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Reading Mockingjay as an adult is extra devastating because. Of course the plucky teenager and her ragtag friends aren't going to sneak into a government building to kill the president with a bow and arrow. That's absolutely ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that's only possible in the kind of propaganda that Coin developed. But she's so good at it that in some ways she tricks the reader into thinking that's the kind of story this is, too--even after 3 books reminding us that pretty much everything that Katniss does the second she volunteers is manipulated by adults pulling strings to make propaganda in some form or another.

OP i LOVE this post!!!

The first time I read Mockingjay, I was probably about 12 and had only really read either middle grade fantasy or other YA dystopia books, and even though I was a voracious reader, because I’d always been reading Chosen One novels, I had no way to contextualize that this series was different.

The ending where Katniss gets into the president’s mansion and kills Snow was my EXPECTATION. It completely fried my brain when she didn’t make it and instead Prim died and Katniss had her mental break. I fully did not understand what was going on, or why it was more realistic and more powerful that Katniss WASN’T the one to storm in and kill Snow. My understanding, from other books, was that Katniss was always in control. She was the Mockingjay after all, so how could she not be? District 13 was Katniss’ ally, Coin was the GOOD GUY (until the Prim thing).

Then, re-reading as an adult, all of this HORRIFIED me. Katniss’ desperation, the way that 13 stood by for 75+ years while the other districts suffered, Coin using Katniss and the propaganda throughout.

The whole point is that Katniss is NOT a Chosen One.

Her status as accidental symbol of the rebellion comes with power, but in order to use that power, she must submit to being controlled, ultimately losing many of the things most important to her. AND SHE DOES, because she doesn’t want the power just for herself. Isn’t the biggest reason she agrees to be the Mockingjay to defeat Snow and free the districts?

And then it happens AGAIN in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes except SNOW actually DOES think he’s in a Chosen One novel.

In direct contrast to Katniss, he sees HIMSELF as the Chosen One. So of COURSE Tigris stays up all night to help him. Of COURSE Gaul singles him out among his classmates. Of COURSE Lucy Gray is able to win (ONLY with his help, of COURSE). Of COURSE he isn’t going to spend his whole life as a Peacekeeper, he’s Too Special. He’s Going to Be President Some Day.

And this, this self-obsession, especially combined with his ambition, and the expectation that those around him can and SHOULD be manipulated (because they are lesser-than in Snow’s eyes) is what lets him rise to power as a fascist dictator.

Not only does Collins divert the Chosen One trope with Katniss, she also shows us the danger in characters who believe they are the Chosen One and behave that way to those around them.

For those with a copy that doesn't have the interview, here's a fan theory Suzanne confirms: the fiddler at Finnick and Annie's wedding in Mockingjay is Clerk Carmine.

Call me crazy, but I can't be the only one that thinks that the main reason that Clerk Carmine in Sunrise on the Reaping doesn't like Haymitch is that he reminds him too much of his dead brother Billy Taupe?? "The Abernathys were known rebels back in the day" and "He [Clerk Carmine] once told Lenore Dove that I was the kind that died young." Billy Taupe was running around with the District 12 rebels in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, some of which included members of the Chance family, like Arlo Chance who inspired the Hanging Tree song. While the Chance family are still going strong by Sunrise on the Reaping, maybe Clerk Carmine remembers his brother hanging out with some Abernathys back in the day. Also Billy Taupe doesn't get a headstone in the Covey graveyard but Clerk Carmine still taught Lenore Dove how to play Billy's old piano accordion... Much to think about.

I keep seeing people asking why the Gamemakers didn’t simply edit out the scene with the berries or Rue’s death scene since they edited a bunch of stuff out of Haymitch’s Games. And I keep seeing this described as an inconsistency or a plot hole or a retcon. But there’s actually a clear explanation.

Katniss’s big moments in the 74th Games can all be viewed in two ways by the audience. Her rebellion is much more subtle than Haymitch’s and so it doesn’t occur to the Gamemakers to take it off the television until it is already too late. Because they don’t think of it as rebellion at all. And yet to the oppressed people in the districts, the rebellious undercurrents are much more obvious.

This is actually explained multiple times in the original trilogy. Katniss’s stunt with the berries can be viewed as just a silly teenage girl not wanting to live without her boyfriend. And this is how most people in the Capitol view it. But the people in the districts view it as an act of defiance against the Capitol, denying them their victor unless she can bring her ally with her. Which essentially breaks the Games — there’s only supposed to be one victor.

Snow even gives Katniss a good long while to convince all of Panem and not just the Capitol that she really is that lovestruck girl. But she doesn’t manage to do this, of course.

Haymitch, on the other hand, starts his time in the Capitol off by laying a dead girl at Snow’s feet during the tribute parade in order to make Snow “own” it. He does a ton of openly rebellious things and because he’s so obvious about it, almost none of those things end up on television.

People keep saying that this book is less subtle than the original trilogy and it is like … yeah. That’s intentional. I can understand why some readers might prefer more subtlety, but it’s not an example of bad or rushed writing. The writing is accomplishing precisely what it needs to accomplish.

Haymitch and his ducklings

Not to be that person but Haymitch is now like canonically the person who keeps the Covey’s memory alive. Even if Katniss has information passed down from her father, I think it pales in comparison to what Haymitch knew intimately. Out of the remainder of 12’s population, it is Haymitch who adds their histories to the book. He tells their story. He also has seen Lucy Gray—he can give her a physical description.

And I think, out of all the things he did (in the canon story), that is the most meaningful way he honored Lenore Dove.

Maysilee Donner had to die because if she had lived she would have killed Snow instantly with the most insane read anyone's ever heard

Redraw of old art to get used to Photoshop Ig

Hunger Games Victors....you mean the world to me

Sunrise on the reaping doodle page, hopefully able to do more art soon of the book

Second compilation post of my latest victor art. These are a lot fun to draw and think out so appreciate all the feedback I have gotten for this series. We'll see if I end up making all 75 Victors or not ksdjhfa

Part 1 / Ko-Fi