Crash Course: ‘Allegiant’

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Veronica Roth’s popular book series returns to the big screen on March 18 with the next installment titled The Divergent Series: Allegiant. With two films preceding it, a number of new hairstyles, outfits, and locations, keep scrolling for everything you need to know about the Divergent series.

The Society

The Divergent Trilogy is a best-selling book series by Veronica Roth and includes Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. The first book was published in 2011, while the first film was released in 2014. The film adaptations actually split the third book into two movies titled Allegiant and Ascendant. Roth’s post-apocalyptic story takes place in a version of Chicago where society is split into factions determined by personality traits.

Erudite values knowledge and logic, Amity are dedicated to kindness and harmony, Candor values honesty and truth, Dauntless are the brave and fearless protectors, and the Abnegation are selfless and dedicated to helping others.

Obviously, just saying you’re from a certain faction isn’t enough, so each faction even has a distinguishing style of dress. There’s also the Factionless, and, as the name implies, they are outcasts that don’t belong to any faction.

You’re Divergent

The action centers around 16-year-old Beatrice “Tris” Prior (Shailene Woodley), who is of the age where she’s required to take a simulation test to determine which faction she’d best fit into. But during the test, Tris is surprised to learn she doesn’t belong to any one faction. Instead, she’s what people call Divergent, which her test proctor demands she must keep a secret. Apparently, being the “other” is a very dangerous thing.

Later when Tris and her brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort), go through a choosing ceremony where they can either choose their tested faction or stay with their family, both siblings decide to leave their parents. Caleb chooses Erudite, while Tris chooses Dauntless.

Welcome to Dauntless

In the Dauntless compound, Tris makes new friends like Christina (Zoe Kravitz) from Candor and enemies like Peter (Miles Teller) from Candor. All new initiates have to go through combat training and are ranked against each other, which brings out the ruthlessness in all of them. Tris rises from the bottom, but her improvements aren’t appreciated by her fellow initiates and she’s a constant target by competitive Peter as well as her own friends who turns against her.

Fourtris

But it’s not all fighting for Tris in Dauntless; she also finds love! Early on, she meets a mysterious man named Four (because he only has four fears in his simulation test) who is one of the Dauntless trainers, and he is a bit of a prodigy himself. Fans are very invested in the relationship between Four (Theo James) and Tris, a.k.a. Fourtris. It’s clear there’re sparks even from their first meeting, and the two quickly become involved. Like any good young-adult novel, Four and Tris fall deeper in love with every near death situation they escape from together.

In The Divergent Series: Insurgent, we learn that Four is originally from Abnegation, his real name is actually Tobias Eaton, and he escaped to Dauntless to get away from his abusive father. Fans were so in love with this character, Roth even wrote a short story series specifically from Four’s perspective.

Down with Abnegation

The main drama in the first film involves Erudite leader, Jeanine (Kate Winslet), who believes the Abnegation faction is selfish (not selfless) and are hoarding supplies essential to society’s survival. After allying with Dauntless leaders, Jeanine created a serum that would allow her to control Dauntless soldiers and have them turn on Abnegation. But her serum doesn’t work on Divergents, so Tris is able to foil her plans and free the people from her control. She experiences many personal losses in the process like the death of her mother, but she is able to escape the city with Four, her brother, and their friends.

Divergent Holds the Key

In The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Jeanine returns as the villain, and this time, she’s hunting down Divergents like Tris in order to open a mysterious box. Her guards are able to capture Tris, in part thanks to Caleb’s betrayal, but a combination of a badass Four and a change of heart from Peter saves Tris in the end. Just after the box is opened by Tris, Jeanine is killed by, Four’s mother Evelyn (Naomi Watts), and the evil leader dies learning that her entire city is just an experiment run by outsiders looking in.

Only the Pure Survive

Back with longer hair, Tris and her friends have to face a new enemy in Allegiant: the people beyond the walls. This other society is much more advanced, armed with devices and weapons Tris and her friends have never seen before. Unfortunately for Tris, these “scientists” only want the genetically pure, a.k.a. the Divergent, to live on, and they’re planning on eliminating the old city of Chicago. Anyone who isn’t Divergent will die, including Four, her brother Caleb, her best friend Christina, and many more. A new war is about to start, but will the casualties and costs for Tris be too high?

The Divergent Series: Allegiant is out on March 18th, but, if you’re still on the fence about seeing this movie, let this gif of Four entice you.

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