Real Reason Behind Bella's Shielding Ability in Twilight, Explained by Science
In the Twilight saga, there's plenty of magic. It presents itself in different forms, from the existence of werewolves and vampires with unique abilities to even gifted humans whose existence raises the brows of any other supernatural creature.
Bella Swan, the protagonist of Twilight, is initially one of those humans: she possesses the gift of a so-called mental shield.
It renders her mind impenetrable by any other mental abilities, including Edward's telepathy, and there's no explanation for how and why she developed such a skill.
Or, rather, there was no explanation for it.
Reddit user ForensicFlower, a psychology graduate student, decided to analyze the Twilight series from a psychological point of view — and apparently, they came up with a logical and reasonable explanation of Bella's mental shield.
Initially, Bella inherited her ability from her father, Charlie Swan. However, Charlie's mind was only partially protected, and his shield could conceal only some of his thoughts.
ForensicFlower suggests that Bella was born with the same imperfect mental shield but it improved over time.
Why and how did it happen?
From a psychological point of view, Bella was a parentified child, meaning she had to take care of her parent while still being a kid herself.
Indeed, her mother, Renee, couldn't offer her any kind of support or stability, being instead in need of those from her daughter. And with her father being far away, Bella had no one to rely on but herself.
We learn that Bella avoided any deep conversation about her feelings with Renee. She had to do bookkeeping since she was nine-ish, and she was the caretaker of the family.
Parentified children like herself often feel lost and empty inside: such neglect from her mother and the absence of her father made Bella close off emotionally — and mentally.
This tendency only grew over the years, and eventually led to her mind being completely enclosed behind a barrier that we call her mental shield. It allowed her to resist any psychic powers, while also making it really hard for her to open up to people.
It's important to note that the author of Twilight, Stephenie Myers, never hinted at such origins of Bella's gift. This explanation is rooted in psychology and is purely theoretical…
But, we must admit, it makes perfect sense.