Twilight: 20 Things About Bella And Jacob’s Relationship That Make No Sense

TheTwilight Saga dominated the teen world for years even after both the books and the movies were released. When the first book came out, neither Stephanie Meyer nor fans of the novel expected it to blow up into the pop-culture phenomenon it became. No matter where someone turned, a vampire or werewolf would be there to greet them. It was either immensely loved by fans or abhorred by people who just wanted the series to be over with. Either way, it was inescapable.

Part of the draw of Twilight was the divide between Team Edward and Team Jacob. The love triangle spawned intense debates among passionate fans. While a lot of fans favored Edward, who Bella inevitably chose in the end, Jacob had his fair share of supporters as well.

Despite all of the support, Jacob and Bella certainly had their own set of issues. If she had chosen Jacob, it definitely wouldn’t have been picture perfect, just like her relationship with Edward was flawed at times. While it’s easy for fans to believe Bella and Jacob were an ideal romantic pairing, their were some strange aspects of their relationship.

From controlling behavior to imprinting on babies, here are the 20 Things About Bella And Jacob’s Relationship That Make No Sense.

20 Bella Treats Jacob Like A Backup Plan

In New Moon, a lot of fans began to argue that Bella clearly has feelings for Jacob. As the series continue, that only became clearer, especially when she asked Jacob to kiss her in Eclipse. Despite being in love with Jacob, Bella constantly chooses Edward over him.

She can’t help what her heart wants, of course, but she continues to dangle her love in front of Jacob even though she knows it’s hurting him that she’s choosing Edward.

It’s like she’s keeping Jacob around and toying with his emotions in case it doesn’t work out with Edward. In New Moon, she only hangs out with him because she can’t be around Edward anymore, and continues with this behavior throughout the series.

19 Jacob Has Nice Guy Syndrome

Often times, Jacob comes off as the understanding, compassionate alternative to Edward. While he appears to be sweet and patient, he’s actually possessive and whiny a lot of the time when it comes to Bella. He would be understanding in order to try and get Bella to choose him, but when she would choose Edward, he would storm off in a fit of rage and try to guilt her into feeling bad. He would act like she owed him something more than her friendship.

Despite Bella clearly choosing Edward multiple times, he would always act surprised and hurt when she told Jacob she just wanted to be friends. Many fans believe that he’s sweeter than Edward, but both characters tried to manipulate her emotions.

18 Jacob Is As Dangerous As Edward

When Jacob tries to encourage Bella to choose him instead of Edward, he continues to insist on how dangerous the Cullens are, despite being dangerous himself.  While Edward is a bloodsucking vamp, Jacob is a werewolf with rage issues who spends his time fighting vampires. Choosing him over Edward wouldn’t be a much safer decision. Even if Edward and Bella had never met, vampires still would have been in Forks causing Jacob to shapeshift.

Even without the Cullens, threatening vampires like James would still be a threat that the wolves would have to fight, putting Bella in danger.

It doesn’t make sense to paint Jacob as the safer choice when werewolves are known to get into supernatural entanglements and lash out at those they love in anger.

17 They Have Zero Chemistry

While in the books it can be hard to gauge the chemistry between characters, in the Twilight movies, it was easy to see the lack of chemistry between many of the actors, including Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. Though he was supposed to long for Bella while she secretly held feelings for him and didn’t want to admit it, it was hard to tell from their acting alone.

While the dialogue and their actions may have showed their feelings, the chemistry between them felt forced.  There have also been complaints that Robert Pattinson and Stewart also lacked chemistry. It doesn’t make sense to cast actors to play these characters in a love triangle who don’t play it believably.

16 Jacob Would Have Taken The Life Of Bella’s Baby

A lot of Jacob fans think he’s the warmer, more understanding man in Bella’s life, but there were moments when he acted even colder than Edward, like when decides he wants to take the life of Bella’s infant, despite her clear love for her child. It’s understandable that he’s angry that Bella’s life would end because of the child, but deciding to take the life of the woman he love’s baby is messed up regardless of his reasons.

Yes, Renesmee is technically a monster, but she’s still just a baby.

Before that, he pushes Bella to get rid of the baby and grows incredibly angry when she refuses, despite it being her child and not his. It’s really messed up to want to take the life of an infant, even if the same infant is the reason Bella perishes.

15 Jacob Tries To Control Bella

While a lot of people don’t like the way that Edward tries to control Bella, Jacob’s possessive behavior isn’t much better. Like Edward, he’s constantly trying to manipulate Bella’s feelings and actions. Their relationship has some abusive undertones. Jacob acts as if Bella can’t make her own decisions and is extremely overprotective. When he doesn’t agree with her choices, he’ll yell at her, become aggressive, or run away because he didn’t get his way.  

He even forcibly kisses her to try and convince her she feels something for him. While he’s easy-going and understanding on the surface, he’s controlling when he gets upset. The men in Bella’s life both try to manipulate her like she’s not capable on her own.

14 Bella Won’t Let Him Move On

While Bella does realize that she harbor’s feelings for Jacob, she still chooses Edward, over and over again. It’s clear that she will never decide to be with Jacob. Despite this, she continuously inserts herself into his life, which only causes him pain. Jacob eventually makes the decision to cut Bella out of his life in Eclipse because it’s too painful for him. Bella won’t accept that choice and selfishly tries to keep him in her life, but just as a friend. 

This is a big reason why Jacob grows more frustrated and angry with Bella when she keeps choosing Edward.

She is giving him false hope so that he can never fully move on, which isn’t fair to him and causes his unfair attitude towards her.

13 Jacob Yells At Her At Her Wedding

It’s totally understandable that Jacob wouldn’t want to watch the woman he loves walk down the aisle towards another man, but when he eventually does decide to show up, he ends up yelling at the bride on her wedding day.  He appears without warning and dances with Bella. Just when it seems like the two will be able to get along without arguing, he finds out that Bella will consummate the marriage despite Edward being a vampire.

This causes him to explode in anger at Bella. It’s hard to tell if it’s just fear for her life that makes him angry because he may also be reacting in jealousy. Regardless, he shouldn’t have shown up at her wedding when he clearly isn’t comfortable with Bella being with Edward.

12 Bella And Her Daughter Will Love The Same Man

It was strange enough when Jacob imprinted on Bella’s daughter, but it became even more uncomfortable when fans realized that Renesmee will likely kiss the same man who was in love with her mother one day. Bella and her daughter will one day have been romantically involved with the same man.

It’s also very likely that Renesmee will grow up to resemble her mother, which will have to be strange for Jacob.

It does seem that while Renesmee is still a child, Jacob and Bella have pushed the imprinting argument aside, but it’s bound to cause conflicts one day in the future. It’s not quite inappropriate, but it’s way too weird for most people’s comfort.

11 Jacob Is Closer With Bella’s Dad Than She Is

Throughout the Twilight movies, Bella repeatedly tells Edward how important Charlie is to her. However, her actions don’t seem to match her words. Even Jacob seems to be closer with Bella’s dad than she is.  Especially in the later movies, Jacob is seen with Charlie more than Bella is. He’s even the reason why Charlie gets to continue to have a relationship with Bella after she is turned.

When she and the Cullens plant to leave Forks, Jacob brings Charlie to Bella to get her to stay.  Without Jacob, Charlie would have lost his daughter forever. Even if Jacob did it for selfish reasons, he helps Charlie have a relationship with his daughter when she just planned on running away and hurting him.

10 Jacob Was Attracted To Bella Because Of Her Baby

From the moment Jacob saw Bella in the first Twilight film, it was clear that he was attracted to her. He continued to have feelings for Bella up until she had her baby, Renesmee. He imprinted on her immediately. Renesmee will also grow up to look a lot like Bella with her identical eyes and long, dark hair.

Since Jacob was into Bella before she was even pregnant, it could have been an attraction to her genetics and the child she would eventually create.

Jacob’s entire basis for falling for Bella may have been because his werewolf genes could sense that she would create the person he would eventually imprint on. The entire premise of imprinting on the woman he love’s child is too much of a weird coincidence.

9 Bella’s Anger At His Imprinting Is Hypocritical

When Bella first learns that Jacob is a werewolf, she’s intrigued by the concept and asks to learn more about the Quileute culture, including imprinting. While she’s a little unsure about the concept of imprinting at first, she comes around to it after Jacob explains that even if they imprint on a young girl, like Quil, who imprints on a two year old, their feelings won’t be romantic until she is of age.

Despite accepting this, she goes insane when she learns that Jacob has imprinted on her daughter, Renesmee. While it’s certainly a creepy situation, she was okay when it was someone else’s young child. Why not her own? It’s pretty hypocritical and doesn’t make much sense.

8 Jacob Is More Like Edward Than Bella Thinks

A big driving force in the Bella/Jacob/Edward love triangle is that Edward and Jacob are different. One is a vampire, the other a werewolf. Really, though, they aren’t as different as Bella and some fans want to believe. 

Both men love Bella in a possessive, overprotective way and try to tell her what’s best for her while ignoring her own opinions.

Edward follows her around and aggressively guards her, while Jacob pushes her to leave Edward to the point of lashing out in rage and running away. Sure, they have very different hobbies, with Edward being into books and classical music and Jacob being into action movies and motorcycles, but it seems that Bella has a thing for controlling, unstable men.

7 They Don’t Respect Each Other’s Choices

Throughout Twilight, Jacob and Bella never seem to be on the same page despite being “best friends.” Bella never really respects Jacob’s decisions and he is constantly telling her what she should think and do. Whenever Bella decides to be with Edward, Jacob tells her how wrong she is and tries to manipulate her into choosing him instead rather than accepting her decision.

Bella, also, refuses to respect Jacob’s decision to cut off his relationship with her because it’s too painful for him. She continues to insert herself into his life anyway.  They’re supposed to love each other, but refusing to respect one another is a strange way to show that love. It doesn’t make sense to treat the person you care so much about like a child who can’t make his or her own decisions.

6 Jacob Starts A War For Her

Despite all that happened throughout the first three Twilight installments, Jacob is still ready to perish for Bella in Breaking Dawn. Not only that, but he’s also willing to take lives and start wars in order to save her life. He was always a loyal pack member, but when he learned that Sam was going to take Bella’s life along with her future child’s, Jacob left the pack and started his own in order to save her life, causing a deep rift between the wolves.

Not only that, but he also was ready to stand by the Cullens when the Volturi came, despite them being a major threat to his own life, in order to protect both Bella and her daughter.

That’s a lot of sacrifice to make for a woman who didn’t choose to love him back.

5 Jacob Can’t Give Bella A Normal Life

While Jacob was once human, by the time the second book rolled around, he was transitioning into a shapeshifting wolf. Despite this, part of his reasoning why Bella should choose him is because she could stay human and live a normal life. However, dating a werewolf isn’t exactly a normal human thing to do.

Yes, Bella wouldn’t turn into an immortal vampire if she chose Jacob, but she would still be choosing to date a supernatural creature who brings danger into their lives. The wolves also don’t age as long as they’re still shifting, so Jacob would most likely outlive Bella if she were human. His reasoning about why she should choose him don’t always make sense.

4 If It Weren’t For Edward, They’d Be Together

If the Cullens hadn’t decided to settle in Forks, Bella’s love life would have been drastically different. She likely would have ended up with Jacob.  Their two families are very close, so they would have been spending a lot of time together. It’s clear that the pair has chemistry and they are attracted to each other.

Without Edward, she also wouldn’t have had Renesmee, so he would never have imprinted on her child.

Instead, he would stay in love with her. It seems clear from the books that if Edward weren’t around, she would have ended up with Jacob. It’s weird to think that their relationship could have been drastically different without one character being around.

3 Jacob Kisses Bella Against Her Will

While Bella does eventually kiss Jacob willingly, their first kiss wasn’t exactly consensual.  Jacob has always been a bit frustrated with Bella, but he took things too far when he grabbed her and forcibly kissed her on the beach. In the book, she even says that she shut down and didn’t reciprocate the kiss. Afterwards, she calls him an idiot and punches him.

While it was laughed off as a joke, it really wasn’t okay for him to kiss or grab her without her consent. Even Charlie laughs at the concept when Bella is obviously upset. It’s brushed aside like no big deal but it shows that Jacob has some control issues. It doesn’t make sense to romanticize the encounter like it was nothing when it was technically assault.

2 Bella Treats Jacob Like A Child

Edward and Bella’s age difference has always been weird. It doesn’t matter if he looks seventeen– she’s a teenager and he is over one hundred years old. Despite their very large age difference, she constantly jokes like Jacob is way too young for her.

While Bella and Edward’s age gap spans multiple decades, she and Jacob are only two years apart.

She acts like he is ridiculously younger than her when they really have way more in common than she and Edward do, and a lot of that has to do with their ages. It just doesn’t make sense to treat Jacob like a child when she should look like a child in Edward’s eyes.

1 Jacob Imprints On Bella’s Daughter

One of the strangest aspects of Twilight is Jacob’s imprinting on Renesmee. There’s no way to spin it without it being a little bit uncomfortable. Fans have been upset by the concept since they read the final book.

While she’s a baby, the feelings are platonic and protective, but it seems clear that everyone is banking on the pair being romantic once Renesmee is of age. When she’s older, Jacob will be in love with her after helping to raise her. To make things weirder, he’ll have to explain how he was once in love with her mother. There are so many potential endings that could have been written for Jacob, but this is the one that makes the least amount of sense to fans.

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Are there any other aspects of Bella and Jacob’s relationship in Twilight that make no sense? Let us know in the comments!

About The Author

Britt Poteet
(54 Articles Published)

Britt Poteet is a contributing writer for Screen Rant. She has a degree in Mass Communications from the University of West Georgia and is a social media correspondent as well as a freelance writer. She spends most of her free time obsessing over fictional characters and animals. She also writes for Screen Rant’s sister site TheThings.

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