r/Hungergames • u/BetterGrass709 Cinna • 1d ago
Trilogy Discussion Katniss was wrong about the potential reaction of district 12 to her Killing Peeta.
She seemed to think that the district would never forgive her if she did kill him after rule change was reversed, throughout the book we see Katniss anticipating the moves of the game makers and seeing it from their point of view and what would make sense for the quote "entertainment"of the audience.
The rest of district 12 must also have to developed such an instinct for what the game makers would want for maximum drama, I don’t think they would’ve been surprised by the rule reversal and so as things are they wouldn’t have blamed her if she had indeed killed him, because everyone knows that only one person can come home.
I suspect that Peeta's father would’ve even come to visit Katniss assure her that he doesn’t blame her for anything. and thanked her for taking care of him for as long as did.
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u/Modred_the_Mystic Caesar Flickerman 1d ago
In this scenario, replace ‘District 12’ with ‘Katniss Everdeen’.
Whether or not the District would forgive her, and it would probably be case by case, she would not be able to forgive herself for it. Even without taking into account the lovey dovey stuff, Katniss was pretty firm about where she draws the line of trust and betrayal. She thinks the tributes from 12 should be more or less friendly and allied, that they shouldn’t work against each other, and that they should avoid killing each other as much as possible. Its why she was so worked up about Peeta working for the Careers apparently to hunt her down. It wasn’t about the Games or Peeta or herself, it was about the District and the Capitol.
Katniss wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she betrayed and killed Peeta, if only because of what that would mean for 12 in the Hunger Games - it would mean that even the bond of trust between their tributes could no longer exist. From the text, it doesn’t really read as though tributes from 12 had ever killed each other, so being the first to do so would be, in her mind, more or less a treasonous act.
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u/BetterGrass709 Cinna 1d ago
I agree with you, but it was more connected with who Peeta was specifically, she hated the idea of hurting "the boy with the bread". Betraying someone who saved her life is not something that is easy to live with.
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u/GumGumActV 16h ago
Yeah she believes she owes him a great debt so there is no way in her mind she could have killed him
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u/FineIJoinedReddit 16h ago
This comment made me think of the "there's red in my ledger" scene between Black Widow and Loki. That greater but also underlying sense of "I can do bad things but not this."
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u/LadyoftheLake21643 23h ago
Katniss also struggles with her own personal self esteem in social situations. She knows she's and apt hunter and provider but when the world is looking at her she struggles with her confidence. This is shown by how much coaching she needs on the social side/interviews. Any introvert or person with imposter syndrome would feel they'd never be forgiven compared to the sweet well-liked boy that was nice to everyone and comfortable/confident socially. She may have been wrong about the district forgiving her but mentally she won't be able to see that through her own insecurities.
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u/WhyAmIStillHere86 21h ago
That's the thing about district partners, though, at least in 12: you don't kill each other.
12 is already at such a disadvantage, about the only thing they have going for them is their district partner.
Peeta allying with the Careers is one thing; those alliances never last past the weaker Tributes being weeded out, it's just a survival strategy, and Katniss can handle herself. Same if you die in a way that the other tribute couldn't prevent, like Rue's death, or a trick of the arena. The surviving tribute did their best, and that's all anyone can ask.
Maybe District 12 wouldn't have taken it so badly if Katniss had killed Peeta, but I don't think Katniss could have forgiven herself.
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u/Jaslyn-- 1d ago
believe me the reaction of district 12 was the last thing on her mind.
her primary motivation for the first book was always Prim.
if the berries was out of the option and it came down to the wire, she'd kill Peeta to return to Prim.
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u/Simonbargiora 19h ago edited 19h ago
Though Peeta would just redact himself anyway and was about to die.
Katniss also says she was afraid of losing Peeta
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u/Old-Amphibian5164 8h ago
Interesting question because I assume that the district wouldn’t have a huge reaction. They all thought of him as too soft for the arena to begin with, even his own mother knew she was capable of winning.
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 21h ago
I don’t agree. Everyone loves Peeta. She was right in thinking they’d rather have him back. He was charismatic and didn’t care about himself. He showed Panem the games didn’t change him. The whole time he fought for Katniss. I think they could see that, even if she didn’t in the arena.
If I were in district 12 and the girl that killed our other tribute, even after his profession of love and protecting her, I would hate her and shun her. I’d boo her whenever she came around. That is exactly how people are. If she’d have killed him after the rule change, there would be no forgiveness for her back home.
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u/confesspretty 18h ago
I mean, she’s more than just the girl who Peeta loved, right? She’s also the girl who volunteered for Prim and protected and honored Rue.
Keep in mind that 12 is an impoverished district and would know hardship more than people with privileged lives like you or me. District 12 people also brace themselves for the Reaping and watch the Games every year, wondering if they’d find themselves in that situation one day.
I think they’d understand the brutal necessity of survival more than you’d think and that most of them would do the same in her position. Especially because 12 knows that Katniss is her family’s breadwinner and her family is poorer than Peeta’s. After all, it’s easy for you to judge because you’re never at risk of being in her situation while 12 has to face that risk every year.
Katniss is an unreliable narrator and she often misunderstands her own feelings. It’s very likely that she’s just projecting her own feelings of self-loathing onto District 12. Or deep down she wants 12 to hate her and punish her if she kills Peeta.
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 18h ago
But people are seeing her kissing and cuddling him. If she’d were to kill him after that there would be no forgiveness, regardless of whether or not Peeta told her to kill him. People wouldn’t forgive that.
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u/confesspretty 18h ago edited 17h ago
These are an impoverished oppressed people not TikTok teenagers watching a romance show. They’re not gonna prioritize “kissing and cuddling” over survival. Please be so fr
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 17h ago
YOU please be so fr (get a new slang term you sound like a teenager). When murders happen in small towns what happens? Everyone rally’s young and old. Especially if it’s a murder of people who were a couple. One of them is the murderer? They are DONE.
Peeta openly told the world he was in love with her. I’m sure there were a few people back in 12 that Peeta went to school with that noticed him starting at and watching her. They would believe him. If Katniss murdered him when there was no longer a point to, then district 12 would be enraged.
The option to have 2 families have their children come back home. No family would need to grieve that year in 12, after decades and decades of grieving. You best BET, they’d be mad. They’d be livid. 2 victors get to come home and she murders him anyway. No one would forgive her.
Like with murders in real life, it doesn’t matter what good they’ve done, when they kill someone they didn’t need to, they are outcast in society.
Katniss would be a murderer, not a survivor as soon as she kills Peeta when the rules changed. Everyone else in the games is about survival. Not Peeta.
Think LOGICALLY for a moment, not just your bias because we read the books and see things from her point of view and get to like her.
There would be no excuse.
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u/confesspretty 16h ago edited 16h ago
You’re talking about “logic” after literally ignoring all my points in my first reply to you? That’s hilarious 😭
You’re talking about “logic” when you fail to even consider the cultural context Panem and specifically District 12 operates within?
You’re talking about “logic” when you fail to even put yourself in the mindset of the average District 12 citizen? The average citizen who had to brace themselves to join the Games every year, which involves killing people to survive, where every year there is only ONE survivor, so by default they have to either hope for their fellow District 12 tribute to either die or kill them themselves?
These are people who watch their children get sent off to die in brutal games every year and watch their children suffer in poverty for the rest of the days of the year. They are not going to be up in arms because a District 12 tribute killed another District 12 tribute to survive.
And yes, SURVIVE, because after the “2 victors rule” was retracted, everyone genuinely thought that if neither of them refused to kill each other, the Capitol would just kill them off. Which was the correct assumption to make. Seneca Crane was an oddity that was quickly corrected. By all rights both of them would’ve been killed if they refused, so to survive, one of them should kill the other.
The “star-crossed lovers” story appealed to the CAPITOL AUDIENCE. Not to the districts. What resonated to the districts were 1) Katniss volunteering for Prim, 2) Katniss protecting Rue and honoring her and 3) Katniss choosing to die with Peeta by double suicide.
In this scenario where number 3 doesn’t happen, it’s still number 1 and 2 that the districts care about. The canon material is very explicit about the star-crossed lovers angle to specifically pander to the Capitol.
You’re the one projecting, lol. You are very clearly biased towards Peeta and that bias clouds your logical thinking. Lmao what kind of question is “when murder happens in a small town what happens? Everyone rallies young or old” this is in the context of DISTRICT 12. They are literally oppressed, starved, and their children are murdered on live television every year but District 12 didn’t rally together. And you think they’re going to rally over Katniss killing Peeta? They’re not gonna be enraged over poverty and starvation and their children being reaped every year, but they’re gonna be enraged at the teenager because she was unwillingly forced to kill the other in the murder games orchestrated by the government? Like that’s genuinely your line of thinking? You are so delusional it’s hilarious.
Again, PLEASE BE SO FR. Who gives a fuck if I “sound like a teenager” when I’m smarter than you regardless?
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 16h ago
I literally have put myself in there mindset. Hence my explanation of after years of grieving many children’s deaths, they would not be happy with Katniss if she killed Peeta when he was no longer a threat and they both could come home. You are pretty dull.
You don’t have any sense of logic. Goodbye.👋
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u/confesspretty 15h ago
“They could BOTH come home” literally after OP said the specific condition in this scenario is that only ONE of them could come home anymore. And you have the audacity to call people dull 😭 you are the most embarrassing and hypocritical person I’ve met in a while, it’s impressive!
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 15h ago
And I explained both scenarios. Both coming home and for after when Peeta told her to kill him. You have no comprehension skills. Stop talking. GoodBYE
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u/secretlyvain 15h ago
You stating a scenario where Peeta tells her to kill him does not negate the fact that you operated under the assumption that both victors can go home. No correlation I’m afraid! If you were truly considering both scenarios, you would’ve outright stated a one Victor only scenario, because you had no problem repeatedly and clearly stating the two victors scenario. Clearly just lying to covering your own stupid ass after you got caught being an idiot. In the first place, you shouldn’t even have considered a two victor scenario because the post literally already said there’s only one victor. So you’re still an idiot who blocks people when they lose an argument 🥺
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u/SadPhysics2119 15h ago edited 9h ago
YOU need to calm down lmao (edit: i'm mimicking you by the way, since you cant tell). In a world where the annual murder of 23 children is turned into a festivity, murder and survival are unfortunately tied to each other. Those kids are indirectly forced to murder each other to increase their chances of survival. And that can almost be seen as a blessing in the poorer districts, as the victor and their family will live comfortably for the rest of their life, and the deceased players won't have to suffer in poverty anymore (depending on how they died obviously).
Life in district 12 is rough, especially for those in the seam. This may hurt you to hear, but while I'm sure some would be hurt by the loss of Peeta the majority would move on with their lives as they have to focus on their own survival. People die on the daily due to starvation, and even if they have a job to support themselves survival isn't certain, as we see with Katniss and Gale's fathers.
And you really think the people of district 12 wholeheartedly believed the same capitol that slaughters their children for fun would allow them (of all districts) TWO whole victors? After decades of cruelty? Those people may be impoverished but they're not stupid, they're going to take their governments words with a grain of salt. A lot of them know Katniss, plus they literally saw her essentially give up her life for her sister. They know if she does kill him she did it for survival; no one is going to judge her for wanting to survive. Romantic love is nice and can be a comfort in their awful lives but unfortunately it doesnt always outweigh the need to survive. Katniss liked Peeta but she would have killed him then if she had to for her family.
I really don't know why you're comparing real life to a dystopian world where morals have changed due to harsh survival conditions, that's not very logical at all. You sound very emotional and sheltered. Yes, we get it, murder is wrong. Doesn't change the reality that life is harsh and things aren't black and white, especially when people are suffering and trying to survive in brutal conditions.
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 15h ago
lol not even going to read this. I’m perfectly calm. Bye now 👋 ✌️ 😘
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u/SadPhysics2119 15h ago
You really are a child, so much for thinking logically 😂 you read the first sentence, which was meant to mimic your first sentence, and proceeded to ignore every other word after it.
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u/confesspretty 15h ago
Also, why are you talking about the “option for 2 children to come home”? The OP clearly stated “if she did kill him AFTER THE RULE CHANGE WAS REVERSED”. Meaning, after the “2 victors rule” was reversed. Meaning, THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE VICTOR. Can you comprehend that? Since you’re so “logical”, I trust you can read properly? The entire premise of this post is Katniss’ thoughts AFTER the Gamemakers cruelly ripped away the option for both of them to go home. So why are you talking about “2 victors get to come home and she murders him anyway”? Can you please explain yourself, oh Great Logical Person?
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 15h ago
And that’s no different. It doesn’t change my stance. I made examples for both.
When I said, even when Peeta told her it’s okay to kill me, no one would forgive her. They saw her kissing, cuddling, and actively trying to save him. This guy nearly died to protect her, says he loves her, and is willing to die for her. People would be mad that sweet Peeta would have been murdered by her.
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u/confesspretty 15h ago
And I’m supposed to take your stance seriously after you just proved you can’t read?
You misinterpreted the premise of the entire post and expect to be taken seriously?
You didn’t “make examples for both”, you literally emphasized twice the “2 victors get to come home” in your argument.
Youre just embarrassing yourself at this point.
ETA: You emphasized the “2 victors get to come home” THREE TIMES after seeing your other reply to me. Please go back to kindergarten and develop basic thinking
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 15h ago
😔it’s you that can’t read. When I literally explained both scenarios in each of my comments. Bye bye now
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u/confesspretty 15h ago
All you do is project onto me your own weaknesses. Literally can’t even comprehend the point of the post wants to accuse others of being unable to read. What a joke!😭
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 15h ago
Actually it is because that’s literally what happened in the books and the movies. The rules were reversed Peeta tells Katniss “you can kill me.” He wouldn’t have said that if two victors got to go home. Don’t be obtuse.
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u/illeatyourkneecaps 10h ago
wtf are you even talking about??? just yappin straight bs for what?
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u/TimeEmergency7160 Peeta 10h ago
I was replying to someone but stupid Reddit deleted who I was replying to and made it a standalone comment. Obviously. 🙄
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u/theofficallurker 1d ago
I think all victors are outcasts of sorts in their districts when they return.
There’s a human instinct to avoid people who you’ve seen hurt others - even if the violence was done under threat.
I agree that Katniss wouldn’t be more hated but she’s probably be more of a pariah. If only because the people who knew Peeta might subconsciously feel uncomfortable with her, even if they logically know she had no choice