To a stalking vampire with a gaslighting addiction to a manipulative werewolf, there is no denying that these two are both obviously terrible in their own nature. However, in the discussion of who is worse, Edward Cullen or Jacob Black, it has always been a controversial topic within the Twilight community. Some believe that Edward is worse due to his controlling behavior but others think Jacob is worse because of his hypocritical demeanor.
Let’s start with Edward Cullen. Edward shows multiple, obvious red flags. Example one, the first time he even comes into contact with Bella, our main character of the movie/story, he comes off as rude when she sees him covering his knows, causing her to believe she may smell. This example could technically be considered not a red flag but the fact he seemed so disgusted by the thought of sitting next to her just because of her scent (which we later find out was actually the opposite. She smelled TOO good because of her human blood), making her feel self conscious, could come across as him being impolite.
Though, our next example displays a genuine sign that Edward was a bad person. This instance is when Edward finally decided to have a conversation with her, after he literally saved from getting hit by a car, he chose to completely gaslight into making her believe that he was right next to her, saving her. But Bella knows full well that he was across the parking lot so his lie made no sense. This was not the first time he lies and gaslights her in the sagas. He also lies to her about him no longer loving her to ¨protect¨ her because she had gotten dragged into his family ¨drama¨, by that I mean she almost dies because of an enemy vampire tracking her and biting her, almost costing her her life. Which was such a horrible lie considering that in the book he says ¨ I love you. I have always loved you. and I always will¨ and in both the book and movie adaptation, they get married and have a child together.
That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Bella´s questionable relationship with Edward. He profusely stalks her and gets into her head, making her go practically insane.
He watches her sleep, is seen following her around SEVERAL times, and Bella just sees his actions as him protecting her from the dangers that he brought to her when they decided to pursue each other.
As well as Edwards routine of gaslighting and lying to Bella as a way of keeping her safe in a deranged way, he also manipulates her. At the beginning of the movie he tells Bella to stay away from him because hes a bad guy and exposes himself as a literal murder and then switches up by being possessive of her, not wanting her out of his sight. Edward then isolates her from her own family and friends and tries to dictate her decisions such as not allowing her to see Jacob.
Not only does he do all of this he nearly kills her while trying to protect her from being attacked by one of the Cullens, Jasper. Edward quite literally throws her against the wall which could have been done in so many different ways if really was trying to keep her safe. If the entire point of doing that was to get her away from harm’s way, there was absolutely no reason as to why throwing her against the wall was his best option.
Now we will be transitioning to our person, Jacob Black. Jacob is not a saint with his list of toxic traits. For our first example, he manipulates Bella into choosing between him or Edward, saying that if she doesn’t pick him he would disappear from Bella’s life, giving her no control over this choice that was a personal one that she should make on her own without being forced.
Not only does he manipulate Bella and her personal choices, he refuses to take no as an answer from her. When she tells Jacob she does not see him the way he sees her and refuses to believe her, even threatening to kill himself several times if she does not accept his confession to her. Which is an obvious flashing red flag and shows another sign of manipulation coming from his end.
This next example is kind of an iffy one depending on what your opinion view of it is but it is Jacob “imprinting” on Bella’s daughter Renesmee. For those who are unaware of what this means it is an event where a shape-shifting species/ or person from that species creates an unbreakable bond with another, typically described as becoming a “soulmate” to said person. People saw this as a red flag because they viewed it as Jacob actually falling in love with a literal baby but it was generally supposed to be viewed as something harmless, more so as a “platonic” type of bond, not a romantic one. Bella however, saw this as Jacob being possessive of a baby that wasn’t even his. But that is a whole different argument that we don’t have time for.
Along with this information about Jacob and Edward I have asked two people from the Twilight community to see what their opinions are. In our first interview, Adrianna, my sister explained,
“I feel Jacob was worse because he felt entitled to Bella just because he knew her longer and he disregarded her boundaries and feelings”.
Our final interviewee, Talina Mendoza (9th) , who is a friend of mine stated
“Edward was worse than Jacob because Edward made Bella fall into a deep depression for months”.
With both the evidence of both of the men and our two interviews, we can come to the conclusion that Edward seemed to be the biggest red flag within the love triangle. However, some people may see it differently. It is all based on your own interpretation.