Jacob Black: My Archetypal Knight in Shining Armour

"I couldn't imagine my life without Jacob now—I cringed away from the idea of even trying to imagine that. Somehow, he'd become essential to my survival. But to leave things the way they were… was that cruel, as Mike had accused?

I remembered wishing that Jacob were my brother. I realized now that all I really wanted was a claim on him. It didn't feel brotherly when he held me like this. It just felt nice—warm and comforting and familiar.Safe. Jacob was a safe harbor...

Would it be so wrong to try to make Jacob happy? Even if the love I felt for him was no more than a weak echo of what I was capable of, even if my heart was far away, wandering and grieving after my fickle Romeo, would it be so very wrong?

Jacob stopped the truck in front of my dark house, cutting the engine so it was suddenly silent. Like so many other times, he seemed to be in tune with my thoughts now. He threw his other arm around me, crushing me against his cheat, binding me to him. Again, this felt nice. Almost like being a whole person again." -Bella Swan, "New Moon"

Jacob Black. Not your average teen werewolf. He's gentle, nurturing, jolly (at least before he started morphing into a giant russet wolf), and, on top of it all, a true and mature lover. His love for Bella Swan is unselfish and liberating. He is very protective of her. He could "read" her, like he's her very own soulmate. I would have to say, I can't help becoming an official member of Team Jacob, as the New Moon plot thickens and I'm seeing this character as a "knight in shining armour."

I feel that his chivalry must be rewarded and his pure love requited and reciprocated. It seems quite unfair for Bella to feel so comfortable in Jacob's arms and dream of Edward every night. And yet, it seems understandable enough for her to pine for her first love. The Romeo-Juliet-Paris love triangle alluded to by Bella in her reflections over Edward's inconstancy and Jacob's comforting presence seems very appropriate. Indeed, Bella, like Juliet, may now give serious consideration to the possibility of making Jacob happy, and ultimately end her lonely days. Then again, her heart "thinks" otherwise and, in a bitter twist of fate, Jacob has now become as dangerous to Bella as Edward is.

The best that can be said of Jacob Black's presence in Bella's life is that Bella has a formidable protector and a selfless lover. I love the way he cares for Bella and respects her choices and feelings. His chivalry is almost palpable. At one point, while reading New Moon, I wished Edward wouldn't ever come back. I wished Bella would fall for Jacob. After all, it's not everyday that a small-town teenage girl meets a dashing, nurturing, and protective werewolf.