The Twilight Saga: Eclipse introduces Bree Tanner, a young, newborn vampire, but what was her life like before the events of the book/movie?
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse introduced the audience to Bree Tanner, a newborn vampire who got her own novella just days before the release of the movie, so what was her life like before the events of Eclipse? Back in 2005, Stephenie Meyer shared her vision of vampires and werewolves in Twilight, the first book in a series of four novels that chronicled the romance between vampire Edward Cullen and mortal Bella Swan. Over the course of the series, Bella and Edward came across different obstacles that went from a clan of vampires known as the Volturi to a pack of werewolves, among those Bella’s best friend, Jacob Black.
The Twilight novels were a big hit with readers and quickly built a solid fanbase, which allowed them to make the jump to the big screen not long after. The Twilight Saga was released between 2008 and 2012, with the fourth novel, Breaking Dawn, being split into two movies. The movies were as true to the books as possible, though with a couple of changes, but most of the characters made it to the big screen, among those Bree Tanner (played by Jodelle Ferland), a newborn vampire introduced in Eclipse and who was lucky enough to be given her own novella as a companion book to the Twilight series.
Titled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, the book tells Bree’s story from her point of view, as opposed to the Twilight books which are told from Bella’s perspective. In Eclipse, Bree is already a vampire, though a very young one, and is recruited by Riley Biers to join Victoria’s army of newborns, but it doesn’t reveal any details about her “first” life nor the beginnings of her “second” one before she got involved with the army, and that was left to the novella and other media. First off, Bree was born in 1990 and lived with her abusive father. She believed that her mother had left them when she was four, but in reality, her father killed her and buried her in the desert. After years of abuse, Bree became quiet and isolated herself from everyone, and she ran away from her home shortly before her 16th birthday.
Bree took a bus ride to Seattle, as that was the only trip she could afford, and life got even tougher after that. As she couldn’t find a job, she began to steal in order to eat and had to sleep in parks and alleys. One day, Riley found her looking for food in the trash bins behind a restaurant and offered her a burger, but he took her to a dark alley where Victoria attacked her and turned her into a vampire. She had a hard time adapting to this new life and especially to her coven, who were a bunch of violent newborns, one of which ripped her arm off, but she got it back before it could be burned. She became close to another newborn named Kevin, with whom she discovered that vampires sparkle under the sunlight. This discovery got Kevin killed, and Bree ended up trapped in a dangerous coven whose only purpose was to kill Bella and the Cullens.
Although Carlisle and Esme offered her safety in exchange for her surrender, it wasn’t enough to save her. She was tortured by Jane and eventually killed by Felix, both members of the Volturi. Some of these details were changed in the movie, with Bree being turned into a vampire shortly after Bella’s graduation, joining the army to feel safe, and resisting Felix until the very end, whereas in the book she made no resistance. Bree’s life as a vampire was certainly short, and while she isn’t a big character in Eclipse nor the Twilight series in general, her story offers a better and more dramatic look at life as a young vampire.
