#gale : peeta

[ringtoned]

suzanne collins is such a genius... the cultural phenomenon of her series leading to the hanging tree house remixes, mockingjay being milked for two (bad) movies, the capitol-inspired makeup palettes, the halloween costumes, the explosion of the market for dystopia, the butchering of her characters and removal of disabilities, disfiguration, and racial tension + representation to sell more tickets, the extra gale scenes to fuel discourse, and the audience showing up to cinemas to watch what was pretty honestly marketed to them (the jacob vs edwardification of the symbolic love story and also to watch children fight to the death) it's just so ridiculously ironic i would say you can't write this shit, but she did write about it... in The Hunger Games published 2008

[fromevertonow]

Suzanne Collins is one of the few contemporary writers who realizes the importance of names in her stories and the significance they bear. They add so many layers to the story, additional meanings that otherwise would not have existed.

The original trilogy:

Katniss: named after a plant of which you can eat the roots. Her father taught her where to find it and told her that “as long as you can find yourself, you’ll survive” (quote may be a little bit off, but it’s from one of the early chapters in THG). Additionally, the leaves are in the shape of an arrowhead, referencing her skills with the bow which her father also taught her how to use.

Peeta: literally bread lmao. But bread is one of the basic nutritions humans need, a little bit goes a long way to keep you alive. Peeta’s presence in Katniss’s life also kept her alive, literally and figuratively—the burned bread he threw her in the flashback and their complicated relationship.

Primrose: a plant with medicinal purposes, even more significant in light of her work as a medic in Mockingjay.

Gale: literally means “strong wind” and considering that in every encounter with Katniss he’s caused some reaction, he pulls her into directions she maybe initially doesn’t want to go in. Additionally, his name also represents his determination and steadfastness in his beliefs.

TBOSAS

Lucy Gray: named after William Wordsworth’s poem “Lucy Gray” which is about the titular character of the poem who got lost during a blizzard. She literally got lost in snow. Rachel Zegler sang this poem in two parts on the original soundtrack of the movie. When Snow asked who the girl in the song is, Lucy answers that she’s a mystery, just like her.

Snow: aside from the obvious snow references, I think his name is most significant in relation to Lucy and the poem. The only one who knows what caused her disappearance is Snow. He is the reason that Lucy is gone. But her traces in the snow are still visible. He will always remember her because the memory of Lucy has manifested itself in every part of his life.

Coriolanus: named after the Roman general (and also the titular character of Shakespeare’s play), Coriolanus wanted to attack Rome and become its ruler. He was scorned and celebrated by the people, only to be later exiled from the city by them. In TBOSAS, Coriolanus is the star pupil at the Capitol’s academy but sent into exile to the districts after he won the Games with Lucy through cheating.

Volumnia: Coriolanus mother who played a part in his ascent to power. In TBOSAS, she almost serves like a mentor to Coriolanus, teaching him how to think in terms of power.

(Edit) Sejanus: a roman soldier who was betrayed by the roman emperor Tiberius, just like the future president betrayed him.

(Edit) Plinth: got this info from here, but it was too good not to include here. A plinth is a base for a statue or vase to stand on. After Sejanus’s death, all of the Plinth fortune was given to Snow for being such a good to friend him. It was this money that skyrocketed the Snow family from poverty to filthy rich. The Plinth money was the foundation upon which Snow built his power.

There are so many other names that have historical (mostly Roman and Greek) connotations—Plutarch, Seneca, Cinna—but also regular names like Trinket and Beetee bear meanings that represent the character beautifully.

Names are important. For any lover of literature or (aspiring) writers, please look closely at them. They can shape your story into something unique.

Feel free to correct me if I’ve said something wrong. I know there are many names missing, but I can only add so many examples ✊🏻😔

[pagesinmylife]

Things people don’t talk about enough from the Hunger Games:

Many of Katniss’ strongest allies are women that are over looked by others (Madge, Rue, Mags, Wiress)

While Katniss has a strained relationship with her mother, her mother is never demonized. Katniss recognizes the trauma her mother went through and was willing to try to improve their relationship in CF

The rebellion didn’t start with the berries. The rebellion started when Katniss showed compassion towards a dying, black girl that the world had already written off as unimportant

One of the beauty trends in the capitol that Katniss finds odd is the shaving of body hair. When her leg hair grows back in CF, she expresses comfort in it.

Katniss’ character arc throughout the series is her understanding of who the enemy is. It isn’t the rich people in district 12, or the other tributes, or the other districts, or the people in the capitol. It’s the government and it’s Snow.

Katniss never wanted another hunger games with the kids of the capitol. In that meeting she recognizes Coin’s commitment to perpetuating the cycle of violence. She votes in favor of it to cover her plans of killing Coin.

The violence in the books is SUPPOSED to feel random and unfair. Prim being reaped was supposed to be against all odds because in the real world, violence is indiscriminate.

Gale is a victim too and was not solely responsible for the death of Prim. He spent the first two books feeling helpless as he watched people he loved be put in danger and suffer. Coin offered him a way to regain control. At the end of the day, Gale is only 18 and doesn’t realize the depth of the games being played.

Katniss is great with kids and actually enjoys being around them. She says the only reason she doesn’t want them is because she can’t imagine them being put in the hunger games. Her having children in the epilogue is a sign of her healing and finally feeling safe

[fantasybuff96]

I will never get over Gale’s stupid ass thinking that Finnick wanted Katniss at the beginning of Mockingjay, when the entire time that man was breaking down and longing for Annie. Like the whole reason Katniss and Finnick became close friends was their joined love and longing for Peeta and Annie who were both imprisoned in the capital together.

[madeofjules]

THG character summaries

Book 1

Katniss: I'll do whatever it takes to get home to Prim. I'll kill whoever I have to. I won't let anyone, no matter how sweet or innocent, distract m— is that child over there shaped like my sister? Is that my bread boy dying?? Goddammit

Peeta: guess I'll die but not before I own the Capitol by kissing my crush hell yeah

Gale: I'm about to lose my future wife to a BLOND??

Haymitch: Katniss you idiot

Book 2

Gale: I finally got a win! Katniss chose me, we're gonna start an uprising togeth— aaand now she's back in the arena falling in love with that smooth motherfucker in real time, fml

Peeta: guess I'll die again but not before I own the Capitol by kissing my fake pregnant wife hell yeah

Finnick: I can't believe the fate of the country rests on my ability to babysit two teens. The angry one is having homicidal thoughts about me and the pleasant one is a death magnet. Sigh. At least this arena brings out my eyes

Haymitch: Katniss you idiot

Katniss: what the fuck is going on

Book 3

Haymitch: you can take my booze or my Peeta or my Katniss but you cannot take all three. No I don't have a preference I love them all equally. Wait no I was kidding take Katniss

Finnick: *weeping*

Gale: I FINALLY get to do something. I'm gonna blow up a mountain

Katniss: I'm gonna kill the president and then myself

Peeta: what's my favorite color

[moved2fshfish]

district 12

note STOP telling me you dont think katniss is tall idgaf . ooh i would switch madge and katnisses height IDC! these are my designs for them and short peeta tall katniss is real TO ME just say u hate tall women 😒

[shinynewmemories]

Listen to me Suzanne Collins did not have to give Katniss and Peeta a history before the games. She did NOT have to do that. She could have just had their story begin when Peeta's name was called. She could have had them be total strangers until the moment of the reaping.

Like: "And the boy tribute is... Peeta Mellark!" Katniss: Who's that? Or she could have made them vaguely familiar with each other! Peeta's name is called and Katniss just thinks, Oh, I know that name! He's in my class, actually. Poor boy... Anyway!

Either way, SC could have written the rest of the story exactly the same! I think many authors would have done that! Because if Peeta's purpose in the book was to be Gale's competition, to be one of the 3 corners of a love triangle, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE WAY TO DO IT!! But that's NOT how she did it because that's NOT what Peeta is.

And what is he? To Katniss, Peeta's someone who saved her and her family and received nothing in return except a beating. Peeta's someone she has had her eye on but has never worked up the courage to talk to. Peeta's someone she associates with kindness and hope. And all this before the start of the events of the book! Just because WE, the READERS, met Gale before Peeta and immediately felt a connection with him does NOT mean that was Katniss's experience! And that's what SC is trying to tell us!

To dismiss Katniss and Peeta's past as unimportant or inconsequential compared to whatever Katniss and Gale have in the present is to fundamentally misunderstand Katniss as a character and, as a result, condemn oneself to never fully understand the choices she makes in the future.

Suzanne Collins wrote it that way on purpose because she had something to say. And no one will ever be able to convince me that something wasn't "It was always going to be Peeta".

[batcavescolony]

Katniss I love you so much. But GIRL

Katniss: people only like Prim. They don't like me.

The Baker: I'll make sure your sister is fed.*gives her cookies (a luxury)*

The district: *gives her respect*

The Mayor: *looks at Katniss with a pained expression when she volunteered*

Madge: *gives her a token to wear in the arena and kisses her cheek*

Peeta: *takes a beating so she can have bread*

People: *gives her trades weighted in her favor*

Gale: KATNISS REMEMBER I- (I'll never know what he was gonna say...)

Katniss: they don't like me at all.

[investigativeweirdo]

I’m so interested in how people view the Hunger Games as a love triangle because while rereading gale and katniss’s relationship feels much less like “omg are they gonna get together” and much more like “this is a story about how a close relationship can completely fall apart”

[multifandomsbabe]

gale: katniss will choose whoever she can’t survive without

peeta who was just peacefully sitting in the corner, trying to remember what the color orange looked like and didn’t even know there was a love triangle to begin with: ok??😐

[johnwickistheworstmovie]

gale thinking he’s an option when in mockingjay katniss was like “well if i can’t have peeta i might as well die”

[katnissmellarkkk]

suzanne collins : “so in the epilogue of mockingjay, katniss only refers to her children as the girl and the boy-”

people who read with one eye shut : “BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T LOVE HER KIDS AND WAS FORCED INTO HAVING THEM BY THE EVIL PEETA MELLARK?”

suzanne collins probably : “because i couldn’t decide on two names i liked.”

[smallpapers]

some pre-reaping Katniss and etccccc

Random thoughts

Hc that Katniss and Prim wear oversized pre-loved clothes bought from the hob, which are lots of men’s wear left behind by the peacekeepers. And it makes sense to get larger clothes to grow into and whatnot. So yea it doesn’t fit the best but they are mended and presentable! On another note I like the blue grey washed out aesthetic of district 12 in the movies so I tried to put that here

Anw I been struggling to draw esp with this one for like weeeeks so pls pat me on the back for finishing it /sobs

[swirlingyouintomypoems]

I think I’m hilarious. Just btw.

masterlist

[beautyofattolia]

Not enough people talk about this moment in Catching Fire.

Peeta immediately recognizes the sound of Gale getting whipped and considering how we know his mother is abusive, this can only mean that Peeta and his brothers must have been whipped often enough for him to recognize it even from a distance.

God, there are so many details hidden in the background like this. It amazes me and says so much about how good of a writer Suzanne Collins is, but this detail in particular breaks my heart.

Peeta goes through so much in his life and yet he still chooses to be kind.

[liberalk1tsch]

hot take: gale was never that close with katniss.

their friendship was one of convenience and bonding over shared trauma, but it was never all that personal. sure, they were great hunting partners, but not much else. the second he was involved in anything pertaining to katniss’ life outside of hunting, he would become irrational and angry. even katniss herself narrates that the worst part about losing gale would be «good hunting partners are hard to come by.» he’s like that one coworker who you always spend time with at work, but then that energy doesn’t transfer outside of your shared obligation.

not to mention the hostility toward peeta. and i dont just mean in a «boohoo he’s jealous» kind of way, i mean to the point of offering to murder him in mj.

do i understand he’s a complex character? yes. i also understand the majority of his anger is misdirected frustration with his circumstances. does that make him a good/close friend? absolutely not.