#thg theories

[spacebetweentheheavens]

What if it came down to Cato and Clove?

If katniss and peeta had died in the first games, and after the game makers revoked the two victor rule, do you think they would have turned on each other easily?

My instinct is yes, but what gives me pause is that when clove dies Cato in extreme pain. He is begging her to stay with him.

We know that Cato and clove are bloodthirsty and vicious in their interactions with Katniss (understandably so, you have to be on a certain level to win the games), but that’s not all they are.

The Cato that katniss knew, absolutely would have killed anyone without a second thought. (Didn’t we see that with the district 3 boy?) But the traumatized kid who is watching someone die, someone who represents home, probably the only person he can actually trust in the games.. that feels like a different character who would make a different choice

[triassictriserratops]

Rebel Heraldry of the Mockingjay

I have this idea that The Mockingjay was a symbol of the rebellion and was likely used in the Capitol to denote undercover operatives long before Katniss came onto the scene. What we know: 1.) Mockingjays are an unintended byproduct of the Capitol through the mating of their lab created muttation, the Jabberjay, and the local Mockingbird. 2.) The Mockingjays mimic sounds and vocalizations (not words, but cadence and song, yes.) 3.) After Katniss is reaped, Madge Undersee gives Katniss a gold Mockingjay pin. We later find that this pin belonged to Maysilee Donner, Madge's aunt who was a fallen tribute in the 2nd Quarter Quell and a district partner and games ally to Haymitch Abernathy. 4.) Recycled background footage of the ruins of District 13 included a shot of a Mockingjay in the corner of the screen. 5.) After the war, Plutarch was appointed to Secretary of Communications. Meaning that he is in charge of televised programming. 6.) The rebellion/mentors used bread as a form of communication during the Quarter Quell. The District bread representing the day and the number of loaves representing the hours. 7.) Bonnie and Twill showed Katniss a wafer/cracker with the Mockingjay symbol stamped into it. Speculations I have made considering the above: 1. & 2.) The rebels used the mockingjay to send coded messages to each other through song. Songs like "The Hanging Tree" being a call to arms, a warning, or an echolocation tactic. Rue mentions using the mockingjays to signal to the workers that their shift is over. Peeta remembers hearing Mr. Everdeen sing to the mockingjays. Mrs. Everdeen was absolutely furious when she learned that Mr. Everdeen had been singing this song in front of their daughters. All of this leads me to believe that the mockingjays were co-opted by the rebellion to communicate with each other where they otherwise would have been unable to. There is plenty of evidence in human history of music being used as a code. So none of this seems unlikely. 3.) Madge, likely knowing SOME of the history of the mockingjay given her father's status as Mayor gives this pin as a sign to Haymitch. She's cashing in her chips for Katniss in the hopes that this message gets to whoever it needs to in order to help her. Madge places a HUGE importance on Katniss wearing the pin right away. Even going as far as pinning it to Katniss' dress herself. This makes me believe that The Mockingjay symbol didn't become important because of Katniss. It was ALREADY important, and Madge was COUNTING on that. Later we learn that Rue specifically trusted Katniss because of the pin. I wonder if in District 11 especially, the Mockingjay is connoted with trust, safety, freedom, and hope. This could be an interpretation passed down from the First Rebellion and the Dark Days that has loosely made it's way into Rue's generation as just a generic symbol of "good" 4. & 5.) During the Victor rescue mission of Peeta, Johanna, and Annie, we learn from Haymitch that undercover operatives within the Capitol will likely have their covers blown as a result. This tells me that there are likely significantly more people in the Capitol that were part of the Resistance than we are aware of. I believe that there were likely already people undercover within the airwaves that Plutarch eventually took over. I do not think that the continued use of the District 13 footage with the mockingjay was an accident or an error. I believe it was completely intentional and was a message to the right audience that District 13, and the Rebellion, was still active, if laying low. It is no coincidence that both Bonnie and Twill, and Lavinia and the boy she was with, were all likely heading to District 13. That was the intended purpose of the footage. A sign to all possible refugees that District 13 wasn't as "gone" as it was made out to be.

6. & 7.) I believe that the districts and the rebellion always used consumables, specifically bread, to send messages along with mockingjay calls. Katniss says in Catching Fire, "Real rebels don't put a secret symbol on something as durable as jewelry. They put it on a wafer of bread that can be eaten in a second if necessary." On bread they could print symbols, simple messages, use parts of the bread to denote date/time. Use the "lines" in the bread to create rudimentary location maps. I theorize that Katniss' parents generation had their own, low level rebellion. Enough to necessitate a harder life of non-rare whippings than what Katniss grew up experiencing. "Don't worry." says Haymitch. "Used to be a lot of whipping before Cray. She's the one we took them to." "So it's starting again?" she says. "Like before?" This next part is heavier speculation so take it with a large grain of salt. I think that some of the trades between the Baker and Mr. Everdeen could have been coded messages regarding secret meeting locations and times. The purpose of these visits could have been forwarned with the mockingjay song, as stated above. (leading to the memory of Peeta seeing him sing to the mockingjays outside of the bakery) As a trader, Mr. Everdeen could have easily been the conduit to pass the message along to multiple people without drawing overt suspicion. I have more thoughts about how the mine explosion that killed Katniss and Gale's fathers was likely intentional and a way to subdue the hints of uprising that had been brewing in District 12. But that's for another day.

[bittermelonlord]

Aside from Peeta and Katniss and Haymitch, it seems like most victors weren’t in a long and lasting alliance.

From their games’ descriptions, it seems likely that Finnick, Enobaria, Johanna, and Beetee had gone for a more solo approach. Lucy Gray’s partner, Jessup, died pretty early, as well as Annie’s male district partner.

Side note: If Annie’s partner hadn’t died early, I think it’s highly likely he would have survived the flood with her due to district 4 swimming skills, making them the last two tributes. They probably would have only been able to drown each other as a means of killing, which is… horrific.

Side side note: Aside from Katniss and Peeta, we’ve also never heard of another games that had the final two tributes be in an alliance, let alone from the same district. I wouldn’t be surprised if such an ending had been manufactured before though, for the drama of of it all of course.

Anyway, for people like Mags, Brutus, etc, we don’t know enough about their games to know whether they were solo or not.

There have been close runner ups who were in long lasting alliances though. Movie Coral’s alliance had been set up since the beginning, leading her to survive for a long time, before dying in second place due to the snakes (with her last ally Mizzen having also survived for that long until the snakes). The district 1 female in Haymitch’s game was also part of the career pack, which lasted for a decent time until she was the last one of them alive. Then of course, there is Cato whose career alliance started from the beginning of the games up until Clove died not too far from the end of them.

But yeah, not sure if this is intentional or meant to mean something, but those are my hunger games shower thoughts.

[annabethandpercylove]

“So it’s starting again?” she says. “Like before?”

I’d like to see Sunrise of the Reaping focus on the “before” Mrs. Everdeen and Haymitch are alluding to when they talk after Gale’s whipping.

Haymitch was a significant player in the Games’ history. He used the arena to win (the second act of survival by a District 12 victor that would have sparked rebellion; he was the first victor (at least that’s what I interpreted from the text in Mockingjay) that was propositioned by Snow; and he was likely the reason for the “before” I mentioned. I’m sure propaganda and manipulating the history of the past increased after his Games, which would go along with what Collins has said about the theme of SOTR.

I never post here and I am not an experienced theorist on this platform, but I figured I would try my hand and share some possibilities that have come to my mind about how this story might play out.

THEORIES

Multiple POVs: I’ve seen a lot of people suggesting that SOTR won’t be from Haymitch’s POV and I agree… to a certain extent. I am not the biggest fan of books with multiple POVs (I feel like the stories are often stretched out too far and can be a disservice to the story) and I know we haven’t seen Collins do this with a THG book, but I think it would be a useful tool to show the effect of propaganda. So here are the people I think we should hear from and why: 1. Caesar Flickerman — propaganda from the source 2. Mrs. Everdeen — propaganda witnessed by an audience member 3. Haymitch Abernathy — victor that caused a new influx of propaganda and government control

The Plot Now that I’ve introduced the POV idea, I’ll do a play-by-play for how I might make the story go: We start from Caesar’s POV. It’s Reaping Day, the first big moment for the Games. Through Caesar, we would see all (or at least ones that are most relevant to the themes of the book) the districts’ ceremonies. There would be a range in the style of the ceremonies and the audience reactions especially between Career and non-Career districts. (I don’t want to make things too cluttered so I don’t think I would do an audience perspective for the Reaping, too. If there was, I’d want Mrs. Everdeen to see her reaction to Maysilee Donner being chosen, but that’s a personal hope to see her and it may not be a service to the theme really.) Still with Caesar, we cut to the beginning of the Games. I don’t think it’s necessary to see the trains, training, or interviews, necessarily. I think things would’ve transitioned from what we saw in TBSOAS to something more akin to how things work with these things in THG. So Caesar is prepping for another Games. Maybe we hear some conversations he has with Gamemakers and sponsors in addition to his own personal dialogue. Is he still becoming the charismatic host that we know in THG? Does he have any moments where he questions what he’s doing? But he gets to work. The announcements are made, the bombs go off, and the Games begin. Disclaimer: I’ve been debating this POV since the announcement for SOTR came out. Like I said before about multiple POVs, this might stretch things too far (unless we’re lucky to get a book that’s 1,000+ pages!!), but I thought I’d put it out there. Mrs. Everdeen lives in horror watching her best friend fight for her life in a death arena. While she’s watching we could see Capitol commercials promoting sponsors, bets, and special promotions for different companies that are themed on the Games (like seeing commercials that are themed for the Super Bowl or Christmas). We would witness what an audience member would be seeing (not just the glimpses we get of Snow watching out for his tribute for his own selfish reasons). Now this might be a distraction from the plot, but I’d love to see some Mrs. Everdeen/Mr. Everdeen/Mr. Mellark moments. From what we’ve heard and seen, they’re all against the Games. But I think it would be interesting to see Mr. Everdeen’s little acts of musical rebellion, Mrs. Everdeen’s fear of his being caught and her fear for Maysilee, and maybe show a contrast between Mr. Everdeen’s behavior and Mr. Mellark’s. I think there’s a multigenerational theme that could be explored here with Katniss/Peeta/Gale and the parents. We could see how Mr. Everdeen was Seam like Gale but compassionate like Peeta; Mrs. Everdeen didn’t see a way to change things like Katniss; Mr. Mellark was content to settle with Town life and endure the Capitol’s threats but maybe lacked Peeta’s passion for the preservation of personal morality. Different responses to the earlier mentioned commercials, etc? (I’m Team Everlark/Peeta all the way, BTW!) This would happen after Mrs. Everdeen’s POV (or maybe another audience members POV from a Career district) or right after Caesar’s. Cut to Haymitch’s POV. It’s his final fight in the Games. We see him bleeding out, throwing the axe, and becoming the victor. He goes home and has to face Snow’s propositions, the deaths due to his refusals, and the resulting depression and the beginning of the jaded drunk man we meet in THG. Witness what “like before” entailed, an erasure of Haymitch’s “act of rebellion”, radical people on the Victory Tour if we go that far, etc.

I know that was a bit long-winded and not necessarily the clearest plot, but those are some thoughts I’ve had. I’m no author, just a passionate fan of The Hunger Games series and the lessons it seeks to teach its readers. Suzanne Collins will create an amazing story that will be profound and special and I can’t wait to witness it.

[sameschmidtdiffname]

I'm actually desperate to hear your thoughts on the new hunger games book.

What characters do you wanna see? You think there will be a romance aspect? Who's POV should it be in?

Do you think this is Suzanne's final attempt to make it as clear as possible that the games are NOT cool and snow is NOT a misunderstood good guy?

And the movie too!!!! You have any fan-casting ideas?? Think young haymitch is gonna be hot?

Idk no pressure man I luv u :3

I'm excited! I'll actually be completely honest, I seriously didn't think that we were going to get any media about Haymitch's games since we already went over the events in 'Catching Fire.' I would like to apologize to the prophets, clearly I was wrong. Sorry for silently judging your requests by thinking y'all missed the point, I'm sittin' down now.

So, tackling POV first, I personally think it's definitely possible that we're working with a multiple POV situation due to the fact we did already go over the events of the Games in CF. Or, if not multiple POVs, I actually think it'll be retrospective.

Remember how Katniss and Peeta end 'Mockingjay' by creating the book of memories? I think it's possible that Sunrise is meant to be Haymitch looking back on his Games. How he survived, maybe who he mentored after. Honestly, this is what I'm hoping for because I admittedly am a desperate whore for canon post-Mockingjay material. (Please, Suzanne. Just a crumb. A CRUMB!!)

I think we're done with Snow's POV. I may be wrong on that, but I'm admittedly hopeful on it. 😭

LISTENNNN I liked Ballad and I think it was WONDERFUL writing, but Jesus fucking Christ was I happy to be away from Snow by the time it was over. He was an asshole, that was the point, I respect it and love it as media but reading it was/is hard, and honestly? That's praise. But besides personal preference, there's also just a straight 'The End' at the end of Ballad. Maybe that's subject to change, but with Suzanne's masochistic level of detail? Probably not. Or maybe I'm stupid and will eat this post in nine months, find out soon!

ANYWAYS. I so want to see Mrs. & Mr. Everdeen in this, as well as Peeta's parents. Give me their fucking names, Suzie. NAMES.

Haymitch's girlfriend is probably gonna be my favorite character. Imma be honest. I know nothing of her, nada, zip, zilch. But I can sense it in the air. There will be kinship, and I will kill myself when she dies.

(Suzanne, please don't make me eat that last statement.)

Romance aspect? Yes. Between Haymitch, his girl, and the Everdeens? Plus if we get Peeta's parents? I think one of the main points of The Hunger Games is love and the different ways it exists, so I think there will 100% be romance.

Hell, maybe Suzanne will throw us a curveball and the POV will be one of Everlarks parents. If so, probably Mrs. Everdeen as that'll give us insight to the merchant part of District 12, Madge's family and what it was like to be of Reaping age in the thick of Snow's reign.

I want Mr. Everdeen confirmed as Covey. This is a demand. I have hostages. (My lawyer wants me to clarify I don't.)

Now, in terms of the books real world meaning, I'm interested to see. I think the safest guess is 100% a commentary on Palestine, Congo, etc. But I am interested to see what else there is to say.

Personally, I think there really is a possibility this book will be centered around healing. Especially if this is Haymitch looking back at his life, it could offer commentary on his recovery from his Games, the war, as well as everyone else's. This perspective is 100% the one I would love to see the most, but we all know imma be a fiend for whatever happens.

And to wrap this up, fancasting? Stanley Tucci. If Caeser comes back and he doesn't, I have fucking hostages. (Again, I don't.)

Imma be honest, to add to your question, yes young Haymitch is supposed to be hot, but I want him to be a kid. I want a teenager cast and I want him to obviously look like a teenager, even if he is handsome. I think that's an important point of the Games people miss.

[asexual-cat-furry]

What if Leeg 1 & 2 were pronounced differently like gif/jif, so like Leeg/Leej

[johnwickistheworstmovie]

no you guys don’t get it; it’s so bad on tiktok. everyone on there is so insistent that foxface purposefully killed herself with the berries solely based off the two second clip in the movie (which wasn’t even identifying edible plants it was literally just matching).

like…… the whole point with foxface from the beginning was not to overestimate your competitors. when she talks about cato and foxface in the same passage she explicitly states that it’s just as dangerous to overestimate who you’re facing. in that she was thinking about how she might be overestimating cato’s intelligence, but then foxface goes and does the same with peeta. katniss constantly talked about how smart she was. she had made it to the final four solely off of taking from others just to keep herself alive. she had been doing it the entire games, but she trusted that peeta knew the berries he was grabbing. she probably didn’t even check to see what they looked like, because let’s be real. district five’s industry was ELECTRICITY. do you really think someone from the power district knows anything about edible plants? she saw the berries with the cheese and took some to fuel herself. because she assumed katniss and peeta were literally about to eat them. why on earth would she kill herself when she was three people away from winning? and if she knew they were poisonous and assumed katniss and peeta were about to eat them, she would’ve been final two. she could’ve waited for them to eat the berries, take katniss’s bow and arrows, and she would’ve had at least a fighting chance against cato. not to mention all the other districts HATE THE CAREERS. if she knew they were poisonous, decided to kill herself, and assumed katniss and peeta were going to eat them, that would’ve left cato as victor. there was no one else. she did not know they were poisonous. she overestimated peeta’s intelligence. it’s saying being stupid is dangerous for everyone.

[deadboydoodling]

red string theory

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

You're President Snow and it's the 50th Hunger Games and you're like ok cool big one quarter quell big deal for sure for sure, twice as many tributes, probably someone from the 1st or 2nd districts will win but it'll be more exciting, and there's this one tribute from really the worst district out there who refuses to try to kill people and you're like ok well he'll be killed soon I hope, and then somehow everyone else keeps murdering each other but this one boy keeps surviving because he just refuses to interact with the other tributes and you're like hmm we should get on that but we probably have time and you get distracted by the other events and then the numbers keep dwindling and dwindling and this boy btw he holds his friend as she dies, so sad, so emotional, it's fine we can switch cameras and all but there are now only like two tributes left and one of them??? is that weird pacifist district twelve kid? hello? the whole point of this year of games was for additional violence and he's still here? and then he wins and he barely even does it on purpose he just uses the forcefield he doesn't even fight and you have to go and congratulate him on winning and your whole special year is ruined by this teenager. Anyway Haymitch winning must have been a real kick in the teeth.

[melody-013]

No cause they cant erase Lucy Gray no matter how hard they try! They may erase her game, her memory but not her music, never her music. Cause the Covey may not sing anymore but their tale in songs will go on to their kids. Maude Ivory is Katniss's grandmother!! Thats how Katniss knows the Hanging Tree song! And i think when Katniss and Prim was kids and Katniss was singing the Hanging Tree and their mother took their necklaces they were making and said "dont sing that ever again" it was because she didnt want anyone knowing they were Covey. Singing that song could get you killed and thats why she didnt want anyone to know that theyre Covey!

They might make everyone forget about Lucy Gray but Covey will remember. Only way Katniss could know about that song is that shes Covey and Maude Ivory makes perfect sense! Maude Ivory loved to eat the plant Katniss and Katniss's dad knows about the lake which only the Covey's know and Katniss can sing everysong with hearing it once (or something like that) therefore Katniss is Maude Ivory's granddaughter!!

[briarlovesclara]

fun (?) headcanon of mine about the hunger games:

Haymitch's injuries were super grotesque, but his scars weren't removed because he asked them not to be. Only after this was it mandated that victors get a full body polish without consent. It explains why some previous victors may have had them, but helps show why they let Chaff not have a prosthetic. Just something fun :D

[masterofthecygnetsignet]

Theory about the structure and timeline of Sunrise on the Reaping: Given that Suzanne Collins is known for the present tense, the fast pacing, and the immediacy and visceralness of her writing, what if the book supposedly about Haymitch's games isn't even about Haymitch's games at all?

What if it's one of those stories told in the same style as Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, with a highly intense story that unfolds and ends in a matter of mere minutes or hours, told as the time is tracked ever so incrementally? Or, the plot could even occur in a singular, decisive, whirlwind day with so many determining moments. Basically, the story could be anything with a very narrow, elapsed timespan, like Dead Wednesday by Jerry Spinelli, and that could allude to Collins' general themes of war (and the "fog of war" affecting or obscuring humans' rational judgment). The book could potentially be about how people lose sight of the bigger picture in the midst of all the smaller ongoings, how they lose sight of the forest for the trees, like how the tributes had been entranced by the deceptively decadent, lush Cornucopia that particular year of the Quarter Quell. Haymitch, like Katniss, does have the specific ability of seeing through all the puffery, frivolity, and superficiality of the substanceless Capitol after all. Perhaps, the plot could mimic that game's facade, seemingly all flash, no substance, but with a lot beneath to pick apart, the machinery of it all?

Essentially, my question is: what if all of the plot's events happen before the reaping, on that very morning. What if none of the book covers the games themselves, but the politics and what it takes, on the Gamemakers' end, to orchestrate a truly modern version of the games, as compared to the more primitive arena, seen in TBOSAS?

[floworence]

You know what is my favourite thg theory at the moment?

What if Tigris told Cinna about Lucy Gray?

It would definitely add a bit more about how the mockingjays became such an important piece of the rebellion with Katniss literally becoming one. If Cinna knew about Snow's hatred for mockingjays and then capitalized on it would be so interesting.

[maadilin]

mr. everdeen is probably one of the most mysterious characters in all of thg, despite being a minor character.

-many people speculate lucy gray, or a member of the covey (specifically maude ivory, had lucy gray not survived) is related to katniss. most theories point to maude ivory/lucy gray being katniss's grandmother paternally, as mr. everdeen also had musical talent and could remember a song after only being sung once, as maude ivory could, and katniss as well.

-katniss says that her father could have made good money selling his bows, but he would have been publicly executed for inciting a rebellion. this suggests mr. everdeen could have been a rebel.

-there are no other mentioned mining catastrophes in thg/tbosas besides the one that killed mr. everdeen and mr. hawthorne. if peacekeepers/the capitol knew of mr. everdeen's illegal hunting, as snow knew of katniss's illegal hunting, the mining accident could have been purposely created to get rid of him.

[sherwood-scribblings]

Sunrise on the Reaping theories + thoughts so far (pt 1)

here's a collection of the most likely and most interesting head-canons and stuff I've seen, both fandom-made and my own

NOT MINE BUT EXPANDED & CONNECTED BY ME:

• Tigress pov, as an audience member, maybe she's Haymitch's designer

• we got a tribute pov, a mentor pov, now we could get an audience pov because of the themes of propaganda she emphasizes... we could also get multi pov if she wants to do smth crazy and appease all fans

• Unreliable narrator, perhaps screwing with the reader's head on what actually happened in the games, capitol editing footage out

• Perhaps Tigress observes the games and originally starts off oblivious to the truth but the more she watches and helps Haymitch the more she begins to see the truth, and so the capitol punishes both her and Haymitch for it

• Lucy Gray is midnight, Haymitch/Maysilee is sunrise, Katniss/Peeta is sunset (symbolic of the progression of the games. Lucy Gray wiped out and forgotten, Haymitch the escaped glimmering sliver of change, Katniss the blazing fire and finale)

• Maysilee wore the mockingjay pin in the arena but the capitol edited it out of all the footage

• Themes of light vs dark, truth vs lies, the audience starts out unaware and conflicted but comes to see how things really are

• Katniss parents could appear??? Maybe we'll see Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen fall in love??

MY THEORIES + THOUGHTS:

• (canon) The arena is an illusion. Flowers, water, fruit, mountains, animals. It's beautiful, heavenly, too good to be true, it doesn't seem real... well, it's not real. Everything seems normal and like you know what it is, but the Entire Setting is actually poisonous and deadly. JUST like the theme of propaganda and lies, she says the book is about. The arena itself is a meta layer to things not being as they appear.

• the cover will have a mockingjay and a sunrise or sun-flare, gold against purple

• the "sunrise" in the title is symbolism, for a person and a theme, likely symbolic of Maysilee Donner because of her kindness and humanity and spirit casting light in the face of violence and war (the reaping). A light the capitol would've snuffed out, to hide the truth. (I have a whole essay on this + maysilee's importance pls check my feed)

• Maysilee is the real mockingjay, and very important, not just a random dead background character who passed down the pin to Katniss. We know how Collins' brain works. Look at TBOSAS. Look at how she foreshadowed Lucy Gray as early as the first book. 

• the mockingjay isn't just one person, but a symbol of resistance and goodness and freedom, that anyone can take on as a mantle, an idea rather than tied to one thing or person. Lucy Gray, Rue, Katniss, and likely Maysilee.

• a rebellion almost happened with the mockingjay pin and Maysilee and Haymitch and perhaps Tigress seeing the truth last minute, but the capitol snuffed it out and destroyed all the evidence of such a thing ever happening, including Haymitch's family and punishing Tigress, leading Panem and the readers themselves in the dark and at peace. Maysilee is the warm sun to bring the spark of a fire, her pin symbolically passes onto Katniss through her niece, thus passing on the resistance and legacy. ....symbolic of how the mockingjay had the will to survive, even when it was destroyed and wiped out.... It escaped and became stronger in the face of its enemies....

• ...for all we know, Katniss' dad didn't die in a coal mining accident, but perhaps was a rebel himself and the capitol planted explosions in the mines to get rid of him. we can't just blindly trust the narrative.

• If Haysilee is a parallel to Everlark, what if Haymitch's girlfriend is a Gale figure? This isn't just because I'm a haysilee shipper I'm built to be a multishipper I'm FIGHTING not to be biased I'm openminded, but i feel the haysilee content in my bones and it's definitely a possibility

• the capitol (and Snow) believes that humanity is vile, that humans will always give into instinct and fend for themselves, that you can't trust or love or anyone lest it lead to your downfall. So... If Ballad was about humanity's corruption, perhaps Reaping is about humanity's goodness (the bond between Haymitch and Maysilee, Tigress seeing the truth despite being a capitol/audience member, perhaps the Capitol cut the footage of that bond to prevent a rebellion like Everlark's relationship later induces) 

• Most people are saying this book will be super depressing and focused on the capitol's propaganda succeeding to stop a rebellion, and I do agree, but, that doesn't cancel out highlighting themes of goodness and friendship but rather enhances them. Perhaps that very thing is what we're missing from the footage, what the capitol succeeded in covering up, raw humanity being the thing that defies their propaganda the most, and punished anyone who acted otherwise (Haymitch, Tigress...)

PART 2 IS COMING SOON to address the fandom discourse with my personal thoughts on whether this book will be about Haymitch and if we need more District 12.

and why Collins would logically choose to tell this story (regardless of pov because that could be anything at this point she'll upset someone either way)

[jakeperalta]

I feel that some of the recent (post-tbosas) hunger games takes are going a little too heavy on the whole "snow hates katniss because she reminds him of lucy gray" "he's beefing with a teenager over his ex from 60 years ago" thing. like obviously yes the fact she's singing lucy gray's songs, using the mockingjay symbol etc makes it all that much worse for him (and more satisfying for us knowing how his downfall is tied to those he wronged in his ascent to power). but also.. he very much primarily hates her and wants her dead because he is an evil tyrant and she represents a threat to the power and control that he cherishes above all else. it's personal on some levels but it feels pretty crucial to the story to acknowledge that he would treat her the exact same regardless of background context because he is the oppressor and she is the oppressed.