Jacob Black

Jacob Black is the tritagonist in the Twilight series.

He is a shape-shifter or "werewolf" of the Quileute tribe, former Beta of the Uley pack, and Alpha of his own. In Twilight, he is fifteen years old, and in New Moon, he phases into a wolf for the first time at the age of sixteen. In Breaking Dawn, he imprints on the hybrid baby named Renesmee Cullen, the daughter of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.

On Stephenie Meyer's official website, Jacob was originally just a device to inform Bella about the "Cold Ones." However, both she and her editor liked Jacob so much that they decided to give him a larger role in the sequels to Twilight, making him a main character in New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. He forms a deep bond with Bella in the sequels, and tries to fight against Edward for her love, until she realizes that her love for Edward is stronger and chooses him over Jacob. Jacob subsequently imprints on Bella and Edward's daughter, Renesmee, thus freeing himself from his heartbreak and triangular issues with Bella and Edward.

He is portrayed by Taylor Lautner also portray Sharkboy.

Physical appearance

Growing from 5'10 to 6'7 within one year, Jacob is the tallest character in the series, towering over Alice by nearly three feet and describing her as about the size of one of his arms. Bella notes that he would surely hit his head upon the beams of her new cottage. He is of Native American descent and in Twilight had a lanky build and wore his long hair in a ponytail. Though he looked too tall for his age, he had a hint of childish roundedness to his chin.

Around the time when he started to phase, his body grew tremendously thick, toned and muscular, similar to that of a serious bodybuilder, though balanced by his tremendous height so he doesn't look out of proportion. In New Moon, upon discovering his shape-shifter powers and joining the Quileute pack, he crops his long black hair short. Later he grows it out to chin length in Eclipse because he thinks Bella prefers it longer. He cuts it short again in Breaking Dawn. Jacob is also said to be extremely handsome, with dark good looks, raven-black hair, russet skin (which Bella was rather jealous of at times) and deep-set twinkling dark brown eyes; Bella once described him as "sort of beautiful".

Wolf form

As a wolf, Jacob is about 10 feet in length, has russet brown fur, dark intelligent eyes, and is very swift. He was also the second fastest and the second largest in Sam's pack. He later grows to be the largest and strongest, but Leah Clearwater is still faster than him. Sam acknowledged him as the pack's strongest fighter. Bella is still amazed that Jacob did not take the role of Alpha in Sam's pack, though he eventually creates his own pack after Sam decided to kill Bella to prevent Renesmee from being born.

Personality and traits

Jacob's personality changes throughout the books as he matures. In Twilight, he seems very friendly though shy and slightly sheepish around Bella, easily succumbing to her flirtations and worrying about how the Quileute legends will affect her perception of him. However, in New Moon Jacob goes from being his old, happy self to being sullen and temperamental. This is because he has now phased and is experiencing life in wolf form. In New Moon, his cheerful attitude is what attracts Bella and make her feel better.

He is one of two who dislike being wolf the most and wants nothing more than to be rid of his magical inheritance, but learns to adapt to the idea. When he first joined the pack, Sam wanted him to lead it, but he refused and gave the responsibility to him instead.

In Eclipse, he becomes a lot more confident that Bella is really for him - so much that he makes her realize that she does love him after all through means of trickery. He also seems to be somewhat rebellious, since he encourages Bella to sneak out to visit him and they ditch school so they could spend some time alone, even though just as friends. In Breaking Dawn, his personality changes yet again, to slightly violent and pessimistic, as he feels like Bella is going to die due to her unnatural pregnancy. He is ready to kill her baby daughter, Renesmee, until he imprints on her. After this and Bella's successful transformation into a vampire, he returns to his cheerful personality as he no longer feels the pain of Bella's rejection.

During free time, he enjoys rebuilding automotive vehicles, hanging out with his friends, and playing with Renesmee. He also has an interest in watching action movies and commenting on bloody scenes.

Generally, Jacob is very friendly, playful, carefree and caring towards the people around him. He would go to any extent to protect those he loves most, most obvious in Breaking Dawn when he disbands from his pack and sacrifices everything to protect Bella. He is also shown to be somewhat sarcastic, slightly obnoxious and slightly childish, and has a hot-headed temper due to his wolf side and highly dislikes the scent of vampires. He was also very hostile toward Edward, even before he phased, only because they were both in love with Bella, but they eventually come to terms with each other. After embracing his right as an Alpha and imprinting on Renesmee in Breaking Dawn, he begins to take the responsibilities of leading his renegade pack more seriously.

Like everyone else in his tribe, he had a prejudice against the Cullens and other vampires, viewing them as nothing more than blood-sucking monsters, but eventually warmed up to the Cullens and came to see them as something more than vampires.

Wolf abilities

• Phasing: Jacob can phase in and out of wolf form. With practice and skill, one can morph faster and with more efficiency, with Jacob being the one exception, being able to phase in mid-jump, while it takes the rest of the pack several seconds to phase. Though phasing can be controlled, anger can easily cause the individual to phase by accident.
• Regeneration: Jacob has a powerful regenerative healing factor. This allows him to heal at an abnormal rate, faster than any human being can. The extent of this regeneration is very powerful, to the point that Jacob comments that even a bullet through his temple wouldn't be enough to kill him. Small cuts and minor injuries heal within seconds while larger, more damaging injuries, such as broken bones, blood loss, and vampire venom infection seem to heal within minutes.
• Telepathy: Only works within the pack, and when in wolf form. Jacob can speak with other members of his pack telepathically and hear their thoughts. Though this is more than useful while hunting and tracking, there is no privacy left in the pack because of this ability. It can be described as both a gift and a burden. Their thoughts are open even when they try to hide them. After Jacob formed a pack of his own, he was able to communicate those within his pack and Sam, the Alpha of his previous wolf pack, if he chooses to and can select the thoughts that he wants to share. Edward can access the thoughts of his entire pack when one member is present. Also, because his Alpha wolf mind is linked with his pack, Bella can protect him and his fellow wolves with her shield solely by shielding him. This implies that in wolf form, they may all be vulnerable to mind-based powers if Jacob falls victim to one.
• Natural enhancements: Jacob has superhuman strength in both wolf and human form, though he is at his peak only while in wolf form. This has been displayed numerous times, as how Jacob was able to carry Bella 9 miles through a thick forest with ease. In wolf form, he possesses supernatural speed, capable of running over 100 miles per hour. In human form he is notably faster than any human being, but still not nearly as fast as he is in his wolf form. Before phasing, the human form will build up their muscles naturally and will be ready for the first time they phase. Jacob is known as the physically strongest in both packs, though not as fast as Leah. In battle, he is very capable of handling his opponents. Jacob also has greater endurance than a human, most famously seen when Bella struck Jacob in the jaw with all of her strength, and ended up badly breaking her hand while Jacob, who wasn't even remotely hurt, couldn't tell that she was trying to hurt him until she started screaming. Jacob also mentioned in Breaking Dawn that it would take a van moving at high speed to break his bones.
• Delayed aging: They cannot start aging until a solid period of time without phasing goes by. It is unknown the exact length of time, only it would be very difficult because phasing is instinctual, along with the fact that vampires often come through Washington and the wolves are needed whenever vampires are close.
• High body temperature: Shape-shifters have a constant body temperature of about 110° degrees to withstand severe cold weather. This high body heat also allows them to survive in very hot weather, making it hard for their bodies to overheat. This high body temperature is very useful in combat, as it makes it extremely hard for vampires to harm them because they are extremely sensitive to heat. In Breaking Dawn, after Bella becomes a vampire, she describes Jacob's skin as like touching an open fire and unbearable to touch. This temperature also prevents frequent illness, by killing any potential pathogens they come into contact with before they can become ill. Jacobs mentions this ability to be beneficial. Shape-shifters cannot go to the hospital when they are running a temperature that should indicate them as dead.
• Alpha voice: Jacob's true power as Alpha comes from his pack, which grants him total control over it: therefore he can force his followers to obey his orders against their will. Jacob never uses his voice to force his teammates to do something against their will, though he has the power and it is even stronger than Sam's voice.
• Imprinting: Shape-shifers can involuntarily imprint, a method of finding a soul mate. When a werewolf imprints, it seems as if time stops and gravity doesn't hold them to Earth, anymore. They are instead held by the person they have imprinted on. A werewolf cannot control the outcome of imprinting. For example, Jacob tried unsuccessfully to force himself to imprint on Bella. If an imprintee dies, the shape-shifter might go insane or kill himself.

Relationships

Jacob's father is Billy Black, and he has twin sisters, Rachel and Rebecca. Billy and Jacob seem to be pretty close as they have lived alone together for a fairly long time. On the other hand, Rachel, Rebecca, and Jacob are not as close as the twins live out of town and rarely see their brother. His mother, Sarah Black, died in a car crash when he was 9 years old.

Renesmee Cullen

Renesmee Cullen, Bella and Edward Cullen's daughter, is the object of Jacob's imprint, and so his soulmate.

In Breaking Dawn, when Bella became pregnant with Renesmee, Jacob was repulsed because he saw her baby as he saw Edward: a monster.

Jacob made his hatred for the baby clear on multiple occasions, including when he became angry at Bella for saying the baby reminded her of him. Despite his hatred towards the baby, Bella and Jacob were incredibly drawn to each other.

Bella nearly died giving birth to the baby, who she named Renesmee. During Bella's transformation into a vampire, Jacob believed that she had died, and went to kill Renesmee. But when they looked into each other's eyes for the first time, he imprinted on her. He then realized why he was so pulled toward Bella during her pregnancy, and why Bella was so pulled toward Jacob: because Renesmee was a significant (due to the similarities between her and her mother as a human) part of Bella.

By imprinting on Renesmee, he has found what he needed to overcome his pain and sadness. While Renesmee is a child, he only feels the need to protect her and keep her happy as nothing else is more important. Because of this, he deserts his initial plan to live his life as a wolf and dedicates himself to protecting her. As she grows up, Jacob will feel attracted towards her as part of the imprinting. It is implied that Renesmee will "accept" Jacob as her mate when she is old enough, since she loves him very much, but it is yet unknown whether this will happen. Bella isn't very happy about this at first, and at one point attacks him, an effect of her temper as a newborn vampire. As time passes by, she comes to accept it later on when she realizes that it's not her choice, that they were made for each other.

Jacob thinks of Renesmee as "the most wonderful person in the world", and Renesmee is very possessive of him. In addition, he is magnetically drawn to her, as demonstrated many times throughout the story.

Because he finds it hard to be away from her, he visits the Cullens every day to play with her, though he would argue with Rosalie about whose turn it is to feed her. He is the one who nicknames her "Nessie," saying to Bella that her full name is a mouthful. When Renesmee was misunderstood by a vampire named Irina to be an immortal child and reported her to the Volturi, Bella secretly arranges ID certificates, a driving license and passports for Renesmee and Jacob, knowing that he will definitely protect her if the Volturi come looking for them. She also wanted to send them to Rio, hoping Alice would be able to find them. On Christmas Day, Jacob gives Renesmee a hand-braided bracelet which is the Quileute's version of a promise ring as Christmas gift.

After the tension between the Volturi and the Cullens ended, Jacob is more than happy to have Renesmee back into a normal childhood.

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Trivia

• He is described as a Native American of the Quileute tribe in La Push, near Forks, Washington. In the second book of the series, he undergoes a transformation that allows him to morph into a wolf. For the majority of the series, Jacob competes with Edward Cullen.
• His Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined counterpart is Julie Black.

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Heroes

Main Bella Swan | Edward Cullen | Jacob Black Vampires Carlisle Cullen | Esme Cullen | Alice Cullen | Emmett Cullen | Rosalie Hale | Jasper Hale | Renesmee Cullen Werewolves Sam Uley | Quil Ateara V | Embry Call | Paul Lahote | Jared Cameron | Leah Clearwater | Seth Clearwater Humans Charlie Swan | Emily Young | Billy Black