John Smith (Number Four)

(The Leader)

“	In the beginning we were a group of nine. Three are gone, dead. There are six of us left.They are hunting us, and they won't stop until they've killed us all. I am Number Four. I know that I am next.	”
–Number Four, I Am Number Four

Template:Garde

Number Four, better known as John Smith, is one of the ten Loric children who escaped from Lorien. and is one of the nine remaining Loric Garde. His Cêpan was Henri. He longs to live as a normal person who isn't fighting for their very survival everyday.

Early Life

John escaped to Earth when he was five with the eight other Garde children and their Cêpan's. The Cêpan's were instructed to avoid the Mogadorians at all costs to give the Garde the time they needed to develop their Legacies to fight back against the Mogadorians. Being Number Four, John was the fourth target under the watchful eyes of the Mogodorians. The death's of Number One and Number Two did not affect as much as Three's death did because with the death of Hannu he knew that he was next. John was nine when the Mogadorians found Earth. John Smith was asleep in a small town in Arizona, close to Mexico, when the Mogadorians found and killed Number One. The pain was so intense that it woke him from his sleep. Henri moved himself and John to Minnesota the next day. John was twelve when Maggie Hoyle was killed. Two's death happened in the middle of a spelling bee at a school in Colorado. The heat that was emitted by the scar was so intense that it caught John's sock on fire. They were then caught in the same bureaucratic mess that Henri was striving to avoid. John was taken to the emergency room and after the doctor saw the first scar, he had called the police. The police threatened to arrest Henri for child abuse but had to let him go because he was no where near John when the second scar formed. Henri moved John immediately to Maine, leaving everything except the Loric Chest.

John was fifteen when Three was killed, and was then living in Florida. The scar that was forming emitted so much heat that it boiled the water around John's leg. At the time he was talking to Tara, a pretty girl from school, who started to freak out when she saw the heat emitting from John's leg. John quickly tried to calm her down, before swimming back to shore. He then ran back to his and Henri's home. As soon as Henri saw him, he knew that Three was dead. Henri and John packed everything for their next destination, and left their false identities behind to burn, and thus headed for Paradise, Ohio.

Biography

I Am Number Four

John Smith and Henri finish making their new identities and sign documents with their real estate agent, Annie Hart, before John Smith goes to sleep to prepare for his first day of school.

As John Smith arrives at school, he quickly notices the cliques that everybody belongs to. He also notices Sarah Hart, who is milling among the groups taking pictures. They are soon joined by a beagle who takes an immediate liking to John Smith, but as Sarah tries to take its picture, it slowly backs away. Sarah soon gives up on trying to take the dog's picture. John and Sarah engage in some small talk and soon the warning bell rings. As Sarah leaves, another student, Sam, comes up to John Smith and tells him that he should stay away from Sarah or face the wrath of Mark, her ex-boyfriend.

After being directed to his period two class, Astrology, John Smith experiences trouble when Mark tries to trip him as he passes by. Though unexpectedly, John Smith stands up to Mark, silencing him soon after. John Smith spends most of his class admiring Sarah, but before long John Smith's newest Legacy kicks in as his hands begin to glow bright and hot. John Smith attempts to send Henri a text for help, but words it wrong and so he waits until the end of class.

John Smith storms out of Astrology without his pack of supplies and is confronted by Mark, though John Smith begins to lose control of his body and falls back as Sarah stops Mark from moving in on John Smith. John Smith then locks himself in the photography room until Henri could come and help him. Soon after, Henri does come, using an asthma attack as their excuse as he helps John Smith out of the school, Henri then leaves to retrieve John Smith's backpack, only for John Smith to discover that Mark stole his phone.

The next day John Smith confronts Mark and demands for his phone to be returned, calling Mark out if he didn't do so by the end of the day. John Smith then glides through first and second period in silence, but it's at lunch when things heat up. Mark throws some of his spagetti and meatballs at John Smith, but they miss and hit Sam instead, not hitting John Smith until the second attempt. John Smith then goes to confront Mark but is stopped by one of his friends, Kevin. Kevin then defends Mark, saying that John Smith had to get through him before he could get Mark, and that's exactly what John Smith did as he knees Kevin in the groin. Though John Smith is stopped by the lunchroom attendant, Mr. Anderson, who sends John Smith, Sam, Kevin and Mark to Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris overlooks Mark and Kevin's offences for the publicity Mark brings the school, and so John Smith and Sam get off saying that for what Mark did and what John Smith did, it all evens out.

John Smith then attends a Home Economics class where he, again, meets Sarah Hart. Sarah apologises for Mark's behaviour, quoting "We're not together, you know?" They are then both partnered up and make pancakes. They both talk, first about the first day of school then Sarah begs John Smith not to meet up with Mark about the phone. John Smith says he hasn't a choice. After ninth period, lSarah returns to John Smith giving him the phone. John Smith shows it off to Mark, who is left speechless, and returns to the truck. They drive home and John Smith and Henri both open the chest for the first time. In there is a Loric Crystal that is activated by John Smith's Legacy.

John then lies on top of the wooden coffee table and begins his training. While Henri is running the Loric Crystal up John's arms, John flashes back to the war, slaughter and pain of the war with Lorien and Mogadorian. Henri explains that they were careless and easily defeated. An hour passes and a scratching by the door is heard. Believed to be a Mogadorian, John hides and Henri approaches the door with some sort of weapon. It is only, yet again, the beagle which John has found out to be the name of Bernie Kosar. John bathes him and pets him and Henri claims that they have a new pet. John then goes to bed and observes his phone to see a sign of any corruptions. To his delight, he finds Sarah Hart has added herself to John's contact list.

A new day begins and John, unfortunately, gets covered in manure. He immediately knows that it is the courtesy of Mark. John reports it to the principal, Mr. Harris, but he doesn't continue the 'investigation'. After a class of astronomy, John does a gym class. He is required to run a mile and whilst doing so, he sees a blur and quickly runs. To his relief, it is only Bernie Kosar. In his next class, he is yet again partnered with Sarah Hart and while baking blueberry muffins, he actually took them out without the mittens and manages to get away with an explanation to Sarah.

Later, John does training with Henri again and experiences more flashbacks. After discovering a second ship, John can hardly bear what he has witnessed. He asks Henri about the ship he replies that he doesn't know.

John and Henri attend the Halloween festival. They watch the parades and floats and John meets with Sarah. Henri and Sam have a discussion with each other about conspiracy theories, and Sam mentions the Mogadorians and their whole plan involving Earth. Later at the festival Mark and his football teammates attack John and Sarah, however John fights ithem off. He also starts dating Sarah. He lies to Henry about what happened in the woods and denies that he had any part of the fight.

Later on, he travels to the publishers of They Walk Among Us, with Sam, to free Henri, who was kidnapped. They leave just in time to avoid a fight with the Mogadorians. They also learn about a man who captured and tortured a Mogadorian, who gave out information. (This man is coincidentally also mentioned in the fourth Lost files novella.)

Later on, he goes to a party at Mark's house, where a fire begins which was most likely caused by Sam and Emily making out. John convinces Mark to give up on saving the house and to get the people out, w

John and Sarah

hich they do, except for Sarah who John has no idea where in the house she is. He goes in to the burning house and saves Sarah by jumping out from the 1st floor window. He thought there were no witnesses. Later on, he told Sarah about everything from where his from to all the places he has been to. He denies being involved with the fire in any way, lying to Henri again.

The next day, a Journalist posted a video on the internet of John jumping out of the window. This was seen by the Mogadorians as was it seen by Henri. Henri tried to save John by leaving but John refused to leave and ran away. He then went back to his school where Henri was waiting for him however it was too late since the Mogadorians already surrounded the school. Before meeting up Henri again, John first encountered Sarah at the school and then Six. Mark and Sam also joined the fight, which lead to the Mogadorians being defeated. However Henri dies in this battle and this changed John forever. He promised to Henri that he 

Sarah,John,Mark James,Sam and Six

will bring his ashes back to Lorien one day. He then leaves Sarah and Mark behind and goes on his journey to find other Garde with Six and Sam. 

The Power of Six

John is confused about his feelings for both Sarah and Six. On the way both him and Sam train with Six  while eluding the police. They arrive to the conclusion that the Mogadorians have found a way to open Six 's Chest when, after opening John's they are ambushed. John reads Henri's letter and finds out that the nine have been chosen by the planet as the next generation of Elders and that Malcolm Goode, Sam's father, had been one of the humans to welcome them to Earth when they had first arrived.

After reading the letter Sam gets the idea that his father has left him a clue back in Paradise in the well near his house. They go back and retrieve a white tablet. They are attacked by the Mogadorians who take possession of John's Chest. Six remains to fight the Mogadorians and John goes to take the chest back, but falters when he finds himself near to Sarah's house. Despite's Sam's protests, John meets with Sarah where he accidentally reveals certain incidents between him and Six. She apparently alerts the police of John's whereabouts and both he and Sam get arrested. Four is interogated by Detective Will Murphy who thinks John is being sarcastic when he tells him he is an alien from the Planet Lorien. John is taken to a cell and almost manages to taunt the guard to make him open the door so he can escape however Six arrives to help them escape but so does the Mogadorians. She announces that she had found out that a Garde is in Spain and plans to go there to help because she feels the Garde is in trouble. While Six goes off to Spain, John is to take Sam to retrieve his and Six's Chests and to look for Sam's father at a Mogadorian hiding place where  Six  had previously been held. Before Six leaves, John and Six kiss and Six confesses to having feelings for both him and Sam. She gives Sam an address where they will meet in two weeks' time. They split in West Virginia.

John uses the Xitharis to share Six's power and manages to find the chest after it expires. They find a Garde member, Nine, but John loses sight of Sam in the commotion and narrowly escapes before a force field is erected and Sam is trapped inside. At that moment, Nine and Four witness the arrival of Setrákus Ra. John and Nine head North after they find out that the address of the place where they had been supposed to meet Six had remained with Sam. With Sarah's betrayal, as well as Sam's loss, John has lost all connections with humanity and returns to being known simply as Four.

The Rise of Nine

Recovering from running into the blue forcefield at the Mogadorian Base, Four wakes up in an abandoned house and vows to return to the base to save Sam.

Four and Nine look through their chests and with thanks to the Glass Orbs discover that they can track the Loric Chests when they are open (most likely relating to a specific item in the chest that emits a signal when the chest is open), they see that a Garde is in India and another is travelling fast over South America. Shortly after this, Four and Nine are ambushed by the US government and agents Walker and Purdy. They are locked up and transported in the back of vans. They eventually manage to escape but Purdy and Walker (injured) disappear before they can get any real information from them.

Four, Nine and Bernie Kosar get on a train to Chicago to Nine's safehouse in the John Hancock Center. Here Nine finds a special computer lead that plugs into the White Tablet that was found in Malcolm's Office. They discover the locations of the 7 remaining Garde. Four in India, 2 in Chicago and the other in Jamaica. They also find the location of the two Loric Ships in New Mexico and Egypt.

Whilst in Chicago, Four claims that he is the heir of Pittacus Lore and Nine, annoyed by this, challenges him to a fight on the roof of the Hancock center. Nine ultimately wins when he dangles Four over the edge of the building.Later, Four and Nine have the same dream telling them to go to New Mexico and set off in one of Sandor's cars. Four finds that he can communicate with Ella and they use this to find eachother in the desert. Four, Nine and Bernie meet with Marina, Eight and Ella and fight off a convoy of FBI armoured vehicles and helicoptors before forcing their way into the Dulce government base.

Inside Four is reuinted with Sarah and vows to protect her, before entering a room to search for Six, Four leaves Sarah in charge of watching Agent Walker who has been tied to a light fitting ready to be dealt with later. They present Garde enter the room and find Setrákus Ra disguised as Six who stabs Eight through the chest and takes away their Legacies. Marina is unable to Heal Eight and so Four helps her take Eight away from the room, hoping to regain their legacies. this proves difficult as they are attacked by an army of Mogadorians. Once in the doorway, Four is shot severly three times by a Mogadorian Cannon and falls.

Shortly after Sarah and Ella enter the room, Sarah clutching a cannon, they get close enough to Setrákus to throw, what looks like, a Red Dart at him, restoring the Garde's Legacies. However they are both hit by his Whip and then subject to mogadorian fire. Four, in a bad condition losing a lot of blood with broken bones and ripped muscles, drags himself to Sarah's aid. Marina manages to heal him and he gets to Sarah and Ella, miraculously healing both of them.

Soon after, Six frees herself and is reunited with Four, the team start to regroup and Setrákus Ra flees. Four vows that they will all stay together and fight their way out of the base.

The Fall of Five

Inside the Hancock Center, John tries to help Ella with her nightmares about Setrakus Ra. The Garde discover the jagged symbol in Arkansas, John volunteers to go with Sarah and Six to find Five. During their journey, John has a brief conversation with Six and she tells him that she wants him to be with Sarah. John is distressed but agrees. Once they reach Arkansas, they meet with Five. John has a brief conversation with him, and describes him as nervous and excited to finally meet one of the Garde. Suddenly, Mogadorians arrive in one of their ships and when John wants to escape, Five declares that he never seen one before, and is shell-shocked. The Loric try to fight off the Mog force and succeeds. However, a gigantic centipede-like creature appears, trying to devour Five and John. John leaps on Five's back while he lobs fireballs at the monster, but is knocked down. The monster is killed by a sniper shot from Malcolm, who has found John and the rest, with Sam. John and Sam embrace, and they all head off towards the penthouse.

Later, the others have arrived at the penthouse. Malcolm reveals to them that he met Pittacus Lore in person, and that Lore is dead. John trains with the others, and during the capture-the-flag battle, he is captain of the losing team, as Marina infiltrates his team's defenses and steals their flag.

John finds a message written in Mogadorian from a scout, while walking around the penthouse. Malcolm sets out to interpret it using his computer. Meanwhile, Ella is in a coma from a particularly bad nightmare, and when John touches her, he gets sucked in the dream, and passes out too. John sees a vision of the future inside Ella's dream. He is dead, and he sees that Five is working for the Mogadorians, and a newspaper article that says invasion. Ella and Setrakus Ra are both sitting on thrones, and Six and Sam are the only Loric supporters alive. He witnesses Setrakus Ra addressing Ella as his heir. Ella gives command to execute them, and Setrakus chops Six's head off and kills Sam.

John wakes up from that vision, alone without Ella, when Eight's scar burns on him. The Mogadorians have arrived, Sam and Sarah are still fighting them. He tries to fight back, but Malcolm is badly wounded. He faces the choice to either heal Malcolm or rescue Ella, who the Mogadorians are trying to capture. Since he knows that Ella is Setrakus Ra's heir and will not die, he chooses to heal Malcolm who is fatally wounded, and the Mogadorians retreat with Ella, who is still in a coma. After the battle, he meets up with Adam who has finally found him. John fights back the desire to kill him, but he is genuinely shocked when Adam shows concern for Malcolm and Sam. He decides to team up with Adam and "win the war with him".

Legacies

Main Article: Legacies

John has five known Legacies. One in common with the other gardes, three different legacies possessed by three seperate gardes and one as his personal legacy.

Physical Enhancements

John has enhanced physical abilities like all Garde do. He is far stronger, faster and more durable than regular human-beings. He is able to throw a full grown man across a room, run at incredible speeds close to 60 mph, and has incredible dexterity. With this, he also has enhanced senses. His hearing range exceeds that of a normal human being's and is thus able to focus on people who are far away from him.

Animal Telepathy (Zoopathy)

John developed this legacy while in Florida. This was his first legacy but he thought it was his third, because he didn't realize that he had this legacy (he thought that Lumen was his first). During his battle with the Mogadorians at Paradise High School, he realized this legacy for the first time when he became aware that Bernie Kosar was communicating with him, telling him to run away from the piken. This ability works by him talking through his and their minds and not necessarily communicating with them with his voice. This legacy is also possessed by Number Nine. This was proved by the fact that they both are able to talk to Bernie Kosar, Number Four's Chimæra.

Lumen (Pyrokinesis)

Lumen is the legacy that makes the user immune to heat and fire externally. John got this legacy

Lumen(Pyrokinesis)

a few days after Hannu's (Number 3's) death. This originally started only in his hands but, with the help of Henri, he spread the legacy to the rest of his body and he became fully immune to fire on the outside. Because he only is immune to fire on the outside, if he were to breath while on fire, he would risk causing internal damage. Eventually, John's legacy to be immune to heat and fire turned into Pyrokinesis, or the control of fire itself. This legacy allows John to directly tap into the power of Lorien and posses unlimited potential thus hinting that Lumen is a form of energy manipulation.

Telekinesis

Every Garde develops the legacy to move objects with their mind. Telekinesis is supposed to come with the first legacy but John's legacy came a while after his second legacy. Henri knew this and began to worry and tried to activate it by doing training exercises with him to activate the legacy. Eventually he did get telekinesis and it advanced very quickly. Soon after he got it, he could manipulate large objects.

Precognition

Precognition is the legacy to see into the future in his dreams.(Four also had dreams of past events ie: The dream about the second ship and baby Ella)  It is unknown if this is an actual legacy but while traveling with Six and Sam, John began having dreams about the Mogs. It was never said if he thought that this was a new legacy but it can be presumed that it is. Eight and Nine possess this Legacy as well.

Healing

John discovered this Legacy by accident after Sarah and Ella were shot by a Mogadorians during the Garde's battle with Setrákus Ra in The Rise of Nine. It is confirmed he has this legacy in The Fall of Five.

Chest

Main Article: Loric Chest

Henri and John have one of several special Loric chests that were given to the Nine Garde that can only be opened by the garde and their Cêpan together (However, if the Cêpan dies, the Garde will be able to open it by themselves.) Using artifacts from the chest Henri shows John a model of the galaxies where he can see how Lorien looked before the Mogadorians invaded it and how it looks now, desolate and barren.

Contents:

• Diamond Blade Dagger: four inch blade sharper than any on earth and can break a Mogadorian sword.
• Xitharis (lost): made from one of Lorien's six moons, is a pale, waxy rock that can transfer legacies from Garde to Garde for an hour or so.
• Red Bracelet: a bracelet made with red crystal strung onto it that when senses danger will expand into a six foot shield that is bulletproof among other things.
• Blue Cube: a small blue cube that when put into mouth will provide icy cold water to the user.
• Macrocosm: also a solar system of Lorien, if another Garde has their Chest open it will show their location, and if one has their red crystal operating, the user can hear the words being said via the Macrocosm, and if another member of the Garde pairs up with them and has a red crystal, they can communicate back if they have a Macrocosm in operation.
• Healing Stone: a small, very dark black stone that heals almost any injury created with the intention to hurt or kill, though must be used promptly after infliction and causes double that of the original pain while healing. Works on both Loric and humans.
• Loric Salt: small pebbles that when placed under the tongue provide the user with a short burst of energy, strength, and relief from pain, though the pebbles disolve quickly and the use of legacies rapidly diminish the Loric Salt's effects.
• Twined Leaves: produces the sound of wind in Lorien when brushed. Believed to be Four's phoenix stone. 
• Gems: Natural resources from Lorien that could be sold for money. 
• Pulsing Crystal: The power of this artifact is yet to be discovered. When Four and Six touched this crystal, it sent pinpricks into their hands and caused acid to rise up in their throats.

Relationships

tFoF- John and Sarah

Sarah Hart

“	Sarah Hart, I love you, I love only you. Do you hear me?	”
–John, to Sarah

Sarah is a presumed-older human female with whom John has an intimate relationship during his time in Paradise Ohio. Sarah's friendly and caring nature and John's attraction combined to create their relationship which began friendly and eventually became romantic. Physically speaking John and Sarah progressed as far as kissing however emotionally they are described as in true love. Sarah tells John at the end of the novel that she will wait for him and does not come with him and Sam as they leave Paradise Ohio. She is suspected of turning him in to the FBI after he implies having feelings for Six . but in the Rise of Nine, Sarah Hart was found in the same holding cell with Six in the Goverment base in New Mexico. Later when found by Number Four, she was rescued and she fought side by side with the other garde. She then started travelling along with Number Four and the other garde when they escape the goverment base together after fighting Setrákus Ra.

Henri

“	We always joked about it but you were my father, the best father I could have ever asked for. I'll never forget you, not for a minute for as long as I live. I love you, Henri. I always did	”
–John, to Henri

Henri was John's Cepan, a trainer and guardian assigned to him. John never knew his father and as such Henri served to fulfill that role for much of his life. John is often described as desiring to refer to Henri as 'dad' but it does not come naturally as he refers to him as Henri to many people, possibly risking his cover. Henri and John are very close and John has unyielding faith in Henri. Henri has been responsible for looking after John and saving him many times. However there has also been a natural tension between the two when Henri wishes to uproot them both from Paradise Ohio to ensure their survival. After Henri's death in the novel,  John swears to take his ashes to Lorien. John did that because he knew he would go Lorien one day.

Sam Goode

Sam is initially polite to John and the two become friends after Sam warns him to stay away from Sarah due to her possessive ex-boyfriend. After witnessing some events Sam pulls a gun on John revealing that Sam's father is believed to be abducted by aliens and that he believes John has come for him. Initially Sam is lied to by John and their friendship continues until he needs Sam to help him save Henri. After this Sam is told about John's true nature, he accepts John as a friend and alien and shows extreme loyalty in the battle against the beasts in the climax of the novel. Sam leaves Paradise, Ohio with John. Apparently Sam vowed to find his father no matter what even if it means fighting mogs who abducted his father. After travelling with John and Six, they soon belived that Sam's father, Malcolm Goode was a helper of the garde, on Earth. After Six left to find a Garde in Spain, Sam and John went to the Mogadorian base and found nine. Sam Goode was then captured because John didn't have time to save him when he went running to look for his father.

Six

“	She's the strongest person I've ever met	”
–John to Nine, about Six

Back on Lorien, Six's and John's parents were best friends who joked that they'd end up together. When John first meets Six it is because she had been looking for him and the other remaining Garde. Her interventions save his life during his first battle with the Mogs. During the course of The Power of Six, John becomes drawn to Six despite his feelings for Sarah and his friendship with Sam. They constantly flirt with one another and John comes to admit his feelings for her when she tells him she likes him despite the fact that he can be an idiot. When John is reunited with Sarah he admits that he loves Sarah more than Six. Things become awkward between them until Sarah forces John to patch things up with Six. They talk things out and Six says she understands that John loves Sarah more than her and she accept that. They remain as good friends.

Bernie Kosar

Bernie Kosar, BK for short is John's Chimaera/pet. He comes from Lorien the same planet as John. He has been with John since he was little kid and came to earth with John in the same spaceship. After landing on earth he has been following John and Henri keeping an eye on them. In I Am Number Four he appeared as a beagle form on John's doorstep. He took him in and cared for him. In the battle in Paradise high school BK revealed his true form and fought with mogadorian beasts to keep John safe, and he has been fighting alongside John in many other battles that followed. He travelled with John after he left Paradise. 

Nine

When John meets Nine in West Virginia, he is impressed by his Legacies and combat abilities as to compare them to Six's but becomes concerned about the fact that Nine seemed to enjoy fighting too much. Still, they work well together and escape after which they make plans to recover at Nine's home in Chicago. Nine takes care of Four like he is a younger brother, and he would like to be friends with Four. Even if Nine is stronger than Four, he does not underestimate Four's intelligence.

Mark James

John and Mark hated each other at first, but they gain respect for each other after the Battle of Paradise.

Appearences

Main Series

• I Am Number Four  Narrator 
• The Power of Six  Narrator
• The Rise of Nine  Narrator
• The Fall of Five  Narrator

Lost Files

• Nine's Legacy

Mentions

• Six's Legacy
• Return to Paradise

Extras

Trivia

• John Smith has moved a total of 22 times by the end of I Am Number Four, some locations being in North Carolina, Arizona, Minnesota, Colarado, Maine, Florida, Montana and Ohio.
• His parents names were Lara and Liren.
• He is believed to be the Garde member that will inherit Pittacus Lore's legacies, although he is not as strong or as powerful as Nine.
• In the book, he himself thought of the name John Smith while he and Henri were travelling to Ohio, whereas in the movie, Henri made the name for him and thought the name John Smith was too plain.
• John/Number Four and Marina/Number Seven are the only two Garde to keep a human name other than their Loric number.
• He is one of the only three characters to physically appear in all four books up to date. Other two characters are Sarah Hart and Six.
• He is the only character to narrate all four books up to date.

Quotes

“	I am an alien, I have extraordinary powers, with more to come, and I can do things that no human would dream of, but I still look like a fool	”
–I Am Number Four

“	I'll come back to you, I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, I'll come back to you.	”
–To Sarah, I Am Number Four

Film Portrayal

He is portrayed by Alex Pettyfer in I am Number Four