Leah Strulovich

This article contains spoilers for **Twin Snakes**, the second spinoff and fourth overall entry of the Bleeding Hearts series. Twin Snakes can be read here: AO3 · FFN · Wattpad

## Leah Strulovich

* 69th HG
* Twin Snakes

### Age

18 (69th HG)
29 (Rising From the Ashes)
54 (Twin Snakes)

### Occupation

Tribute (69th HG)
Victor
Mentor

### Appears in

Rising From the Ashes
Twin Snakes: The 101st Hunger Games

**Leah Strulovich** is the Victor of the 69th Hunger Games from District 8. She is one of only six Victors to survive the Second Rebellion, making her one of the oldest Victors in the post-Rebellion era.

Leah appears twice in the Bleeding Hearts series; chronologically, she appears first in Rising From the Ashes: The 76th Games, in which she is featured in Griff Cohen's Victory Tour as one of the six living pre-war Victors. Leah appears again in Twin Snakes: The 101st Hunger Games; in this story, she acts as an official mentor for Rochelle Carrillo when Ramona Hatcher is unable to fulfill her mentoring duties.

## Life History

Leah Strulovich was born in District 8 the same year as the 51st Hunger Games. At age 18, she was Reaped into the 69th Hunger Games, where she ultimately triumphed as the Victor.

When the Second Rebellion ripped through Panem, nearly every Victor was killed by the Capitol or by rebel forces. Leah was one of only six Victors to survive; in Leah's case, this may have been because District 8 was not a focal point of the war, and she may have gone unnoticed as a neutral Victor.

After the Second Rebellion, Leah was forced to continue mentoring tributes in the Hunger Games, beginning with both unnamed tributes in the 76th Hunger Games. Leah managed to produce a Victor on her second attempt when Ramona Hatcher won the 77th Hunger Games.

Leah mentored alongside Ramona as a pair for the next seventeen years. In this time, an agreement was made between District 8's orphanage and their mayor to rig the Reapings to select orphans, saving District Eight's other children from the Games; this deal allowed the orphanage to receive the funding to stay open. As a result, all of Leah's tributes were orphans from the 91st to the 101st Hunger Games.

Mentoring orphans gave Leah weaker and less determined tributes, but these tributes also had more fighting experience. This allowed District 8 to produce two more Victors: Rafael Martinez in the 94th Hunger Games and Rochelle Carrillo in the 101st Hunger Games. Despite Rafael's eventual suicide, the addition of these Victors meant that Leah no longer mentored in every Hunger Games. However, District 8 was unable to produce any more Victors for the rest of Leah's life.

Leah ultimately passed away from health complications following the 119th Hunger Games at the age of 70. She was the second of the six pre-war surviving Victors to die, after Viridi Alvarez.

## Rising From the Ashes

Leah is first introduced very briefly in Rising From the Ashes: The 76th Games, when Griff meets her in his Victory Tour. Griff notes that Leah copes with her past experiences with alcohol, as she has to be shaken awake at the train station and doesn't even remember her name once she greets him. It is known that Leah mentored the male and female tributes in the 76th Games, but she is not actively seen in this role in the story.

## Twin Snakes

Leah appears in a much larger capacity in Twin Snakes: The 101st Hunger Games, as one of the two tribute mentors from District 8. In the story, Leah appears to have cleaned up her alcoholism and is much more clear-headed and focused on mentoring her tributes. In contrast, her fellow mentor Ramona Hatcher is unable to mentor, as she is still distraught over Rafael Martinez's suicide and believes that producing a Victor isn't even worth the emotional toll.

In Twin Snakes, Leah is the mentor of Diego Guerrero; because of his life-and-death bond with Astrid Pianelli, she acts as her mentor as well, and likely worked with Astrid's mentor Daisy Landry prior to the Games.

When Rochelle Carrillo fails to get advice from Ramona, Leah steps in and helps, but Rochelle rejects her advice and tells her to focus on Diego. However, when Rochelle tries to convince Ramona to help her, Leah steps in to help her.

After the conclusion of the 101st Games, Leah continues to care for Rochelle; as Rochelle has no parents of her own, Leah acts as a mother figure to her. When Dr. Antonia Vitale of the District 8 orphanage is unable to reach Rochelle by phone, she calls Leah and convinces her to coax Rochelle back to the orphanage to complete paperwork. Leah encourages Rochelle to return to the orphanage to close that chapter in her life. After the Games, Leah reveals to Rochelle that Ramona was very clingy and emotionally attached to her prior to the Games, as Rochelle experiences the same treatment, but Leah explains that this is just her way of coping with the Games.