Let’s now look back to 2005 and explore the Twilight series. Stephenie Meyer’s first ever series has been so popular they sold millions of copies all around the world and had a successful movie franchise. Twilight has a huge hand in the change in vampires’ reputation in pop culture. Due to Twilight, vampires went from being scary, bloodthirsty creatures to being sparkly, lovesick hopeless romantics. We’ll let you decide if that change is for the better or for the worse.
If you want a walk down memory lane and crack open these books again, you might as well know exactly how many words you will be readng over the next few days. Without further ado, here is the Twilight series’ plots and entire word count.
Twilight
Everything rolls into motion when Isabella “Bella” Swan moves to Forks, Washington with her father Charlie Swan, to let her mother be with her constantly-traveling husband, a minor league baseball player. Bella is the newest student of Forks High School and she instantly captures the whole school body’s attention. But she is instantly drawn to Edward Cullen, who is part of the gorgeous but strange Cullen family. After a few disasters, Bella finds out that the Cullens are vampires. Against all odds, Bella and Edward fall in love with each other. However, the romance was interrupted by a sadistic vampire named James decided to hunt Bella down, but the Cullens save the day and rescue Bella.
This captivating first book of the series has 118,975 words.
New Moon
New Moon starts with Bella’s 18th birthday. It was supposed to be a nice celebration until an accident throws a wrench into things. Because of this, Edward breaks up with Bella, the Cullens leave, and Bella goes into depression. Then she reconnects with Jacob Black, the son of her father’s best friend. They instantly become close. Bella finds out that Jacob is a werewolf and is a part of a werewolf pack. The pack finds out that a vampire Victoria wants to kill Bella to avenge for her mate James’ death.
Meanwhile, Edward believes that Bella is dead due to a misunderstanding. He decides to commit suicide in Volterra, Italy, where a coven of old vampires, that most of vampire population consider the rulers, reside. Bella and Alice, one of Edward’s sisters, save him. They succeed, and they go back to Forks. The Cullens move back to Forks and our protagonists resume their relationship.
New Moon consists of 132,758 words.
Eclipse
It’s time for some of our characters, humans and vampires alike, to graduate high school, and with it comes a lot of life-changing decisions. In 148,971 words, Eclipse explores Bella’s choice between Edward and Jacob, Victoria’s plan of revenge, and Bella’s decision about becoming a vampire.
Upon the discovery that Victoria has created an army of “newborn” vampires to kill Bella once and for all, the Cullens and Jacob’s werewolf pack join forces to defeat her. After a bloody fight, they defeat Victoria. At the atermath, Bella decides about her life: she chooses Edward, and she agrees to get married to him.
Breaking Dawn
It’s time for a wedding, more action, and happy endings. Bella and Edward get married and spend their honeymoon in some beautiful island. However, their honeymoon is cut short because Bella gets pregnant. Despite Edward’s insistence to get the baby out of her, Bella decides to go through the pregnancy, even though it weakens her. She almost dies delivering the baby Renesmee. She only survives as Edward injected her with vampire venom. They live a relative happy life until a vampire from another coven mistakes Renesmee as an immortal child, a baby turned into a vampire. These creatures are forbidden as they are bloodthirsty and uncontrollable. The vampire reports it to the Volturi with the threat of killing Renesmee and taking down the Cullen coven.
The Cullens gather friends around the globe to be witnesses Renesmee’s half-human, half-vampire status. Jacob’s werewolf pack sides with them. After a long stand-off, the Volturi sees that Renesmee is harmless and the Cullens are left in peace.
After 186,542 words, Bella, Edward, and their daughter live happily ever after with the Cullens and werewolves.
Word Count Of The Series
Twilight – 118,975 words
New Moon – 132,758 words
Eclipse – 148,971 words
Breaking Dawn – 186,542 words
The Twilight series, with a whopping total of 587,246 words, has captured a lot of hearts all over the world. he books, and later on the movies, have generated such a devoted and enthusiastic fanbase. Some critics have positive comments about the books, saying it was a ‘literary phenomenon’ and ‘the spiritual successor of Harry Potter‘.
Despite the worldwide sales and popularity, some people find Twilight harmful, especially to teens, its primary audience. Some people have criticised Edward and Bella’s relationship, saying that it ticks off all the signs of an abusive relationship. Psychologists have backed these sentiments, saying that the series has romanticised abuse. Aside from that, feminist publications have criticised that the series has made Bella, the female protagonist, powerless and an object. All of these are disputed by Meyer, saying that Bella is very in control and makes choices on her own.
Final Thoughts
Whether you hate or love Twilight, you can’t deny the impact it had on pop culture. If anything, it gave the masses a different take on vampires and that maybe, there is no big a difference when it comes to true love.
And that ends our Twilight journey! You can go start reading it now. If you want to know the word counts of your other favourite novels – or just your assignment or story, we’ve got your back!