#Mrs. everdeen

[worldwithinworld]

Since we all have the time of Haymitch's games on our minds, I thought now would be a good time to bring up again my longstanding theory that Katniss's mother was disowned by her parents but not primarily (or even at all) because she married someone from the Seam. I think it's because she and Katniss's father were involved in rebellious activities.

Here are my clues:

She was Maysilee's friend. She got her canary after she died, inheriting the symbol of a warning in the form of a songbird.

Haymitch's victory frightened Show. If the Capitol's control was strong at the time, Haymitch's forcefield trick would have been just good tv. The fact that Snow came down so hard on Snow suggests there were threats of rebellion before Haymitch even went into the arena.

When Gale is whipped, Haymitch says they used to take people who got whipped to Katniss's mother. Specifically, he says, "She's the one we took them to," which seems to imply it was just her, not her whole family.

After treating Gale, she briefly speaks to Haymitch about "before." They understand each other so easily with just a few words despite us seeing hardly any interaction between them before. It feels like they have more of a shared history than what Katniss knows.

Speaking of what Katniss knows, she considers this interaction and wonders what they are talking about but decides she's too upset to ask right then. She never thinks about asking again, but the whole thing suggests that there is a lot more to the story of D12 in Haymitch and her parents' youth.

Katniss remembers her mom getting angry at her dad for teaching her "The Hanging Tree." Little Katniss had cried because her mom yelling was so out of the norm. Katniss assumes that her mom didn't like her little girl learning such a dark song, but we know better. Her dad sang a rebels' song, and her mom got scared of him teaching it to her daughter.

I think both of Katniss's parents were involved in rebellion to some degree when they were young. The Capitol came down hard on Haymitch and his whole district to snuff it out. It scared Katniss's maternal grandparents who maybe told her to cut ties with her Seam boy or else, or maybe they just cut her off for her own deeds irrespective of her romantic interest.

[thesweetnessofspring]

Let's talk D12 names. Specifically, names for Peeta's brothers and Mrs. Everdeen, and why based on the patterns we see from the original trilogy and TBOSAS, they shouldn't be named after bakery-related items and Mrs. Everdeen shouldn't be a nature name (though admittedly this is a softer assumption).

Of canon names we have from Twelve, both in the original trilogy and TBOSAS, Twelve is the one district that we know of to not have anyone whose name is from an industry. They're largely lumped into nature names (Katniss, Primrose, Gale, Posy, Hazelle, Lil) and futuristic variants of more traditional names, many based on names popular in the South and/or biblical (Jessup, Thom, Madge, Delly, Leevy, Maysilee and Mayfair). Naming in Twelve is focused on nature and tradition, not labor. Which is why I dislike bakery-related names for the Mellark brothers.

We see that in the world when someone does have an industry name, they don't do a quirky spelling of it, it's straight out (Coral, Thresh, Glimmer, Cashmere, etc.). Some industry names in D3 are made "prettier," such as Wiress and Teslee, but other than that, industry names aren't obscured by spelling it as Cashmeer or Coural or whatever.

So if Peeta was an "industry" name, he'd be Pita. Suzanne doesn't obscure these references in other instances. What Peeta is is a variant of Peter. Like other D12 names it's been altered from how we use it today, and seemingly consistent with a few other D12 names we know--Leevy, Rooba, and Maysilee which uses double vowels for the long-vowel sound. At some point in THG universe, at least in D12, spelling has altered to favor this. And one can imagine (especially because certain accents already pronounce it this way) that the -er was dropped in favor of the -a to create Peeta.

Perhaps Peeta sound like how some pronounce pita was a nice addition, a layer onto the name, but I don't think Suzanne sat down with a name of types of bread and picked out pita as her male love interest's name. Other Mellark brother names could follow a similar pattern (i.e. Rilee, being its own name, but having "rye" hidden there. But not straight out Rye).

As for Mrs. Everdeen, my stance against a nature name is again, based on the fact that D12 does not name their children based on their profession and that those born in town do not have nature names. As Mrs. Everdeen's parents owned the apothecary, it doesn't track for her to have a blatant medicinal plant name.

Canonical "town" names include Peeta, Madge, Maysilee, Delly, Mayfair, and Rooba. None of these are nature names. Seam characters can have more traditional names, but town names we know of do not include nature names. So if Mrs. Everdeen's parents are unlikely to name her after their profession or nature, plant-based names for her don't fall within what we know of canon. However, D12 does have nature names in use, so it's not impossible, but based on current patterns, seems unlikely.

[triassictriserratops]

checking in to say I’m such a sucker for Katniss and Peeta discussing their mommy issues once they’re together again. I once saw a post pointing out that they’re the only ones in the series with that kind of trauma and it made so much sense to me why they easily bonded with each other. Just imagine them finally being able to discuss how unsafe they felt even before the games and realize that they have someone in their family who understands that problem and doesn’t make it feel that way. Katniss and Peeta have always been tender with each other but I fear it only gets worse the more they share and get close

we joke a lot about how THG is what Katniss would write about her experiences in the games and war. (Explaining her, frankly, INSANE odes to Peeta's eyelashes.) but also? we're sleeping on the idea that Katniss writes a book absolutely trashing Peeta's mom. It's gonna be a fucking BESTSELLER. I actually have an advanced reader copy, here, lemme show you:

(Note, i spent like 4 hours making this absolutely garbage fucking cover, please validate me. My feelings gland needs this.) I also have this idea that while Katniss does come to understand her mother better by the end of the book - a relationship, a GOOD relationship, with the two of them - it's just going to take time. In that time, maybe Peeta helps to bridge the gap. He does weekly check-ins with Katniss' mom. Telling her how Katniss is doing but also answering her questions about how HE'S doing. And he realizes how...nice it is for a mom to want to know how his day was or be proud of his accomplishments. It's not a replacement for what he should have had, but it's nicer than what he ever got. His relationship with his family is gone. That's it. There will never be any hope of it ever getting better. But Katniss DOES have her mom and he wants to help them. And, from the conversations and tears they've shared about this, he knows she wants it too. So he starts by suggesting that Katniss' mom go through her own therapy to be able to come to terms with her grief and the consequences of what that grief did to her relationships with her living family. He puts her in touch with Dr. Aurelius who gives him a referral to someone in 4 that works in grief and family counseling. And it's not easy. Not by any means. Not for anyone. But in time, years, decades - the bonds of family are strengthened. They're never perfect, you can't fix the past, of course. But the pains are acknowledged on both sides. Their new relationship is hard-earned and exactly what they both need of each other. 15 years down the line, Mrs. Everdeen gets to push the hair out of her daughters eyes while she delivers her first grandbaby. She gets to watch her baby look in awe, and wonderment at her own baby. She gets to watch her family grow a little bigger and a little stronger. Later, when Peeta makes sure both Katniss and baby are safe and sleeping, he goes over to Mrs. Everdeen and hugs her tightly. "Thanks for being here for us, Ma."

[odestasocean]

may i present to you, a rant that no one asked for about the bond between annie cresta & mrs. everdeen:

so awhile ago i had sent in an ask to @the-sun-and-the-sea talking about the implied friendship that forms between annie & mrs. everdeen post-war. now that i'm no longer just a lurker on here, i wanted to delve into my thoughts on this friendship because it is one that is sooo interesting to me and one that is hardly brought up in the fandom !!

to start, mrs. everdeen is a character that i wholeheartedly believe does not get the recognition she deserves. i mean, she leaves nearly everything about the only life she had ever known to start a new life with the man she fell in love with and have two children with him only for him to die tragically, leaving her with these two young girls who need her more than anything, but her own mind becomes a prison, keeping her locked away from being the mother that katniss and prim need her to be??? or idk maybe i just have a knack for loving the grieving widowed characters in media for some reason. anyway, i digress. her story, in a way, goes hand in hand with annie's story.

now, as we know, suzanne collins' mind is an incredibly intricate and complex place so i don't think that her specifically choosing district four to be where mrs. everdeen ends up was a coincidence. which just alludes to the fact that she has now become this personified cautionary tale for annie. since she's a doctor and she's familiar with the victors by being an extension of katniss, i'm just going to assume that she was one of finnick's doctors when he was in and out of the hospital. and that she became annie's doctor after she was rescued from the capitol. i'm also just going to go ahead and assume that if this was the case, she would've remained as annie's doctor once she found out she was pregnant. this could very well be implied to have contributed to her moving to d4 and helping to build a hospital there.

annie's story is honestly just as equally familiar and unfamiliar to us as mrs. everdeen's is. we don't know how her and finnick's relationship began or what the details of her games are or what her personality was like before her games or how she grieved after finnick was gone. but with this implication of mrs. everdeen moving to annie's home district, i can only imagine that she offered a great deal of support to her. mrs. everdeen met this woman who had just endured something so insanely traumatic and was there to offer her help and witness her heal with the happiness of her new marriage, only for her to end up on the same exact path as she herself had been on for the past seven (??) years: a widowed mother with a mind who only ever seemed to experience grief.

we don't know anything about what the weeks and months were like for annie after finnick's death. but to me, it is perfectly rational to view this as a period of time where she was so shut down from wanting help from anyone and everyone and felt entirely unsure of how she was going to raise a child in this state of mind. and it wasn't until she started to talk with mrs. everdeen, who had been enduring her own grief of losing her youngest daughter, that she found someone who finally understood. someone who didn't make her feel like she was crazy for being unwilling to do anything but lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. someone who didn't view her as the Mad Girl who was now the Pregnant Mad Girl Whose Husband is Dead, but rather as an incredibly strong individual who had to fight against the enemy of her own head. someone who offered her a shoulder to cry on rather than a judgemental stare. no one could replace prim for mrs. everdeen and no one could replace annie's mother or mags in annie's case. but after all of the hardships that they had both faced up until that point, they had a shared understanding of how they could never truly move on from their grief. but they would continue on and live their lives to the best of their abilities for themselves, their children, and those they had lost.

alas, the similarities do not end there, my friends. katniss constantly talks about how much her father loved being out in nature so the wicked sense of irony of him dying so far away from that nature he loved so much is just heartbreaking. and who else do we know of that died in a place so far underground and so far away from the element of nature that he had been surrounded by his whole life?? bing, bing, bing, you guessed it! finnick odair! there's one line toward the beginning of hunger games that has always stood out to me: "it reminds me of the mines and my father, trapped, unable to reach sunlight, buried forever in darkness." replace mines with sewer and my father with finnick and boom, you've got the exact events of page 312 in mockingjay. and, of course, i can't forget the obvious-- an explosion was involved in both of their deaths. so this again just adds to my point earlier of how it feels a little too eerily similar that these four characters all share some level of commonalities for it to have been a coincidence.

anyway, not really sure what the point of me rambling about all of this was. i guess to see if anyone else has ever put that much thought into it?? or am i just looking way too far into something that's not as connected as i think it is?? idk, let me know your thoughts if you have anything to add because i could talk about this forever and ever and ever !!!

[gutfaced]

re; ableism in the hunger games, infantilism of the traumatized/shunning of the traumatized.

okay so i woke up & my awesome mutual @ongreenergrasses made a post about this too (i JUST saw it and like oooh my god. i agree so hard and so much) and i'm just going to talk about what i've been thinking.

the hunger games is doused in some really nasty thinking when it comes to mental health, and then even more so when it comes to disabilities, addiction and PTSD. i'm going to break down this post in parts based on each character who represents this, and any misc. ones will simply be the issue at hand alone. i find that suzanne writes a certain stereotypical sort of rhetoric that goes unchecked by this fandom because the majority are not those who have experienced these things, but the ones who *have* should at least bring this to more attention if possible. katniss to me, is one of the most ableist characters (not of her own knowing) as the good and mighty protagonist, and seeing people headcanon her as autistic is very interesting when her takes on people with any sort of difference in mental states is.. it comes into question constantly.

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

annie is very truthfully, a character who is only based on being the ‘poor mad girl who wins finnick's heart’ and yes, a victor with more severe PTSD which has come to affect her daily life, or at least when it comes to the games. suzanne collins’ constant use of the term ‘mad girl’ comes from katniss as protagonist, which reads as so ableist. watering anyone to their inpairments or their level of health is dehumanizing, and it reads to me like she regards annie as a sort of special case, like a wounded animal almost. the only positive talk about annie as a character minus her wedding, minus her relationship with finnick is when peeta explains annie's experiences in the games, which comes with empathy and understanding that most,,, are overbearing with. i see so many people water her down to just, being finnick's, and only being whatever level of trauma has enabled her consistent struggles. this i won't put a label on because i don't know what collin's was trying to achieve.

i even believe that finnick as her lover commits a level of ableist thinking in their relationship. he withholds information of the rebellion from her (despite her being extremely smart and just as career as anyone else from four,) and despite that not changing anything because she's still tortured, still abused in some way, he has a level of extreme overprotectiveness that reads as infantilism of his partner, and it seems to me like everyone considers finnick as annie's carer, and doesn't consider annie as his partner. yes his *lover,* but not someone on equal ground as far as their mental health issues go. the way annie is seen on both coins of fandom and book are incredibly ignorant and very, very harmful to disabled people. just because someone has a debilitating issue does not mean you get to treat them like they're a child, does not mean you go onto label them from that single trait. like i said, the phrase ‘the mad girl back home’ is so, so degrading to annie, who is a survivor and has overcome her experiences with respective scars. respect her humanity, because it's sub human thinking to call someone mad based on PTSD. leave that in the 1910s/20s.

𝐌𝐑𝐒. 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐍 & 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇

(note that the haymitch part will be longer than the rest because i have enough content to go off of & this is my specialty)

mrs. everdeen and haymitch as characters both experience deprecating grief, to the extent where their mental health is tarnished from that. mrs. e becomes withdrawn and stiff from family; only able to function for the sake of work. her love, her husband dies and it emotionally disables her and severs a proper relationship to her two daughters. her mental health being dependant on the man/the loss of him and the fact that she discards her family is not only somewhat realistic for *some* cases, but also equally spitting out ideas of tradition and how "women need a man," with hazelle contrasting this and having to work for her 4 children to the point of blood. katniss’ perception of her mother's issue do come from hurt, but also internalised prejudice against those with mental health as she can see the extent of agony her mother is in and still loathes her, never leaving the door open for empathy.

the treatment of haymitch in both book and fandom is equally prejudiced and incredibly uneducated on addiction, and again — grief. haymitch self-medicates because his trauma, the extent of it is so mutilating to the point where he has to be flushing out memories on a constant basis. the fandom calls him a stupid drink, looks down on his intelligence. the books make him look volatile, squalored. the way in which suzanne collins describes his kitchen (which is filthy with old food, hazards, bottles and mice droppings) is VERY true of several people with severe mental health. katniss makes fun of him while he's in a state of approaching withdrawal, saying that the smell brings tears to her eyes, and at the end of the conversation ‘to take a bath.’ people with depression (which is what mrs. e and haymitch both have in different cases) find it difficult to do everyday chores and simple tasks, and katniss also repeats the idea of haymitch being unhygienic when she says ‘he's disgusting, but I'm greatful’ alongside commenting that it must've been a long while since he had bathed. haymitch is the richest man in the district, but not even that can stop the blatant hatred that katniss parrots. haymitch is to me, ill, and it reflects in his attitude during the games and when he's in withdrawal. suzanne hones in his mental state the most, and what he is a functioning alcoholic, and while that differs from regular alcoholism, people are consistent to demean his character with misconceptions and text books beliefs of what an alcoholic looks like. there are *many* takes, many examples of these sorts of people in society, but the constant abusive, violent, hateful, squalid, hedonistic ideas are parroted in fics when it comes to haymitch when he isn't.. any of those things. the society around him cares to consider the extent of his suffering and he doesn't have a good enough support system, as all whom he has loved are dead. i finish this by saying what i always do; he's extremely intelligent, extremely empathetic and wholly feeling, extremely caring and protective, and is meant to *defy* stereotypes. his ending however diminishes his ability to get better, and practically undoes any hope of his betterment despite it all.

𝐌𝐑𝐒. 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐄

mrs. undersee is mentioned a few times through the trilogy, and when it isn't related to her late twin maysilee donner, or her daughter madge, it's her chronic illness. katniss basically only mentions her when referring to her constant headaches and her morphling addiction, which makes me wonder why suzanne collins doesn't go into depth about how she's taken care of, who she's getting support from as the wife of the district mayor, and how she functions as a mother. she is basically made useless to the narrative despite her important role as a mayoral first lady & family member to someone who experienced and was slaughtered in the arena. i see next to no content on her which upsets me as she does play such a big role in the scheme of things, and has connections to the everdeens, to haymitch and to the donner family. she's got next to nothing on her wikipedia, and it's unfortunate as she could've been a good example of chronic ilness in an already revered YA series (which now comes under scrutiny for the faults being uprooted.)

[liberalk1tsch]

if mrs. everdeen has no haters, i am dead. treatable mental health issues are not a valid excuse for child neglect, nor does katniss have any sort of obligation to forgive her for it, argue with the wall.

[flying-ham]

one of the greatest tragedies of the hunger games series is Mrs. Everdeen. She both begins and ends the series dealing with tremendous loss, and instead of holding on tighter to those that remain, she allows herself to succumb to the pain and loneliness of her own mind.

At the beginning of thg, katniss describes the depression her mother sunk into after the death of her father. She says that, "my mother was locked in some dark world of sadness, but at the time, all I knew was that I had lost not only a father, but a mother as well," (thg). Katniss struggles to reconcile the mother she currently has with the one she remembers from the age of 11. She cannot ever fully trust this woman again as, "I can see is the woman who sat by, blank and unreachable, while her children turned to skin and bones. I try to forgive her for my father’s sake. But to be honest, I’m not the forgiving type," (thg). Because Mrs. Everdeen could not cope with the loss of her husband, she very nearly lost her two daughters as well. Thus, Katniss and her mother's relationship became permanently altered, only really beginning to improve by catching fire and mockingjay.

Even as Katniss and her mother's relationship blossoms and improves, she still does not feel that she can fully share with and rely on her mother. In Mockingjay, Katniss tries to protect Prim and her mother, saying "It's automatic. Shutting Prim and my mother out of things to shield them," but quickly realizes even Prim can no longer fully rely on Mrs. Everdeen when she tells her, "'You could tell me, you know. I'm good at keeping secrets. Even from Mother,'" (mj). Even prim, sweet innocent prim who cries when Katniss cries, cannot fully rely on her own mother anymore.

By the end of Mockingjay, it is revealed that Mrs. Everdeen has left Haymitch to take care of Katniss back in District 12. Katniss quickly understands what this means as Haymitch explains, "'She's helping to start up a hospital in District Four. She wants you to call as soon as we get in.' My finger traces the graceful swoop of the letters. 'You know why she can't come back.' Yes, I know why. Because between my father and Prim and the ashes, the place is too painful to bear. But apparently not for me," (mj). Katniss acknowledges her mother's trauma, but also understands the hypocrisy of it, as Mrs. Everdeen ultimately lost two daughters in the bombing instead of one. She could not cope with the loss of prim, and so she gave up on Katniss as well, the same way she nearly lost the girls after Mr. Everdeen died.

[caesarflickermans]

The destruction of family is a common theme within the trilogy. Katniss’ life is shaped markedly by the death of her father, a man who she often comes to admire and idolise throughout the books. Her father is strongly tied to nature—Katniss learned to survive and hunt from him, and finds comfort in his woods (HG, 1). In contrast, she struggles to emphasise with her mother, who is haunted by her husband’s death and thus incapable to care for her two children (HG, 1).

Notably, there are similar parallels between Mr. Everdeen and Finnick as well as Mrs. Everdeen and Annie.

Outside of the individual deaths, both couples appear as a romantic story in a world where love seems impossible. Mrs. Everdeen leaves her family and social standing behind to be with Mr. Everdeen. Finnick protects Annie at all costs, and “no one seeing them could doubt their love” (MJ, 12). The Everdeen parents are the love Katniss grew up with, Finnick and Annie are the love Katniss seems to envy.

Like Mr. Everdeen, Finnick, too, is strongly tied to nature. Katniss remarks how it seems he had spent his childhood by the sea (CF, 16). Finnick’s proximity to water is reflected in his dress, such as his parade outfit (CF, 15) as well as his general appearance, namely his “sea green eyes” (CF, 15). More strongly than the other District 4 victors Annie and Mags, Finnick embodies nature. Where Finnick learned how to swim because of his District, Katniss learned how to swim because of her father (CF, 3).

In the same manner that Mr. Everdeen has become idolised by Katniss, “Finnick Odair is something of a living legend in Panem” (CF, 15). Panem, and especially the Capitol, have come to idolise Finnick to such an extent that his inherent character is no longer evident. Meeting the ‘real’ Finnick in Mockingjay is a pivotal change of perception that humanises Finnick and contrasts the myth-like victor persona (MJ, 1).

While there are several characters who are shaped by trauma, Mrs. Everdeen and Annie stand out in a parallel manner, too. Both Mrs. Everdeen and Annie had a significant life altering event that changed their mental health for the worse. Katniss follows a similar journey with each character; initially feeling only anger toward her mother until she returns from the 74th arena, where she begins wanting to mend this relationship and become more forgiving around her mother (CF, 3). Annie, too, is only seen as the ‘mad girl’ (CF, 24) until Katniss interacts more with her (MJ, 16) and begins to describe her in more kinder terms. Following each of their husband’s deaths, Mrs. Everdeen and Annie are tasked to take care of their child(ren).

As a war story, the circle closes itself: The story began and ended with a child whose father figure had died.

[little-lynx]

SECOND QUARTER QUELL II UPRISING AU

Ok, look. I’m obsessed with Second Quarter Quell generation and I have A LOT of head canons about them. And sometimes these head canons contradict each other, lol. Previously I showed you some of my illustrations about SQQ generation but it was always one particular AU (where they all are kinda friends/classmates?). And I think it’s time to show you another one that I also like. This is AU (or “head canon” since we don’t really know what is real and what is not) where all of them were part of revolutionary movement before the 50th Hunger Games. Some things are the same in both universes (Mr. Hawthorne and Mrs.Mellark are best friends in both, haha), some are completely different (Mr.Mellark and Mrs.Mellark were not in love in “uprising au” and had to marry for the sake of revolution after Mr.M/Mr.E partnership was broken, oh oh, that was super dramatic!). But they look pretty much the same in every AU I have in my head haha. So here are quick portraits of SQQ gen characters and their confident files from D13 before the 50th Hunger Games reaping day (everything went wrong after that, huh).

About Donner sisters. Peeta said that Mr.Mellark described them as “twins or something” and I interpreted this “something” as that they were not identical twins. Katniss was amazed by young Mrs.Undersee and Madge’s similarity but she didn’t have this feeling about Maysilee. So I think they looked like sisters but not super similar to each other. I mean, I’m a mother of identical twins, I know what I’m talking about lol.

These portraits are not perfect and were done quickly but I really tried 😅. Funny fact: overall I have more clear vision of SQQ characters than THG characters, haha (especially young Haymitch, Mr.Everdeen, Hazelle and Mrs.Mellark). Oh, and you have no idea how much time I’ve spent on these files lol. I don’t even know WHY I did it, because obviously no one cares, but this idea lived in my head for far too long. Ugh, I’m finally free of it. And now I need to return to my work and also main series uffffffff.

P.S. “agent Fox” is Haymitch’s girl, but I have no decent head canon for her

P.P.S. I don’t mention any names because I try not to be too attached to particular names for these characters (who knows maybe one day Suzanne will reveal some information and I don’t want to be upset lol)

[filipinosamflynn]

these 3 make me feel so ferally ill THEY DIDN'T DESERVE ANY OF THIS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[littlemarianah]

hot take:

I love the Hunger Games, and Suzanne Collins is one of my favorite authors of all time, but I hate how she writes the relationship of Katniss and Peeta with their families (I'm not counting Prim or Katniss's father here.) . I won't ever be able to understand why she killed all of Peeta's family. Why kill all of them? And if she really wanted to kill them why didn't she develop their family dynamics before doing so? It would be so much better seeing his family in District 13. Peeta dealing with the trauma, and disfunctional family. Why kill all of them instead of having an opportunity to deal with such cool and complicated emotions that would be great for the narrative and Peeta's development? I feel like it's just a missed opportunity. I never will understand. For me, Peeta wasn't given the opportunity to grieve their deaths properly. My other problem is with Katniss's mom. Everything that happened in District 13, and her mom never lifted a finger. She's not an important character for the plot, and it's so confusing because Collins draws such specific similarities between Katniss's mom grieving for her late husband and Katniss grieving for Peeta. I feel it's just a missed opportunity of everything.

[browneyeddevil]

Chapter 5: The Job Hunt (Pt 2)

Growing Pains

In a Panem where Katniss and Peeta have both aged out of the Reaping, their lives technically free of the wrath of the Capitol, they both struggle to find their footing in the harsh realities of Twelve. Change is in the air though, and things are happening fast.

Read here

[thesweetnessofspring]

People making posts about being Haymitch Abernathy stans before SOTR release so I thought "I'll make a post about being a Mrs. Everdeen apologist before SOTR" but then I remembered she's a woman and not a hot (male) dictator or a grumpy (male) alcoholic, just a widow with catatonic depression so no one's going to be stanning her after SOTR anyway. :)

[ballads-and-bairds]

now i’m curious- which thg/tbosas character do YOU personally relate to the most?

Yay! My first ask!

Ironically, the reason I asked you was because I was trying to figure that out for myself.

Some of my favorite characters are the Covey, so I definitely want to say one of them. Of the six, I probably have the most immediate similarities to Barb Azure. I'm one of the eldest in my family (thus having to be responsible), I'm more on the quiet side despite loving music and the arts, and I identify as queer.

I wish Barb Azure and the rest of the Covey were given more character development so I could continue to spot similarities. Maude Ivory is also an option, since I definitely have a quirkier side and a similar appreciation for history, the past, and storytelling.

But of the major characters, I connect quite a bit with Katniss as well. She's another introverted, socially awkward eldest sibling, but I also relate to her flaws, such as her tendency to be moody and hold grudges. The only major difference is that I'm not as self-reliant. But I greatly admire her resilience, which is among her greatest strengths.

I also find Katniss' mother relatable for a few reasons. She has a subtle inner strength that often goes unnoticed. Despite her mistakes and struggles, she does her best to lessen the cruelty of the world and finds purpose in her unique skills. She's not a perfect person, but she's a very real and human one.

Thanks for the ask!

[imnotadogiswear]

I think the Hunger Games character’s traveling to our world is such an underrated fic idea. Especially if they also read the books.

[gutfaced]

☕️ katniss’s parents

katniss was horrible towards her mother until she was put into a situation where she'd be forced to empathize with her. it is absolutely unforgivable to me for her to have swore at her incessantly when she was treating gale (in which katniss did nothing to help wih if not predominantly making it about herself/which i understand because she was also injured,) but she held no understanding of her mother's grief until it again, hit her, and just about a decent amount of understanding of her job and what she'd go through as the town apothecary. katniss did admire her mother's skills and her ability to be hands on, but a lot of the time she would undermine her instead of appreciate the parts of her she did have left.

when it came to katniss’ father, i believe she saw him through rose-colored glasses. a hunter, a good singer, a miner — the first man in her life. but i feel like she gave more credit to him than her mother who had a wider and more impactful job in terms of district care. her father is the dead one, and despite her mother living (and being in a state of deep widowing,) it's almost like they've both died in a way. only she chooses to favor one.

but when mrs. everdeen is doing her job as a healer and a mother, katniss is still indifferent. nothing will bring back her years of childhood lost from becoming the family breadwinner, but nothing will change the fact that her father died. and nothing could change the fact that her mother grieved. nothing will change the fact that things went the way they did, but no one was at fault for what happened. which includes mrs. everdeen, even if she didn't cope in a way that was healthy for her children.