History FanFic / TheVictorsProject

** The District 4 male tribute in the 45th Games takes up to eleven. After slowly torturing the District 9 male tribute the death, [[ADateWithRosiePalms he goes to masturbate]]. Unfortunately for him, Chaff takes the opportunity to [[ChokeHolds choke him to death]].

--->''During the Dark Days, District 3 lost half their citizens. During the Mockingjay Rebellion, ''[[FlawlessVictory they are the only District to win without firing a single shot, or losing a single life]].''

--->''All of their faces. All of their names. They've been filed away by the Capitol as [[AMillionIsAStatistic Hunger Games deaths 1,199-1,121]], but to me they will always be the boys and girls who could've come home if it weren't for me.

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Gleam and Silk continue training District 1 tributes even after Luster usurps them and turns the DAEYD into an AcademyOfEvil, in order to help the tributes survive the Games, and to find a way to distract themselves from how miserable their lives as Victors seem to be. Silk at least ultimately [[DeathEqualsRedemption chooses to die helping the rebel Victors escape]].

** Several District 7 peacekeepers are bribed into kidnapping Blight's love interest and sending him into the arena (although the viewers are later told it's just a hologram) to throw Blight off his game.

** The District 5 second in command, [[HeelFaceTurn who later defects to the rebels along with a large number or his men]], lets Matty get away with [[CruellaToAnimals skinning a dog alive]] with a night in jail so he could sell the meat to the local butcher.

** Seeder's husband is killed by Peacekeepers while walking home, though they claim he broke curfew and was resisting arrest. This greatly resembles the problem of [[PoliceBrutality police shootings]] of unarmed African-Americans, particularly since most of the people from District 11 are black.

** Justinian Trinket is a [[spoiler:closet pedophile]], but [[FamilyValuesVillain cares for his wife and children, parents, siblings and niece Effie]].

** Enobaria's ruthless District partner during the 62nd Hunger Games had feelings for [[CategoryTraitor the District 6 boy they took into their alliance]].

** Played straighter with the other mentors we see , such as Bovina's mentor Raoul (who is hinted to remain a closet rebel after his release), Orchus's unseen mentor and Matti Clude (formerly the CampCook for District 12's Rebel barracks) who [[spoiler:are released afterwards]].

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: '''''Luster'''''. '''''Lancaster'''''. After he won his Games he wrested control of the DAEYD away from Gleam and turned District 1 into [[IOwnThisTown his personal dictatorship]]. Not only did he forcibly take the best-looking children away to be trained as future tributes and high-priced escorts, it was him that suggested to Snow the idea of [[SexSlave making Victors prostitutes for the Capitol]] in the first place. Ultimately, he was so hated that [[CreateYourOwnHero he turned the previously loyalist District 1 into another hotbed of rebel activity]], because they were that desperate to get rid of him.

** Boudicca speaks derisively of the outer districts, describing them as savage and saying that District 2 has to fighting gain Victors to keep from falling that low while ignoring that it's because of the Capitol that she supports that they've sunk too such depths in the first place and choosing to overlook how District 2 (with its slave markets) was even worse before she used her status as a Victor to change that, while she is indirectly denying the other Districts similar opportunities with her Career program.

* RapeDiscretionShot: Both in general and in-story. Virtus's rape of Luscious during his Games is not broadcast on Panem TV, and all this shown is a scratched-up Virtus tossing Luscious' body into the sea. All that is described in the chapter is Luscious "begging him to stop" and "being defeated in every way a woman can be defeated".

** Virtus tracks down Luscious, [[LoveInterestTraitor the District 1 girl who he forms a relationship but who later joins in betraying him]], and brutally rapes and kills her. Despite the nature of the Hunger Games, this is treated as especially heinous.

** District 8 certainly thought so when they were voting on the tributes for the first Quarter Quell. The eighteen year old serial rapist that they picked was so bad he went after his own district partner in the arena. Unfortunately for him, that partner was [[OneManArmy Cora]].

** Played with in District 2. Boudicca's takeover is brutal, but she develops a more rigorous but benevolent training program than Ahenobarbus 's and cleans out the corruption and [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slave trade]] in District 2. Still, her creation of Panem's first true AcademyOfEvil has terrible effects for the other districts.

* WomanScorned: The girl District 9 voted into the first Quarter Quell made a FalseRapeAccusation against a boy who wouldn't go to a dance with her and watched him get whipped with a smile on her face.

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: The Victors enjoy hooking up with each other. Along with several {{Teacher Student Romance}}s (see below), other hook-ups include Ahenobarbus and Cora, Cashmere and Connor, (possibly Crystal and Connor), and Cecelia and Brutus, which results in a OneNightStandPregnancy.

** Exaggerated for the 28th Games, when Snow ordered the Gamemakers to appease [[FootballHooligans the Sixatrons]] by [[FixingTheGame rigging the Games]] such that the District 6 tribute-in this case, Chevy Anderson-will be likely to win.

* FiveManBand : During the 40th Games, [[TheLeader Nolan]], [[TheLancer Perry (the District Four boy)]], [[TheSmartGuy Shevan (the District Nine girl)]], [[TheBigGuy the unnamed District Twelve boy]], and [[TheChick the unnamed District Five girl]] formed their own counter-alliance against the Careers. Caesar describes as "half-savage and perpetually on the brink of starvation ... stealing food from weaker tributes and staying one step ahead of the Careers".

* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Mags recruits Cora to get her some top-secret intel. Once she has retrieved it, Cora kisses Mags in order to covertly pass Mags the information.

** The District 4 male tribute in the 45th Games takes UpToEleven. After slowly torturing the District 9 male tribute the death, [[ADateWithRosiePalms he goes to masturbate]]. Unfortunately for him, Chaff takes the opportunity to [[ChokeHolds choke him to death]].

** This went UpToEleven for the 28th Games, when Snow ordered the Gamemakers to appease [[FootballHooligans the Sixatrons]] by [[FixingTheGame rigging the Games]] such that the District 6 tribute-in this case, Chevy Anderson-will be likely to win.

* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: In the 62nd Games, the female tributes are all forced to wear ballgowns and high heels, and the male tributes white tuxedos. The former makes for a WhiteShirtOfDeath, while the latter takes HighHeelHurt UpToEleven. It's no surprise then (at least to the women) that of the nine tributes killed at the Cornucopia, seven are female.

* MoodDissonance: A description of touring the 33rd Games arena describes in one sentence the beautiful
scenery and fun, luxurious activities there and in the next sentence describes how the tributes were brutally killed in these exact spots.

* MoodDissonance: A description of touring the 33rd Games arena describes in one sentence the beautiful scenery and fun, luxurious activities there and in the next sentence describes how the tributes were brutally killed in these exact spots.

* AdultFear:
** The very existence of the Hunger Games causes this, as parents fear their children will be reaped. This is even worse for Victors, given the higher likelihood that their children will be reaped. Evelyn goes so far as to [[SexlessMarriage not have sex with any of her husbands]] in order to avoid ever getting pregnant.
** The DAEYD system also causes this, as pregnant mothers fear that their children will be taken against their wills. To prevent this, they drink and smoke in hopes of their children being born with birth defects (and thus looked over).
** When the Mockingjay Rebellion starts, District 5's adults try to stay neutral only to see their youth wage war on the Capitol.
--->''They flatly forbid their children from participating, lock them indoors, follow them to school, do whatever is in their power to keep their families alive. None of it works.''

*** Several members of House Dustell appear throughout the story, mostly just to antagonize main characters and/or [[RedShirt get killed]]. They are also the only known house to have cadet branches.

*** The ones in 3 fall victim to an entire District full of DeathTrap's copied from everything that was built for the defense of the capitol or the games themselves.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Of all victors documented in this story, Eamon's fate after the war is the only one never specified. [[spoiler:Whether he died with the avoxes to the lizard mutts or died earlier is similarly never specified.]] It's even possible that Eamon survives the war but is still shunned afterward due to what he did to Blight or didn't care enough about his fellow victors enough to join them for the RescueArc.

* YoungAndInCharge: The [[RebelLeader rebel leaders]] in District 5 (Miles Donovan) and District 9 (Abrams- 24 years old).

** A comment made by pre-Games Silk Seville in a conversation with Gleam provides an bonus to those who have read ''The Bonds of Blood'':

* WhamLine:
** Ahenobarbus telling the Victors, "President Lucius is dead."
** Cashmere reveals to Beetee that she knows they are planning to break Katniss and Peeta out of the Third Quarter Quell arena, which gets lampshaded by Beetee's reaction.
--->'''Beetee (inner monologue):''' The sky falls. The roof collapses. The sun goes out.
** When [[spoiler:Jade]] is put on trial during Coin's ReignOfTerror, the prosecutor drops this bombshell about the fates of several other characters ([[spoiler:although one is FakingTheDead]]).
-->'''Letts Bolger:''' [[LastOfTheirKind As the last living victor]] of District [[spoiler:One]], [[spoiler:Ms. Boleyn]] is-\\
'''[[spoiler:Jade]]:''' [[ThisCannotBe The last? That's...impossible. I can't be...]]
** For people who read ''Fall into the River'' before ''The Victors Project'', the epilogue of the former story briefly alludes to the "famous father" of Cecelia's son Aaron and how she refuses to let her friends and family talk about him. Chapter 49 of ''The Victors Project'' ends with Brutus and Peeta having a conversation in training gym. Brutus confides in Peeta that he has a son whose mother won't let him see the boy.
--->''Brutus lifted another spear and threw it. He didn't even follow its flight, his eyes drawn every so briefly to the edible insects station.''[[note]]Which is where Katniss spends time with Cecelia in ''Literature/CatchingFire''.[[/note]]\\
''"Aaron," he said. "My boy's name is Aaron."''
*** Fans of ''The Victors Project'' who ''didn't'' read ''Fall into the River'' first might miss the significance of Brutus's line, but are more likely to experience a wham feeling in Cecelia's chapter of ''TVP''. She has sex with Brutus while suffering from a schizophrenic episode, right after they have a conversation about how the Capitol will stop selling her as a SexSlave [[GlorifiedSpermDonor if she gets pregnant again]]. One year later, Cecilia walks up to Brutus and hands him a picture of a dark-haired baby.
---->'''Cecelia:''' I named him Aaron. You can keep the picture. I'll bring a new one every year. But if you ever try to contact my son, or threaten to disrupt his life in any way, I'll kill you myself.
** Lyme, who grew up in a rebel village, kills Maxx, her ParentalSubstitute, so Boudicca will let her become a tribute. Then, after she wins the 51st Hunger Games, she's shown at a wake for Maxx, whose son utters this line.
--->'''Mesa:''' [[MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning This is what he wanted]]. Making [[TheMole one of ours a victor.]]
** ''The Lumberjack and the Tree-Elf'' starts out with OCStandIn and future victor Blight living a hard life in a hostile community and wondering if he'll be reaped. Then, the actual reaping comes along, and the story takes a shocking turn when it ''isn't'' Blight whose name comes out of the reaping bowl.
--->'''Tutti Marble:''' Merrill Mason!\\
'''Burgen Gavin:''' [[GotVolunteered We volunteer! We volunteer to compete in the Hunger Games. My son, Blight Gavin, volunteers for the Hunger Games.]]
** TheReveal that [[spoiler:Cecelia's stepmother]] is the leader of the District 8 rebels.
--->''I jump out of reflex and then courtesy as [[spoiler:Spindella Rheys]] sweeps into the room.
** A ConnectedAllAlong reveal after Cecelia's victory.
--->'''Cora:''' Do you remember the story I told you before the interview? About why I was voted into the Quarter Quell?\\
'''Cecelia:''' Your father was a tax collector. He came to collect from the tailor. The tailor resisted and your father accidentally killed his daughter. \\
'''[[spoiler:Spindella]]:''' His daughter, and my sister.
** The epilogue of ''Fall Into the River'' has [[spoiler:Cora]] being tortured for rebel names and naming a minor character who previously seemed like the exact opposite of a rebel sympathizer.
--->'''[[spoiler:Cora]]:''' [[spoiler:Larissa! Larissa Farrar!]]
** In Chapter 7 of ''Arrow'', the dead tributes of District 7 seemingly return to life to vengefully help slaughter the last peacekeepers in the district. The [[spoiler:ScoobyDooHoax nature of this event is revealed when Connor suddenly frowns and starts yelling at one of the young "ghosts", to Mack's confusion.]]
--->''And then the pieces begin to click in Mack's mind, because [[spoiler:no ghost should look so sheepish.]]
** Thisbe Everett seems to go insane after winning the 21st Hunger Games, telling her mentor that a reporter turned into a wraith, the District 1 escort claims that dead tributes want to kill her, and a tongue-less avox talked to her. However, one simple line reveals that she's really the victim of {{gaslighting}} when the third-person narrator talks about a bank account showing suspicious payments to three people.
--->''A struggling actress, a reporter, and the escort from District 1.''
*** Thisbe's chapter ends with her seemingly losing her mind and massacring a banquet full of prominent Capitol citizens before being killed in a struggle with a random intern who finds himself on the fast track to promotion. The last lines of the chapter cast the intern's scene into an entirely new light, and reveal the culprit behind the {{gaslighting}}.
--->''As the footage ends, Coriolanus Snow closes his eyes, lays back on the stretcher, [[TheChessmaster and smiles]].''
** Beetee's investigation into the assassin who tried to kill Katniss takes an alarming turn when they find the bank account that the assassin's payment came from.
--->'''Beetee:''' It's [=PanemTT665=].\\
'''Enobaria:''' And that is...?\\
'''Beetee:''' [=PanemTT665=] is the Victor's fund. The money came from a Victor's salary ... The blood money on Katniss's head was paid by a Victor. It's one of us.

** President Snow (as in the guy who started turning victors into SexSlave's along with Luster and keeps a harem of women forcibly taken from the district himself) considers himself a happily married man and calls Ermine a trollop at one point while expressing his frustration with District 1 and their recent victors.

** Boudicca speaks derisively of the outer districts, describing them as savage and saying that District 2 has to fighting gain victors to keep from falling that low while ignoring that it's because of the capitol that she supports that they've sunk too such depths in the first place and choosing to overlook how District 2 (with its slave markets) was even worse before she used her status as a victor to change that, while she is indirectly denying the other districts similar opportunities with her career program.

** Blight's brother Abel made his life a waking nightmare for over a decade for supposedly being a peacekeepers illegitimate child, only to end up joining the peacekeepers (where he becomes a hated and feared figure) himself due to his gambling debts and/or to avoid facing his brother as a victor.
* IWarnedYou: Enobaria warns the Career pack against burning down the carriage house, as she has seen that the Gamemakers typically don’t like destroying parts of the arena. However, the boys outvote her, and soon after a [[BearsAreBadNews bear-mutt appears]].

** The district 7 lumberjacks often practice pagan tree worship (their [[AcceptableReligiousTargets female tribute for the First Quarter Quell]] was a girl who burned their shrine because that sect of worship gave a husband the right to [[DomesticAbuse mistreat his wife]]); after his UrbanRuins games, Blight starts praying to Starbucks after encountering a statue of her, unaware that it was for a coffee chain and not a religious temple (something Beetee admits he never had the heart to tell Blight).

** The Antarctica arena from the 55th Games was immediately closed down and never opened to the public, having been considered the worst Hunger Games ever.

* MultipleNarrativeModes: Different chapters are told from different types of perspectives: third person narrator, the Victor her/himself, outside viewers, other Tributes, etc.

** Boudicca speaks derisively of the outer districts, describing them as savage and saying that District 2 has to fighting gain victors to keep from falling that low while ignoring that it's because of the capitol that she supports that they've sunk too such depths in the first place and choosing to overlook how District 2 (with its slave markets) was even worse before she used her status as a victor to change that, something she is indirectly denying the other districts with her career program.

** The District 4 male tribute in the 45th Games takes UpToEleven. After slowly torturing the District 9 male tribute the death, he goes to masturbate. Unfortunately for him, Chaff takes the opportunity to [[ChokeHolds choke him to death]].

* DateRape: At least one of the people Finnick was sold to drugged him first, and he describes someone else who he saw drug and rape girls twice at parties.

*** Similarly, peacekeepers in the capitol are indicated to have covered up such crimes on behalf of Snow for decades.
* DisappearedDad: Gordy Brockleton (one of the District 6 tributes for the Second Quarter Quell) has three different kids from three different girls and doesn't even know any of their names. He considers his reaping to be a form of LaserGuidedKarma for his lack of a role in their lives.

* DrunkDriver: District 3 sends one who killed a woman and managed to cover it up into the First Quarter Quell, although [[DownplayedTrope she claims to have only had a little to drink]] and that [[NeverMyFault no one could have seen the woman crossing the street in time]].

** Capitol Policeman Ptolemy Boundaire, a DirtyCop and occasional participant in the Victor sex trade, is a CoolUncle to his brothers family.

** Another example is the 44th Games, where Snow ordered Brandybane to send a message to the Career Districts, who he felt were acting too entitled lately and taking their privileges for granted. Brandybane carried this out by creating a massive sinkhole at the very start of the Games, swallowing up the Cornucopia, all its supplies, and the entire Career pack that year, plus six other tributes. This guaranteed an outlier Victor (who ultimately turned out to be, ironically, the District 6 female tribute Maeve Collins) while also reminding the Career districts that even they were still subject to Snow's whims.

*** Even more interestingly, Emrys was nearly sent into the First Quarter Quell, but the Capitol rigged the voting to send in a teenage rebel agitator who had made himself unpopular enough for that to seem plausible instead. Then, when Emrys burned down his school a year later, an annoyed Capitol decided that his district had the right idea that he needed either a wake up call or an early death, and rigged the next reaping to send him in.

* AirVentPassageway: The District 5 boy during the 62nd Hunger Games uses the airvents of the HellHotel arena to drop into the feast. [[spoiler:During a return to that same arena, Justus uses this to ambush members of the rescue team]].

* AssumedWin: A chilling version during the reaping for the First Quarter Quell, in which the boy from District 6 (a SelfMadeOrphan who is one of the district's youngest and biggest drug lords) walks towards the stage before they call his name, having expected that they'd vote for him. This is a rare case, [[JustifiedTrope in which the person assuming the win does in fact win]].

** Nolan's FiveManBand (Nolan himself, a StealthExpert, an archer, a career defector and a tough guy from 12).
** Nearly all of the surviving victors allied together for the RescueArc along with relatives of several victors, Gale and plenty of soldiers who served in the Rebellion.

** Arguably Genner, Naomi and Kent from ''The Bonds of Blood''. None of them are that physically tough but the former two are fairly defiant towards the Careers, Naomi is hinted to be an explosives expert (although she doesn't live long enough to show it) and Genner is a StealthExpert who does a good job evading the Careers through a combination of AirVentPassageway and covering his upper body in oil to slip away when anyone tries to grab him.

** One of the reasons the Settlers of District 10 turns against the Capitol is they are tired of the Capitolian stereotype of Settlers having sex with cows.

** Vesta and Marble, two of Tiberius's fellow trainees, are later chosen as tributes in future games, where they are killed by Jules and Gleam respectively.

--> '''Beetee''': It's [=PanemTT665=]
--> '''Enobaria''': And that is...?
--> '''Beetee''': [=PanemTT665=] is the Victor's fund. The money came from a Victor's salary ... The blood money on Katniss's head was paid by a Victor. It's one of us.

* AirVentPassageway: The District 5 boy during the 62nd Hunger Games uses the airvents of the HellHotel arena to drop into the feast. [[spoiler: During a return to that same arena, Justus uses this to ambush members of the rescue team]].

** [[spoiler: Johanna Mason]] dies after the events of the trilogy [[spoiler: in a crane accident]].

** In District 1, the peacekeepers arrested and executed an innocent man as TheScapegoat for the murder or [[spoiler: Cashmere's father]], a crime which was in fact committed by [[spoiler: Enobaria]] at Snow's behest, which is implied to be an OpenSecret in the district.

** Justinian Trinket is a [[spoiler: closet pedophile]], but [[FamilyValuesVillain cares for his wife and children, parents, siblings and niece Effie]].

** ''The Lumberjack and the Tree-Elf'' features a [[InvertedTrope non-bullying version]] in the 57th Games when Blight's district partner Charlie teams up with two other outlier girls, Bobbi and Qin Li, dubbed "the three princesses" by the Careers and none of whom are particularly skilled combatants (except against a few mutts). They mostly avoided playing the Games [[spoiler: until, with the final 8 approaching, Bobbi tried to poison Charlie and Qin Li, only for Charlie [[HoistByHerOwnPetard to secretly give Bobbi her portion of the dinner due to thinking that she wasn't taking enough for herself]]. Qin Li then assumed that Charlie deliberately poisoned Bobbi, forcing Charlie to kill her in self-defense and undergo an extreme BreakTheCutie/ MurderMakesYouCrazy meltdown]].

* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: The Speaker, a Reaver driven out of the Capitol and the Districts who tortures Enobaria and kills her friends, turns out to be [[spoiler: Tanni Romero, seeking revenge for the punishment he got for knocking up Cecelia]].

** Frequently. District 5 in particular has three driving ones which are never answered. What made Snow mad enough at the campers to rig Circe's reaping? Did the Campers [[spoiler: make it to their promised land after they fled into the wastelands]]? Did the District 5 peacekeepers [[spoiler:defect spontaneously as a result of being ordered to execute so many children, or had they been in previous negotiations with the rebels]]? The last of those is even commented on as being the subject of much InUniverse speculation.

** Thisbe Everett seems to go insane after winning the 21st Hunger Games, telling her mentor that a reporter turned into a wraith, the District 1 escort claims that dead tributes want to kill her, and a tongueless avvox talked to her. However, one simple line reveals that she's really the victim of {{Gaslighting}} when the third person narrator talks about a bank account showing suspicious payments to three people.
--> ''A struggling actress, a reporter, and the escort from District 1.''
*** Thisbe's chapter ends with her seemingly losing her mind and massacring a banquet full of prominent Capitol citizens before being killed in a struggle with a random intern who finds himself on the fast track to promotion. The last lines of the chapter cast the intern's scene into an entirely new light, and reveal the culprit behind the {{Gaslighting}}.
--> ''As the footage ends, Coriolanus Snow closes his eyes, lays back on the stretcher, and smiles.''

** Of all victors documented in this story, Eamon's fate after the war is the only one never specified. [[spoiler: Whether he died with the avoxes to the lizard mutts or died earlier is similarly never specified.]] It's even possible that Eamon survives the war but is still shunned afterward due to what he did to Blight or didn't care enough about his fellow victors enough to join them for the RescueArc.

** Played straighter with the other mentors we see , such as Bovina's mentor Raoul (who is hinted to remain a closet rebel after his release), Orchus's unseen mentor and Matti Clude (formerly the CampCook for District 12's Rebel barracks) who [[spoiler: are released afterwards]].

** ''The Lumberjack and the Tree-Elf'' starts out with OcStandIn and future victor Blight living a hard life in a hostile community and wondering if he'll be reaped. Then, the actual reaping comes along, and the story takes a shocking turn when it ''isn't'' Blight whose name comes out of the reaping bowl.
--> '''Tutti Marble:''' Merrill Mason!
--> '''Burgen Gavin:''' [[GotVolunteered We volunteer! We volunteer to compete in the Hunger Games. My son, Blight Gavin, volunteers for the Hunger Games.]]

--> ''I jump out of reflex and then courtesy as [[spoiler:Spindella Rheys]] sweeps into the room.
* A ConnectedAllAlong reveal after Cecilia's victory.
--> '''Cora:''' Do you remember the story I told you before the interview? About why I was voted into the Quarter Quell?
--> '''Cecilia:''' Your father was a tax collector. He came to collect from the tailor. The tailor resisted and your father accidentally killed his daughter.
--> '''[[spoiler:Spindella]]''': His daughter, and my sister.

--->'''[[spoiler:Cora]]''': [[spoiler:Larissa! Larissa Farrar!]]

** Cashmere reveals to Beetee that she knows they are planning to break Katniss and Peeta out of the Third Quarter Quell arena.

** In Chapter 7 of ''Arrow'', the dead tributes of District 7 seemingly return to life to seek revenge against the rebels and slaughter the last peacekeepers in the district. The [[spoiler:ScoobyDooHoax nature of this event is revealed when Connor suddenly frowns and starts yelling at one of the young "ghosts", to Mack's confusion.]]

* LostInTheMaize: The Career pack in the 62nd Games {{defied|Trope}}y this when going through a garden maze, thanks to Tiller knowing a trick that if you keep your hand on the hedge, you won't get lost.