Twilight author Stephenie Meyer answered a decades-old question that’s left the fandom divided: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
The author, 51, published the first book in her famed quartet — which tracks Bella Swan meeting and falling in love with Edward Cullen, while dealing with romantic feelings for Jacob Black — in 2005. Their love triangle was a little different from the norm. Unlike most, Bella is the only human in the mix; Edward is a vampire and Jacob is a werewolf.
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Of course, 20 years later, fans know that Bella chose Edward and ultimately became a vampire herself. However, while speaking to Good Morning America on Wednesday, Sept. 17, Meyer revealed that she might not have made the same decision.
“I would not have probably chosen the vampire,” she admitted to ABC News’ Juju Chang, confirming that she was “probably team werewolf.”
To explain, Meyer pointed out parallels between her relationship with husband Christian Meyer and Bella’s with Jacob.
“I did marry the boy I grew up with. Like the family friend that I had known since I was 4. So that’s definitely more my style,” she explained.
Stephenie and Christian, an accountant, exchanged vows in 1994 and went on to welcome three sons. The Guardian noted that their romantic relationship began less than a year before they got married. However, they met at a young age while in church.
This isn’t the only difference that Stephenie noted existed between her and Bella.
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“She is someone that I would be friends with,” the author added. “I also am an introvert. I’m shy. I love to read.”
Despite that, “A lot of her opinions that she has on things are kind of the opposite of mine.”
Meyer thinks that part of what made Twilight such an enduring success is that Bella, played by Kristen Stewart in the accompanying films, is an atypical heroine.
“I think a lot of our heroines that we get in books are adventurous. They’re wielding swords, and they’re doing daring [deeds],” Meyers opined. “But Bella is a quiet girl; she reads books. We don’t get a lot of quiet readers as our heroes.”
Twilight sparked an international fandom that led to five blockbuster films being made, starring Stewart as Bella, Robert Pattinson as Edward and Taylor Lautner as Jacob. Years later, fans are still clamoring for more.
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The author told GMA that she did not expect the fervor, saying, “I don’t even know how to process” the dedication two decades later.
Meyer had another theory about the franchise’s success: the story spoke to audiences because she “was able to capture just a little bit of what it feels like to fall in love.”
Even though Bella and Edward’s romance felt “doomed” at times, she knew that they were going to find their happily-ever-after.
“I am who I am, and I like happy endings,” she clarified.