It’s been thirteen years since the Twilight Saga ended, and despite diversifying her portfolio and completely transforming her public image, Kristen Stewart continues to be most known for her breakout role as Bella Swan. She is the protagonist of all the movies, a high school senior in the first film where she meets Robert Pattinson’s Edward Cullen. Both Pattinson and Stewart sH๏τ to fame, although a lot of the attention was negative because the story, their acting, and the general lack of coherence in the franchise were met with derision.

It might be an unpopular opinion about such famous movies, but Kristen Stewart, who became the subject of ridicule for her wooden performance, is as much at fault, if not less than, the direction and the source material’s lack of flavor. Stewart’s acting talents shine through in her more recent films, including Love Lies Bleeding, one of the best thriller movies of 2024. However, beyond the lack of expression on Bella’s face, what bothers me more about the movies is the number of plot holes, from their inconsistent version of vampirism to storylines that make no sense.

Alice Cullen’s Source of Income

The stock market does not stay stable for long

Alice Cullen has the power to see into the future. However, it’s not exactly a stable foresight that she has. Depending on the current circumstances, if something happens that changes the future, that modifies what she might see in her visions. The ever-changing nature of the future manifests in her powers and is one of their major drawbacks, as highlighted in the films from time to time. The only time she gets a stable vision is when someone makes a decision and sticks to it, in which case, she can predict how that decision will impact their life.

It is mentioned early in the franchise that Alice uses her powers to help her family make money by seeing the future of the stock market. They use the knowledge of stock prices in the future to make enough money that allows them to afford their lavish lifestyles. However, if Alice’s visions are subject to change based on current events changing the future, then this should be impossible. Stock prices go up and down all the time due to unpredictable circumstances, and these changes should disrupt her visions as well.

Bella’s Relationship With Her Mother

For someone so close to Bella, her mother rarely appears

Even though Twilight is based on Bella’s experiences living with her father after moving to Forks, Washington, it is made clear from the start that she’s closer to her mother. Ever since her parents separated, Bella had been living with her mother, and since she had never dated anyone, the two spent most of their time together. It is known that Bella is very fond of her mother, and while she doesn’t dislike her father, she’s clearly awkward around him.

Despite the little presence she has in the movies, Bella’s mother, Renée Dwyer, is whom Bella names her daughter Renesmee after.

Yet, despite having such an emotional proximity with her, Bella’s mother rarely ever appears in the movies. We only see a few phone calls in the entire franchise, and she’s never present in person apart from major life events, like when Bella’s in the hospital or on her wedding day. If Bella had been very close to her mother, it seems like she should have played a bigger role in her life-changing decisions. One of the worst things Bella Swan does in the Twilight movies is cutting off her mother and father after becoming a vampire.

Edward Going To Italy To Die

There are easier ways to die than being killed by the Volturi

Yes, vampires are famously difficult to kill, but if there’s one person who knows how to kill one, it’s a vampire. Due to people’s negative perception of vampires, every vampire learns how they can be killed early in their lives so they know what to prevent. So, when Edward was attempting to end his life, he must have known all the potential options he had that he could use to satisfy his desire.

It is absolutely overkill on his part to travel to Italy and attempt to incur the wrath of the Volturi to die. Granted, he was experiencing severe heartbreak, and the genre is Young Adult Fiction, but it’s known from the early parts of the first film in the franchise that Edward has been around for years. So, something this dramatic that is more commonly found in teenage characters in the genre feels uncharacteristic, considering how cautious and calculated he normally is.

Jasper’s Effect on Bella’s Emotions

Bella is immune to vampire powers that affect her mind

While the reason behind it is never properly explained, it is known from the start of Twilight that Bella is somehow immune to all the psychological powers vampires have. This is what prevents Edward from reading her mind, for instance. Her mental shield is so strong that even Jane wasn’t able to make her feel pain, but could merely create the illusion of pain in Bella’s mind.

This explanation sounds rather convenient to me because his is the only power in the franchise to work this way.

However, Jasper’s powers affect Bella’s emotions, even if that should involve impacting her psychologically too. While author Stephenie Meyer later explained how his powers work, the explanation always seemed like an attempt to cover up a glaring plot hole. Apparently, Jasper’s powers are more telekinetic, as in, they work by changing someone’s hormonal balance, which allows his powers to take hold despite Bella’s mental shield. This explanation sounds rather convenient to me because his is the only power in the franchise to work this way.

Inconsistency in Alice’s Powers

Many situations could have been avoided if she had used them more

Alice Cullen has one of the most impactful powers among all the vampires, making her one of the best female vampires ever. In fact, if her powers hadn’t been reigned in, she would have broken the system and left no room for plot twists. This is why she can only see someone’s future based on a decision that they’ve decided to stick to. The only other known drawback is that her powers are useless on werewolves and people in proximity to them. However, that still doesn’t explain how many times Alice failed to predict Bella’s actions throughout the franchise.

From Bella’s decision to go to James to her with Laurent, there are many important occurrences Alice could have detected, given she was quite literally keeping tabs on her for most of the franchise. Moreover, despite it involving werewolves and many decisions, Alice is clearly able to see the outcome of the final battle in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. She could even see that Jacob would imprint on Renesmee eventually.

The Vampires’ Sparkling Skin

It doesn’t always sparkle

One of the most unique features of Stephenie Meyer’s universe in the Twilight movies is the sparkling skin that the vampires have. Usual vampires in common monster lore and mythology must avoid sunlight at all costs or get turned into stone or perish. However, the vampires in the Twilight franchise have perfect, indestructible skin that shines and sparkles like a diamond when exposed to sunlight.

This continues to be one of the biggest reasons that the franchise is ridiculed today. It doesn’t help that there are consistency issues even when it comes to such a defining attribute of Twilight that sets it apart from all other vampire stories. While Forks, Washington is known for being cloudy all year, and the Cullens didn’t come out on days when the sun was shining brightly, there was some sunlight almost every day. Their skin should have shown some level of sparkle, but never did.

Bella’s Ease With Being a Vampire

She has almost no difficulty controlling her bloodlust

One of the most commonly talked about drawbacks of being a vampire in the Twilight saga is the bloodlust people experience when transformed. They have a natural thirst for blood, and it takes them years to learn to control their urges. In fact, the youngest in the Cullen family, Jasper, is shown to still be struggling with his bloodlust in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

I understand that Bella prepared for her life as a vampire, and, as her mental shield against vampire powers suggests, she is a special human. However, the ease with which she controls her bloodlust simply feels like a plot convenience used to progress the story quickly. Bella struggling to stay away from humans and inadvertently attacking living beings wouldn’t have made for good young adult romance entertainment, but that doesn’t excuse such a glaring plot hole.

Jasper Loses Control Over His Bloodlust

A mere papercut is enough to set him off

The Cullens, including Jasper, live in society, and the younger ones all attend high school. While the fact that they are all too old to be in school is another major plot hole, I’m more frustrated about another detail. High school is somewhere you encounter blood regularly in injuries from sports and scuffles, menstruating children, and, of course, paper cuts. So, it’s reasonable to ᴀssume the Cullens all have amazing control over their bloodlust.

He has to be physically restrained from attacking Bella.

If any of the Cullens ever lost control in school, not only would their idenтιтy be revealed, it would endanger their lives. So, it goes to reason that they wouldn’t have attended school so regularly if they didn’t have excellent control. Yet, a simple papercut during the birthday party elicits such a bad reaction from Jasper in New Moon that he has to be physically restrained from attacking Bella. How was he in a school full of bloodied noses, scraped knees, and bruised knuckles day in and day out if this was enough to get to him?

Bella Has Intoxicating Blood

Edward isn’t the only one who thinks so

Yes, the concept of a singer explains why Bella’s blood has a major impact on Edward. It triggers a primal instinct in him because her blood basically sings to him. The idea is that her blood only has such an effect on him, because every vampire has a singer, and the singer’s blood only has that effect on that particular vampire and no one else.

If Bella’s blood is indeed especially intoxicating for all vampires in general, that would explain Jasper’s reaction to her papercut, even though that still doesn’t explain what about her blood makes it so special.

So, how does one explain the fact that Bella’s blood is seemingly intoxicating in general? It’s not like she has a special genetic makeup or a specifically enticing diet that would make her blood so sweet to vampires. However, James was seemingly more attracted to her blood than any other human in Twilight, and even Alice remarks at one point that her blood smells nice. There are other reasons to believe Bella is a special human, of course, and that could explain her blood being particularly attractive, but I believe an explanation is owed.

Bella Becomes Pregnant

Vampire-human crossbreeding should be impossible

The Twilight vampires don’t age because their bodies are technically ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, and they have no blood flowing inside them. Stephenie Meyer did later explain that there is some fluid flow, but the fluid in question is vampire venom. Even though this explanation was offered after people pointed out that Edward maintaining an erection and impregnating Bella would be impossible, it’s still acceptable.

However, while that explains the logistics of Edward and Bella’s Sєx life, it still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The primary among these is the fact that vampire sperm and human eggs literally grow in incompatible environments, and there should be complications. Moreover, the mixture of human blood and vampire venom is dangerous and harmful, especially for humans, so the stability of the half-vampire half-human fetus inside Bella makes absolutely no sense.