List of The Hunger Games characters
The following is a list of characters in "The Hunger Games" novels, a series of young adult science fiction novels by Suzanne Collins whose original trilogy was later adapted into a series of four feature films. The actors who portray these characters are given in List of "The Hunger Games" cast members. =Characters= Katniss Everdeen. Katniss Everdeen, known as "the girl on fire", is the main protagonist in the Hunger Games. She is 16 years old at the beginning of the first book and is quiet, independent, and fierce. She has long dark  hair (hers is usually tied up in a braid), olive skin, and gray eyes, which are given as a characteristic of residents of the coal mining region of District 12 known as "the Seam". She is named for an aquatic plant with edible underwater tubers, and lives with her mother and younger sister, Primrose Everdeen (nicknamed "Prim"). Her father's death in a mining accident several years ago left her mother deeply depressed, forcing Katniss to become the mother figure and to use the hunting skills taught by her father to feed the family. Her favorite color is green, because  of her familiarity with the forest. When Prim is "reaped" (chosen by lottery) as a "tribute" who must fight twenty-three other tributes to the death in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She survives the game along with her co-tribute Peeta Mellark, who is in love with her. When the Gamemakers renege on a promise to let two surviving tributes from the same district live, she defies and embarrasses the government by threatening a double suicide with Peeta, becoming the personal enemy of Panem's leader, President Coriolanus Snow. In the second installment "Catching  Fire", she is forced to fight in the next year's Hunger Games, an especially brutal edition known as the Quarter Quell which occurs every 25 years. She destroys the force field containing the Games arena and is rescued along with a few surviving tributes by members of an underground rebellion organized by the supposedly destroyed District 13. In the third installment, she becomes the "Mockingjay", an inspirational symbol of a second civil war against the Capitol. Despite the intent of her limited role as a propagandist, she is drawn into combat by her obsession to kill Snow. As the  war progresses, she comes to realize the rebel leader, President Alma Coin, is no less ruthless and power-driven than Snow. Katniss learns that Coin considers her expendable, staged a supposed Capitol atrocity which kills Prim, and after the war, calls for a final Hunger Games using the children of the Capitol war criminals. When finally given the chance to execute Snow, Katniss kills Coin instead. She is deemed not mentally responsible and returns to District 12, suffering trauma and suicidal depression. Peeta's return draws her out of the depression, and she finally realizes she is in love with  him. She marries him, but it is fifteen years until she is ready to have children. When she does finally have children they are a girl and a boy. Peeta Mellark. Peeta Mellark is a male tribute from District 12 in both the 74th and 75th Hunger Games. He is the same age as Katniss, with fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes, characteristic of the town residents of District 12, whose middle-class merchants are slightly more well-to-do than those of the Seam. Peeta is the baker's son and lives with 2 older brothers, a quiet  father, and a strict disciplinarian mother. Peeta's favorite color is orange. His skills include physical strength, personal charm and charisma, public speaking, baking, and painting. He is also known for his kindness and generosity. He is highly intelligent and is always thoughtful, balancing Katniss' impulsiveness. Peeta has been in love with Katniss ever since he first saw her during elementary school and declares his love for her during the pre-Games interview. Katniss believes this is a ploy to gain the support of sponsors to help them survive the Games. When they are young, Peeta saves Katniss and her  family from starving to death by giving her bread, which he had accidentally burnt and his mother had beaten him for. Since then, he is known as the "boy with the bread" to Katniss. During the first game, he carefully comes up with a strategy to protect Katniss. As part of the strategy, he confesses his love for Katniss on TV in order to make her look desirable so she would have sponsors. Also, he decides to team up with the Careers and misleads them about Katniss. However, when the careers find this out, Peeta fights with them to save  Katniss and is severely wounded. In the Quarter Quell, he volunteers to replace Haymitch Abernathy as the male tribute from District 12, so that he can protect Katniss in the arena. The only time Katniss can sleep without nightmares relating back to the Games is when she is being held in Peeta's arms. Peeta is captured by the Capitol at the end of the Quarter Quell and submitted to 'hijacking', a process of torture and brainwashing which gives him a fear of Katniss and effectively turns him into an assassination weapon against her. During the civil war, he is  rescued and eventually rehabilitated by the rebels. After the Capitol is defeated, he returns to District 12 with Katniss and marries her. Fifteen years after the war, they have two children. Gale Hawthorne. Gale Hawthorne is a Seam resident boy who is two years older than Katniss and shares her hunting skill, dark hair, olive skin, and gray eyes. Through hunting, they have become best friends. Muscular and handsome, Gale has caught the attention of several girls in District 12. Gale lives with his mother Hazelle and his three younger siblings (Rory, Vick, and Posy) after his father's death  in the same mining accident that killed Katniss' father. Being from the Seam, Gale shares a slight resemblance to Katniss. This allows the people of the Seam to cover for his close relationship with Katniss by saying they are cousins to hide the fact that the "star-crossed lovers" storyline with Peeta was staged, as it is presumed her closeness with someone as good looking as Gale would draw suspicion. Though their portrayal as cousins effectively satisfies the press from the Capitol, it makes both Katniss and Gale very uncomfortable on several occasions. In the second book, "Catching Fire", Katniss  returns to District 12, but their relationship cannot continue as it was, since Katniss and Peeta must play the part of lovers due to threats from the Capitol. Gale confesses his love for Katniss after she asks him to run away with her. Soon afterward, he is brutally whipped in public for hunting on Capitol land. Katniss rescues him, getting whipped on the left cheek in doing so, and then takes care of him and they share a kiss. He and Katniss prepare to fight as it becomes clear that a rebellion is about to begin. However, Katniss, along  with Peeta, is selected for the Third Quarter Quell and must leave District 12 to return to the Games. Once again, Gale is forced to say goodbye to Katniss as she prepares for a fight to the death. The book ends with Katniss waking up to see Gale's face. She is extremely confused, having been in the Hunger Games, and Gale tells her District 12 is no more. In "Mockingjay", Gale fights in the rebellion in an epic war. When District 12 was destroyed, Gale led approximately 10% of the population to safety. The survivors are forced to move  to what is left of District 13. Once the people of District 13 are aware of Gale's heroism, they reward him with a higher ranking and a communicuff (which is later taken from him as punishment for helping Katniss). Towards the end of the book, his relationship with Katniss deteriorates because he feels responsible for the death of Prim, Katniss's sister (caused by a bomb he had constructed). He mentions that he would always remind Katniss of Prim's death, which Katniss silently agrees with. Afterwards, Gale decides to remain in District 2. Katniss hints of him having  a girlfriend in District 2 and having moved on. It is possible that Gale and Katniss reconciled off-screen in the epilogue. Haymitch Abernathy. Haymitch Abernathy is a 'paunchy, alcohol-loving, handsome middle-aged man' who won the 50th Hunger Games (the Second Quarter Quell) 24 years before the events of the first book. He comes from The Seam and is described as having similar physical characteristics to Katniss and Gale: greyish hair and olive skin; in the Hunger Games movies, he is portrayed with blond straight hair and blue eyes. When he was 16, Haymitch was reaped for the  Second Quarter Quell, wherein four, instead of the normal amount of two tributes from each district participated. He became an ally to a girl named Maysilee Donner, the original owner of Katniss's symbolic mockingjay pin, but was later forced to watch her die. During the Games, he discovered a cliff at the edge of the Arena that concealed a force field, which would ricochet anything thrown in its direction. During the final moments of the Games, a severely wounded Haymitch positioned himself by the edge of the force field to face his final opponent, a female tribute from District  1. Since she was a career tribute and stronger than Haymitch, she was favored to win the encounter. However, Haymitch's strategy was to wait for his opponent to fling her weapon at him, then he would duck and the force field would hurl it back at her. His plan was successful, leaving Haymitch the victor. Within two weeks of his victory, Haymitch's mother, younger brother, and girlfriend were all killed by President Snow as punishment for Haymitch using the force field to his advantage. Haymitch became an example of what happens to anyone who would defy the Capitol . Following his victory, Haymitch became an alcoholic and has spent almost all of the next 24 years intoxicated. As the only surviving victor from District 12 (one of only two in the history of the Games), Haymitch has been forced to mentor all of its tributes, which consumed him with guilt by being obligated to participate in the Games that he hated. He stumbled through drunken fatalism and bemused curiosity all while teaching his new pupils his tricks. He dealt with these feelings with alcohol and by openly flouting the dignity of the games. He treats Peeta and Katniss with  contempt, and initially is sarcastic, expending no effort to help them. However, when Katniss confronts him, he is stirred from his stupor and emerges as the pair's greatest advocate, impressed by her determination and Peeta's patience. Haymitch shows himself to be highly canny as he guides his protégés in a cleverly designed, highly unorthodox strategy aimed at ensuring the survival of both tributes. In the book "Catching Fire", the liquor supply in District 12 runs out. As a result, Haymitch suffers from alcohol withdrawal. It is left to Katniss and Peeta to coax him back to health and  get him more liquor. After this incident, Katniss begins to develop a true affection and respect for him. When Katniss discovers Haymitch and his allies from District 13 and the Capitol failed to save Peeta from the arena as they did her, she claws him in the face. In "Mockingjay", Haymitch is forced to go through detox in District 13, as they do not permit the consumption of alcohol. During the voting to decide whether the final Hunger Games will use the Capitol children, Haymitch votes yes, understanding Katniss's decision to make President Coin think she is on her  side. After this, he continues to serve as a mentor to Katniss and Peeta. However, he never truly repairs his relationship with either of them and resumes his drinking after the war ends. Haymitch and Katniss, despite nearly always working towards the same goals, are usually hostile towards each other because they have similarly prickly personalities. Also, Katniss and Peeta both resent Haymitch for keeping information from both of them, sometimes at the request of the other. Primrose Everdeen. Primrose ("Prim") Everdeen is Katniss's younger sister. She has an ugly cat named Buttercup. She is 12 years old in  The Hunger Games and has blonde hair and blue eyes. Prim is kind and compassionate. She is a skilled healer, having been taught by her mother. In "Mockingjay", Prim is chosen by District 13 to be trained as a doctor. The events of "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay" force Prim to become more solemn and mature beyond her 13 years. Katniss states that Prim is "the only person I'm certain I love". At the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games, Prim is chosen by lottery as the female "representative" of District 12. Katniss volunteers to take her place. Before Katniss  leaves for the Capitol, Prim makes her promise to try hard to win the Games, and Katniss agrees to try and win. This promise guides many of Katniss's actions in the game, and Katniss's sacrifice for Prim makes her a popular symbol in the Capitol, prompting Johanna to note that the Capitol cannot afford to threaten Prim to get to Katniss because of the potential outcry. In "Mockingjay", rebel President Alma Coin sends Prim as a casualty nurse into the final battle against the Capitol. Prim is killed in a bombing, sending Katniss into a deep depression  and resulting in her losing her voice momentarily. President Snow later tells Katniss the rebels did the bombing and made it look like the work of the Capitol, and timed a second explosion to kill the medical corps assisting survivors of the first. This leads Katniss to kill Coin instead of Snow. Coriolanus Snow. President Coriolanus Snow is the main antagonist of the series. He is the autocratic ruler of the Capitol and all of Panem. Though seemingly laid-back, his demeanor hides a sadistic and psychopathic mind. He initially appears in "The Hunger Games" giving the official welcome at  the opening of the Games, but he does not speak to Katniss face-to-face until "Catching Fire" when he pays her a visit at home and tells her he is angry that both she and Peeta were allowed to survive the Hunger Games, as their act of defiance (preferring joint suicide to the prospect of one killing the other) has ignited rebellion in several of the Districts. She is too prominent to kill, but he threatens her family and Gale unless she proves to the Districts that her act of saving Peeta was merely that of a love-crazed  teenager and was not related to any desire to defy the Capitol. Later, Snow indicates to her that she failed in this, meaning that some or all of his threats will come true. President Snow is described as having very puffy lips, which are most likely the result of an appearance-altering operation that is very popular in the Capitol. Katniss describes him as exuding a smell of blood and roses. In "Mockingjay", it is revealed that the smell of blood is due to oral sores he incurred from one of the poisons that he used to kill people in  his megalomaniacal efforts to control Panem. He drank the poison in order to allay suspicions, then took the antidote, but resulted in bloody sores in his mouth. He also smells strongly of genetically enhanced roses, as he always wears a white rose in his lapel to cover the scent of blood. The strong smell invariably makes Katniss gag. He is said to have prostituted winning tributes, like Finnick Odair, forcing them to have sex with wealthy Capitol citizens, under threat of killing their loved ones if they refused. Snow claims he only kills for a purpose, and he promises Katniss  he will always tell her the truth. Whether these assertions are true or not is left up to interpretation by Katniss. He dies at the end of "Mockingjay", after Katniss shoots President Coin instead of him at his own public execution, and he laughs maniacally at the irony of said assassination. The rebels are unable to determine whether the cause of death was by choking on his own blood from his untreated mouth sores or because he was trampled by the mob in the panic following President Coin's assassination. Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow is the main character of "The Ballad  of Songbirds and Snakes", which is set when he is aged 18. Having been orphaned during the war, he lives with his grandmother and his cousin Tigris. His family was once rich but had lost a lot of their wealth in the war, mainly due to their factory in District 13 being destroyed. He is assigned to mentor the female tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird. In the leadup to the Hunger Games, they develop feelings for each other, culminating in a goodbye kiss before she enters the arena. Before and during the Hunger Games, the head gamemaker, Dr.  Gaul, takes a personal interest in his education and assigns him to write a number of essays. On the first night of the Games, his friend Sejanus Plinth infiltrates the arena to administer funeral rites to a tribute, and Dr. Gaul forces Coriolanus to enter the arena and bring him out. They are attacked by a number of tributes, one of whom Coriolanus kills in self-defense. Dr. Gaul reveals that this was to educate him about the violence humans were capable of. Lucy Gray wins the games, in part, due to illicit assistance she receives from Snow: he helps  her smuggle food into the arena, as well as a make-up compact filled with rat poison, which she uses to kill two other tributes. He also introduces her scent to the snake muttations, which he suspects will be deployed in the arena. As punishment for their indiscretions, he and Sejanus are sent to District 12 to serve as Peacekeepers. Coriolanus reunites with Lucy Gray and they begin a relationship. The two of them get caught up in a rebel plot which Sejanus is part of, and Coriolanus is forced to kill the Mayor's daughter, Mayfair Lipp, Lucy Gray 's former rival in love, so she does not report them to the authorities. Coriolanus reports the plot to the Capitol, for which Sejanus is hanged. Certain that his part in the scheme will be exposed, and with Mayor Lipp attempting to frame Lucy Gray for the murder of his daughter, the two of them run away from District 12 together. However, Lucy Gray realises Snow's part in the death of Sejanus, and - deciding he cannot be trusted - leaves him. Coriolanus follows her, only to walk into a trap she had laid for him. He returns to the  place they parted, and hearing her singing nearby, shoots a volley of bullets in all directions. She is not seen again after this, although it is unclear whether she was killed by Snow, or she ran away. Snow returns to District 12, and finds out he has been selected for officer training. He is placed on a hovercraft, ostensibly bound for an officer training school, only to find himself in the Capitol. Dr. Gaul says that she had arranged for his assignment as a Peacekeeper, with the intent that it would be temporary and educational. He is effectively adopted by  Sejanus's father Strabo, who is unaware of the role he played in Sejanus's death and pays for Coriolanus's university fees. While at university, he interns as a gamemaker under Dr. Gaul. A number of features of the Hunger Games shown in the trilogy are revealed to be invented by Snow, either as a mentor or a gamemaker, namely the sponsoring of and betting on tributes, the Victors' Village, the Games being compulsory viewing, and payments for a victor's district. The Games themselves were revealed to have been a co-creation of his father, Crassus Snow, and  his best friend Casca Highbottom. His liking of the smell of roses is also explained: his family grew them on the roof of their house, and his mother used rose-scented cosmetic powder. "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" also sees Coriolanus begin the practice of poisoning people: initially indirectly through Lucy Gray, but later directly, when he poisons Casca Highbottom as revenge for mistreating him while serving as dean of his school. Casca and Crassus fell out after developing the idea of the Hunger Games. Casca transferred this grudge to Coriolanus.