#humanizing Cato at the end
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Agent H's Book Reactions
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Revolution is rising in the districts of Panem as Katniss and Peeta are selected again for the Hunger Games Quarter Quell
-Unfair, that only Gale calls Katniss Catnip. I, too, would like to call her Catnip
-It's really fun reading the love triangle through the lens of what each boy represents (Gale: rage and rebellion, Peeta: hope and peace) because it so beautifully serves Katniss' emotions and journey. She chooses Gale when she decides to join the rebellion instead of running. She holds on to Peeta in the Capitol/Games. etc. Genius character technique, Collins
-I completely understand why Collins wrote it this way, but I wish that the victory tour had been longer. Like it goes by in pretty much two pages. I was looking forward to them going to each district, because it would help us get to know each district better and see the rebellions first hand. And I think it could've raised some tensions if while on tour, District 12 was being cracked down on and Gale got in trouble, and there'd be nothing Katniss could do. It parallels watching the Games and emphasizes the hopelessness and violence the Capitol is trying to inflict
-Between the victory tour and the Quell announcement, I was really bored. It was important plot set up and I really appreciate how these books dedicate time to Katniss's trauma and emotional well-being. But it dragged on a bit too long for me.
-I really appreciate the posts that point how Rue is the true start of the rebellion, but I don't want to mistake that for the impression that her death matters more than her life. She was a young Black girl, she deserved to live :(
-At first I was like, ugh, this Games feels different than the first. But, duh that's the point!! The first part of this book is about the districts uprising. The second part of the book is the microcosm of the districts, the victors uprising. The Games feel different because it truly is the districts against the Capitol instead of each other
-They say that once the gong rings, the solidarity that the victors showed during the interviews will be gone. But then they're wrong!! Katniss and all work in a team, and they rebel against the Games by showing compassion and solidarity. It's the victors working together to rescue Katniss. It's Peeta consoling the dying victor. It's Katniss taking the time to clean and soothe Beetee and Wiress. It's joking around with Finnick. It's Finnick having Johanna's back. That's the revolution!!
-I like the first book's arena more for how it was so realistic, but I can appreciate just how batshit traumatizing this book's arena is. Who tf thinks of raining blood??? Also I like the set up of the District 12 electric fence to the arena's forcefield. And how them destroying the force field is the literal AND metaphorical destroying the games for good
-Really sometime I should sit down with this series and just connect all the different parallels and symbolisms and set ups
-Peeta continues to be the best and my favorite
-"If it weren't for the baby"- PEETA MELLARK IS THAT BITCH. I LOVE HIM
-Unsurprisingly, I am down bad for Johanna. I want her to step on me
-*Me @me*: You cannot adopt another gorgeous, witty, secretly tragic boy. *Me, sighing, knowing this will not end well, but putting Finnick Odair in my pocket anyway*
-I know it was for the escape plan, but it was so cute how Finnick was obsessively counting the bread each time
-I couldn't tell if Finnick knew the truth on the baby thing, but I thought it was adorable that he seemed to so earnestly believe Katniss' lies, e.g., the baby, hearing the forcefield
-The whole hearing the force field thing is so funny because it has no significance to the plot, it's just Katniss overthinking things again and then having to keep up the lie
-I love Katniss and Peeta so much. They're so ride-or-die for each other before ever having real feelings (on Katniss's part at least) involved. Like the foundation of the relationship is just pure human empathy and friendship in the face of unimaginable circumstances. God damn
-I also really love how as much as Peeta gives Katniss hope, she also gives him hope. She saves him in the games. She makes life in District 12 worth living. It's not just one-sided, they save each other. Couples who mutually inspire each other to live=Top Tier
-I got confused on the ending, but why wasn't Peeta at the tree with Beetee? Finnick went after Johanna and Katniss after they realized the wire was cut. So I can get that Peeta would've wanted to go after them too, but Beetee would've insisted that he stayed put, right? Do they ever explain this?
-See, the rebellion rescuing Katniss feels less like plot armor to me than I think other books would've made it feel, mainly I think because Finnick and Johanna were still down to kill Katniss if it came to it and District 13 is very much also just using her in their Games
-Ohhh, the ending with Haymitch hurts so much. Because Peeta says that he lied to one of them about which one he'll keep alive. And we, like Katniss, know that he lied to Peeta because he agreed that it's Peeta's turn to live. But as much as he loves Peeta, turns out he lied to Katniss and us. The betrayal is real T^T
-The movie gives a cleaner explanation on why Katniss and Peeta can't know about the rescue plan
-Because I rewatched the movie immediately after finishing the book, Strokes of genius from the movie: 1) The little girl saying she wants to volunteer like Katniss (scariest moment of the movie) 2) The graffiti "the odds were never in our favor" 3) The shot of Johanna and Finnick leaning on the tree as they decide on Beetee's plan
-While rewatching, I saw a comment that was like "I can see how these books are beginning to reflect now in our real time." And I was like, hmm, yeah, like obvs we're not having children killing each other in an arena anytime soon (though we seem to be okay with children dying from gun violence and police brutality *side-eye*), but the series' themes of media, propaganda, and violence are very much in play now
-I think Hunger Games should absolutely be taught in dystopian fic sections of literature classes alongside things like 1984 and Brave New World (admittedly, Hunger Games was a little too disturbing for me as a young teen, but then again Brave New World was a little disturbing to me as a young teen SO)
#look i know i am 10+ yrs late on this series and none of what I say is new but let me enjoy anyway plz and thank you#hunger games#thg#catching fire#hunger games trilogy#thg trilogy#katniss everdeen#peeta mellark#finnick odair#Honorable mention to 1st movie's genius moves:#shaky cam#humanizing Cato at the end#peeta touching katniss' braid right before the berries#the berries and Seneca#i'm on a 2nd time binge of the franchise okay#agent h#agent book reactions#why is he called Finnick is it supposed to be that he gives the appearance of being finicky in lov#I don't typically use the step-on-me compliment so know that I am gay and down BAD for johanna
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what if i was an emotionally volatile young man and you became the closest thing i had to a mentor after my dad was brutally murdered in the war you kind of pushed onto him but then you sent me to spain and committed suicide and i continued the struggle on my own only to be killed on the anniversary of your death. wouldn't that be fun.
#spam tag#in: welch 2012#end of human pomp#suicide#as with everything pompey jr their 3 second interaction is just an excuse for me to squint at cato a little. what are you.#the 'on my own' part is not a dig at labienus btw he's genuinely nearly absent from the primary sources. it's weird
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How I imagine Snow's progression of being reminded of Lucy Gray throughout the Hunger Games trilogy
1. Katniss volunteers. How cute. She has no chance of living past the bloodbath. Her name sounds familiar.
2. Katniss scores an 11 in training. So what she shot an arrow at the game makers. Well, that 11 will put a target on her and she's no match for the rest.
3. Peeta reveals he is in love with Katniss. What an interesting angle. Definitely some kind of ploy. Viewership will be up, as well as sponsors. Interesting to see how this plays out.
4. Katniss is trapped by the careers and Peeta. Aw, look, she dropped a hive on her boyfriend. Looks like she doesn't like him after all.
5. Katniss allies with Rue. Odd, and a terrible choice for an ally.
6. Rue mentions her pin, a mockingjay. The connection is made. Katniss, that swamp potato dug up by Lucy Gray and her mockingjays that still infest the districts. His dislike for Katniss grows.
7. Rue dies and Katniss sings the Meadow Song to her. A jolt runs up his spine. That old song, sung to Maude Ivory by Lucy Gray. It's still around in District 12 and now it's on national television. Snow knows how much the Capitol loves singing tributes.
8. The new rules are announced. This will be interesting. Of course, there's no way Peeta will live long enough for there to actually be two victors.
9. Katniss and Peeta are in the cave, and Peeta begins to recover. The huge influx of sponsored gifts is concerning. Katniss will hopefully die at the Feast trying to get medicine.
10. Peeta makes a full recovery. That wasn't supposed to happen, but the Capitol loves it.
11. Cato dies. Seneca didn't think they'd get this far. Time to revoke the rule change. Katniss will kill Peeta or vice versa. These children barely know each other, and in the Games they resort to their basic human nature of violence. Oh look, she's even pointing her bow at him.
12. The berries. The double victory. Seneca Crane is a dead man. They have outsmarted the idiot game makers. Snow is once again reminded of his cheating in order to help Lucy Gray win. How well that turned out for her in the end.
13. After the games. Snow is certain they are putting on an act to survive and meanwhile, defy the Capitol. Peeta is good with the crowd and is quick witted. So much like Lucy Gray. Katiss is impulsive and heartfelt. So much like Sejanus.
14. Snow learns Katniss hunts in the woods, he possibly traces her lineage, and he finds out everything he can about her. Snow takes measures to quell the rebellion brewing and control Katniss and Peeta throughout Catching Fire.
15. Katniss's wedding dress burns away into a Mockingjay dress. That damn bird again.
16. The force field gets blown out, and tributes escape. Snow recalls when the 10th Hunger Games arena was bombed.
17. Katniss's first propo is televised in the districts, declaring herself the Mockingjay. He should have killed all those birds when he had a chance.
18. The Hanging Tree propo airs. He'd almost forgotten Lucy Gray's songs. How could this girl, now, know them? The song was banned, Lucy Gray was dead. She was dead, right?
19. The rebels in District 5 sing the Hanging Tree while blowing up the damn. Chills run up his spine as he watches the live feed. A crowd of an indiscernable number flood the walkways to the hydro dam. They're singing a song they didn't know yesterday. A song no one knew until now. A song that was as dead as Lucy Gray. Except, she wasn't dead. How could she be, if her song is still sung? The dam blows and the lights go out in the Capitol. Snow half expects the ghost of Lucy Gray herself to appear before him.
20. The war is over. The Mockingjay has won. She appeared from nowhere, echoing the songs of Lucy Gray like the birds themselves. Well played, Lucy Gray. Well played.
#the hunger games#tbosas#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#sorry this is long but this is my roman empire
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"Gale says I never smile except in the woods." - Katniss, THG, Ch. 1.
I present to you: Instances of Katniss effortlessly smiling/laughing around/because of Peeta in the first book:
Peeta unexpectedly laughs. “He was drunk,” says Peeta. “He’s drunk every year.”
“Every day,” I add. I can’t help smirking a little.
“Where is Haymitch, anyway? Isn’t he supposed to protect us from this sort of thing?” says Peeta.
“With all that alcohol in him, it’s probably not advisable to have him around an open flame,” I say.
And suddenly we’re both laughing. I guess we’re both so nervous about the Games and more pressingly, petrified of being turned into human torches, we’re not acting sensibly.
When we finally escape to bed on the second night, Peeta mumbles, “Someone ought to get Haymitch a drink.”
I make a sound that is somewhere between a snort and a laugh. Then catch myself. It’s messing with my mind too much, trying to keep straight when we’re supposedly friends and when we’re not.
“I hope that’s how people interpret the four I’ll probably get,” says Peeta. “If that. Really, is anything less impressive than watching a person pick up a heavy ball and throw it a couple of yards. One almost landed on my foot.”
I grin at him and realize that I’m starving.
Peeta, it turns out, has never been a danger to me.
The thought makes me smile.
“Lean down a minute first,” he says. “Need to tell you something.” I lean over and put my good ear to his lips, which tickle as he whispers. “Remember, we’re madly in love, so it’s all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”
I jerk my head back but end up laughing. “Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Katniss?” Peeta says. I meet his eyes, knowing my face must be some shade of green. He mouths the words.
“How about that kiss?”
I burst out laughing because the whole thing is so revolting I can’t stand it.
Peeta’s struggling to get up when I reach the cave. “I woke up and you were gone,” he says. “I was worried about you.”
I have to laugh as I ease him back down. “You were worried about me? Have you taken a look at yourself lately?”
“So that day, in music assembly, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She stood you up on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I swear, every bird outside the windows fell silent,” Peeta says.
“Oh, please,” I say, laughing.
“What’s the problem?” I say with a grin.
“The problem is we’re both still alive. Which only reinforces the idea in your mind that you did the right thing,” says Peeta.
“Ah, that’ll be nice,” says Peeta, tightening his arms around me. “You and me and Haymitch. Very cozy. Picnics, birthdays, long winter nights around the fire retelling old Hunger Games’ tales.”
“I told you, he hates me!” I say, but I can’t help laughing at the image of Haymitch becoming my new pal.
“Hey, Effie, watch this!” says Peeta. He tosses his fork over his shoulder and literally licks his plate clean with his tongue making loud, satisfied sounds. Then he blows a kiss out to her in general and calls, “We miss you, Effie!”
I cover his mouth with my hand, but I’m laughing. “Stop! Cato could be right outside our cave.”
#he had her kicking her feet and giggling#in the middle of a death arena#everlark#peeta x katniss#katniss x peeta#katniss and peeta#katniss everdeen#peeta mellark#the hunger games#they were just two teens with a huge crush on each other#just talking and laughing and bonding amongst all this chaos#and she doesn't really smile or laugh apart from in the woods or with prim#so the fact that she does so easily with peeta#with her team in the capitol?#with haymitch and effie and finnick and johanna?#found family fr
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Rereading The Hunger Games trilogy due to the whole THG Renaissance going on over on Tiktok and I'm a quarter of the way through Mockingjay and my god, Katniss does not give herself enough credit!
And not in the usual YA "oh I'm so plain and average" protagonist way, either. For Katniss, it's that she's completely convinced she's a terrible, ruthless person who uses people and thinks of them like they're game pieces and doesn't feel for other people the way she should.
But she's lived her entire life in deprivation and constant danger, nearly starving to death before she was thirteen years old and then being forced to risk her life daily to be the primary provider for her family afterward. Not to mention the yearly horror of the reapings and the games, always knowing the children dying could be her. Or her sister.
And then her worst nightmare comes true, and she's thrust into a fight to the death where she's forced to playact being in love to survive.
And yet, throughout all this, the thing that most consistently drives Katniss's actions is compassion.
Volunteering for Prim obviously, but also the way she acts towards Rue. Partnering with her, sharing food with her, singing her to rest and burying her in flowers. Then there's the way she worries throughout the series over how her every decision will affect others: her family and friends, but also people she's never even met. Her entire friendship with Finnick in District 13.
Her bonding with the Morphlings over fingerpainting. Her guilt and sorrow over her failure to help the redheaded Avox girl, despite the fact that Katniss was herself a child in a dangerous position and could have died in the attempt. The way she later helps Bonnie and Twill, giving them her bread and showing them how to forage. Her going to bat for the other tributes when District 13 wanted them executed.
Her horror and disgust at the weapons Gale and Beatty were building, weapons that preyed on human terror and compassion to maximize casualties.
Even killing Cato, who she hated and feared, wasn't about vengeance or even survival in the end. It was an act of pure mercy.
Throughout the whole series, Katniss inner-monologues about how awful she is, often comparing herself unfavorably to Peeta and Prim, who she sees as deeply good and kind in a way she isn't. But if Katniss was truly as ruthless and unfeeling as she thinks she is, the Capitol would have actually had far less power to hurt her. It was her compassion that Snow attacked, every time. Her worry for and love of her family, her district, her friends, Peeta...even her fellow tributes. Even people she'd never met. It was her greatest strength and her biggest weakness.
#katniss everdeen#the hunger games#she's such an unreliable narrator but never more so than when she talks about herself!#thg renaissance
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I'm convinced that Snow was the one who came up with the "rule change" in THG (idc what the movie did with it--they didn't know TBOSAS and it was less than convincing they way they did it).
Just think about it. We start off the Games with Katniss's courageous action volunteering for her younger sister. Then Peeta did something radical. He decided to follow through on his declaration of love to Katniss and did everything he could in the arena to save her. Getting sponsors, teaming up with the Careers, getting Katniss to leave and fighting Cato for her. Can you imagine what that was doing in the Capitol? In the Districts? How could you watch someone do that and not hope for a happy ending, even as Peeta lay dying in the mud, whispering Katniss's name?
And then Katniss teams up with Rue and is devastated by her death. She stays with her, sings to her, until she dies. Bolstered by Peeta's words about not being a piece in their games and finally getting what he means, she decorates Rue with flowers. She honors her life and her unnecessary death. District 11 recognizes this and even though they have another tribute alive in the Games, send Katniss the bread.
In Snow's mind, everything about the games is starting to crack. Young love being selfless, sisterly affection defying the Capitol, comradery fostering between districts. He simply can't let it go on. He has to remind people in the Capitol and the Districts that this is not human nature. He is going to prove that. So he tells Seneca Crane to announce the rule change.
He expects Cato and Clove to make it to the final two. In their new advantage, they will become a deadly, mostly healthy team. Meanwhile, Snow can see that Katniss doesn't hold the same care for Peeta that he does for her (she had tried to kill him with tracker jackers, after all). Even if she goes to find him, she'll abandon him once it gets too hard, too dangerous. The hope of love triumphing will be met with annoyance at his injuries and agreeing to stay behind and not get his medicine. And even if she does, he'll still be too injured to truly be useful.
But things go awry. Thresh saves Katniss because of her kindness to a little girl he, too, saw as a younger sister. He kills Clove, bringing about Cato's wrath. And Katniss Everdeen turns out to be a better actress than expected.
No matter, though--once the rule change is revoked, the truth of the stripped-down human nature will come out. Oh, Peeta will throw out the ravings of a teenage boy high on hormones, but people will remember how awful they truly are when Katniss puts an arrow through his heart. After all, Snow's made that decision before. His lover or himself. Death in the woods or life with riches in the Capitol. It's easy, really, to make that decision. And people will remember even the best among them, even she who willingly risked her life to get medicine or volunteer for her sister, won't avoid killing in order to survive herself.
But Katniss calls their bluff, and Peeta goes along with it. They've chosen to protest the Hunger Games with their deaths. Seneca makes the call to announce two winners. Really, Snow was going to kill him either way. Someone has to be publicly accountable for the place he's in now, and Snow certainly isn't going to take credit for his idea. After this, he tries and tries to get Peeta and Katniss to have to kill each other. The Quarter Quell. The hijacking. But it never works. And not just because of them, but because a whole nation finally stands up and says Enough. We won't let this go on anymore. In the end, Snow was entirely wrong because he never truly understood love.
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Thinking about how an author's opinion on the end of the Roman republic shapes how they portray Romans in fiction:
If you like Peter Brunt's theory that the Senate failed to respond to people's needs, and thus large groups of people became alienated from the state, and willing to support leaders like Sulla or Caesar instead, the Senate (and especially optimates) will probably be portrayed as hostile, selfish or incompetent. The Gracchi will probably be portrayed positively. Generals like Caesar may or may not be sympathetic, but their followers will probably get at least a sympathetic passage.
If you prefer Christian Meier's view that nearly everyone genuinely believed in the republic, but their very efforts to sustain it (or what they thought it was) prevented them from reaching much-needed compromises or implementing reforms, then that lends a tragic air to it all. Good if you want to humanize multiple sides in a morally gray conflict.
Erich Gruen's view that the republic was not in irreversible decline prior to 50 BCE puts more blame on individuals than on systemic forces. Cato, Metellus Scipio, and the Marcelli play a bigger role, and not in good way. But Caesar and Pompey may also be judged more harshly, since this view implies that their civil war was the turning point for the end of the republic.
Robert Morstein-Marx argues that the general public and Plebeian Council played a big role in political legitimacy, and that who was "right" takes on a different meaning through this lens. In particular, Cato, Bibulus et al look more like radical obstructionists while some of Caesar's actions seem more justified.
Gruen and Morstein-Marx also describe the First Triumvirate as much less dominant in politics than pop history books usually portray.
Morstein-Marx and Nathan Rosenstein have also pointed out that Romans during Augustus' time don't seem to have viewed his regime as an end to the republic, but a continuation/restructuring of it. A novel following this view will likely portray that regime more sympathetically or as morally gray. (Although you could still write Augustus himself as a villain with good publicity.)
The time that you think the republic started falling apart - or if it was - influences who you think caused the damage, and who you think was reacting to it.
Lots of people have a strong opinion on who was better, the optimates or populares, and some books will portray them as opposing political parties. Many folks also tend to side with either Octavian or Antony, even now.
So, we end up with a lot of different plausible characterizations for these guys, depending on which books you read, your own political views, and what kind of story you want to tell.
It's impossible for a novelist to be accurate or objective in a way all historians agree with. At some point, you have to interpret the data into a narrative of what you think happened, based on your own opinions and ideas. You then turn that narrative into a story, choosing what to include or exclude, whose points of view you portray, and how.
In historical fiction, your present self acts upon the past, as much as the past acts upon your writing process in the present.
#jlrrt essays#i haven't read meier or brunt yet so apologies if i mischaracterized their views#historical fiction#writing#historiography
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In Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lucy Gray Baird mentions the existence of a the mockingjay in a phrase.
"It ain't over until the Mockingjay sings."
And while it's dismissed as a weird phrase at first and gains its own meaning in the novel I think what's amazing is that, 64 years later, Katniss Everdeen sings The Meadow Song to a dying Rue in the 74th Games.
That moment also shows her first display of public defiance, and it informs her actions moving forward. She comes back to Rue's death as the turning point from survival to pushing for rebellion. After this point, she calls Thresh's death a "murder" and reacts suddenly to it. Even trying to reason that "Rue was different, Rue was my ally." She's begun to see humanity in her competitors and deconstructing everything the Capitol had fed her. In the end, she kills Cato out of mercy, and this is the boy who'd been hunting her down since the Games began. This is the arrogant lapdog from District 2 where everyone loves the Capitol.
But it all started with Rue dying and Katniss singing.
The Mockingjay had sung. The Capitol's show is over.
#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#ballad of songbirds and snakes#the hunger games#hunger games#the hunger games: the ballad of songbirds & snakes#zephyr talks movies#zephyr talks novels#i really like this book series#hope the movie is as good because raaaaahhh
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Request; Guilliman's partner comforting him? He is so sad in 40k, and has so much on his plate. The Lord Regent needs cuddles when he has a break!
Author's Note: #LetRollarcoasterGhilliesuitRest. I'm having fun writing all these cute requests while I work on some Konrad stuff >:3
Relationships: Roboute Guilliman/Fem!Reader
Warnings: None apart from Cato Sicarius being an stick in the mud because that's just who he is ✨ he just born that way ✨
Word Count: 932
Guilliman's chambers remain unchanged from when he had last entered them, a massive room adorned with the symbols of his legion. It is all ornate, golden, tapestries hanging and filigree tracing the edges. It's all decorative, indulgent. But none of it is his; The room feels nothing but sterile, to him. There isn't a single remnant of his life, only his legacy.
"You look tired."
You sit small on his massive bed, Guilliman's gaze having turned to you upon hearing your voice. It's quiet in the massive room, nearly drowned out by the high ceiling.
He is tired. Incredibly so. Perhaps mentally more than physically. Though the sight of you serves to act like some sort of drug to give him a boost, abit only temporarily.
He works tirelessly, endlessly, with no goal or end in sight. The Imperium is no less rotten, galaxy no less plagued since he'd last looked. You serve to be a small candle for him, a hope for a future, but a candle can't light a cavern. But still, he hates to imagine his life without you now.
Though Chapter Master Marneus Calgar and the Commanders of the Legion had not taken well to it. To you. It seems their Primarch having wants and desires beyond his supposed godhood is upsetting. They seem to almost speak of it, of you, as if it's an illness- being in love. Wanting a life beyond war.
Gulliman still remembers Cato Sicarius' attempt to discipline you for referring to him as Roboute so casually, spitting venom at your supposed disrespect.
The holotable shined against blue painted armor and skin, sickly green blending with blue and gold. Guilliman had been expecting a moment alone with you, to voice his thoughts, though it has quickly seemed to have turned into a meeting of sorts. You moved to take your leave, as you know well you were unwelcome in the Ultramarine chapter's private dialogues. Guilliman doesn't disagree that you shouldn't overhear, but his chapter takes it much more seriously. Vehemently so.
You look up at him, holding your hands close to yourself.
"I'll be in the Librarium, Roboute-"
Cato Sicarius turned his gaze to you, searing even through his helmet. His stance across the holotable was firm and unmovable, one hand on the pommel of his chainsword. He is ever the epitome of Ultramarine valor.
"You will speak of Our Lord Guilliman with the proper respect-"
Guilliman turned to the Ultramarine, who's zealotry has been wearing on him like waves against a ragged shoreline. To him he can begrudgingly deal with it, but he will not let him trample you.
"She can refer to me however she wishes," Guilliman said, his armor making noise as he resisted balling his hands into fists. "Do not speak for me again."
The Primarch had shut the Astarte down within moments. But the burn still remains. Their overwhelming zeal has proven irritating, but in that moment it finally turned him to anger.
They treat him like a god, speak of him as such; You are the only one who still treats him like a man. Perhaps he might be far removed, but he is still human, underneath his overwhelming size and power. At least he feels he is. Sometimes he isn't quite sure anymore.
"Perhaps I am. Sleep is rare for us all." He finally responds to your comment, neither disagreeing or agreeing fully. Despite it, you look up at him with this soft, caring face- It reminds him of Euten. You gently pat the bed.
"Can you come here?"
The Primarch listens, coming closer. He gently sits on the bed to avoid jostling you, watching the way you curl your hand to gesture him closer. He furrows his brow.
"What do you have in mind?" Guilliman watches you intently, trying to read you and figure it all out. You just give him that same sweet look.
"Just come closer. Lay down." When he doesn't move, you sigh.
"Please?"
Then does the Primarch finally give in, laying back; Feeling your hands as you adjust until the back of his head lays across your thighs. Your hands brush through his hair, and Guilliman swears for a moment he could die right here and be satisfied. With such a simple gesture, you've healed him just a bit from the horrors gnawing at him.
His eyes are hooded, not quite closed as he looks off. He looks deep in thought, or tired. More than likely both.
"You have the time to sleep, if you want." If he returned here, it could only mean he finally had managed to obtain a moment to himself. He's looking away from you when he responds.
"I don't wish to weigh you down for so long." Your hand brushes across his cheek for a moment, brushing a chunk of short blonde hair behind his ear.
"I know you Roboute; You won't be asleep for that long."
The sentence makes him let out a dry laugh. You had him down to a science within months; His Legion barely knows him, and they worship him.
His hand reaches up to gently cup your face, and it swallows so much of it. You lean into his palm none the less. You put your hand on his own for a moment, before returning it to his head.
"Take a moment to yourself, Roboute. You've fought for everyone else for so long. The galaxy can spare you a minute."
He doesn't remember anything else, after. Just the soft look in your eyes and the feeling of your fingers against his skin.
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Please explain Cato Sicarius
I've only heard recycled TTS memes but never anything actually about him
Omg, you have opened Pandora's box here! I'll make sure to keep it brief (editing me: I tried, ok :P ).
First of all, he is kind of a dick, but in an entertaining way.
He was first written during a time were 40k was a heavy mix of satire and power fantasy (yes, worse than now), and he bears a lot of that with him.
I heard a GW employee explain him more like a traditional ancient Greek hero than a modern superhero and he was in my opinion spot on. There is hybris and tragedy here we don't usually see in modern pulp sci-fi.
But a brief backstory:
He was born as a Duke(the highest title currently used in Ultramar, so he was basically a prince) on Talassar (a feudal ocean planet) and from the moment he was born, he was trained to be an Ultramarine. The guy had no childhood at all and turned out (absolutely not) fine because of this. Imagine Tiger parenting on steroids.
He does so insanely well after getting picked to become an Astartes.
He has a meteoric rise to captaincy, first to fifth company and then within 4 years to second company. He just can't seem to lose. Until he does.
He loses at Damnos so very badly and almost dies. It's a substantial political embarrassment to the Ultramarines, and boy, does this guy not handle it well.
And this is where I find him so endearing and relatable.
As someone with ADHD who was a very gifted kid and an overachiever in their youth, I know all too well that the moment you hit a curveball, everyone that cheered you on is gone. That hits home for me. I have never had a character resonate with me like this before.
He does get his revenge in the end, but it isn't the glorious battles from before, and slowly by slowly, he is learning about humility and humanity, something that before was alien to him.
And now, at the end of the story, when he looks back at his legacy. Everything he has fought for, everything that has been lost, friends, family, in exchange for glory, he wonders if it's all been worth it.
It is, in my opinion, some of the best storytelling Black Library has ever done. And it kind of saddens me that it's all being pissed away and not taken seriously by the fans because of the "I am Cato Sicarius" high-pitched voice.
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thinking about how coriolanus's entire regime/power usurpation was about taking advantage of district 2 people.
he considered sejanus as a district animal who wasn't worthy of the wealth/capitol comforts he'd been "rewarded" with, and disliked him on a personal level as a human being, but still allowed sejanus and others to believe that they were friends and seeked to take advantage of his parents by leveraging his connection to sejanus for their money. snow was responsible (albeit inadvertently since he miscalculated the severity of the consequences of sejanus rebelling and genuinely did not intend for him to die) for sejanus's hanging, and he deceived the plinths and exploited their grief because it served him and his needs.
and then he coddles district 2 so that they would lean pro-capitol during his presidency. this was a strategic move on snow's part - it had to have been, because while he had no personal experiences with anyone from districts 1/4 (which is why even though they seemingly got the same benefits as d2 they still ended up defying the capitol openly in Mockingjay), he knew from what happened to sejanus that district 2 people were raised on the concept of honor and that they were very firm in their convictions. whatever relationship he developed with district 2, he did it so well that instead of people like sejanus, d2 raised bloodthirsty fascist supporting children like enobaria and cato and clove. he convinced the new generations of d2 that fighting in the games was this grand honor and in their best interests, which would ensure their loyalty to him and his cause.
even though he literally (probably) never met cato and clove, coriolanus practically did the same thing to them as he did to sejanus. he pretended that he - and by extension, the capitol that he represents - had their best interests at heart while secretly exploiting them and taking advantage of their easily trusting and driven nature.
#ik people are probably tired of me beating this dead horse about snow x district two#but i could go on forever about it because it was so clever on Suzanne's part#having someone that contributed most directly to the demise of snow's worldview being from the career district that katniss basically said#was the capitol's lapdog and extremely loyal to the capitol#like!!! It's so purposeful and I just. i love it#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#district 2#coriolanus snow#art & literature#anna speaks#tbosas#thg#the hunger games
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Last of my Hunger Games reread thoughts! Lets Gooo!
I have a whole other level of love and appreisation for any of these little times Katniss says she does something with Peeta for herself. Like, knowing what's coming it feels like gold. All the way through to the end of the book.
Katniss and Peeta have been a shocklingly amazing team from the first moments on the train but here, as they are wrapping up thier days in the arena it shows that fact off. They work so well in tandem. They have skills, know one anothers skills and work with that together and I love it.
The presious moment of calm between Katniss and Peeta. DAWW.
Collins and her narrative build up skill? Like when we see all the tributes going the more you realize just how very real the show down with Cato is gonna be. It feels like this showoff was set up from the beginning...cause shock! It was and Collins has been planning to pay it off.
I rememberd how human the dog mutts were, but not to what extent. They were planning, coordinating and even seemingly speaking at some points. It's horrific.
Cato's death is also horrific. Like he suffered for a whole night, just being eaten almost alive. As cruel as he's been Collins puts his humanity in your face in his speech holding Peeta and how the mutts attacking him is desribed.
SO this arch of Katniss sort of...realizeing who the enemy is comes together with the moment of mercy for Cato. She doesn't want him dead, despite haveing those thoughts the whole time. But she sees he is a boy, lied to and hurt by the Capitol just like her and she ends his suffering because that vengence is gone. That seeing him as an enemy is gone. And thats slowly been revealed to her since Rues death. The Capitol Is the one causeing all of this, not even the better off tributes like the Careers.
Another thing I didn't recall was just how COLD the gamemakers made this last night. Katniss and Peeta are shareing body heat and are still cold stiff.
Changing the rules a second time could not have been a worse choice. It almost invites an act like the berries. It shows how much they NEED a single victor. That they need things the way they want it and are willing to bend for it.
So the berries. I think it's so significant that Katniss says she's never really leave the arena if Peeta dies, and that she'll alway be here trying to find her way out. The implications of this level of greif is NOT a small one. Katniss is saying she'd die here with him, even if her body lived should Peeta die. And honestly that makes the stunt with the berries
Peeta and Katniss's conversation before the berries was actually painful. They love one another so much I can't-
Katniss being unable to leave Peeta and thinking he dies is also hits like a train. Collins doesn't run out of ways to express fear, loss and greif. It is just as in your face every time. Mind you, this is before Katniss is told she needs to convince anyone of their love, and after they made it out of the arena. There is NO acting here, no fakeness. This panic at watching Peeta possibly be lost to her is 100% genuine.
Love how Katniss almost speeds us through the end of the game interviews and recap stuff...she is just as uninterested in it as me quite frankly. Instead focusing on trying to play things as safely as she can.
And the most painful part. The reveal to Peeta of Katniss's uncerteinly. Katniss is walking this line of confusion. Wanting and careing for Peeta but being unsure where the line is between that and what the Capitol wants is. But the last words of the book being her missing and dreading letting him go.
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Something that just occurred to me about the Hunger Games, specifically regarding District 2 is that the fact they’re the most resented among the other districts is most certainly not an accident — it’s Coryo’s revenge against Sejanus Plinth, his memory, and his family.
I’ve already had thoughts about Katniss’s relationship with District 2; how it starts with her resentment towards them simply for being Careers, Cato and Clove’s brutality and cruelty only reinforcing her dislike…only for Katniss to come to see the tributes as fellow kids. Thread is a form of harm towards District 12 very likely sourced from 2, but in the end learning most Peacekeepers and weapons the Capitol employs are from 2 doesn’t stop Katniss from recognizing them as people, as fellow human beings and potential allies.
But then it occurs to me that 2 being chosen as the center of the Capitol’s weapons and military, as where they sourced people they could use against the other Districts, was a very deliberate choice. And it was one Coriolanus Snow probably had a hand in.
The Plinth family had a complicated role. Born in the Districts, chose to become Capitol, and were never accepted by either. Coryo scorned Sejanus and Ma for clinging to their District roots, for showing kindness and compassion instead of playing the political game and throwing children under the bus to do so. Even becoming the Plinth family’s surrogate son and benefiting from all their wealth didn’t make him change his mind.
But Coriolanus did find an outlet for petty revenge — he made District 2 the most enthusiastic and involved of all the Capitol’s tools for oppressing the other Districts. And in doing so, ensured that the place that gave rise to his closest friend and worst enemy all at once would be punished long after Sejanus died.
District 2 became the Capitol’s defense center only after 13 was lost. I have to imagine that position was not so cemented only 10 years after the war — or if it was, since it wasn’t known outside District 2 that their main export wasn’t just masonry, that at least they hadn’t become quite so popularly hated.
Enter all of Snow’s machinations and drama manufacturing to ensure the Games are a competition kids can be tricked into wanting to play. Enter Career Tributes. And enter certain Districts - 1 and 4, but 2 especially — being highly resented by all the rest.
I don’t think it was an accident that Thread, who very likely was from 2, was dispatched to 12 to be violent and cruel towards them during the year that was supposed to be a reprieve now that 12 had won the Games. Snow wanted to hurt Katniss’s home, likely also as revenge on Lucy’s memory, but using someone from 2 to do it was a very petty revenge against Sejanus’s memory. To take the place where Sejanus was killed for trying to start a rebellion and help its people, and make them hate Sejanus’s people even further.
It’s the kind of overcontrived and cruel revenge that Coryo would come up with, I think.
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I’ve finished THGs series including the prequel and here are my thoughts compared to when I read them as a 10 years old.
First The Hunger Games hit so hard especially now that I am at the age where I’m no longer eligible to be reaped. It’s quite chilling to me knowing that the tributes are all younger than me killing each other for survival. I cried at every single death. Whether they had names or not. I had to take a few moments to breathe. Rue obviously being so young. Glimmer and the D4 girl with the hallucinations. Cato screaming for Clove, the 3 day battle between Cato and Thresh. Foxface who was starving to death before she accidentally ate the Nightlock berries.
I remember not liking the Careers at all when I was a kid, much like Katniss who only knew what the capital was feeding her. I didn’t feel the deaths of the other tributes at all. I was like “they died, okay what happens next.”
Then there’s Catching Fire, you get a clue about who’s in on the plan to get Katniss and Peeta out before the actual Quell. Riots in 8 first, the shortage of seafood(District 4) music chips(District 3). We know D11 to be rebellious. And who was in on the plan? victors from D3, D4, D6, D7, D8, and D11. This one I actually liked knowing that the break out plan was happening so that I can find and know the little clues. And it’s actually funny that Katniss was planning her own little uprising too.
Also the introductions to fan favorites like Finnick and Johanna are always fun. I’m a little disappointed that Katniss didn’t feel remotely sad for the sibling duo Gloss and Cashmere both reaped into the Quell. when she volunteered for her sister knowing she couldn’t stand losing her. Also fun fact Quell is define as putting an end to (something rebellious) thank you Suzanne Collins for the world building.
Mockingjay hit me so goddamn hard and is so relevant to the real world. The trauma of war, THE BOMBING OF A HOSPITAL . The decimation of an entire area(D12). The “If we burn you burn with us.” Speech. Immaculately haunting. The Ceasefire interviews with Peeta. And yes I am making the direct connection to Gaza and the Palestinians. If Hunger Games made me cry. MOCKINGJAY MADE ME SOB. And this isn’t even touching the subject of Coin sending a 14 year old girl into war! And every single adult in Katniss’ life lied to and used her!!!
And Dear The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Fuck Dr. Gaul. And Snow too. Though his character was written extremely well. Still won’t ever sympathize with him. Or agree. Human beings are not born evil. I will always agree with Lucy Gray, everyone is born good but their circumstances push them to do bad things. But also the fact that the Mentors got to know their tributes and see them as human ie Lysistrata, Tigris, Sejanus. Also the prejudice of “their district” really pissed me off.
They’re all so heavy hitting but so brilliantly written. I’m really glad I got to finish the series after 12 years and have the set so I can reread it again.
#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#the hunger games#catching fire#mockingjay#thg series#thg prequel#the hunger games trilogy
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.*
- Cato the Elder
Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed.*
At the turn of the 2nd century BCE, the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome had ended. Rome was eventually victorious, but had suffered some significant and bad defeats. The peace treaty was even tougher for Carthage – it stripped them of many of their territories, their wealth, and restricted their actions. Fast forward 50 years later, there was another conflict between Carthage and Rome – this time in a Punic-turned-Roman-city called Massinissa. Marcus Porcius Cato, a famous Roman orator and senator, was sent to Massinissa to investigate. He had fought in the Second Punic War in his 20s. Cato was surprised to see that, since the end of the Second Punic War, Carthage had become a thriving and wealthy city again.
When Cato came to back to Rome, he called for the war against Carthage – a war to stop them once and for all. He ended his speech with the phrase: Carthago delenda est. (Carthage must be destroyed.)
Plutarch tells us that Cato's call ended his every speech in the Roman Senate, 'on any matter whatsoever', from 153 BC to his death aged 85 in 149. Scipio Nasica - son-in- law of Scipio Africanus, conqueror of Hannibal in the Second Punic War (218-202 BC) - would always reply: 'Carthage should be allowed to exist'. But such challengers were silenced. Rome decided on war 'long before' it launched the Third Punic War just prior to Cato's death. One of his last speeches in the Senate, before a Carthaginian delegation in 149, was critical:
“Who are the ones who have often violated the treaty? . . . Who are the ones who have waged war most cruelly? ... Who are the ones who have ravaged Italy? The Carthaginians. Who are the ones who
demand forgiveness? The Carthaginians. See then how it would suit them to get what they want.”
The Carthaginian delegates were accorded no right of reply. In 146 BC, nearly 8 years after Cato ventured back to Carthage and saw its wealth, would Carthage attack Massinissa and give Rome a reason to star the Third (and final) Punic War.
Rome soon began a three-year siege of the world's wealthiest city. Of a population of 2-400,000 at least 150,000 Carthaginians perished. Appian described one battle in which '70,000, including non-combatants' were killed, probably an exaggeration. But Polybius, who participated in the campaign, confirmed that 'the number of deaths was incredibly large' and the Carthaginians 'utterly exterminated'. In 146, Roman legions under Scipio Aemilianus, Cato's ally and brother-in-law of his son, razed the city, and dispersed into slavery the 55,000 survivors, including 25,000 women. Plutarch concluded: 'The annihilation of Carthage . . . was primarily due to the advice and counsel of Cato'.
It was not a war of racial extermination. The Romans did not massacre the survivors, nor the adult males. Nor was Carthage victim of a Kulturkrieg. Though the Romans also destroyed five allied African cities of Punic culture, they spared seven other towns which had defected to them. Yet, the Carthaginians had complied in 149 with Rome's demand to surrender their 200,000 individual weapons and 200 catapults.
Little did they know that the Senate had already secretly decided to destroy Carthage for good, once the war is over. The surprising new demand that they abandon their city meant abandoning its sanctuaries and religious cults to abandon their city, meant abandoning its sanctuaries and religious cults. And in this Carthaginians resisted in vain. Rome opted for the destruction of the nation.
Carthago delenda est has become somewhat of a rallying call against a common enemy - a call for total war.
None of this was lost on Churchill as he addressed British troops in the old Roman amphitheater at Carthage, Tunisia. Nothing short of the total destruction of Nazi Germany for the sake of civilisation and humanity were at stake. The Nazis were an existential threat. Like Cato, Churchill knew the power of oratory to move men into action.
Photo: Churchill leaves the old Roman amphitheatre with Lieutenant General Kenneth Anderson after addressing British troops, 1 June 1943.
#cato#roman#latin#classical#quote#rome#carthage#punic wars#war#total war#churchill#winston churchill#british army#second world war#tunisia
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Cato H. ~ The Seam
We got a Cato Hadley imagine, ya'll.
TW: Swearing, canon-typical violence
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.Y/N's POV.
Wow. The Hunger Games. Never thought I'd end up here. But then again, I also never thought I'd befriend a boy who gained muscle from baking and was named after bread.
Everyone here (The capital people, the president, the game maker, the careers, and our capital escort, Effie) made it seem like it was such an honor to be a part of the games, but honestly, I just want to go home. I have my family, Katniss, Primrose, and Gale, waiting for me at home. Plus, my mom. I don't want to be here for pretty obvious reasons. Yet, here I am, in The Hunger Games, in a training center, shooting arrows at the heart of a bright colored dummy.
-.-.-.-
I was, standing on a pedestal, heart pounding wildly in my chest, waiting for the signal to run.
I already knew Peeta would try to grab a bag and weapons, but I really didn't care and bolted straight for the woods. Once I was far enough away, I grabbed a bunch of tree branches and sharpened them into make-shift spears.
But then I heard it.
The terrifying Ariana-Grande-Like screams of the I-Can't-Climb-A-Tree people.
Otherwise known as Marvel, Glimmer, Cato, and Clove. The careers.
I mean, not gonna lie here, Cato is kind of fine, but that's besides the point. They're trying to kill me. So I did the first thing that any normal human would do when encountering the careers and climbed the nearest tree. I got at least thirty feet up before the careers got to me, and when I looked down, I saw... PEETA?! WHAT THE HELL MAN?! I THOUGHT WE WERE BREAD BUDDIES?! Whatever.
Before I knew it, Glimmer was trying, and miserably failing, to shoot me with her goddamn arrows, and Cato was climbing after me.
Obviously, these are the I-Can't-Climb-A-Tree people were talking about, so he obviously fell only about 10 feet up, but I still climbed farther.
And, obviously, Peeta, being the back-stabbing asshole that he is, told them to wait for me to come down.
You know what?! FUCK YOU, PEETA. We were supposed to be bREAD BUDDIes!
Eventually, the careers went to sleep, and I soon followed their actions and layed down, but I couldn't seem to close my eyes for more than ten seconds.
-.-.-.-.
When the sun came up, I noticed three things.
1.) There was a little girl, Rue, from district 11, staring at me from another tree. She pointed at something. A tracker-jacker nest just above the careers for me to cut down. Thanks, Rue. She can replace Peeta, now :).
2.) I had a sponsor gift on the branch above me, which looked like just a small metal tin.
3.) Cato was staring into my soul from the tree next to mine.
I almost screamed when I saw Cato but quickly stopped myself. He looked into my eyes and, without hesitation, stuck his hand out to me. He was holding three small knives.
I stared at him for a second before he spoke.
"You want 'em or not, Seam?" He said, sticking his hand out farther towards me and motioning up to the tracker-jacker nest.
I slowly grabbed them, I began to cut away at the top of the hive while Cato and Rue watched from their respective places.
I got a few stings around my neck, but I eventually cut through the top of the hive, which fell onto the careers and Peeta. They all managed to get away, though.
All except one, at least.
Glimmer, the girl from district one, was almost instantly killed by the stings, and she went limp on the ground as a cannon sounded, and the tracker-jackers began to fly away.
I jumped down the tree and grabbed the nearest rock.
I began to smash at Glimmer's hand with the smooth stone and crack after crack her fingers snapped. After a few seconds, they were all broken, but the stings must have gotten to me because the last thing I was was the bow in my hand, and Cato shaking me.
Peeta ran at us and shouted. "Y/N! Y/N, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LEAVE! Y/N?!"
Then... I went limp.
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(A/N) Well, that sucked :D! Not proofread, because I hated this one. Also, Y/N, Gale, Katniss, and Primrose aren't related, just really close. But this one was like actually really shitty.
Love ya'll to bits,
♡Sammi♡Zinnia♡
Word Count: 798
#x reader#Cato Hadley#Reader x Cato Hadley#Cato Hadley x Reader#the hunger games#hunger games#hunger games x reader#reader x hunger games#reader insert
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