As the Capitol began making their
way through the various Districts securing tributes for the eventual 74th
Annual Hunger Games, their final stop brought them to the mining colony
District 12. As the reaping commenced, Capitol representative at the time Effie
Trinket pulled a name out of the female jar and read the name “Primrose
Everdeen”. As the frightened 12 year old made her way to the stage, a
hysterical young woman cried for her from behind and as she pushed her way
through peacekeepers she firmly announced she would volunteer in her sister’s
place. As the brave young woman made her way to the stage with her heartbroken
sister being carried off crying behind her, the girl known as Katniss Everdeen
stood in front of a crowd of stunned citizens who gave her the district
exclusive three finger salute. This was truly the first of many moments of hope
this young tribute would become part of.
As Katniss Everdeen made her way
to the capitol to begin her training and participation for the Games, the
tribute parade and her interview with Capitol host Caesar Flickerman were
important moments for it truly showed that she had the ability to capture the
attention the citizens of the districts and the citizens of the Capitol. From
her breathtaking entrance with fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mallark to her
enchanting appearance during the final interviews, we here in District 13 saw
this as the true indication of this girl influence on a nation.
However, the biggest moment that defined Miss Everdeen’s influence on the Districts happened during the Games. After surviving the initial brutal and bloody first days of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss befriended a shy and high spirited young girl from District 11 named Rue. From the start, the two quickly connected emotionally probably based on the fact that Rue reminded Katniss of her little sister Prim back home. The two even were able to successfully sabotage the supply line for the career tributes sending them into a handicapped frenzy. Sadly, the alliance was short lived as Rue was tragically slain by one of the career tributes after falling into a trap. As she lay there dying while Katniss sings her to sleep, we here in District 13 saw something that floored us all. Within this woman’s eyes was an intensity that was filled with sadness, rage, and fury. She then proceeded to make Rue a small funeral sight and tearfully gave the three finger salute to her and to her home district 11 under the impression they had seen the whole event. Little did Miss Everdeen know that her act of love and gratitude for this young girl would ignite the initial flames of rebellion as a number of the districts including 11 broke out in full scale riots causing mass hysteria and giving us a glimpse into what was to come.
After making it all the way to the end, Peeta Mallark and Katniss Everdeen faced a difficult decision as the Capitol revoked a previous rule change allowing two victors from the same District to return home as champions. Faced with the possibility of ending her District partner’s life, Katniss made a bold move and proceeded to convince Peeta and herself to indulge in poisonous berries causing this Hunger Games to have no victor. Not willing to allow this to happen, the Capitol was forced to allow both Peeta and Katniss to be victors of the Hunger Games. This blatant defiance and outsmarting gave Miss Everdeen a bigger presence on our radar while also putting her at the top of President Snow’s hit list.
Soon after the 74th
annual Hunger Games, initial riots and uprising started to occur across Panem.
However, Miss Everdeen never truly knew the extent of her actions in the arena
until she arrived in district 11 on the first stop on the annual victory tour.
Upon tearfully expressing her love for her fallen friend Rue, the entire square
blossomed with her three finger salute. This was the first time Katniss had
witnessed how heavily her actions impacted the nation. As a result, massive
hysteria broke out as peacekeepers attacked the crowd and gunned down an
elderly man who had started the display of rebellion. The displays of rebellion
didn’t stop there. As Katniss visited the majority of the districts, signs of
defiance against the Capitol were in full display as various citizens showed
their bravery and out right defiance against the Capitol. Try as she might to
calm the flames of the incoming revolution, the spark that she had lit was too
strong and the flames of war started to burn to the third degree.
After the victory tour, we were
convinced that this woman was the key in helping rally the nation into igniting
the revolution that would change our future. With the help of our skilled
sleeper agent Plutarch Heavensbee, we were able to convince President Snow into
having the Annual Quarter Quell featuring past victors of the Hunger Games which
included Katniss Everdeen. Little did Snow know that we had strong connections
to a handful of districts and their victors including Finnick Odair, Beetee and
Wiress Latier, and Johanna Mason. With the pool of tributes set and everything in
place, we were ready to embark on this extremely important mission with one
goal in mind: Keep Katniss Alive.
After a long hard fight and a
well-executed plan, Plutarch, Haymitch, Finnick, and Beetee were successful in
extracting a very injured, battered, and bruised Katniss Everdeen from the
destroyed arena. Her extractors were forced to tell her about everything that
had transpired and that it was always the plan to get her safely away from the
Capitol. Her reluctance, confusion, and rage became more present when it was
discovered that Haymitch’s team failed to rescue Peeta Mellark resulting in his
apprehension by the Capitol. But the troubles of our dubbed “Mockingjay” only
got worse. On the team’s return trip back to base, we received word that
President Snow ordered a fatal bombing run on District 12 resulting in the
majority of the population being killed. According to Katniss’ close friend
Gale Hawthorne, he was able to evacuate a small group of citizens before the
attack took place including Katniss’ mother and her sister Prim. Gale tells us
he later informs Everdeen of the bombing much to her dismay and rage.
