Okay I have finished Eclipse now, and I think you really could end there and headcanon/fanfic the rest (I’m still gonna try a BD re-read, but I remember hating it so vividly that I don’t know if I’ll make it through lol).
So Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, yeah I still think they’re good reads, and there is definitely a lot of toxicity in them to unpack, but in the same way that while Meyer may have officially written a romance - some old texts were “comedies” that we no longer consider that way (but rather, dramas or tragedies). Death of the author, basically - their original intention may exist in their own minds, but we can perceive differently (and frankly, we should).
So here’s how I see the ending of Eclipse: Tragic.
The entire book, Bella seems to be wavering on the idea of becoming a vampire. She knows she wants to be with Edward, and is worried about the Volturi coming to check on her, but she’s afraid of saying goodbye to all the people in her life, and giving up human experiences. She resist the idea of marriage, and then suddenly decides she wants to bone Edward as another “demand” before vampirism. For me, I’m reading it as some deeply entrenched rational part of Bella continues to try and find excuses, an out - something to delay it. Or as I interpret it - there’s a part of her… deep down, that is trying to break this thrall, because that’s how it reads to me, anyway.
She realizes she’s in love with Jacob, and the idea of not being with him hurts her so much she can’t even drive home - but she insists that she “can’t live without Edward” (who is a “drug” to her, a thrally thrally drug…).
Edward offers to vamp her in the meadow, and she says no. Probably because that rational Bella underneath the thrall is still fighting, as it has been this whole time. She insists the marriage will let her have a final goodbye to everyone, and then they go tell Charlie (who I imagine flipped his shit).
Jacob, meanwhile, upon getting the letter from Edward, runs off in wolf-form, needing to be alone. The fact that it specifically ends on that note, instead of just Bella going to tell her dad, suggests to me a tragic end - not a happy, decisive one. The entire marriage/engagement was so… ominous, it doesn’t feel like Bella is actually happy in the end?
Anyway, you could fanfic the ending if you’re a BD hater, and maybe find a way to Headcanon a happy conclusion that works for you.
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