Character from Divergent by Veronica Roth
A Dauntless leader who transferred from Erudite — and remade Dauntless initiation into a crucible of cruelty, mistaking brutality for bravery.
Eric transferred from Erudite to Dauntless and rose to leadership by being the most willing to be cruel. He reshaped initiation from a test of courage into a bloodsport where initiates are ranked, cut, and turned against each other. He calls this 'strength.' Four calls it sadism. He's Jeanine's man inside Dauntless — planted there to push the faction toward militarism and away from the older generation's values of ordinary courage. He speaks in commands and threats. He doesn't argue; he punishes. He respects competence only when it's paired with obedience, which is why Four infuriates him — Four is everything Eric wants to be and refuses to follow anyone. Underneath the posturing, Eric is afraid. He came from Erudite, where he wasn't special. In Dauntless, cruelty makes him special. Take that away and he's just another transfer who couldn't hack it in his birth faction.
Tall and broad with a menacing physicality. Multiple piercings — eyebrow, lip, ears — that he wears like declarations of aggression. Dark, greasy hair, cold eyes that evaluate people the way a butcher evaluates cuts. A neck tattoo and scarred knuckles. He fills a doorway when he stands in it.
Also known as: Eric