The wedding is over. The honeymoon is fatal. And Bella refuses to die human.
Who drives the story
The stubborn human who marries Edward, refuses an abortion that could save her life, and survives transformation into a vampire whose shield power makes her the Cullens' ultimate protector.
The vampire groom who is horrified by his own strength on the honeymoon, delivers his daughter with his teeth, and venom-injects his dying wife's heart to save her.
The heartbroken werewolf who breaks Sam's alpha control to defend Bella, then imprints on her newborn daughter, ending his war with the Cullens in one involuntary glance.
Bella and Edward's half-vampire daughter, who grows from fetus to toddler in weeks and becomes the child the Volturi want destroyed.
The Volturi's mind-reading leader, who comes to destroy the Cullens, executes Irina to provoke a battle, and concedes when Nahuel's existence disproves his case.
The Denali vampire who misidentifies Renesmee as an immortal child and reports the Cullens, then is executed by the Volturi for her false testimony.
The seer who vanishes without explanation, leaves Bella a coded clue to the forger J. Jenks, and returns with Nahuel and Huilen to end the standoff.
Also in the story
The pack's alpha, whose decision to kill Bella and the fetus drives Jacob to break away and claim his own bloodline's leadership.
The only female wolf in Quileute history, who defects to Jacob's splinter pack and patrols the Cullen property against her own former packmates.
Leah's younger brother, the first to join Jacob's breakaway pack, loyal to Bella when his own pack wants her dead.
The 150-year-old vampire-human hybrid who arrives with his aunt Huilen as living proof that hybrids pose no threat, ending the Volturi's pretext for war.
Bella's father, kept from seeing his dying daughter, and the human whose ordinary love anchors the story's strangest events.
How they are connected
The stubborn human who marries Edward, refuses an abortion that could save her life, and survives transformation into a vampire whose shield power makes her the Cullens' ultimate protector.
The heartbroken werewolf who breaks Sam's alpha control to defend Bella, then imprints on her newborn daughter, ending his war with the Cullens in one involuntary glance.
The heartbroken werewolf who breaks Sam's alpha control to defend Bella, then imprints on her newborn daughter, ending his war with the Cullens in one involuntary glance.
Bella and Edward's half-vampire daughter, who grows from fetus to toddler in weeks and becomes the child the Volturi want destroyed.
Bella and Edward's half-vampire daughter, who grows from fetus to toddler in weeks and becomes the child the Volturi want destroyed.
The pack's alpha, whose decision to kill Bella and the fetus drives Jacob to break away and claim his own bloodline's leadership.
The only female wolf in Quileute history, who defects to Jacob's splinter pack and patrols the Cullen property against her own former packmates.
Leah's younger brother, the first to join Jacob's breakaway pack, loyal to Bella when his own pack wants her dead.
Leah's younger brother, the first to join Jacob's breakaway pack, loyal to Bella when his own pack wants her dead.
Seth ClearwaterLeah Clearwater
Leah's younger brother, the first to join Jacob's breakaway pack, loyal to Bella when his own pack wants her dead.
The Volturi's mind-reading leader, who comes to destroy the Cullens, executes Irina to provoke a battle, and concedes when Nahuel's existence disproves his case.
The Volturi's mind-reading leader, who comes to destroy the Cullens, executes Irina to provoke a battle, and concedes when Nahuel's existence disproves his case.
Go deeper
Consent and the body · Family you choose · Power hidden in plain sight · Law versus love
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
Open the summary