Midnight Sun characters

Appears from the start

The narrator of this retelling, a vampire who has spent decades posing as a high-school student in the small, rainy town of Forks with his adopted family, the Cullens. More than a century old but forever seventeen in appearance, he is telepathic, able to hear the thoughts of everyone around him, and he and his family abstain from human blood, hunting only animals. When a new human girl, Bella Swan, arrives at school, he is thrown into crisis: hers is the one mind he cannot read, and her scent is more powerfully, dangerously tempting to him than any he has known. Cultured, guarded, and tormented by what he is, he struggles between the pull to destroy her and an unwilling fascination.

Appears from the start

A seventeen-year-old who has just moved from Phoenix to live with her father in Forks. Seen through Edward's eyes, she is quiet, observant, and unexpectedly hard to predict: her thoughts are silent to him, which unnerves and intrigues him, and her blood calls to him with unbearable force. Modest and often self-conscious, she seems drawn to Edward despite his coldness, unafraid in a way that both frustrates and captivates him.

Appears from the start

The compassionate physician who leads the Cullen family and long ago turned Edward and several of the others. Centuries old and remarkably self-controlled, he works at the Forks hospital surrounded by human blood and holds firmly to a life of restraint and mercy. He is a calm, fatherly figure whose conscience shapes the whole family's way of living.

Appears from the start

Carlisle's wife and the warm, nurturing mother of the Cullen household. Gentle and loving, she is devoted to her adopted children and quietly hopes for Edward's happiness, having watched him remain apart and alone for decades.

Appears from the start

One of Edward's adopted sisters, a small, quick, cheerful vampire who can see glimpses of the future, though what she sees can change as people's choices change. Fond of Edward and unusually open-minded, she foresees possibilities involving Bella that startle and unsettle him.

Appears from the start

Alice's mate and a member of the Cullen family, a lean, watchful vampire who can sense and influence the emotions of those around him. Newer than the others to their diet of animal blood, he finds the restraint the hardest to keep, and the presence of a tempting human strains him most.

Appears from the start

The biggest and most powerfully built of the Cullen siblings, Rosalie's mate, boisterous and good-humored. He treats life lightly and is fond of physical strength and contests, and he regards Edward's sudden turmoil over a human girl with easygoing amusement.

Appears from the start

The strikingly beautiful blonde among the Cullen siblings, Emmett's mate. Proud and resentful of the risk a human outsider poses to the family's secret and safety, she strongly objects to Edward's growing interest in Bella and makes her hostility plain.

First appears in chapter 2

Bella's father and the police chief of Forks, a quiet, undemonstrative man who has lived alone for years and is glad, if awkward, to have his daughter back. He is largely unaware of the danger gathering around her, and his ordinary human concern for Bella becomes another thing Edward must work around.

First appears in chapter 8

A younger teenager from the Quileute reservation at La Push, son of an old friend of Bella's father. Cheerful and talkative, he is connected to the tribe's old legends about the Cullens' kind, folklore that carries a warning the Cullens take seriously because of a long-standing pact between the two peoples.

First appears in chapter 15

A nomadic vampire who arrives near Forks with two companions, all three of whom hunt humans. Lean and unremarkable to look at, he is a gifted and relentless tracker who treats pursuit as a game. When he senses the Cullens guarding a human, he becomes fixed on hunting Bella for the sheer challenge of it.

First appears in chapter 15

A vivid red-haired vampire who travels with James as his mate. Wary and feline in her movements, she stands with him and helps him when he sets out to hunt Bella.

First appears in chapter 15

The most civil-seeming of the three nomad vampires, dark-skinned and courteous, who speaks for the group when they meet the Cullens. Uneasy about the conflict James is starting, he chooses to part from his companions rather than take part in the hunt.