Personality Traits and Abilities

Bella is described as an understanding, caring, serious, shy, and intelligent person, with a very dry sense of humor, and is noted for being very clumsy, and also stubborn. She has a very private mind, which is thought to be why Edward is unable to see her thoughts, and she is determined to become a vampire. She is also said to be terrible at lying, but occasionally demonstrates good acting ability. Bella becomes faint at the smell of blood, though this does not bother her once she becomes a vampire. Stephenie Meyer has stated that Bella's "tragic flaw" in Eclipse is her lack of self-knowledge. After being turned into a vampire, she describes having a more clear view of the world. She is also very self-controlled, being able to run away from the scent of human blood on her first hunting trip. Bella's private mind that rejected some vampires' special abilities while she was human evolved after she became a vampire; her ability formed into allowing her to shield those around her from the mental powers of some other vampires. She is also described by Edward as "very graceful", even for a vampire, in comparison to her earlier clumsiness.