Brutus Stein

* 43 ATT
* 75 ATT

"*Brutus, a volunteer from District 2, who must be at least forty and apparently can't wait to get back in the arena.* "
―Katniss Everdeen describing Brutus' Reaping**Brutus** was the male Career tribute from District 2 for the 75th Hunger Games, and the victor of the 43rd Hunger Games. He went down in history as the tribute to get the most kills in one edition of the Games, killing eleven of his competitors.

## Biography

### Early life

Brutus was a member of P.A.C.K. (Pervicax Academy of Combative Knowledge) from the age of two. He started working in the quarries of District 2 in 41 ATT at the age of 16. He was the top-scoring tributes in all of his classes and volunteered during the Reaping of the 43rd Hunger Games with his district partner for this reason.

### 43rd Hunger Games

Brutus' mentor was Augusta, who was one of his instructors at P.A.C.K. and trained him rigourously, beating out any individuality from him. The arena this year was a labour camp modelled after Nazi concentration camps, especially Auschwitz. Brutus killed five tributes alone in the Bloodbath, and he kept a steady kill frequency all the way up until the tenth day, when he killed the last tribute and became a victor. The final scene of him beheading his final competitor with a sword became a frequent list topper of Peony Albina's "Top Ten Hunger Games Moments" series.

### Mentoring

Brutus started mentoring the year directly after he won. Over the years, he mentored Lyme Turnbull and Clayton, both of whom emerged victorious. As the years grew on and more victors came to replace him, Brutus started only mentoring every second year.

He was the mentor of Maximus, his district's male tribute in the 61st Hunger Games. Brutus was confident that District 2 would bring home another victor that year. On the third day of training, Maximus and Brutus had a conversation brainstorming ideas for Maximus to do something with a knife during his private session that hasn't been done before. He ended up showing his knowledge of anatomy by demonstrating with a dagger on a dummy. When Caspian killed Maximus, he said, "Don't worry, I'll tell Brutus you really tried your best when I leave the arena, emerging victorious."

He was deeply jealous during the 73rd Hunger Games. He hadn't mentored a victor since Clayton, so he was starting to feel agitated. When Enobaria Bernard's tribute, Raudel, won on the same year Brutus was mentoring his district partner, he got upset.

### 75th Hunger Games

When the time came for the third Quarter Quell, the victors were the chosen tributes once again to show that even they did not have any power over the Capitol. Brutus happily volunteered to partake in the 75th Hunger Games, saying that he couldn't wait to get back into the arena. His district partner was Enobaria Bernard.

#### Training

During training, Brutus and Peeta got on each other's good side. Along with Chaff Boivin, they practiced at the spear-throwing station. When Brutus saw Katniss' skill with a bow and arrow along with her combined strength and tactical knowledge, Brutus expressed interest in an alliance with the two to Haymitch. Katniss turned down his offer, and she and Peeta told Haymitch that they should go into the arena without any allies. Brutus received a 9 as a training score.

During the interviews with each of the tributes, Brutus did not try to express any anger or feelings of betrayal, but he did reluctantly join hands with the other victors as a chain symbolizing their strength. He wore a silver chest plate, a black pair of shorts, and black boots.

#### During the Games

At the Cornucopia, his pedestal was next to Katniss', but not in the same wedge. When the gong sounded, he jumped to his spoke and swam to the Cornucopia. Inside the arena, Brutus, Enobaria, and Cashmere and Gloss Osborne approached the Cornucopia, where he showed a unique way of dodging Katniss' arrows with his belt. However, he, along with the other Careers, were driven off by Katniss and Finnick Odair, who got there before the Pack. While Katniss and Finnick left with Mags Flanagan and Peeta, Brutus and the other Careers stayed and helped massacre the competition. Brutus killed the tributes from District 8, Woof Nylon and Cecelia Losa.

Together, Brutus, Enobaria, Cashmere and Gloss followed the rebel alliance's tributes in the arena (those left being Wiress Wright, Beetee Latier, Mags, Finnick, Coge Magorian, Johanna Mason, Blight Atwood, Chaff, Katniss, and Peeta). Over time, the alliance began to shrink with the deaths of Blight, Mags, and Coge. The remaining members (minus Chaff, who was off on his own) traveled back to the Cornucopia to retrieve any weapons they needed that had been left behind. Brutus was nearly killed by Finnick, but he was saved after Enobaria threw a knife at Finnick's arm. Gloss killed Wiress, but he and Cashmere were killed immediately after, forcing Brutus and Enobaria to retreat from the Cornucopia.

Back in the jungle, the rebel alliance soon learned that, with the deaths of Offal Tripe and Leta Larsson, the Games were now down to them, Chaff, Enobaria, and Brutus. Beetee, Johanna, and Finnick planned to break out of the arena, but Katniss and Peeta did not know the plan, so Beetee told Katniss that the plan was to electrocute the water and cut off Brutus and Enobaria's resources. He sent Katniss and Johanna to run the line across the jungle, and they were pursued by Brutus and Enobaria.

Johanna stopped and cut out Katniss' tracking device to make it seem like she was dead, then diverted Brutus and Enobaria from her. In the chaos that followed, Enobaria stabbed Beetee again but didn't manage to kill him before Finnick chased her away. Brutus ran into Peeta, who had recently met up with Chaff. In the battle that followed, Chaff was killed by Brutus. In a fit of rage, Peeta killed Brutus seconds later.

Brutus placed 7th and was the last tribute to die. Shortly after his death, Katniss destroyed the arena and ended the Games, leaving six surviving tributes.

## Victims

In the 43rd Hunger Games, he had eleven different victims, five of whom he killed in the Bloodbath. Those killed after the Bloodbath included his district partner and the boy from District 1.

In the 75th Hunger Games, he had three victims, two on the first day (Woof and Cecelia) and one on the third day (Chaff).

## Personality

Being a Career tribute, Brutus was named perfectly as it mirrored his brutality, animal-like nature, and strength, which played a role in his victory. He was very skilled, which was why Haymitch was surprised that he wanted to team up with Katniss after seeing her skills with a bow.

## Trivia

* Brutus was also the last tribute to die in all the Hunger Games, and therefore the last District 2 tribute to die.
* In the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, both District 2 males (Cato and Brutus) were the last to die, and their last kills were the District 11 males.
* Both male volunteers from District 2 in the 74th and 75th Hunger Games were killed by volunteers from District 12. Cato was killed by Katniss, and Brutus was killed by Peeta.
* Brutus' name is a reference to Ancient Rome, as several Romans in history went by this name. The most famous was Julius Caesar's assassin, Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, who often went by the name Brutus alone.