Hunger Games Retrospective

Apparently The Hunger Games got a prequel last year. I only just found out about it, but a prequel does seem the obvious way to go with the series, since the final book ends the titular games for good. Just from the wikipedia summary, it unfortunately looks like the games, which to me seem like the main selling point of the novels, took a bit of a back seat, and all the action is still centered around District 12 when I would have liked to explore the other districts, but to be fair, I’m not really the target audience, having only had a passing interest in the trilogy.

However, I did give it enough thought to present for your consideration a history of the Hunger Games (a special put on in the Capitol in anticipation of the 75th Hunger Games):

(Warning: Hunger Games-typical description of violence follows.)

 

The Games begin as simple gladiator fights. All of the tributes (24 children with direct connections to the rebels) are thrown into an arena, sometimes with weapons and sometimes without, and forced to fight to the death. (What the Capitol doesn’t tell you is that for the first few years, the tributes refused and stood hand in hand while the Capitol’s peacekeepers mowed them down.)

 

To mix things up, wild animals were introduced into the fray and they made for more exciting games, but it lacked the intrigue the Gamemakers were going for (it made the tributes look like heroes rather than vicious killers). So, the Gamemakers switched to a tournament style; one-on-one brawls with incentives in food, weapons, and bies for each victory - and later from sponsors. Finally, the Games got off the ground. The wealthier districts even begin to train Career tributes to get a better chance of winning glory and riches for their District.

 

However, after ten or so years of increasingly well-trained careers sweeping the bracket, the Gamemakers decided it was time for a change. In a more elaborate take on the old free-for-all gladiatorial fights, all of the contestants were transported to one of the many ruins throughout Panem, devastated in the failed rebellion, and left to fight until only one remained. It was a grand success, and thus the classic Games were born.

 

The first Quarter Quell brought the next major change. The people of each district voted for their tribute, as a reminder that they are to blame for the rebellion and the Games. Expounding on that theme, all of the tributes were brought together into a luxurious house, where all their needs were accounted for. But if they ever wanted to leave, the only way out was to kill one of their fellow tributes. Each death was then followed by a trial, where the surviving tributes voted to catch the culprit and have them executed. If they were wrong, they all died except for the true killer, who was declared the victor. It was a unique, intriguing (disastrous) deviation from the usual Games, but afterward, Panem was ready for a return to tradition.

 

For the next ten to fifteen years, the Games traveled around Panem, from sandy seashores, to deep forests, to treacherous mountains, to barren, rocky deserts. Again, the Games were free-for-alls, with the last tribute alive declared the victor. But, in time, even the most exotic locale became passe, and as technology improved, the Gamemasters began to design impossible arenas of their own.

 

The age of artificial arenas peaked with the second Quarter Quell, only 25 years ago, when four tributes were chosen from each district, instead of the usual two, to remind the districts that for each person from the Capitol killed in the rebellion, two from the districts were killed in retribution. All 48 tributes fought to the death in a breathtakingly beautiful valley where everything, from the food and water to the butterflies, fluffy golden squirrels, and candy-floss pink birds, was deadly.

 

After the second Quarter Quell, the artificial arenas and muttations remained, but the traps became more subtle, hidden in apparently natural environments. Over the years, the traps have become increasingly elaborate, so that the tributes must have wit and resourcefulness as well as strength to survive. And the Gamemakers promise that for the third Quarter Quell, they have something special in store, so don’t you think of changing that channel!