Heartwarming / Cheating Death: Those That Lived

• Gwenith making her first real friends with two other tributes. Then, once they are the last three standing, they never even consider harming each other and hunker down in separate areas so the Gamemakers can decide who to kill with the arena.
• Crystal’s district partner Jacinth is a ruthless and obnoxious Blue Blood, but he has a slight Pet the Dog moment when he kills his remaining Career ally before seeking out Crystal. Part of this is pragmatism (Crystal is a much weaker final opponent), but he does accept the possibility that he may lose and is content with the knowledge their district gets the glory and food that comes from getting a Victor no matter which of them survives.
• When Shunt, The Storyteller, admits to his sister that he doesn't feel like the hero of his story after winning the Games, she tells him he's the hero of her story, and has ensured their large family will never go hungry again.
• Shunt becomes an author and bases one of his series after his ally Bernadette, with people still being familiar with the series sixty years later.
• Rook leaves the Career pack to ally with an outlier tribute and, once they are the last two left, honors her wish to die with dignity by being launched out of a catapult so she can experience flying like she always wanted.
• Even though Crown's district partner Tiff dislikes or is indifferent to him (she says she can't stand sugary foods like the kind he cooks and is annoyed by his Motor Mouth tendencies), she promises not to attack him during the bloodbath and keeps her word, even when she has an opportunity to easily kill him.
• Crown always insists that his allies from District 12 have first dibs on the food he cooks due to how he can see that they have been hungry their whole lives.
• District 6 mentor Captain Abe (a Peacekeeper assigned to the job until there is a Victor to take over mentoring) rejoices after Chassis wins and he is finally bringing a tribute home after thirty years of watching them die as he assimilated into the District. He and Chassis then happily throw themselves into a demolition derby once they get home.
• Snag is sent into the Games in a wheelchair, with a training score of one, and leaving behind mourning parents, friends, and a girl he finally confessed his love to (who returns his feelings). Then, a freak accident lets him become Victor, return home, and be happily embraced by his crush, who eventually marries him.
• Seeder volunteers to save the life of a crying twelve-year-old girl who was in a class where Seeder briefly worked as a teacher’s assistant. Seeder has little to live for after having lost her family and job prospects, but it is still clear that her connection with that girl (who runs back into the arms of her mother and then visits Seeder before her departure) plays a role in her decision to step forward.
• The District 4 escort working hard to keep Librae alive in the arena and feeling sympathy for her Dark and Troubled Past.
• Porter getting to marry her boyfriend and District partner (something all of the district couples in the 38th Hunger Fakes experience as a gimmick) before the Games start is a bit bizarre even for this story, but the sequence still has some tender moments (as does one of the other groups of involuntarily married District partners having a shy first date over snacks). Porter getting certified as a wedding officiant and later performing a similar ceremony to wed two of her tributes 12 years later is also portrayed cutely.
• Baron and Runa's relief when their son Rhyder makes it out of the arena alive.
  • And in the aftermath of the Games, Rhyder asks if the memories of death ever go away. His dad says it gets easier with family, and his parents state they will be with him.
• As Crystal later points out, even though Platinum never wanted to go into the Games (she just wanted the popularity of being a contender for the role of tribute) and has been suffering from Stress Vomit ever since the tribute parade, she still chose to volunteer for a younger girl when she could have chickened out and stayed safe.
• Crystal and Harp encouraging a terrified Platinum (a unwilling volunteer by default after the higher-ranking candidates quit or were hospitalized) and trying to make her feel confident enough about winning to give her a chance. Platinum's sense of relief about coming home after she spends over a month nearly starving to death but then makes it home is also endearing.
• Career tribute Mercy trying to save the twelve-year-olds during her Games.
• After seeing Duke's gravestone saying he didn't save anyone, Pliny engraves into it that he did save one: her and he was her friend.
• All of the moments where Brutus does something meaningful for each of his fellow District 2 Victors (telling Mercy that she volunteered for his sister are sweet, telling Rhyder that he did volunteer to replace him as tribute for Rhyder’s sake and not just to play the Games after the Quell reaping l, distracting paparazzi bothering Rook, etc.).
• In the aftermath of his Games, Wattzon is left a depressed mess saying he didn't deserve to live after everything... only to be approached by a mother who tells him he's a hero because she betted on him and thanks to his victory, she was able to cure her daughter of cancer. Wattzon promptly hugs the two with tears in his eyes.
  • Even better? The daughter was Effie Trinket. His victory would pave the way for Katniss to start the Rebellion.
• Wattzon reuniting with Trevy in the middle of the rebellion.
• Pasture sparing one of the only tributes who avoided bullying her early on after they meet in the arena.
• The final letter Mizar leaves for Gwenith, praising her as the kind of leader the rebellion needs and also having warm words for most of their other Victors.
• The diary entries of Cecelia's fellow orphans, which mostly talk about what a great person she is and how the younger kids are confident she can win and are eager to see her get home. She then takes all of them to live with her in the Victors' Village.
• The excited Bentley celebrates how he won his Games without any kills as the trumpets blow, although it's dampened by him being told that he's being credited for some Accidental Murder kills after his rapping started an avalanche.
• The terrified Spud realizing his last opponent has died and he can go home to his family.
• Augustus and Peridot, the first and last Victors of District 1, have a nice Inter Generational Friendship largely rooted in their desire to be good mentors and bring kids home.
• Bentley getting off his morphling addiction thanks to Numi.
• Crimson thanking Katniss for saving her.
• Once all the surviving Victors have gathered, they all make toasts to the fallen Victors.
• Cupid remaining true to his pacifistic beliefs no matter what happens to him and getting many of his final tributes to start acting on their best instincts.
  • And in the aftermath of his Games, as he starts crying about having nothing left, Spool and Lammy decide to adopt him. The hug he gives the two are well deserved.
• Spool and Lammy getting married after years of not being able to because of fear of their enemies.
• The reception epilogue has nothing short of heartwarming:
  • Crown encouraging Olga she can still turn her life around.
  • Haymitch and Enobaria bonding over a drinking contest.
  • A now walking Snag dancing with his wife.
  • And finally, Gwenith visits the statue of Mizar and leaves Katniss' Mockingjay Pin behind, letting him know they'll meet again someday.