List of Divergent characters
This is a list of major and minor characters in the Divergent book trilogy and its subsequent film adaptation, The Divergent Series.
Main characters
Tris Prior
Beatrice "Tris" Prior is the viewpoint character in Divergent and Insurgent, and shares the viewpoint character role in Allegiant with Tobias "Four" Eaton. Born in the Abnegation faction to Andrew and [|Natalie] Prior, she describes herself as having pale blonde hair, wide gray-blue eyes, a long, thin nose and a short and skinny stature. She bears a tattoo of three ravens on her left collarbone leading down to her heart, each one representing one of her family members; she also has a Dauntless seal on her left shoulder and an Abnegation seal on her right shoulder.In Divergent, 16-year-old Tris has to take the aptitude test to determine her future faction. [|Tori], her test administrator, tells her that she is "Divergent", that is, she has the aptitude to fit into multiple factions, but is warned never to tell anyone that information, not even her family members. In the Choosing Ceremony, she transfers to Dauntless, and assumes a new moniker "Tris". She befriends fellow initiates [|Christina] and [|Al], who are from Candor, and [|Will], an Erudite transfer. In the first initiation period, her performance in physical matches against top-ranked candidates such as [|Peter] places her on the brink of being cut from the faction, but she then participates in a capture the flag event where she plays a major part in her team's victory. She has also stood up for the other initiates.
On visiting day, her mother Natalie tells her to ask her brother to research the Erudite's simulation serum and warns her about how she is being watched, revealing she was originally a Dauntless. During the second initiation period, where the candidates are placed in a virtual reality simulation to see how they deal with their greatest fears, Tris shows an uncanny ability to dismiss or clear the obstacles in record time. This draws Four's attention as he invites her to enter his fear simulation and gives her tips as to how to give a Dauntless-expected response.
After passing initiation, she discovers that Erudite plan to attack Abnegation. When a mind-controlling serum does not work on her, Jeanine Matthews, the Erudite leader orders Tris executed. Tris is saved by her mother, but during their escape, she is forced to shoot Will, and her mother is killed. Reuniting with her father, Caleb and [|Marcus], they sneak into the Dauntless base, but her father is killed in battle. Tris confronts a mind-controlled Four but helps him break free of the mind control, and then stop Jeanine in time to release the Dauntless.
In Insurgent, Tris, Tobias, Marcus, Caleb, and Peter are fugitives hiding out in Amity sector. She overhears a conversation between the Amity leader, Johanna Reyes, and Marcus that Abnegation leaders died protecting a secret. When Erudite and Dauntless traitors arrive to capture them, they escape by jumping on a train to the factionless camp where they meet Tobias's mother. During a visit to Candor, she reveals that she had killed Will. She later surrenders herself to Erudite to save her Dauntless friends, where she finds out that her brother is working for Jeanine but is later able to escape with Tobias and Peter. She joins Marcus Eaton in order to obtain the information stolen by Erudite from Abnegation and transfer it to every faction. When Tobias finds out about this, he is shocked and angry at her, but they later reconcile and she hopes that they will have no secrets from each other.
In Allegiant, Tris frees Caleb before he is executed, although she still has not forgiven him for his betrayal. The two alongside Tobias, Christina, Peter, Tori, Uriah, and Cara, begin an expedition to the outskirts of Chicago and arrive at the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, a US government-sponsored agency that is behind the faction system. Tris meets with the Bureau leader, David, who gives her Natalie's journal. Tris becomes jealous of a Bureau staff, Nita, fearing that she will attract Tobias, but joins her during her attempt to overthrow the genetically pure Bureau leaders. Nevertheless, Tris saves David when she finds out that Nita wants the death serum, not the memory serum. Later, Tris learns that David wants to expose the memory serum on the whole population of Chicago to restart his experiment. She formulates a plan with Matthew, Nita, Caleb, and Cara, to stop him. Caleb volunteers to undergo the suicidal mission to expose the memory serum on the Bureau, but Tris replaces him because he only does so out of regret, and asks him to tell Tobias her final message: that she does not want to leave him. During the mission, Tris manages to repel the death serum by thinking of those who had died for her, but she is shot by David just as she is able to expose the memory serum. As she lays dying, she learns to forgive herself and others for all the things that she had done to get there and sees visions of her mother reaching out to her.
In the epilogue, set two and a half years afterward, it is revealed that Tris' body was cremated after her death. During a celebration of the Choosing Ceremony, Tobias spreads her ashes across Chicago while riding a zip line.
Shailene Woodley plays Beatrice "Tris" Prior in the 2014 Divergent, 2015 The Divergent Series: Insurgent, and 2016 The Divergent Series: Allegiant.
Tobias "Four" Eaton
Tobias "Four" Eaton is a member of Dauntless and serves as the instructor to the initiates transferring into Dauntless. He was born in the Abnegation faction to Marcus Eaton and Evelyn Johnson. His mother supposedly died and left him with his abusive father, who would strike him with his belt. During his Choosing Ceremony, he chooses Dauntless as his faction to escape Marcus. He has dark blue eyes and dark brown hair with a scar on his chin and a few freckles on his nose. He has tattooed the symbol of each faction on his spine, starting from Dauntless at the top, then Abnegation, Candor, Erudite and Amity. He gets the nickname "Four" from his instructor Amar due to having only four fears: heights, shooting innocents, claustrophobia and his father, Marcus Eaton.Four: A Divergent Story Collection, a short story collection in which he is the narrator tells the story of 16-year-old Tobias Eaton as he decides to escape from the abusive home with Marcus in Abnegation and joins the Dauntless faction. He befriends Dauntless-born initiates Zeke and Shauna and develops a rivalry with Eric, an Erudite transfer. Tobias learns that he is a Divergent when he manages to escape the simulation serum through unorthodox means. Amar, a fellow Divergent, warns him to lay low, a warning that proves right when he is found dead mysteriously. He learns about Erudite's plan to mind control Dauntless and begins spying on them. Max invites Tobias for an interview to become the future head of Dauntless, but he refuses, electing to become an instructor instead.
In Divergent, set two years after Four, Tobias meets Tris, who, like him, is an Abnegation transfer. The two slowly develop a relationship and Tobias helps Tris go through her initiation tests, advising her on how to pass the simulation serum through legitimate means, and protecting her from Eric's taunts and saving her when Al, Peter, and Drew try to kill her. In Free Four: Tobias Tells the Divergent Knife-Throwing Scene, it is revealed that Tobias had plans to leave Dauntless, but upon meeting Tris, he vows not to leave her side. Tobias and Tris are immune to the mind control serum used by Erudite to execute their plan of exterminating Abnegation, but Tobias is captured and injected with a serum that does work on Divergents. He is forced to attack Tris when she attempts to deactivate the serum, but is helped to break free when Tris tells him that she does not want to hurt him. Together with Tris, he deactivates the mind control serum before escaping towards the Amity sector alongside Caleb, Marcus, and Peter.
In Insurgent, Dauntless and Erudite traitors recognize him at Amity headquarters. During the fight he, Tris, Caleb and Susan manage to escape through boarding a train, which is full of factionless including former Dauntless Edward. They are led to the factionless headquarters, where Evelyn is waiting for them. She wants Four to convince other Dauntless to join the factionless. Going to Candor, Tobias and Tris are subjected to the truth serum, during which Tobias reveals that he joined Dauntless to escape his abusive father. He also finds out that Tris shot Will while he was under the influence of the mind control serum, which makes him angry because she did not reveal that information to him. Eric, along with other Dauntless traitors, attacks Candor but gets caught. Tobias, along with others, secretly observes a meeting between Candor representative Jack and Erudite representative Max, who wants Eric back but the meeting becomes unsuccessful as Max gets killed. During the secret meeting of Dauntless, Four, Tori and Harrison are selected as new leaders. They sentence Eric to death and Four executes him. He also makes an agreement with the factionless to destroy Erudite and establish a new government. Later they find out about a simulation that will kill Dauntless members until a Divergent is given to Erudite. As a result, Tris decides to sacrifice herself but he begs her not to. She agrees, but leaves for Erudite as he sleeps. He also surrenders himself to Erudite and later he and Tris escape the Erudite headquarters with the help of Peter. They arrive at Abnegation sector to meet the Dauntless and the factionless. He and Tris also admit their love to each other. Later, he is deeply shocked and hurt when he finds out that Tris aligned with his father Marcus, but they later reconcile.
In Allegiant, in which he serves as a co-viewpoint character, he alongside Tris, Caleb, Christina, Peter, Tori, Uriah, and Cara, are given the mission by the Allegiant to escape Chicago and find out about their surroundings. Arriving at the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, he is reunited with his long-thought-to-be-dead mentor, Amar. In the Bureau, he finds out that though he is a Divergent, he is not considered genetically pure like Tris, which greatly damages his pride. He becomes close to Nita, a genetically damaged Bureau member, and is convinced to take part in her rebellion against the GP leaders of the Bureau. Four is indirectly responsible for the explosion that causes Uriah's brain damage and eventual death, which he feels guilt for. After the rebellion, Four joins the team that consists of Christina, Peter, and Amar, to return to Chicago and prevent the war between the factionless and the Allegiant. He offers Evelyn a memory serum so she can be born anew and become his mother again. Evelyn embraces him yet does not drink the serum before announcing her intention to end the war. Four also gives Peter a memory serum, as per his wish to be reborn anew. When Four returns to the Bureau in triumph, he is informed by Cara that Tris has died during her attempt to expose the leaders with the memory serum. Angered, he blames Caleb, who delivers Tris' final words to him, and almost strangles the now-blank David. He undergoes a deep depression and almost injects himself with a memory serum, but is convinced otherwise by Christina, who states that he should not forget his memories with Tris. The two become best friends over their losses.
In the epilogue set two and a half years afterward, Four becomes an assistant council member of the new Chicago and moves to a new apartment as further away from his former home. He reunites with his mother, who has returned from her two years of self-exile. To celebrate Choosing Day, Four scatters Tris' ashes while riding a zipline with his friends, having come to accept her sacrifice and death. In the short story We Can Be Mended, set in the years after the epilogue, Four has begun to move on from Tris by dating Christina.
English actor Theo James plays Tobias "Four" Eaton in the 2014 Divergent, 2015 The Divergent Series: Insurgent, and 2016 The Divergent Series: Allegiant.