Okay, I finally got around to finishing the whole 'Divergent' trilogy last month, and that ending with Tris and Four still has me a bit messed up. I think a lot of people focus on the big, obvious event—Tris's sacrifice to save everyone in the Bureau compound, and how Four is left to deal with the aftermath. That's the major resolution, or lack thereof, for their story as a couple. It's brutal and I get why it felt necessary to Roth for the themes of selflessness, but man, it leaves Four's arc feeling really abrupt. We see him grieving, trying to honor her memory by spreading her message, and helping to rebuild Chicago, but their personal story just... stops. There's no final conversation, no closure between them. It's all implied aftermath.
What gets me more is the very end of 'Allegiant', the chapter from Four's perspective after her death. He's scattering her ashes at the Marsh family plot, talking about how her sacrifice changed the city's path. It's supposed to be hopeful, I guess, showing him carrying on her legacy. But to me it read as profoundly lonely. Their entire relationship was built on this intense, war-forged trust and understanding each other's damaged parts, and then she makes a choice that, from his point of view, probably felt like a repeat of his mother's abandonment. The resolution isn't about them finding peace together; it's about him finding a way to make peace with her absence, which is a different, much sadder kind of story. I know some readers found it powerful, but I finished the book just feeling hollow about it—like their potential was cut off before it could really develop into a stable adult relationship.