Edward Cullen (born Edward Anthony Masen) was born on June 20, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, and is frozen in his 17-year-old body. While dying of the Spanish influenza, he was changed into a vampire kwa Dr. Carlisle Cullen after Edward's mother, Elizabeth, begged him to save Edward as her dying wish. Edward only drinks animal blood and has the special ability to read minds, with the exception of Bella Swan's. He falls in upendo with Bella soon after she arrives in Forks. Edward knows that he could kill Bella easily, a fact that torments him so much that, in the book New Moon, he decides to leave Forks with his family so they won't be able to hurt her. He returns, however, because he realizes he cannot live without her. Edward marries Bella in Breaking Dawn and they have a child, Renesmee.
