The symbolism behind Twilight series book covers

The Twilight books and their author, Stephenie Meyer, had attained an almost cult-like status while the series was ongoing and now, almost a decade later, the fans are still excited for new books in the series, as demonstrated by how 'Midnight Sun' hit the bestseller lists, despite the original fans having left high school and high school romances behind a long time ago.

The series follows the love story between Bella, a human girl, and Edward, a vampire. The original 4 books series is from the point of view of Bella and the newest book is the first book retold from Edwards's point of view. The newest book is black with a detailed pomegranate on the cover, and the design perfectly matches the others making the series look lovely when on the shelf. However, the choice of the fruit was not simply to match the color palette of the rest. Like most of the other books, the cover choice is symbolic of the content. For those who didn't know, here are what each cover represents.

TwilightThe iconic cover was chosen by Meyer herself and is laden with references. The book opens with a quote from Genesis and the apple represents the forbidden fruit from the Book of Genesis. The author expanded on her website that the apple "has so many symbolic roots. You’ve got the apple in Snow White, one bite and you’re frozen forever in a state of not-quite-death… Then you have Paris and the golden apple in Greek mythology—look how much trouble that started. Apples is quite a versatile fruit. In the end, I love the beautiful simplicity of the picture. To me it says: choice."

Photo: stepheniemeyer.com

The cover of the book has a glossy ruffled tulip, in the iconic red and white colour palette. The cover was not chosen by the author and we can assume the illustrator or designer wanted the falling petal to look like a drop of blood while still looking pretty, for though the story is about vampires, it's not violent or bloody in any way but filled with flowery prose on love and loss.

Photo: stepheniemeyer.com

The book shows a fraying red ribbon across the cover. It's only held together by two strands and you would think it symbolises how Bella feels torn between her best friend Jacob and her boyfriend Edward. However, the author again said it symbolised choice- the choice between Jacob and Edward. The tearing symbolised how difficult it is for her to become a vampire and be torn away from her human life as well.

Photo: stepheniemeyer.com

The last book in the series had a lot of conflict but outright fights were mostly avoided due to strategy, making the chessboard a perfect symbol. The piece highlighted in the front is the queen with a pawn in the background and the author said the "cover is a metaphor for Bella’s progression throughout the entire saga. She began as the weakest (at least physically, when compared to vampires and werewolves) player on the board: the pawn. She ended as the strongest: the queen. In the end, it’s Bella that brings about the win for the Cullens"

Photo: stepheniemeyer.com

The cover of the latest book features a halved pomegranate and since it's another version of 'Twilight', keeping a symbolic fruit theme between the two versions of the story seems fitting. While the author hasn't posted on her website about the new cover, it's clearly detailed in the book. Any greek mythology enthusiast could have recognised the symbolism as well- it's a reference to the myth of Hades and Persephone. In the myth, Persephone eating a part of the pomegranate is symbolic of her committing herself to the underworld and Edward's inner monologue in the book shows he feels like he is choosing to be with her by drawing her into the vampire world, offering her a pomegranate to his own underworld.

Photo: stepheniemeyer.com