Tobias Eaton

I don’t want to be just one thing, I can’t be. I want to be brave and I want to be selfless, intelligent and honest and kind.

— Tobias to Tris Prior in Divergent (film)

Tobias Eaton, more commonly known as Four, is the deuteragonist of the Divergent trilogy. He is the son of Evelyn Johnson and Marcus Eaton. Alongside Lauren (instructor of Dauntless-born initiates), he is the instructor of the transfer initiates. He becomes the love interest of Tris Prior later on in the first book of the trilogy.

Biography

Early life

Tobias was born to Marcus and Evelyn Eaton in the Abnegation faction. His father was said to have noticed his Divergence at a young age and became observant of him since then. Evelyn supposedly died when Tobias was young, leaving Tobias alone with Marcus. Tobias became a victim to his father’s cruelty. During his aptitude tests he got an Abnegation result, but chose Dauntless as his faction at the Choosing Ceremony to escape his father. During his initiation training, when he went through his fear landscape, it was discovered Tobias only had four fears, with the average being between ten and fifteen. As a result, his instructor, Amar, started calling him “Four.” Tobias accepted it so he could escape his past. He finished first in his initiation class, and chose to work in the intelligence sector of Dauntless, but also decided to train the initiates.

Divergent

“A stiff, the first to jump? Unheard of.” “There’s a reason she left them, Lauren,” he says. His voice is deep, and it rumbles. “What’s your name?” “Um…” I don’t know why I hesitate. But “Beatrice” just doesn’t sound right anymore. “Think about it,” he says, a faint smile curling on his lips.”You don’t get to pick again.” A new place, a new name. I can be remade here. “Tris,” I say firmly. “Tris,” Lauren repeats, grinning. “Make the announcement, Four.” The boy- Four- looks over his shoulder and shouts, “First jumper, Tris!”

Four is first seen helping Tris get out of the net after she jumps through the hole into the Dauntless compound. After all the initiates have come in, he introduces himself as the instructor to the transfers.

Four show Dauntless Transfers fighting technique.

Four supervises their training, showing them how to fight with weapons, as well as hand-to-hand combat. Tris’ fellow initiates, Christina and Will, both comment that Four seems like someone to stay away from. Four tries to help Tris out with her combat abilities, though Tris is wary to trust him, initially. During Tris’ first fight, against Peter Hayes, when Tris starts being beaten badly, she notices Four leaving the room. When she comments to him about this, he says it “wasn’t something I wanted to watch.”

Four gives Tris tips on combat skills saying “Your fast and you have that as an advantage and aim to the throat”

Four is next seen when the initiates gather at the tracks to play a Dauntless game of capture the flag. On the train, Four and Dauntless leader Eric are the two captains under which initiates will be split up into two teams. Four surprises Tris, as well as the rest of the group, by choosing her as his first team member. Tris later notices that all the members Eric picked have bigger builds compared to Four’s picks. Eventually, they come to the amusement park, and Four tells them to come up with a strategy before the other team picks their spot. While the other members start bickering about a strategy, Four notices Tris sneak off toward the ferris wheel.

He follows her, and she says she’s “seeking higher ground” to find the other team. Four climbs with her, and Tris later realizes he has a fear of heights. They’re able to climb high enough to find the other team’s flag, but on the way down, Tris loses her footing and is dangling in midair. Four climbs down and turns on the wheel, helping Tris ride down and safely land. They come back to the group, and Tris devises a strategy to go into two groups, with half distracting the team while the other gets the flag. The strategy works, and Four’s team wins. Though Christina is the one who captures the flag, Four tells Tris “well done,” acknowledging her role in their win.

Four throwing knives at Tris because she took over Al’s position

The next day, the initiates are shown how to throw knives by Four and Eric. After they start throwing, both Eric and Four notice that Tris’ friend, Al, hasn’t hit the target yet. Eric tells him to go get his knife when he misses again, but Al refuses because he’s afraid of being hit by a stray knife thrown by the other initiates. Eric has them stop, and tells Al to stand in front of the target. Eric calls Four over, and tells Al to stand in front of the target while Four throws knives at him. If he flinches, he’s out. Just as Four is getting ready to throw, Tris stops him and voluntarily takes Al’s place. She manages to stay composed while Four throws the knives. He throws a knife that nicks her ear, and she later calls him out for doing it on purpose. Four admits it, saying if he hadn’t, Eric wouldn’t have let her go. When she yells at him for “taunting” her, he angrily tells her that if he wanted to hurt her, he would’ve by now. He storms out before she can ask what he means.

Tris is paired up against Molly, Peter’s sidekick, in her following fight. She defeats Molly, but almost beats her to death until Four pulls Tris away, shocked by her show of rage. During Visiting Day, Tris introduces Four to her mom, Natalie Prior. Natalie comments that Four looks familiar to her, as well as ‘handsome’, though Four dismisses it, saying he doesn’t care to be associated with Abnegation. During the second stage of initiation, Four supervises the initiates as they go through their fear simulations while under a serum. Four figures out that Tris is Divergent, and though she denies it, he tells her to find a way to conceal it or she could end up dead. Tris wonders if he’s Divergent, as well.

When rankings for stage two are posted, Tris finds herself ranked first. Soon after, she’s attacked by Peter, Drew, and Al, when they try to throw her into the chasm. Four hears her screams and rescues her, severely injuring Drew in the process. Four brings Tris back to his room.

Tris and Tobias’s first remotely romantic encounter with each other. First was when they briefly held hands in the hallway outside of the shooting range.

Four shows the transfers the fear landscape room, where they’ll try to conquer their fears as their final test. Tris later notices him going alone toward the room, and follows him. Four realizes she’s following him, and reveals he wanted her to come. Tris goes through his fear landscape, and finds out his true identity. She protects him from Marcus when he shows up in his landscape, preventing him from hitting Four with a belt as he usually did. He’s amazed afterwards by her actions, and credits her for helping him get through his fears. They later make their way next to the chasm, where he opens up to Tris. They share their first kiss during this time.

The next day, the initiates go through Lauren’s fear landscapes as preparation for the final. But when Tris goes in, facing Lauren’s fear of being kidnapped, the fear morphs into her own, and Tris panics. Tobias shuts down the simulation, and yells at her for being “pathetic.” Tris hits him, and tells him off before running away. She goes to Erudite to visit her brother, Caleb, before being driven back to Dauntless compounds after getting caught. Tobias later helps her get out of trouble with Eric. He talks to Tris alone afterwards, who scolds him for yelling at her. Tobias insists he was trying to protect her so no one would know their relationship and accuse him of choosing favorites; Tris understands, and they reconcile.

Tobias has Tris meet him later that night, and the two of them get onto the train. He brings her to Erudite headquarters, where he shows her that their lights are on throughout the night even though it’s against city rules. Tris makes the connection between the lights and the recent articles Erudite have written, slandering Abnegation city leaders. She also figures out what Tobias has: Erudite are planning to use Dauntless to overthrow Abnegation and take over the government. Tobias doesn’t know how, and Tris admits she doesn’t know, either.

On Initiation Day, Tobias is monitoring the initiates, but he can’t see the simulations. After Tris goes through her test, Tobias brings her back to his room, where they start making out. Tris, though, pulls back and reveals to Tobias that he was in her fear landscape because she’s afraid of being intimate with him, thinking he only wants her for her body. Tobias insists that’s not what he thinks of her, and she says he’s probably not going to be in her fear landscape anymore. At the dinner, Tris is ranked first, and accepted into Dauntless. Tobias comes up to congratulate her, and she kisses him, not caring what others think, but she pulls back, realizing how Erudite are going to use Dauntless, insisting she’ll tell him later.

Tris’ assumption is proven correct, as Erudite activate a tracker serum put in every Dauntless member, making them sleepwalking soldiers, that night. Tris sees Tobias next when she gets onto the train, and is afraid she was wrong about him being Divergent, as well. He grabs her hand, though, revealing his Divergence to her. The two get down with the other soldiers at Abnegation, where the leaders are rounded up to be killed. At one point, Eric decides to shoot Four to get rid of his competition, thinking no one will notice, but Tris stops him, shooting him in the foot. She and Four run, but don’t make it far because Tris is shot, and Tobias refuses to leave her. The two are brought before Jeanine Matthews, leader of the Erudite, who decides to use Tobias to test out her new simulation serum for Divergents, and leaving Tris to die since she’s wounded. Tobias tries to attack Jeanine to prevent this, but fails and is injected with Jeanie’s new serum which is effective on him even though he is Divergent. The first thing he does is try to strangle Tris, but Jeanie’s guards pry him off her. Jeanie then sends him to the control room to run the simulation.

Tris is saved, and comes to Dauntless headquarters with her father, Andrew Prior along with his father, Marcus Eaton, and Caleb Prior in order to shut down the simulation. She comes to the control room, where she finds Four under simulation monitoring the other Dauntless soldiers on the screen. The two of them start fighting against each other, until Tris manages to get Tobias’ gun and points it at him. Not able to shoot him, she puts the gun in his hand and he points it at her head knowing (hoping) he’d be too afraid to shoot her. However, her voice comes through to him, and he breaks out of the simulation. After shutting down the simulation he removes it from the Erudite files by putting the code for the simulation and what was done with the Simulation on a hardrive which he gives to Tris. They then go down to regroup. Marcus gives him a hug and he goes rigid with fear of his abusive father. Tris comes to his rescue and separates Marcus from him. She lets Marcus know that she thinks Tobias has the right to shoot him, though she might do it herself. They jump onto the train with Peter, who helped Tris get into the control room after she shot him, and head towards Amity headquarters.

Free Four: Tobias Tells the Story

In Free Four, the knife-throwing scene is recounted from Tobias’ perspective. Tobias reveals that he was planning to become factionless after training this group of initiates. However, after Tris keeps her composure while he throws the knives, Tobias realizes Eric has his eye on Tris the way he did on Amar the year before, right before Amar was found dead. After arguing with Tris and leaving the arena, he realizes the depth of his feelings for her when he decides to stay to protect her.

Insurgent

Tobias and Tris both enter the Amity compound, where the surviving Abnegation members and loyal Dauntless have gathered. However, soon after, the compound is attacked by the Erudite, and Tobias and Tris both run towards the trains, evading the Dauntless traitors sent by Erudite. On the train, they find Edward, one of Tris’ fellow initiates who quit after getting his eye stabbed by Peter, inside, and realize they have found the factionless. Tobias then tells them his name in order to stop them from attacking. Edward recognizes him, and brings him to the factionless leader-Evelyn, Tobias’ mother. Tobias later reveals to Tris that his mother contacted him after he joined Dauntless, and when he met her, the reunion wasn’t a happy one. Later that night, Tris overhears a conversation between Evelyn and Tobias, where she tries to convince him to get the Dauntless to ally with the factionless. Tobias isn’t sure he can make that happen since he’s not someone held in high regard. Evelyn then says he should “become important.”

Tris and Tobias leave to Candor headquarters to devise a plan. There, the two of them are subjected to the truth serum, and Tobias’ abusive past is revealed, as well as his wish to leave Dauntless to become factionless until he met Tris. Afterwards, Tris reveals, while under Truth serum, that she killed Will while he was under simulation. Christina is heartbroken when she hears this, while Tobias is upset he never told her this before. Tris overhears a conversation between Marcus and Johanna Reyes, the Amity representative, about some important information that could change everything. When she tells Tobias, though, he discounts it, saying Marcus is lying to make himself more important. Tris thinks Tobias knows Marcus better, but she still has her doubts.

When Tris and other Dauntless members are ambushed by the Dauntless traitors on the rooftop of Hancock Tower, she is captured by the traitors as a Divergent. However, just as she manages to stab Eric, who captured her, Tobias bursts in with other loyal Dauntless soldiers, and manages to save her. He later reprimands her for confronting the Erudite when she only had a pocket knife, and when she insists it was necessary, Tobias reveals that he doesn’t want to lose her. Meanwhile, the Dauntless have started mocking and teasing Tobias about being abused by his father.

Tobias helps the other Dauntless soldiers by spying on Jack Kang, the Candor leader, and finds out Erudite is going to send a representative of Jeanine to discuss a negotiation. Tris figures that they need to listen in to the conversation to find out what Erudite is going to ask for. When Tobias is openly mocked in the Candor cafeteria, he gets up and heads for Marcus, also at the compound, and publicly beats him up in the cafeteria. Tris is shocked by this sudden outburst, but later realizes it wasn’t sudden. Tobias claims he no longer wanted to be mocked by everyone, but she realizes he wanted to be held in high regard by Dauntless in order to assist Evelyn’s plan for him to “become important.” When he finds out Tris is planning to join a group that is eavesdropping on Jack’s meeting with the Erudite representative, he tries to stop her, arguing she’s not able to carry a gun. Tris refuses to back down, and Tobias tags along to protect her. During the stakeout, Dauntless member Lynn shoots Max, Jeanine’s representative, and Tris leads a group to the place she believes Jeanine is hiding. Before she can get there, Lynn’s sister Shauna is shot and injured. Tobias is furious with Tris for her actions, and warns her that if she continues to be reckless, he’s done with her.

Dauntless members at Candor gather together to discuss Erudite’s demands and their next move. They decide to create new leadership, and elect Tobias, Tori Wu, and Harrison as the new leaders. They also decide to put Eric on trial, since he’s a Dauntless member, and their responsibility. During Eric’s “trial,” he asks Tris to state his crimes, and she realizes it’s his way of getting to Tobias. Eventually, they sentence him to death, and he tells Tobias to execute him, hoping he will have to live with the guilt. Tobias doesn’t feel guilty at all, and kills Eric. Afterwards, Tobias jumps onto the train with the other Dauntless members to head back to headquarters.

Tobias pulls Tris aside that evening to join him for a meeting. They get on the train, where Evelyn and Edward meet with them, and Tobias says he wants to negotiate an alliance between the Dauntless and the factionless to take down Erudite. Evelyn accepts, but after she and Edward get off, Tris reveals that she doesn’t trust Evelyn, and believes she has an ulterior motive. Tobias doesn’t think she has a clear perspective, and chooses to discount her suspicions. Tris gets off the train, angry at Tobias’ words.

That night, the Erudite activate a simulation serum, and send a message saying that the Divergent have to surrender or members will be killed every two days. Tris and Christina are able to save Kee and Hector, two members under simulation, but a third member, Marlene, jumps off the roof and dies. Tobias approaches Tris at dinner the next day, telling her not to make any decisions until they’ve talked about it. When Tobias finds Tris in his room later, he reveals that he knows she’s lying and planning to go to Erudite. The two of them argue about the situation, with Tris saying this is the only solution. Tobias tells Tris just how scared he is at the thought of losing her, asking her to stay for him. Tris agrees then, but that night, she sneaks off and goes to Erudite.

Tobias later gets into the Erudite compound, supposedly trying to rescue Tris. Tris sees him while getting escorted by Peter, and he claims he turned himself in, as well. Tobias is later brought into a room where Jeanine has Tris strapped to a table, and Tobias reveals to Tris that Jeanine wants information on the factionless safe houses. In order to achieve this, Jeanine injects Tris with a concentrated fear simulation serum, making her completely overwhelmed by terror. Unable to bear seeing Tris suffer, he tells Jeanine where the safe houses are. Soon after, he manages to fight off both his and Tris’ guards, and runs through the hallways. He then pulls her into a closet, where he reveals that he came here to get intel on Erudite headquarters, so that the Dauntless and factionless could break in two weeks from then, when Tris’ execution was scheduled. The two are captured by the guards soon after.

Tris’ execution is moved up when Jeanine becomes frustrated at not being able to find a serum to keep her under, and decides to execute her and run the experiments with Tobias instead. Tobias desperately tries to break out of his room so he can see Tris the day of the execution. She walks by as this occurs, and puts her hand on the window, to which he puts his hand on the other side next to hers. Tris supposedly is executed, but is actually rescued by Peter, who brings her to Tobias. The three escape together.

The three escape to the Abnegation sector, where both Dauntless and factionless have come together. Soon after, it is announced that the factionless and Dauntless will jointly raid the Erudite compound to stop their power quest. Tobias tells Tris that he’s requested her to be with his team, so he’s not separated from her again. Tris, though, says she’s still not comfortable shooting a gun, and Tobias tells her she can sit out of the raid. Soon after, he participates in the attack on Erudite headquarters, and heads to the main control rooms to shut down their resources. There, he finds Marcus, trying to steal information from the Erudite hard drive. He then heads to Jeanine’s private lab, where Tori has captured Tris after she tried to get the same information Marcus was after. Tobias realized Tris sided with Marcus and betrayed him, but she argues that he should know her better to understand there was a purpose to her coming. Tobias later finds the information Marcus and Tris were after, and releases it for everyone to see just as Evelyn declares the factionless now in control of government. He comes back to Tris, and watches as a woman named Edith Prior reveals the creation of the faction system.

Allegiant

Tobias has been avoiding Tris since the reveal of the video because he’s trying to stay in his mother’s confidence. Eventually, he visits her in her holding cell to let her know she’s going to be interrogated under truth serum, and he’s convinced Evelyn to let her be questioned first so Christina and Cara, Will’s sister from Erudite, don’t get punished as traitors. Tris is able to resist the truth serum, and get Evelyn to let her, Cara, and Christina go. Soon after, Tobias takes Tris out on a date, and reveals how upset he’s been despite understanding her need to lie to him. Tris tells him how she wants to be alive for him, and they both agree to not keep secrets from each other.

Tris later is ambushed by people who say they belong to the Allegiant, and want her help to go outside the city limits. Tobias is there when Tris and their friends go to the meeting, and find out Johanna and Cara both head up the Allegiant. Johanna decides not to go, but Cara decides she’ll lead the group to go outside the city and see what is there. Tobias decides to go, but his friend and fellow initiate, Zeke, decides not to, but asks that Tobias look out for his brother, Uriah, when they go outside. Tris, meanwhile, asks that Caleb is brought along, too. Though Tobias doesn’t like Caleb because he betrayed Tris to the Erudite, he breaks him out of prison and stops his execution by escaping with him to the city limits. The group splits up, and is ambushed. Tobias is injured, but survives. However, Tris tells him that Tori didn’t survive the attack.

The group keeps walking away from the city, and eventually spot a truck. Tobias is shocked when Amar steps out, alive. They all are taken to the base, which is revealed to be the Bureau of Genetic Welfare. There, they are met by the Bureau’s leader, David, as well as Zoe and George Wu, Tori’s brother whose death was faked just like Amar’s. They find out that their city, Chicago, is an experiment in order to get rid of genetic damage believed to have been responsible for the Purity War years before. Tobias tries to adjust to life outside the city, but is finding it hard to have any grasp on reality due to the shock of the world.

Tobias comes with Tris when she is asked to get a genetic test done by Matthew, a Bureau scientist. There, Tobias finds out that unlike Tris, he isn’t completely Divergent, and therefore genetically damaged (GD), while Tris is genetically pure (GP). Though Tris insists it means nothing, Tobias is upset at this revelation. He meets Nita, another GD, who invites him to join a GD group. While meeting them, he finds out about Marcus’ trial, and watches inside the Bureau while Evelyn gives Marcus the sentence of exile rather than execution. Nita reveals she’s planning a revolution against the Bureau, believing no genetics test can distinguish people. Though Nita insists he keep it to himself, Tobias tells Tris in order to keep his promise to be honest with her. The two of them find out that the Bureau was the one who gave Jeanine the attack serum that made the Dauntless attack Abnegation under simulation because the Abnegation were about to reveal the video, which would have destroyed the experiment. Nita says she’s going to get the memory serum the Bureau holds to take away their power, and destroy it. Tobias is willing to help, but Tris is hesitant, wondering why Nita is just destroying the serum. Tobias accuses her of being jealous, and resolves to help Nita.

On the day of the attack, Tobias goes to the control room to shut off the security system while Nita breaks into the main vault where the Bureau holds the serum. The plan fails, and Tobias ends up getting arrested. Tris later comes to him and reveals Nita was trying to steal the death serum, not the memory serum, in order to kill the Bureau and get rid of the genetic division. She also reveals that Uriah was near the explosion Nita set off as a decoy, and, as a result, is in a coma without any hope of waking up. Tris tells Tobias she’s not sure she can stay with him anymore. Tobias is shocked by Uriah’s fate, realizing he broke his promise to Zeke. Though he’s released with a minimal sentence, Tobias is upset that he might have lost Tris for good.

Tobias spends time in the control room, watching inside Chicago on the screens, and his parents in order to forget the fact that he hurt Uriah and Tris. He watches Marcus meets Johanna, and propose to ally against Evelyn in order to overthrow her. Cara notices Tobias’ obsession, and wonders what Marcus is up to. The two try to figure out what the Allegiant’s plan is in order to steal Evelyn’s stash of weapons. Meanwhile, Tobias meets with Caleb, Tris, Christina, and Matthew, a GD sympathizer, about plotting against the Bureau. He later sees Johanna and Marcus break into a safe house, and steal ammunition Evelyn had locked up.

Tris eventually reconciles with Tobias, finally feeling comfortable and the two make love for the first time. The two stay together to fight against the Bureau. Tris is offered a position on the Bureau’s board of GPs, and finds out David is planning to reset the entire city and restart the experiments. Tobias doesn’t want this to happen, and neither does Tris. She realizes they could use the memory serum to reset the Bureau and change their mind sets about the genetic divide. Though Tobias is hesitant about the plan, he decides to go along with it. When Christina informs Tris and Tobias that Uriah is going to be taken off his ventilator, Tobias resolves to go into the city and get Zeke and Hana, their mother, so they can come and say goodbye to Uriah before the planned reset happens. When the group meets with Matthew, they reveal that whoever tries to reset the Bureau will be on a suicide mission, because they have to get through the death serum. Caleb volunteers, knowing that Tris and the others have no sympathy for him with his lack of care.

Matthew gives the group a serum that inoculates them against the memory serum. Tobias notices that Peter pretends to inoculate himself during this time. Christina comes to Tobias, and asks if he’s okay with his parents getting reset. Tobias insists they’d be better people, but Christina thinks he should try to help them, because he could be helping the city by doing it. Tobias decides to take a vial of memory serum to one of them, hoping to stop the violence. Tris, meanwhile, tells Tobias she knows that Caleb has volunteered out of guilt, not out of love for her. Tobias insists that she should let him make things right.

On the day of the reset, Amar drives Tobias, Christina, Peter, and others inside the city to get Zeke and Hana. Christina intentionally sabotages the truck so Tobias can get down to go find his parents. Peter comes with him, and reveals he wants to take the memory serum because he’s tired of being cruel and evil, and thinks it’s the only way he can be a better person. Tobias decides to give the serum to Peter if he doesn’t give it to his parents. He goes and finds Evelyn, thinking she’ll be easier to negotiate with. He goes to her office, and decides to give her a choice: keep her seat as the leader, or get her son back by taking the memory serum. Evelyn decides to relinquish her power without taking the memory serum, and chooses Tobias. He later keeps his promise, and gives Peter the memory serum to drink. He later finds Zeke and Hana, and explains to them what happened to Uriah and his role in it. They agree to come with him so they can say goodbye.

When they reach the compound, Cara comes and out and informs them about Tris’ death because she went in place of Caleb, and released the memory serum before being shot and killed by David. Tobias is consumed by grief, and finds it hard to move around even when he goes to see Tris’ body. Caleb tells Tobias Tris’ final message that she didn’t want to leave him. Tobias still finds it hard to function when he watches as Zeke and Hana say goodbye to Uriah. Eventually, he steals a vial of memory serum, resolving to erase his memories and pain of losing Tris. Christina, though, shows up and tells him that Tris would want him to remember her, and he’s not a person who takes the coward’s way out. Tobias realizes Christina is right, and lets her stop him from taking the memory serum, making the decision to move on.

Two and a half years later, Tobias is now working as an assistant to Johanna, who is the city’s representative in the government. He scatters Tris’ ashes by zip-lining with his friends, getting through his fear of heights as a way to honor her memory. Tobias knows he will always remember Tris, and though the pain is still there, it’s not as profound anymore. He knows he can heal from his past by relying on his friends, and resolves to keep going after everything he’s been through.

Relationships

Tris Prior

Four first meets Tris.

Tris is Tobias’ late girlfriend. Tris was the first person Tobias completely trusted, which eventually led to him developing feelings for her. She was the reason why he continued to stay in Dauntless instead of following through with his plan of becoming Factionless. He often, though, kept his feelings distant during Tris’ initiation so nobody would notice how attached he was to her. When he reveals his feelings for her, he does his best to protect her from being singled out because of their relationship. Tris often is frustrated by this because he can be considerate with her once, then completely distant the next moment. However, she understands later that he thinks she’s capable of more than others believe she is, and appreciates someone who doesn’t see her as small and weak.

As their relationship deepens, Tobias becomes unwilling to let Tris go into battle, not just because he’s not willing to lose her but also, because he feels as if Tris risks her life recklessly, not caring about dying. Tris starts to be exploited by others who realize that Tobias becomes unhinged when someone tries to hurt her. Tobias eventually understands that he has someone in his life that he doesn’t want to lose, and Tris dying becomes a fear for him. Unfortunately, that fear becomes a reality for Tobias when Tris dies, and the loss is unbearable for him, as he faces the prospect of living life without her. Initially, he considers creating a new life for himself to forget his loss. However, he decides to move on, as Tris once told him to do in case something happens to her, he should hold onto his memories of her while going on with his life.

Evelyn Johnson-Eaton

Evelyn is Tobias’ mother. Tobias was initially very close to his mother until her “death,” but when he found out she was alive, he was angry and their relationship became strained. However, Evelyn is desperate to make a connection with her son again, and hopes he will love her as much as she loves him. Tobias decides to let her be close again when he allies with her in the war. However, Evelyn’s true colors are revealed when she takes over control of the city by force after the battle, and Tobias once again becomes distant from his mother. Despite her oppressive reign, Evelyn shows that she still has a tenderness towards her son, and becomes upset by his distance from her. Tobias feels like his mother will still listen when he then attempts to negotiate with her. Evelyn proves her love for her son is her strongest need when she chooses to give up her control on the city for a chance to rebuild her relationship with Tobias. He in turn follows through on his promise and lets her be part of his life again.

Marcus Eaton

Four hits Marcus in the landscape of fear.

Marcus is Tobias’ father. Having suffered abuse at the hands of his father from the time he was young, Tobias was afraid of Marcus for much of his life. He kept his distance from his father when he had the choice and never disclosed the truth to anybody. Tobias eventually becomes a warrior of strength and skill when he encounters Marcus, and beats his father up publicly, humiliating Marcus. However, Tobias realizes he could become as abusive as his father was to him, and is terrified at the idea. Tobias later decides that Marcus cannot be a part of his life as his father anymore. When Marcus leaves the city for good, Tobias decides not to find out where he’s going because it’s the only way Marcus will no longer influence his life.

Zeke

Zeke is Four’s best friend. Their relationship is mostly shown in the book, Four: A Divergent Collection. Four was approached by Zeke when some Dauntless were playing a game of Dare. Zeke and Four were very close the moment they first met, and according to Four (Allegiant) he never revealed anything about himself to Zeke, but Zeke still became one the best friends he had while growing up. Four thought Zeke was someone he could trust, and the feeling was mutual. In Allegiant Zeke assigned Four the job of taking care of his brother, Uriah. However, Four ended up participating in an uprising that accidently killed Zeke’s brother. Zeke was angry at first, but was shown to have forgiven Four at the end of the book.

Shauna

Shauna is one of Four’s friends. Their relationship was never expressed in the Divergent trilogy, but they were shown to be close in Four: A Divergent Collection. Like Zeke, Four met Shauna while playing agame of Dare with some other Dauntless. When Shauna was failing her initiate classes, Four helped her by teaching her some fighting skills, which eventually led to Shauna successfully winning her fight. In Insurgent, Shauna became wary of Four due to his Divegence. Eventually, in the epilogue of Allegiant Four and Shauna reconciled and became close friends again.

Christina

Christina becomes Four’s girlfriend in We Can Be Mended. Their relationship formed due to Tris’ passing. Their relationship wasn’t stated in the books, but expressed in We Can Be Mended.

Physical Description

Tobias is around 6 ft to 6’3 ft. In the book he has short brown hair (Abnegation style) and dark blue eyes with a light blue patch in the left iris and eyelashes that touch the skin under his eyebrows (he has long eyelashes). He is described to be fit and toned with a slight tan. The corners of his mouth turn down naturally and is often seen frowning. He has a rather large tattoo of all of the factions that symbolize who he wishes to be, though he continuously struggles with being kind. He is described to have large hands with long narrow fingers that somehow always find a way to touch bare skin. Under the tattoos on his back are the scars from the belts Marcus used to beat him with. He has a hooked nose and a spare upper lip and a full lower lip, just like his mother.

Trivia

• Four’s fears are heights, confinement (claustrophobia), killing innocent people (symbolized in his fear landscape as having to shoot a woman) and being beaten up by Marcus (his father). However, as said in Insurgent, his fears switched over the course of the trilogy. In Allegiant, it is revealed that the heights and confinement fear remain the same; instead of having to kill a woman, he must watch Tris die, and it is shown that instead of being beaten up by Marcus, he is afraid of turning into his father.

Theo James plays Four

• When Tris tells Tobias that he may not be in her fear landscape anymore, he says that everybody could call her Six, referring to her then only having six fears, to which Tris replies, “Four and Six”.
• In the movie, Four’s age has been changed to 24, instead of him being 18.
• Miles Teller who played Peter, and Alexander Ludwig who played Cato in the Hunger Games, both auditioned and were almost cast as Four in the films.

Film Portrayal

Summit Entertainment bought the rights to create a film adaptation of the novel. Theo James was cast as Tobias “Four” Eaton. The film depicts Tobias Eaton as an older instructor by the age of 24 instead of the original 18 in the novels.

Dauntless

Current Leaders: Four | Tori | Harrison

Known members: Tris Prior | Tobias Eaton | Christina | Will | Tori | Uriah | Marlene | Amar | Rita | Lauren | Lynn | Eric | Max | Zeke | Harrison | Shauna | Peter

Known faction-borns: Uriah | Marlene | Max | Lynn | Zeke | Shauna |

Ex-Leaders: Max | Eric | (Countless pasts leaders/members)

References

1. ↑ Please see: Allegiant Poster (Tris and Four) for clarification