It is one of the five factions in the world of Divergent. They value fearless, undaunted and bravery. It was formed by those who blamed fear and cowardice as a cause of the problems society faced. It tries to fight cowardice by giving the advantage of preparation and the ability to act when facing a fear to its members. The members generally wear provocative and (sometimes) clingy black clothing, are pierced, tattooed and have a tendency to seek thrill and action.

The Dauntless value the virtue of bravery over any other, as such they train to fight and use weapons to prepare their bodies to respond to threats and challenges, which is necessary if they want to survive life as a Dauntless member. The faction also emphasizes the idea of freedom from fear, and test this daily by attempting death-defying feats. Dauntless members and initiates are the only ones allowed to ride the train and do so in a daring way; jumping onto and off the train while it is moving. Most Dauntless children are known to choose the knife in the simulation of the Aptitude Test when facing the dog and they take the stairs in an act of wildness.

The Dauntless are the only faction that have their members, upon reaching a certain age that hinders their ability to uphold the virtue of their faction, become Factionless, or choose to die. Hence, the faction does not have a member that is of old-age.

When it comes to funerals, the Dauntless have it immediately after they are pronounced dead because they want to acknowledge the death as soon as it happens. It is more of a celebration and there is a lot of drinking. Every member gets a certain amount of points to spend per month, they spend their points on clothing and other resources as they see fit. The traditional jobs of Dauntless include but are not limited to: Fence Guard, City's security force, tattoo artist, weapon maker, fighting for entertainment, initiate trainer, or as a Dauntless leader. Some members volunteer to do jobs that traditionally belong to other factions in order to have them closer and not make members go far away (i.e. nurses).

The people of Dauntless are in charge of the city's security, protecting its inhabitants from threats within and without as the city's peacekeepers. The Dauntless were previously responsible in policing the Factionless sectors of the city until the City Council voted to relieve them of that duty. Their main task is to guard the fence that surrounds the city. It is considered a dangerous job, but it is also a necessary one and it seems likely that this is part of the reason no other faction has a disagreement with Dauntless. They maintain the city gates which are locked from the outside.