Twilight introduced the audience to Bella Swan, who upon her arrival at Forks, Washington, became a sensation among her classmates even though there wasn’t anything special nor outstanding about her – but what if she was a succubus and never knew about it? Vampires and werewolves have become some of the most popular and beloved characters in pop culture, but in 2005, they were given a different mythology in Twilight. Written by Stephenie Meyer, the novel told the story of the problematic romance between mortal Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, who had to overcome a series of obstacles so they could be together, among those other vampire covens and even a pack of werewolves.
Twilight was the first entry in a series of four novels which became a worldwide phenomenon. As happens with most successful book series, the Twilight novels made the jump to the big screen not long after the publishing of the final book, Breaking Dawn. The Twilight Saga expanded the books’ fanbase but also highlighted many of the series’ flaws and left many questions about the characters, events, and how the overall mythology of this universe works – and among those is what made Bella so special.
The Twilight series is told from Bella’s perspective, and it all begins when she moves to Forks to live with her father, Charlie Swan. Bella is described as shy, clumsy, an introvert, and pretty much someone who has nothing special that can make her stand out, yet she was a big sensation when she arrived at Forks High School. Boys competed for her attention but she wasn’t interested in anyone except for the mysterious Edward Cullen, who at first appeared to be appalled by her. It was later revealed that Bella's blood had a very alluring smell to vampires, which according to Bree Tanner was “the sweetest scent she’d ever smelled”, but that doesn’t explain why humans were so attracted to her, so a fan theory suggests she was no ordinary girl and was actually a succubus.
A succubus is a supernatural entity that takes a female form and appears in dreams to seduce men. In religious traditions, repeated sexual encounters with a succubus were said to cause poor physical and mental health, while in modern representations it’s depicted as a beautiful seductress or enchantress rather than demonic. Now, given that Meyer took a lot of creative liberties when building her Twilight universe and the creatures that live in it, the succubus would have also gone through some changes to fit the style of the novel and make it more “realistic”. The author of the theory, posted on Reddit, shares that being a succubus could explain why Bella was so attractive to humans, werewolves, and vampires, despite being described as an average girl. Her “condition” could even be genetic, which is why Jacob imprinted on Renesmee almost immediately.
If Bella was a succubus she obviously didn’t know about it, and it’s unknown what would have happened to that side of her once she became a vampire. As fun as this theory is, some Twilight readers have pointed out some flaws, such as Alice being able to see Bella in her visions as she’s only able to see that of vampires and humans, so if Bella was a succubus, she wouldn’t have appeared in her visions. Bella was most likely so attractive to everyone simply because she was the protagonist of the books and movies, following the trope of the supposedly average girl that is actually “very special”, but it might be fun to keep the succubus theory in mind the next time you watch the Twilight movies.