Let's have a 'Twilight' debate: Team Edward or Team Jacob?

I realize this debate has been going on for awhile, but I just finished reading Eclipse, the third book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series yesterday, so I’m just now entering the fray. (Oh! If you haven’t caught our sneak preview of Meyer’s upcoming Breaking Dawn, by all means click here!)

Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob? After the jump, it’s on. Spoiler-phobes, beware.

So, the obvious answer is Team Edward. At least to my colleague Alynda Wheat, who says, “Team Jacob is comprised of bitter whiners whohate love, and would probably have wanted Juliet to end up with Paris,and Mr. Darcy to take up with his sickly cousin.” While I’m on Team Edward, if only because he has better merch, I can still fathom why some people could gravitate to Jacob. Yes, Edward is handsome and intelligent, understanding and patient, mysterious yet open, and dangerous yet fiercely protective. (He also sparkles in the sunlight, drives a Volvo, and can read people’s minds, which would be highly entertaining.) But even though he doesn’t really want Bella to become a vampire to be with him, you know she’ll have to. Sooner or later. And she’ll be giving up so much. (I wonder if you have to hunt mountain lion if you’re a Cullen, or if Carlisle would help broker a deal with the local butcher to get some blood for me her…)

I may find it impossible to think of Jacob as anything other than a little brother, but Bella no longer has that problem. She’s seen the kind of life she could have with him, and she’d be happy. There’s something nice about the fact that they’d choose their relationship: It wasn’t predestined by an imprint or the scent of her blood. (Maybe Bella’s right to worry about whether Edward would be as drawnto her after the change: How will the vampire venom affect her bouquet?)

Choose your side. (And try to play nicely.)