Warning, this post may contain book spoilers from all 4 Twilight Saga novels, as well as Midnight Sun, and official extras from Stephenie Meyer. There are also images from the New Moon movie.This is the last Tuesday before
New Moon officially opens, so I wanted to devote today's Twi-Theory to Edward. We discussed
Jacob at the beginning of this new EoA tradition, and I hope you'll read it again before going to the movie.
I was going to talk about what Edward was up to all those months he was gone. It is somewhat obvious, he does tell Bella that he spent the better part of the time trying to track Victoria in an effort to continue to protect Bella. He also references periods of time spent literally doing nothing, possibly Edward's version of those heartbreaking month-by-month pages.
His intentions in leaving were to protect Bella. Regardless of both of their feelings, he truly believed she was in constant mortal danger, as long as she was with him. And that is probably true. There is danger from Edward alone, and then the incident with James. I would imagine that Jasper's breakdown really drove it home though. These were people who cared about her, and there was trouble. He could read the minds of every single member of his family, and he watched them each struggle to be in the room with a bleeding Bella, except for Carlisle.
I do not believe that he ever intended to 'let go' of Bella himself. When he surfaced from his own initial despair, he channeled it into finding Victoria. I believe a part was to truly protect Bella, and I believe it was his way of staying connected.
We learn that Edward is apparently not as "good at everything" as we thought. (Don't worry, I'm sure he's still good at the things we want him to be good at!) His tracking endeavors were not successful. He spent a lot of time in the south, he says, and apparently that was accurate, since we discover in
Eclipse that Victoria learned about the newborn armies there. So, maybe his timing was just off, and was several months behind her, instead of a few days or weeks. But then there was a wild goose chase to South America.
My biggest question: Where did Edward pick up Victoria's trail? I'm far from being described as "outdoorsy", much less being skilled in tracking, but it's my understanding that you need a source point; someplace you know the person has been, and then follow the scent, tracks, hair, bent leaves, whatever, from there.
So, where did Edward start? Best I can figure, he has two options, either Denali or Forks. Denali would mean that he must have been there at some point after Victoria came to Laurent to ask for his help in getting to Bella. Maybe he went there to visit, or was dragged there by Carlisle and Esme, and learned that they had been there and left, thus spurring him to try to track her from there. Very plausible I think.
Second is Forks. Let's imagine him holed up in his room in the new residence in upstate New York, curled in a ball and ignoring the world (sad..don't dwell there too long) Suddenly, he remembers there is still something he can do for Bella, maybe give just a little more meaning to his meaningless existence. But where to start? If he doesn't know that Victoria was in Denali, then would he head back to Forks? Or at least to the general area?
However, the last Edward knows of Victoria being in Forks is the previous spring. that's a pretty old trail to follow. If he had discovered she was there more recently, would he have chased her? Also, plausible. The alternative would have been to stay put and stand guard, risking missing her entirely if she slipped around him. He also would have undoubtedly run into the wolves at some point. Also, being that close to Bella for an extended period of time, sooner or later he would have found himself checking on her.
So, at this point, I'm leaning towards Denali. I don't think Edward would have risked getting that close to Forks again so soon, even though he was seriously considering returning when he received Rosalie's fateful call.
In the end, of course, they are reunited, much to most of our relief. I cry nearly as hard at their reunion as I do at their break up. Remind me to bring tissues to the theater.
Tell me your thoughts in the comments. Where do you think Edward found the trail? How do you imagine his time away from Bella?
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eptional feat for a film playing outside the summer frame.
