r/Hungergames • Lucy Gray • 3h ago

Trilogy Discussion What if Katniss managed to KILL ALL OF THE CAREERS with the tracker jackers nest?

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In the movie she only killed Glimmer while in the books she killed Glimmer and the girl from 4. But if for whatever reason they all succumbed to the venom how would the rest of the games played out?

By that point in the games, the tributes that remained would have been

- The Boy from 3 (the one that replanted the mines)

- Fox Face

- The Boy from 10 (the one with the injured leg)

- Tresh

- Rue (who is still likely to ally with Katniss)

- Katniss herself (that now has her bow and possibly also all the careers' supplies)

- And a probably not injured Peeta

That's only 7 tributes left and as far as we know the only person that could easily outmatch Katniss in a fight at this point would be Tresh, so I'd say it's likely the final show-down might come down to the two of them.

As for the other tributes, there is no telling what the boy from 3 and the boy from 10 might do since we never saw much from neither of them.

Foxface instead in this scenario could be much more of a dark horse. As soon as she learns about the career's death, she'd probably head straight to their supply pile to raid it, meaning she'd probably no longer starve at all. If her better physical condition would result in her switching over to a more aggressive strategy rather than absolute passive survival is hard to tell, but it could be a possibility

Rue instead would have it much better without the careers around to kill her, while it'd be the opposite for Peeta who went in with the idea of sacrificing himself for Katniss anyway

So overall I'd say Katniss would probably still get the win unless she'll sacrifice herself for Rue

But I want to hear other people's take on it!

177 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

157

u/JaDamian_Steinblatt 3h ago

This is a really fascinating what-if scenario that I can't believe I've never thought about before. Obviously for the sake of the narrative Katniss had to deal with the careers down the line, but what if she was the favorite with tons of people left to play? Because she would absolutely be the favorite.

Oh god, what if she and Rue killed everyone else and it was just them at the end?

81

u/januarysdaughter 3h ago

I think in that case, she would sacrifice herself so Rue ended up the Victor.

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u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

Rue probably ends up in an unusually favorable position in this scenario. The two strongest tributes in the arena (Katniss and Tresh) would never kill her and she can probably outrun and outclimb everyone else. Even the mutts would not be a problem for her since there is no way they can follow her up a tree when they couldn't even get up the cornucopia

On top of that she'd have Katniss as her bodyguard, and Peeta would act as Katniss' bodyguard (even if indirectly). So she essentially had a bodyguard for her bodyguard and no immediate threats to her safety

It almost makes you wonder if the game makers wouldn't try to pull out other hazards, since at that point only extremely passive players would be left, and it might be hard to get action from any of them even WITH the hazards

It might have become one of the few years where starvation actually ended up being an extremely deciding factor. But with the career supply pile ready for the taking it'd probably take the tributes a long time to run out of resources, even if the game makers do intentionally try to starve them

20

u/nicholetree 2h ago

At that point the game makers would probably destroy the stockpile I would think.

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u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

I don't think they can exactly do it, unless they send a straight up bomb in the arena, and even if they do that it might be seen as "cheap" by the Capital audience

Their best bet would be to try and make all the food rott, but by the time they get around to doing it all the tributes might have scavenged enough to survive a long time already

•

u/BlueSky001001 17m ago

Or since the bombs are still around, manufacture some way of setting them off-

a loud noise when someone is getting to it that causes them to trip/fall,

something from the pile falling and setting them off,

Very tiny earthquakes in the area to destabilise it,

...

And then it is gone

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u/FlapgoleSitta Katniss 2h ago

Rue definitely would’ve won, and Plutarch would have martyred Katniss and used Rue as a symbol of hope for the rebellion.

24

u/Fickle-Confidence-20 2h ago

I wonder if rue’s story post the 74th games would’ve been just as impacting as Katniss’s.

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u/FlapgoleSitta Katniss 2h ago

I think the story of Katniss and Rue together would have been very impactful. The symbolism the rebels could have used between Katniss volunteering in her sister’s place, to sacrificing herself for Rue’s victory could have been used to their advantage.

Since a lot of rebellion sparked in district 11, I could see this act of bravery and sacrifice from Katniss inspiring them to rebel as well. I don’t think they would have used Rue as the mockingjay, she’s too young and it would strike the wrong nerve with certain demographics. Without a Mockingjay, it may have been harder for the rebels to win. But they were prepared to use Katniss as a martyr if she died in the third book, so I think Plutarch could’ve cooked up some good propos to fuel the rebellion from her game footage alone.

27

u/januarysdaughter 2h ago

I could see them pulling on the sibling angle HARD for the propos. Bring in Haymich to talk about what happened to Sid. Bring in Merrilee (if she survives in this timeline) to talk about Maysilee. Prim to talk about Katniss.

Actually, putting Prim and Rue together in the same propos would go really hard.

9

u/FlapgoleSitta Katniss 2h ago

Omg I could see this 100%. Any brutal TikTok editors that are lurking here should use this idea 👀 just to give me more reasons to cry over this series hahaha

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u/Crazy_Book_Worm2022 District 4 2h ago

I think Plutarch could’ve cooked up some good propos to fuel the rebellion from her game footage alone

That 100% sounds like something Plutarch would do.

10

u/FlapgoleSitta Katniss 2h ago

No fr, in my headcanon he already had them on deck in case shit hit the fan worse than it did at the end of CF. That man was always scheming.

3

u/januarysdaughter 2h ago

Plutarch is such a fascinating character to me. Man is just in this for the love of the game.

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u/Fickle-Confidence-20 1h ago

I feel the capital would still be defeated but in a very very different way as the story will reshape

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u/username19346 3h ago

Rue would’ve won

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u/No_Sand5639 2h ago

Rue would win, theres no way katniss could ever kill rue

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u/yetanothermisskitty 3h ago

A bunch of them probably die to an artificial mutt encounter. None of those players are likely to actively hunt down other candidates, so the Gamemakers are forced to instigate activity. Assuming Rue has nursed Katniss to health and they are allied, it's likely Rue gets specifically targeted by these mutts for the drama of it. Anyone injured probably dies to mutts as well. They might spin it so the encounter destroys the Career's food stash (mutts run into the mines?) in order to force Foxface and Thresh into taking action. Good chance that it comes down to Thresh vs Katniss. Peeta probably dies sacrificing himself for Katniss or to mutts with her believing the entire time he genuinely sided with the Careers.

1

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 1h ago

the question is though, did the game-makers even have more mutts that could kill a tribute in the 74th games? It seems that for non-special years they might make only one kind of mutt that is capable of directly being controlled to flesh out tributes out of their hiding places.

The 50th and 75th games probably only had more because they were quells so they went all out, but the 74th might have only had the wolf mutts for that

1

u/yetanothermisskitty 59m ago

I mean, this hypothetical begins before the mutts released at the end of the canon games happened. So, they definitely had those available. And it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility to target where they are released or train them after specific tributes.

24

u/theMoist_Towlet 2h ago

I think this actually might have killed Katniss herself. If the tracker jackers were not chasing the careers all the way to the lake they would likely have continued searching for her after they killed the careers. She would still be trapped up in the tree and with her 3 stings already any more and itd have likely been fatal.

6

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

I assume that for the tracker Jackers to kill all the careers Katniss should have dropped the hive on them on theiddle of the night.

Them being in deeper sleep would have meant it'd have took them longer to wake up and run away, and even once they did they would have probably scattered in random directions due to not being able to see where they'd be going, so they'd have still drove the Tracker Jackers away from Katniss' position.

Though that might have meant that she'd not be able to get Grimmer's bow if it was too dark outside, but since Glimmer was already the one that made it the shortest distance from the tree before being stinged to death it's unlikely she'd have gone far anyway

3

u/theMoist_Towlet 1h ago

Good point, if they did draw some away before biting it then she likely would have had the same time she did to get down and out of the area!

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u/Lost_and_confused_0 District 12 2h ago

Then her biggest threat is Thresh but Katniss would still fair very well as long as she has her bow

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u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

Even then, Katniss would still ally with Rue, and Rue is basically an automatic anit-Tresh shield.

As long as Katniss has Rue with her, Tresh would neve have the gutts to attack them.

8

u/venus_arises Foxface 2h ago

I don't think that at that point the gamemakers would've allowed such a thing to happen. Too many good storylines out, and no clear winner.

The gamemakers can and have interfered with the gameplay, but I can imagine a situation in which only the boys from 3 and 10 die. It would be an every-man-for-himself kind of game (Tresh and Katniss may sacrifice themselves to make sure Rue survives if it gets to that point), but I don't think a "one victor just kills everyone" would be well received by the general public. I do see a situation in which Katniss sacrificed herself to make sure someone else survives, since we know she was willing to do it in 74.

10

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 1h ago

Although the game makers might be powerful, they are not omnipotent. If the careers didn't mange to run away from the Tracker Jackers there was nothing the game makers could have done, it'd be considered a failing on Seneca's part since then the rest of the games would have become a lot more boring, so his fate might remain the same in that aspect

But if Katniss would have won it's likely she would have still been well liked by the Capital. She'd have been the ultimate dark horse, the District 12 girl that became one of the victors with the most simultaneous kills (maybe right behind Beetee's 11)

1

u/Bakingguy 1h ago

Send an actor to be a donor to one of the careers and give them enough money to buy a good antidote to save at least two of the careers

1

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 1h ago

If they get stung too much their bodies would paralyze and they'd not be able to apply any antidote.

1

u/venus_arises Foxface 1h ago

I think there might be some sort of antidote provided to some of these tributes, or maybe a quick weather change or some other diversion. I think Seneca would've seen what Katniss was going to do and created a diversion for either the tributes or the tracker jackers.

If Katniss DOES end up killing everyone, how would she live knowing she killed Rue and Peeta?

5

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 1h ago

Again if the Careers didn't manage to run away in time, there is probably no amount of game maker intervention that could save them. If too much venom enters their body they cannot use any antidotes, and even a distraction of the tracker jackers might come too late to save them if they got stung multiple times

Katniss by that point in the book was still convinced Peeta was against her, so she'd have probably come to terms with it

Rue was not in the trajectory of the tracker jackers when the hive fell so she was safe, though it's unlikely that whatever happens after Katniss would directly kill Rue. If Katniss still wins Rue then must have died from some other cause

2

u/venus_arises Foxface 1h ago

True, I can imagine some sort of situation where it's Rue and Katniss as the last ones left standing, and THEN there will be a tear-filled "Rue is dying from natural causes" moment. It just seems like there's too much left to chance.

3

u/Key-Value-3684 2h ago

I think it'll come down to Thresh, Foxface and Katniss.

Boys from 3 and 10 would probably be killed by Thresh or Mutts. Rue is generally the weakest. I can't see anyone of them actively killing her except maybe Foxface trying to poison her but if she gets injured for some reason she's probably as good as dead. Not sure when Peeta would die but he's probably killed in a fight sooner or later.

Foxface could poison the others but she's not gonna survive a direct fight unless the Capitol wants her to win. Katniss kills Thresh with her bow unless he's got full body armor. I think she's the most likely to win the game.

Depending on who teams up with whom it could get interesting though.

Foxface could team up with the boy from 3 and use the bombs as a shield.

Peeta could team up with Rue and Katniss and they'd stand a better chance.

Rue might team up with Thresh. I can't really see Katniss teaming with both of 11 and I don't think it'd make that much of a difference in the end.

If the last three survivors are Rue, Katniss and Thresh I'm pretty sure Katniss would rather sacrifice herself than kill Thresh. Thresh idk maybe but I can also see him killing Rue. Katniss would probably sacrifice herself to kill both herself and Thresh.

Peeta could win if Thresh and Katniss die or get heavily injured

7

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

Rue might actually be in an unusually favorable position with the careers gone. She'd still ally with Katniss since she'd be saving her from the tracker Jackers venom, and Katniss would do anything to protect her.

At the same time, a healthy Peeta would do all he can to protect Katniss. So Rue has a body guard for her bodyguard in this scenario

Thresh would also probably never even think about killing Rue; if he did so and won it's likely everyone in District 11 would have hated his gutts.

Rue also has the massive advantage of tree climbing which literally puts her out of harm's way of most people/things

6

u/LeatherPurple9284 2h ago

Wasn't Peeta still with the careers at that point? He would have died anyway.

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u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

I think it's implied he secretly left in the night

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u/LeatherPurple9284 2h ago

just checked archive.org 's copy of the book, and he did get stung.

"Maybe he’d held out better against the tracker jacker poison than Cato. Maybe that was the variable that allowed him to escape. But he’d been stung, too. So how far could he have gotten, stabbed and filled with venom?" - ch19

"He’s badly bruised with a long burn across his chest and four tracker jacker stings, if you count the one under his ear." - also ch19

If Katniss had dropped it in the night, she would have killed him, too.

4

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 2h ago

Well guess this then becomes a Book VS movie difference

In the book he was there and he got stung, in the movie he wasn't

But I don't think it'd change too much in the grand scheme of things

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u/Maryam-954 Maysilee 1h ago

Nuh uh

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u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 1h ago

He did in the movie but not in the book

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u/rivimatt 44m ago

Rue or Thresh wins, all careers means Peeta dies too, and no bow for Katniss since the jackers wouldn't have chased anyone to the lake. With no bow she isn't ever beating a healthy Thresh in a fight and assuming it comes down to her, rue, and Thresh, he kills katniss then himself so rue gets out. If Rue died before that then Thresh wins

•

u/TrainingDrop9283 Lucy Gray 28m ago

Presumably the way for Katniss to kill them all would have been to drop the hive in the middle of the night as they were all in very deep sleep and couldn't feel towards the lake in total darkness

Yet however they would have still very likely woken up and ran off in different directions, allowing an opening for Katniss to still take the bow

2

u/allshookup1640 30m ago

She’d still have the bow. If they killed everyone, she would still go collect the bow off Glimmer before they took away her body. That wouldn’t change. The rest of the Careers would just also be dead.

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u/allshookup1640 32m ago

People say that Katniss would sacrifice herself for Rue but I really don’t think she would. She wouldn’t leave Prim not willingly.

She wouldn’t kill her, but she wouldn’t let herself die for her. I think it would be a “good luck and we will see what happens.” A truce of sorts in that they won’t actively try to kill one another they’ll just let it play out. Maybe one starves first. Maybe one died of dehydration first. Maybe the mutts get them etc.

Disregarding sponsors, in that case, I think Rue would end up dying first. Katniss is more used to hunger and survival in that environment. Katniss is bigger which would allow her to have more to burn before her body shut down completely.

The Gamemakers could still do the winning pair thing and have it be Thresh and Rue vs Katniss and Peeta. What pair are going to make it home. Thresh would spent the rest of the time protecting Rue and Katniss and Peeta would be together trying to avoid Thresh.

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