catching fire president snow visit katniss

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Ending Explained: War Is Brewing

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

The Big Picture

• The ending of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire marks the beginning of the long-awaited war between the districts and the Capitol.
• Katniss's defiance and escape from the Quarter Quell show the rebellion's growing support, even within the Capitol.
• The revelation of District 13's existence raises many questions about their role in the rebellion and their survival strategies.

Beginning nearly six months after the events of The Hunger Games , Katniss ( Jennifer Lawrence ), Peeta ( Josh Hutcherson ), Haymitch ( Woody Harrelson ), and Effie ( Elizabeth Banks ) prepare for the nationwide Victory Tour that occurs each year at the midway point between the games to start The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , all while Katniss and Peeta try to cope with the horrific time they spent in the arena. An unexpected visit in District 12 from President Coriolanus Snow ( Donald Sutherland ) causes Katniss to shoulder even more anxiety, as he explains how her act with the nightlock berries is being viewed as a form of rebellion throughout the districts that make up Panem, their bleak and dystopian country . As such, Katniss must try to convince those in the districts that what she did was purely out of love for Peeta. It’s a task she is eager to accept because she is desperate to keep those she loves, particularly her sister Prim ( Willow Shields ), safe from the Capitol’s ever-powerful forces. That said, Katniss isn’t very good at being told what to do, and her confusing feelings for best friend Gale ( Liam Hemsworth ) further complicate matters.

When Katniss inevitably fails to convince the districts, especially after a horrific visit to District 11 — home of Rue ( Amandla Stenberg ) and Thresh ( Dayo Okeniyi ) — a new threat is thrust upon them: The Quarter Quell , which is a special version of the Hunger Games event that occurs on the anniversary of the rebellion every 25 years with a new set of parameters. The last one, which Haymitch won , included twice the number of tributes from each district. This time, Snow and Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee ( Philip Seymour Hoffman ) rig the games to bring the existing pool of victors back as tributes for these games, meaning Katniss will have no choice but to compete once more as the only girl to choose in District 12. When Haymitch’s name is drawn, Peeta volunteers, bringing our star-crossed lovers to death’s door once again. When they get into the arena, hell breaks loose and the tribute number dwindles rapidly. However, Katniss and Peeta work as hard as possible to keep each other safe and alive, yet they know there can only be one victor this time around.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.

How Does ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ End?

After the jabberjay attack, Beetee ( Jeffrey Wright ) informs the group of his plan with the wire. At dusk, they will connect the wire to the lightning tree and bring it back down to the beach, electrifying the water and the damp surrounding area, killing the District 2 tributes Brutus ( Bruno Gunn ) and Enobaria ( Meta Golding ) when they, inevitably, come out of the jungle to reclaim the beach. Just before dusk, Katniss pleads with Peeta to leave the group as the number of tributes continues to dwindle, but he convinces her to see out this plan and escape as soon as they hear the cannon fire. So, as planned, the group makes their way to the lightning tree to enact Beetee’s plan. After wrapping the wire around the tree, Beetee tasks Katniss and Johanna ( Jena Malone ) with bringing the wire down to the beach. Katniss and Peeta protest, wanting to stick together, but the others are suspicious of why they are fighting back. Reluctantly, they give in, and Peeta stays behind to guard Beetee with Finnick (Sam Claflin) .

On their way through the jungle, the wire seemingly gets caught, but then it’s clearly cut. Brutus and Enobaria are after them, so Katniss tosses the wire aside to prep an arrow, but Johanna bashes her in the head with the spool of wire . Johanna cuts her arm, removes her tracker (though Katniss doesn’t know this yet), puts blood on her neck, and tells her to stay down. Thinking she’s dead, the Careers chase after Johanna. Shortly thereafter, Finnick runs through the trees, calling out Johanna’s name. Not knowing who she can trust, aside from Peeta , Katniss hides in the forest.

How Do the Tributes Escape the 75th Hunger Games?

Worried for Peeta after this turn of events, Katniss slowly makes her way back to the lightning tree, in a daze from her head wound. When she arrives, she witnesses Beetee hit the force field. She runs over, confused, and Beetee is twitching on the ground. Nearby, there is a stick with a knife and the wire (connected to the tree) tied to the end. Unsure of what is going on, Katniss calls out for Peeta, but she doesn’t get an answer. She sees Finnick once more and crouches down, aiming an arrow at his heart while, back in the Capitol, Snow cheers her on to release the arrow and utterly destroy her public image. Finnick sees Katniss after a moment, pleading with her to remember who the real enemy is , which is what Haymitch said to her before they entered the arena. Piecing together Beetee’s ingenious real plan , Katniss ties the wire around an arrow as the sky signals that the lightning is about to strike. As the bolt reaches the tree, Katniss aims her arrow at the force field surrounding the arena, causing everything to explode and the arena to fall apart as she’s knocked to the ground, unable to move.

As the arena crumbles around her, a hovercraft appears and lifts her into the sky, but she passes out before she makes it inside. When she wakes, Beetee is unconscious next to her on the floor. She gets up, grabs a syringe, and makes her way to the door down the hall. She pauses, listening to the voices inside, before heading in and seeing Haymitch , Finnick, and Plutarch inside. She lunges at Haymitch, questioning why he’s talking with the others — in her mind, they are the enemy. Haymitch grabs the syringe, blocking her attack, while Finnick begs for her to listen. Plutarch then explains that the plan was always to get her out of the arena and half of the tributes were in on it. She is the Mockingjay, and the revolution has begun. They’re headed to District 13 (which everyone believed to have been destroyed in the rebellion 75 years prior). But, Katniss only cares about one thing: Peeta, and how they failed him . She questions where he is, and Haymitch reluctantly tells her that the Capitol got him before they could free him from the arena. Once again, Katniss lunges at Haymitch, this time delivering a (well-deserved) slap before Plutarch injects her with a sedative.

When Katniss wakes up, Gale is watching over her. He says that she’s been asleep for a few days, but when Katniss asks if they’re home in District 12, he pauses. Something is wrong and Katniss knows it, so she asks about Prim, and Gale assures her that their families are safe. Katniss asks Gale what happened, and he explains that the Capitol sent in hovercrafts after the Quarter Quell unceremoniously ended and fire-bombed it . He managed to get some people out but painfully informs her that there’s nothing left of District 12 . Before the credits roll, we see Katniss take in this information as her emotional state shifts from shock to sadness to pure rage.

What Does the Ending of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Mean?

In short, the end of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire means the war between the districts and the Capitol that has been brewing for a long, long time — since even before the events of the prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — is finally upon them. Once again, Katniss has shown up the Capitol. Her stunt with the berries in The Hunger Games is nothing compared to cutting the Quarter Quell short, allowing multiple victors to live, and escaping the seemingly never-ending reach of the Capitol. Plutarch turning out to be a rebel is also quite a shock, but it shows Katniss and the audience just how much support there is for this fight, even within the ranks of the Capitol. However, Peeta being in the clutches of her worst enemy is not something Katniss will be able to handle well, as we see from her lashing out at Haymitch when she discovers the news. Between that and her rage over Snow destroying her home and killing thousands just to punish her (something seemingly tied to his story in the prequel book ), she is thirsting for his blood. This drives many of her actions moving forward.

Plus, the reveal that District 13 has been alive for the last 75 years changes everything. How have they managed to stay out of the Capitol’s reach? How did they survive? What has life been like for them? And, above all, why are Katniss and the others there? It’s clear they’re planning a big role in the rebellion, but to what extent? Just about everything regarding District 13 is a major question heading into The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 .

'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' Showcases How the Games Grew Into the Quarter Quell

As we see with Plutarch and Snow changing the rules for the Quarter Quell in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , the Capitol has no reluctance to change the rules to make it the biggest spectacle possible. This is exactly where the prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , begins. Taking us back in time to the early days of the new Panem, after the first (failed) attempt at a rebellion from the districts , the Capitol is nothing like we anticipated and know it will come to be. They're struggling to recover from the war, which we see directly from the eyes of a young Coriolanus Snow ( Tom Blyth ). As the tenth anniversary of the games approaches, they aren't nearly as beloved as you'd expect, as many in the Capitol have a problem with killing children like this. As such, the rules are changed (for the first time) and students from the Capitol's school, including Snow, are brought in to liven up the games and get more people invested. They are each assigned a tribute to guide through the games, and Snow is dismayed to be assigned to District 12's Lucy Gray Baird ( Rachel Zegler ) , the so-called weakest of the bunch and (historically) the least likely to win. However, we won't spoil where the story leads. Let's just say that Lucy Gray has an influence on Snow that nobody could predict , and this becomes a crucial point in his life that leads to him becoming the nation's leader and committing decades' worth of unspeakable atrocities.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is now in theaters. The Hunger Games movies are streaming on Peacock.

Watch on Peacock

• Movie Features

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

Catching Fire

Suzanne collins.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

• Português do Brasil

Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins . It is the sequel to the 2008 bestseller The Hunger Games .

Catching Fire continues the story of Katniss Everdeen following the 74th Hunger Games . She again, along with Peeta Mellark , are forced to go through another Hunger Games - the Third Quarter Quell .

• 2.1 Part I: "The Spark"
• 2.2 Part II: "The Quell"
• 2.3 Part III: "The Enemy"
• 3 Characters
• 4.1 Critical response
• 5 Audiobook
• 6 International covers
• 7 References

Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol — a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour , the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. [1]

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark both survived the Hunger Games. Both returned home wanting and expecting a somewhat peaceful future. But the Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

When rumors of a rebellion that she started reach Katniss' ears, everything changes. Now, as Peeta and Katniss are forced to visit the districts on the mandatory Victory Tour, everything can and will go wrong—if Katniss and Peeta cannot pull off their act as two madly-in-love teenagers. If they fail, both their families and their entire district could be in danger of President Snow's wrath.

Part I: "The Spark"

Katniss Everdeen is now back in District 12 living in the Victors' Village with her mother, Prim, and neighbors Peeta Mellark and Haymitch Abernathy. Soon they will both have to leave home again for the Victory Tour where the winners of the previous Hunger Games travel to each district and make various appearances and public speeches. Katniss expected that when she returned home everything would be the same, but now her best friend, Gale, seems farther away than ever now that he works in District 12's mines twelve full hours a day, and with the Victory Tour coming up, Katniss has more on her mind than ever. During much of the day, Katniss is bored with her new life because now, she has everything: money, a good home, and a constant supply of food. One day after Katniss returns home from hunting game outside of the District, an unexpected visitor appears, President Snow, the president of Panem. He explains to Katniss that during the last Hunger Games when she tried to commit suicide with Peeta by eating poisonous nightlock berries, she ignited a possible uprising in the districts. President Snow and Katniss have a lengthy conversation about the fact that if she doesn't convince the districts that she made the decision out of temporary lovesickness, then he would personally make sure she suffers.

Katniss, now convinced she has started a fire she cannot control, tries her best to convince everyone that she and Peeta are madly in love. When she and Peeta finally set off for the Victory Tour, everything is going smoothly, and Peeta has agreed with Katniss that outside of being star-crossed lovers, they should try to be friends. When the tour arrives at their first destination, District 11, Katniss gets to meet the families of Thresh and Rue (two tributes who were killed by the Careers in the 74th Hunger Games). When it is time for the public speech to begin, Katniss thanks the people of District 11 for their contributions to her during the Hunger Games and is about to leave when one of Rue's siblings gives her such a look that Katniss comes back quickly to make one final speech. Katniss tells everyone about the story of how Thresh spared her life, and how Rue became a valued ally during the Games. After her speech, an old man whistles her and Rue's four-note tune that meant they were safe, and the crowd simultaneously does a traditional District 12 gesture to show their thanks to Katniss. Right after Katniss finishes her speech, she realizes she forgot something, so she goes back to retrieve it. There, she sees a Peacekeeper shoot the man who whistled in the head.

Afterwards, Katniss and Peeta confess what had happened to Haymitch. He tells Katniss to explain to Peeta what is going on, so Katniss tells Peeta everything about President Snow, the threat of uprisings, and how they are all in jeopardy if something doesn't change soon. Peeta becomes angry and tells Katniss and Haymitch to stop keeping secrets from him, then leaves.

The rest of Victory Tour fell into a routine (giving speeches, eating fancy dinners, riding on the train, and sleeping). Finally, Katniss and the crew get to the Capitol. That night, when she and Peeta go to get interviewed by Caesar, Peeta performs a fake proposal to Katniss which she accepts. Caesar is beside himself, the audience is hysterical, and the crowds in the districts are overflowing with happiness. President Snow then makes an unexpected appearance to congratulate the newly engaged couple. Katniss then makes a discreet gesture to President Snow to ask him if she was convincing enough to which he replies "no" with an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Katniss now knows her life is in constant danger, but despite that, she feels somewhat relieved, and carries on like nothing ever happened.

That night, Katniss has dinner in President Snows' mansion and feasts like never before. Many Capitol citizens drank something that made them vomit so they could eat more. Soon it's time to go and Katniss and Peeta are on their way back to District 12. Katniss suffers from terrifying nightmares throughout the night on the train, so Peeta sleeps in her bed to calm her and keep her company. Finally they get back to District 12 and a huge party is thrown for them. While in the mayor's home, Katniss sees on the mayor's television that there is an uprising going on in District 8. Katniss arranges a secret meeting with Gale, at which Gale confesses his love for her but she says that she does not have those feelings for him. Gale gets angry and disappointed but before he leaves Katniss accidentally tells him there was a rebellion in District 8. Gale then says that they could have a rebellion in District 12 as well, and he runs off to spread the news. Katniss then goes to Peeta to ask him if he would run away with her and he says yes, but while they are discussing the plans, they see that Gale is being violently whipped in the square by an unfamiliar man.

Katniss steps in to stop the man, whose name is Romulus Thread, but he gives her a lash across the face. Katniss gets severely hurt but Haymitch and Peeta step in to save her. Eventually the people of District 12 (including many who frequent the Hob), convince Thread to stop whipping Gale. As soon as he leaves, everyone helps Katniss take Gale to her mother. Katniss' mother tries to soothe the pain by giving him medicine when suddenly Madge, the mayor's daughter, comes with some morphling to help soothe Gale's pain. Later on that night, Katniss says she picks Gale, but is still torn between Peeta and Gale.

The next day, there is a huge blizzard, during which Thread constructs several stockades, an official whipping post, and a gallows, as well as a series of machine gun positions perched on the rooftops in the square. While walking in town, Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta see these ugly tools of torture, and then the Hob is destroyed by the Peacekeepers. The last thing Katniss notices when leaving the square is that she does not recognize even one of the Peacekeepers' faces.

Katniss realizes that she cannot stand to be at home, so she goes into the woods and heads to the lake. She sees two Peacekeepers, and before she shoots them, one of them holds up a cracker with a mockingjay on it.

Part II: "The Quell"

The two Peacekeepers were actually two young women who had run away from District Eight. Their names were Bonnie and Twill , and brought news to Katniss about the uprising in their district, the one that made Peacekeeper uniforms which explains why they are wearing the uniforms. They said they were headed to District 13 which, to Katniss, was unbelievable. They believed that people lived underground in District 13. Bonnie and Twill explain to Katniss that they know District 13 exists because the Capitol reuses old footage of District 13 whenever it is shown on TV, as they believe that they always see the same bird in the same place. This leads Katniss to wonder what the district currently looks like.

She gives the women her food supplies and shows them how to hunt. When the evening comes, they leave her and she returns to the village. However she realizes that the fence to the district is now electrified and she is unable to enter the village through her normal passage. She decides she needs to go over the fence, and searches for the right tree. She climbs up and over and must jump from 25 feet in the air. She lands, and hurts her tailbone and heel. She returns home and tells her mother and Prim that her slipping on some ice caused her injuries, but there are two peacekeepers there waiting for her. They are surprised to see her, because they know she was in the forest and believed she would be trapped on the other side of the fence.

They were waiting for her not to show up so they can bring her family in for questioning. Luckily, Haymitch, Peeta and Prim were able to go along with a story to cover for her. After the Peacekeepers leave, Katniss' mother examines her broken foot, and Peeta stays with her through the night after she asked him to stay. She is in bed for the winter, while Peeta keeps her company and they enter information in her mothers' medicinal and edible plant book, with pictures that Peeta is drawing.

Once she is healed, her prep team comes in to help her with her wedding fashion shoot, along with Cinna. She listens to them speak of how they have not had shrimp in the Capitol for weeks and realizes that other districts are rebelling. The next day, she speaks to Haymitch and he tells her that because District 12 is so small, everyone would need to join in for them to overthrow the Peacekeepers and the Capitol. The same day, Prim comes home and tells everyone that there is a mandatory television scheduling that night, which she believes is the footage from the wedding fashion shoot.

Prim is partially correct, but there is also another big announcement. President Snow appears with a wooden box, and reminds the audience of the dark days and when the Hunger Games were born. He also states that every 25 years, the anniversary of the Hunger Games is marked by a Quarter Quell, a glorified version of the Games. He talks about the first Quell, when every district was made to vote on who was sent to the Hunger Games. In the second Quell, every district was forced to send twice as many tributes into the Hunger Games. The wooden box holds the information for the 3rd Quarter Quell. Snow pulls out an envelope and states that the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors. Since District 12 has only three winners, Peeta, Haymitch, and Katniss, Katniss knows that she is now going to be forced to go back to the Hunger Games.

She runs out of the house and into a basement of an empty house to scream and cry. She makes her way to Haymitch where he already tells her Peeta has come to visit him, and told him that Peeta wants to go back into the arena to protect Katniss. She tells Haymitch that whatever they do, she wants Haymitch to make sure Peeta comes back alive. She and Haymitch get drunk and the next afternoon, she goes back to Haymitch's house where Peeta has emptied all of his liquor and has threatened to turn them or anyone who gives them alcohol in. He tells them that they will be training for the Quarter Quell because two people will come back alive, and they begin to work out and also study footage of past winners to see their competition.

On the day of the reaping, Katniss has decided to say goodbye to Gale, to tell him how much he means to her. The reaping has Katniss as only choice for the female competitor, and the male competitor chosen is Haymitch; however, Peeta volunteers to take his place. Instead of being able to tell their families goodbye, they are brought directly to the train and leave for the Capitol.

Once at the Capitol, they eat and find out who the competitors from the other districts are. That night, after Katniss is woken from a nightmare, she goes to see Peeta. The two embrace and are interrupted by a waiter bringing in warm milk. They decide to watch more videos and come across Haymitch's victory from the 2nd Quarter Quell which they have not seen. Katniss recognizes the name Maysilee Donner as her mother's friend, and realizes that she was a twin to Katniss' friend Madge's mother . She also sees her mother crying and embracing Maysilee when she is called. Katniss also sees Haymitch being called up. She notes that he was powerful looking, and even somewhat handsome.

Haymitch allied with Maysilee and he broke through the foliage surrounding one end of the arena; he discovered the force field surrounding the arena to prevent the tributes from escaping. He wished to investigate further but Maysilee did not so the two tributes parted ways. Just after the two broke off their alliance, Maysilee was killed by a flock of birds that pierced her throat and Haymitch stayed with her until she died, holding her hand.

Haymitch became one of the last two remaining tributes, the other being a female Career tribute. The girl pursued Haymitch to the edge of the arena where the force field was located. Both tributes were wounded, but Haymitch more so; the female tribute attempted to win the Games by outlasting Haymitch. However, Haymitch used the force field during the final fight when his adversary threw her ax at him; it was repelled back by the field and killed her. Haymitch was crowned victor of the 50th Hunger Games. However, President Snow, the leader of the Capitol, was furious about Haymitch's trick with the force field, which Katniss would later describe as being "almost as bad as the berries." Katniss wonders what the Capitol did to punish Haymitch.

Once they arrive, they are ushered to prepare for the Opening Ceremonies. Right before the ceremony, Finnick Odair from District 4 hits on Katniss, asking her to divulge her secrets but she brushes him away. After the ceremony, Johanna Mason from District 7 walks by Katniss naked. Katniss does not understand why everyone is acting weird until Peeta explains that to the Capitol, she is "pure" and they are trying to get under her skin, which angers her.

They go to the rooms where she sees the Avox girl, Lavinia , from the 74th Hunger Games, and also a new Avox, which turns out to be Darius from District 12, who tried to stop Thread from whipping Gale. He, like all Avoxes, was forced to suffer getting his tongue cut out. She is warned by Haymitch not to say anything because it would mean punishment for Darius. Later, Haymitch tells them that they must form alliances this year and make friends. During training, Katniss befriends Wiress and Beetee from District 3, who point out the force field used to separate the Gamemakers from the tributes. Katniss displays her archery skills and is wanted by many to be in an alliance. In their solo performances for the Gamemakers, both Peeta and Katniss are unsure of what to do. Peeta goes first, and after a long wait Katniss goes. She doesn't know what Peeta did, but she can tell that the Gamemakers are angry. She sees Plutarch Heavensbee, the new Head Gamemaker, and has an idea. She ties a noose to a dummy and with berry juice writes the name " Seneca Crane ," the former Head Gamemaker during Katniss' Hunger Games, who let both Katniss and Peeta live. He was executed by orders of President Snow.

Afterwards, she finds out that Peeta made a drawing of Rue with the flowers on the ground which could not be washed away, and was covered by the Gamemakers. Haymitch is not happy because now they have made enemies. The training scores are shown, and Katniss wonders to Cinna if anyone has ever received a 0. But instead, she and Peeta both receive perfect 12. Haymitch explains that this was done to make sure the other tributes are gunning for the both of them. Peeta and Katniss stay together that night, and Katniss has come to accept her death, which she knows will be the spark for the rebellion. That night, both do not have nightmares. The following day, they spend the entire day and night together alone on the roof.

The day of the interview, the prep team comes into Katniss' room and find her and Peeta together. Peeta leaves and as the prep team starts to cry, they leave one by one until Venia is left. She then says goodbye Katniss and Cinna comes in with her wardrobe, specifically chosen by President Snow, the chosen wedding gown from the photo shoot. She notes to Cinna that it's heavier than before, but he explains that he had to do some alterations and tells her do not lift her arms until she twirls on television.

The interview atmosphere is different from the previous year. The tributes are speaking out against the Capitol, asking why President Snow is not stopping this if he is great and powerful. The second last tribute to speak is Katniss, who comes on stage with the dress on, apologizing to the crowd for not letting them see her get married. She twirls and raises her arms and the wedding dress burns away to reveal a different dress underneath. When she looks towards a television, she realizes that Cinna has turned her into a mockingjay.

Although Cesear knows what the dress represents, they play it off as the bird on Katniss' token. Next comes Peeta, the last tribute to speak. He tells the audience that he and Katniss are already married, and tells them that Katniss is pregnant. This drives the audience to madness and hysteria. As Peeta makes his way back to the other tributes, he holds Katniss' hands amidst the chaos, and in turn she grabs the hand (stump from what is left) of Chaff who is next to her, and then all the tributes join hands before the Capitol has time to turn the cameras off, and Katniss knows that this, the joining of unity on the stage, has now rippled into the districts and will stir the rebellion even more. Effie was forced to leave without saying goodbye to Peeta and Katniss, and they say their goodbyes to Haymitch. He tells them to stay alive, and to always remember who the real enemy is.

Getting ready for the ceremonies, she is in the room with Cinna when she steps on the plate to be taken to the arena, when she is frozen in place and can't move. She looks at Cinna who just shakes his head in confusion, when three peacekeepers enter the room, who then arrest, beat him into submission and drag him out of the room. A frozen Katniss watches in horror, but then is transported to the arena.

The plate leaves her in the middle of blue water, which she realizes "is no place for a girl on fire."

Part III: "The Enemy"

When the gong sounds, Katniss dives into the water and swims to shore, noting that she feels very light and very fast. First to arrive, she heads for the weapons, as she knows the Careers would do. She grabs a bow and arrows , and turns when she hears a noise, poised to kill. It's Finnick with his trident raised. She sees his gold bracelet which once belonged to Haymitch and realizes that this was his way of telling her to form an alliance. Finnick yells for her to duck, and spears a man from District 5 with the trident. They search the other items and notice that it only contains weapons, no food etc. The Careers are now making their way to shore. Katniss tries to shoot one, but misses and shoots Gloss in the calf. She then aims for Brutus who is charging towards her but he manages to stop it with his belt before it punctures his liver. She realizes that Peeta is still on the metal plate and goes to retrieve him, but Finnick offers to do it. Katniss notices Mags jump into the water and doggy paddle to shore. When Peeta and Finnick are on shore, Mags explains to Finnick (who is apparently the only person who understands her) that the belts on their outfits are flotation devices.

From the beach, they run into a jungle. Finnick carries Mags and Peeta leads the way. After their first stop, Katniss climbs the trees to get a look and sees that there are many bodies in the water and on the beach, but she can't tell who they are.

As they are walking, searching for drinkable water, she notices a shimmering square and realizes that it is a force field surrounding the arena. Before she can stop him, Peeta walks into it and is repelled back, knocking Mags and Finnick to the ground. Peeta is not breathing. Panicked, Katniss begins to slap him but his heart has stopped. Finnick offers to help by beginning CPR. She doesn't realize what he is doing at first and begins fighting him, but he slaps her away and Peeta eventually is resuscitated. Peeta asks Katniss how she recognized the force field. She does not want to let them know she can spot them visually, because the Gamemakers might do something to retaliate, so she tells them she heard it. Afterwards, they realize that they must move on and after a while, Katniss climbs a tree to see that the arena is actually a perfect circle. She tells them that there is a wheel in the center and that she did not see any water, but perhaps there will be streams within the jungle.

After resting, Katniss offers to hunt. She notices animals she doesn't recognize and shoots what she names a tree rat. She notices its nose is wet, which means there must be water nearby but she cannot locate it. She brings the food back to the camp where Peeta has the idea to throw the food into the force field to cook it. The horns blare, announcing the fallen from the first day of the Games: the male from District 5 , killed by Finnick, the male from District 6 , Cecelia and Woof from District 8, both tributes from District 9 , the District 10 female, and Seeder from District 11.

Then a silver parachute floats down and Peeta opens it to reveal a small metal pipe, which no one can identify. Knowing that Haymitch would never send anything unless it was life-saving, Katniss stops to think. In frustration, she thinks of her family and it comes to her: a spile , which could be inserted into a tree like a tap, to reveal sap. These trees, however, contain water, which the group drinks. Later, Finnick takes first watch as the others sleep. Katniss wakes to gongs, which Peeta and Mags sleep through. Finnick counts 12 gongs, and sees lightning in the distance. After an hour, the lightning stops and rain begins. She hears the cannons indicating another death of a tribute. She notices fog in the distance, and realizes it's an unnatural fog created by the Gamemakers. The mist from the fog causes blisters where it touches. When Peeta stumbles, she notices it also attacks the nerves, as his face droops and his legs stop working. Finnick agrees to carry Peeta if Katniss can carry Mags, which she agrees to. But after a while, Katniss can not carry Mags anymore as her legs become paralyzed. Finnick comes back and tells Katniss he cannot carry them both. Mags kisses Finnick and runs into the fog, convulsing and dying. The three continue on, away from the fog. After not able to move any further, due to exhaustion, Katniss turns to the fog to watch it and realizes that it stops as if meeting an invisible wall. The fog then disappears. Katniss finds the body of salt water from the beginning of the Games, which at first burns, but she realizes that the water forces the poison from the fog out of her body. She slowly puts her limbs into the water and Peeta does the same. Finnick is too hurt to do it himself, so Peeta and Katniss help him. After regaining their strength, Peeta sets out to get water from a tree nearby. Katniss and Finnick are sitting and Katniss hears the sound of multiple monkeys gathering. She tries to signal Peeta calmly but as he approaches, he glances up and the troop attacks. Katniss realizes then that they are muttations , and the tributes fight them off. After killing many, one monkey mutt lunges to bite Peeta's chest while he's distracted. Katniss tries to throw a knife at the mutt, but she misses, so she rushes forward to body-block it. She knows she will not make it in time, but the female morphling from District 6 comes out of nowhere to put herself between Peeta and the mutt, and she is bitten instead. After the monkeys retreat, Peeta brings the District 6 female to the beach, and they notice that the bites have punctured a vital organ. They stay with her until she dies.

Later, Katniss asks Haymitch for medicine for the scabs from the poison, which he delivers along with a loaf of bread. While they eat they hear a scream and see a tsunami charge through and although they are far enough away, the water reaches their camp. They hear a cannon fire and know that there are 12 victor tributes left. The trio see three bodies emerge from the pool, and notice that one of them is Johanna Mason. Finnick runs to her and they hug. As Katniss and Peeta figure out what to do, they realize they cannot leave Finnick after all he has done, and go to Johanna. She has Beetee and Wiress with her. Beetee has received a knife in back, while Wiress is spinning in a circle, and all three are covered in red. Johanna explains that when the lightning finished and it began to rain, they thought it was water, but it turned out to be blood. Meanwhile, Wiress starts to spin in circles again, and says "tick tock, tick tock" repeatedly. Johanna yells at Wiress, then pushes her to the ground, and Katniss tells her to give Wiress a break, which Johanna replies to by also pushing Katniss down as well.

Later during first watch, Johanna and Katniss talk about Mags and how she died. Also, Katniss asks what she was doing with Wiress and Beetee, and Johanna states that Haymitch told her to bring them to Katniss for an alliance. Later that night, Katniss sees the lightning again, when Wiress restates "tick tock," and Katniss begins to realize the arena is in the shape of a clock. Wiress is relieved because someone understands her, and Katniss quickly explains the situation to the team. She also remembers Plutarch Heavensbee showing her his clock watch and saying, "It begins at midnight," as an image of a mockingjay flashed on the watch face.

They go to the Cornucopia to see if they are correct and are proven to be right. Beetee, starting to feel a little better, tells the group that Wiress is not only very smart, but very intuitive. While drawing up the map of the clock, Katniss realizes that Wiress has stopped singing, and turns with an arrow ready and hits Gloss in the temple, while Johanna buries an axe in Cashmere 's chest. As they try to follow the tributes from District 2, the Cornucopia starts to spin fast. Beetee is thrown from the island, and Katniss goes to Wiress' body to retrieve a wire that Beetee wanted desperately.

When they go back to the jungle, they conclude that the jungle sections could have been switched and they will not know until the tidal wave. Also, Katniss starts to realize that everyone is protecting Peeta and wonders if they believe that he can be the leader of the rebellion. At this point she hears Prim screaming and runs towards it, only to find that they sounds are coming from a jabberjay . Finnick runs to Katniss when he hears a scream as well, and runs after it. Katniss follows him through the jungle to another jabberjay screaming in Annie Cresta's voice. Katniss climbs a tree to kill the jabberjay and Finnick is heartbroken. Finnick explains to Katniss that it might not be his Annie, but that jabberjays mimic what they hear, and he wonders in horror where the jabberjays heard the screams. As she starts to hear Gale's voice from a jabberjay, Finnick grabs Katniss' arm and drags her back to the jungle opening where Peeta and Johanna are. Mad that Peeta did not help her, she realizes that Peeta is yelling but she can't hear him and both she and Finnick run straight into an invisible wall. They are trapped in a wedge of the clock, and the jabberjays arrive with their screams of horror for the next hour until the wall disappears. Peeta calms her down by telling her that Prim and the others were not tortured. As the final 8, their families will be interviewed and they cannot do that if the families are dead. Finnick asks Beetee if it's true, and he agrees with Peeta.

Later, Peeta tries to give Katniss a gold locket filled with pictures of Gale, Prim, and her mother as a reminder of all the other people who depend on her. He insists she should survive, rather than him, because if she dies he has nothing to live for. Katniss is overwhelmed, and kisses him with true feeling, like when they were back in the cave, and decides she must still attempt to fulfill her plan. The next day, Katniss asks Peeta to leave the alliance, but he tells her to wait because he believes Beetee has a plan. The plan is to tie Beetee's wire around the lightning tree (which is struck by lightning at 12:00) and run the wire into the ocean, making the beach a conductor to electrocute everything in its path, thanks to the dampness of the tidal wave at 10:00. Katniss and Johanna are in charge of running the wire down to the beach because they are the fastest. However, when the wire is cut by Brutus and Enobaria, Johanna knocks Katniss over the head with the heavy coil and cuts into Katniss's arm, removing her tracker . Johanna tells her to stay down, and runs off. Brutus later storms in telling Enobaria to leave Katniss because she is 'as good as dead.'

Katniss hears Finnick running but stays quiet so as not to alert him to her whereabouts, since she believes that he and Johanna have betrayed them. She struggles to make her way to the lightning tree and sees Beetee on the ground with a knife and more wire. She sees that he was trying to cut through the forcefield that lies close to the tree. She then realizes that just beyond this forcefield is the real world. At that moment, she hears Peeta calling her name, and because she is so wounded, she does the only thing she can, which is call to him, alerting all enemies to her so Peeta can have a shot at winning.

She collapses after hearing other cannons sound off, and replays Haymitch's last words in her mind: "Remember who the real enemy is," and she realizes he was referring to the Capitol. Realizing that Beetee was trying to blow up the forcefield, she wraps the wire around an arrow and shoots it straight into the flaw in the forcefield at the exact moment when the lightning strikes the tree, blowing up the arena.

She lays there realizing that the Capitol will not let anyone live after this, and that she has just killed Peeta because of it. She sees Plutarch Heavensbee come over to her and close her eyes and she passes out. She awakes in a hospital bed next to Beetee. She searches for Peeta, believing that the Capitol has captured her and planning to kill Peeta to save him from being tortured.

She passes a room and hears Plutarch talking to Finnick and Haymitch about getting someone out of District 4. She opens the door and Haymitch tells her that there was a plan to break them out the minute the Quell was announced. The victors from Districts 3, 4, 6 , 7, 8, and 11 had varying degrees of knowledge about it. Plutarch had been for several years part of a group planning to overthrow the Capitol. He made sure that the wire was among the weapons, as it was to be used to blow up the forcefield. The bread drops in the morning were code for the rescue. The hovercraft is from District 13, which is where they are headed. Upset, she asks why she and Peeta were not informed. Haymitch explains that once the forcefield exploded, she and Peeta would be the prime targets and the less they knew the better, in case of capture. She tells them that Johanna tried to kill her, but Finnick explains that she was removing Katniss' tracker, and that all of victor tributes in those districts have pledged their lives to her and the rebellion; that she is the mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion.

She realizes that Haymitch never had any plans to keep Peeta alive. He tells her that everyone kept Peeta alive because they knew that if he died she would never keep an alliance with the others. She asks where Peeta is, and Haymitch tells her he was picked up, along with Johanna and Enobaria, by the Capitol. In horror and anger, she attacks Haymitch, scratching his face. Finnick and others strap her down and drug her to keep her calm. Finnick tells her that the Capitol will at least keep Peeta alive to use as bait against Katniss.

Later, Gale visits her. He tells her that after the Games, the Capitol sent bombers to the districts. He explains that he was able to get her family out in time, but District 12 has been destroyed.

• Katniss Everdeen — She returns for the second installment as the narrator and the main character, facing new challenges which involve painstakingly difficult decisions to be made. In order to prove her desperate action at the end of the 74th Hunger Games was triggered by mindless love as opposed to rebellion against The Capitol , she is forced to convince the nation of her undying love for Peeta. Unfortunately, she ultimately falls short of President Snow's expectations. When she is reaped for the 75th Hunger Games , Cinna dresses her in a wedding dress for her interview, but because of his alterations, the dress burns off via synthetic fire into a mockingjay outfit. Katniss battles with her devotion to Peeta versus Gale, and remains undecided.
• Peeta Mellark — Katniss' fellow tribute , who has now become her fiancé. Peeta volunteers to take Haymitch's place in the Quarter Quell in an effort to keep Katniss alive. During the Quell, Peeta runs into a force field and his heart stops, but Finnick restarts it with CPR. Peeta is among those captured by the Capitol at the conclusion of the novel.
• Haymitch Abernathy — Katniss and Peeta's mentor in the Hunger Games. He is an alcoholic, and drinks to escape the torture of the Games. Before Katniss and Peeta, he was the only living victor in District 12 after winning the 50th Hunger Games , another Quarter Quell. Haymitch is the duo's instructor throughout The Hunger Games and Catching Fire . Because he favored Katniss' survival in the 74th Games, he promises Katniss that he will help Peeta survive this time.
• Effie Trinket — The escort for the tributes of District 12, Katniss and Peeta. She is very prim and proper, and is known for having a distinct Capitol accent. Manners are very important to her as well as keeping an immaculate schedule. She dresses flamboyantly as she is a resident of The Capitol. She helps organize sponsor gifts alongside Haymitch to send Katniss and Peeta during the Games. At the end of the 75th Hunger Games, Effie is arrested along with Katniss and Peeta's prep teams.
• Gale Hawthorne — Katniss' best friend and hunting partner in District 12. He is nineteen years old, openly expresses his hatred of the Capitol, and wishes to start an uprising as the people of District 8 did. Katniss must pretend that they are cousins to keep him alive, or President Snow could order to have him killed since he suspects that Katniss has feelings for him, not Peeta. Before the Quarter Quell, he is whipped within an inch of his life by the cruel, newly appointed Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread for poaching a wild turkey.
• Coriolanus Snow — The president of Panem. He speaks to Katniss face-to-face for the first time at the beginning of Catching Fire . President Snow's breath smells of blood, and he wears a genetically modified white rose in his breast pocket to cover up the smell.
• Finnick Odair — The handsome beau - tribute from District 4 . He won the 65th Hunger Games by using a trident and net (District 4's trade is fishing) and his good-looks to win sponsors. Katniss is hesitant to make Finnick her ally at first due to his seemingly shallow and arrogant personality, but he proves to be valuable and altogether trustworthy. Finnick is a key person in the rebellion, as revealed to Katniss in the hovercraft at the end of the book.
• Plutarch Heavensbee — The Head Gamemaker of the 75th Hunger Games. During Katniss' Victory Tour , he tips her off that the arena is a clock. Katniss later learns that he is part of a secret group whose main objective is to take down the Capitol.
• Mags — The female tribute from District 4, and Finnick's mentor during the 65th Hunger Games. She is around 80 years old and volunteers to take the place of a young woman, Annie Cresta , to spare her from the Games. Mags is one of the first people Katniss wants for an ally, along with Beetee and Wiress, due to her kind personality. Katniss observes that she can make a fishing hook out of anything. While the group tries to escape the poisonous fog, Mags gives herself up without question so Finnick can carry a wounded Peeta to safety, and so Katniss can keep going.
• Johanna Mason — The female tribute from District 7 . She won the 71st Hunger Games by pretending she was a weakling until there were only a handful of tributes left, then showing that she could kill viciously. Johanna is captured by the Capitol at the end, along with Peeta and Enobaria.
• Beetee — The male tribute from District 3 . Also known as "Volts," he is extremely intelligent and a crafty inventor. He notices a soft spot in the Capitol's forcefield surrounding the Gamemakers, and points this out to Katniss in training. This convinces Katniss that Beetee and Wiress would make good allies. During the Quarter Quell, he uses a special wire he designed to blow up the arena's forcefield. Beetee joins Katniss at the end on the way to District 13 .
• Wiress — The female tribute from District 3. Due to the fact that she often doesn't finish her sentences, Johanna refers to her as "Nuts." Beetee often finishes them for her as the two are good friends, thus the joke "Nuts and Volts." However, like Beetee, she is also very intelligent, and is able to figure out that the Quarter Quell arena behaves like a clock, with different challenges at appearing at a certain time and place on the face of the clock. During the Games, she is killed by the male tribute from District 1 , Gloss , who slits her throat.
• Enobaria — The female tribute from District 2 . She is famous for ripping a tribute's throat out with her teeth during the Games that she won. She is a threat to Katniss in the arena, but is later captured by the Capitol along with Peeta and Johanna.
• Cinna — Katniss' stylist , who continues to help Katniss outsmart the Capitol with his sly designs. During the Quarter Quell, he transforms Katniss' wedding dress into a symbol of resistance, the mockingjay . While Katniss is in the glass tube going into the arena, Cinna is beaten and dragged out of the room by three Peacekeepers.
• Darius — Friendly, red-headed Peacekeeper from District 12. He is turned into an Avox and made to serve Katniss and Peeta during the Quell because he attempted to stop Gale's whipping after 20 lashes.
• Romulus Thread — A ruthless Peacekeeper who replaced Cray as the Head Peacekeeper of District 12. He is cruel and unyielding, presumably sent to District 12 specifically to control the "rebellious" Victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Peeta and Katniss. Thread flogs Gale nearly to death as punishment for poaching and oversaw the burning of the Hob.
• Primrose Everdeen — Prim helps her mother with patients and continues with her schooling. She moved to her new house in the Victor's Village with her mother and Katniss. Prim was one of the people President Snow threatened to kill if Katniss didn't prove that she was in love with Peeta and that the suicide threat was an act of love, not rebellion. When Katniss was stuck in the woods by the re-electrifying of the fence, the Peacekeepers went to her house, presumably to question Prim and her mother and to catch Katniss out of bounds. The Capitol had arranged for a showy wedding to Peeta, complete with a contest to decide her wedding dress, decided by voting residents of the Capitol. Prim makes Katniss promise not to try on any dresses until she gets home from school. After Katniss is reaped for the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss is unable to say goodbye to Prim, being instantly whisked away with Peeta to the train. When District 12 is bombed, Gale saves Prim and her mother.

Critical response

Catching Fire received mainly positive reviews from critics. Publishers Weekly wrote, "If this second installment spends too much time recapping events from book one, it doesn't disappoint when it segues into the pulse-pounding action readers have come to expect." [2] Booklist commented on how the "unadorned prose provides an open window to perfect pacing and electrifying world building." [3] A review from The New York Times also gave a positive review, writing, "Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book. As a reader, I felt excited and even hopeful: could it be that this series and its characters were actually going somewhere?" and also praised how Katniss became more sophisticated in the book. [4] The Plain Dealer wrote, "The very last sentence of Catching Fire will leave readers gasping. Not to mention primed for part three." [5]

However, not all reviews were positive. The same review from The Plain Dealer became annoyed at how, "after 150 pages of romantic dithering, I was tapping my foot to move on." [5] A review from Entertainment Weekly called the book weaker than the first and wrote, "Katniss pretends to be in love with her sweet-natured Games teammate Peeta Mellark, but she secretly pines for brooding Gale, a childhood friend. Except — why? There's little distinction between the two thinly imagined guys, other than the fact that Peeta has a dopier name. Collins conjures none of the erotic energy that makes Twilight , for instance, so creepily alluring." [6]

In addition, Time magazine named Catching Fire the fourth top fiction book of 2009, [7] while People magazine rated it their eighth Best Book of 2009. [8] It also won Publishers Weekly' s Best Book of the Year for 2009 award. [9]

The novel has had two major English-language audiobook adaptations. The first was narrated by Carolyn McCormick , and the tenth anniversary version was done by Tatiana Maslany .

International covers

The original red cover depicts a mockingjay in flight in front of a round circle with twelve sections, a symbol of the clock arena.

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 Catching Fire . Open Library.
• ↑ Children's Book Reviews: 6/22/2009 . Publishers Weekly (2009-06-22). Retrieved on 2009-06-29.
• ↑ Chipman, Ian. Booklist Catching Fire Review . Booklist . Retrieved on 21 July 2010.
• ↑ Zevin, Gabrielle (October 9, 2009). Constant Craving . The New York Times . Retrieved on 21-07-2010.
• ↑ 5.0 5.1 Welch, Rollie (September 6, 2009). 'Catching Fire' brings back Suzanne Collins' kindhearted killer: Young Readers . The Plain Dealer . Retrieved on 21 July 2010.
• ↑ Reese, Jennifer (August 28, 2009). Catching Fire (2009) . Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved on 21 July 2010.
• ↑ The Top 10 Everything of 2009 . Time (2009-12-08). Retrieved on 2010-01-10.
• ↑ People Magazine's Top Ten Books of 2009 . BookGuide (January 2010). Retrieved on November 7, 2010.
• ↑ Grossman, Lev (8 December 2009). Scholastic Catching Fire page . Retrieved on 22 July 2010.
• Hunger Games
• 1 Coriolanus Snow
• 2 Lucy Gray Baird

Catching Fire

What does Katniss compare President Snow's unexpected visit to on page 18 (she uses a simile)?

she uses a simile

From the text:

Like taking the lid off the pot and finding a fanged viper instead of stew.

Log In To Your GradeSaver Account

• Remember me
• Forgot your password?

Create Your GradeSaver Account

• Entertainment
• <i>The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes</i> Reveals the Origin of President Snow’s Vendetta Against Katniss 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Reveals the Origin of President Snow’s Vendetta Against Katniss 

Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

At the tail end of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , a familiar voice echoes as the screen fades to black. “It’s the things we love most,” says President Snow, “that destroy us.”

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is, among other things, the origin story of President Snow , the fascist dictator of the original Hunger Games series. In the prequel , he’s still just Coriolanus (Tom Blyth), the ambitious high school student with ambiguous morals.

But in Mockingjay – Part 1 , the third movie in the franchise, he’s close to 80 (played by Donald Sutherland), though that hasn’t slowed his lust for power and control. As an extraction team from District 13, the rebel stronghold, tries to rescue Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) from the Capitol, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is on a video call with President Snow to distract him. “It’s the things we love most that destroy us,” he warns her. “I want you to remember that I said that.”

As the call cuts out, Snow reveals that he has known the extraction team was there the whole time. He’s letting them rescue Peeta. Because the Capitol has hijacked him: They’ve altered Peeta’s memory and conditioned him to fear—and try to kill—Katniss. Snow knows that the thing Katniss loves most, Peeta, can destroy her, mentally and emotionally if not literally, if he never gets better.

And he knows that from personal experience: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is also a love story of sorts, between Coriolanus and Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the female tribute from District 12 in the 10th annual Hunger Games. He falls for her—at least as much as someone so self-important can—and he thinks the feeling is mutual. But then she betrays him—at least he thinks she does—and he ices over, taking the first steps from Coriolanus into the cold, calculating President Snow.

Snow, Lucy Gray, and Katniss Everdeen 

Lucy Gray is assigned Coriolanus as her mentor, the person who is ostensibly supposed to prepare her for the arena. As he gives her tips on strategy and readies her for a televised interview, he slowly falls for her. She seems to return the affection. But there are ulterior motives at play: Coriolanus needs the Plinth Prize, a scholarship awarded to the best mentor. And Lucy Gray needs Coriolanus’ support to survive. 

After Lucy Gray wins the games, Coriolanus follows her back to District 12 as a Peacekeeper, a soldier-police officer tasked with keeping the districts in line. There, they resume their apparent romance. They run away together, into the wilderness outside the districts, until Lucy Gray realizes that Coriolanus has lied to her, in more ways than one. 

She slips away and seems to set a deadly trap for him—or maybe that was just a coincidence. Losing his grip on reality, full of snake venom and fear that “his girl” betrayed him, Coriolanus tries to kill her. Maybe he shoots her or maybe he misses. He’ll never know, because Lucy Gray disappears forever, a loose end that will drive him mad.

When Katniss appears decades later, also from District 12 and with a knack for singing, she already reminds Snow of his lost love. Enter Peeta, and the “star-crossed lovers” ruse that the two orchestrate to survive the Games, and the parallels grow more painful. It’s clear that Peeta’s feelings for Katniss are true, while Katniss, at least at first, is merely playing along to garner life-saving sponsors for the both of them. 

Snow can’t stand to see a young woman betray a young man’s affection—his view of what happened 65 years ago. And so he takes out his old, festering wound on Katniss. He suspects that Katniss and Peeta’s relationship is fake, and knows that Katniss has someone else back home, so he forces the two of them to parade around the charade on a press tour around the districts. Convince him that their connection is real, he tells Katniss, or he’ll threaten their loved ones. And there is no end to the charade in sight.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes most noticeably explains Snow’s bitter vendetta against Katniss. But it sets the stage for a few other Hunger Games occurrences, too.

Tigris, the slightly older cousin of Coriolanus, who we meet in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , will go on to play a small but crucial role in The Hunger Games . In the prequel, she’s played with effervescent charm by Hunter Schafer. She does grunt work for a fashion designer in the Capitol, and with Coriolanus in school and their grandmother at the outer edges of lucidity, she’s the family’s primary breadwinner.

Years later, Katniss will recognize Tigris in Mockingjay – Part 2 (now played by Eugenie Bondurant) as a longtime stylist for the Games. Snow and Tigris have long since fallen out, it seems—we catch glimpses of her disappointment in his ruthless path to power in Songbirds and Snakes. In Mockingjay – Part 2 , as the rebellion advances on the Capitol, Tigris offers Katniss and her tactical unit shelter in her clothing shop. Later, she outfits Katniss and Gale in disguises to infiltrate further into the Capitol.

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , Grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan), the aristocratic, unbending grandmother of Coriolanus and Tigris, grows roses on the roof of their dilapidated penthouse apartment. She dotes on her flowers, but spares a precious few for Coriolanus throughout the course of the movie: the rose on his lapel on the day of the Reaping, and the one he offers Lucy Gray when she arrives at the Capitol. Coriolanus also remembers his mother, who died when he was young, as smelling of roses.

In the Hunger Games trilogy, roses become President Snow’s calling card, especially to intimidate Katniss. When he pays her a visit to threaten her at the beginning of Catching Fire , he gives her a rose as he leaves. After the Capitol firebombs and destroys District 12, Katniss finds a single fresh rose in her untouched house. And when the Capitol bombs District 13, the heart of the rebellion, they drop a layer of white roses over the rubble.

In Mockingjay – Part 1 , we find out from former Hunger Games victor Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) that President Snow rose to power by poisoning his enemies. He would drink from the same cup to deflect suspicion, then take an antidote. But the repeated exposure left him with bloody sores in his mouth that never healed. So he would wear roses doused in perfume to mask the smell. 

His first victim, as we find out at the end of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , was Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), the dean of the Capitol Academy high school. Highbottom had inexplicably stood in Coriolanus’ way at every turn, eventually banishing him to the districts as a Peacekeeper. 

We later find out that Highbottom and Coriolanus’ father had been friends and college classmates. Drunk one night, Highbottom had designed the Hunger Games as a joke, and Coriolanus’ father submitted the idea as his own, making the games a reality. To cope with the guilt, Highbottom has become addicted to the painkiller morphling. When he returns to the Capitol, Coriolanus gives Highbottom a poisoned bottle of morphling, killing him.

More Must-Reads from TIME

• Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
• How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
• What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
• How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
• Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
• How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
• What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
• The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024

Contact us at [email protected]

President Snow

Character analysis.

Creepy, crawly President Snow is always a bearer of bad news. His presence casts an evil shadow over much of the first half of Catching Fire . Katniss is always looking over her shoulder and wondering what kind of punishments he might be devising for her. And she's right to be worried. After she fails to convince him of her love for Peeta, he dumps her right back into the Hunger Games arena.

Snow is ugly and gross, and he reminds Katniss of a snake. She describes him as having a very particular smell when she approaches him in person: The smell of roses and blood has grown stronger now that only a desk separates us. There's a rose in President Snow's lapel, which at least suggests a source of the flower perfume, but it must be genetically enhanced, because no real rose reeks like that. As for the blood… I don't know. (2.16)

What else is there to say but "yuck"? Blood and roses sounds about as bad as a Lady Gaga perfume . In Snow's case the smell is usually accompanied by the delivery of bad news. Here he's telling Katniss that he knows about her dark secrets and that she can't fool him. Snow makes it sound like his eyes are everywhere and he knows everything. Compared to the other citizens of Panem, he certainly has a great deal of power.

Tired of ads?

Cite this source, logging out…, logging out....

You've been inactive for a while, logging you out in a few seconds...

W hy's T his F unny?

Screen Rant

The hunger games: why president snow coughs up blood, explained.

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Why Suzanne Collins Can Never Write A Hunger Games Sequel (Besides The Obvious)

10 best disney star wars characters (& 5 worst), "does what no other trilogy has ever been able to do": quentin tarantino reveals his pick for the best movie trilogy.

• President Snow's bloody sores from poisoning are hidden by the smell of white roses, symbolizing the inability to cover up the violence and murder in Panem.
• President Snow dies laughing and choking on his own blood, a fitting irony for a man who spent his life plotting against others.
• Snow's story in "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" shows his first foray into using poison and sets him on the path to his eventual downfall in "The Hunger Games."

In The Hunger Games films, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) coughs up blood for a specific reason. The Hunger Games is a four-part film series that is based on the hit trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins. It’s a dystopian young adult series that is set in a version of the United States after a monumental war that saw the country divided into districts that are now forced to sacrifice two children yearly to a free-for-all battle to the death for the elite's viewing pleasure. It's tribute Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who eventually leads a revolution against their oppressors.

The new United States is known as Panem in The Hunger Games , and the Capitol is the city that rules over the other districts and forces the Hunger Games as a way of punishing the other districts under their rule. The ruler of the Capitol, and therefore Panem, is President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) a white-haired, tyrannical, megalomaniacal ruler who becomes the main adversary to Katniss as she tries to bring him down. He is remorseless, shrewd, and paranoid and has managed a tight grip on Panem for 25 years thanks to his willingness not only to kill enemies but allies too.

RELATED: How Old President Snow Is (Including In The Hunger Games Prequel)

President Snow Coughs Blood Due To The Sores In His Mouth

President snow's sores are from poison.

When Katniss first meets President Snow , she immediately notices the smell of blood mixed with the smell of the white rose on his lapel. What Katniss doesn’t know is that President Snow’s mouth is full of bloody sores that are the source of the smell. Finnick Odair, one of The Hunger Games ' most dangerous tributes in the third quarter quell, tells Katniss in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire that President Snow once poisoned all his allies, concerned that they would become too powerful. In order to allay any suspicion, Snow drank the poison as well and gave himself the antidote afterward. However, the antidote was not a perfect solution.

President Snow developed bloody sores as a reaction to his brief poisoning . This is the primary reason Snow surrounds himself with white roses. They are ostensibly a show of his purity and symbol of beauty, a version of himself Snow finds it important to promote. But their real use is that the strong, genetically enhanced smell is supposed to cover up the smell of blood and of the young Coriolanus Snow's crime . Just as the smell of roses is unable to cover the blood, all the beauty and trappings the Capitol is known for in The Hunger Games are not able to cover the violence and murder lurking just below the surface.

The Ironic Symbolism Surrounding President Snow's Death

President snow is killed by his own schemes.

At the end of The Hunger Games , Katniss has defeated the Capitol and Snow. When she is set to execute Snow, Katniss instead shoots President Coin, and Snow dies laughing and, though it is never confirmed, choking on the blood from his sores. His whole life as president had seen him trying to hide his many crimes, including using roses to mask his bloody scent. His death can be read as him never being cured of the positioning; it simply took a while to take effect. Snow spent most of his life plotting against others and destroying their lives, and ironically, he died because of his own schemes.

RELATED: Why Snow Laughs When Katniss Kills Coin In The Hunger Games Franchise

Does Snow's Story In Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Play Into His Death?

The ballad of songbirds & snakes shows snow's poison origins.

Coriolanus Snow’s story in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes doesn’t explicitly play into his death. Instead, his story shows how “Corio” becomes the Coriolanus Snow that would take any and all power he could get to become the undisputed leader of Panem. In fact, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes shows the first instances of Snow using poison against others .

He first gets the idea to use poison because there is rat poison in the Snow home. Snow places some of the poison in his mother’s old compact and smuggles it to Lucy Gray Baird to give her a weapon to use when the time comes in the 10th Hunger Games. That’s the first time he has the idea to use poison instead of outright violence to help eliminate a threat, and it’s not the last in that particular story. Snow uses poison himself, mixing it into morphling, to leave for Dean Highbottom, knowing that he’s addicted and won’t be able to resist taking it.

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes chronicles the slow corruption of Coriolanus Snow while he’s mentoring Lucy Gray, but it also gives the audience an explicit look at his first foray into using poison to solve his problems. While giving the poison to Lucy Gray to use against other tributes is to save her life, it’s also to help him win the Plinth Prize, since he believes if the tribute he’s mentoring wins the favor of the audience, he’ll be awarded the coveted prize.

Though he’s discovered as cheating to help her win, it’s not the poison that is uncovered, though it is suspected since Lucy Gray has his mother’s compact. Snow sees the poison as a way for his misdeeds to go undetected, and it’s the poison that becomes his weapon of choice moving forward in his life. The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes sets Coriolanus Snow on the path to his death at the end of The Hunger Games' original story.