#real or not real

[comet-fire13]

sitting here rereading the hunger games for the first time in eight years and i can't stop thinking about how

in the first book Peeta and Katniss went into the hunger games only wanting one thing

Katniss wanted to save her sister

Peeta wanted to still be himself. he didn't want the capitol to change him

and then in Mockingjay

Prim died

and the Capitol brainwashed Peeta to the point that he didn't know what was real

They both went into the games wanting one thing. And even that was taken away from them

[loungemermaid]

Saying Peeta “will never love Katniss the same way” is ableist and I shouldn’t have to elaborate but I will.

1). Of course he doesn’t love her the same way. He fell in love with her as a child. As they grew up, he (probably) held onto an idealized view of her, as he only got to love her from afar. But, over all their time together in catching fire, their first growing together, he got to know her as a real person. Doubly so after their second growing together after mockingjay. He doesn’t love her in the puppy love innocence of childhood anymore, nor is it in the burning crush way of teenage love. When he falls back in love and works through the hallucinations and delusions, it’s a much more holistic picture of Katniss. I don’t love my wife the same way I did nearly 9 years ago when we first met. It’s deeper, richer, and altogether more than it was in the beginning, as it should be.

2). Whatever Peeta’s condition post-hijacking would be labeled by a psychiatrist is neither here nor there, and I’m not a psychiatrist so I cannot say, but based on the information we have and some of my research, it’s a form of substance induced psychosis. Tracker jacker venom is a hallucinogen, deliberately designed to fuck with you and cause bad trips. Psychedelics can trigger psychosis and can unlock schizophrenia. Whether Peeta would’ve developed something like schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder or any number of other things without the hijacking, this is where he is after mockingjay. He does not have amnesia. His memory wasn’t wiped like Bucky in the winter soldier. Katniss tells us he’s more or less back to normal, just sometimes has flashbacks/hallucinations/delusions that make him grip a chair. Honestly, considering everything, pretty damn good.

3)He’s changed. Fundamentally changed. War and love both will do that to a person. But to say he’s not himself, that he’ll never be himself, is ableist. Saying people with ““scary”” mental illnesses cannot fully love as purely as someone without those illnesses is ableism, and yeah, this is a book, but people with these illnesses exist in the real world. Peeta is disabled, and he acquired disability, he was not born with disability. That changes you, of course it does. But saying that he’s lost himself permanently isn’t only explicitly going against the text of the book but also telling all the disabled people in your life and on the internet that they’re a shadow of their former selves. That they’re ruined and broken.

Peeta isn’t ruined or broken or too damaged to love and be loved. He’s just different. And that’s okay. He’s still the same person. He’s the person Katniss fell in love with. He’s her dandelion, the boy with the bread, and the father of her children. Do you honestly think that Katniss would settle? If Peeta didn’t love her back, do you think she’d have children with him?

Think about the people in your own life. If they developed mental illness, would you really love them less? Would you constantly doubt their own love for you? If you wouldn’t, why do you doubt Peeta? And if you would, you need to look inward and ask yourself why.

[dontwakeme-causeimdreaming]

Just thinking about The Hunger Games again

The real or not real scenes in The Hunger Games are so important! President Snow manipulated Katniss into revealing her true affections towards Peeta by asking her to convince him that they were in love, which she ultimately did, which lead to Peeta’s capture as a punishment for Katniss. The thing is, though, Katniss didn’t fall in love with Peeta in the spotlight in their rehearsed moments while she was trying to convince Snow, she fell in love with him in the tiny moments, sleeping with him on the roof before the Quell, sharing their favorite colors on the train, eating the cheese buns he’d bake for her and her family. These were tiny moments that weren’t recorded, and therefore weren’t able to be manipulated when Peeta was high jacked. These are the moments that bring Peeta back to Katniss with real or not real. Snow wanted to use Peeta as a prop to destroy Katniss once Katniss convinced Snow of her love, but in the end the moments that made her fall in love are the moments that saved him from that destruction.

[mollywog]

Okay so we know Maysilee was the previous owner of the Mockingjay pin,

BUT

There is no mention of the pin as Katniss and Peeta watch the 2nd Quarter Quell footage (I don’t think this is an oversight on Katniss’s part: At this point she has an inkling that the mockingjay is connected to the rebellion and wouldn’t she (or Peeta) be hyper aware of it, especially while watching its previous owner?!?!) - leading me to believe that the pin was not her token and never saw the inside of the arena prior to 74th.

So

What if we discover that Maysilee was in fact wearing it and all footage of her with the pin was erased after the initial airing?

[cassidyjaneart]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fall is their season.

[mariigoldzz]

Peeta Mellark ━ The Hunger Games Trilogy

"I keep wishing that I could think of a way to show the Capitol that they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games"

[thesweetnessofspring]

Can you do a deep analysis of the last paragraph of MJ, before the epilogue? 😭 I can grasp the gist of it, but I feel like it's not all right

Bro you really want this? Deep dive analysis into possibly the most analyzed passage in the whole series? All right. Let's go. First, the whole passage:

Now let's break it up.

Peeta and I grow back together.

I think there are two ways to take this sentence, really they both apply. The first is "Peeta and I grow back together" as in, they become as they were before the hijacking, which was in sync and in love. The second is "Peeta and I grow back together" as in, they both heal from the horrors they've had to face and as they do this together, side by side, each one having the other's backs. There's a reason why Everlarkers are so obsessed with this line, it's spawned a whole subtype of fanfiction. Grow back together, like the meadow that grew back from the bombs of the Capitol.

There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children.

Suzanne's father was a veteran of the Vietnam War. I could have sworn I read an interview where she mentioned her father having nightmares, though I can't find it now. However in her picture book The Year of the Jungle, Suzanne notes some PTSD symptoms her father had, including spacing out and being back in the jungle. Here we see Katniss and Peeta both have intrusive symptoms of PTSD, similar to what Suzanne's father had. These are struggles that they continue to deal with because of the way the world used and traumatized them.

But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips.

Following Katniss referencing her nightmares, we get this information, that Peeta first holds Katniss after these nightmares. At some point in time, he's welcomed back into her bed as he was during the Victory Tour and Quarter Quell. Then, at some point following this, his lips comfort her, implying that after nightmares he kisses her.

Katniss and Peeta are familiar with kissing one another, though all but one in canon up to this point has been in front of an audience. Yet we see the difference in how Katniss kissed Peeta in the first book, where it was more calculated for the camera, and how it is in Catching Fire where even in the Quell, they kiss each other without a second thought about it, how naturally it flows into their interactions. Here, Katniss implies that same ease and natural path from holding to kissing. Peeta's lips become a comfort to her after she sees her worst fears play out in her nightmares.

On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway.

There are two instances in canon that Katniss was able to fully immerse herself in kissing Peeta without worrying about the Games or Gale. The first is following Peeta getting the medicine in the first Games. Right before the kiss, Katniss says, "...the idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don't want him to die. And it's not about the sponsors. And it's not about what will happen back home. And it's not just that I don't want to be alone. It's him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread." The second is, of course, the iconic beach scene, where she says, "I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me. 'I do,' I say. 'I need you.'"

We don't know what led up to this particular night, but from the two instances before, it was likely a great emotional connection. Perhaps it was even Katniss realizing that even if she had the two suitors in front of her, it would have been Peeta she'd have chosen in the end. And this emotional connection is what prompts that "hunger that overtook [her] on the beach."

This is how Katniss describes that "hunger" in CF: "The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind." This description is about Katniss's first canon experience with sexual attraction. The kissing only makes her "need greater" and the only comparable experience she has is "hunger." A hunger for "more." More what? They're already kissing and they become "wrapped up" in each other. It stands to reason, then, that her body is asking for further sexual stimulation. There is the emotional connection, with Katniss realizing the depth of her grief if Peeta dies and she lives, in connection to her sexual desire.

And here we also have another favorite of the Everlark community: "this would have happened anyway." Perhaps anticipating the response from "Team Gale" that Peeta won by forfeit, Collins and Katniss are clarifying that no, Katniss would have actively chosen Peeta. That "anyway" tells so much. It's not "if Gale had come back to District 12 but I still saw him responsible for my sister's death." It's anyway. No matter what condition or events, Katniss would have grown back together with Peeta, would have brought him back into her bed, would have felt aroused by him and chosen him as her life partner.

That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself.

Up to this point, Gale really only has two associations with fire: first when he and Katniss are at the lake and she's describing Snow's threats as he cooks them food. And last, the bombs that killed Prim. Here we see the dual nature of Gale's fire. One is homey and nurturing, the other destructive. Gale is both. There was a time when his fire helped keep Katniss's going, and she did to his. Katniss says it here, she has "plenty of fire" herself. Only Gale's fire is not limited to the hearth. When given the chance, the wind picks up his fire and flamed it outside of the hearth and into brush of "rage and hatred." He thought he was defending himself and other vulnerable people. But fire is difficult to control once it begins to burn and Gale lost control of his when he shared his plans with Beetee and Coin. And even in smaller instances, when Gale's fire fought Katniss's fire, they simply burned out. On a personal level, their similarities are what drew them apart from each other.

In comparison, Peeta is described as being a "whiz" at fires, even lighting up damp wood. Following Prim's death, Katniss says she has "no fire." Gale's fire burnt out hers. Yet we see here that Katniss says she "has plenty of fire" herself. Who stoked her fire back to life but the boy she grew back together with? The one who could rouse her from mental anguish and hopelessness, and also soothe her when her anger was roused up? Gale's fire puts her out. Peeta's hand steadies her flame.

What I need is a dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.

Here I am going to go on a bit of a nerd-out on the dandelion here. In some variations of the Theseus and the Minotaur story (which THG is loosely inspired by), Hecate feeds Theseus dandelions for 30 days before his encounter with the Minotaur to give him strength. In others, he ate a dandelion salad after killing the Minotaur. The Minotaur is Crete's version of The Hunger Games, and Theseus ends it by killing the Minotaur.

Katniss first associates dandelions with Peeta after catching his eye the day following the evening when he threw bread to her and he had a bruised cheek. This dandelion gave her hope and is one she associates with Peeta from the beginning of the story. This dandelion gave Katniss strength to keep fighting and providing for her family, the first Minotaur the Capitol puts up against its people, their hunger and poverty. Then on the way to the 74th Games, Katniss has determined that Peeta's kindness is a play of his and she throws out his father's cookies to be rid of any kindness from the Mellarks, but they land "in a patch of dandelions by the track. I only see the image for a moment, because the train is off again, but it's enough. Enough to remind me of that other dandelion in the school yard years ago." This dandelion then reminds her of the ways she braved the wood alone at first, how she made trades, took what her father had taught her and applied it. And this reminder lingers with her on her journey for the ultimate fight of her life (so far), the Hunger Games. She is once again fed by the dandelions on her way to face her Minotaur.

Through the Games, Katniss loses her free will, her privacy, and any remaining peace she had left. This of course launches into the whole of the series where she's deafened, manipulated, publicized, flaunted, scarred, terrorized, sees others killed and kills other. By the end of Mockingjay, she's "a badly burned girl with no wings. With no fire. And no sister." Katniss has faced "destruction" on a personal, familial, and community level due to the wings staples on her and the fire others lit and she has little left at the end.

And yet, even when she so badly wants to die, when Peeta tells her he can't let go, she holds on. She holds on until "spring's in the air" and her dandelion in the spring, Peeta, returns. While the dandelions of his kindness fed her after her father's death and before the Hunger Games, here he is nourishing her again after the war. Reminding her of the goodness that there still is in life, "no matter how bad our losses." And for both Katniss and Peeta, they've had really, really bad losses.

And here it is: dandelions to Katniss are not just a pretty flower, or a symbol of wealth as the rose is to Snow. Dandelions are food. They are nourishment. Dandelions can even be medicine. They grow everywhere and can be found everywhere, bright little suns that can offer so much. Peeta is that to her as well. He nourishes her, strengthens her, is her medicine, and the only person she consummates a romantic and sexual relationship with and fulfills the "hunger" that is "an entirely new kind" to her. He gives her life in every way that is possible and gives her a rebirth, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

So after, when he whispers, "You love me. Real or not real?" I tell him, "Real."

"So after" we can canonically take as whatever came after she felt hunger (aka sexual desire). It's difficult to interpret it other than that this is when they consummated their relationship, in the very least engaging in some sexual act beyond kissing. Because Katniss says that Peeta's arms and eventually his lips helped her through her nightmares, and this is more than that. It is enough to stand apart and prompt Peeta to clarify his greatest question in the series, about whether or not Katniss loves him.

"Real or not real" was a game Katniss and Peeta have been playing since the beginning. Was Peeta really that kind? Did Katniss actually have feelings for Peeta, even when both knew it had started as an act? What is their relationship if the Capitol is making them play at being a happy couple? Although the hijacking made Peeta question his entire life, even without the hijacking, this is surely something he would have had to ask anyway, and only more so after the hijacking.

Finally having taken time to grieve, to come back to life, to grow back with a partner she trusts, Katniss can confirm to him that yes, she loves him. The final word answering one of the earliest questions in the series: who does Katniss love romantically, if anyone? And the answer, that has been there since his name first appeared: Peeta Mellark.

[moonknightstarrs]

Still crying over:

Peeta: “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”

Finnick: “Then ask… That’s what Annie does”

[bloodstainsontengensfloor]

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Movie: first response

⚠️SPOILERS⚠️

Okay so! There’s QUITE a few changes from the books. The funerals, which I read the book I always found so unsettling, were cut. Honestly, I was worried if I’d be able to stomach watching it on screen so honestly, those being excluded was a bit of a blessing. But, it’s not really clear if Didi and Apollo died in the attack on the Arena or not. The only confirmed mentor death is Felix, who has been upgraded from the president’s nephew to the president’s son!

The biggest change though, which after listening to the recording from the soundtrack I enjoy a lot, is how Lucy Gray wins her games. Rather than the snakes being released mid way through her games, the snakes are what ends her game. Dr.Gaul spirals, claiming that there doesn’t need to be a Victor and the districts MUST pay, especially because now the president’s son is dead because of these ‘rebels’. Lucy Gray poisons one of the tributes from Coral’s alliance, who’s name escapes me at the moment. I think it’s the one she’s kills with the snake. Lucy Gray’s (Rachel Zegler’s) performance in this scene is so powerful. It’s amazing. The way it’s reframed that she’s singing as the snakes shroud her and she’s the only one alive in the arena, is just chilling. Dr.Gaul refusing to end the games and Snow pleading for her to let Lucy Gray go, with the students chanting “Let her go. Let her go.” I’ve been a Rachel fan since the start. Since I was 12, I’ve been subscribed to her YouTube channel, and seeing the movie and her in it is so… AHHHH. This scene was just so powerful and I honestly still am not over it and can’t wait to see it again on my second viewing.

Reaper’s death also changed with this! He is killed with the snakes along with Coral and I believe two other tributes. Clemmie, sadly, is gone from the movie after the incident with the snakes. She also takes a much more like… not antagonistic per day, but cocky role. Reaper’s death was… it was good. His reaction to Wovey’a death being what triggers him creating the grave for the other tributes is amazing, and the performance of that grief and anger was so good.

The movie portrays the mercy of the games so well. Lucky Flickerman is HILARIOUS as a host which is so disturbing. “The odds are not likely but may they be in your favor” is what he says to Lucy Gray after her interview. His quips are funny and quick, and honestly a highlight of the movie. Only to be reminded of the dying children of course. It’s very Ceaser Flickerman and it’s amazing. After Lamina kills Marcus, Lucky even says “was it mercy or murder?”. It’s such a sharp contrast to Lamina and Marcus’ interaction. She gently reaches for his head, and he turns, face clenched with pain and sorrow, saying “please.” You can see how gentle Lamina is as she kills him, the music too really adds onto the tragedy of it. How Lamina, who is seen as weak and a cry baby for most of her screen time, offers such mercy. Lamina’s actress says nothing, but her performance is so beautiful.

The movie highlights on Lucy Gray’s grief and guilt too. When her and Snow reunite, she talks about how they are BOTH killers. She expresses such grief at how Dill (‘ill Dill’ and ‘Tuberculosis on legs’ WERE WILD ON LUCKY’s part) was the one who found the poison and the audience gets to see a lot of her live reactions to the game’s events.

THE LAST SONG OF LUCY GRAY

The way Rachel and Tom play the scene in the cabin is WILD. The movie’s tone SHIFTS so much the second Snow finds the guns. It becomes like a horror movie as Lucy Gray asks what is it and snow turns to her pointing the gun slightly at her, finger almost on the trigger ready to pull. Rachel’s performance of Lucy Gray in this scene is something I’ll be talking about for days. She’s a bit of a schemer, she is suspicious, and she knows what will come next. She tests the waters with him and when she says that besides the guns, she’ll be his only loose end, I can’t tell if Lucy Gray does it to taunt or test him.

SNOW. “Lucy gray. are you… are you trying to kill me? AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR YOU?” Something about the way Snow says this… it takes you out of context of the story because this is something that happens often in toxic relationships. It’s so real and raw, and honestly a little too close to reality than we would like. I personally see it as an effort on the writer’s part to make sure the audience doesn’t side with snow at the end. As we know, the Yassification of characters and if a bad person is attractive it’s okay yada yada IS such a discourse. Tom Blyth as Snow has been seeing a lot of this too. But this part? This part makes it a bit more real, which is greatly appreciated.

Everything about the last scene with Snowbaird was fantastic. The two people I went with said that they were honestly confused on who betrayed who. And who stopped trusting who first. And that’s what makes it so fun AHHH.

I have so many thoughts but not enough people to talk about it with, so word vomit on tumblr lol. I’ll prob have even more to say after round two! (My friend got to meet the cast today and I’m so jealous that I wasn’t able to go)

[acourtofquestions]

The fact we changed from “My name is Celaena Sardothien and I will not be afraid.” to “Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom… very much.”

Because she is no longer Celaena Sardothien, nor does she live in fear of being afraid. She is done running, done with that mask that isn’t hers, because it doesn’t hold any comfort anymore. The only comfort she has is in who she really is; and that is no longer terrifying to her.

While both remind her who she is, remind her why; why she is here, why she will not break, why she is still fighting.

The first reminds her of what she had loved and lost. Of loving words that carry on, (of why she carries on) but that is all. All Celaena had was remnants; of someone, something… even herself.

The second, however, is something else; while it is still a dream, it is real… even among nightmares. It lives in her past, yes, but it is also the present, and any future. It is terribly beautifully true. And it is more; more than grief, and memory. Carrying on, finding ways to exist, survive. More than a dream, or words… even more than she is.

Because Aelin has something Celaena never did. Yes, she has a cause to fight for. She has her strength, her power, and rage; vendettas for things she could focus a fight to defeat; and a still terribly looming fate. The queen has a kingdom she adores. She has many things, she is many things… even Celaena still. But that’s not what I’m talking about, no, mostly, it’s that she has friends. A family. A Prince. She has a life not just an existence, a love with a beating heart, something worth dying and living for. And even if it is all gone to ash (“even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars”) that is still hers; not a mask, not a facade, but something real.

In accepting who she is… there is the terrible truth of accepting that she is very much afraid (the fact Fenrys even felt the need to make the word “liar” in their code; because she is not alright, he knows, she knows, we “the reader” know… it’s more so the way we ask “how are you?” as a greeting. Sometimes even in terrible places like a funeral; when we know damn well that no-one there is really “good” or “alright”, but it’s the way we say “hello” and “I want you to be okay” and “are you at least surviving this”). It is being terrified of her acceptance in the first place, because part of being Aelin is the price it holds; because she was “promised” for a fate manipulated by gods before she even had the chance to draw breath… and there’s a doomsday in it that she’ll have to rage against one day… but not yet… not in this place. For now, she just has to exist, survive, live. And only Aelin can do that.

Because it’s not Sam’s words she needs anymore; it’s Rowan’s. And even more so, it’s her own.

It’s the words she said to him, but it is her story (Perhaps even the one she tattooed on her spine? Just a theory of the exact words.) because that, is still hers. Real. Living.

And as any reader knows (it’s why I love these books) you should never underestimate the power of a story.

[dgbookbindery]

Some stills of the binds of Peeta’s Games series by Igsygrace @igsy-blog, that I completed for a lovely friend for an exchange with my Aussie girlies.

The Peeta’s Games series is available to read for free on AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/works/8617210?view_full_work=true

[sorryiwasasleep]

fuck yes fuck yes fuck yes new hunger games content, 50th games centered (2nd Quarter Quell!), focus on the idea of implicit submission, governance of the many by few, and propaganda, and FUCK those are TIMELY as she ALWAYS is and i cannot wait for another poignant as fuck political commentary and I sincerely hope that that messaging ACTUALLY gets through to the readers/viewers/reviewers who continue to ignore the commentary in her work or play it off as hyperbolic fiction in a dystopic future that will NEVER happen and not what it is— a distorted mirror of our reality, highlighting the most ugly brutal and violent aspects in gorgeous prose.

i literally do not even care what point of view this book comes at us from, I’m so fucking excited

[lilyslark]

real or not real? except it’s your intrusive thoughts because you have crippling ocd

[wenslena]

Everlark Fic

Aww, there is by far the best depiction of Everlark’s first love making in this fanfic! A small excerpt for you ☺️

And on the whole it’s one of the best post-MJ and pre-Epilog stories, main characters are absolutely in canon.

I don’t get it why it still has relatively few hits and kudos…

[mollywog]

“Ally.” Peeta says the word slowly, tasting it. “Friend. Lover. Victor. Enemy. Fiancée. Target. Mutt. Neighbor. Hunter. Tribute. Ally. I’ll add it to the list of words I use to try to figure you out.” He weaves the rope in and out of his fingers. “The problem is, I can’t tell what’s real anymore, and what’s made up.”

The cessation of rhythmic breathing suggests that either people have woken or have never really been asleep at all. I suspect the latter.

Finnick’s voice rises from a bundle in the shadows. “Then you should ask, Peeta. That’s what Annie does.”

First of all:

Of course it’s Finnick who makes the suggestion.

Second:

There are a couple times Finnick will just drop a phrase loaded with so much backstory that’s just…never elaborated on and it drives me a little mad.

That’s what Annie does.

My initial read was that they did this post rescue, but @professionalfangrrl suggested that maybe they were asking these questions of each other all along.

I like the idea that this advice is some sort of tradition passed from victor to victor even before Finnick’s or Annie’s games, linking them to each other and anchoring them to reality.