Eclipse Alternate Ending

As is commonly known, Twilight and Forever Dawn were originally not written for publication. When Stephenie Meyer (SM) took Twilight and the first half (roughly) for Forever Dawn to Little Brown (LB), she was told that Twilight would work well in the Young Adult (YA) genre, but Forever Dawn would not, and that she needed to write the story to keep Bella in high school longer ("The biggest non-YA thing I'd done with Forever Dawn was this: I'd pretty much passed over the rest of Bella's high school experience entirely, skipping ahead to a time in her life with more mature themes."1 (www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | New Moon | The Story)). So, SM wrote the story to finish out Bella's senior year of high school at the same time she was editing Twilight. By the time she was done, there was two more books of material, and it would take a fourth book to tell the story in Forever Dawn, which SM had completed shortly after negotiating the contract. SM requested a contract for a fourth book, but was told she should come up with an ending for the series at the end of the third book. She came up with an ending for Eclipse, but was not happy with it and could not let go of the idea of finishing the story with Renesmee, who she had created in Forever Dawn ("Um, actually, Nessie was one of the reasons that Breaking Dawn exists...This was a very hard fought battle and I was fighting for Nessie the whole time. She was a character that I was not going to allow her to be destroyed. She had to exist. So, she was in my Forever Dawn.") After Twilight and New Moon were published and the series was clearly a success, she and her agent went back to LB, and negotiated for a fourth book. She says she was asked: "Can you make an ending that you're happy with?' And I said `no, I can't make an ending that I'm happy with.'" (www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Chicago Q&A). My theory is that the alternate ending was completely different than that of Breaking Dawn (BD). When asked "What made you decide to do the pregnancy story line because it seems kind of far from where the characters seem to be heading." she stated:

"I have heard that and let me tell you in new moon2 and eclipse, with one exception, every plot line, every moment is heading towards what happens in breaking dawn. I knew exactly where it was going and all the hints are actually in there. You kind of have to dig for them but every thing that happens happens for this reason. The one exception is actually the back story of the Quileutes. That was something I that wrote when there was this possibility that I was going to be forced into this 3 book thing which I didn't see how I could do an ending I liked. I came up with an alternate ending that, I had, I kind of get a kick out of it. It was a little different. I don't think anyone else would have liked it; my mom hates it. But he Quileute back story indirectly leads into that. So that's really the only part that wasn't focused on this ending." (www.twilightlexiconblog.com: Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Los Angeles Q&A ).

However, there are undeniably vestiges of the fact the series was once headed for a different conclusion.3

SM has said that she may, someday, put that ending on her website (www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | Eclipse | FAQ). I would bet that, in that ending, Bella stays human (I really doubt that SM would turn her into a vampire before she became a mother), but Edward's soul ends up with Jacob's body.4 Bella gets both Edward and Jacob. Does that story line sound a little familiar? Kind of like, The Host? Stephenie writes about The Host here (www.teenreads.com: Author Profile | Stephenie Meyer | Author Talk):

"The kernel of thought that became THE HOST was inspired by absolute boredom. I was driving from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, through some of the most dreary and repetitive desert in the world. It's a drive I've made many times, and one of the ways I keep from going insane is by telling myself stories. I have no idea what sparked the strange foundation of a body-snatching alien in love with the host body's boyfriend over the host-body's protest. I was halfway into the story before I realized it. Once I got started, though, the story immediately demanded my attention. I could tell there was something compelling in the idea of such a complicated triangle. I started writing the outline in a notebook, and then fleshed it out as soon as I got to a computer. THE HOST was supposed to be no more than a side project --- something to keep me busy between editing stints on ECLIPSE --- but it turned into something I couldn't step away from until it was done."

So, shortly after the release of New Moon SM has the go ahead to write the fourth book and change the direction of the series back to the original scenario of Forever Dawn. The fans had been expressing their desire to see Bella as a vampire, so subtle changes had been made to New Moon to go in that direction. There was time to rework Eclipse, and the best way to do that would be to write BD simultaneously, to make sure the story flowed as much as it could into the changed direction. But, no, SM was distracted by her new project, and so Eclipse came off sounding like it was still headed in the original direction. Yes, the imprinting thing was put in, and a few other things that foreshadowed the events in BD. And, she may still have pulled it off, except that she got so caught up in The Host that she never even started BD until the fall of 2007, three months before she was supposed to have it done. She didn't have time to do it right. I wouldn't have liked it regardless, but it was way obvious to a lot of fans the BD wasn't was it was supposed to be. Instead of writing a new book with some of the events in Forever Dawn that followed through on the first three books, SM took Forever Dawn and tried to adapt it. Just didn't work for any astute reader. We all saw through it. In order to successfully end a series that had introduced many characters and plotlines during the timeframe that had originally been left out, BD needed the time and thought that The Host got instead.

Twilight Series Timeline

June 2, 2003: SM's dream inspires Twilight (www.stepheniemeyer.com: StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight). She writes the book, with the intent of stopping at the end of one book: "...Twilight was just going to be one book and I wasn’t thinking about sequels, Bella and Edward got engaged at the end of Twilight and were headed off toward their happily ever after...5(www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Seattle Q & A)

September 1, 2003: (approximately) Twilight completed (StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight), Forever Dawn started (www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | New Moon | The Story).

December 1, 2003: (approximately): Twilight accepted for publication ("And that's how, in the course of six months, Twilight was dreamed, written, and accepted for publication." (StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight). The contract with the publisher is for a trilogy that ends with some or all of the storyline for Forever Dawn, which started off with Bella and Edward getting married. ("I had Twilight and I showed them what I was working on for Forever Dawn and they said ‘you know, we’d really like to keep Bella in high school for a little bit longer, develop that more, keep it more YA.’ And I said ‘Ok, there are some interesting stories to do in there.'" www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Chicago Q&A ).

February 2004: Forever Dawn completed ("The rough draft of Breaking Dawn, which you guys know is Forever Dawn, I was finished around February of 2004" www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Chicago Q&A ). It was not intended for publication and given to SM's sister. (StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight | FAQ). However, once the book was finished, SM became convinced the series should end with the same events having taken place.

February 2004-March 2005 (approximately) Twilight edited, story between the events of Twilight and Forever Dawn developed "I was writing New Moon and editing Twilight simultaneously. So, when Jacob Black started taking over New Moon, I was able to go back and weave Jacob and Billy throughout Twilight more centrally." (www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | New Moon | The Story).

March 2005-October 2005: (approximately) Work on New Moon and Eclipse continues. (in the Borders Book Club interview, Chapter 6, SM stated that the rough draft of Eclipse was complete by the time Twilight was released). Wrapping up the series with the Forever Dawn events will require a fourth book. A scenario for ending the series at Eclipse is developed and the Quilluette back-story is written to set up for it, but the ending will require another six chapters.

October 5, 2005: Twilight released. SM is still refering to the series as a trilogy (Interview: Twilight Author Stephenie Meyer).

Late 2005-Early, 2006 (approximately): SM determined to write fourth book "I have no intention of quitting at three. Firstly, Bella and Edward would never forgive me. Secondly, the next two books would have to be 1000+ pages apiece to get the story to any place that felt like a true resolution. Thirdly, there are other stories to tell here, and, though the narrator might change6, the story will continue. I just have way too much fun living in Forks (in my head) to stop anytime soon." (StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight | FAQ)New Moon revised, possibly to set up for the "Breaking Dawn" ending. Revisions: www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | New Moon | Outakes7) SM pushes LB for a contract for a fourth book, but she is still an unproven author (EW Exclusive: Stephenie Meyer Reveals a Spoiler), and the editors respond: "we’d just really just like it to be three books, and end with Eclipse." (www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Chicago Q & A ).

Mid-February through Mid-April 2006 Personal Correspondence (PC) between Alphie and SM. The PCs are eventually published on the Lexicon.8 Inconsistencies9 from the story are due to the changes in storyline between Forever Dawn and the subsequent direction the story took. (www.breakingdonnas.com: Twilight Lexicon Forums, April 15, 2007: "People are going to pick apart every line I write for inconsistencies, which of course will exist, because I am not infallible. Sigh.")

August 21, 2006: New Moon released.

Fall, 2006: LB enters into new contract for BD. New Moon extras written.

Late 2006 through Early 2007 (approximately): Eclipse written/revised.

February, 2007: SM tells members of Crepuscelo in Spain that she would eventually write the six chapter alternate ending for Eclipse and post it on her website. (www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Q&A Session in Spain with the Members of Crepusculo.)

Spring, 2007: Work on The Host takes place while Eclipse is edited.

Late Spring 2007: Rough draft of The Host completed and put out for publisher's bids. LB wins publishing rights.

Summer 2007: The Host edited. (MySpace.com-Stephenie, July 8, 2007, "I was slogging away finishing The Host edit.")

August 7, 2007: Eclipse released.

September-December, 2007: BD written and completed days before Christmas. (MySpace.com-Stephenie, December 22, 2007, "(A)round 1:20 a.m., I finally finished the rough draft of Breaking Dawn") LB announces The Host will be released on May 6, 2008.

Mid-January 2008: The Host final edits completed.

January 22, 2008: Major edit of BD begins: Twilight Moms.

February 6, 2008: LB announces that BD would be released on August 2, 2008.

1By "non-YA", SM meant marriage of the main characters, which does not fit into the YA concept. I know of no credible documentation that clearly indicates that LB objected to publishing the content of Forever Dawn, but, to be consistent with the YA format, the marriage theme should not have occured until the end of the series ("They wouldn't have let me get away with Breaking Dawn as a YA novel if it was the first book in the series. But pretty much nobody argues with me these days. And I'm not talking about smut (sorry! I know that disappoints), I'm talking more about adult issues that go along with (some of) the characters growing up."(Twilight Moms)), which was to be a trilogy. However, had LB not advised SM to come up with an alternate ending at the time she entered into the contract for the trilogy, they did later when SM wrote three books worth of material leading to the events in Forever Dawn and requested a contract for a fourth book.

2According to the www.TwilightLexicon.com About Stephenie Meyer, it was after the release of New Moon that the book deal expanded from three to four. So, if New Moon was setting up for Breaking Dawn, it had to be subtle.

3One vestige is the fact that the characters "Jane" and "Alec" are child vampires in the Volturi. They were introduced in New Moon. Later in the series, in BD, much of the plot centers around the prohibition against child vampires. SM had to provide an explanation after the publication of New Moon www.twilightlexiconblog.com: Lexicon Personal Correspondence #10 (September 19, 2006): "Alec is Jane’s twin brother. (I will not tell you what his gift is, only that it is more potent in battle than hers. He is one of the main reasons that the Volturi guard is invincible.) They were burned at the stake for witchcraft when Aro stepped in. (By "stepped in" I mean "slaughtered the whole village," of course). Aro already had his eye on these two, but he wanted to let them age before he took them. The villagers forced his hand, which sort of pissed him off."

4A compelling indication of this is the references to Edward's soul on pages 37, 69 and 518 of New Moon, a plotline that was dropped later in the series.

5My guess is, at the end of the original Twilight, Bella is a vampire due to James's bite, and the first chapter is Forever Dawn is her waking up in hospital, to find out that her transformation was a dream, because Edward had sucked the venom out allowing the story to continue on to the birth of Renesmee. Twilight is an allegory for the Mormon concept of the "Celestial Kingdom" in which the male partner becomes a God after death, and his wife is his eternal partner. (MORMON VAMPIRES: THE TWILIGHT SAGA AND RELIGIOUS LITERACY)The missing element was the ability to procreate. SM could not give up the themes of eternal marriage and procreation, and insisted upon ending the series with both elements.

6"I would have to say, the most likely narrators going forward in the future are Nessie and Leah." (www.twilightlexiconblog.com: The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Chicago Q&A)

7In the(Borders Book Club interview, Chapter 3), SM states that she didn't come up with concept of the Quiluettes being "werewolves" until she wrote Forever Dawn. In the original draft of New Moon, the Quiluettes are not identified as "werewolves" until the very last line in the book, a line about which SM states she: "still has a soft spot for" (www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | New Moon | Outakes). The line is Edward asking Bella: "Do you mind washing your hair? You absolutely reek of werewolf". But, at the end of BD, the "werewolves" are revealed to really be "shape-shifters", leading me to think that that is what they were in Forever Dawn. However, since "shape-shifter" wouldn't have work well in the original last line, and because of SM's desire to play off on the legendary enimity of werewolves and vampires, the nature of the Quiluette's form was changed in New Moon, and had to be carried through in Eclipse and most of BD, where, seemingly out of the blue, it went back to shape-shifter.

8There is a misconception that the Lexicon is owned by SM. It isn't, nor does it represent her personally. It's co-owned by the site adminstrators, Lori Jeffs and Laurie Byrne-Christiano:



9www.twilightlexiconblog.com: Lexicon Personal Correspondence #4 (March 11, 2006): Q: How do the Cullens forge all the necessary paperwork - i.e. birth certs, past school records, etc.? A: They buy them off skilled forgers. At the present time, Jasper has a contact in Seattle. www.twilightlexiconblog.com: Lexicon Personal Correspondence #8 (April 10, 2006): Q: Is there any more information you can give us about the Cullen house? A: Something to remember, these rooms are ginormous. This is a really BIG house. Also, there’s a lot of unaccounted for space on the third floor euphemistically dubbed the “library.” This is where they do things that are technically illegal–like document forgery and computer hackery and all kinds of other shady stuff.
The first is consistent with Forever Dawn when Bella visits Jenks to get passports for Jake and Renesmee, the second with page 421 in New Moon where Alice says: "Please tell me you have a passport. I don't have time to forge one." SM should have left out the whole Jenks thing in BD. It was in Forever Dawn (www.stepheniemeyer.com: Twilight Series | Breaking Dawn | FAQ: "The last chapter ends the same way, but there is an epilogue. It involves Max (J. Jenk's assistant). Bella's initial interaction with him is a little bit longer and, feeling she owes him a favor, she gives him her number and tells him she will help him out in return if he ever needs a favor of his own. Max gets himself into some trouble, and Bella gets to play Superman.") but it no longer worked in BD. It made no sense, after extending the timeline with New Moon and Eclipse, that Bella would have had no idea about how the Cullen's managed to document their lives (or that there was a cottage in back of their house, or that they owned an island in South America).