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Still from Insurgent (2015)
Character · by Priya Nair

Four in Divergent: Who Is Tobias Eaton?

Four in Divergent is Tobias 'Four' Eaton, the Dauntless instructor who trains Tris, and Theo James plays him in Divergent (2014), Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016). He is the film character, distinct from the book Four: A Divergent Collection, and his real name, Divergent mind, family and fate all shape his story.

Image: TMDB

Who Plays Tobias 'Four' Eaton?

Who Is Four in Divergent?

Four is the Dauntless instructor who trains the new recruits in Divergent (2014), directed by Neil Burger, and his birth name is Tobias Eaton. The films credit Theo James as "Four" in the first film and as "Tobias 'Four' Eaton" in Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016). James is billed second in all three films, directly after Shailene Woodley as Tris.

Four: A Divergent Collection is a separate book, and the Four on screen is the film character.

When Divergent (2014) opens its main story, Beatrice Prior has chosen Dauntless and renamed herself Tris. Four is the instructor who pushes the recruits through a ranked initiation in which the lowest are cut and left factionless. He is demanding and hard to read, and the film uses him as the gatekeeper between Tris and a place in the faction. Four is the name he uses inside Dauntless, while Tobias Eaton is the name that surfaces later through his family.

Is Four Divergent? Yes. In Divergent (2014) he notices that Tris can think her way out of the fear simulations, which marks her as Divergent, and he helps her hide it. Tris then learns that Four is Divergent too. A Divergent person does not fit a single faction, which is why Jeanine Matthews and the Erudite later brand the Divergent as enemies.

Tobias 'Four' Eaton Films

Four's Story Arc Across the Three FilmsSpoilers

Four moves from a guarded instructor in Divergent (2014) to one of the leaders of the fugitives in Insurgent and Allegiant, and his arc is tied to his mother and to the city's collapse.

In Divergent (2014) his role is to train and to protect. He spots Tris's Divergent mind during the fear simulations and helps her keep it hidden while Peter, an aggressive rival, targets her. When Jeanine's serum places Dauntless members under remote control and sends them to attack Abnegation, Four is controlled too. He nearly shoots Tris before she brings him back to his senses. He then goes with her to the Erudite headquarters, and afterward the two escape the city on a train with a small group of survivors, including Caleb.

Insurgent puts him at the center of a family question. Jeanine has taken control of the city and branded the Divergent as enemies, so Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter hide among the Amity and then run. They board a train and meet the Factionless, led by Four's mother, Evelyn, who wants him to help her form an army against Erudite. He refuses her plan. At Candor, Four and Tris are put on trial under truth serum, and later Four rescues Tris after Eric and Max capture her, with Eric dying in the escape. By the end, the Factionless free Tris and Four.

Allegiant turns him against the new order. Evelyn closes the wall and puts Jeanine's supporters on trial, and Four helps Tris free Caleb and cross the wall with Tori, Christina and Peter. At the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, Four learns during a mission that the Bureau is taking children and wiping their memories. That discovery puts him at odds with David, the Bureau's leader, and sets up the last act, where he has to deal with his mother again.

Are Four and Tris Together? His Key Relationships

Four and Tris stay together through all three films, and she is the closest bond he has in the series. In Divergent (2014) he is her instructor, then the person who protects her secret, then the person she pulls back from a mind controlled attack. In Insurgent they run together, stand trial together and are freed together. In Allegiant they leave Chicago together. In story terms, each is the other's most reliable ally. Tris's own side of this bond is set out in her Tris Prior profile.

His mother is the second central relationship. Evelyn Johnson-Eaton, played by Naomi Watts from Insurgent onward, leads the Factionless and wants her son to command her army. He refuses in Insurgent, and the conflict returns in Allegiant when Evelyn holds power in Chicago. Evelyn's full story is told in her Evelyn Johnson Eaton profile. The films also credit Ray Stevenson as Marcus, and in Insurgent as Marcus Eaton, a character who shares Four's surname.

Four's wider circle includes Tris's brother Caleb Prior, who sides with Erudite in Insurgent and later helps Tris in Allegiant, and Christina, who crosses the wall with the group in Allegiant (see Christina). His enemies are Jeanine Matthews, who controls Dauntless through the serum, and Eric Coulter, who captures Tris. Peter Hayes starts as Tris's rival in initiation and ends up in the same fugitive group, then turns on David in Allegiant. The wider cast is covered in the Divergent cast and Divergent characters listings.

What Happens to Four at the End?Spoilers

Four survives the whole film series, including the attempt on his life that David orders in Allegiant. In the final act, Matthew warns him that David has ordered his death, and he survives and obtains a device that lets him pass the Bureau's cloaking shield. When David persuades Evelyn to release amnesia gas that would erase everyone's memories, Four convinces his mother to stop. Peter then opens the vault so that Tris and Four can halt the gas, and Tris broadcasts the truth about the Chicago experiment to the world.

That is where the story stops. The final film that was planned, Ascendant, was never made. An Entertainment Weekly report from October 2023 says Lionsgate's plans for a final film were scrapped, and that author Veronica Roth said Ascendant will never be made. As such, the screen never shows what Four does after the Bureau is exposed.

As of 3 November 2026, no new Divergent film has been announced or dated. Roth's new novel, The Sixth Faction, was due on 6 October 2026, with a sequel due in February 2027, according to Cinefilos. Talk of a film of that book is speculation, with no studio announcement behind it, so nothing is known about any casting for Four. For the open question, see Divergent Ascendant.

Four's Best Moments in the Films

In my opinion, Four's best scene is the one in Divergent (2014) where he is under the serum's control and nearly shoots Tris, because it strips away the calm that defines him. The scene works because the audience already knows how closely Four has watched over her. It also gives the climax its stakes: the Erudite plan is not only an attack on Abnegation but a way of turning the people Tris trusts into weapons.

A second pick is the Candor truth serum trial in Insurgent. Tris and Four are put on trial under truth serum, and Tris admits she killed Will, which strains her bonds with her friends. The trial is more about confession than action, and it puts Four and Tris under the same pressure. It could be argued that this is the quietest of his strong scenes, and it is the one that best explains why Tris leans on him.

My third choice is his refusal of Evelyn in Insurgent. She offers him an army, and he turns it down. Paradoxically, that refusal makes him more of a leader, because it shows what he will not do for power. It also prepares the confrontation in Allegiant, where he persuades the same mother to halt the amnesia gas. Compared with Tris's arc, which is mostly about survival and the box, his is about family, and I think the series is stronger when it lets him carry that.

If you are new to the series, start with Divergent movies in order and watch Divergent 2014 first. Then continue with the Insurgent movie and the Allegiant movie.

Facts

FAQs

Who is 4 in Divergent?

Four is Tobias 'Four' Eaton, the Dauntless instructor who trains Tris in Divergent (2014). Theo James plays him in all three films: Divergent (2014), Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016).

Why is he called Four in Divergent?

Four is the name he uses as a Dauntless instructor, while Tobias Eaton is his birth name, credited in Insurgent and Allegiant as Tobias 'Four' Eaton. The film plot summaries do not explain where the number comes from.

Is Four Divergent?

Yes. In Divergent (2014) he notices that Tris is Divergent and helps her hide it, and Tris later learns that he is Divergent too. A Divergent person does not fit a single faction.

Are Four and Tris together?

They stay side by side through all three films. They train together in Divergent (2014), run and stand trial together in Insurgent, and cross the wall together in Allegiant.

Who plays Four in Divergent?

Theo James plays Four, and he is billed second in all three films, after Shailene Woodley as Tris.

What is the age gap between Tris and Four?

The three films do not give an age for Four, though Tris is sixteen at the start of Divergent (2014). An exact gap is therefore not stated on screen.