Lavinia

**Lavinia** was an Avox girl who worked as a Capitol servant for Katniss throughout the 74th and 75th Hunger Games. Throughout *The Hunger Games* and *Catching Fire*, she is known simply as the "Avox girl". Her name was revealed in *Mockingjay*, when Peeta recounted his experience in Capitol imprisonment.

## Biography

Before she became an Avox, Lavinia and an unknown boy, whom Katniss believed was her brother or lover, were seen by Katniss and Gale while they were out hunting, in an off-limits wood outside of District 12. They appeared to be escaping from the Capitol to District 13 for unknown reasons, and Katniss noted that the two had a "Capitol look" to them. A Capitol hovercraft appeared; the boy was struck with a spear that was shot from the hovercraft and was killed instantly, then was lifted up to the hovercraft, not to be mentioned again in the series. Lavinia, however, was scooped up by a net and taken into the hovercraft, and she briefly locked eyes with Katniss and Gale. When the boy was killed, she screamed what sounded like a name, and Katniss wondered if it was the name of the boy.

Years later, Lavinia waited on Katniss as an Avox whose tongue had been cut out for committing crimes against the Capitol. Katniss said she knew Lavinia, but at that time did not know her name or where she remembered her from. This worried the residents from the Capitol, so Peeta stepped in and claimed that Lavinia looked like Delly Cartwright - a girl from District 12 who went to school with them. As an Avox, she could not publicly acknowledge anything that was not a direct order, so Katniss' initial attempt at conversation was ignored. However when she later walks in on the mess Katniss has made in her room prior to interview night she shows some response to Katniss' attempted apology, indicating by gestures that Katniss did not need to be sorry, and that there was nothing she could have done, otherwise she too, would have been an Avox.

## Death

During the Quarter Quell, Lavinia was once again Katniss and Peeta's Avox, along with former Peacekeeper Darius, who was sent in to scare and make Katniss discontented. After the 75th Hunger Games, Darius and Lavinia were taken hostage, and she was tortured and killed immediately by painful electrocution in front of Peeta.

## Physical description

Lavinia has dark red hair, striking features, and porcelain white skin. Being an Avox, her tongue was cut out and she is therefore mute. Katniss said that Lavinia had a "Capitol" look to her. She is also subject to a lifetime of servitude to the Capitol. As an Avox, she is of Panem's lowest social class, essentially a slave.

She is said to resemble Delly Cartwright, according to Peeta, however, this was simply an excuse to cover for Katniss' accidentally letting the slip that she recognised the Avox. Although Katniss recalls that they look nothing alike, she immediately pretends otherwise to protect herself and Peeta from her earlier mistake. While Katniss recalls Delly to be friendly, she contrasts it with the fact that she had never seen Lavinia smile.

Lavinia is described as a matching set with Darius by Effie Trinket in *Catching Fire*, for their similarly red hair.

## Trivia

* She is the only known Capitol citizen who attempted to escape for unknown reasons.
* Lavinia is not mentioned in *The Hunger Games* film*.* She only appears as a background character.
* Lavinia is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus. In the play, Lavinia has her tongue and hands removed after she is assaulted so she will not reveal who attacked her.
* Lavinia from Roman mythology, the daughter of King Latinus, appears with her father in Limbo in Canto IV of Dante's Inferno, the first canticle of his Divine Comedia. She is also mentioned as the wife of Æneas in Paradiso, the third canticle, in Canto VI. Lavinia in Roman mythology however is most memorable for notable moment in Book 7 of the Æneid, written by Virigil (Dante Pilgrim's first guide in the Comedia), when her hair catches fire at the sacrificial altar for the gods.