Born into the Erudite faction, Jeanine Matthews was always the smartest of them all. Her parents we're very intelligent and therefore passed all their knowledge to her. This information included hate about how the Abnegation were actually greedy, and hording things so the other factions would be more selfless, like them. Her parents were not happy with one another, which eventually resulted in a divorce between the two. This built up so much hatred inside of Jeanine. Apon the age of 16, Jeanine chose the Erudite faction at the Choosing Ceremony and continued to research the training simulation serum throughout her initiation, attempting to follow her parents footsteps. The Erudite Initiation Leaders were not happy with her performance and gave her one last chance, one chance to prove to them that she deserved to be Erudite. Jeanine, as all Erudites wish for, received so much information about the serums that she started creating, and testing them herself. The Erudite leaders were very impressed, and then gladly welcomed her to the faction. She spent many years doing this. At the age of 20, all of her serums failed. Her parents had abandoned her, and therefore she was determined to make a serum that worked. Testing day and night, Jeanine finally created a testing serum that attacked fears. She presented this serum to the Erudite leaders, which then sold the serum to the Dauntless, the serum used for their initiation. After the coincidental death of the Erudite leader, Jeanine took power and thus started the second war.