The epic conclusion of the Twilight Saga, titled Breaking Dawn, was split into two movies, as is the case with a lot of big franchises, despite being one large book. Breaking Dawn gives us the long-awaited marriage of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson), Bella’s pregnancy and subsequent birth of her and Edward’s daughter Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), and the subsequent tensions that arise between the Cullen’s and the Volturi because of it. And of course, Bella finally gets her wish of becoming a vampire after four installments of begging Edward to change her. But despite the benefit of having two movies to cover the book’s many events, there are still some very notable changes that were made from page to screen. Some are for the better, and some are for the worse, but they all culminate to create one incredible ending to the beloved Saga.
Edward Finally Tells Bella About His Past
Though we learn about how Edward became a vampire in New Moon, it isn’t until Breaking Dawn Part 1 that we learn more about his early years as an immortal. Despite being taught by Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) to control himself and adapt to a vegetarian lifestyle (aka, animals only) Edward tells Bella that he wanted to taste human blood. Due to his ability to read minds, he was able to track down people who had committed horrible crimes, he would then kill them, thus satisfying his craving for human blood.
In the books, this conversation actually takes place in Twilight, right before he takes her to meet his parents for the first time. But the movies change this to the first part of Breaking Dawn, having it take place the night before the wedding. It does feel like an odd time to do it, but it is a big piece of Edward’s history, so at least we got to see it on screen at last.
Bella Plans to Go to College
For most, the natural step after high school is to attend college and seek a higher education. Book Bella actually went along with this, it was the one part of her human life she actually did want to experience. In Eclipse we learn that she was accepted to the University of Alaska, and in Breaking Dawn she decides to stay human for a year, so she can attend Dartmouth. However, Bella’s college plans aren’t mentioned in the movie version, and if she had it her way Edward would have changed her the very first night of their honeymoon. It’s understandable that this part was cut as it is relatively minor in the grand scheme of the Saga, but it is nice to see Bella express interest in some human experiences in the books.
Alice and Jacob Are Friends… Kinda
Alice (Ashley Greene) has one of the strongest powers of the Cullen’s — an ability to see the future. However, her power has some limitations. She can’t see any beings that she hasn’t experienced, meaning she can’t see shape-shifters or half-vampires, and can only see humans and vampires. This puts a bit of a limit on her gift at times, but actually gives us an unlikely friendship in the books. Since Alice can’t see Renesmee due to her being half-human and half-vampire, being around Bella constantly gives her quite the headache. But for some reason this headache is canceled out when she’s with Jacob (Taylor Lautner), causing her to stick by him whenever he’s around to relieve herself. This isn’t shown in the movie — likely due to the explosive finale in part 2 that requires her vision to see all beings, but we’ll get to that — but it is an interesting addition to the books. In fact, any time the Cullens interact with Jacob usually makes for a humorous time due to the contempt from both sides.
The Wolves versus The Cullen’s
After seeing the state Bella is in during her pregnancy, Jacob and the pack vow to kill the baby if Bella dies. When Bella does seemingly die during childbirth, Jacob signals to his pack that she’s gone, which sends the pack into fight mode. A fight ensues between the Cullen’s and the wolves, until Jacob interrupts with the news of his imprinting, which immediately makes the pack back off. In the books though, there is no fight, only a plan to fight if the need comes. The books tend to be less action-heavy, allowing the movies to fill in the blanks and give us fight scenes where they feel natural, and this was a time when it definitely worked. Tensions were brewing all movie, it was bound to come to a head at some point.
Jacob’s Imprinting Is Still Weird
Speaking of Jacob’s imprinting, it’s somehow creepier in the book. In the book, when he imprints on Renesmee, Jacob describes this as though everything in his life including his love for Bella, his family, and his loya
lty to the pack, all fades away and is replaced by his love and loyalty to Renesmee. Who, may I just remind you, is not even an hour old at this point? Yikes! But the movie is surprisingly tame in portraying Jacob’s imprinting compared to the book, and actually takes it down a couple notches — thankfully. After Bella seemingly dies, Jacob sets out to kill creepy CGI-baby Renesmee himself, only to suddenly imprint on her the second he sees her, thus abandoning the whole murder of a baby plan. We see a vision of an older Renesmee (who, to reiterate, is CGI and creepy) as Jacob gives a hearty speech about protecting her.
Bella Has an Audience When She Transforms
Going into Breaking Dawn Part 2 fans were eager to meet vampire Bella after that memorable final shot of her red eyes popping open just before the screen faded to black. In the movie, when she wakes up after her transformation is complete, Edward is the only one in the room with her, having been anticipating her awakening. But in the book, when Bella wakes up, Edward is there holding her hand, only he’s not alone. He’s accompanied by every single Cullen aside from Rosalie (Nikki Reed), giving her a warm welcome into immortality.
Renesmee’s Growth Rate is Accelerated
As previously mentioned, a lot of scenes with Renesmee are CGI due to her excessive growth rate. The result is just downright creepy, but I suppose there wasn’t much else that could be done to portray this. Still, it should be noted that Renesmee’s growth rate is far more accelerated in the movie than in the book. In the movie, she grows to be the size of an average child. But by the end of the book she’s only grown to be the size of a toddler. This was likely changed because of how pivotal a part Renesmee is in Breaking Dawn Part 2, what with showing everyone her visions and whatnot. It would’ve been a lot harder to make this work with a toddler. Plus, you know, it would have been creepy — and there’s enough of that to go around already.
The Big Battle
The biggest change the movie made from the book (and arguably the best) was the big battle seen toward the end of the movie. To this day fans of the Saga recall their shock and horror at seeing Carlisle beheaded by Aro (Michael Sheen) during the tense battle, and it’s this major death that is the catalyst of a bigger fight. The fight claims the lives of some major characters, such as Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), Jane (Dakota Fanning), Seth (Boo Boo Stewart), and Aro. It’s thankfully revealed to be a vision of Alice’s, meant to show Aro what will happen if he doesn’t call off his plans.
The entire confrontation at the end of the movie plays out completely differently in the book, in fact, it’s rather peaceful, all things considered. Everyone is prepared for a fight, with Renesmee already on wolf-Jacob’s back prepared to flee if need be. But Alice and Jasper arrive just in time to defuse the tension with their witnesses. There’s no vision of a deadly (albeit, badass) battle mentioned, instead, Aro backs off after noting the disadvantage he has due to Bella’s shield.
Aro Has a Bodyguard
In Alice’s vision of the big battle, Aro dies at the hands of Bella and Edward. It’s a shocking yet satisfying moment, even if it is revealed to just be a “what if?” scenario. However, in the books, Aro has a bodyguard, Renata. A powerful vampire with the gift of a shield, that she uses to repel opponents. She acts as Aro’s personal bodyguard, and protects him from harm. In the movie though, Renata is never mentioned nor seen, making Aro vulnerable to Bella and Edward’s attack in the vision due to his lack of protection.
Alice’s Visions Are Limited
As mentioned, in the books it is explained that Alice’s visions can only see beings that she has experienced, giving her a blind post when it comes to shape-shifters like Jacob, and half-vampires like Renesmee. The movies do keep with this for the most part, but in Breaking Dawn she shows Aro her vision, which clearly shows Renesmee, Jacob, and the rest of the pack. Also, at the end of the movie, she sees the future for Jacob and Renesmee. So either her powers grew stronger, and she’s now able to see more, or this is just a part of the movie that we’ll have to turn a blind eye to. After all, Twilight has never been a serious franchise, a little suspension of disbelief over Alice’s visions is no big deal.
