Bella Swan Cullen #3

[ringswraith]

That's been speculated upon in the Q&A thread.

I think the current hypothesis is that Kate's ability is mental, but since she can only project it onto her skin, she needs contact for her to affect someone else's system. It's like the touch gives her the necessary connection to the "victim's" brain, allowing her power to work.

[Angelvamp]

Oops! Thanks for letting me know about that thread, Ringswraith. I knew that someone would have the answer!

[opulent]

Yeah, that was my theory too, that it was because she was human. And I had been wondering about Kate, too, Angelvamp. But also, I was thinking about how Bella has "two" shields - one covering her body, and one protecting her mind. It is implied that the "mind shield" is thicker and more resistant than the "body shield". I am wondering if that also has something to do with it - because she had it stretched so thin (I know someone already mentioned this; I'm just thinking out loud) that she felt Jane's attacks.

My question is, if Kate can run the current over her skin, how is it purely mental? Is it mental in that it isn't technically going over her skin, it's just that she can make anyone who touches her anywhere feel the shock, instead of just on her hand like Aro? I guess that is what Edward implies in his explanation to Bella, isn't it?

[Jazz Girl]

My question is, if Kate can run the current over her skin, how is it purely mental? Is it mental in that it isn't technically going over her skin, it's just that she can make anyone who touches her anywhere feel the shock, instead of just on her hand like Aro? I guess that is what Edward implies in his explanation to Bella, isn't it?

Opulent~ That's always how I looked at it. Like Kate's power was similar to but weaker than Jane's. Where Jane can project her power completely through focus, Kate has to have physical contact. Kind of like the difference between Edward's and Aro's gifts. But, we see that, with time, Kate might be able to develop her gift and maybe get to the point where she can project it out at others, making it offensive vs defensive. With Aro, I am going to figure he is pretty much stuck where he is.

[The Dark Knight]

Consider it this way, if one has to use a "force of will" to make their ability to work then it's mentally driven. If it is just something that occurs natually then it is physically driven. The amount of given power is derived from the natural ability to begin with and the effort to master said power combined. This reminds me of the discussion I had over comic books when I was a boy...

[The Dark Knight]

New thread:

So, I hear regularly that people cannot relate to Post Bella. Why is that? What are the changes that seemed to have made such a difference?

[ringswraith]

So, I hear regularly that people cannot relate to Post Bella. Why is that? What are the changes that seemed to have made such a difference?

My beef with VampBella is she becomes too perfect, while flaunting that perfection in front of everything we've been told thus far about vampires.

1. She does not go through the "I vant tu suck yur vlod" newborn frenzy.

2. She's able to be around humans with less trouble than even Jasper- who's been doing it for at least fifty years.

3. She learns about her power and is able to do things with it that Kate can't do with hers, after she's practiced for centuries.

4. Finally, she single-handedly makes the (for all intents and purposes) reigning royalty of vampiredom- and their Guard- stop in their tracks.

While I enjoy the fact that she got her happily ever after, she just had everything go her way.

[Jazz Girl]

New thread:

So, I hear regularly that people cannot relate to Post Bella. Why is that? What are the changes that seemed to have made such a difference?

Dark Knight~ I think I am very much in the minority, but I pretty much loved UberBella. I really took it as confirmation that Bella had finally found her place in the world. Bella found where she was born to be, the life she was born to lead.

[holdingoutforjacob]

I personally liked PostBella quite a bit. I think Jazz Girl has a pretty accurate take on it, but I want to add my own little quip. Bella pre-vampire had a lot of qualities that I really did not like, ones that I won't elaborate on right now, and some that I can't even put my finger on. But a big one was her total dependency on Edward. I felt like once she changed, she became much more independent and her own person again. I felt a return to the individuality of Twilight, like she had an identity outside of Edward, and I think she sort of lost that in New Moon and Eclipse out of fear of his leaving again.

HOWEVER I can definitely see where Rings is coming. Bella gets exactly everything she could ever want. There was no transition at all either, which really bothered me, but I see it as a flaw in the writing as opposed to the character.

[opulent]

Let me state this: I like Bella and the way BD turned out. I am a sucker for happy endings.
But, that being said, I have a problem with Post Bella. She is so dissimilar from herself pre-transformation. She doesn't have the wild tendency, the stubbornness that she had. She seems too tame. Remember how Bella broke her hand, and Rosalie and Emmett's reaction when they saw her in the garage? She was angry, irritated, and stubborn. We don't see that side of Bella in BD, and that saddens me, because that is who I think of as Bella.
And while I agree that she was a little over obsessed with Edward in NM and EC, I think she is a little.....under expressive about her emotions here. I mean, we know how she feels in BD, but she more expresses it in her actions and not so much in her thoughts anymore. In the first three books, she thought a lot about her emotions. We don't get that as much in BD. I would have thought, with her extra-sensitive vampire feelings, that we would see more of that, not less. There are a lot of scenes where she sits quietly with Nessie in her lap, letting Edward take control of the conversation and decisions. The old Bella would have been very vocal about how things should be done.

Okay. Done ranting now.