The Twilight franchise may seem to have a simple enough story, but the plot of the saga actually spans centuries as seen in this complete timeline breakdown. Released in 2008, Twilight was a huge hit with audiences despite earning the ire of critics. It is easy to see why the paranormal teen fantasy romance was dismissed by reviewers, as Twilight was a shamelessly self-serious story of an ageless vampire falling for a small-town girl.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the corny premise, Twilight was beloved by its large preteen and teenage fan base, and the movies were blockbuster hits at the box office. Many members of Twilight's cast went on to be blockbuster stars and the movies even received some solid reviews in their later installments. By then, the series had injected some much-needed levity and non-romantic stakes into proceedings.
However, one thing even Twilight’s most ardent defenders would find hard to deny is that the saga did not have the most complex or inventive plot. Most of Twilight’s action revolved around its central love story, the tale of unassuming heroine Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen. Despite this, though, the series does have an established canon backstory that dates back over a millennium, as proven by a breakdown of Twilight’s franchise timeline.
400AD: Volturi Established
The first occurrence of real import in the Twilight mythos comes way back in 400 AD when the Volturi coven was established and launched their all-important attack on the Romanian coven. The Romanian coven was, until this point, the de facto leaders of the vampire world, but was fully overthrown by the Volturi before 500AD. The Volturi’s five-strong leadership council (Are, Caius, Marcus, Sulipcia, Althenodora) then took over the job of being international vampire royalty, and remain in the position of power until the end of Twilight’s plot. They also occasionally picked up and later dropped some temporary members throughout this time.
1640: Carlisle Cullen Born
Born circa 1640, Carlisle Cullen was the son of a prominent London pastor who spends his days (and his social standing) riling up locals to hunt down witches, vampires, and other supernatural threats. Unfortunately for Carlisle, his Twilight backstory began in 1663, when he was turned by a vampire that his father was hunting. Carlisle’s painful transformation over with, he became a vampire, discovered he can live off animal blood without killing humans, briefly fraternized out with the Volturi (who were initially interested in this vegetarianism development, but soon disregarded it), and then moved to America at some unspecified point between the 1700s and 1800s.
1844: Jasper Hale Born
Born a few decades before his future adopted mother, Jasper Hale was a Confederate soldier with a talent for feeling and manipulating the emotions of others. This talent did not stop him from getting injured and almost killed in battle, leading him to seek refuge with a trio of beautiful women who promptly turned him into a vampire. Unfortunately for them, Jasper Hale (later Cullen) did not believe in their mission to stage a vampire war, so he gave them the slip and wandered the land before eventually encountering Alice, who in turn introduced him to the Cullen clan.
1895: Esme Cullen Born
Born near the turn of the century, Esme Cullen’s early life was unremarkable save for its extraordinary bleakness. Defined by an abusive husband, the loss of a child, and a suicide attempt, the grim story of Esme Cullen mercifully reached its end when she met Carlisle who turned her into a vampire circa 1921. This event led the couple to “adopt” other vampires who posed as their children to begin a coven and was what started the Cullen clan in earnest.
1901: Edward Cullen Born
The hero of Twilight is neither the oldest nor the youngest Cullen, having been around since 1900. This puts him at the age of 18 around the time of the Spanish Flu epidemic when most of Edward’s family died. Edward himself was on the brink of death but was turned by a kindly doctor, Carlisle Cullen, whose first adopted son Edward soon became.
1933/1935: Rosalie and Emmett Join The Cullens
After the arrival of Edward, it did not take too long for the Cullens to start gaining new members. The coven grew as both Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen were saved by Carlisle on separate occasions between 1933 and 1935. The pair became members of his brood in the process and soon became a couple shortly after.
1936: The Cullens Broker Peace With Forks’ Werewolves
The Cullen coven arrived in the small town of Forks in 1936 and immediately had to broker peace with the local Quileute werewolves. As the shapeshifters were outnumbered, they had no choice but to accept the offer of a truce on good faith, but the truce did hold (however uneasily) until the events of Eclipse. Of course, the depiction of the very much real Quileute tribe throughout the Twilight saga has been criticized for its inaccuracy to their traditions, and this fictional story bears no relation to the actual group and their rich history.
1950: Alice and Jasper Join The Cullens
The Cullen coven received its last new members (not including eventual vampire Bella) in 1950 when Alice and Jasper joined the family. The pair met in 1948 having been independently turned years earlier, and Alice found the Cullens thanks to her gift of foresight. The five siblings and two “parents” live in relative harmony for a few decades, laying low in Forks, until…
January 2005: Edward Meets Bella Swan
The action of Twilight begins in early 2005, as Bella moves to Forks and meets Edward Cullen for the first time. The pair are soon dating, which is just as well since the first movie’s action only accounts for a few weeks of the timeline. Predatory vampire James is defeated by the Cullen clan and Edward and Bella are together, only for Edward to decide that dating a human is too dangerous. Thus, the pair tragically break up, resulting in the events of New Moon.
March 2006: Bella Saves Edward From The Volturi
For five months, Edward and Bella date shortly after James’ defeat. Edward then dumps Bella, resulting in six long months of New Moon’s action being shared by her and secondary love interest Jacob Black. Edward then mistakenly believes Bella has died and realizes he can’t live without her. Thus, in Romeo & Juliet style, he leaves for Italy to commit suicide by Volturi, only for Bella to save him at the last second.
August 2006: Edward and Bella Marry
The middle movie Eclipse sees Edward propose to Bella, who believes they are too young and can’t marry off so soon. However, a kiss with Jacob and an attack from secondary villain Victoria soon leads her to decide that life is too short, and a year and a half after meeting in high school, Edward and Bella wed.
September 2006: Bella Gives Birth To Renesmee
Despite the saga repeatedly explaining that humans cannot survive the process of giving birth to a vampire baby, in September 2006 Bella does just that. Renesmee is a human-vampire hybrid born about a month after her parent’s wedding day, and her existence prompts the Volturi to visit Forks and see what the Cullen coven are hiding. This then leads to the climax of the saga a few months later, with vampires of the world facing off against the Volturi.
New Year’s Eve 2006: The Volturi Battle
The climactic last stand that ends the Twilight saga takes place not quite two years after Bella and Edward first met in January 2005, on New Year’s Eve 2006. The ending is something of a non-event, as Alice shows the Volturi the casualties their side will endure and the villains instead opt to sheepishly retreat, sparing Marcus his long-desired death. Thus ends the action of the Twilight saga, a story that spans a total of over fifteen hundred years all told.