#awkward teen me would've absolutely had a crush on her in school

[whenthewallfell]

🔥 Happy Birthday Katniss Everdeen 🔥

What's your first impression of Katniss after reading or watching The Hunger Games?

Do you find Katniss likable? Do you think her characterization is realistic?

What do you think the strengths and weaknesses of Katniss?

If today, you can make new movie/series adaptation, who would be suitable as Katniss? Based on visual description and acting talents.

Thank you :)

(Answering this fashionably late bc I'm a terrible person) Hey anon!

First up, how does everyone know her birthday? Was it in the books and I just completely blanked it? It's cute that it's in spring, since that's also when she goes through her 'rebirth' from a scared starving child to Katniss Everdeen, District Hunter.

She's an extremely well written character. The way her grief and the following trauma impacts her and haunts her throughout the series is horribly accurate. It was almost too much when I first read it (self reflection is rarely pleasant) but what makes her so inspiring is how even at her worst she still finds ways to keep going.

For all she's described as the Girl on Fire, to me she seems more like the embodiment of nature. Forests can be burned, rivers can be dammed, and the meadows paved over. But new shoots grow from soil enriched by ashes. The rivers burst their banks in the spring melts and carve new paths in the stone. Roots break the pavement and grass reclaims the earth. It's only a matter of time.

People's strengths and weaknesses aren't really something you can separate; eg. she's very impulsive and tends to leap without looking, which makes for an excellent protagonist and both kickstarts a revolution and puts her and everyone she loves in danger. She's also extremely stubborn - this lends itself to her persistence and refusal to give in, but also prevents her asking for help when she needs it.

Re: casting, the neat thing about her is that she's written to be purposefully racially ambiguous beyond 'mixed race' due to how far ahead in the future Panem is and everyone kinda blending together (as a halfsies, I'm a big fan of it). That said there's a lot that points to her being Native American and that's how I choose to draw her, so someone in line with that would be awesome.