Tris Prior

Beatrice "Tris" Prior is the main protagonist and narrator of the Divergent series. She is a strong-willed seventeen-year-old girl who hates showing weakness. Though Tris was born in the faction Abnegation, she eventually transferred to Dauntless and must face the fact that she is Divergent. When she arrived in her new faction, she opted for a change and decided to use Tris as a nickname for Beatrice, hoping for a fresh start.

Biography

Early life

Divergent

Beatrice later encounters a Factionless man who asks for food and later cryptically tells her to "choose wisely" at the Choosing Ceremony. She arrives with her family at the ceremony anxious about her choice. Her father is counting on her and her brother to choose Abnegation. During the ceremony, Beatrice is deeply surprised by the fact that her brother Caleb chose Erudite, the faction of knowledge instead of Abnegation, the faction of the selfless. When it's her turn, her choice not only surprised her family but herself, by choosing to spill her blood on hot coals or rocks, therefore, choosing Dauntless. Before they leave, Beatrice takes one last glance at her family; she sees her mother smiling at her, her father staring at her with a look of accusation, and her brother already happily adjusting with his new faction. Upon seeing Caleb, she realizes that she must, and eventually will, adjust, as well.

As the Dauntless run towards the train station, her confusion dissipates and is replaced by exhilaration. Here, she meets Christina, a transfer from Candor, when Beatrice jumps on the train. When they arrive at their destination, they must jump off the train onto the roof which is at least seven stories below. At the point when everyone has jumped off, Beatrice asks Christina if they should jump off together, which Christina accept.

Initiation

After separating from the Dauntless-initiates under Lauren, being toured by Four, and briefed on the initiation process by their young Dauntless leader Eric, they find out that only the top ten initiates will become members. Instead of being dissuaded, Tris becomes more determined to get through initiation and become a member. Tris goes to bed thinking about her family and, although refusing to cry, eventually sleeps in silent tears.

The next thing Tris, Christina, Will, and Al decide to do is get Dauntless physical uniqueness, to feel like they've actually left their old factions and be all the way in with Dauntless by looking the part. Christina gets Tris a makeover and a new wardrobe and, as Al is getting his spider tattoo, Tris sees Tori again and she gets her first tattoo: three ravens from her collarbone to her heart, one for each member of the family she left behind.

The next battle between Molly and Christina is intense. Molly beats Christina up, to the point where Christina just stops the fight. Eric, obviously not happy with Christina, orders her and the other initiates to follow him out as he leads them to the chasm. He then shoves Christina against the railing and tells her to climb over it and hang over the other side for five minutes, or she fails initiation and will leave to be Factionless. Despite the difficulty and several close calls, she makes it through the five minutes and Eric orders her to come up. Against Eric's order, although he never said she had to get up on her own, Al and Tris help her up.

The next morning, Tris 's mattress is vandalized with the word “Stiff,” most likely by Peter who, as later revealed, becomes her opponent for that day's fighting session. This time, Molly is placed against Edward, with the latter beating up the other. Will beats Christina, and Al fakes losing against Drew, not wanting to hurt anymore. Tris, during her fight against Peter, is determined to at least try and show them she is not weak enough to be ranked last. She initially tries attacking Peter but, once Peter starts seriously inflicting damage against her, moves on to defend herself. Wanting to "stay on her feet," she stands up every time Peter makes her fall. Before she finally loses consciousness, she notices Four leave the arena. It has been said that she was barely alive when Four shouts "Enough!" and rushes her to the hospital.

The next morning, although still aching all over, Tris is forced to get up early and, with Christina's help, makes it to the tracks in time for their departure. They go to the fence that surrounds the city, which is by the Amity's farms. By the gate, Tris is seen and hugged by Robert who was sitting in the back of an Amity truck. Robert, seeing Tris' injuries and the way Molly was antagonizing her, tells her that she should go back to Abnegation if it would make her happy, but Tris tells him that she's happy with her decision, and he leaves with his fellow Amity. Four obviously disapproves and tells her "I am worried that you have a knack for making unwise decisions." To which she responds, "It was a two-minute conversation."

Later that day, the initiates, both transfers and Dauntless-born, are awakened in the middle of the night for a game of capture the flag, a Dauntless tradition, where they use guns loaded with paintballs instead of the real thing. They are brought to the old, distant part of the city and divided into two teams: one under Four, and the other under Eric. Tris is picked by Four, along with Christina, Will, Drew, Uriah, Marlene, and other Dauntless-born initiates.

Given a head start, Four's team get off first and look for a hiding place for their flag. At a carousel past the marsh, Four tells his team to formulate a strategy. Differences in opinions result in arguments so, as the others fight over their next move, Tris wanders off towards the Ferris wheel, hoping to get a high enough vantage point of the other team. Four then follows her and climbs up with her.

When Tris loses balance once, Four climbs up to level with her and supports her. The higher they got, the more nervous Four seemed, just as Tris, but for different reasons—Four had been making feel Tris anxious for a while now and Four is afraid of heights.

Tris, realizing that they weren't high enough, continues to climb but, this time, without the ladder rungs to hold on to, uses the Ferris wheels' supports and bars. Despite Four's fear of heights, he follows Tris. At a higher point now, Tris now sees the other team at the other end of the pier. They start climbing down. Tris, however, steps on a weak crossbar that later falls off. Now dangling from scaffolding in midair, Four hurriedly climbs down and activates the Ferris wheel so she can get down.

When they return to the carousel, Tris formulates a plan for the remaining members guarding the flag. Realizing that if she isn't the one to get the flag, it won’t matter that it was her plan and information that led to their victory, so she hurries to catch up to the others. As their plan is a success, she sees the flag practically unguarded hanging from a tree branch, she reaches for it, and so does Christina. Christina, telling Tris to give her a shot, since Tris is already the hero of the day and she can't reach the flag anyway, with a patronizing look, takes the branch anyway and claims victory, leaving Tris disappointed, surprised, and hurt. But when Uriah acknowledges her, she tries to forget about the look Christina gave her and thought that she had already proved herself that day, not wanting to be greedy like Eric, terrified of other people’s strength. She later joins the cheers of her teammates. On the train ride on the way home, Tris is acquainted more with Uriah and Marlene and even jokes around with them.

He then orders Al to stand in front of the target as Four throws knives at the target behind him until he learns not to flinch. Tris, unable to stop herself, speaks up and tells them to stop, telling Eric that "any idiot can stand in front of a target" and that it doesn’t prove anything except that Eric is bullying them, a sign of cowardice. Eric then has Tris stand in front of the target in Al's place.

Before heading to the training room, she buys some new clothes fromthe Pit. She is left slightly disappointed when she sees that she is not up against Peter this time; her opponent is Molly, but she does settle for her and is content, especially when Edward beats up Peter. Al fights against Christina, feigning loss again, and Will against Myra. Tris was, however, assessing Myra's previous battles, trying to think of how to approach their battle.

She uses Molly's teasing as an encouragement for her. She uses Molly's repetitive tactics against her and remembers Four's tips, soon easily overpowering her. Constantly assessing Molly's movements, she eventually beats her and has her drop to the ground. Unstoppable because of her anger and other emotions, she continuously kicks Molly until she is bloody, before Four finally pulls Tris away. Watching the bloody Molly curling on the ground in pain, Tris tries to feel slightly guilty about what she had just done to her, but she can't. She does, however, feel the guilt when Eric commends her on her fight with Molly, realizing that she must have done it very wrong if Eric thought it was right.

On Visiting Day, her mother, Natalie, visits her. Despite Eric's advice to not show attachment with their visiting families, she cannot hold in her happiness and excitement. Natalie tells Tris about how her father has become very selfish lately, and that they cannot visit Caleb because the Erudite now prohibits Abnegation visitors from entering their compound. After Tris introduces her to Four, Will and Christina, they are both introduced to Christina's mother and sister, and Will's sister, Cara, who reacts differently to Natalie because she is Abnegation. When Tris threatens to punch Cara because of her words, Will interferes and Natalie drags Tris off into hallways even Tris hasn't explored yet. Her mother asks her about her rankings and, eventually, asks her about her aptitude test results. Tris, unable to keep it from her mom, tells her about her Divergence. Natalie tells her to keep a low profile to avoid being watched, and that she loves her no matter what faction she chose. Then she instructs her to go to the Erudite compound and ask Caleb to investigate the simulation serum, then leaves. This is when Tris realizes that her mother was from Dauntless.

Earlier, Tris was intercepted by Al's parents who were looking for him. She later finds Al in their dormitory and finds out that he had been hiding because he did not want to disappoint them. This is when Al makes a subtle move for Tris, who awkwardly moves away before finally leaving Al to his thoughts.

During dinner, when their conversation leads to their aptitude tests, Tris becomes anxious, since if she talks about her choices during the test, they might come to realize something about her Divergence. Christina, though, and Al realize she is hiding something because of her body language. She just goes on and tells them the incomplete truth that she got Abnegation but just chose Dauntless.

For stage one, Edward is ranked first, followed by Peter, Will, Christina, Molly, Tris, Drew, Al, and Myra is last.

That night, Peter stabs Edward in the eye with a butter knife. Tris, remembering her mother’s comforting her once when she was injured as a child, tries this same tactic with Edward as they wait for the doctor. Tris volunteers to clean Edward's blood off their dormitory floor. Knowing that the Dauntless will not do anything for Edward, and that Peter was the one who did it, she and Christina decide not to report Peter. The following night, Edward and Myra quit the initiation and leave. With the departure of the two, everyone else's ranks are raised.

At the top, they find out that the ritual is sliding down a steel cable in a black sling. Now in line, Tris finds herself both excited and agitated, and even impatient as she watches the members slide down first.

While hurtling through the cable on her sling, she is exhilarated, filled with adrenaline, and intensely amazed by the sight she below her, throwing her arms out to the side as if she was flying. Once, when she sees people far below looking up at her, she yells with joy, and the people cheer, pumping their fists at her.

When the cable comes to its end, she sees the other Dauntless members twenty feet below her, forming a net of limbs to catch her as she jumps down. Trusting them to catch her, she drops down. When the Dauntless ask her for her reaction, she asks "When can I go again?" and the members laugh with her. As Uriah follows, she joins in as the other make fun of him, then join arms with them to catch him, as well.

Realizing that it is this camaraderie that forms among the Dauntless after they’ve all risked their lives together, she becomes even more determined to survive initiation and be Dauntless, feeling genuinely eager to be one of them for the first time.

When they return to the compound and go into the dining hall for lunch, Tris' friends, Christina, Al, and Will, are stunned to see her with the members and the Dauntless-born, also seemingly slightly hurt and jealous. Not wanting them to be upset, she tries to convince them that she's glad to be back, and that the other members didn't really want her there, and that Uriah had to beg them to let her come along, although Will points out that they seem to like her now. During the first session of the second stage of initiation, they learn that it will involve simulations that teach them to control their, as stated when they first arrived, emotions in the midst of a frightening situation. The simulation will only end once they calm down, hence lowering their heart rate and slowing their breathing. The fears in their simulations may take the form of their real and physical fears, or symbolic manifestations of their emotional fears, which is the case for Tris' first situation: being devoured by crows which, as later revealed, refers to her fear of being powerless.

After three minutes, which seemed like almost a half-an-hour to Tris in her simulation and is at least three times faster than everyone else, she finally calms down and wakes up in a fit, eventually comforted by Four.

When she returns to the dormitory, Peter is reading out an article about the Abnegation. Apparently, while Tris was out zip-lining with the Dauntless members, an Erudite reporter came to the compound to interview them about the Abnegation leadership, one Christina almost punched. Molly, however, bent on revenge for pulling her rank down during stage one, talked to the reporter and made stuff up about Tris and her nonexistent conflict with her father. Tris, enraged, tries to attack Molly but is pulled away by Will, who tries to convince her that, being from Erudite himself, he believes that although his former faction is arrogant and dull, they aren’t revolutionaries that would be capable of overthrowing the current Abnegation government, and all their words just come from their resentment of the faction that refuses to listen to them. Later, Tris gets another tattoo with Christina: the Dauntless seal on their shoulders. Christina also convinces Tris to purchase and wear a shirt that exposes her shoulders and collarbone, particularly to show off her tattoos, and to line her eyes with black pencil again; she no longer objects since she has begun enjoying Christina's makeovers of her. Will tells Tris that she can't believe she got another tattoo, not because she is "Stiff" but because she's sensible. They then come across Four and some others drinking by the chasm. Four calls out to her and approaches her. Intoxicated, he gets a bit too close and personal with Tris in front of her friends. He tells Tris that she looks different, in a good way, and that, if they weren't drinking, he would have asked her to hang out with his friends. When they leave and go for dinner and the others ask her about it, she just tells them that Four was drunk and barely even know what he was saying.

Since breaking the glass is directly manipulating the simulation, signifying awareness and control while under, Four realizes that Tris is Divergent. Four tells her that he will delete the footage and tells her to hide her Divergence during her next simulations if she doesn't want to end up dead at the bottom of the chasm. Confused, she goes to Tori who, she hopes, has the answers to her questions.

Four days later, more articles attacking the Abnegation have been released again so, wanting some time alone, she goes back to the net they jumped onto on their first day. She wanted to remind herself why she chose Dauntless, and why she was so determined to stay.

Her four last fear simulations were being burned on a stake by Peter, drowning in the middle of an ocean, watching her family bleed to death and shooting them while she was held at gunpoint. After these, she is now certain that she knows what fear is, and what being Dauntless actually means. She, and several other initiates, have sleepless nights or nightmares about their simulations. Tris' fear seems to pale theirs by comparison, as she still feels slightly strong while everyone else is breaking down. She is unsure whether her drive is her Divergence, or Four, who has recently became even more of a distraction for her.

When Tris comes out first among the transfers for their rankings for stage two, followed by Peter although Tris' average simulation time of two minutes and forty-five seconds is conspicuously short and far from everyone else's. Peter does not take it well. He confronts her and, when Will tries to defend her, he turns her friends against her by accusing Tris of manipulating them by acting weak to be pitied, then psyching them out by being tough to edge them out of Dauntless rankings, which both Will and Christina consider as they walk out on her. Even Al seems bitter about Tris' ranking as she tries to comfort him about being last, saying that she can't help and she doesn't understand his hardships since it all seems too easy for her.

Later, Uriah sees her again in the same tunnel he found her in the day Edward left. Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene congratulate her about her ranking and ask her to come with them as celebration, which she should be doing since she placed first, so they head for their training room. Lynn and Tris talk as they watch Uriah shoot a muffin off Marlene’s head. Both win since they both successfully accomplish each other's bets. The party ends for them when members Four, Shauna, and Zeke catch them in the training room and they are asked to leave. As they leave, though, Four calls out to Tris and tells her that she "belongs here" and to just be patient, to which Tris replies by holding his hand before running away and following her friends. That night, she is still avoided by Christina and Will, and she does them. When everyone is asleep, she gets out of bed and leaves their dormitory for a drink of water when she overhears Eric talking to a woman, who seems to be the one who made Max appoint him as a Dauntless leader, about watching simulations to find Divergent rebels. Before she sees who the woman is, however, someone pulls her from behind.

Peter, Al and Drew put a blindfold over her eyes, cover her mouth and tie her hands behind her back. They drag her over to the chasm. They hang her backwards over the railings as Peter gropes her chest and attempted to rape her. She is able to fight a back a bit, enough to drops herself down onto the ground, but not enough as, the next time Peter is in control, he hangs her over the chasm through her throat. He releases her when Four comes to her rescue. Al and Peter run, leaving Drew to be beat up by Four.

Tris wakes up in Four's room, where he tends to her. In the midst of intimate moments, he tells her that, for the time being, she should show some vulnerability so that Peter and the others stop making her a target and so that her friends will want to protect her. After Tris tells Four about how they "touched her", though, Four tells her to ruin them when she gets the chance. She stays in his room for the night.

She enters the dining hall after Four, bruised and limping, unwillingly pretending to be weak. Will, Christina, and Uriah worriedly ask her what happened and, when she tells them who attacked her, are shocked about Al's involvement. Drew then shuffles into the dining hall, looking very battered and when her friends ask her if she did that, she tells them that someone she didn't see saved her. When Four takes them out to bring them to the fear landscape room, Will and Christina protectively flank her. When Tris puts her arm around Will to support him as they climb, Four seems to show a hint of jealousy. Christina also apologizes to Tris about taking the flag and claiming victory during capture the flag. During this time, Tris begins to wonder who her true friends are—Uriah and Marlene, who were on her side even when she seemed strong, or Christina and Will, who have always protected her when she seemed weak. After Four's explanation, Peter speaks up, saying that it doesn't seem fair if one of them has lesser fears than everyone else. Four embarrasses him by saying he shouldn't be speaking of fairness and that he knows he's worried since his attack of the "short, skinny girl from Abnegation" proved that he was a miserable coward afraid of her.

In the afternoon when Tris, Christina and Will get back to the dorm, Al, who appears to have been crying, wants to speak to Tris. Will and Christina are protective over her, Will saying that Al doesn't "get to come near her ever again". Al begs Tris to forgive him, repenting for his actions. Tris calls Al a coward, tells him to stay away from her and that if he comes near her again, she will kill him.

Tris has a dream in which she sees her mother standing in the kitchen near a pot on the stove. When Tris looks into the pot, there is a crow inside. Her mother says, "Dinner." Christina wakes her up from her dream and takes her to the Pit. Al has committed suicide by pitching himself over the ledge. As someone pushes Al's eyelids shut, Tris thinks that it is stupid that people want to pretend death is sleep when it isn't.

When Al's body is too big for the body bag, Tris runs to the tattoo parlor, to Tori. Tori gives her a cup of tea and tells her to drink.

Insurgent

As Tris made her way to Amity as a form of a safe house for the time being, they are forced to comply with the same rules as the other Amity have to that go with the condition if their stay.

Rules:

1. Any sign of physical/emotional conflict of any sorts will be dealt with by the member being told to leave the compound
2. You must do chores at the compound like farming, dishes, cooking and also cleaning up after people like children and elderly
3. You must comply with the factions laws otherwise you are to be factionless

But when they are about a few days in their time at Amity, Peter then steals the hard drive from Tris causing her to act violently and is sent to a room to answer some questions and to cool off and then she is later injected with the peace serum which was too much for her weight. Later she sees Tobias and then he sees her act differently and funny and picks her up and takes her to Johanna so that she can explain what happened to her and what is she under that is causing her to act high.

Then a few hours later she is fine but walks out due to what she has been treat like. The Dauntless traitors come to see if there is any suspicious characters in the faction, then all of a sudden all hell breaks loose as Tobias and Tris are spotted and they run with Peter, Marcus, Caleb, Susan and Marcus. The other Abnegation have to stay at Amity due to of what happened. They make it on a train just Tobias, Caleb and Tris and is told to get off and sees Edward who only has respect for Tris as she was the only one who helped him after what Peter had done to him. Then Four says that his name is "Tobias Eaton" and then Edward says "We have been looking for you" and that is when he is taken to see his mother along with Tris. Then after that, they stay the night and head to Candor which Caleb did go due to he told them he was going with Susan to meet up with the other Abnegation which was hiding out in the other Factionless safe homes. They later meet up with Tori and Christina and the remaining pure Dauntless that haven't been taken over by the corrupt Dauntless who are at Erudite. Four and Tris are forced to go under the truth serum and which Tris reveals that her mother and father are dead and she is responsible for Will's death and that makes Christina upset and leave. Then after that, the attack on Candor which leads the corrupt Dauntless put the faction to sleep only to gather the Divergent which was a mistake as Max is killed only with Eric. Then Tris goes to the Erudite as form as a surrender and she is experimented on and almost dies due to Peter swapping the death serum for the paralytic serum.

Allegiant

At the beginning of Allegiant, Tris is imprisoned for assisting in the release of the video by Edith Prior. She is eventually freed, albeit reluctantly, by Evelyn who dislikes Tris and tells her that she (Tris) will have no place in her son's life. After being released, she meets with Four in secret, and they both admit that they have to be honest with each other.

Strengths

Tris is very intelligent.This is probably due to most of her family being Erudite. She uses this skill to get herself put off trouble. She is also a very skilled fighter. She learns several forms of martial arts and kick boxing while living in Dauntless. Tris uses these skills to fight Peter, Molly, Four, and several factionless people. She is also proficient with a hand gun. Also, because of her divergence she is somehow able to be not influenced by serums.

Personality

Being Divergent, Tris by nature is not limited to exhibit only one of the five traits. Since an early age, Tris was shown to have acted with a blend of curiosity and selfishness, traits that obviously does not make sense as an Abnegation. Her Divergence allows her brain to act with traits from three of the five factions, authentically proven through her Aptitude Tests when it showed her being equally apt for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite.

Her most distinguished trait appears to be bravery. Tris is extremely brave, from being the first jumper to ranking first in the initiation. Though she doesn't seem like it, Tris' bravery outranks even some of the Dauntless members as observed through her actions. She courageously climbed the Ferris wheel during the first stage of initiation when even Four, the man having the least of fears reconsidered joining her. She waded through crowds of Dauntless-controlled soldiers and initiated an attempt to try stop the simulations. Her extreme bravery often leads people to think of her as someone who recklessly throw herself into danger. Four notes that Tris was becoming more of a reckless Dauntless, risking her life for situations that she cannot control when her bravery is at its height. More than once, she had also told herself that she would rather be dead than Factionless. Tris has been shown to be selfless and quite intelligent at times that solidifies her status as Divergent. She is often scolded in Dauntless for being too selfless, and is teased mercilessly for being a Stiff, which is being from Abnegation. She is capable of risking her life to save the people she love and to willingly allow herself to make sacrifices no matter the costs. She is as well able to exhibit Erudite traits such as her unusual curiosity and above-average intelligence. Tris is able to pick the most logical response from a particular situation, something an Erudite clearly exhibits. She is told by Four that she is a bad liar, but that she is "deadly smart, brave and selfless." She is also shown to have a temper, and although she seems unbreakable, is also sensitive, shown when Tobias insults her (to make sure the other initiates don't know that he is in a relationship with her), and she slaps him, distraught.

Also unforgiving, this part of her character might have caused Al to commit suicide by jumping into the Chasm when she strongly refused to forgive him after he helped Peter try to kill her. Although she is quite brave, she, like anyone else, has fears. She has five, to be particular, which is one of the lowest number of fears any Dauntless has ever gotten, next to Tobias' four fears.

Fears

1. To be devoured by crows - (symbolic) powerlessness
2. Drowning in a tank of water - (symbolic) weakness and inability to escape
3. Men reaching for her in her Abnegation room - (symbolic) scared of death
4. Kill family or be killed by Jeanine - (symbolic) watching family die and being responsible for it
5. Intercourse/Intimacy with Tobias/Four - (symbolic) fear that Tobias/Four only wants her for her body

Physical Appearance

Tris has a narrow face, grayish-blue eyes that are wide and round, and a long, thin nose. When she looks at herself, she sees someone who isn't pretty and that looks like a little girl with eyes and a nose that are too big. She has straight blonde hair that frames her face, a long neck, and knobby-knuckled hands. Christina tells her that she has striking features; even though they are not beautiful, they are interesting. Three flying birds are tattooed on her collarbone. She also has a tattoo on her right shoulder with the symbol of her old faction, Abnegation. There is a Dauntless seal tattoo on her left shoulder.

She is short, only reaching Four's shoulder. Tris says that her body is like a twelve-year-old's, and if she was taller, could be described as willowy, not childish. In Insurgent, Tris cuts her hair so that it reaches her jawline.

Relationships

Tobias "Four" Eaton