Theseus and Ariadne, Victors of the 74th Hunger Games
Theseus and Ariadne, Victors of the 74th Hunger Games
“I was such a huge Greek mythology geek as a kid, it’s impossible for it not to come into play in my storytelling. The connection to the myth of Theseus happened immediately. As a young prince of Athens, he participated in a lottery that required seven girls and seven boys to be taken to Crete and thrown into a labyrinth to be destroyed by the Minotaur. In one version of the myth, this excessively cruel punishment resulted from the Athenians opposing Crete in a war. Sometimes the labyrinth’s a maze, sometimes it’s an arena.”
— Suzanne Collins
Since the showdown with Cato is coming up, I think it’s time to get into this meta I’ve been sitting on for a couple of weeks. I am also a mythology geek and I can’t help but see lots of connections to the Theseus myth throughout The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Mockingjay gets harder to pin down as regards myths—though I have a theory it deviates more into European and American gothic novels and folkloric connections—but we’ll revisit that one when we get there). I’ll be referencing Edith Hamilton’s Mythology if you’re interested in reading the whole story. I’m gonna bold the highlights cause this is a LONG post and also I apologize for inevitable typos.