Gabriella is the adoptive daughter of Carlisle and Esme Cullen, and biological daughter to two unnamed parents. She is the adoptive sister to Alice, Edward and Emmett Cullen, as well as Jasper and Rosalie Hale. In Breaking Dawn, Gabriella becomes the adoptive sister-in-law of Bella Swan and adoptive aunt to Renesmee Cullen. She is the imprintee of Jacob Black.
Romances[]
Jacob Black[]
Gabriella's imprinter: Jacob Black
- "Warm brown eyes, the color of milk chocolate, stared up at me. My shaking jerked to a stop; heat flooded through me, stronger than before, but it was a new kind of heat - not a burning. It was glowing. Everything that made me who I was - my love for Bella, my love for my father, my loyalty to my pack, the love for my other brothers, my hatred for my enemies, my home, my name, myself - disconnected from me in that second - snip , snip, snip - and floated up into space. I was not left drifting. A new string held me where I was. Not one string, but a million. Not strings, but steel cables. A million steel cables all tying me to one thing - to the very center of the universe. I could see that now - how the universe swirled around this one point. I'd never seen the symmetry of the universe before, but now it was plain. The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood. It was the girl standing in front of me. Gabriella."
- —Jacob imprinting on Gabriella.
Jacob Black is the shapeshifter who imprinted on Gabriella Cullen, thus making him her soul mate. As part of the imprint, both Gabriella and Jacob become bound to one another. Jacob finds it incredibly hard to stay away from Gabriella due to the fact that he is magnetically drawn to her, and vise versa. He visits the Cullens on a daily basis just to be with her, much to the irritation of Rosalie. He comments that every step he took away from her caused him physical pain. It has been noted that Gabriella feels incomplete without Jacob by her side. By imprinting on Gabriella, Jacob has found what he needed to overcome his pain and sadness for Bella choosing Edward.
Initially when Jacob first imprinted on Gabriella, he only feels the need to protect her and keep her happy as nothing else is more important. Because of this, he dedicates himself to protecting her. Over time, Jacob will feel attracted towards his imprint, as will Gabriella feel attracted towards Jacob, as part of the imprinting.
Gabriella with Jacob in his wolf form
Edward was the one who found out about Jacob's imprinting on Gabriella via his thoughts. He attacked Jacob, however as time passes, he and the Cullens come to accept and understand that Jacob would never hurt Gabriella. Jacob thinks of Gabriella as "the most wonderful person in the world," and Gabriella often refers to Jacob as her "own personal sun". During graduation, Jacob gives Gabriella a charm with an intricated, hand-carved figurine of a miniature wolf.
When Gabriella is mistaken to be Vivienne Blackwell, a children of the moon and one of the Volturi's most wanted, by Irina of the Denali Coven and reported to the Volturi, ID certificates, a driving licenses and passports are arranged for Gabriella and Jacob in case they need to escape, knowing that Jacob will protect Gabriella with his life if the Volturi come looking for them. After the tension between the Volturi and Cullens ended, Jacob is more than happy to have Gabriella back safe.
Jacob's affections for Gabriella have been noted to be in a rivalry with Nathan Harris, a supernatural hunter who also has romantic feelings for Gabriella.
Nathan Harris[]
- "But you know what I really am? Selfish? Because I make bad choices that hurt you. Yes, I'd rather die right now than spend a handful of years with you only to lose you when I'm too old and sick and miserable and you're still you. I'd rather die right now than spend my last final years remembering how good I had it and how happy I was. Because that's who I am, Gabriella and I'm not going to change. And there's no apology in the world that encompasses all the reasons that I'm wrong for you."
- —Nathan to Gabriella.
Nathan Harris is a hunter who hunts supernatural creatures, and forms a deep bond with Gabriella, which turn both him and Jacob Black rivals for her affections.
Not long after the newborn battle in Eclipse, Nathan originally kidnaps Gabriella under the belief that her vvampire family were simply using her as a human blood bag, and in doing so he believed that he was saving her from the vampires of the Cullen family. Gabriella tried to explain that her family weren't like other vampires, and that they drank the blood of animals to survive instead of humans, but Nathan was under the impression that Gabriella had been brainwashed to think that. He began making bullets carved from the teeth taken from children of the moon, preparing himself to attack and kill the Cullen's. Nevertheless, while Gabriella was being held captive by Nathan, the two found themselves falling for one another.
When the Cullen's found Gabriella, a fight broke out between Nathan and Emmett. Nathan managed to inflict some kind of pain on Emmett, thanks to the specially carved bullets made from werewolf teeth, but before things turned ugly, Edward was able to stop the fight after listening to Gabriella and Nathan's thoughts, and finding out that they had developed feelings for one another. Realizing that this was just all a misunderstanding, Edward, along with Carlisle, become the voice of reason, and they all go back to Forks.
It has been mentioned that Nathan's fondness for Gabriella developed when he noticed her uncanny resemblance towards Vivienne Blackwell: Nathan's ex and Gabriella's maternal ancestor. However, when Nathan discovered just how compassionate and kind hearted Gabriella was - the complete and total opposite of Vivienne, who was vain, selflish and manipulative - Nathan quickly found himself falling for Gabriella. This action sparks a feeling of jealously from Vivienne directed towards Gabriella.
Although Nathan and Gabriella initially bicker and didn't get along at the start of their relationship, Gabriella began to slowly warm up to him as she got to know him, befriending him in the process. Nathan and Gabriella's relationship deepens with time and the two become closer, with Nathan falling for Gabriella and Gabriella developing feelings for Nathan. As opposed to Jacob, Nathan is seen to be extremely selfish when it comes to Gabriella, willing to put the life of Gabriella's before anyone else's, including Gabriella's loved ones.
Nathan's affections for Gabriella have been noted to be in a rivarly with Jacob Black, a shapeshifter who has imprinted on Gabriella.
Family[]
Carlisle Cullen[]
- "Gabriella was always an enigma to me. I had never found a human to take so much compassion in her heart that she could dissuade the fact that her family were vampires."
- —Carlisle on Gabriella's compassion
Carlisle Cullen is Gabriella's adoptive father. When Esme had brought up the idea of wanting to adopt a human child to raise as her own, she and Carlisle spent the next few weeks looking at orphan children who were in need of a home. Himself being very family motivated, it didn't make much persuasion for Carlisle to agree to Esme's plans, and a no more than a month later, they had adopted Gabriella Cullen, whos biological parents had died under unfortunate circumstances.
Carlisle's good nature, compassion and family motivation made him quickly love and adore Gabriella. While Carlisle loves all of his "adopted children" equally, he has a soft spot in his heart for Gabriella, particularly because of her fragile human nature. When Gabriella was little, Carlisle would often read stories to her as she went to bed, reading until she fell asleep in his arms.
When Gabriella was told the truth about her family being vampires and that Carlisle and Esme were only her adoptive parents, Gabriella showed no desire to know or meet her biological family. She has stated on numerous occasions that has no need to know of her birth parents because no one would ever be able to replace Carlisle and Esme as her parents. This shows that Gabriella loves her adoptive family so blindly that she has no need to know her biological family.
Carlisle stitches up Gabriella
Like Carlisle, Gabriella is very compassionate. It has been suggested that she inherited her compassion (a trait that she most likely picked up over the years of growing up) from Carlisle, and when she became a vampire, her compassion was amplified greatly, which helped her to focus solely on the animal diet.
Esme Cullen[]
Gabriella's adoptive mother: Esme Cullen
- Jacob: "You'd risk your lives for her?"
- Esme: "Of course we would: Gabriella's a part of our family."
- — Jacob and Esme on Gabriella.
Esme Cullen is Gabriella's adoptive mother.
Edward Cullen[]
Gabriella's adoptive brother: Edward Cullen
- "I've never hated you, Gabriella. I'm sorry I've made you feel that way. But you're my sister, and I love you."
- —Edward apologizes to Gabriella.
Edward Cullen is Gabriella's adoptive brother. When Carlisle and Esme told of their plans to adopt a human child into the household, Edward was the one who stood against their wishes. He knew of the danger that this child would cause if she was to be raised by a "family" of vampires. Over the years, while the rest of the Cullens came to accept and love Gabriella, Edward kept his distance. He barely paid any attention to Gabriella, to an extent that made Gabriella believe that he hated her. His point that Gabriella would bring nothing but danger was proven correctly one christmas morning when Gabriella got a paper cut and Jasper tried to attack her.
Rosalie Hale[]
Gabriella's adoptive sister: Rosalie Hale
Emmett Cullen[]
Gabriella's adoptive brother: Emmett Cullen
Gabriella's adoptive sister: Alice Cullen
- Emmett: "What happened to you?"
- Gabriella: "I punched a werewolf in the face"
- Emmett: "Badass. (Gabriella smiles) I've taught you well."
- — Emmett praises Gabriella.
Emmett Cullen is Gabriella's adoptive brother.
Alice Cullen[]
Gabriella's adoptive sister: Alice Cullen
- Gabriella: "But Alice, we already went shopping last week-"
- Alice: "That was last week! What about this week? Come on, Gabriella! Just think of all the shoes we will buy!"
- Gabriella: "I already have too many shoes!"
- Alice: "A girl can never have too many shoes."
- — Alice begs Gabriella to go shopping.
Alice Cullen is Gabriella's adoptive sister.
Jasper Hale[]
Gabriella's adoptive brother: Jasper Hale
- "Jasper, we've had this discussion before. You are not allowed to use your power on me until I have a power that I can use on you."
- —Gabriella to Jasper.
Jasper Hale is Gabriella's adoptive brother.
Harry Cullen[]
Bella Swan[]
Gabriella's adoptive sister-in-law: Bella Swan
Renesmee Cullen[]
Gabriella's adoptive niece: Renesmee Cullen
Anastasia Blackwell[]
Gabriella's ancestor: Anastasia Blackwell
- "Let's cut the crap: I don't like you. In fact, I would be very happy to see you dead, but the thing is, if you die, I die. So I kind of need you alive, Gabriella."
- —Anastasia taunts Gabriella.
Anastasia Blackwell is a vampire, the younger twin sister of Vivienne Blackwell and distant ancestor of Gabriella Cullen.
Vivienne Blackwell[]
Gabriella's ancestor: Vivienne Blackwell
- "You have his heart..." (Vivienne plunges her hand into Gabriella's chest cavity, grabbing her heart) "...now I'm going to break it."
- —Vivienne threatens Gabriella.
Vivienne Blackwell is a children of the moon, the older twin sister of Anastasia Blackwell and distant ancestor of Gabriella Cullen, descended by Vivienne's daughter Madeline.