Jacob Black

Jacob Black
First appearance	Twilight
Last appearance	Breaking Dawn
Created by	Stephenie Meyer
Portrayed by	Taylor Lautner
Information
Nickname(s)	Jake
Species	Human/Shape-shifter (or "werewolf")
Gender	Male
Occupation	High school student
Title	Beta (New Moon and Eclipse), Alpha (Breaking Dawn)
Family	Billy Black (father), Sarah Black (mother, deceased), Rachel and Rebecca (older twin sisters), Ephraim Black (great-grandfather, deceased), Quil Ateara (second cousin)

Jacob "Jake" Black is a fictional character in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. He is described as a Native American of the Quileute tribe in La Push, near Forks, Washington. In the second book of the series, he undergoes a transformation that allows him to morph into a wolf. For the majority of the series, Jacob competes with Edward Cullen for Bella Swan's love. In the films Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, Jacob is played by Taylor Lautner.

Concept and creation

According to Stephenie Meyer, Jacob was originally meant to only be a device through which Bella could learn Edward's secret in Twilight. However, Meyer, her agent, and her editor all liked the character so much that they decided to give him a larger role in the following book, New Moon, with Meyer calling the character, "my favorite gift that New Moon gave to me."

"Jacob was my first experience with a character taking over—a minor character developing such roundness and life that I couldn't keep him locked inside a tiny role....From the very beginning, even when Jacob only appeared in chapter six of Twilight, he was so alive. I liked him. More than I should for such a small part."

Meyer has said that after Jacob started emerging as a prominent character in New Moon, she went back to Twilight, which she was editing at the time, to "weave Jacob and [his father Billy] throughout Twilight more centrally."

Role in the books

Twilight

Jacob has a small role in the first book of the series. He is the son of Billy Black, an old Swan family friend. When Bella uses him to get information on Edward Cullen and his family, Jacob tells her Quileute legends and introduces her to the idea that Edward is a vampire. Bella comes to like Jacob, and he develops a crush on her.

New Moon

Distraught over Edward's leaving in New Moon, Bella finds friendship with Jacob and slowly emerges from her months-long depression. Their friendship grows strong, but Jacob also develops romantic feelings for Bella that she does not reciprocate. Jacob, a member of the Quileute tribe, is descended from an ancient line of "shape-shifters" that assume wolf form. The Quileutes are vampires' mortal enemies, and Jacob undergoes his first transformation into a wolf in response to a new vampire threat. He becomes busy patrolling the forest with his pack, searching for vampires in the area. When Bella is caught by the vampire Laurent alone in a clearing, she is saved by Jacob and the wolf pack, who chase and kill Laurent.
Bella, who has been taking dangerous risks to feel closer to Edward, impulsively jumps off a cliff and almost drowns, but Jacob saves her life. After Edward mistakenly believes she has died, Bella and Edward's sister, Alice Cullen, rush to Italy to stop Edward from killing himself, leaving Jacob hurt and angry. Jacob is disgusted by Edward's return and by Bella's willingness to take him back after he left her. Jacob reminds Edward of his tribe's treaty with the Cullen family, which states that the Cullens are not allowed to bite humans.

Eclipse

In Eclipse, Jacob attempts to distance himself from Bella by not returning her phone calls and refusing to see her, enraged by the fact that Bella plans to become a vampire. Later, Jacob visits Bella and Edward to discuss the vampire Victoria's return, and he tells Bella that he misses her and wishes that they could remain friends. With Edward's approval, Bella begins to visit Jacob on a regular basis. On one of these visits, Jacob tells Bella that he is in love with her and that he wants her to choose him over Edward. Bella is caught off guard by his confession and tells him she only thinks of him as a friend. He forcibly kisses her, much to her displeasure, and she reacts by punching him in the face - breaking her hand and not leaving a scratch on him.
Jacob's werewolf pack and the Cullen family join forces to defeat Victoria and the army of newborn vampires she has created. Before the battle, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement, angering him greatly. Jacob threatens suicide and Bella, in an attempt to stop him, kisses him passionately. Afterward, she comes to the realization that she loves Jacob, but her love for Edward is greater. The epilogue is written from Jacob's point-of-view; angry and hurt at Bella's decision to become a vampire, and marry Edward, he runs away in his wolf form to escape his pain.

Breaking Dawn

Jacob returns after an absence to attend Bella and Edward's wedding in Breaking Dawn; though still visibly pained by her decisions, he tells Bella that he wants her to be happy. He is outraged when Bella inadvertently informs him that she and Edward plan to make love before she becomes a vampire, because he knows that Edward's strength could kill her. When Bella and Edward return from their honeymoon, Jacob becomes the narrator of the story for the next several chapters as he learns that she is pregnant with her and Edward's half-vampire, half-human child and that she has become desperately weak. When he informs the pack of Bella's pregnancy, their leader Sam Uley plans an attack on the Cullens, the point of which is to kill Bella and the baby because of the threat he believes the child presents. Jacob, who feels that the Cullens are innocent, disobeys Sam's command and separates himself from the pack, fulfilling his birthright as an Alpha wolf. He is joined in his new pack by Seth and Leah Clearwater, and they aid Jacob and the Cullens in protecting Bella. After the birth of Renesmee, Bella and Edward's daughter, Jacob almost immediately "imprints"—an involuntary response in which a shape-shifter finds his soul mate— with Renesmee. As a result, he no longer has romantic feelings for Bella, though they remain close friends. The enmity between Jacob and the Cullens is dispelled, and he and Edward come to view each other as brothers.

Characterization

Physical appearance

Jacob has russet skin, black hair and dark eyes. In Twilight, he is described as a lanky 6'2" fifteen-year-old with hair down to his shoulders. By Breaking Dawn, Jacob stands at 7 feet and has a muscular build. In New Moon, after discovering that he can turn into a wolf, he cuts off his long hair. He later grows it out in Eclipse, thinking that Bella prefers it long. This makes his fur as a wolf shaggier and longer than that of the other wolves. He is said to be quite handsome, once being described by Bella as "sort of beautiful". He tends to wear only cut-off style jeans or shorts, since clothes are often ruined during his transformations into a wolf. As a wolf, Jacob's fur is described as reddish-brown.

Personality and abilities

Bella describes Jacob as a "happy person" who extends this happiness to the people around him. As Jacob's character emerges in New Moon, he is shown to be cheery, passionate, adventurous, but hot-headed. Jacob is also able to phase at will into a giant wolf, and sometimes when angered he will involuntarily phase. His body temperature is warmer than a human's body should be, reaching about 108.9 °F (42.7 °C), which allows him to withstand very cold weather. His body also heals quickly, he can communicate with his werewolf pack telepathically when in wolf form, and he is physically stronger and faster than a human. Werewolves do not age if they regularly turn into their wolf form, with Jacob's body physically grown to the equivalent of a 25-year-old. Once they begin phasing, a werewolf may "imprint"—a method of finding one's soulmate—on someone, and will act as whatever the imprintee needs, whether it be a protector, a lover, or an older sibling. Jacob imprints on Edward and Bella's daughter Renesmee in Breaking Dawn.

Film portrayal

Taylor Lautner played the part of Jacob Black in the film adaptation of Twilight. Due to major physical changes in the character of Jacob between Twilight and New Moon, director Chris Weitz considered replacing Lautner in the sequel with an actor who could more accurately portray "the new, larger Jacob Black." In an attempt to keep the role, Lautner stated, "I have been working out. I've been working out since the day we finished filming Twilight. I just weighed myself today; I've put on 19 pounds... [and] I'm guaranteeing Weitz 10 more [pounds] by filming." In January 2009, Weitz and Summit Entertainment announced that Lautner would continue to play the role of Jacob in New Moon.