- "You're the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever."
- ―Edward to Bella.
Edward lived in the early 1900s as a human. He grew up in a very old-fashioned family life style. Edward wanted to enlist in the army during World War One, but that changed when he and his parents fell victim to the Spanish Influenza in 1918. His father, Edward Masen Sr., died in the first wave of the influenza. Before she died, Edward's mother, Elizabeth Masen, begged the doctor who was taking care of them, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, to do everything within his power to save her son. After Elizabeth died, Carlisle took Edward from the hospital, brought him to his house, and there changed him into a vampire, causing Edward to gain the ability to hear people's thoughts.
Edward had a rebellious period at the beginning of his vampire life and left Carlisle and Esme in 1928. During his time as a nomad, he used his mind-reading ability to attack the worst people of society, thinking that, as long as he was serving justice, it would not matter that he was feeding on humans. A few years later, he regretted this decision, returned to Carlisle and Esme, and renewed his committment to drinking only animal blood. Over the next 80 years, their family was joined by Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper.
