Pinned
new cloud & aerith drawing ♥️
Okay but it’s fucking brilliant that one of the themes of the book was about the distortion of history.
Usually prequels are a dangerous thing to write because unless they’re planned out well in advance, they risk contradicting lore in the main series. Even still, we knew barely anything about Haymitch’s games. They were the perfect stomping ground for new information, with a rough series of events but without a close temporal connection to the main books.
But though she had this freedom and safety net, while she could have just written a story that aligned with what we knew, Collins leaned into the idea of contradicting past lore head on and made it the damn thesis of the book; that yeah, actually, it did play out entirely differently from how the characters saw it, and yes that contradicts what you were told, that’s the point.
We didn’t really know what happened in the 50th games until we read it from Haymitch’s perspective, because what little information we did have was spliced up and edited. The video evidence was processed through the Capital, and twisted to serve their purposes.
Tackling that idea of history being written by those in power with a notoriously inconsistent medium? Goddamn, writer that you are, Suzanne Collins.
i’m so appreciative to suzanne for reframing the rebellion from the original trilogy as a “they saw their moment and took it” type situation and showing us that they’ve been trying, over and over, with so many failed attempts, to break the arena and incite a rebellion for decades. in this current political climate never giving up hope is so essential. haymitch wasn’t the first nor the last, and they kept going even when it seemed completely futile, and that’s what counts, and what ultimately saves them all.
One thing amongst many other things that I find absolutely wild about the crypt scene in 8x17 is how at first, dean is telling cas he’ll have to kill him for the tablet, provoking him by calling him a coward and telling him over and over to “do it”. It’s like dean believed that cas couldn’t truly do it, even after all he’d done at that point and essentially betraying them again, dean still trusted him. Though this doesn’t work and cas continues to beat him bloody.
So then it’s also wild how he goes from that to saying “this isn’t you” and “I need you” within seconds. It’s almost like dean lowered his brave mask with his usual aggressive approach to be more vulnerable because when it comes down to it, that’s really how dean feels and when he’s straight forward about it, that’s when it finally works.
It really shows the layers to dean, very clearly with how he switches from one way to another. People always call dean mean with his aggressive comments and sarcastic behavior, but it’s always a front with underlying meaning to how he really feels. Dean grew up thinking he shouldn’t show real vulnerability because it’s a weakness as a hunter and he had to always stay strong for sam as his guardian, so he’s emotionally repressed and doesn’t show his feelings to others in normal or healthy ways.
How I interpret his character is that there’s a way of understanding dean where you can’t take everything he says at face value and a lot of what he portrays himself to be is only a surface level display of who he is. He’s such a great character.
so hard not to become the most annoying person on earth if you're a little excitable and just learned a little about a topic literally no one around you has any interest in
I absolutely love how fiercely the brothers fight for each other. They say hurtful things and make bad mistakes but they handle it together are all they’ve ever been able to rely on. They mess with the natural flow of things because family love is the most important thing. I love how the root of their mindset of fighting for free will and always finding “another way” will be from their vast knowledge of supernatural things, their compassion for others and their love for each other as brothers.
I have a sibling and I love seeing the sibling banter and familial love from these two that goes as far as defying fate.
Cas was the first kill he resisted in making within his spiral and Cas was the first sting of guilt that he felt when he made the decision to call upon Death himself so he find a way to stop.
He didn’t even kill Cas but the fact that he beat him that badly and almost did kill him is haunting Dean and part of the reason he knew he couldn’t live with the Mark
I love their bond so much yall 😭
SotR is a realisation. A realisation that the rebellion didn’t start with Katniss. That all the people we see supporting her or helping her have all been wanting to fight but they’ve been failing. That there weren’t merely “rumours” of a revolution but there were many active plans playing out and failing.
It’s a reminder that the perfect Hunger Games we saw in the first hg book was an illusion because we had Katniss as our narrator. We didn’t have Haymitch, hell, we didn’t even have someone like Peeta because these people played the games. Katniss didn’t.
Katniss was introduced to us as a mad, simple, naive girl who literally only survived because of others. She didn’t know how much her taking Prim’s place mattered because she didn’t realise what it meant to everyone who came before her. To everyone who had heard rumours of how the last District 12 victor actually fought his games. No, Katniss had just kept her head down, hunting and providing for her family.
See, she grew up way before the Games got to her. She’d already lived through her dad’s death and watched it destroy her once lively mom. Haymitch didn’t have to go through that. Lucy Gray didn’t have to go through that. They were both angry, yes, but at the Capitol. Katniss? She was first and foremost angry at her mom. At her dad. She knew who was to blame but she had too much to do and deal with to think about that. She was already jaded in a way that the Games couldn’t touch.
Peeta? He was Haymitch. He knew what he was getting into and realised he was just on a chess board with no control. So, he adapted. He played the knight, the rook, the king, the pawn. Katniss? She just… did. Changing directions, not playing the piece she was assigned because she didn’t realise that’s what was going on. Remember her surprise at the crown twisting into two after the Games?? She was so oblivious. Until Catching Fire where everything caught up to her. Where everything so many other people had been waiting and working for caught up to her.
SotR is a history book. Rewritten and edited and published as a piece of fact. SotR is a mirror and it’s a reflection of what actually happens vs what ends up being shown. SotR is the playbook of those in control of any and every kind of media that we come in touch with. SotR is a wake up call and I truly don’t know how many will see it as such.