I'm watching episode 46 of Strange Hungers and I'm enjoying it as an example of a not particularly unusual adversary (gnolls!) being spiced up by DM and players being willing to try weird and fun things. Oeidur's first ever attempt at an, I think it was third-level lightning bolt? being bargained for with "what are you willing to have go wrong; are you willing to hit an ally" is fun for a character who is the known asshole. Barden trying to scare off the gnoll at the end because just trying to kill it doesn't seem Heroic and she is trying to be Heroic, and then immediately following that with the dramatic slide under the owlbear to slice it open and going "did it work?!" feels like commentary on the kind of persona Barden is trying to construct in the world. The swashbuckler slide and Oeidur's lightning bolt turned area of effect both ended up feeling like fun ways of combining mechanics and characterization even in a gnoll fight that wasn't inherently themed to anyone's character arc.
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Hello! i am eating up you Hunger games series' analysis and i'd like to ask you your opinion on why Peeta loves Katniss. I love them yet i can't understand how a school crush of him turned to be him willing to sacrifice himself for her.
why hello there, nonny! let me just go open up my books…
when peeta confronts haymitch about not sending him parachutes in the arena, he concludes that it doesn't matter because he would have wanted haymitch to save katniss over him anyway (cf, 19). this confirms the assumption that katniss made in the first book. that peeta was never a threat to her and instead tried to save her the entire time, even if that meant he died (thg, 248).
however, it seems a little insane if you think that he sacrificed his life for a childhood crush.
because while peeta has had a crush on katniss ever since he was a child, does that automatically mean that he should selflessly sacrifice his life for hers? no.
nor should it.
however, there are other factors that are influencing his decision to save her over him. that make it a little more understandable.
first, it is important to understand that peeta in the first games felt like he had no chance of winning (thg, 90). his mother had reaffirmed this belief when she saw him off at the city hall (thg, 90). and until the games begin, he continually explains that he had "never been a contender" in the games (thg, 141).
and who did he instead see as having a chance of winning? katniss, of course.
he knew that she was capable of killing wild animals and that increased her chances of winning (thg, 89). and his mother already pointed out that katniss is a survivor (thg, 90). so, it seemed clear to peeta that between the two of them, she was more likely to actually win.
therefore, all of the resources should be used to help her. whether that be revealing his crush about her on national television to make her more desirable (thg, 132). or teaming up with the lethal career pack to help mislead them away from her (thg, 160). or sacrificing his life to take on cato in order to protect her (thg, 193).
but why katniss?
well, peeta mentions multiple times in the series about how katniss has an effect on people (thg, 91; mj, 277). implying that there is some special quality that makes katniss valuable to the world. and in the quell, he justifies dying for her because, unlike him, there are people that need katniss. and if she were to die, more people would suffer.
but i think that peeta's true intentions for sacrificing himself for her are revealed when katniss tries to take the nightlock pill at the end of mockingjay. because now she believes her 'effect' had been used up by the capitol and district thirteen (mj, 309). and, with prim dead, she no longer had people who relied on her protection and needed her (mj, 296).
so, all of the fancy reasoning that peeta had previously used to try to convince katniss to live could no longer be applied.
instead, peeta, a character marked by his ability to conjure eloquent words and masterful rhetoric in such dire moments, can only muster out two words in response to her plea to let her die: 'i can't' (mj, 317).
and so, to go back to your original question nonny, why was peeta willing to sacrifice himself for katniss? and, while we are at it, why was katniss willing to sacrifice herself for peeta?
because just as peeta represented a dandelion in the spring that brought hope for the future, katniss represented something to peeta too. she was a songbird, a creature who unabashedly spread her tune and selflessly shared her resources with people.
and to both katniss and peeta, the death of the other would signal their suffering. and in a world like panem, their lives are constantly being threatened with little chance of their survival.
like a little girl who is moments from dying of starvation. or like a boy lying in a cave with blood poisoning. like a girl being sent into a second hunger games. or like a boy who is surrounded by murderous monkey mutts. or like a girl who is ensured death unless a boy willingly becomes a mouthpiece for an authoritarian regime. or like a boy slated for execution for his treasonous words unless a girl signs away her freedom to be a mouthpiece for a rebellion.
so, what is to be done in those situations? the only thing that could be done in a world like theirs. a world in which no person or government spares another person's life without something in return.
to sacrifice yourself in the hopes of your lover's life is spared.
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you know cato & clove really pulled a "they know you walk like you're a god, they can't believe i made you weak" because cato is truly one of the most violent arrogant bullheaded people in the arena according to katniss's description and he spent his entire life believing in this doctrine of honor and how murdering other children would give him a god-like status and make his district proud, and that he's capable of fulfilling that. he acts like nothing can touch him and mercilessly cuts down others in the arena but when clove was dying he was no longer "brutal, bloody, cato" or the violent bloodthirsty egotistical district two kid, he abandoned all that because his district partner, ally, his (presumably because of his reaction to clove's death) friend was lying on the ground in intense pain and about to die, and he didn't want her to, so he literally begged on his knees for her to stay with him. cato was this untouchable god but she made him weak and human.
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