Jacob Black, He is described as a Native American of the Quileute (pronounced Quilyoot) tribe.

During New Moon, he undergoes a transformation that enables him to phase into a werewolf. To all extents and purposes, he can be considered Edward Cullen's foil. He is seen as rebellious and not so overly protective of Bella. Edward, however, is seen to be one who conforms to the rules and is overly protective of Bella, though not without good reason.

Role in the books

Twilight
He has a small but very important role in this book. After Bella Swan flirts with him to get information, he introduces her to the idea that Edward Cullen is a vampire, by telling her Quileute legends. According to Stephenie Meyer via her official website, Jacob was originally just a device to tell Bella about the "Cold Ones". However, both she and her editor liked Jacob so very much that they decided to give him a much larger role in the later books New Moon and Eclipse, the sequels to Twilight.

New Moon
The book starts with Edward telling Bella that he is leaving town, because he feels that their relationship puts her in danger. Depressed and trying to recover, Bella becomes very good friends with her father's good friend Billy's son, Jacob. Jacob is one of an ancient line of werewolves, a member of the Quileute tribe that has forever been the mortal enemy of vampires, even the (relatively) innocent Cullen family. At first Jacob believes it is all legend, and is frightened and disturbed by the influence a young man on the reservation, Sam Uley, has on some of the Quileute youth. But when Jacob makes the change himself in response to a new vampire threat, he learns that Sam went through his own 'werewolven' hardships, including a rather bloody incident with his girlfriend (now fiance) Emily. As werewolves are short-tempered, highly violent when they are young werewolves, and likely to explode into wolf form when provoked to anger, Jacob, prompted by his new pack, agrees that he should stay away from Bella. Besides, he is busy patrolling the forest with his pack, searching for the vampires in the area who are killing local hikers. When Bella is caught by the vampire Laurent (from Twilight) alone in a clearing, she is saved by Jacob and the pack. Before the over-sized wolves run him off, Laurent tells Bella that Victoria, the red-haired mate of James (also from Twilight), is trying to find her to have revenge on Edward for the death of James. During a conversation in which Jacob almost kisses Bella, Bella's phone rings. When Jacob answers the phone, he tells who he believes to be Carlisle that Charlie is "at the funeral", referring to that of Harry Clearwater. In reality, it was Edward pretending to be Carlisle, causing Edward to believe Bella has died; he thus goes to Italy to ask the Volturi to kill him. Bella and Alice go to stop Edward directly after the fateful phone call, leaving Jacob hurt and angry. Jacob is disgusted by Edward's return and by Bella's willingness to go back to him and become a vampire.

Presumably, after the Cullens and Bella return to Forks, Jacob has become their enemy because of the treaty, making Bella his enemy as well because of her refusal to leave the vampires. He reminds Edward of their treaty, which states that the Cullens are not allowed to bite a human. This means that if one of the Cullens turns Bella into a vampire, the treaty is broken, and the werewolves will start a war. At the end of the meeting, Bella and Jacob are about to hug when Edward pulls Bella back, saying that it would "not be okay." Jacob begins to shake and his body swells as he gets mad, and begins to turn into a wolf. Bella manages to calm him down and she and Edward leave. However, Bella's last look at Jacob is of his face crumpling in emotional pain, and she vows that she will see him smile again.

Eclipse
The third installment of the series begins with Jacob trying to keep distance between him and Bella. She desperately tries to get a hold of him, but he ignores her attempts. The book starts with Bella reading a note from Jacob, including many sentences that he had crossed out, but the last says:
Yeah, I miss you, too. A lot. Doesn't change anything. Sorry. -Jacob

He is enraged by the fact that she will become a vampire after graduation, which is only a few weeks away. Eventually Charlie un-grounds Bella, on the condition that she stops spending all her time with Edward, and more time with her "other" friends, especially Jacob. After a while with approval of Edward, Bella begins to see and visit Jacob again. Jacob then invites Bella to come with him to a Quileute bonfire, and she accepts. Jacob and Bella spend the night together and listen to tribal legends, believed to be real by the Quileute. On one of her later visits, Jacob tells Bella that he loves her and he forcefully kisses her, thinking that Bella loves him back. Bella, outraged that he would kiss her even though he knows that she loves Edward, punches him in the jaw. However, Jacob is unharmed but the impact of the punch breaks Bella's hand. Jacob brings Bella home and is told by Edward that if he ever brings Bella back injured again, he will be running on three legs. He also tells him that if he ever kisses Bella again without her permission, he will break Jacob's jaw. A while later Jacob attends a graduation party for Bella being held at the Cullens' house, and gives her a charm bracelet with a carving of a werewolf on it as a graduation present. While he's there he learns that Victoria has amassed a newborn vampire army to attack Bella. Jacob eagerly agrees to learn how to fight these vampires alongside the Cullens to protect Bella. Their original plan was to have the werewolf, Seth, watch over Bella in a remote mountain place while the Cullens and the werewolf pack fought off the vampires. Bella, however, wanted Edward with her when she stayed in the mountains, and he agreed as long as Jacob would carry her to there so that her scent would be lost.

Before the battle begins, Edward, Bella, and Jacob set up camp. A blizzard blows through the camp, and Bella begins to freeze. Jacob comes in the tent and stays in Bella's sleeping bag with her to warm her up with his abnormal body heat, much to Edward's horror. Later on, Bella wakes up, and Jacob accidentally rolls on top of her, knocking the breath out of her. Edward throws Jacob off, and they begin to fight until Bella stops them, and Jacob leaves the tent. Bella and Edward then start discussing their marriage plans, and Jacob overhears their conversation, resulting in him howling in agony and running away in anger. Upon Bella's request, Edward brings Jacob back and leaves them alone to talk. After some talk, Jacob says that he's going to kill himself because Bella doesn't love him. Bella then begs and pleads with him not to. Bella agrees to kiss him if he won't commit suicide, and after they kiss Bella realizes that she loves Jacob as well, but her love for Edward overpowers everything else. Jacob then leaves to finish the battle, and gets injured trying to save a fellow werewolf, Leah. Carlisle patches him up and a worried Bella visits him. Bella then tells him that she loves him, but that she cannot live without Edward and loves him more. Jacob then reminds her that he will always be there for her whenever she needs him, and if she ever changes her mind he'll choose her over anyone. The epilogue is written from Jacob's point of view. Jacob is sitting on the edge of a cliff and Leah is trying to talk to him. Jacob angers her and she runs off, and then he returns home. At home he finds that Edward has sent Jacob an invitation to Bella and Edward's wedding. With it a note is enclosed from Edward, saying that Jacob did not have to come to the wedding, but if their positions had been reversed he would have wanted the choice. Edward also thanks Jacob for everything he's done for Bella, especially for being her friend after he left. This causes Jacob to run away in wolf-form in anger, attempting to "leave Jacob Black behind", to escape the pain he feels from Bella's decision to become a vampire.

Breaking Dawn
It is stated in the first chapter of Breaking Dawn that Jacob has been gone for the last few weeks, and is currently somewhere in northern Canada. Bella misses him, and Jacob hates that she and everyone else is worrying about him. Charlie has put up signs all over town in an attempt to find Jacob, but Billy and Bella do not assist him; they know that Jacob has run away in anger, and that he would most likely not be found in human form, but rather as a wolf.

Physical appearance
Jacob has dark russet skin, black hair and dark eyes. In Twilight and early in New Moon, he is described as a lanky 15 year old who was around 6 feet tall and kept his long hair in a ponytail. During New Moon and throughout Eclipse, Jacob grows to be 6'7" tall, with a toned and muscular build. In New Moon, upon discovering his werewolf powers and joining the Quileute pack, he crops his black hair short. He later grows it out to chin length in Eclipse because he thinks Bella prefers it that way. He is often described as having an "impish grin", like a child caught doing something they shouldn't. He is said to be quite good-looking, often being described by Bella as beautiful. He tends to wear only

cut-off style jeans, since clothes are often ruined during transformation. As a wolf, Jacob is a russet-color and is very furry because of his long hair.

Werewolf Abilities

Regeneration - Body heals at an abnormal rate, faster than any human body can. Phasing - Can morph in and out of "werewolf" form. With practice and skill, one can morph faster and with more efficiency. Less experienced, young werewolves will frequently phase when losing their tempers. There is still a risk when a werewolf ages and becomes more and more experienced in controlling their powers, but happens much less frequently. Jacob is said to be the best at controlling his phasing, especially for one so new to it. Telepathy - Only works within pack, when in wolf form. They can speak with each other telepathically and hear each other's thoughts. Though this is more than useful while hunting and tracking, there is no privacy left in the pack because of this ability. It can be described as both a gift and a burden. Physically enhanced - Has "super-strength" in both wolf and human form. In wolf form, they are also exceptionally fast. Before phasing, the human form will build up their muscles naturally and will be ready for the first time they phase. Delayed aging - They do not start aging until a solid period of time without phasing has passed. The exact length of time is unknown. High temperature - Werewolves have an extremely high body temperature, allowing them to withstand severe cold. Imprinting - Werewolves can "imprint" on a certain person once they begin phasing. Jacob describes imprinting to be stronger than love at first sight. This is, according to the legends, very rare, but this is questioned when at least three of the pack have imprinted.

Movie Portrayal
On March 10, 2008 it was confirmed that Taylor Lautner will be playing the part of Jacob Black in the upcoming film adaptation of Twilight