The Hunger Games is the series that really brought young adult dystopian fiction into the forefront of popular culture. The novels—a trilogy and a prequel, written by Suzanne Collins—are set in the fictional country of Panem. To keep its citizens in line, the Capitol of Panem forces each of the nation's 12 districts to participate in the annual Hunger Games. In this fierce competition, young representatives from each district are pitted against one another in a televised fight to the death.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Hunger Games series.
What inspired The Hunger Games?
The Hunger Games was inspired by the Greek myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur." In this story, King Minos of Crete punishes Athens for the death of a son by demanding a sacrifice of 14 youths—seven girls and seven boys—to be brought to the Minotaur. Theseus volunteers as tribute and slays the beast. In The Hunger Games, the novel that started it all, Katniss Everdeen from the 12th District volunteers as tribute to save her sister from being sacrificed. Over the course of the series, she ends up fighting against the Capitol to free the people of Panem.
Where is The Hunger Games set?
The series is set in the nation of Panem, which is divided into 12 districts, each specializing in a different trade. District 1 is closest to the Capitol, and as the districts get further away from the Capitol, they become less favored by Capitol officials and more impoverished. District 1 is the wealthiest of the districts of Panem, and it specializes in luxury. District 2 is in charge of masonry and defense. District 3 specializes in technology and electronics. District 4 is the coastal district and specializes in fishing. District 5 specializes in electrical power. District 6 specializes in transportation. District 7 specializes in lumber. District 8: textiles. District 9: grain. District 10: livestock. District 11: agriculture. District 12, which Katniss Everdeen calls home, is the least favored and poorest of them all; it specializes in coal mining. There once was an even unluckier district that specialized in nuclear weaponry. District 13 was bombed and supposedly destroyed at the end of the Dark Days war. However, as Katniss later discovers, the people of District 13 have been hiding, planning rebellion.
Who are the main characters of The Hunger Games?
Katniss Everdeen
Katniss Everdeen is the main character in The Hunger Games trilogy. At the start of the first novel, she is 16 years old. She has olive skin and dark hair that she typically wears in a braid, especially while she's hunting. She is a skilled hunter and is particularly good with a bow and arrow. Her father died in a mining accident, leaving her mother severely depressed. Katniss had to step in as a mother figure for her younger sister, Primrose. When Prim is chosen as tribute, Katniss volunteers to enter The Hunger Games to save her sister.
Peeta Mellark
Peeta Mellark is the tribute who enters The Hunger Games from District 12 alongside Katniss. He has fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. Peeta's family is middle class, and his father is a baker in town. Peeta lives with his two older brothers, his quiet father, and his strict mother. Peeta is physically strong and charismatic. He's also a talented artist. Peeta has been in love with Katniss since he first saw her, but when he announces this at the beginning of the games, she dismisses his feelings as a ploy to gain the sympathy of the viewers.
Gale Hawthorne
Gale Hawthorne is Katniss's best friend in District 12. He is two years older than Katniss, and the two became close through hunting together. Gale's father died in the same mining accident that killed Katniss's father. Gale lives with his mother and three younger siblings, Rory, Vick, and Posy. At the beginning of the series, Katniss sees Gale as just a friend, but he later confesses his love for her.
Haymitch Abernathy
Haymitch Abernathy won the 50th Hunger Games, or the second Quarter Quell, 24 years before the events of the first book in the series. Like Katniss and Peeta, he was a tribute from District 12. After his triumph, he became an alcoholic. As the only surviving victor from his district, Haymitch is tasked with mentoring all of the tributes from District 12; over the years, he has watched many young people die. This explains his detachment and unwillingness to help when he first mentors Katniss and Peeta. But when Katniss confronts him for his lack of care, he changes and becomes their biggest advocate in The Hunger Games.
Primrose Everdeen
Primrose Everdeen, also known as Prim, is Katniss's younger sister. She has blond hair and blue eyes and a cat named Buttercup. At the beginning of the first novel, Primrose is 12 years old. Her mother is teaching her to be a healer. Katniss says that Prim is the only person she's certain that she loves.
Coriolanus Snow
President Coriolanus Snow is the ruler of the Capitol and all of Panem. He is the main antagonist in The Hunger Games trilogy. He's described as having puffy lips, resulting from an operation to alter his appearance—a popular procedure in the Capitol. Katniss notes that Snow smells of blood and roses. Later, it's revealed that the blood smell comes from sores in his mouth. When he attempted to poison people in Panem to gain control over them, he drank the poison as well to avoid suspicion. He immediately took the antidote, but it was too late to prevent the festering sores. Snow does not speak directly to Katniss until the second novel, when he confronts her to express his displeasure that both she and Peeta were allowed to win The Hunger Games.
Tributes of The Hunger Games
Every annual Hunger Games competition introduces new tributes—two from each district. These are some of the more significant tributes in The Hunter Games trilogy.
Rue: Rue is the female tribute from District 11 and the youngest tribute in the 74th Hunger Games. After she takes care of Katniss following a tracker jacker attack, they become allies in the game. Rue is eventually killed by Marvel and finishes 7th in the 74th Hunger Games. As she dies, Rue asks Katniss to sing to her.
Johanna Mason: Johanna Mason is from District 7 and is the winner of the 71st Hunger Games. She is called upon once again to compete in the 75th Hunger Games—the third Quarter Quell—and teams up with Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick. Johanna is rebellious, bold, and unafraid to show the Capitol just how much she disagrees with them. She also proves to be a vicious killer in the games.
Finnick Odair: Finnick is the male tribute from District 4 in the third Quarter Quell. He won the 65th Hunger Games when he was 14 years old. A Career tribute, he is popular among those in the Capitol for his good looks and fierce skills. At first, Katniss doesn't want to team up with Finnick in the 75th Hunger Games because he seems arrogant and superficial. But after Finnick saves Peeta, she feels indebted to him.
Annie Cresta: Annie is from District 4 and won the 70th Hunger Games. When the arena became flooded, she survived because she was the best swimmer. After witnessing the male tribute from her district be decapitated, Annie became mentally unstable. When Annie is chosen for the third Quarter Quell, Mags volunteers as tribute to take her place. Annie marries Finnick in Mockingjay.
District/Government Officials
The following government officials from the Capitol and the other districts are also major supporting characters in The Hunger Games trilogy.
Effie Trinket: Effie Trinket was born in the Capitol and is the chaperone assigned to oversee the District 12 tributes—Katniss and Peeta—in the 74th and 75th Hunger Games. Effie likes to wear wigs and colorful clothing, as she cares very much about appearances. Protocol and decorum are also of the utmost importance to Effie, and she is always punctual. She's not the most intelligent person, however, and she often makes mistakes about simple facts.
Cinna: Cinna is Katniss's stylist during The Hunger Games, and he is responsible for creating her public image. Most notably, he creates a dress for Katniss that ignites synthetic fire when she spins around, nicknaming her the "Girl on Fire." In Catching Fire, Cinna creates a dress for Katniss that turns into a symbol of the rebellion when she spins around, which provokes his death by torture at the hands of Capitol officials.
Caesar Flickerman: Caesar Flickerman has served as the master of ceremonies for The Hunger Games since the 50th Hunger Games. He also interviews each tribute the night before the games for a live television audience.
Cressida: Cressida is a film director who flees the Capitol to move to District 13 and join the rebellion. She films much of the rebellion and the destruction caused by the war.
Castor and Pollux: Castor and Pollux are brothers who work as Cressida's camera crew and eventually assist her in filming the rebellion. Pollux is a former Avox who escaped from the Capitol. Avoxes have had their tongues taken out, so Castor often translates for Pollux.
Alma Coin: Alma Coin is president of District 13 and a leader in the rebellion against the Capitol. She is also very corrupt and makes it clear that she despises Katniss. After taking over the Capitol, President Coin becomes the "interim" president of Panem. She proposes a final Hunger Games with the Capitol children as tributes and puts it to a vote. But before anything can be done, Katniss kills her.
Boggs: Boggs is President Coin's right-hand man. When they first meet, Katniss distrusts him. But over time, Katniss comes to see him differently and learns to trust him. Boggs briefly serves as Katniss's bodyguard. He is killed in a terrible accident, when he steps on a land mine on a Capitol street.
What happens in The Hunger Games series?
In the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy, 16-year-old Katniss volunteers as tribute in the 74th Hunger Games to protect her sister Primrose from having to compete and likely die. She plays alongside the male tribute from her district, Peeta Mellark. As they compete in the game, they weave the narrative that Peeta is in love with Katniss in order to get support from the competition's sponsors. Peeta, however, is genuinely, secretly in love with Katniss. At the end of the game, Peeta and Katniss win together by refusing to kill each other. When they are the only two left, Katniss defies the Gamemakers by suggesting she and Peeta eat toxic nightlock berries and die together. Just as they are about to consume the poison, they are both declared the winners.
Peeta and Katniss have both survived The Hunger Games, but the Capitol is not happy. And with the Quarter Quell coming up, the Capitol is able to make their own rules in order to get revenge on the two who beat the games. In the 75th Hunger Games—the third Quarter Quell—the tributes will be reaped from the victors of previous games. As the only surviving female tribute from District 12, Katniss is immediately thrown back into the game. Peeta chooses to return to the game in place of Haymitch, so he can protect Katniss. Before the end of the game, however, Katniss is pulled out of the competition by the rebellion. Tragically, Peeta is captured by the Capitol.
A revolution is unfolding in District 13, and Katniss finds herself as the unwilling face of the rebellion. Peeta, along with the other tributes held captive, is retrieved from the Capitol—but he has been brainwashed to fear and despise Katniss. After Peeta attempts to kill Katniss, he is forcibly restrained until they can find a cure. Meanwhile, Gale begins to help Katniss find support for the rebellion. When the rebellion attempts an attack on the Capitol, many lose their lives, including Primrose, who is killed in a bombing while trying to help those injured. District 13 President Alma Coin is able to overtake the Capitol. As Panem's acting ruler, she proposes a final Hunger Games in which the children of the Capitol are made to fight. Seeing that Coin as leader would just be another version of Snow, Katniss kills President Coin at President Snow's public execution. Then, the novel flashes forward 20 years. Katniss and Peeta are married and have two children. The games have been abolished. But Katniss still holds emotional scars and trauma from everything she's experienced.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy. It focuses on the story of President Snow. On the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing to be a mentor in the Games. The fate of the Snow family rests on Coriolanus's success. But the odds are against him. He's been assigned a female tribute from District 12, the least prepared and poorest district in all of Panem. But the more he works with the tribute, the more he begins to feel for her. And winning the game becomes even more important than a matter of status.
How were the books adapted for film?
The Hunger Games trilogy was adapted into four films: The Hunger Games (2012), Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay, Part 1 (2014, and Mockingjay, Part 2 (2015). The movies star Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. Donald Sutherland as Coriolanus Snow, and Julianne Moore as Alma Coin.
In 2020, Lionsgate greenlit a film adaptation of the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Francis Lawrence, the director of three of the four original films, is expected to return to direct the new Hunger Games movie prequel, and producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpsons are also returning. While no announcements about casting have been made yet, the film is set to start production in 2022 and should hit theaters in 2023 or 2024.
In the meantime, or any time, The Hunger Games series makes for great listening. Tatiana Maslany, who won multiple awards, including an Emmy, for playing multiple characters in the hit television series Orphan Black, narrates the entire Hunger Games trilogy, capturing the voice of Katniss. Tony Award-winning actor Santino Fontana, a listener favourite for nailing the voice of Joe Goldberg in his narration of the series You, takes over the mic for the prequel.
