Been awhile since I’ve posted anything Hunger Games and I wanted to draw Rue and Katniss 🥺🥺🥺

what if i'm standing in your closet trying to talk to you? and what if i kept the hand-me-downs you won't grow into? and what if i really thought some miracle would see us through? what if the miracle was even getting one moment with you?

Listen I know this character is doomed by the narrative. I know their death is the most satisfying (even if painful) ending for their character. I know they were meant to die since the start. I know than the things than led to their death are incredibly relevant to the story and can’t be stopped, and I know than the things than happened after they died, because they died, are the whole point of the story. I know their death was a turning point for the whole story. I know the story would not be nearly as good without this character’s death. I know the impact their death had on other characters, or what it meant on their own character journey, is what changes the story. I know the symbolism their death had, and I know than it wouldn’t have been able to be portrayed on a different way than someone dying. I know there were clues to this character dying since the start, and I know there was no other ending for them.

However what if they lived a happy long life, huh?

does anyone understand my vision..

I want the Hunger Games AU where Rue survives up to the point where they announce that two victors from the same district can win. I want Thresh, still crouching in wait in the tall grass to suddenly stand up and start to search, because he doesn't know Rue, but she's a child and she's from home and now they can both make it back.

I want him searching for her, and finding her, scared because she never managed to find Katniss after they destroyed the supplies, and promising her that they'd find a way out of this. I want him teaching her to fight and her teaching him to hide, to make himself light and small so he can flee when he has to.

They make it to the end, the last two to survive after Katniss sacrifices herself to save Rue and Peeta dies from his wounds. The rule change is announced, and Thresh is ready to die because Rue's just a kid, and as much as he wants to see his family again, it's not worth that. But Rue refuses, sets down her weapons, and looks at the cameras and says she's not leaving without him. If the Capitol wants a victor, they have to accept two.

I want the version where a revolution wasn't started because of two teenagers in love, but because of two kids from the same community looked at each other and said "I'm not leaving here without you".

The absolute poetry of the ABOSAS film you guys.

Reaper, the male tribute of District 11, using the very symbol of the Capitol to shelter/shield the bodies of the children they condemned to death from their prying eyes and deny them the spectacle that their captor's so desperately crave. All while daring them to punish him for being brave enough to act out against what they had planned, to actively seek to provide comfort and treat the fallen/fellow victims with dignity.

Only for this to unknowingly be echoed sixty four years later with Katniss. When she did the same for Rue. Providing that little girl's spirit a safe place to pass on from, giving her remains the respect they deserved after her life was snatched so violently from her. And unknowingly sparking the same ember, the one that barely managed to be put out sixty four years ago by Gaul, and breathing life into it until it became a flame.

thinking about how katniss' selfless acts of love acted as a catalyst for the rebellion among the districts. she never intentionally intended to rebel but it was her act of love which acted as her act of defiance. it was her act of love which gave the underdeveloped districts hope and courage to stand up against the capitol. because, if a girl from the poorest district can defy the capitol out of love, then who's stopping them to do it to demand justice?

firstly her allyship and love for rue. covering the little girl with flowers to grief her death and directly telling the gamemakers, capitol and it's citizens how dehumanising the hunger games is, reminding them how it's nothing but murder and exploitation of innocent children. which led to thresh sparing her and district 11 giving her their thanks, creating an allyship between two districts, between two tributes, something which never happened in the history of hunger games. and all of these happened solely because rue and katniss found a friend in each other.

secondly, her suicide pact with peeta. whether she was in love with him at that point or not doesn't matter, she has grown to care for him and love him as a friend and she was not letting him die. vice versa with peeta. so they decide to die together eating the berries. they were known as the star crossed lovers to the world and then they defy the capitol. the president by refusing to follow the rules. they did break the rules out of love and this was the second time the world watched katniss everdeen defying the capitol in the name of love. whatever courage and anger which rose among the districts watching her mourning rue was amplified that day.

thinking about president snow telling katniss to keep up her lovesick girl persona because he wants the world to know she did it out of love and not out of defiance while he's missing the whole point, it was her act of love which led her to rebel, it was watching her defying the capitol courageously out of love which led the districts to start an uprising. it has always been her act of love which caused the uprising. because if a girl from the poorest district can defy the capitol out of love, who's stopping them to do it to demand justice?

How did I never notice this before??

Katniss meets Rue after throwing spears. Is this foreshadowing?

Knowing that their friendship began and ended with spears 😭

I think the most brilliant part of The Hunger Games movies is how we see things so often from the Capitol's perspective. In the books, all we knew was what Katniss knew. But in the movies, almost all of the footage was through the Capitol's eyes. The bloodbath? Could have easily been one of the cameras in the arena. The scene where Katniss dropped the Tracker Jacker nest on the Careers? Same thing. And the most incredible part, it gives us an unbiased perception of the characters. We see them not only how Katniss saw them, but how they really are. We see the good and the bad Katniss may have overlooked. We also see the effects Katniss's actions had on others, even when she didn't. And to me, that is brilliant.

oh my godddd sorry if this has been pointed out before but i just realized where cinna likely got his inspiration for katniss’ mockingjay gown (THG, p. 126)

and isn’t it interesting that rue is the one who introduces katniss to the idea of using mockingjays as a tool of communication? isn’t she the one who proves katniss, the mockingjay™, is trustworthy as a leader? someone worth following?

me watching everybody say “yeah young snow’s hot but remember what he did to finnick” when I still haven’t forgotten what he did to RUE

« Well if they can’t catch me, they can’t kill me,

So don’t count me out yet! »

«  I wouldn’t in a million years. »

- My rendition of little Rue. What do you Guys think?

wait wait wait wait

“where a dead man called out”

when snow tried to cover he said he killed his old self

“they say he murdered three”

snow and the arlo both killed three people

also

he abandoned her while she was searching for katniss

alsoooo

“its not over till the mockingjay sings”

and ALSOOOO

she wrote the hanging tree, she sang deep in the meadow as maude ivory fell asleep the same way katniss sang to rue

in mockingjay katniss sang at that same lake near that same little house where she and snow had both found refuge once, and then broadcasted it to all of panem

i can just see how snow saw katniss, her “loverboy” scheme with peeta in the games, taken it as a cruel coincidence or worse, a mockery for the love he once shared with lucy gray, and wanted her dead for it

all the overlaps, all the strange coincidences between the girl he loved, the girl he betrayed, and katniss everdeen, the mockingjay, the girl who would bring an end to his show…

god i am going to cry, lucy gray baird and katniss everdeen i love y’all so so much

so i started reading hunger games yesterday and today i got to the page where katniss sees rue get reaped for the games, and i distinctly remember all the outlast from racists when amandla was cast as rue for the movie, people saying they always imagined her as white or blonde or whatever.

only now am i realizing JUST how insane that is, obviously it’s racist and stupid, but it’s also just flat out wrong? she’s literally described immediately as havinf dark brown skin.

WDYM YOU IMAGINED HER WHITE AND BLONDE? CAN YOU READ??

So I was thinking the other day, and...

The whole point of the hunger games was to show people how that, without civilisation, rules, restrictions, and structure, people would basically revert back into their true nature - animals, killers. They were to show people that even little kids can become murderers when there are no rules, and that they need rules to stop the world going to waste.

The irony of this is that it doesn't really work. Sure, people get killed, and there is always a victor, but the tributes still find ways to show love and kindness.

The way Katniss lays Rue down with flowers, when Thresh spared Katniss because of her friendship with Rue (even though he knew that he was making it harder for him to win), Mags sacrificing herself, even Reaper gathering the bodies of the tributes and laying them out, all of this just shows that while the Capitols plan sort of worked, they couldn't completely hide that humans are kind, and loving, and not just the animals they tried to portray them as.

Random but at the end of Mockingjay when Katniss says she needs "the bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction", and that "only Peeta can give [her] that", she's specifically talking about Peeta as opposed to Other Guy.

Because, fun fact: rue, (evening) primrose, and dandelions are all yellow flowers. All three of the characters associated with them are explicitly linked with hope throughout the series.

Peeta is the obvious one. He's the one who gives her the bread at the beginning that not only physically feeds her in the moment, which in turn inspires her to remember that she is capable of survival, but its probably the first act of kindness remembers since her father has died. The book specifically shows how everyone has abandoned them and there's nowhere to turn. Nobody gives her hope until Peeta does, both as at the beginning of and the end of the story. In addition to making a good salad, dandelions are considered pioneer plants because after a land has been destroyed in some way they're the first ones to colonise it. Just like when Peeta comes back to 12 to help rebuild it.

Then, there's Prim. Prim frequently reminds Katniss that there's beauty in the world. She's the reason Katniss fights throughout the first Games, and you can see that she makes Katniss softer. In CF, she specifically mentions that Prim is one of the reasons she's supposed to keep fighting, because she wants a better world for her. And then in MJ, she feels that hope reignited when Prim says they're training her to be a doctor when she says "this is the sort of future a rebellion could bring". She wants Prim to be reborn into a different world where these things can happen, and she wants to fight to make that world a reality. Yes, evening primrose wilts quite quickly after it blooms (iirc), but it also blooms several times a year, so Katniss will always be reminded of her sister.

My personal favourite, however, is Rue. In the arena, Rue reminds Katniss of Prim, which brings out her protective nature, but also of herself, which is one of the reasons they relate to each other. Both are older sisters who are protective of their siblings. Katniss says it's a bad idea to ally with Rue but she does it anyway for these reasons. But I think the reason Rue represents hope for Katniss is because of how she protects her in the arena. She warns her about the tracker-jackers and draws the poison out of her body. When Peeta describes the Games, he says that the world around you and the people in it become your final reality. Katniss - and anyone else, for that matter - would not have expected a singular act of kindness from the moment they entered the Games. They know the time for kindness is over. I know Snow must have been screaming, crying and throwing up during the 74th because between Katniss volunteering, Peeta protecting her, then Rue protecting her, then Katniss singing to her, and then Peeta and Katniss protecting each other and refusing to live without the other, the rebellion was already starting. Rue could have left her to die, and didn't, which Katniss acknowledges. Instead, she saved her life and lost her own. This is the act of goodness that spurs her on in the Games, and together with Prim, in CF when she considers running away. In sleep, she sees Rue reborn in the same world as Prim, safe in dreams where nothing can hurt her. Dancing in the meadow. Katniss helps create that world for her children, where they play in a field of yellow flowers, likely including Rue. And while the meaning of the name Rue is significant because Katniss regrets not saving her, it's likely significant for Snow and the Gamemakers as well, who likely regret her entering the Games in the first place; the plant (not the flower; the Everlark babies are safe!) Rue is poisonous to the touch, and as soon as Rue enters the Games, it's the beginning of the end of Snow's Games. Rue poisoned the Games with hope! And helped make the Mockingjay.

So anyway, I do think Peeta gives Katniss the most hope for rebirth. They are in love, after all. But Rue and Prim definitely gave her that bright yellow, too.

(Apologies to Katniss because buttercups are also yellow 😂)