The Twilight Saga’s Most Romantic Moment Doesn’t Feature Bella and Edward

The Twilight Saga was an international sensation that featured the romance between the vampire Edward Cullen and the human Bella Swan. Throughout the five film adaptations of the series, there were certainly notable romantic moments between this signature couple. However, the most romantic gesture of the entire series doesn’t actually feature this iconic pairing and often goes unnoted when discussing the series’ highlights. The most romantic gesture of the series happens in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 between the nomad Garrett and the vegetarian vampire, Kate.

The climax of Breaking Dawn Part 2 is a showdown between the Cullen family and the Volturi Vampires because Bella and Edward’s half-human, half-vampire daughter is accused of being an immortal child — a child changed into a vampire. The Cullens bring together friends and witnesses to stand by their side and testify that Renesmee and the rest of the Cullens are innocent. Among these witnesses is another vegetarian clan, the Denali clan, with whom the Cullens are quite close.

Kate is one of the original Denali vampires, along with her two sisters, Tanya and Irina. Like some of the Cullens, Kate has gifts beyond those of a regular vampire. She has the power to produce a psychic electric shock against anyone who touches her, and the power of this shock is enough to potentially kill or, at the very least, completely incapacitate anyone she wishes. While standing as a witness for the Cullens, Kate meets Garrett, a nomad vampire who was turned during the Revolutionary War, and the two fall in love.

When vampires fall in love in the Twilight universe, it causes a deep, fundamental change within these unchanging creatures. So even though they haven’t been together very long, time doesn’t dictate how they care for each other. It’s clear through their actions how they care for each other. When the Volturi realize that the Cullens have committed no crimes, they attempt to instigate a battle anyway by murdering Irina. Her sister’s death causes Kate to fly into a rage and charge at the Volturi, but Garrett stops her from attacking them and almost certainly saves her life.

While stopping her, Garrett is subjected to the absolute limit of her powers, yet despite the pain, he maintains his hold on her because her safety is more important than his comfort. He doesn’t even let go as a natural reaction to pain and then reach for her again. His love for her is so strong that it keeps him holding on through the pain, and his instincts for self-preservation take a secondary role to his love. And it’s not like Garrett was unaware of the extent of her power. Earlier in the film, he asked her to test her powers on him out of curiosity. A small, friendly dose of her power was enough to knock him flat on his back in total agony.

Garrett saved Kate’s life during the climax of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and, in doing so, created the most romantic gesture in the entire series. Sure Edward saved Bella’s life several times, but never with the same kind of complete disregard for his own personal safety and comfort. And Garrett and Kate were just getting started at this point. If that is how their relationship started, there’s little doubt they would’ve become the best couple in the franchise had it continued.