"The story of Finnick Odair's life, starting at the 65th Hunger Games and working its way up to and through the Hunger Games trilogy."
— Summary from FanFiction.Net.
Life Through Sea Green Eyes is a complete The Hunger Games fanfiction which can be read here
. It is the story of Finnick Odair's life from his Reaping Day until the end of the Mockingjay Rebellion, written by grand admiral chelli on FanFiction.Net and rated T.
WARNING: Possible spoilers from the fic and Hunger Games series may not be hidden.
Provides examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Zigzagged. Since the fic is from Finnick's point of view, his perceptions color his view of Gale. As a result, Gale comes across as much more aloof, violent, disagreeable, and jealous than he does in the Hunger Games series. Finnick is quick to realize Gale will never be with Katniss because of his attitude.
- Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed for Alma Coin in the vein that her true colors are shown much sooner. Finnick is not as naive as Katniss and unlike her he is emotionally intelligent enough to know that there is something off about Coin from the first time he meets her. This makes her come across as much more malicious and manipulative from the start such as when she tells Finnick and Katniss why they cannot rescue Peeta and Annie yet. Of course, he is absolutely right to mistrust Coin considering she is as bad as President Snow.
- An Arm and a Leg: Finnick loses his left foot and right ear to Mutts during the rebellion. He is given prosthetic replacements.
- Best Served Cold: During his Games, after the emotional aftershocks of realizing he's already been warped into a killer, Finnick swears to get his own back at the Capitol.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Beetee's explaining to Finnick how his new trident works, he mentions an emergency feature and describes how it works in exact detail. It helps Finnick survive his canonical death.
- Completed Fic: The story was completed on September 19th, 2011.
- Delaying the Rescue: Finnick and Katniss attempt to convince the rebels to rescue Annie, Peeta, and the other captured Victors immediately after their capture but are shot down. Coin claims they do not have the resources yet but simply does not want to use those resources on a rescue effort. Katniss is shuffled off to film propos while Finnick falls into a mental slump.
- Disney Death: Finnick is told that his sister Natare died during the firebombing of District 4. She turns up alive at District 13 a few chapters later.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Pretty much everyone around Finnick, for obvious reasons. He works it to his advantage quite a few times like when he tricks Hortensia into revealing Snow poisoned his political competitors.
- Doomed by Canon:
- Characters like Coral, Mags, Wiress, Brutus, Cashmere, and many other Victors are doomed for obvious reasons since every Victor except Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, Annie, Enobaria, Johanna, and Beetee are stated to be dead by the end of Mockingjay. Indeed, Mags, Wiress, Brutus, and Cashmere die in the Quarter Quell and Coral is killed when District 4 is firebombed.
- Subverted with Finnick himself. He survives his canonical death to the sewer Mutts and becomes an ambassador to countries outside of Panem.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Annie's uncle drinks to cope with his niece's mental breakdowns. Finnick understands that he is under a lot of pressure but loathes him for turning to alcohol instead of trying to help Annie more.
- Entitled to Have You: Downplayed. Gale is subtly possessive of Katniss and becomes aggressive towards any similarly aged male who hangs out with her, including Finnick. It's this attitude that makes Finnick realize Katniss will never choose Gale.
- Foregone Conclusion: As the fic takes place in the canon Hunger Games timeline, some characters' fates are a given. Annie is reaped and has a mental breakdown, Mags dies in the Quarter Quell, and all the Victors except seven die before the end of the Rebellion. The only exception is Finnick's fate, as he survives where he died in the book.
- Foreshadowing: Beetee gives Finnick a trident and tells him about the emergency feature that will kill everything around him while saying he'd rather not lose any more friends. While this initially appears to foreshadow Finnick's death and that Beetee will indeed lose another friend, Finnick uses the trident to survive the Mutt attack in the sewers.
- Freak Out: Annie completely loses it when her District partner, the twelve year-old Thomas, is beheaded in front of her. Her screams are so unhinged that the Career leaves her alone and retreats.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Gale is aggressive towards men who hang around Katniss, including Finnick. This is despite Finnick reassuring Gale that his and Katniss' friendship is purely platonic. Gale still glares at him when he thinks Finnick won't notice.
- Heroic BSoD: Finnick has a mental breakdown and loses the will to fight with the rebellion when Annie is captured by the Capitol and Blake, Mara, their children, Coral, and (seemingly) his sister are killed when District 4 is firebombed. He spends weeks in a near-catatonic state but recovers when Annie is rescued and Natare turns up at District 13, completely unharmed.
- Inner Monologue: Since this is from Finnick's perspective, we get to follow his thoughts as he participates in the Hunger Games and then lives out his life afterwards. Many instances of humorous inner snark occur.Finnick: Eat your hearts out, I silently taunt the people of Capitol, and I'm sure that the sales of clam chowder in Capitol have just skyrocketed.
- Killed Offscreen:
- Finnick's father and Annie's uncle are killed while out on the ocean during a hurricane while Finnick is on land.
- Mara, Blake, their children, and Coral are all killed offscreen when the Capitol firebombs District 4.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Katniss is never told that Finnick survived the Mutts and is working as an ambassador to other countries. Plutarch keeps her from being told because if she knows, she won't keep it a secret like he wants.
- Manipulative Bastard: Finnick, on the few occasions he decides to blatantly manipulate someone or a group of people, pulls this off with aplomb. He tricks Hortensia into revealing Snow poisoned his enemies and subtly encourages District 4 to consider rebellion while giving a speech during his father's funeral.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Finnick carries this off brilliantly with President Snow when told he will have to prostitute himself to sponsors, playing the part of an easily led teenager.Finnick: Are you serious? They want me to thank them by banging them? Sweet!
(later)
I give him that look all teenagers perfect, where we stare at an adult uncomprehendingly like they're from another planet. "Sir. Free. Sex." - Off with His Head!: Thomas, Annie's District partner for her Games, is beheaded by a Career right in front of her. She has a mental breakdown and spends the rest of her Games in a catatonic state.
- Original Character: Finnick's sister Natare and her friends Mara and Blake are all original characters created by the author. Mara and Blake both die during the firebombing of District 4 while Natare survives the fic.
- Our Hero Is Dead: Chapter 77 ends with Finnick blacking out as he's attacked by the Mutts in the sewers and seemingly dying his canonical death. He wakes up in Hortensia's care in the next chapter.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Hortensia is one of Finnick's many sponsors who he goes ice skating with. She saves his life after he is attacked by the Mutts and nurses him back to health.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Finnick survives his encounter with the Mutts in the sewers and is sent as an ambassador to other countries by Plutarch.
- Twist Ending: Plutarch manages to have Finnick brought back from near death and convinces him to 'disappear' for a few decades by working as an ambassador to any other countries that still exist in the era of Panem.
- Victory by Endurance: Knowing that Annie is the best swimmer in the 70th Hunger Games, Finnick bribes Seneca Crane into breaking the dam and flooding the arena. Annie is able to swim the longest and wins.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: Annie wins her Games by hiding with her District partner who is killed in front of her, then hiding in a tree and swimming longer than the others after she has a mental breakdown in the Arena.
