella becomes a vampire, Bella and Edward, who do not need sleep since they are vampires, have what is implied to be non-stop intimate relations. There is noth­ing wrong with this per se; but given that the books are touted as being squeaky-clean, it seems the adulation is misleading at best and dishonest at worst.

Better Than Human …

The unending descriptions of Edward’s physical magnifi­cence are a noticeable theme in the first three books. Edward, being a vampire, is actually dead. He has no heartbeat and does not eat or sleep; he only drinks (animal) blood. Since he is actu­ally a walking corpse, he is quite cold to the touch. This does not bother Bella. In fact, Bella’s family and her human friends pale in comparison to the pale divine Edward, who has “unbear­able beauty” even to “an excruciating degree.”⁸Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 289, 227 Edward is de­scribed in terms reserved for the ancient gods or for angels: “Ed­ward as he hunted, terrible and glorious as a young god;” Edward has an “angel’s face,” a “gentle angel’s smile,” and “exquisite face;” Edward is the “beautiful one, the godlike one.”⁹Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 343, 262, 341, 340, 459, 357 Bella cannot imagine how “an angel could be any more glorious,” and she finds herself so captivated by him that she cannot move: “His golden eyes mesmerized me.”¹⁰Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 241, 263 A reader could choke on the saccharine near-worship of Edward.

Edward does not disintegrate or burn in the sun; he sparkles. “His skin, despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface” and Bella notes his “sculpted, in­candescent chest” and “scintillating arms.”¹¹Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 260 The breathless description of Edward as an angel or a god, and having a beauty almost beyond bearing, even possessing a “seraphic face,”¹²Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 283 as well as his sometimes glistening body, makes it nigh impossible not to think of “an angel of light.” ¹³“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14

In an interview with MovieFone, Meyer recounted a subse­quent dream of Edward which frightened her:

I had this dream that Edward actually showed up and told me that I got it all wrong and like he exists and everything but he couldn’t live off animals… and I kind of got the sense he was going to kill me. It was really terrifying and bizarrely different from every other time I’ve thought about his character.¹⁴Julie, “Stephenie Meyer Reveals Details of New Dream About Edward Cullen,” March 29, 2009, http://www.twilight­gear.net/twilight-news-and-gossip/stephenie-meyer-reveals-details-of-new-dream-about-edward-cullen/2493

Could Edward possibly be an unbidden spirit guide for Meyer? She first saw him in a dream, and then sees him again in this dream where he actually threatens her. It is impossible to know, but it is not totally unlikely.

According to Meyer’s lore, every vampire has a special gift, usually supernatural. Edward can hear other’s thoughts; his sis­ter Alice can see possible futures; Jasper can influence moods; Aro, the head of the Volturi (a sort of vampire ruling elite) can gather people’s memories and thoughts by touching them; Jane, a member of the Volturi, can cause people to feel burning pain. The list goes on—especially in the last book, when more vam­pires enter the story.

Throughout the first three books, Bella longs to become a vampire. She wants to leave her humanity and family and enter Edward’s world, which will give her immortality. This entails losing one’s soul as well. Edward speaks of this possible change as “bartering your soul in exchange for an eternity as a vam­pire.”¹⁵Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 541 Bella thinks of losing her soul as “almost insignificant” in light of her fear Edward might not want her.¹⁶Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 528

Being human is considered inferior. Once Bella becomes a vampire in the fourth book, her memories as a human seem vague and indistinct. She exults in her ability to move so quickly that it is a blur to human eyes, that she is powerful and strong, that she never tires, and that she can detect multi-layers of odors no human can smell.

“I was never going to get tired … We didn’t have to catch our breath or rest or eat or even use the bathroom; we had no more mundane human needs.”¹⁷Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 482-483

There is an almost-Gnostic downgrading of the human body and mind in favor of the vampires’, who are described as godlike, brilliant, angelic, and are immortal. One cannot ignore Meyer’s Mormon roots and faith in these passages, since Mor­mons believe everyone on earth was once in heaven as a spirit child begotten by Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, and good Mormons one day will be gods ruling their own worlds.

Moreover, Mormon marriages “sealed” in a Mormon Tem­ple are supposed to last forever. One reason Bella wants to be a vampire is because she wants to be with Edward forever; since Edward will not do this without a marriage, the future for them is to be together in an eternal marriage as vampires.

… Yet Slave To Instinct

Despite the vampires’ godlike qualities, looks, and talents prominently featured in the story, the vampires are also very animal-like. Edward and his clan often “hiss” and “snarl.” They curl their lips and show their teeth when angry; they crouch, ready to spring, if they sense danger. Edward and his clan only drink the blood of animals but know they can become unre­strained if they give in to their desire for human blood. Alice, a member of Edward’s clan, explains to Bella that:

“We’re also like sharks in a way. Once we taste the blood, or even smell it for that matter, it becomes very hard to keep from feeding. … to actually bite someone, to taste the blood, it would begin the frenzy.”¹⁸Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 414

Bella is told that “newborns,” that is people, who are newly made vampires, are unable to control their urge to attack people for at least a year or two. This does not sway Bella, who contem­plates what it will be like once she is a new vampire. She real­izes members of Edward’s clan have been betting on how many people she will kill. Jasper, one of the clan, is hoping Bella will be more unruly, since he is the newest vampire and has difficulty controlling his thirst for human blood. Playfully, Bella states “I guess I could throw in a few extra homicides, if it makes Jasper happy. Why not?”¹⁹Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 343 Then she imagines the possible fu­ture newspaper headlines proclaiming the list of names of her victims.

Edward candidly reveals to Bella that when the vampires hunt:

“we give ourselves over to our senses … govern less with our minds. Especially our sense of smell. If you were anywhere near me when I lost control that way …”²⁰Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 225

In an­other scene, Edward growls:

“a low sound in the back of his shifted suddenly, half-crouched, tensed like a lion about to pounce.”²¹Ste­phenie Meyer, Twilight, (NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 345

So while vampires are portrayed as superior to humans in every way—faster, vastly stronger, smarter, sharper senses, breathtakingly beautiful, possessing supernatural powers, and immortal—they still devolve to this animal-like state when in­stinct takes over. This reveals Meyer’s vampires’ inability to breach the distinction between God and man, because despite the vampire’s godlike powers, he is not free from the bondage to his thirst for blood.

This portrayal is also an attack on the biblical truth that a person is made in the image of God;²²“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,” Genesis 1:27 because although vam­pires are not considered human in the books, they actually are dead humans changed into vampires. They still look human and have human qualities such as intelligence, will, a sense of right and wrong, and philosophical questions about the afterlife (vam­pires can be destroyed) – all traits that reflect the character of God. To give them bestial instincts they are unable to master and to describe them in animal terms disdains the distinction that God made between man and beast.

From The Glorious To The Grisly

Edward’s clan—his “family” as the books call it—are all equally beautiful and swift, and blessed, of course, with various vampiric gifts. Once Bella is part of this, she experiences the joy of superseding the limitations of being human, and enters a new world that seems thrillingly blissful. However, there are grue­some scenes that range from disgusting to utterly repulsive.

In the first three books, Edward and his clan hunt animals in the woods, but it is not described. However, in the final book, after Bella becomes a vampire and hunts with Edward, we read about her kill of a mountain lion: “My teeth unerringly sought his throat, and his instinctive resistance was pitifully feeble against my strength.”²³Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 422 Biting into the animal was “effortless as biting into butter.”²⁴Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 422

The account continues:

“The flavor was wrong, but the blood was hot and wet and it soothed the ragged, itching thirst as I drank in an eager rush. The cat’s struggles grew more and more feeble, and his screams choked off with a gurgle. The warmth of the blood radiated throughout my whole body, heating even my fingertips and toes.”²⁵Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 422-423

Shortly after this, Bella remarks it was a “surprisingly sen­sual experience to observe Edward hunting,” and she notes that with his lips parted “over his gleaming teeth,” as he is about to bring down a deer, Edward is “glorious.”²⁶Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 425 Later, they hunt with their young daughter, who is so advanced that she can join in. Somehow, the idea of a family pouncing on animals and tearing flesh with their teeth, then drinking and draining the ani­mal of blood does not make for a wholesome image.

After becoming a vampire, Bella is afraid to meet her father, Charlie, because she worries that she cannot stop herself from attacking him. She remarks, “Charlie smelled more delicious than anything I’d ever imagined. … And he was just a few feet away, leaking mouthwatering heat and moisture into the dry air.”²⁷Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 507 This is Bella’s father! But the same situation arose when Bella had her baby, Renesmee. Her daughter was taken away after birth and she could not see her, because those around Bella feared she would attack her own child. Indeed, Edward tells Bella the greatest pleasure for a vampire is to drink human blood.

The most grisly situation, however, is the labor and delivery of Bella’s baby. Bella became pregnant on her honeymoon while she was still human. Therefore, during her pregnancy, which progresses about nine times faster than a human pregnancy, the still-human Bella is carrying a half-human half-vampire child. Bella is not able to eat, and so the unborn baby is not getting nourishment. Consequently, Bella grows weaker while at the same time suffering great pain from the rapidly growing child who is breaking Bella’s ribs, one by one.

Edward figures out that the baby is craving blood—human blood. Fortunately, the clan has human blood available (it is not explained where they got the blood), and they give Bella cups of blood. At first, Bella is unsure about drinking it; but after the ini­tial tasting, she declares it tastes good. Bella continues to down cups of blood until their stock is used up, and Carlisle has to rush out to procure more human blood.

The description of Bella going into labor is horrific. There is a “ripping sound from the center of her body,” a “shriek of agony,” and then Bella convulses and vomits “a fountain of blood.”²⁸Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 347 Bella is so spent and damaged that the baby must be taken out, so Edward uses his teeth to rip into her flesh and gets the child out. Bella’s heart fails, and Edward plunges a sy­ringe full of his “venom” into her heart. This starts the process of changing Bella into a vampire. Edward continues forcing his venom into Bella by biting her all over her body. For three days, Bella experiences an agonizing burning through her body as she goes from human to vampire. The depiction of these events is grisly and repugnant, and odious particulars are not spared.

Jacob “imprints” on Bella and Edward’s baby girl. Were­wolves like Jacob find their mate through an instinctive “know­ing” of who their mate is via an obsession for this person, which is called “imprinting.” There is no choice. This resolves the Bella-Jacob-Edward triangle but in a rather creepy manner. That Jacob will one day mate with this baby, and in the meantime cares for her (it is hard for him to be apart from her, and he does take care of her in the last book), is somewhat morally repellent.

That this kind of tale featuring creatures with these sorts of distasteful habits and full of so many nauseating details has been so widely lauded is baffling; and the fact there has been little or no reference to or warning about the abhorrent aspects of the books is even more perplexing.

The Forbidden Fruit

The illustration on the first book is an apple, and Meyer acknowledged it represents the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.²⁹http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_faq.html#apple Meyer states it is appropriate, because Bella gains a “working knowl­edge of good and evil,” and the apple says “choice” to Meyer.³⁰http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_faq.html#apple It seems that to Meyer, the forbidden fruit is a good thing. Of course, in Mormon beliefs, the Fall into sin was a good thing, because it allowed man the ability to become a god in the future.

However, these books do not paint a clear line between good and evil. Bella consistently lies to her father and human friends; Edward and the vampires lie; Edward and Bella sleep together and though they refrain from complete intimacy, it is not platonic; vampires murder humans as a natural part of their nature; and Bel­la is willing to surrender her soul in order to become a vampire.

Although Edward and his clan do not hunt humans, when they host a large gathering of vampire friends in the last book, they accommodate those who do hunt humans (which is most of them). The vampires promise not to kill anyone within a 300-mile radius, and Edward, as “a gracious host,” lends them cars. Bella even remarks there is “rampant murder being condoned.”³¹Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn, (NY:Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 607

The forbidden fruit was forbidden by God. God told Adam he could eat fruit from any tree in the Garden, except from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.³²Genesis 2:17 Disobeying this com­mand was the Fall into sin and brought the curse of sin and death to all creation and to the descendants of Adam. It is because of this blight of sin that Jesus came and died on the cross, paying the penalty for those sins, so that those who believe in Him can be redeemed and have eternal life with God.

Therefore, it is at the very least taking God’s Word lightly to spin the idea of eating the forbidden fruit into something that could be good. But as it turns out, the forbidden fruit is an appropriate symbol for this saga, because that is what it offers: the glamorization of a morally muddy tale, full of the grisly and the grotesque.

*vampire=the reanimated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave at night and suck the blood of persons asleep. (Merriam-Webster online dictionary) [Note: Meyer’s vampires deviate somewhat from the traditional vampire.]

**werewolf=a person transformed into a wolf or capable of as­suming a wolf’s form. (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

***shape-shifter=one that seems able to change form or iden­tity at will; especially: a mythical figure that can assume differ­ent forms (as of animals). (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

 

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Before trusting Christ in late 1990, Marcia Montenegro was a professional astrologer and taught astrology for several years, as well as having been involved in Eastern and New Age practices. Through her ministry, Christian Answers for the New Age, Marcia speaks around the country and writes on New Age and occult topics.

Based in Arlington, VA, she is the author of Spell­Bound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today’s Kids, (Life Journey/Cook, 2006).