Jacob Black

Jacob "Jake" Black is a character in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. He is described as an attractive Native American of the Quileute tribe in La Push, near Forks, Washington. In the second book of the series, he discovers that he can shapeshift into a wolf. For the majority of the series, Jacob competes with Edward Cullen for Bella Swan's love. In the films Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2, Jacob is played by Taylor Lautner.

Concept and creation

According to Stephenie Meyer, Jacob was originally meant to be a device through which Bella could learn Edward's secret in Twilight. Meyer, her agent, and her editor all liked the character so much that they decided to give him a larger role in the following book, New Moon, with Meyer calling the character, "my favorite gift that New Moon gave to me."

"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....From the very beginning, even when Jacob only appeared in chapter six of Twilight, he was so alive. I liked him. More than I should for such a small part."