Moonlight is BETTER than Twilight: Luna is the girl Edward truly needed. Go away, Bella!

Unashamedly, I admit I’m one of the millions who grew up with the Harry Potter and Twilight sagas and became a fan. Although Edward was never one of my favourite characters (nah, he's sometimes), unlike Luna Lovegood, who absolutely is, I began to pay more attention to him. I wanted to understand him beyond the obvious, especially after reading Midnight Sun (his POV). Edward is attractive and mysterious, and he himself tells Bella that vampires have a kind of natural allure. That explains why she feels so drawn to him from the very beginning…

Read this bit from the script:

(Edward walks into a sunbeam and he... sparkles?)
Bella: It's like diamonds. You're beautiful.
Edward: Beautiful? This is the skin of a killer, Bella. I'm a killer.
Bella: I don't believe that.
Edward: It's because you believe a lie. A camouflage. I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that. As if you could outrun me. As if you could fight me off. (He shows off his powers.) I'm designed to kill.
Bella: I don't care.

Looking at the story with a bit more perspective, details that are usually overlooked start to stand out. Bella is a teenager who makes decisions without really thinking them through. She doesn’t listen to those trying to warn her, not even when Edward and Rosalie explain how hard it is to live as they do. Bella doesn’t reflect. She’s led entirely by how she feels, even if that means ignoring real dangers… She doesn’t think about what it truly means to stop being human, or what she might lose. She’s obsessed, first with Edward, and then with the idea of being like him, convinced that only then will her life have meaning.

I don’t want to dwell too much on Bella here, though I have plenty to say about her…I could write a whole other piece just about that. I’d rather talk about Luna, who’s always been my favourite in Harry Potter! I chose her without thinking twice. Luna sees things others can’t, like the thestrals. She’s sensitive, curious, free. She moves through the world in her own way, without worrying about what others will think or say…

At first, I thought about Edward just because it bothered me that he ended up with Bella, that relationship never quite convinced me…And then I started wondering who he could actually connect with. And almost instinctively, I thought of Luna! Not necessarily as a romantic couple in the traditional sense… but more like someone who could simply be with him, understand him, truly listen, without asking anything in return.

The dynamic between them would obviously be very different. Luna doesn’t depend on anyone to feel good about herself…She isn’t looking to be rescued from anything (she's a wizard, please!) despite the nicknames and the bullying… She’s already at peace with who she is and with the world around her, even if others don’t quite understand her…

For this special article, I wrote a short piece of fanfiction to accompany my humble idea, and further down I’ll include a video edit I also made! The more I imagined them together, the more it made sense…

Luna wouldn’t be swayed entirely by Edward’s appearance or his deep voice because she sees beyond that…And he wouldn’t be able to read her mind. In my version, Luna has a mental shield like Bella. I imagined it as some kind of emotional barrier, you know…because she’s been quietly hurting for a long time… so it’s something that comes naturally to her. That would completely throw him off. He’s so used to knowing what everyone’s thinking and suddenly he wouldn’t be able to read her. Instead of frustrating him, it would make him let his guard down with her.

Luna would go on being exactly who she is. She’d talk about all sorts of magical creatures, get lost in her own thoughts… and have someone who truly gets her. Edward, who so often comes across as distant or over-analytical, would learn to simply be with someone without trying to keep everything under control... For the first time, maybe, both of them would truly be heard…

Moonlight

Author; Victoria Farina

…

Luna was walking alone through the Forbidden Forest. Her hair was loose and her feet were bare... She’d gone out after dinner, when everyone at Hogwarts was already asleep. She liked that place. There, she could see and hear things others couldn’t…

That night was cold, but she didn’t mind. She was humming softly as she approached a thestral. The creature didn’t move. Luna stroked it calmly.

She had seen death. That’s why she could see them, just like Harry…

Suddenly, the thestral looked away. Luna turned around. In the distance, between the mist and the trees, she saw someone. Tall. Still. A very pale boy.

Edward hadn’t expected to find anyone. He had gone out to hunt. But the scent stopped him… It was strong, irresistible… What he hadn’t expected was that she wouldn’t be afraid.

“Are you a ghost?” Luna asked, unfazed.

“No,” he replied.

She studied him for a moment.

“You don’t look very alive...”

He smiled, just slightly.

“I’m not. I don’t usually let people see me.”

“I sometimes… see what others don’t,” said Luna.

Edward looked at her. He could hear nothing in her mind. Only the sound of her heart…

“You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous,” he warned.

“The forest has never harmed me,” she replied. “Though tonight it feels different. Quieter. Perhaps because of you.”

Edward said nothing. Animals always avoided him. Apparently she didn’t. Nor did the creature beside her. Not yet, anyway…

Luna took a step closer. Edward could smell her. He tensed.

“Are you going to bite me?” she asked, seriously.

“No,” he said quickly.

Luna smiled.

“That’s all right. I’m Luna.”

She offered her hand, and Edward just looked at it until she lowered it again.

“Edward.”

They stood in silence.

…

Days passed.

One night, Luna returned to the forbidden forest. Edward was already there. He had seen her leave the castle and followed. Not out of curiosity… or was it? It felt instinctive. Her blood called to him…

She walked without haste, barefoot, as always. She spoke softly, as if talking to someone invisible.

Edward appeared between the trees. Luna saw him and smiled.

“You came again.”

“You always come alone,” he replied.

“I like it here. It’s peaceful.”

“It isn’t always,” said Edward.

Luna stepped closer. She looked at him intently. In the distance stood a thestral, the same one as before.

“Did you know thestrals only let themselves be touched if they trust you?”

Edward looked beyond her, at the creature.

“Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know yet..,” she said. “But you don’t frighten me.”

Edward lowered his gaze, and Luna gently touched his face.

He didn’t move.

“Your skin is cold,” she said. “But I don’t mind…”

He closed his eyes. Her presence calmed him…and unsettled him at the same time…

“You should keep your distance.”

“But I don’t want to.”

He looked at her.

“I’m a monster.”

“I don’t think you are. You just seem lonely. And tired of pretending… lots of people pretend, and it must be exhausting.”

“Thank you...”

“You don’t need to thank me.”

…

This relationship might seem silly to many…i know…but if you look closely, as I have, it’s their very ways of being that draw them together more than it might seem…

Edward has spent a long time feeling guilty about what he is, and about what he’s had to do…See himself as a danger to others, even when he’s constantly trying to do the right thing. With Bella, he was always tense… He wanted to protect her, but at the same time he knew that being close to her could put her at risk. And she never hesitated to give herself over completely, even at the cost of her own life, that only made him feel more responsible… Edward does love, yes, but always with fear. (I hate you, Bella!)

“My mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect.”

Luna Lovegood

Luna, well… lives differently. As I’ve already made clear, she isn’t afraid of being who she is, and she doesn’t try to fit in. She doesn’t need anyone’s validation. She speaks naturally about everything and acts freely and doesn’t seek to be understood. Unlike Bella, Luna isn’t drawn to anyone’s darkness, nor is she interested in sacrificing herself for love. She simply exists at her own pace, and that makes her all the stronger.

With someone like our charming Luna, Edward could finally stop being on edge all the time. She’s a witch, she knows how to defend herself, so Edward wouldn’t constantly feel the need to be protecting her, even though of course they would both care deeply for each other…

He can’t read her mind, so it would be one of the rare times he could be with someone without the pressure of knowing or anticipating what they’re thinking. With her, everything would be slower… more natural…Not like with Bella, where in under two years they were already married with a child…He would simply take the time to listen to her, to get to know her, without the noise.

Edward would be someone who doesn’t look at her with mockery or discomfort. He would treat her with respect. He’d be one of the few who actually took what she says seriously because he would truly care. After so long feeling out of place, knowing that someone listens and doesn’t judge would be something new for her too.

“Dream happy dreams. You are the only one who has ever touched my heart. It will always be yours. Sleep,my only love.”

Edward Cullen

And Edward is over a hundred years old, which means he knows stories, music, books, and landscapes that no longer exist. Luna would love all of that. She enjoys learning and discovering. Sharing that kind of knowledge with Edward would be a bond in itself, without either of them having to try and impress the other.

There’d be no need to change in order to be together, only the desire to understand and support one another. A beautiful connection where they can simply be themselves and that wouldn’t be a problem.

👇🏻 Click to watch my video edit:

Song: Why does your love hurt so much? By Carly Simon

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