I was reading Divergent yesterday, and i know there's still a lot of debate to this day about how Tris killed Will; and why she couldn't have just injured him instead. So i looked into it and i think i now understand what made Tris kill him, especially seeing she was glad after all about only shooting Eric in his foot instead of killing him, depsite the fact she hates him meanwhile Will was her friend.
First of i wanna share a theory from my mom when she watched Divergent with me. I know this is only a theory but it makes the most sense to me anyways, because in canon there's barely any evidence. Even though the scene in the movie where Tris encounters Will isn't the same as in the book, my mom did make a strong point, she said: "Perhaps Tris was in such shock after everything that has happened so far she didn't think twice and just shot him". Now i Understand this sounds pretty stupid, especially based on the movie because not that much has happened yet and she seemed pretty clear in her head at that point. But in the book she was already a mess; her mother already died in front of her, which she held herself responsible for and was also her worst fear. She almost suffocated to death by drowning! She had a million questions about her mother and her divergence which all came out at once after months! She saw her mother as a whole new person just killing mindless soldiers, and she clearly stated that she never imagined her mother as anything than an Abnegation born and that it was weird seeing her with such a determined look in her eyes shooting at people, so this behaviour from her mom must have been a big shock to Tris. And to top it off they also took Four away from her (which she mentioned twice) and to her it felt worse than if they had just killed him. Maybe she was indeed not thinking? She stated she shot at Will's head because that's where she aimed but it was never stated she meant to, she did the same to the 2 other soldiers she already killed. Maybe it never struck to her that injuring him would wake him up, and even if she did that brings us to the next option:
When Tris saw Four come at her troat in chapter 34 page 434, Jeanine clearly stated "He doesn't know you, the simulation manipulates him by altering what he sees-making him confuse enemy with friend." After that Tris says: "He's gone, Controlled by the simulation, he will now murder the people he called innocent not three minutes ago". Four almost wanted to kill her, and even if the simulation he was in wasn't the same as it was for the rest of the soldiers (including Will), it was an alternative version to work on Divergents. So Tris knew damn well what someone under a simulation that's less strong as the one Four was under could do when you're not Divergent; she saw a bunch of innocent Abnegation people (including her mother) get murdered in cold blood by people who were completely mind controlled and had no idea what they were doing. She knew that Will couldn't be taken out of the sim, even if she shot him somwhere else, which brings us to n.3:
In chapter 37 pages 470-471 there was a dialogue by Tris which stated: "My father fires over his shoulder at the guards pursuing him, but he is not fast enough. - He fires again. And again. The guards are under the simulation; they keep moving even when the bullets hit them, keep moving until their hearts stop-", this clearly shows that injuring mind controlled soldiers (thus including Will) wouldn't have gotten them out of the simulation until their hearts stopped by the too many bullets/injuries (by blood loss). Even though Tris was not aware of this before she shot Will, I'm sure she knew this deep down inside, that there was no stopping them unless they were killed, and that injuring them wouldn't work which is why she had to kill him.
These are my theories, and they probably make no sense, but these are for me the only logical explanations as to why Tris killed Will instead of injuring him (which could have maybe saved his life). Let me know your thoughts! X
