I rewatched The Twilight Saga on DVD over the course of two days due to an internet outage in my area, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Charlie Swan is the most disrespected character in the entire series.

When I was in high school reading the Twilight books, if you asked me who had it the worst back then, I would have said Jacob. Watching the films again in my early 30s now, wow – would it be a nightmare to raise Bella Swan.

Bella Breaks Charlie’s Heart in Twilight

I can’t imagine raising a child that parrots back the exact same thing my ex said to me when they left me alone in our home. And that is what Bella had done; sure, James the Tracker was coming for them and Bella needed to get away – but couldn’t they think of something else? I say they, because Edward was 107 or 109 years old at the time and is essentially an old man trapped in a teenager’s body.

Edward…the old man in the books who if I remember correctly, was always putting Bella down and doubting her judgement. Why couldn’t this charming undead man who drove a silver Volvo think of a more…subtle, old-fashioned way to get Charlie to let Bella go?

Thinking back, you know what also killed me about that situation? After Bella and Edward’s first baseball game date that goes awry, Charlie never trusts Edward again. Bella and Edward have the nerve to be…annoyed by this?

Like Edward my guy, you claimed to be “from a different time” and to be “old fashioned” but you can’t explain why Charlie “won’t forgive (him) easily” after you brought his daughter home in a cast? If this were back in Edward’s day, the girl’s father and brothers would have taken him out back into the woods and shot him.

Bella’s Epic Depression in New Moon

New Moon is a depressing film. I’m not going to lie, If I wasn’t such a (past) Team Jacob fan, I may have skipped this film altogether during my rewatch. It almost hits too close to home viewing the sequence of Bella sitting in front of a window, comatose, watching the seasons pass her by from a window after a bad breakup.

But, that was a very realistic portrayal of her depression.

Also, it doesn’t help that Edward kicks off Bella’s teenage spiral toward self-harm and erratic behavior by abandoning her deep in the woods in Forks, Washington – where, if you remember from the earlier film – Chief Swan tells Bella has bears.

In the last film (Breaking Dawn part 2) Bella even kills a mountain lion. I know that may have been significantly further away from town, but it doesn’t negate the fact that Edward abandoned his fragile and poorly coordinated girlfriend in the middle of a densely-canopied forest hours before dark.

(Again, Edward is a 100+ year old man. That was not very gentleman-like of him.)

Anyway, so our good father Charlie sees that his teenage daughter is depressed, having reoccurring nightmares, and suggests she get out into the world again. Charlie suggests Bella hang out with Jacob – the harmless (at the time) youth down on the rez who had never harmed his daughter in any way (at the time).

Bella agrees, and despite her alternative “thrill” junkie moments where she puts herself in mortal danger in an attempt to conjure a hallucination of her elderly corpse boyfriend (poor thing – bless her heart), Bella does begin to get better and dare I say it, find happiness again.

Despite this, things are ruined when Alice has a vision of Bella cliff diving and misinterprets the outcome. As Alice comes for a visit, all of the progress Bella made is undone in all of 5 seconds when Bella’s codependency for Edward supersedes all logic and concern for herself. Jacob does point this out, and is shot down in the moment as Bella runs off to another country to help Edward.

Sidenote: Bella decides to fly to Italy and only leaves a note for Charlie – whom if you remember, is attending his close friend, Harry Clearwater’s funeral. Harry died of a shock (a heart attack) in the woods due to Victoria…the vampire specifically stalking Bella.

Harry didn’t make a sound while being lifted off his feet and strangled by Victoria which most likely saved Charlie’s life. I guess the Cullen Clan kind of forgot about the vengeful female vampire trying to avenge her mate James, huh?

Edward is Back in Bella’s Life and Charlie Swan is Depressed in Eclipse

Despite both Jacob and Charlie pointing out how healthy Bella’s time spent on the reservation had been for her social and emotional wellbeing, Bella reverts back to only hanging out with the Cullens.

Charlie tries to encourage his daughter to see her other friends since Bella spends so much time together with Edward, and Charlie is promptly shot down. Despite Bella actually making an effort to hang out with her phony friends, she mainly stays with Edward.

Charlie is delighted when Edward reminds Bella that her (expensive) nonrefundable ticket his parents brought her to visit her absentee mother Renee in Florida expires soon. This delight soon turns to disappointment when Bella says aloud that the companion ticket also expires shortly – meaning that Bella will not even be visiting her own mother alone without being under Edward’s watchful gaze.

Which by the way – Even Bella’s carefree, Hippie-esque mother Renee seemed put-off by the way Edward hovered over Bella. I believe the phrase Renee used was “you move, he moves…like magnets” and then Bella’s mother (uncharacteristically) gives Bella a short, stern speech about finding herself and what she – Bella, not Edward – wants for her burgeoning adult life.

I would like to note that this is the only time we see Renee do any sort of parenting toward Bella in the entire film series! (I cannot remember if she acted this way in the books during their meeting with Edward.)

Breaking Dawn Completely Breaks Chief Swan Down

Imagine that the daughter you haven’t really seen since childhood has been living with you. Now, imagine that said daughter gets a boyfriend and after each time visiting with him, becomes withdrawn, comes back hurt, and stops spending time with her other school friends. Now, imagine said daughter wants to marry this boyfriend and live with his reclusive and strangely unageing family…how would you feel?

From Charlie’s perspective, Bella marrying Edward is a horror movie that just got a sequel.

Fast forward past the wedding, and as we all know Bella gets pregnant. She dies in childbirth, but before perishing, 2 weeks after returning home to the Cullen Clan Compound the Cullens notify Charlie that Bella “caught a bug” and would need some time.

Remember – this is a pattern at this point. Bella is fine and happy at home, and then Edward or the Cullens show up, Bella leaves, and returns hurt, injured, or emotionally damaged. (Like her birthday outing at the Cullen’s home ending in stitches up her arm sprung from a mere paper cut.)

To make matters worse, despite already saying she would be “going away” to a college in Alaska after graduation, Charlie is told by his daughter that she needs to “go away” again – but this time to a special medical facility in Switzerland…I’m sorry Bella, what?

Did none of the other centenarian vampires have any better ideas than Switzerland, or leaving town long enough for everybody they know to die?

Well, Jacob averts the crisis and prevents the Cullens from leaving by transforming into a direwolf. Charlie leaves confused, and treks onto the Cullen residence deep into the secluded woods.

Charlie then notes Bella’s (slightly) altered appearance, the coldness emanating from his daughter’s body during a hug, Bella and Edward’s “adopted” niece that has Bella’s eyes, and Charlie is told by his daughter not to ask too many questions because she can’t answer them, otherwise she would have to “go away” again.

I’m sorry but after that, what normal, sane person wouldn’t think that their daughter had joined a cult or is being abused in some way by the Cullen Clan?

While things do end up working out in the end, Charlie will remain confused regarding the relationship between his daughter and “adopted” daughter, Renesmee. Further complications may arise in 6-ish years if the Brazilian dhampair’s declaration of reaching maturity in 7-odd years rings true.

This weirdness would be further expedited when Charlie realizes that Jacob – the nice boy from the reservation who turned into a wolf – is now dating his surrogate granddaughter who became a fully-fledged adult in under a decade.

Not to mention, Bella and Edward not aging a lick during that time. Or Jacob, from what I remember from the books would also stop aging for a time once he reached 25 years old.

So in short…Charlie Swan is a good man and a good father who really drew the dregs in the barrel during The Twilight Saga. But, what do you think?

Did you notice anything different in the movies while rewatching them as you got older? Do you feel for Charlie Swan given his difficulty raising Bella with the Cullens involved in her life? Are there any other tragic characters in the story that should be covered?

Give me your thoughts and leave them in the comment section below! And until next time ~

“This world is a shadow of the real one”.

❂ Stories From the New World

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