Four: A Divergent Collection

This collection of four interconnected novellas and three bonus scenes is a companion volume to the Divergent trilogy. Set in a dystopian society divided into five factions, each devoted to a single virtue, the stories are told from the perspective of Tobias Eaton and trace his path from his abusive childhood in Abnegation (the faction devoted to selflessness) to his new life in Dauntless (the faction devoted to bravery). The first three stories take place before the events of Divergent, while the fourth overlaps with that novel's timeline, when Tobias meets the series' protagonist, Tris Prior.

In "The Transfer," sixteen-year-old Tobias emerges from his aptitude test, a simulation that determines which faction a person is best suited for. The administrator, a tattooed Dauntless woman named Tori, tells him his result is textbook Abnegation, but the word feels suffocating. His father, Marcus Eaton, a powerful Abnegation council leader, coached him to conceal anything unusual about the simulation. At home, Marcus discovers a locked trunk under Tobias's bed containing secretly collected objects, including a blue glass sculpture from Tobias's mother, Evelyn, who Tobias believes died years ago. Marcus destroys every item and beats Tobias with a belt, leaving wounds hidden by his shirt. The next morning, Tobias resolves to escape. At the Choosing Ceremony, he considers and rejects each faction: Candor (honesty) would expose his secrets, Erudite (knowledge) would strangle his emotions, and Amity (peace) feels wrong for someone as broken as he feels. He lets his blood fall on the Dauntless coals, wanting his choice to wound Marcus.

In Dauntless, initiates board a moving train and jump from a rooftop into darkness, landing in a net below. When Amar, his initiation instructor, asks his name, Tobias refuses to give it, unwilling to be identified as Marcus's son. Amar runs all initiates through fear landscapes, simulations that force them to confront their worst fears. Tobias faces only four: heights, confinement, shooting an innocent woman, and monstrous versions of Marcus wielding belts turned to barbed metal ropes. The record-low number stuns everyone, and Amar dubs him "Four," a name Tobias embraces as his new identity.

"The Initiate" follows Four through combat training and the social world of Dauntless. He forms friendships with Zeke and Shauna, two Dauntless-born initiates, and gets Dauntless flames tattooed on his ribs, choosing the spot because it mirrors where Marcus once left bruises. He fights Eric, an Erudite transfer who whispers that he knows Four's real name. Four recognizes Eric's arrogance as a weakness and beats him savagely but is disturbed by his own violence. During individual fear simulations, Four discovers he is conscious within the simulation and can manipulate it, creating objects that do not exist. Amar confides that he shares this ability and warns Four to hide it. Jeanine Matthews, the leader of Erudite, arrives to observe Four's simulation after his abnormal results are flagged. Four conceals his abilities, and Jeanine accepts the result as a program error, but she also demands to observe Amar's simulation, suggesting someone reported concerns about them both.

Days later, Amar is found dead at the base of the Pire, the glass building above Dauntless headquarters. Four is certain the Erudite killed Amar because of his simulation awareness. At the memorial, Max, a Dauntless leader, hints at grooming Four for a leadership role. Four completes his final exam ranked first, with Eric second. That night, he glimpses a woman who resembles his mother in a passing train car.

"The Son" begins with Four accepting Max's offer to enter a leadership training program. He settles into Dauntless life and discovers a surprising aptitude for computer programming during the training. One day, he finds a cryptic note in his apartment and deciphers three clues pointing to a time, day, and meeting place near the Hub, the central building where the Choosing Ceremony is held. While searching surveillance footage for the intruder, he accidentally spots Max meeting with Jeanine in his office. At the designated rendezvous, Four discovers not Marcus but his mother, Evelyn, alive. She faked her death and was never pregnant; Marcus lied about a miscarriage. Four is furious she abandoned him to a sadistic man. Evelyn reveals she has become a leader among the factionless and warns that Dauntless and Erudite are converging, but Four refuses to join her.

The encounter drives Four to Tori for a new tattoo: all five faction symbols down his spine, covering the places Marcus's belt left its worst marks. Tori warns that such a tattoo could mark him as Divergent, a term for people who are aware during simulations and resist categorization, and who often die in mysterious circumstances. Four connects the term to Amar's death. In a leadership meeting, Eric proposes limiting initiation spots, with losers becoming factionless. Four argues this would favor brute strength over bravery and make Dauntless easier to manipulate from outside. Max favors Eric's vision, and Four withdraws from the program, choosing to become an initiation instructor instead. He sends Evelyn a note through a factionless messenger: "Someday. Not yet. —4. P.S. I'm glad you're not dead."

"The Traitor" opens two years later. On Visiting Day, Four sneaks into Max's office and installs a program to mirror Max's computer files remotely. He meets Tris Prior and her mother, Natalie Prior, and watches Tris conquer her fear simulation in three minutes, faster than any other initiate. Accessing Max's files, Four discovers weapons lists, supply orders, and a map focused on the Abnegation sector. He realizes Max and Jeanine are planning a military attack on Abnegation. When Tris manipulates a simulation by cracking the glass of a water tank, Four recognizes her as Divergent, warns her to hide the ability, and deletes her footage.

Four meets Evelyn on a late-night train and shares the attack plans, but Evelyn already knew; she intends to let the attackers destroy the Abnegation leadership, which she blames for helping Marcus lie about her death. Four leaves without answering. Soon after, initiates Peter, Drew, and Al attack Tris by the chasm at night. Four hears her scream, arrives in time, and beats Drew nearly unconscious before carrying Tris to his apartment. In the wake of the attack, Al dies by suicide, and Four confronts his guilt for not doing more to protect his initiates. He warns Tris that the current leaders target independent thinkers and that her selflessness makes her both truly brave and dangerous to them.

Four takes Tris through his own fear landscape so she can know him as he knows her. They face his four fears together: heights, confinement, shooting a faceless woman, and Marcus with his belt. In the final fear, Tris steps forward and strikes Marcus. She deduces his real name, Tobias, from seeing his father. Sitting by the chasm afterward, Tobias tells Tris that selflessness and bravery are often the same thing, and they kiss for the first time. That night, Tobias walks to the Abnegation sector to warn Marcus about the planned attack, but Marcus refuses to believe him. Marcus grabs Tobias's arm, but Tobias pulls free, now too strong for his father to hold. The warning goes unheeded, but Tobias resolves that the Abnegation are worth protecting because of people like Tris and her mother.

The collection closes with three bonus scenes from Divergent told from Four's perspective: Tris becoming the first jumper on Choosing Day, her bold first meal in Dauntless where she calls Four "a bed of nails," and a night by the chasm where he tells her she looks good and reflects that he prefers her company to alcohol.