Jacob Black is a fictional character in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. He is described as a Native American of the Quileute tribe in La Push, near Forks, Washington. In the films Twilight and New Moon, Jacob is played by Taylor Lautner.
According to Stephenie Meyer, Jacob was originally meant to simply be a device through which Bella could learn Edward's secret in Twilight. However, Meyer, her agent, and her editor all liked the character so much that they decided to give him a larger role in the following book, New Moon, with Meyer calling the character, "my favorite gift that New Moon gave to me."
"Jacob was my first experience with a character taking over—a minor character developing such roundness and life that I couldn't keep him locked inside a tiny role....From the very beginning, even when Jacob only appeared in chapter six of Twilight, he was so alive. I liked him. More than I should for such a small part."
Meyer has said that after Jacob started emerging as a prominent character in New Moon, she went back to Twilight, which she was editing at the time, to "weave Jacob and [his father Billy] throughout Twilight more centrally."