Breaking Dawn

Breaking Dawn (2008) by Stephenie Meyer is the fourth and final novel of the best-selling Twilight book series. It is a young adult fantasy romance novel following the life of Bella Swan, a teenager who falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. The three prior novels explore Bella’s attempts to assimilate into the secret vampire world with Edward and his family, as well as the love triangle with her best friend, Jacob Black, whom she discovers is a werewolf. After Bella gives birth to a half-vampire, half-human child, Edward’s and Jacob’s families must work together to face the impending threat of the Volturi, an ancient, ruling tribunal of vampires that take it upon themselves to govern their species and ensure their secrecy and protection. Breaking Dawn explores themes of Love and Sacrifice, Family and Friendship, and Overcoming Prejudice and Ignorance.

After the success of the first three novels, Breaking Down was wildly popular upon its release. For its initial release, thousands of bookstores across the country held midnight-release parties. Of its 3.7 million-copy first printing, over 1.3 million were sold in the first 24 hours. The novel also won the Children’s Book of the Year award at the 2009 British Book Awards. The novels were adapted into a successful five-film series, which grossed over $3.3 billion at the box office.

This guide references the first hardcover edition of the novel published by Little, Brown and Company in 2008.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of sexual content and death.

Plot Summary

Bella Swan, a human, prepares for her wedding to Edward Cullen, a vampire. She’s struck a bargain with her fiancée that she will marry him if he agrees to turn her into a vampire after the wedding so that they remain the same age throughout their immortal lives together. Her family and friends—including Seth Clearwater, a member of the Quileute tribe who are shapeshifting wolves and sworn enemies of vampires—gather to celebrate her marriage. Her best friend, Jacob Black, who is also a werewolf, shows up briefly at the wedding despite his anger at Bella’s decision to become a vampire. After Bella tells him that she plans to consummate her marriage to Edward while still human, he becomes enraged at the danger it poses to her, causing a confrontation at the wedding and then fleeing into the forest.

Over the last year, Bella has struggled to balance her relationship with Edward and her friendship with Jacob. Edward’s family of vampires and Jacob’s wolf pack have been feuding for centuries, striking a truce only because the Cullens have vowed to live in their own territory without feeding on humans. Bella choosing Edward over Jacob jeopardizes their friendship and endangers the fragile truce between the two species since Edward turning Bella into a vampire, willing or not, risks violating the original terms of the truce.

After their wedding, Bella and Edward go on their honeymoon and have sex for the first time, and Bella becomes pregnant. Her pregnancy—the first of its kind between a human and a vampire—is extremely accelerated and she’s already showing in her stomach and experiencing extreme hunger and morning sickness by the end of their honeymoon. Bella and Edward quickly return to Edward’s house to receive guidance from Edward’s father, Carlisle, who is a doctor.

Over the next several weeks, Bella struggles with her pregnancy. The baby grows at an alarming rate, its superhuman strength causing her pain and frequent injury as it moves inside of her. Carlisle struggles to monitor the child as the womb is stronger than in traditional human pregnancies and resistant to ultrasounds and needles. They discover that drinking blood helps Bella and the baby, convincing them that the child is at least partially a vampire.

Meanwhile, Jacob fights against his own pack to protect Bella. The pack’s leader, Sam, insists that the child is a danger to everyone and that they need to kill both Bella and the baby to eliminate the threat. However, Jacob and his two friends, siblings Seth and Leah, break away from the original pack to start their own and begin patrolling the Cullen house, protecting them from a potential attack from the other wolves. In the process, Jacob mends the rift in his friendship with Bella, staying by her side and helping when he can throughout her pregnancy.

As Bella gives birth, she sustains fatal injuries that require Edward to turn her into a vampire to save her life—an eventuality they’ve both planned for and agreed to as a solution. After several tense moments of uncertainty, the baby, Renesmee, is born healthy and Bella survives her transformation into a vampire. When Jacob sees Renesmee, he imprints on her—an instinctual and natural bond that clicks instantly into place for werewolves when they meet their soulmate. Although the connection between Jacob and Renesmee is not romantic at this stage, he feels an overwhelming need to protect her. Because of Jacob’s imprinting, Sam’s pack feels compelled to protect Renesmee and the Cullens, putting an end to their centuries-old feud.

Bella grows accustomed to her new vampire body and heightened senses. Instead of being overwhelmed by her thirst for blood as most newborns are, she has an unnatural ability to resist her base instincts, allowing her to be around half-human like Renesmee and even humans like her father, Charlie, without harming them. The Cullens marvel at Bella’s unique self-control.

The happiness of Renesmee’s birth is broken when Edward’s sister, Alice, has a psychic vision that the Volturi have heard that the Cullens are harboring a vampire child, which is forbidden among their kind. They’re planning an imminent visit to the Cullens to decide their punishment for breaking vampire law. Alice and her partner, Jasper, flee the Cullen home, desperate to find more information to protect their family before the Volturi arrive.

Over the next several weeks, Bella, the Cullens, and Jacob’s pack devise a plan. They decide to find as many vampires as they can, bringing them from around the world to their town of Forks to bear witness to Renesmee’s humanity. Although they have little hope of stopping the Volturi from coming, they hope that they can make them pause long enough to see Renesmee for what she truly is. If they fail, the gathered vampires are also prepared to fight the Volturi by their side.

Bella continues to hone her new abilities as a vampire. She learns that she can create a protective shield around those near her, projecting her own shield to block any mental attacks from the Volturi. Additionally, the gathered vampires create a plan of attack to battle the Volturi if negotiations fail.

On New Year’s Eve, the Volturi arrive. They bring over 40 witnesses, who arrive furious at the news of Renesmee’s existence. They march toward the Cullens, prepared to fight, until Jacob and the other wolves emerge from the forest. The fact that the Volturi fighters are outnumbered gives them brief pause, allowing Carlisle to step forward and speak with them.

Carlisle explains to Aro, Caius, and Marcus, the Volturi leaders, that they have broken no laws. He brings Edward forward, allowing Aro to read his thoughts and see for himself that Renesmee is half-human. Aro is briefly placated, informing the gathered group that no laws have been broken. However, Caius continues to push the issue, insisting that Renesmee’s future is uncertain and could pose a threat to the vampires’ secrecy. Ultimately, Aro decides to leave it to a vote, with the Volturi leaders turning to discuss things among themselves.

Bella and the others realize that a fight is inevitable. She prepares Renesmee and Jacob to flee the scene, insisting that they need to get away to save themselves. The others wish each other goodbye. Bella projects her shield around the group and begins to feel the presence of mental attacks pushing against it from the Volturi.

When they reconvene, Caius announces that he is voting for an attack, while Marcus is voting against it—leaving Aro as the deciding vote. He explains that there is too much uncertainty surrounding Renesmee’s future, potentially endangering their existence. However, Edward interrupts him, telling the group that Alice has arrived with new information.

Alice comes into the field with two people she found in Rio de Janeiro— Huilen and Nahuel. Huilen explains that she is a vampire who was turned by her nephew, Nahuel, after he was born. Nahuel’s mother is human, while his father is a vampire who has impregnated a handful of human women. As a result, Nahuel and several of his siblings are part-human, part-vampire, just like Renesmee. He has lived for over 150 years, having stopped aging at age 15.

The existence of Nahuel placates Aro concerns about Renesmee’s future. He acknowledges she will likely be able to control her urges and live among the vampires just as Nahuel does, so there is no need for her death. Aro and the Volturi take their leave.

The next day, the gathered vampires disperse. Edward insists that Bella’s shielding gifts stopped the Volturi, forcing them to realize that they were outnumbered and that her shield was impenetrable, making it questionable whether they would win in a fight.

Bella shows Edward what she has been practicing: her ability to remove her mental shield from around herself. Doing so allows Edward to read her mind for the first time in their relationship. They feel hope that they can now live happily together with Renesmee for the first time.