Realised the points have little to do with plot, thus changed the title to errors.
My apologise to Twilight fans if I'm a little too harsh, but I have reread the books like twice this month and it was a little exasperating. Not to worry, I'm currently rereading Harry Potter, so a plothole list on it will be added soon =)
Ok, let's get started:
1.A hundred years of...nothingness?
Explanation: I don't expect science fiction books to be scientifically accurate. But if you plan your main character to live 100 years studying in prep forever at the age of 17, make the whole book plausible. No, just saying "oh he is just so smart :swoon:" won't do it. At 17-18 you are at the epitome of brain power, and after that your brain cells rapidly start dieing. True, most teenager waste those years, and some even accelerate the brain death by getting so wasted. But if you are forever 17 like Edward, you have the potential to become the smartest person in the world. Your capability of learning new things, your concentration and your memory are at optimum stage. Top that with a hundred years of studies and you can beat a computer in chess blindfolded. And yet, our ohsosmart protagonist and most of his family, show no proof of superior intellect. Vampire assasins are after Bella; let's hide her in a hotel and run in circles in hope that we will confuse them. I saw Bella jumping off a cliff, instead of finding out if she is alive by myself I'll send my sister. And conveniently, I will break my cell phone so that she won't be able to tell me what she found out. Jasper wants to eat you? No problem, here, I'll smash you into a desk.
2.The Ice Age
Explanation: Lack of scientific knowledge is not an excuse in this case at all. Lack of common sense would be more like it. Forks is described as a very cloudy and rainy place where seldom sunny days occur. Vampires sparkle in sunlight, but hey, not to worry, just avoid the sunny days in forks and you'll be ok, right? Wrong! Clouds are not frigging parasols. In fact if you have ever heard of Global Warming or Greenhouse effect, you would know that in fact they work the opposite way. Sunlight can come in through clouds and they retain it, mantaining the temperature and blablabla we all know about that except Meyer. If the Cullens did not sparkle during cloudy days, it would be hard to tell, because it would also mean that you wouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face.
3.Vampire super-senses
Explanation: Ok, this is not entirely Meyer's fault. She probably came across a Superman comic while writing the books and didn't pause to consider searching for flaws. Precisely the point I refer to is when Bella wakes up after being transformed into a vampire. In case you don't remember it due to being traumatised by the previous description of Bella giving birth, here is the exact fragment:
"The brilliant light overhead was still blinding-bright, and yet I could plainly see the glowing strands of the filaments inside the bulb. I could see each color of the rainbow in the white light, and, at the very edge of the spectrum, an eighth color I had no name for. Behind the light, I could distinguish the individual grains in the dark wood ceiling above. In front of it, I could see the dust motes in the air, the sides the light touched, and the dark sides, distinct and separate. They spun like little planets, moving around each other in a celestial dance."
Mmmm, this won't do at all. What is all that? Magnifying view(dust motes) + wider visible light spectrum(7 regular colours+mistery flavour 8th one*)+prismatic vision(able to tell the colours that make up light apart)? If Bella had really seen all that at that precise moment, we would have been treated to a very detailed head explosion scene(which paired with the birth scene would have made us puke our guts out). Well, head explosion is overexagerating, but excruciating painful headache would be accurate. The brain cannot proccess all that information at once, least tell them appart. It's like trying to hear a rat walking in the sewers under a busy avenue.
A similar problem comes with the shapeshifters. They can hear each other thoughts, with only the Alpha being able to shut them out. Imagine trying to read this article and make out what I'm saying while listening to your mother thinking about what will she make for dinner, your brother trying to do homework and your neighbour the philosopher pondering on the meaning of existence.
*Here I spared Meyer a little bit. Bella mentions seeing an eight colour at the end of the rainbow. The rainbow has 2 ends: red or violet. If we were to perceive a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond the red we would see Infrared and beyond violet Ultraviolet, which for all matters are still red and violet, not an 8th colour. She would have to be able to see past them, either Microwaves or X-rays.
4)Meyer missed her first aid class
Explanation: I actually hit my head with the book when I came across this. I should probably include it in my bad message article too, by the way. If any of the points here were to prove that Meyer wrote her books out of what she saw in movies rather than by research this would be it.
Situation. James bits Bella injecting her with Vampire venom. Edward sucks the venom out of Bella's wound while demonstrating oh how perfect he is for having selfcontrol and loving her so much. If something, whether a snake, a bat or *sigh* Vampire were to bit you, you don't suck the venom out of the wound. First of all, it's completely pointless. You will only remove a small amount of venom in the immediate zone of the wound, while the rest of it flows through your veins and into your Nervous System. At best you can buy 5 minutes with this. However, removing the venom from the immediate zone prevents doctors to identify the type of venom and administer a correct antidote (anyways this is vampire venom, so Bella was pretty much screwed).Second point, if the people sucking the venom has an injury on its teeth or mouth, then the venom will flow into his bloodstream, poisoning him too( unfourtunately, Edward has "Perfect" teeth, so there goes our chance of him becoming poisoned by James venom and perphaps becoming more manly).
5)Yeah, I'll mention the paper cut too
Explanation: Unlike most people, I will not flame the stupidity of cutting your finger with wrap paper. No, I will simply remark how this scene throws all sense the book may have had into the dustbin, and then compacts that dustbin and throws it off a bridge. As everyone but Meyer knows, the fingers are on the extreme of our hands (hold your facepalm). Even more oblivious to Meyer, fingers don't have main veins or arterys*, thus when we cut we do not bleed to death. When Bella cuts her finger, she holds it before her face. Being an extremity, a lot of pressure is needed to pump blood to it at such an akward angle. Thus not a single droplet should have oozed(not yet, hold it a little bit more). Anyways, in the books there is no explicit information about how much blood Bella drops, and we are not going to take the movies as a fact. However what we know as a fact is that not much blood was spilled (until the table smashing). Do you see how little sense this makes already? I'll be more clear. If I dash to save a ball while playing volley in school, my knees will be scratched. Say I accidentaly cut my hand with a scissor, even if i wrap it on a band aid, the blood would still be exposed as a crust. When Bella scratches her hand during the trip to La Push, Edward can tell by the smell. Yes Edward and co. skip certain scheduled blood events, like the day they pinned their fingers for Biology. But they cannot know exactly when someone will miss their hamburger and end up cutting their fingers during lunchtime. And seeing as Jasper goes into a frenzy with the smallest drop of blood, one does wonder how he didn't have any of the people at school as an apetizer. Now you can facepalm.
Edited: And I wonder how does Jasper react at school during that time of the month. Gross, but true.
6.Meyer also skipped AIDS class
Explanation: Thanks to XDRoseLuvsHP for this brilliant point. It is hard to explain this point without somewhat turning it into a sex class, but this is Meyer's idea of interesting literature and not mine. As we know vampires do not have blood, thus it should be impossible for males to have erections. For once spotting a mistake, Meyer writes that vampire venom in a way (magic, it's bound to be magic) replaces most human body fluids to perpetuate bodily functions, for example lubricating the eyes(but not producing tears, cause Twilight vampires are so strong and perfect and brave that they do not cry!) or semen.
At this point she should really have said magic, because this "venom-infused fluids" rise as many problems as it tried to solve. The first thing they teach you during AIDS class is that AIDS transmits during sex due to infected semen coming into contact with micro-injuries (produced as a result of having sex) in both male and female. Probably wanting to subconciously get herself into more trouble, Meyer writes that during their first relations, Edward damaged Bella very badly. Edward's semen may not have AIDS, but it has vampire venom. Earlier on book series, it is mentioned that vampire venom kills woman eggs, so Bella couldn't become pregnant. And due to the contact of the infected semen with the micro-injuries, Bella should have become infected too.
When pointed this mistake at her webpage, Meyer replied this:
"It should be noted that these fluids can't transform humans into vampires the way the actual venom can."
Noted? Noted where? Oh! Is there a subliminal message at the first letters of every paragraph that states this? Really, it would have been much wiser to accept the mistake that give such a poor excuse. Like in a written exam, what counts is what you have written, not what you thought or you said later.
7.Feelings go inside the heart
Explanation: I just added this one for completetion purpose, cause everyone but Meyer probably spotted it during their first readthrough. One of Bella's (perfect) traits is her ability to produce a shield that prevents vampire powers from affecting her brain. Subconciously, she has this shield active over herself all the time. Thus, Edward is unable to read her mind, Aro cannot see her memories, Jane cannot make her feel pain and Kate cannot fry her with electricity. However, near the end of Twilight (around the point the plot pops out before rapidly being thrown back to the hole whence it came from) Bella is feeling stressed and deppresed because James is chasing her, Jasper uses his power to control people's emotions to calm her down so much that she fell asleep (at this point I was amazed that Meyer let a rape chance go by). To Meyer's disbelief, emotions originate in the BRAIN not in the HEART. And as Bella blocks brain intrusion, then Jasper powers shouldn't have affected her.
My apologise to Twilight fans if I'm a little too harsh, but I have reread the books like twice this month and it was a little exasperating. Not to worry, I'm currently rereading Harry Potter, so a plothole list on it will be added soon =)
Ok, let's get started:
1.A hundred years of...nothingness?
Explanation: I don't expect science fiction books to be scientifically accurate. But if you plan your main character to live 100 years studying in prep forever at the age of 17, make the whole book plausible. No, just saying "oh he is just so smart :swoon:" won't do it. At 17-18 you are at the epitome of brain power, and after that your brain cells rapidly start dieing. True, most teenager waste those years, and some even accelerate the brain death by getting so wasted. But if you are forever 17 like Edward, you have the potential to become the smartest person in the world. Your capability of learning new things, your concentration and your memory are at optimum stage. Top that with a hundred years of studies and you can beat a computer in chess blindfolded. And yet, our ohsosmart protagonist and most of his family, show no proof of superior intellect. Vampire assasins are after Bella; let's hide her in a hotel and run in circles in hope that we will confuse them. I saw Bella jumping off a cliff, instead of finding out if she is alive by myself I'll send my sister. And conveniently, I will break my cell phone so that she won't be able to tell me what she found out. Jasper wants to eat you? No problem, here, I'll smash you into a desk.
2.The Ice Age
Explanation: Lack of scientific knowledge is not an excuse in this case at all. Lack of common sense would be more like it. Forks is described as a very cloudy and rainy place where seldom sunny days occur. Vampires sparkle in sunlight, but hey, not to worry, just avoid the sunny days in forks and you'll be ok, right? Wrong! Clouds are not frigging parasols. In fact if you have ever heard of Global Warming or Greenhouse effect, you would know that in fact they work the opposite way. Sunlight can come in through clouds and they retain it, mantaining the temperature and blablabla we all know about that except Meyer. If the Cullens did not sparkle during cloudy days, it would be hard to tell, because it would also mean that you wouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face.
3.Vampire super-senses
Explanation: Ok, this is not entirely Meyer's fault. She probably came across a Superman comic while writing the books and didn't pause to consider searching for flaws. Precisely the point I refer to is when Bella wakes up after being transformed into a vampire. In case you don't remember it due to being traumatised by the previous description of Bella giving birth, here is the exact fragment:
"The brilliant light overhead was still blinding-bright, and yet I could plainly see the glowing strands of the filaments inside the bulb. I could see each color of the rainbow in the white light, and, at the very edge of the spectrum, an eighth color I had no name for. Behind the light, I could distinguish the individual grains in the dark wood ceiling above. In front of it, I could see the dust motes in the air, the sides the light touched, and the dark sides, distinct and separate. They spun like little planets, moving around each other in a celestial dance."
Mmmm, this won't do at all. What is all that? Magnifying view(dust motes) + wider visible light spectrum(7 regular colours+mistery flavour 8th one*)+prismatic vision(able to tell the colours that make up light apart)? If Bella had really seen all that at that precise moment, we would have been treated to a very detailed head explosion scene(which paired with the birth scene would have made us puke our guts out). Well, head explosion is overexagerating, but excruciating painful headache would be accurate. The brain cannot proccess all that information at once, least tell them appart. It's like trying to hear a rat walking in the sewers under a busy avenue.
A similar problem comes with the shapeshifters. They can hear each other thoughts, with only the Alpha being able to shut them out. Imagine trying to read this article and make out what I'm saying while listening to your mother thinking about what will she make for dinner, your brother trying to do homework and your neighbour the philosopher pondering on the meaning of existence.
*Here I spared Meyer a little bit. Bella mentions seeing an eight colour at the end of the rainbow. The rainbow has 2 ends: red or violet. If we were to perceive a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond the red we would see Infrared and beyond violet Ultraviolet, which for all matters are still red and violet, not an 8th colour. She would have to be able to see past them, either Microwaves or X-rays.
4)Meyer missed her first aid class
Explanation: I actually hit my head with the book when I came across this. I should probably include it in my bad message article too, by the way. If any of the points here were to prove that Meyer wrote her books out of what she saw in movies rather than by research this would be it.
Situation. James bits Bella injecting her with Vampire venom. Edward sucks the venom out of Bella's wound while demonstrating oh how perfect he is for having selfcontrol and loving her so much. If something, whether a snake, a bat or *sigh* Vampire were to bit you, you don't suck the venom out of the wound. First of all, it's completely pointless. You will only remove a small amount of venom in the immediate zone of the wound, while the rest of it flows through your veins and into your Nervous System. At best you can buy 5 minutes with this. However, removing the venom from the immediate zone prevents doctors to identify the type of venom and administer a correct antidote (anyways this is vampire venom, so Bella was pretty much screwed).Second point, if the people sucking the venom has an injury on its teeth or mouth, then the venom will flow into his bloodstream, poisoning him too( unfourtunately, Edward has "Perfect" teeth, so there goes our chance of him becoming poisoned by James venom and perphaps becoming more manly).
5)Yeah, I'll mention the paper cut too
Explanation: Unlike most people, I will not flame the stupidity of cutting your finger with wrap paper. No, I will simply remark how this scene throws all sense the book may have had into the dustbin, and then compacts that dustbin and throws it off a bridge. As everyone but Meyer knows, the fingers are on the extreme of our hands (hold your facepalm). Even more oblivious to Meyer, fingers don't have main veins or arterys*, thus when we cut we do not bleed to death. When Bella cuts her finger, she holds it before her face. Being an extremity, a lot of pressure is needed to pump blood to it at such an akward angle. Thus not a single droplet should have oozed(not yet, hold it a little bit more). Anyways, in the books there is no explicit information about how much blood Bella drops, and we are not going to take the movies as a fact. However what we know as a fact is that not much blood was spilled (until the table smashing). Do you see how little sense this makes already? I'll be more clear. If I dash to save a ball while playing volley in school, my knees will be scratched. Say I accidentaly cut my hand with a scissor, even if i wrap it on a band aid, the blood would still be exposed as a crust. When Bella scratches her hand during the trip to La Push, Edward can tell by the smell. Yes Edward and co. skip certain scheduled blood events, like the day they pinned their fingers for Biology. But they cannot know exactly when someone will miss their hamburger and end up cutting their fingers during lunchtime. And seeing as Jasper goes into a frenzy with the smallest drop of blood, one does wonder how he didn't have any of the people at school as an apetizer. Now you can facepalm.
Edited: And I wonder how does Jasper react at school during that time of the month. Gross, but true.
6.Meyer also skipped AIDS class
Explanation: Thanks to XDRoseLuvsHP for this brilliant point. It is hard to explain this point without somewhat turning it into a sex class, but this is Meyer's idea of interesting literature and not mine. As we know vampires do not have blood, thus it should be impossible for males to have erections. For once spotting a mistake, Meyer writes that vampire venom in a way (magic, it's bound to be magic) replaces most human body fluids to perpetuate bodily functions, for example lubricating the eyes(but not producing tears, cause Twilight vampires are so strong and perfect and brave that they do not cry!) or semen.
At this point she should really have said magic, because this "venom-infused fluids" rise as many problems as it tried to solve. The first thing they teach you during AIDS class is that AIDS transmits during sex due to infected semen coming into contact with micro-injuries (produced as a result of having sex) in both male and female. Probably wanting to subconciously get herself into more trouble, Meyer writes that during their first relations, Edward damaged Bella very badly. Edward's semen may not have AIDS, but it has vampire venom. Earlier on book series, it is mentioned that vampire venom kills woman eggs, so Bella couldn't become pregnant. And due to the contact of the infected semen with the micro-injuries, Bella should have become infected too.
When pointed this mistake at her webpage, Meyer replied this:
"It should be noted that these fluids can't transform humans into vampires the way the actual venom can."
Noted? Noted where? Oh! Is there a subliminal message at the first letters of every paragraph that states this? Really, it would have been much wiser to accept the mistake that give such a poor excuse. Like in a written exam, what counts is what you have written, not what you thought or you said later.
7.Feelings go inside the heart
Explanation: I just added this one for completetion purpose, cause everyone but Meyer probably spotted it during their first readthrough. One of Bella's (perfect) traits is her ability to produce a shield that prevents vampire powers from affecting her brain. Subconciously, she has this shield active over herself all the time. Thus, Edward is unable to read her mind, Aro cannot see her memories, Jane cannot make her feel pain and Kate cannot fry her with electricity. However, near the end of Twilight (around the point the plot pops out before rapidly being thrown back to the hole whence it came from) Bella is feeling stressed and deppresed because James is chasing her, Jasper uses his power to control people's emotions to calm her down so much that she fell asleep (at this point I was amazed that Meyer let a rape chance go by). To Meyer's disbelief, emotions originate in the BRAIN not in the HEART. And as Bella blocks brain intrusion, then Jasper powers shouldn't have affected her.
