Divergent characters

Also known as Beatrice Prior

Appears from the start

The narrator, a teenager raised in the selfless faction Abnegation in a walled, faction-divided city. Restless and self-doubting, she takes the aptitude test meant to guide her lifelong faction choice and learns that she fits no single category, a rare and secret status. Choosing to leave her family and reinvent herself, she takes the name Tris and pursues a new, dangerous life while hiding what she truly is.

First appears in chapter 6

A young instructor for the Dauntless initiates, controlled, capable, and hard to read. He drills the newcomers through combat and fear exercises and shows an unusual interest in Tris. Reserved about his own past, he becomes both a mentor and a growing personal attachment for her.

Appears from the start

Tris's older brother, raised alongside her in Abnegation and seemingly the more dutiful of the two. At the Choosing Ceremony he surprises her with his own decision, and the siblings part to follow separate factions and separate loyalties.

Appears from the start

Tris's mother, a quiet and watchful woman devoted to Abnegation's ideals of service. Warm toward her daughter in a restrained way, she carries more history and strength than her modest manner suggests.

Appears from the start

Tris's father, a prominent member of Abnegation's governing council and a stern adherent of its selfless values. He is disappointed by choices that pull his children away from the faction he has given his life to.

First appears in chapter 2

A respected leader of Abnegation and a colleague of Tris's father on the city's ruling council. He presides over civic matters with the faction's grave, self-effacing authority.

First appears in chapter 7

A frank, quick-tongued transfer from the honesty faction Candor who becomes Tris's first real friend among the Dauntless initiates. Loyal and outspoken, she goes through the brutal training at Tris's side.

First appears in chapter 7

A good-natured transfer from the knowledge faction Erudite, one of the initiates who befriends Tris. Clever and easygoing, he trains alongside her and Christina.

First appears in chapter 7

A large, gentle transfer initiate who struggles with the violence Dauntless demands and grows close to Tris early on. His fear and desperation to belong weigh on him as the competition turns cruel.

First appears in chapter 7

A cruel and ambitious transfer initiate who treats initiation as a fight to be won by any means. Openly hostile to Tris, he uses intimidation and worse against his rivals to secure his own rank.

First appears in chapter 6

A young, ruthless Dauntless leader who oversees initiation with a taste for brutality. Sympathetic to the ambitions of the Erudite faction, he pushes the initiates toward a harsher, more merciless version of Dauntless.

First appears in chapter 23

The coldly intelligent leader of the knowledge faction Erudite, who directs a public campaign of accusations against Abnegation's leadership. Calculating and hungry for control of the city, she pursues her aims through information, influence, and technology.