99 Fun Facts About Divergent

Who wrote the Divergent trilogy?

Veronica Roth wrote Divergent on a college winter break, and a publisher quickly bought it along with two sequels.

In which post-apocalyptic city is Divergent set?

Chicago, and the first film was shot almost entirely in the city, though the sequel moved its production to Atlanta.

In Divergent, at which annual event do most sixteen-year-olds end up staying in the faction they were born into?

The Choosing Ceremony: the aptitude test only advises, so anyone may still pick a different faction from the one it suggests.

In Allegiant, which friend is left brain-damaged by a bomb set off by the rebels Four has joined?

Uriah never wakes from his coma, and his brother Zeke and their mother are at his side when his life support is switched off.

In Divergent, who administers Beatrice's aptitude test and warns her never to tell anyone her results?

Tori: Beatrice's results pointed to three factions at once, the mark of a Divergent, and those in power hunt Divergents down.

Which faction does Beatrice's brother Caleb choose, shocking his family?

Erudite, and that faction then pointed to children leaving the ruling faction, Caleb among them, as proof its leaders were corrupt.

In Divergent, what waits at the bottom of the dark hole new initiates must jump into from a rooftop?

A net, and the first to jump is Beatrice, who gives her new name when the instructor Four helps her out of it.

In Divergent, what does the initiation instructor's numeric nickname refer to?

The number of his fears: no other Dauntless initiate had so few, so his own instructor started calling him by the number.

What is Four's real first name?

Tobias Eaton, who switched factions at sixteen to escape his abusive father, Marcus.

Which faction leader masterminds the simulation attack on Abnegation?

Jeanine Matthews injects Four with a serum that makes him see friends as enemies, then sets him to run the attack from the control room.

In the Insurgent film, what found in the wreckage of Abnegation can only be opened by a Divergent?

A box, and Tris gets it open only by making it through the simulations it puts her in.

Which friend is Tris forced to kill in self-defense during the attack?

He is under the simulation and does not know her. Christina, his girlfriend, learns the truth in Insurgent under truth serum.

In Divergent, what is the final test of Dauntless initiation?

The fear landscape: Four even lets Tris walk through his own, which is where she learns his real name.

What is the fate of the initiates who fail Dauntless initiation?

They become Factionless and live as outcasts doing menial work, yet by Allegiant the Factionless rule the city.

Which publisher released Divergent in 2011?

HarperCollins, which kept the author on after the trilogy ended and in 2018 announced it would publish two more of her books.

At which school was the author studying creative writing when she wrote Divergent?

She spent a year at Carleton College before transferring. Publishing rights sold before she graduated in 2010.

In Allegiant, which city does Tris learn her mother Natalie originally came from, outside the fence?

Milwaukee: Natalie's journal reveals she was a refugee there before volunteering to live inside the walled city as part of the experiment.

Who plays Eric, the ruthless leader who trains the initiates, in the Divergent films?

Jai Courtney; in the novel Insurgent, the Dauntless condemn Eric to death and Four carries out the sentence.

Who plays Jack Kang, the leader who tests Tris and Four with truth serum, in the Insurgent film?

Daniel Dae Kim; the serum clears the pair, but what Tris confesses under it strains her friendship with Christina.

Who plays Evelyn, Four's mother, in the Insurgent and Allegiant films?

Naomi Watts, whose Evelyn had faked her own death years earlier and left her son behind with his abusive father.

In Divergent, what is the city's motto about lifetime allegiance?

Faction before blood: a faction is meant to outrank family for life, which is why Tris and Caleb both leaving shocks their parents.

Who plays Marcus Eaton, the council leader accused of abusing his son, in the Divergent films?

Ray Stevenson; the reports that Marcus abused his son, first dismissed as smears, turn out to be true.

What organization do Tris and her friends discover beyond the city's fence in Allegiant?

The Bureau of Genetic Welfare, whose leader David reveals the city is an experiment to breed out the genetic damage behind the Purity War.

In Allegiant, Tris takes over what suicide mission from her brother Caleb?

Exposing the memory serum: Tris survives the death serum guarding the lab, but David shoots her, and she dies of her wounds.

Who plays Tris in the Divergent films?

Shailene Woodley, who trained in fighting and gun handling with the film's stunt coordinator to play the role.

Which British actor plays Four?

Theo James landed the role after Jeremy Irvine, Lucas Till and Alex Pettyfer were reportedly in the running for it.

Which Oscar winner plays the villain behind the attack in the Divergent films?

Kate Winslet was five months pregnant during the shoot, so she was framed holding a file or briefcase to hide the bump.

Who directed the first Divergent film?

Neil Burger, who dropped out of the Uncharted adaptation to make Divergent and then missed the sequel because he was still finishing the first film.

Who plays the initiate suspected of stabbing Edward in the eye in the Divergent films?

Miles Teller; the attack on Edward was about grabbing the top spot in the initiation rankings, which his character then takes.

Which actress plays Christina in the Divergent films?

Zoë Kravitz; her Christina at first cannot forgive Tris for killing her boyfriend.

Which two actors play Tris's parents, Natalie and Andrew Prior?

Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn, and Judd's Natalie turns out to be a transfer from the brave faction and Divergent herself.

Which singer provides vocals on four tracks of the Divergent score as Tris's 'inner voice'?

Ellie Goulding: the filmmakers were already cutting scenes to her album Halcyon, and she went on to record the new song Beating Heart for the film.

Lionsgate raised the budget of the Divergent film because of which franchise's success?

The Hunger Games, and the studio went on to give Divergent an IMAX release, as it had for that franchise.

Which landmark did the Divergent crew make look rusty and dystopian during filming?

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel: the initiates play capture the flag around the pier, in the book and on screen.

Who directed the Insurgent and Allegiant films, taking over from Divergent's director?

Robert Schwentke, director of the action comedy Red, was tapped for Insurgent while Akiva Goldsman rewrote its script.

Which Oscar winner joined the Insurgent film as Johanna Reyes?

Octavia Spencer; by the end of the books, her character Johanna has become the city's representative in government.

Which actor plays David, leader of the organisation beyond the fence, in the Allegiant film?

Jeff Daniels signed on for both planned Allegiant films, though the second part was cancelled before it could be made.

What was the planned title of the fourth Divergent film, which was never made?

Ascendant: after Allegiant's disappointing opening, the planned finale was moved from cinemas to television and then cancelled altogether.

Which studio bought the film rights to Divergent in March 2011, before the book was even printed?

Summit Entertainment, and the final book in the trilogy was later split into two films.

In Allegiant, what does Evelyn sentence Marcus to?

Exile, but Marcus stays and works with Johanna's rebels, who fight to bring the factions back.

Which 2017 novel was the Divergent author's first after the trilogy?

Carve the Mark, whose heroine Cyra hurts anyone who touches her, so the boy who can stop her gift becomes her close friend.

Which animated film kept the Allegiant movie from opening at number one in March 2016?

Zootopia, and after Allegiant's weak start Lionsgate dropped plans to release the final film in cinemas.

At the end of Allegiant, how does Four scatter Tris's ashes?

By riding a zip line with their friends, as he finally accepts her sacrifice.

Which of Tris's fellow initiates dies by suicide after joining an attack on her?

Al begged Tris's forgiveness and was rejected, then jumped into the chasm.

In Allegiant, what do genetic tests beyond the fence reveal about Four?

He is not truly Divergent, so he is labelled genetically damaged, and the blow pushes him into Nita's rebellion against the pure-gene staff.

The e-book short story Free Four retells which Divergent scene from Four's point of view?

The knife throwing: Tris takes a friend's place at the target and holds still while Four throws.

In Insurgent, which Dauntless-born fighter shoots and kills Max, a leader who turned traitor?

Lynn, who is killed later in the same book when the rebels storm the enemy compound.

In Insurgent, who narrates the secret video explaining why Tris's fenced-in city was sealed?

Edith Prior speaks for an organisation fighting for peace and says the city was sealed so the Divergent could multiply.

In Allegiant, which long-presumed-dead instructor who gave Four his nickname meets the group outside the fence?

Amar, found out as Divergent, had been declared dead by the train tracks, but his death was faked and he was taken out of the city.

In Divergent, which household item does Beatrice's Abnegation family own only one of and usually keep hidden?

A mirror is the only one in the Prior house and it stays out of sight, because Abnegation is devoted to forgetting oneself for the sake of others.

In Divergent's aptitude test, which animal does Beatrice have to face after being offered cheese or a knife?

A dog is the danger, and she can win it over with food, attack it or act submissive so that it does not strike. Each response points toward a different faction.

In Divergent, which food does Tris eat for the first time in the Dauntless cafeteria?

A hamburger is her first taste of Dauntless life. At the same meal she meets Eric, a young leader whose knuckles are scabbed over as if he had punched something too hard.

In Divergent, which mocking nickname do other factions use for members of Abnegation such as Tris?

Stiff is the word her instructors reach for when she jumps first, surprised that an Abnegation transfer has beaten every Dauntless-born initiate to it.

In Divergent, which birds does Tris have tattooed on her collarbone, one for each member of her family?

Ravens, three of them, run from her left collarbone down toward her heart. They are inked by the same Dauntless woman who ran her aptitude test.

For which other film did the star of the Divergent sequel Insurgent cut her hair, giving Tris a cropped look?

The Fault in Our Stars needed the cut, and it was kept for the sequel so that she could appear in both films. In that romance she plays a teenage cancer patient.

In the Divergent novel, who rescues Tris from drowning in a tank and then admits to being Divergent too?

Her mother breaks her out of the tank and reveals that she is Divergent as well. Soon afterwards she is killed while shielding her daughter from gunfire.

In Divergent, what does the aptitude test reveal about Tris that earns her the dangerous label of Divergent?

She fits several factions, with an equal aptitude for three of the five. Divergents can think independently, so the city's rulers treat them as a threat to the social order.

In Divergent, onto what does Tris let her blood fall to show she has chosen Dauntless as her new faction?

Lit coals stand for Dauntless, whose symbol is fire. The other bowls hold soil, water, glass and stones, one substance for each faction.

Which actor plays Caleb Prior in the Divergent films, three years before taking the title role in Baby Driver?

Ansel Elgort had made his film debut only a year earlier, in the remake of Carrie. Caleb was his first highly publicized role, and he returned for both sequels.

In Divergent, what color are the loose, plain clothes worn by every member of the Abnegation faction?

Gray is the color of Abnegation, whose symbol is one hand reaching out to another. The faction was founded on the belief that selfishness and greed cause humanity's problems.

At the start of Insurgent, in which faction's compound do Tris, Four and the other fugitives first take shelter?

Amity shelters them on its farms outside the fence until traitors arrive to arrest the Divergents. Its spokeswoman lies to the hunters, denying that the fugitives are there.

In Divergent, what is Candor, the faction that blames deception for the world's problems, put in charge of?

The law is entrusted to Candor, the faction built on honesty. Its symbol is a set of unbalanced scales.

In Divergent, what do the Dauntless call the huge underground cavern at the heart of their headquarters?

The Pit has living space all along its walls and rushing water at the bottom. Four gives the new transfers a tour before their first dinner.

In Divergent, which playground game do Dauntless initiates play as a training exercise, with Tris helping her team win?

Capture the flag pits a team picked by Four against one picked by Eric. Her part in the win lifts Tris from the brink of being cut from Dauntless.

In Divergent, what does the instructor Four have tattooed down his spine, starting with Dauntless at the top?

The five faction symbols run down his back, with Abnegation, the faction he was born into, directly below Dauntless. He left it at sixteen to escape his father.

In Divergent, what are the Dauntless told an injection is for before it makes them a sleepwalking army?

Tracking their location is the cover story. The serum really makes the Dauntless move in unison like sleepwalkers, and only the Divergent among them stay awake.

Which word completes the faction manifesto line quoted to Tris in Divergent: 'We believe in ordinary acts of ...'?

Bravery, the Dauntless manifesto continues, lies in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. A fellow initiate quotes the line to Tris during training.

In Divergent, what is used to stab the top-ranked initiate Edward in the eye after the first rankings are posted?

A butter knife does the damage that night, and jealousy over the rankings is the motive. Edward quits Dauntless soon afterwards, followed by his girlfriend Myra.

How does the narration of Allegiant differ from that of the first two Divergent novels, which only Tris tells?

A second narrator joins: Four, whose chapters alternate with hers. The author tried repeatedly to write the book in Tris's voice alone but found her view too limited for the story.

In Divergent, which insects is Tris's friend Christina revealed to fear during the second stage of initiation?

Moths are the fear that surfaces in Christina's simulations. In the same stage Tris clears her own in record time, which draws Four's attention.

In Divergent, what does a Dauntless-born initiate shoot off Marlene's head while the two friends settle a bet?

A muffin is the target, and both friends win: the shot lands and Marlene never flinches. Four catches them in the act and kicks them out of the room.

Which star of the TV series Nikita plays the Dauntless tattoo artist who runs Tris's aptitude test in Divergent?

Maggie Q plays the tattoo artist in all three films. Her character secretly records the test result as Abnegation and warns Tris to hide what it really showed.

Which actor, later Pennywise in It, plays the scientist Matthew in the Divergent film Allegiant?

Bill Skarsgård made Matthew his first major American film role, a year before his turn as the clown. The character ends up siding with Tris and Four.

Which actor, who spent six years as Dr. Pratt on ER, plays the Dauntless leader Max in the Divergent films?

Mekhi Phifer plays Max in all three films. In the novels the character dies in Insurgent, but the screen version survives until Allegiant.

Which US city hosted most of the filming for the Divergent sequels Insurgent and Allegiant?

Atlanta was the base for both sequels. A federal penitentiary there served as a location, and a set was built on the roof of the Peachtree Center.

Which TV network began developing the final Divergent story as a series after its cinema release was scrapped?

Starz took the project on in 2017, months after the franchise's star had walked away from it, and dropped it the following year for lack of interest.

In the Divergent novels, what has the great lake beside Tris's walled city turned into?

A marsh on a giant scale has replaced the open water. The detail is one of the clearest signs of how far into the future the story is set.

In Divergent, what do Dauntless members leap on and off to cross the city, since it never stops for them?

A train that never stops is the Dauntless way to travel, and new initiates must jump from it onto a rooftop. Abnegation children like Beatrice take the bus.

In Divergent, where does Tris finish in the final initiate rankings, having once been on the brink of being cut?

In first place, a long way from the sixth she managed after the opening stage of physical training. Her talent for the fear simulations made the difference.

In Allegiant, which conflict followed a failed attempt to edit flaws out of human genes, as David tells Tris?

The Purity War ravaged the country, and the walled-city experiments began afterwards in the hope that purer genes would emerge over the generations.

In Allegiant, what do the letters GD stand for when scientists beyond the fence sort people by their genes?

Genetically damaged is the label the scientists give most people, including those inside the city. One worker who carries it, Nita, leads a revolt against her superiors.

In the Allegiant novel, which keepsake of Natalie Prior does the leader David hand to her daughter Tris?

Her journal records Natalie's life before she entered the city as a volunteer. It shows Tris that the parent she thought she knew began life somewhere else entirely.

In Allegiant, what kind of former site houses the compound where Tris's group is taken beyond the fence?

An airport is home to the scientists who monitor the city from outside. One of them, the serum researcher Matthew, ends up helping Tris against his own leaders.

In which stretch of time off in her final year of college did the author of Divergent write the novel?

Winter break of her senior year is when she wrote it. She found an agent by the following March, and the publishing rights sold before she had graduated.

Which treatment from the author's first-year psychology class inspired the Dauntless fear training in Divergent?

Exposure therapy treats anxiety by repeatedly confronting people with what scares them. The author pictured the Dauntless conditioning perfectly normal people to get over perfectly rational fears.

Which Dutch composer and DJ scored the first Divergent film, with his mentor Hans Zimmer as executive producer?

Junkie XL, born Tom Holkenborg, had a worldwide hit in 2002 with his remix of Elvis Presley's 'A Little Less Conversation'. He later wrote the music for Mad Max: Fury Road and Deadpool.

In Insurgent, what do the loyal Dauntless fire at the hidden cameras in their compound to blind them?

Paintballs put most of the cameras out of action, but one is missed. Through it the enemy triggers a simulation that sends three Dauntless walking toward a fatal drop.

Which book-review website's users voted Divergent their Favorite Book of 2011 in its annual Choice Awards?

Goodreads users went on to honor the sequels too, voting Insurgent and then Allegiant the best young adult fantasy and science fiction of their years.

In Divergent, what does the leader Eric force Christina to do for five minutes after she gives up a fight?

Hang over the chasm she does, clinging on despite her injuries, because failing would mean being thrown out of Dauntless. The fight she forfeited was a brutal beating from Molly.

Which factionless fighter, played by Jonny Weston, was invented for the Divergent films and appears in no novel?

Edgar takes over the story role of Edward, the initiate who loses an eye in the first novel. On screen he becomes second in command of the factionless.

In which story from the Divergent prequel collection Four is the hero asked to compete for a Dauntless leadership post?

The Son has him fail the final interview on purpose after overhearing how the winner would be used as a pawn. A note also leads him to the mother he thought was dead.

Which epilogue short story, set years after Allegiant, shows Four beginning a romance with Tris's friend Christina?

We Can Be Mended came as a bonus e-book for readers who pre-ordered the author's next novel. In it both have begun to move on from the partners they lost.

In Insurgent, what nickname is given to the Candor headquarters, where Tris and Four are questioned under truth serum?

The Merciless Mart is a pun on the name of the ruined commercial building that Candor occupies. The loyal Dauntless shelter there after their own faction splits.

In Allegiant, which other experiment city is the original home of Nita, the rebel on the compound's support staff?

Indianapolis was another of the agency's experiment cities. Nita was a test subject there before being promoted to the support staff, where she plots a rebellion.

In the Allegiant epilogue, what does Caleb build so that the paralyzed Shauna can walk again?

Leg braces, improvised by Caleb, get Shauna back on her feet in the epilogue. By then he is working as a scientist in the city's agricultural division.

In Allegiant, which brother of a Dauntless tattoo artist is found alive years after his supposed murder?

George was thought to have been killed for being Divergent, and avenging him drives his sister through two books. She is shot dead moments before she would have seen him again.

In the Divergent novels, what single measure decided who would lead the faction devoted to knowledge?

An IQ score alone put the trilogy's chief villain in charge. She also designed the aptitude test that every sixteen-year-old must take.

Which Swedish singer released 'Scars' as the lead single from the soundtrack of the Divergent film Allegiant?

Tove Lo co-wrote 'Scars', which came out a month before the film. Rolling Stone once called her Sweden's darkest pop export.

Which British model plays Marlene, the Dauntless girl who walks off a ledge under mind control in Insurgent?

Suki Waterhouse appears mainly in that one harrowing scene, because the film drops the character's friendships with Tris and her fellow initiates.