#if y'all have a stronger Stance feel free to weigh in

[volturialice]

We’re you pissed off about the fact that Alice Cullen doesn’t get a thank you literally ever. Not from anyone in the end of BD. Honestly I was upset because yes even though bella as a shield did hold the Volturi of, if it wasn’t for Alice they all probably would have been dead. But sure edward bella was the hero of the day 🙄

hmm. I guess I've never minded that because it's so...par for the course where Twilight is concerned. the world of the books revolves around bella—of course bella, who conveniently unlocked a new ability 10 seconds before she needed it, is "the hero of the day" while alice, who spent months searching for something impossible and sacrificed what could have been her last few months with her loved ones in the process, is a convenient deus ex machina. that absolutely tracks. especially from edward's pov—remember when he told bella she was the prettiest right in front of their insecure toddler daughter's salad?? objectivity was never an option.

and I know that makes me sound bitter about it, but I'm really not? or at least, no more bitter than I am about every other instance of Twilight revolving too much around its protagonist. like, I get it. it's a wish-fulfillment-y, self-insert-adjacent YA story. some degree of that comes with the territory.

I don't really need alice to receive "credit" or recognition for her actions, either—like, I get the sense that at least in the books, she only showed up to the BD battle because she knew she could win/prevent it (the whole "would jalice have stayed away if they hadn't found nahuel" thing is a separate question I've talked about before, but it's not irrelevant here.) there's an argument to be made about how much credit she deserves. (my answer is "some.")

I'm much more interested in pondering the emotional and interpersonal fallout of those actions! like, she had the whole family genuinely believing she and jasper had abandoned them in their hour of greatest need. it was the outcome she wanted to achieve, but that shit must still have hurted. it made even the wolves think she was complete trash (not to mention brought up a rather Interesting and criminally unexamined contrast between the opt-in/out Found Family situation of the cullens vs the ~magically forced~ loyalty of the packs—fucking yikes, stephenie. but I digress.)

all we see at the end of BD is everyone clustering around alice (and jasper) because they missed her, and that brief moment of bella going "why didn't you TELL me" and alice calling her a shitty actress lmao. the book doesn't offer any kind of emotional resolution of the grief and betrayal felt by, say, edward or rosalie or carlisle, or what it was like for alice and jasper to have to commit that (however fake and temporary) betrayal in the first place (especially considering that, aside from maybe carlisle, they're the two characters for whom Found Family and belonging are the most important and life-changing!)

because yeah, the book's not about that. I think you and I are alike in wishing it could be, though—guess that's where fandom stuff and asks like this come in!