The Twilight Saga: Eclipse saw Bella asking Jacob to kiss her even though she was already engaged to Edward – so why did she do it?
Bella Swan made some questionable decisions throughout The Twilight Saga, among those kissing her best friend, Jacob, in the third book and movie in the series, Eclipse, but why did she do that? Vampires and werewolves are some of the most popular and beloved in creatures entertainment, and as such, they have been adapted to all types of media for years, but none can compare to what Stephenie Meyer did in her Twilight series. The core of the novels is the problematic relationship between mortal Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, who come across different obstacles and menaces, among those a coven of vampires known as the Volturi and a pack of werewolves, including Jacob Black.
The success of the Twilight novels made it possible for them to jump to the big screen, further expanding this universe’s fanbase but also highlighting the biggest problems in the series. The Twilight Saga was released between 2008 and 2012 (the fourth novel, Breaking Dawn, was split into two movies), and introduced the audience to Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black. As already mentioned, the movie adaptations of the Twilight books, while quite loyal to the source material, made the series’ biggest flaws even more evident, and left many questions unanswered – such as why exactly did Bella kiss Jacob in Eclipse.
By the time the events of Eclipse began, Bella had already decided to stay with Edward, but her problems were far from over. In Eclipse, Bella had to deal with an army of newborns who were created by Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, originally Rachelle Lefevre) and Riley Biers (Xavier Samuel), with the purpose of destroying Bella and the Cullens in retaliation for the murder of James (Cam Gigandet) in Twilight. To ensure that she will be safe, Jacob and the pack of werewolves/shapeshifters joined the plan to protect Bella, more so after Jacob and Bella’s friendship blossomed in New Moon after Edward left Forks. Eclipse is also the book and movie where Jacob confesses his feelings to Bella, and in an awkward moment between them, Bella desperately asked him to kiss her, but her reasons for that are confusing and don’t make much sense.
Eclipse is also the story that saw Edward and Bella getting engaged, and while they, along with Jacob, camped up in the mountains to keep her far from the newborns, Jacob overheard the couple discussing their engagement, which angered him. In order to keep him close as he threatens to leave, Bella asked him to kiss her, and she realized she was in love with him – but not in the same way she loved Edward. Bella kissed him to make sure she doesn’t love him as anything more than a friend or brother, which some might see as she playing with Jacob’s feelings, but other fans have interpreted it the other way around. Some have pointed out that Jacob was actually manipulating Bella into kissing him, as early on in Eclipse, he kissed her without her consent, and he later made it clear that, as she doesn’t love him, he was going to sacrifice himself in the battle against the newborns, leaving her no choice than to kiss him again.
Stephenie Meyer has already explained that Bella’s biggest flaw is her “lack of self-knowledge”, which leads to many characters being hurt, mostly Jacob, but that’s just an excuse for an underdeveloped character who made questionable decisions. Bella kissing Jacob in Eclipse is another example of that, and only led to confuse the audience and question everything Bella had done as well as Jacob’s real intentions throughout the series.
