Cato Hardy

**Cato Hardy** was the male tribute from District 2 in the 74th Hunger Games. He was the leader of the 1-2-4 Pack, the strongest tribute in the arena, and Katniss Everdeen's primary adversary.

## Biography

### Early life

"*A monstrous boy who lunges forward to volunteer from District 2.*"
―Katniss' first impression of CatoCato lived in District 2 prior to the 74th Hunger Games and trained for the Hunger Games alongside his fellow district members. He started training at P.A.C.K when he was six years old and his primary instructor was Brutus Stein. Like most Career tributes, Cato volunteered for the Games.

### 74th Hunger Games

Cato was mentored by Carlos, the victor of the 72nd Hunger Games.

#### Tribute parade

Cato and his district partner Clove entered the tribute parade dressed as golden-armoured Roman gladiators. After the parade, Cato glared at the District 12 team because they outshone the other tributes.

#### Training Center

"*I've been preoccupied with watching the boy from District 2 send a spear through a dummy’s heart from fifteen yards.*"
―Katniss Everdeen's thoughts in the Training CenterCato trained at the spear-throwing station and displayed his prowess with the weaponry. Cato was angered when he thought that Jason took his knife, which was actually stolen by Rue Brownlow. He provoked a fight with the other boy, threatening to make him his first target, until the training staff separated them because conflict before the Games was not allowed. He showed his weaponry skills to the Gamemakers in his private session and received a training score of 10.

#### Interview

Katniss described Cato as playing up the angle of a "ruthless killing machine". He expressed his eagerness and preparedness to begin the Games, thanking Brutus for inspiring him.

### Cornucopia bloodbath

Cato ran towards the Cornucopia and fought for supplies. During the Bloodbath, he went out of his way to target Jason and managed to kill him after stabbing Ari and Brian to death.

### First night

"*Go on, then, Lover Boy. See for yourself.*"
―Cato to PeetaDuring the first night of the Games, the Careers manage to track down Tessa by seeing the fire she foolishly started in the middle of the night. The Careers attempted to kill her, but when the Gamemakers withheld cannon fire, Peeta went back to "finish the job". In his absence, the Careers argued over whether they should let him live or not, though they ultimately decided to leave him alive, as they believed he was their best chance at finding Katniss.

#### Tracker jackers

A few days into the Games, after an enormous fire forced the tributes together, the Careers found Katniss and chased her up a tree. Cato attempted to follow her into the tree, but he fell due to his heavy weight. Glimmer tried next but met the same failure. Peeta suggested the Careers made camp below Katniss's tree so she couldn't escape without them knowing, and the Careers reluctantly obliged.

While stuck in the tree, Katniss cut down a tracker jacker nest, which fell onto the sleeping Careers and chased them away from her tree. While Glimmer and Marina died from their stings before they made it to safety, Cato and the others escaped to a nearby lake, where they fended off the remaining insects. With the Careers distracted, Katniss pried the bow and arrows from Glimmer's corpse, but Peeta returned and urged her to run. As he did, Cato cut his way through the bush and realized what Peeta has done. Enraged at Peeta's betrayal, Cato sliced Peeta's upper leg, leaving Peeta with a severe wound, tracker jacker strings, and burns retained from the fire. Peeta just barely escaped and made it to the stream, and Cato considered chasing him down, but realized he would be equally as happy is Peeta died a slow and very painful death.

#### Destroyed supplies

While Katniss was unconscious and the other Careers were still nursing their wounds, Cato stumbled upon Sophocles and swing his sword in the air to kill him. Sophocles protested, saying he could help them by rewiring the mines in the arena to protect the Pack's supplies. Cato smiled menacingly, then told Sophocles that if he messed up in any way, he would make him pay for it.

When the Careers caught sight of smoke from Rue's lit fire (a decoy for the Careers), they went to investigate, taking Sophocles along at Cato's insistence. In their absence, Foxface stole supplies from the Careers' camp by stepping carefully around the mine indentations. This made Katniss realize that the District 3 male reactivated the mines in the form of a booby trap. Carefully shooting open a bag of apples, which then spilled out onto the ground, Katniss activated all the mines at once, effectively destroying the Careers' supplies. When Cato returned with his allies, he descended into a fit of rage and snapped Sophocle's neck, killing him instantly. His allies managed to calm him down, and the Careers strode back into the woods to hunt.

#### The feast

"*"Clove!" I hear Cato's answer, but he's too far away, I can tell that much, to do her any good. What was he doing? Trying to get Foxface or Peeta? Or had he been lying in wait for Thresh and just badly misjudged his location?*"
―Katniss' thoughts during the FeastDuring the Feast, Cato and Clove returned to the Cornucopia and stood waiting for their backpack. Clove went in for the backpack while Cato went around the Cornucopia, but by the time she was dying at the hands of Thresh, Cato was too far away to save her. Cato knelt beside Clove and begged her to stay with him. However, Clove soon succumbed to her injuries.

By this time, Thresh stole both his backpack and Cato's. Being a strong Career tribute, Cato said that the reason he tried to hunt down Thresh was to get back his backpack, but in his heart, he wanted vengeance for Clove's death. He found Thresh on the sixteenth day and shoved his sword through his chest, then took back his backpack. The backpack contained body armour , which Thresh wasn't using when he was attacked because it didn't fit him due to being fit for Cato's slightly wider but slightly shorter frame.

#### Death

"*Shoot me and he goes down with me.*"
―Cato to Katniss about PeetaOn the last full day of the Games, wolf-like muttations appeared out of nowhere, chasing a bloodied and beaten Cato out of the woods. Katniss and Peeta thought he was on his way to kill them, so Katniss shot an arrow at his chest, but it bounced off since he was wearing his armour. Ignoring Katniss' arrow, Cato rocketed past Katniss and Peeta and made a beeline to the Cornucopia. The two raced after him after catching sight of the mutts.

Once on top of the Cornucopia, Cato took a few moments to catch his breath before he put Peeta in a headlock, effectively cutting off his ability to breathe. When Katniss pointed an arrow at his head, Cato merely laughed and pointed out that if she shot him, Peeta would fall to the mutts as well. Katniss figured out that if Peeta died, Cato would use his body as a shield against her arrows. Almost out of options, Peeta shakily drew an "X" in blood on Cato's hand with his finger. Katniss shot her arrow into Cato's hand, forcing him to reflexively release Peeta and fall to the mutts. At first, Cato fought the mutts off, as the sound of his sword against the Cornucopia was heard for a long time. Eventually, despite his great strength and skill, he was disabled, and the mutts brutally attacked him for hours, as he was too exhausted to defend himself.

At dawn, Katniss couldn't take Cato's moans of pain and despair any longer and decided to use her last arrow to end his suffering. With Peeta's help, she lent down into the mouth of the Cornucopia and found a savagely bloodied Cato lying at the back. He mouthed the word "please", and out of pity, not vengeance, she shot the arrow into his head, killing him instantly.

Cato placed third out of 24 tributes, dying on the eighteenth day.

### Legacy

#### Victory Tour

Due to post-traumatic stress, Katniss began to have frequent nightmares about the arena, one of which involves Cato dying at the claws of the mutts. She later admits that most of the deaths in the Games were not very pretty, thinking specifically of Cato's and Glimmer's ends. Katniss visited District 2 on her Victory Tour and saw Cato's grieving family among the spectators.

#### Second Rebellion

"*Cato and Clove. Brutus and Enobaria. I've seen their eagerness and their bloodlust, too.*"
―Katniss' thoughts on tributes from District 2Katniss recounted the bloodlust of tributes from District 2, including Cato. She thought of Cato several times, the first being when she encountered mockingjays, an incident which caused her to remember how the birds had started singing just before the mutts "gnawed Cato to a bloody pulp". She later remembered how tracker jacker venom had messed with her head, making her question whether Peeta had saved her from Cato or not.

#### Visit to District 2

Katniss visited District 2 and recalled seeing Cato's grieving family during the Victory Tour. While sitting in the entrance hall of the Justice Building, she recalled the weariness of visiting District 2 on the Victory Tour, as it was hard to be reminded of Cato and Clove, especially Cato, who died such a gruesome death.

## Relationships

* Peeta Mellark, Sophocles (ex-allies, enemies)
* Katniss Everdeen, Thresh, Jason (rivals, enemies)
* Clove, Glimmer, Marvel (allies)
* Brutus Stein (instructor, muse)
* Carlos (mentor)

## Victims

Cato was the tribute with the most kills during the 74th Hunger Games, with five. His first victim was Ari of District 6, who was the fifth to die in the Games. Cato then killed Brian of District 5 and Jason, who he had previously threatened to kill.

Cato killed two tributes during the rest of the Games, Sophocles and Thresh. He killed Sophocles by snapping his neck and Thresh by stabbing him in the chest with his sword.

## Appearance

"*Brutal, bloody Cato who can snap a neck with a twist of his arm, who had the power to overcome Thresh.*"
―Description of Cato's physical abilitiesCato was a "physical wonder", with a robust stature and powerful, visibly well-muscled arms. He was the second largest tribute, only slightly smaller than Thresh. He was capable of snapping a neck with his bare hands and demonstrated his raw physical power several times, most notably when he single-handedly fought off a pack of muttations for over an hour.

He had short-cropped, slightly spiked blond hair and blue eyes.

## Personality

"*I believe Cato could easily lose his judgment in a fit of temper. Not that I can feel superior on that point. I think of the moment I sent the arrow flying into the apple in the pig's mouth when I was so enraged. Maybe I do understand Cato better than I think.*"
―Katniss compares herself to Cato[src]Having been raised in District 2, a district with strong ties to the Capitol and general enthusiasm for the Hunger Games, Cato was aggressive, bloodthirsty, and violent. He showed disregard for his fellow tributes' lives and killed without hesitation, even seeing it as a means of achieving glory and honor. This was made all the more effective by his prowess in battle, as Cato was physically large and well-built, could wield spears and swords with proficiency, and displayed impressive endurance and vitality. He had the highest betting odds out of all of the tributes, followed by Marvel, Thresh, Katniss, and Clove.

Cato's competitive nature was even more extreme than those of his fellow Careers, as he harbored a deep resentment of Katniss due to her high training score and iterated to his allies that he would be the one to kill her. When faced with a defeat, Cato abandoned all rationality, instead losing his temper, throwing a tantrum, and often taking out his rage on those he perceived as responsible for his predicament. His fury was so extreme that Katniss described it as "comical," though she was frightened by his instability, immense power, and personal vendetta against her. Due to his strength and skills, Cato was arrogant and overestimated his own abilities. This more often than not led to his failure to follow through on a kill, most notably when he failed to finish off Peeta after the tracker jacker incident. Ultimately, his arrogance was his downfall, as he was slow to react to Katniss shooting his hand due to believing he already won the fight.

## Abilities

* Swordfighting
* Physical strength
* Intimidation
* Bravery

## Possessions

At the onset of the Games, Cato had access to almost every resource, as he and his allies held control over the Cornucopia supplies. Known possessions of the Careers included food, water, medicine, night vision glasses, and weapons of all sorts. After the supplies were blown up, the Careers were left with little to sustain themselves. Cato still possessed a spear and a sword following the explosion, as he took them with him to investigate the fire.

Cato was given high tech body armor from the Capitol. It was made of a durable material that could withstand Katniss' arrows and allowed Cato to suffer for hours while the mutts chewed away at his flesh.