Stephenie Meyer's iconic Twilight series centered on Bella Swan's supernatural love story with Edward Cullen, but for some fans of Meyer's books and the incredibly successful film saga they inspired, it's all about Jacob Black. While Edward was known for being very brooding, possessive and overprotective of Bella from the moment they met, Jacob became Bella's friend before he tried to pursue her romantically and was one of the brightest lights in her often dark and chaotic life.
Ever since Jacob stepped up in New Moon to become Bella's secondary love interest, readers and viewers alike have gotten into intense debates with each other over whether they should be Team Edward or Team Jacob, and while it was fairly clear that Bella would end up with her vampire soulmate at the franchise's conclusion, of Team Jacob held hope that she'd find happiness with Jacob instead. Even now, over ten years since Breaking Dawn hit bookshelves worldwide and brought the series to a close, some Twihards still can't decide which suitor they prefer.
As the epic saga's primary male protagonist, Edward's character was fleshed out incredibly well and fans are thus able to recall nearly every detail of his life, history and the gifts granted to him when he was turned into a vampire. Jacob's backstory and other significant details about his personality, family, and Quileute shape-shifter abilities, however, remain a mystery to all but the most dedicated Twilight enthusiasts.
Here are 20 Wild Details Only True Fans Know About Jacob Black.
20. HE WAS MEANT TO BE A MINOR CHARACTER
In Twilight, Bella turned to her friend Jacob Black in hopes of getting some information about Edward Cullen. This was initially supposed to be Jacob's sole purpose in the series, but on Meyer's official website, the author revealed that since she and her editor liked Jacob so much, they decided to give him a larger role in the sequels.
"Something happened then that I didn’t expect. 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," Meyer wrote. "From the very beginning, even when Jacob only appeared in chapter six of Twilight, he was so alive." Her agent and editor both agreed and requested more Jacob in the story, and Meyer obliged by making him a main character in New Moon and turning the mere plot device into a potential love interest for Bella.
19. HE HAS TWO OLDER SISTERS
The Twilight series gave readers and viewers a chance to get to know each member of Edward Cullen's vampire coven, but fans, unfortunately, didn't get nearly as many opportunities to learn about Jacob Black's family.
Jacob was the great-grandson of Ephraim Black, the Quileute elder who made a peace treaty with the Cullens upon their first stay in Forks. Jacob's father Billy knew the truth about the Cullens and did everything he could think of to protect Bella from the vampires, as she was the daughter of his best friend Charlie Swan. Jacob appeared to be an only child in the series because he was his father's primary caretaker, but he actually had two older sisters, Rachel and Rebecca, who were both twins.
18. HIS MOTHER ED AWAY WHEN HE WAS 9 YEARS OLD
In New Moon, Bella learned that Jacob loves fixing and riding motorcycles. Bella was desperate for an adrenaline rush that could help her see cautionary visions of Edward, and Jacob was more than willing to take her out for a dangerous bike ride. His lack of fear on the road is surprising, because his mother actually ed away in a car accident.
When Jacob was only nine years old, he lost his mother when she got in a tragic automobile crash. Rachel and Rebecca had a very difficult time living around the memories of their mother and became desperate to leave La Push, but Jacob never had that same desire to relocate and grew up loving his tribe and home despite the loss of his mother.
17. RACHEL AND REBECCA HELPED RAISE HIM
When Sarah Black ed away, Rachel and Rebecca stepped up to act as replacement maternal figures for their younger brother Jacob. Billy was often away from their home working on his fishing boat, so the twin sisters did their best to help raise and look after Jacob despite their desire to leave the reservation and their painful memories of their mother behind.
Billy worried about leaving La Push, because he didn't want his family to accidentally cross paths with a vampire and thus trigger Jacob's transformation into a shape-shifter. So, he kept his family from moving and thus had to deal with some resentment from the daughters who were stuck there looking after his son.
16. HE TOOK CARE OF BILLY AFTER HIS SISTERS MOVED AWAY
Rachel and Rebecca both jumped on the first opportunities they were granted to finally leave La Push and move on with their lives. Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State University and went away to school, while Rebecca quickly got married and moved to Hawaii. This left Jacob to look after their father all on his own.
Unfortunately, the progression of Billy's diabetes forced him to quit his job and lose mobility, and Jacob had to take care of Billy as he dealt with his new life in a wheelchair. Jacob truly enjoyed his father's company, though, and Billy's disability allowed them to become even closer, so Jacob didn't actually mind wheeling him around.
15. HE'S WELL-VERSED IN QUILEUTE HISTORY
Billy Black inherited his grandfather Ephraim's place on the tribal council, and that important position forced him to learn everything there is to know about the origin of the Quileutes. A majority of his tribe believed these origin stories to be mere legends, but Billy took them very seriously and made sure to bestow all of that Quileute knowledge in his son.
When Bella went to La Push hoping to get some more information on the Cullen family and the "cold ones" in the Twilight novel, Jacob was able to recall the story of his shape-shifting ancestors and their bloodthirsty immortal enemies by heart. In the film adaptation, however, Bella did most of her research alone and viewers didn't get to see Jacob's vast knowledge of Quileute history.
14. HE DIDN'T BELIEVE IN HIS TRIBE'S LEGENDS
One of Billy's earliest childhood memories was of seeing his grandfather phase into a massive wolf, so he grew up knowing that his tribe's stories of vampires and shape-shifters were all true. He initially hoped that a vampire would come near La Push again and force his own transformation so he could develop superhuman powers, but when that never happened, he became thankful that he was able to live a normal life and feared that the return of the Cullen family would spark Jacob's transformation and deny him of that same opportunity.
Jacob didn't share those same concerns, because he simply didn't believe his father's stories. He followed Billy's orders to warn Bella to stay away from the Cullens, but Jacob didn't think vampires were real or that Quileutes could turn into wolves until he started going through the transformation himself.
13. HE AND BELLA WERE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS
Billy had several close friends in La Push, but he because incredibly close with Charlie Swan because they both loved fishing, lost their wives (though Charlie's merely divorced him while Billy's had ed away), and had daughters who were often mysteries to them. Since the unlikely companions spent so much time together, Bella saw Jacob, Rachel and Rebecca on several occasions during her childhood visits to Forks before she moved there in Twilight.
Bella and Jacob weren't nearly as close growing up as they became in Meyer's series and she was never more than a mere acquaintance to Jacob's sisters, but Jacob said that he'd always enjoyed seeing Bella and fondly recalled making mud-pies with her as kids.
12. BELLA STARTED FLIRTING WITH HIM FIRST
Some Twilight fans have accused Jacob as coming onto Bella too strong, but true Jacob lovers know that he actually didn't make the first move. Bella was the one who started their flirtation and led Jacob to believe that he stood a chance with her.
When Bella tried getting information about Edward out of Jacob, she used Jacob's hormones to her advantage and feigned interest in him so he'd tell her everything she wanted to know. Jacob took her flirtation as an invitation to flirt right back, and when she again turned to him for help after Edward and the rest of the Cullen family left Forks in New Moon, he understandably saw that as another sign that she might be willing to take their friendship to the next level.
11. HE CONSIDERED LIVING LIFE AS A WOLF
In the epilogue of Eclipse, which was written from Jacob's point of view, readers got the chance to see just how distraught Jacob was about Bella's rapidly-approaching wedding to Edward and looming transformation into a vampire. In his eyes, Bella becoming a vampire was just as bad as her actually ing away, so he phased into a wolf and ran away to escape his emotions.
The rest of the Quileute wolves tried to talk to Jacob, but Sam advised them to leave him alone and Jacob ran as fast as he could away from La Push. In Breaking Dawn, Jacob was mentioned to have been gone for nearly two months. To avoid his pain, he actually lived as a wolf all that time and considered staying in that form until he ultimately decided to return back to Forks to attend Bella's wedding.
