Truelove1 wrote:For me the difference boils down to this-for vampire love (and I include Bella here) the love happens and once it does, it never ends. There is choice, in the beginning. For imprinting, there is never any choice for the imprinter. There seems to be some force of predestination involved; they just have to lay their eyes on that person to 'find out' who it is. This is the difference that sets up the opposition for me in the statement.
I agree with your thoughts regarding the difference between vampire love and imprinting! I too, prefer the Vampire love over imprinting. With vampire love, the courting process is similar to that of human love. There is an act of choice, of 'falling in love' and once that happens, the vampires (in this case human and vampire) are connected forever. So romantic!
BUT where we might see things differently is in the 'force of predestination' area. I am not quite sure how I feel about this, so forgive me if what follows is a bit muddled'
I feel, like you, that Bella and Edward's connection defies reason. Why, when he barely knows her and really wants to feed on her, should Edward think 'not her' when Tyler's van was about to smash into Bella? Why is Bella so intrigued by Edward even though he treats her like the plague? These two were connected before they could even begin to realize it themselves. I think that it could be argued that their love was also predestined' fate. Now here is where my thinking starts to get muddled and my brain starts to hurt: Was Edward and Bella's love always 'written in the stars' , as imprinting is? We know that Vampires fall in love the same way humans do' so there is definitely a choice involved. But was Edward always meant to live beyond 1918, in the form of an unchanging vampire, so that he could find his soul mate in Bella? One of my favorite dialogues from Twilight is:
'For almost 90 years I've walked among my kind, and yours' all the time thinking I was complete in myself, not realizing what I was seeking. And not finding anything, because you weren't alive yet.'
'It hardly seems fair,' I whispered, my face still resting on his chest, listening to his breath come and go. 'I haven't had to wait at all. Why should I get off so easily?'
'You're right,' he agreed with amusement. 'I should make this harder for you, definitely' . You only have to risk your life every second you spend with me, surely that's not much. You only have to turn your back on nature, on humanity' what's that worth?'
Edward had to wait 90 years to find Bella, and when he finally does, she has to risk her life just to be near him. They both have to make very serious choices in order to be around each other. So is this fate or just life? Was Edward bound to find someone to love eventually, just by being alive so long? Was Bella just drawn to him because she too, was a sort of social 'outcast' , as Edward is? Or was there something else, some stronger force involved?
I tend to think the latter. I can't see how this pair could be so drawn (Renee refers to it as gravity) to one another right from the start, if that wasn't the case. For me though, that doesn't make their love any less potent. Quite the opposite actually, it makes it all the more unique and special. Against so many odds, they commit to be together, to make it work. I can't help but think that, although unlike imprinting they had the choice whether or not to follow their hearts, Bella and Edward's love is similar to imprinting in the fact that it is undeniable and was always meant to be.
