History Headscratchers / TheHungerGames

** You're not alone. I couldn't help but groan at how stereotypically evil and GenreBlind some of the Capitol's acts were. You'd think that just after getting over a civil war, the best they could do would be to ''not'' start a tradition most likely to create bad sentiment towards their leaders, but no. They start up an event purely made to gloat over all the districts. Also, almost every reason Katniss [[spoiler:joined the rebels]] was due to something the Capitol had recently started. Instead of letting the girl off with a simple warning in her mind, they ''had'' to push her and push her until she ended up doing what they feared the most. God, it's a wonder how Panem lasted this long.

** The Capitol can make money off of the Games by charging for sending gifts, acting as the house for any betting going on, giving Arena tours, and [[spoiler: whoring out the victors.]] I doubt this would cover everything, though.

* At the end of Mockingjay, [[spoiler: Coin proposes the Capitol Games, and Katniss kills her to stop them from happening. So far so good, but the book never says if this worked or not. Did Katniss kill Coin, only for the Games to continue as planned, or were they halted? This is pretty much the last thing we see Katniss do in the books, so it's pretty jarring that we don't even know the result.]]
** My bet is that no, they never happened. The [[spoiler:Capitol Games]] were originally [[spoiler:Coin]]’s idea, voted and approved by the winners of previous Hunger Games, not by actual government people who took over the country’s wheels. With the whole [[spoiler:“president was killed by Panem’s heroine”]], they had little time (or mood) to organize another Game and the whole idea died with its original architect, I suppose. Also, from a narrative perspective, I think Katniss would have mentioned something about them, had they ever happened.
** Katniss explicitly states in the epilogue that [[spoiler:there are no more Hunger Games now. Had there been a Capitol Games, she would have mentioned that.]]

* Okay, here's one: the Quarter Quell was supposed to be spectacular. Why, then, did it actively have ''less'' natural hazards and dangers than the arena in the first book? Once you've figured out the clock, there are no real natural hazards - if anything, it's much easier to avoid being killer death wasp'd or wall of fire'd to death than in the previous year's normal games. The Quarter Quell is supposed to be really special, but beyond a cornucopia filled with weapons and a bunch of ex-tribute tributes it was actually a lot tamer than either the first games Katniss was in or any of the many games mentioned in passing. There's no water, but you can tap it from trees; non of the shellfish etc are poisonous and non of the wildlife are dangerous for more than one hour in twelve. Other than boredom, there isn't even any incentive for the combatants to fight each other rather than keep going round on opposite sides of the clock. It all seems to make for an incredibly boring Games.

*** About the cameras - if you've read the series [[spoiler:the arenas are surrounded by a one-way force field. The cameras could float above the field and use boom mikes to pick up sound and zoom lenses to get close-ups. Exactly the way TV crews do it today, but probably with fancier technology than a guy hanging from a crane.]]
*** [[spoiler:Though how, using that technology, they were able to film inside a deliberately concealed cave is anyone's guess, unless they planted cameras in places that they expected people to hide, or fly-on-the-wall'd it.]]
*** [[spoiler:Or it could always be that they have little flying camera drones that are cloaked. Y'know, kinda like the cloaked hovercrafts. I'm sure that if they could make it so something as big and noisy as a hovercraft can go unnoticed, they can do the same for a little flying camera. And there, they can follow the tributes, they can get inside caves, trees are no problem, and the only danger is that it might get blown up in the crossfire. Better TV, that way.]]

* I'm hoping that I'm reading too much into this, but did anyone else notice that the only time sexual relations aren't noted to be between a man and a woman, this is during [[spoiler: Finnick's recounting his sexual slavery]]? This could've been an oversight, but there's a glaring "strange sexual appetites" that I really can't overlook. If it's several decades/centuries into the future, why aren't gay marriages legal/acceptable? Even if marriage isn't recognized by the Capitol (but I think it is), people still get married in the districts. But Katniss ''always'' specifies it's between a man and a woman. Would this mean that the only place homosexuality would be socially acceptable was in the Capitol, which is already expressed as [[UnfortunateImplications depraved and morally bankrupt]]?

** To be blunt, you're suffering from EaglelandOsmosis. To date, there are only 11 countries on the PLANET where gay marriage is legal - the US (in some states), Canada, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, and Argentina. (if you include civil unions, the number goes up to 23 countries). In the current day, in most of the Arabic world, simply BEING homosexual is looked upon as an extreme perversion, and in some countries carries the death penalty - never mind MARRIAGE. What exactly makes you think a dystopian, tyrannical dictatorship would grant people MORE liberty than they have today? I'm kind of surprised that marriage exists at all and the Capitol doesn't have some sort of enforced breeding program.
** The fact that this is the future doesn't mean society as a whole has progressed - if anything it's regressed, at least in the Districts, where it's likely being gay isn't even a 'thing'. Those in the Capitol enjoy the same protections their money and influence afford them as upper classes did in our own past, so even if homosexuality is taboo, they have the means to feed their appetites regardless of what they may be. It's possible that gay people are sort of an open secret in the Capitol, and everyone looks the other way. But 'strange sexual appetites' could mean absolutely anything.

** [[spoiler: Katniss wanted to give the impression that she blamed the Capitol for Prim's death. After Coin's death, the Capitol Hunger Games seems to never happen. It simply becomes just grisly history for Katniss's children]].

** What I figured is that Katniss was planning since they talked about the Hunger Games for the Capitol children, she was planning on [[spoiler: shooting Coin instead of Snow.]] She voted for the Capitol children being in the Hunger Games so they would think she was still on their side.
** I thought it was kinda obvious she was going for a BatmanGambit when Katniss immediately ponders whether Haymitch will understand what she is doing or not. Throughout all three books, those two have had an odd almost telepathic understanding of each other, and of hidden motives behind obvious acts or words (or lack thereof). She has given a nod to EternalRecurrence and she knows she can only stop it if [[spoiler: she heads it off at the source.]]

* Am I the only one who read between the lines for Katniss's approval for [[spoiler: The Capitol Games]]? No one saw that she was [[spoiler: trying to catch Coin off guard]]? And even if she wasn't planning it, she was stricken with grief over [[spoiler: Prim's death]]. So, you're telling me that if a loved one of yours got murdered, you wouldn't in the slightest act more irrational?

*** [[IncrediblyLamePun It's not about the money,]] [[Film/TheDarkKnight it's about sending a message.]] The Capitol's citizens trust that the gamemakers are honourable at the very least. Also, many have taken a shine to Katniss and Peeta's romance. Killing both of them off would have the same effect WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy creators had to face [[spoiler: when they offed Brian]].

** And she lives on a lot more than rabbit. In District Twelve, she mentions, among other things, birds, bread, wild dog, Greasy Sae's stew, and deer (though she and Gale trade the deer for cash and buy food that is presumably not rabbit, since they could hunt that.) She mentions her father's joke about not starving if she can find herself (ie, katniss, aka arrowhead, duck potato, etc), and things get better after she buys a goat for Prim (milk and cheese.) In the games, besides rabbit, there are eggs, groosling (a wild turkey sort of bird, explicitly described as being quite fatty), and berries that are not nightlock (the ones she [[spoiler:uses to give Peeta the sleep syrup]], a well as less delicious but edible inner bark from pines. That's not counting food from sponsors.

*** So, what I was meaning to argue is: at that time, killing Cato ''would'' be an act in self defense. [[spoiler:At that time Cato was the only thing between her and the end of the games. Yes, there was the final twist, but no one was seeing that coming.]]

** Peeta basically changed Katniss to fit what he wanted. He thought that she was pretty, but her personality at the beginning of the series was not to his liking. She was a hunter, and absolutely not a romantic. He wanted a romantic. Then they get put into the Hunger Games, and Peeta starts manipulating her, surprising her, catching her off guard with things like his declaration of love, then throws in an ultimatum by somehow convincing the Gamemakers to "allow" two tributes to survive. (I put that in quotes because the Gamemakers try to undo it later.) By the end of the Games, she is beyond confused, because she has had to pretend to be Peeta's Romantic Katniss for so long but she really ''isn't'' Peeta's Romantic Katniss. Gale loves Real Katniss, but Real Katniss has been so warped by the end of the series, and Gale himself has been warped by the war, and the thought that he may have aided in [[spoiler: killing Prim]], that they can't be together anymore. "You love me. Real or not real?" Not real, Peeta, but you made it happen.

*** And what made Katniss at the beginning of the series Real Katniss? She was only what, 16? A person changes a lot from that age. Yes, she is a hunter. [[spoiler: In the end of Mockingjay, she states that everything returns to normal. Haymitch drinks, Peeta bakes, and she hunts. She hasn’t stopped.]] On being a romantic, it’s made clear that she never had time to be so since she was so focused on ensuring her family’s survival. She also states that her mother stopped living when her father died. She doesn’t want to experience the same thing, so that’s a block. In addition to that, Katniss declares that she doesn’t want to marry and have children because her children would have to participate in the reaping every year. That definitely prevented her from even entertaining the notion of romance, because it seems so detrimental to her concept of survival. And let’s not get started on why Real Katniss and Real Gale would have never worked out anyway, with their inherent ideological differences.

He is angry because Katniss COULD be a good competitor, but it's not just skill that wins games, you cannot win without gifts of food and possibly weapons from sponsors [[spoiler:look at how Finnick won his Game!]]. Katniss gives the audience no reason to sponsor her. Peeta's [[spoiler: confession of his love for her]] gives Haymitch something to work with, and playing up that angle is his only hope at mentoring either of them (likely Katniss, because she has had to fight for survival, whereas Peeta's life was ''relatively'' easy) out of this alive.

** In context of the war and the games, Peeta is technically “a better person than all the rest of them.” Morally, he and Beetee are lighter shades of grey compared to many others. [[spoiler: In Mockingjay, Beetee votes against a final Hunger Games because it will set a bad precedent- one he’s lived through and experienced personally.]] He knows that it will only sow the seeds of conflict. But Beetee’s opinions are more utilitarian, and he’s willing to engage in immoral means for an overarching good end. He’s involved in building weapons that prey on the enemy’s empathy so as to bring a quick end to the war. He understands that if it’s dragged out, more lives will be lost. In Game of Thrones, [[spoiler: Tywin Lannister uses this reasoning to justify the RW.]] Peeta, on the other hand, emphasizes that people’s lives shouldn’t be thrown around as collateral. When the rebels are debating over what course of action to take against the Nut, Katniss wishes that Peeta was around because he would’ve been able to articulate why it would be wrong to attack people trying to escape the Nut during the siege. [[spoiler: He staunchly votes against Coin’s Hunger Games as well, indicating a distaste for vengeance.]] Peeta and Beetee both see the big picture, but in different ways.

* In the second book, Katniss describes each District as [[spoiler: being able to pull together one male and one female Victor for the Quarter Quell]]. The Career districts obviously have more Victors, but each district has at least one of each gender. It's implied by the books and movie that over half of the Victors are from Career districts. Seventy-four years of Hunger Games means there are a total of Seventy-five Victors, taking Katniss and Peeta's co-Victory into account. So that's thirty-eight (at least) from Districts 1, 2, and 4. Add the four from District 12, and you've got thirty-three Victors left amongst Districts 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Makes sense, that averages 4 per district. But then you take into account the fact that a number of Victors are deceased, from suicide, Capitol manipulation, or just old age. What are the odds that all eight of these districts would just happen to have at least one Victor of each sex, and even if they did, how could this really be called a "pool" as Katniss described it?

* Why was Prim with the Capitol children? I don't remember any of them being injured and her needing to heal them, but past that she was barely thirteen (I think). Why would they send a child to take care of the sick? Sending Katniss's mother would have made ''some'' sense, and it would be really unexpected seeing that [[spoiler:Prim reeks of death. But Prim's death]] was really... contrived, and unnecessary. I don't mean from the story's perspective because after getting the whole moral at the end that [[spoiler: war is ''bad'']] and unnecessary, but more from a writing perspective that the whole setup just doesn't make enough sense to have any impact.

* [[spoiler: Prim's death]]. Yes, it was meant to drive the point home that WarIsHell, that AnyoneCanDie, but...wasn't the whole driving force behind the premise of the series that [[spoiler: Katniss was getting herself into this mess ''because of her sister Prim!'']] So in other words, [[spoiler: killing Prim]] pretty much defeats the purpose of [[spoiler: Katniss entering the Games in the first place.]] For comparison, it would be the same as [[spoiler: what happened to Nunally in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' (except she actually ''wasn't'' dead, it turns out) - since Katniss and Prim have the same [[BigBrotherInstinct dynamic]] as Lelouch and Nunally, what bothers me is that Katniss didn't become a DeathSeeker or was DrivenToSuicide (though she did go into an AngstComa and went temporarily insane shortly afterward)]]. In a sense, that whole part of ''Mockingjay'' made for something of an EsotericHappyEnding for me.
** Katniss attempted [[spoiler:suicide two times afterwards. With the nightlock pill after she assassinated Coin. And by starving to death or drug overdose in custody.]]

* Ok, so in the film, [[spoiler:Katniss drops the wasps on the Careers+Peeta, and they run away screaming.]] The next time we see the Careers, they've teamed up with the D3 boy. The next time we see Peeta, he [[spoiler:has a leg wound from Cato's sword.]] I doubt Cato accidentally [[spoiler:nicked Peeta with the sword while running from the wasps, so it had to be after.]] Why didn't he just kill him instead?

*** The film attempts to answer this by heavily implying [[spoiler:he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the mutts were first released.]] [[FridgeBrilliance Which, if he was living in the plains or a field like in the book the whole time, makes some kind of sense.]]

*** I take it gray eyes means North European, especially Russian, Finnish, Samii. Also, the blonde and blue-eyed look of Katniss's mother and sister remind me of Icelandic women, and I find it plausible that there may have been refugees from Europe during the original Apocalypse and that they got integregated into the "lowliest" Districts, what with [[spoiler: citizens of District 13]] also having gray eyes.

* This is pretty minor, but I'm still a bit curious about it. Namely, why does everyone refer to the animals that the Capitol created ( such as jabberjays, tracker jackers, and [[spoiler:the wolf/tribute hybrids]]) as "muttations" or "mutts"? Where did that term come from?

* So I've got a relatively petty Headscratcher here that's been bugging me since I finished Mockingjay last night: they mention that the utility door that leads to the underground tubes is located inside some of the center apartments; Messala even says that they're a pain to live in because workmen will be coming in and out at all hours. [[spoiler: This is how Katniss ends up killing the unarmed Capitol woman when she and the survivors of her team exit the underground from the utility room in woman's apartment.]] So my question is...why on earth would anyone build an entry to and from the underground ''inside'' someone's private residence? Wouldn't it make more sense for the entrance to open into the hallway or somewhere more public?

* Some variety of assault rifle, for the most part. If memory serves, that solar-powered beam weapon was noted to be comparable to a bazooka, and as such is not standard-issue.

** Fun fact! People who ovulate can track their ovulation and fertile days through cervical secretions. It can be pretty reliable. Lots of people use it to track fertile days to make getting pregnant easier. Don't have sex on those days combined with pulling out/oral or non-penetrative sex = good chance of no babies.
** Summation: no modern birth control ≠ no birth control. Low fertility + knowledge of plants that can act as birth control/cause miscarriage + unreliable methods such as tracking ovulation and pulling out = decent chance of preventing unwanted pregnancy.

[[Folder: Clove's Taunts]]

[[Clove's Taunts]]

** Lack of weapons, primarily. In Chapter 1, Katniss says that her bow is a rarity crafted by her father and that most people aren't bold enough to go out into the woods with just a knife [presumably a kitchen knife].

*** And because hunting takes a lot of practice, which Katniss received from her father. And because the wilderness contains savage animals likes bears, wolfs and tracker jackers.

* Different to the one above, but related. In almost all the books, it's made clear that there is a great deal of manipulation involved in the Games, and the winners basically always benefit from it: i.e. Annie only survived because the arena flooded and she was a very strong swimmer. A large number of people froze to death in another. Katniss's suicide trick with the berries unexpectedly worked, although Snow was still willing to kill her, but didn't. So why was it ''bad'' that Haymitch used the forcefield, so much to warrant killing his whole family's when Katniss' survived? (And presumably Annie's - it's stated that her insanity stems from her Games so we can assume her family weren't targeted.) Katniss states that it's because Haymith manipulated the arena, but isn't this entirely commonplace and not an exception? And it's not like it ''just'' made bad TV - Haymitch and the other girl were the only two left alive, so they'd had their Games.

*** If, like someone above says, Katniss' father was an only child with no living parents, they could just say Hazelle (Gale's mom) was his sister or even his cousin, since it's also easy to buy Gale as a second cousin. The people in other districts and in the Capitol isn't THAT terribly interested in Gale. Katniss' team just needed to reassure people that no, he was not a boyfriend of hers, and have him do some interviews about how she was good in archery or loved her sister. The Capitol fans are honestly kind of stupid and would buy that easily since Katniss and Gale look alike; Snow and his associates didn't care if he was really her cousin or not, but breaking up the Peeta-Katniss love story wasn't in his interests, so no reason to bring that up; people in the other Districts have no way of learning the truth — maybe won't believe Gale is her cousin, but nothing they can do about that, and besides, unlike the Capitol fans, they don't like Katniss solely for the love story with Peeta, but for other reasons (what she did for Rue, etc); the people in the 12 know Gale isn't her cousin, but they actually like Katniss so they won't say anything about it; and the people in the 13 understandably didn't really care about Katniss' personal love life at that point. They even ask if she wants to drop the cousin angle altogether.