The Big Picture
- The movie adaptation of Eclipse diverges from the book by introducing Riley as a well-known villain and giving the audience insight into his role in creating the newborn army.
- The movie expands on the presence of the newborns, showing their creation and training, whereas the book only briefly mentions them until the battle.
- Edward's relationship with Jacob is portrayed differently in the book and movie, with the movie emphasizing constant animosity while the book explores Edward's acceptance of Jacob for Bella's sake.
The Twilight Saga’s third entry, Eclipse, is perhaps the most divisive of the saga. It goes heavy on the love triangle between Bella (Kristen Stewart), Edward (Robert Pattinson), and Jacob (Taylor Lautner), and the movie makes quite a few changes from the book, though, that’s not entirely the movie’s fault. The books in the Twilight series are written from Bella’s point of view, so anything going on with the other characters that she’s not directly involved in or there to witness, is only told to us, never shown. The great thing about the movie adaptations is that they don’t have to stick solely to Bella’s perspective and can play around with the other characters as well. It opens up the narrative a lot more and gives us more insight into the world outside of Bella's eyes. And because of this narrative ability, Eclipse made some noticeable changes when it was adapted into a movie.
Riley Is Less Known in the 'Eclipse' Book
Riley (Xavier Samuel) and Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) and their army of newborns are the Big Bads of Eclipse. Riley plays a huge part in the movie, and his disappearance and attack by the hands of Victoria is what kicks off the film. Charlie (Billy Burke) is the one investigating his disappearance, unknowingly putting himself in harm's way, and Edward even recognizes Riley as a local, making him a rather well-known and prominent character throughout the movie. But in the book, no one knows who Riley is, nor do they know where he's from or how long he’s been missing. But honestly, this is a change that was for the better, as Riley is a pretty solid Twilight villain, and seeing him create and train the newborn army is one of the best parts of Eclipse.
The Newborns Have a Much Larger Presence in the 'Eclipse' Movie
In the movie, we see Riley create and train an army of newborns, a group of vampires freshly turned and thus at their absolute strongest. They’re featured prominently throughout the movie as they grow stronger and slowly approach the town of Forks, but in the book that’s not the case. In the book, the newborns aren’t even seen until the battle, and they’re only briefly mentioned by Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) when he’s telling Bella about his history.
Edward's Feelings Towards Jacob Are Significantly Different
When it comes to Twilight, you’re either Team Jacob or Team Edward, and Eclipse was sort of the epic finale to the ship war. But the way Jacob and Edward act around each other in this sequel varies quite differently between book and movie. In the movie, Edward and Jacob have an unyielding distaste for one another, and it never changes. They have their moments where they’re civil, mostly for the sake of Bella, but for the most part… let’s just say if looks could kill, there wouldn’t be a ship war to speak of. In the book, Edward starts to believe that it may not be so bad if Bella sees Jacob, something movie Edward never thinks. He also notices how his protection over Bella and his keeping her away from the wolves and Jacob is only making her upset, and so he relents, and tolerates her friendship and closeness with them. The only thing similar in the movie is that Edward and the rest of the Cullens agree to work together with the wolves after finding out that Riley visited Bella’s house. It’s merely a temporary truce to keep Bella safe, not something Edward particularly wants to do.
The 'Eclipse' Movie (Thankfully) Changed Charlie’s Reaction to Bella and Jacob’s Kiss
In the movie, Bella breaks her hand punching Jacob in the face after he kisses her without her consent. He explains this to Charlie with a simple “I kissed Bella, and she broke her hand punching my face, total misunderstanding" — to which Charlie looks utterly shocked. But in the book, his reaction is much more joyful, which is rather odd considering Jacob’s kiss was unasked for and unwanted by Bella. But when Jacob tells Charlie about the kiss in the book, Charlie responds with a “Good for you.” Sure, it likely stems from Charlie’s dislike of Edward, and his bias toward Jacob as a suitor for Bella, but this was definitely one of the better changes the movie made.
Bella Wants Edward To Hurt Jacob in the 'Eclipse' Book
On the topic of the unwanted kiss, after it happens in the book, Bella wants Edward to hurt Jacob for kissing her and causing her to hurt her hand. Whereas in the movie, Bella is very adamant that she doesn’t want Jacob and Edward fighting, nor does she ask Edward to hurt Jacob for kissing her, or blame Jacob for her hand breaking.
Jasper Gets Bit by a Newborn in the Book
In the book, during the battle, Jasper attempts to help everyone he can — his family, the wolves, and especially Alice (Ashley Greene). His fierce protection of Alice results in him getting bit by some of the newborns, prompting Alice to call him an overprotective fool. It feels like a rather important moment and shows how far Jasper is willing to go to protect his loved ones and those he’s loyal to, and yet none of this is shown in the movie.
Jacob’s Injury Plays Out Differently in the 'Eclipse' Movie
Jacob breaks his ribs after a newborn wraps its arms around his middle while he’s in his wolf form. Due to their incredibly strong nature as newborn vampires, Jasper explicitly warned everyone earlier not to let them get their arms around you. Unfortunately for Jacob, the battle was seemingly over and this was one of the newborns that had managed to survive and hide during the battle. In the book, Edward sees the attack while reading Seth’s thoughts, prompting him and Bella to rush to the clearing, and she faints on the way there. But in the movie, Bella and Edward are already in the clearing with everyone and see the attack happen, so there’s no fainting to be had. Instead, she quickly rushes to Jacob’s side to check on him.
The Final Showdown Between Edward and Victoria Has Higher Stakes in the 'Eclipse' Movie
Early in the movie, the Quileute tribe tells Bella a story about The Third Wife. The story goes that the Third Wife’s son Yaha Uta killed “the cold man” (a vampire), and after doing so, the cold man’s mate came to seek revenge, attacking their village. The cold woman killed the Third Wife’s son, and was very nearly about to kill her husband, Taha Aki, when the Third Wife suddenly took a knife and stabbed herself. The scent of blood distracted the cold woman long enough for Taha Aki to kill her and save the village. The sacrifice the Third Wife made saved the tribe, and her death made the tribe so angry and upset that it caused them to phase into wolves for the first time. Bella becomes fascinated by this story and the woman’s sacrifice, so it is only natural that it would come about later in the film again.
In both the book and the movie, Bella’s sacrifice takes place at the same time, during Edward’s fight with Victoria, but there is a slight difference. In the book, Bella doesn’t actually cut herself with the rock. Instead, she lets out a gasp as she prepares to cut open an old scar, which distracts Victoria and allows Edward to kill her. Edward tells her this was an unnecessary risk as he wasn’t at any sort of disadvantage fighting Victoria. But in the movie, Edward is almost beheaded by Victoria, which prompts Bella to pick up a rock and cut herself. This successfully distracts Victoria and gives Edward the chance to behead her instead, finally putting an end to the relentless villain.
The Biggest Change the 'Eclipse' Movie Made Is the Final Battle
The biggest change the movie made is the battle between the Cullens and the newborn army. In the book, since it never wavers from Bella’s perspective, we only hear about the battle and catch up with the Cullens when it’s over. Instead, we spend the entire battle in the book atop the mountain with Bella, Jacob, and Edward. Of course, there’s the showdown between Edward and Victoria to look forward to, but for how much the battle was hyped up and trained for in the book, it was a little disappointing that we didn’t get to see it. Cut to Eclipse’s movie adaptation, and we not only get the mountaintop scenes, but we also get to witness the battle with our own eyes and not just hear about it in passing. It’s honestly a shame the Twilight Saga didn’t have more action sequences, because the ones it does have are pretty great.
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