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One of the most special bonds in Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" series has always been Katniss Everdeen's relationship with her mentor, Haymitch Abernathy.Katniss doesn't have much faith in Haymitch when she first meets him in "The Hunger Games," as he is known in District 12 as a reclusive drunk. However, over the course of Collins' original trilogy, Haymitch proves to be one of Katniss' fiercest advocates, protecting her and understanding her in ways almost no one else can.On March 18, Collins released a prequel to the series, "Sunrise on the Reaping," about young Haymitch's experience in the 50th Hunger Games. Just over a week after its release, the book sold over 1.5 million copies, and a film adaptation of the novel will be released in November 2026.The story is full of revelations about Haymitch's past, including new insight into just how connected he and Katniss are.This article contains spoilers for "The Hunger Games" series.Katniss' father tied her and Haymitch together before she was even born.Katniss Everdeen's father was friends with Haymitch Abernathy. Murray Close/Lionsgate Katniss' father dies in a mining explosion before the events of the original "Hunger Games" trilogy.In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Collins reveals Katniss' father, Burdock Everdeen, was Haymitch's best friend throughout their childhoods, and their close relationship helped him be more prepared for his Hunger Games. Specifically, Burdock taught Haymitch to set snares, which helped him find food in the arena.Likewise, Burdock taught Katniss to hunt with a bow and arrow, which became her weapon of choice in the arena. The knowledge he gave her about plants also helped her survive. Burdock gave both Katniss and Haymitch skills that ensured they survived the Hunger Games.The Covey family shaped both Haymitch and Katniss.Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird in a still for "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes." Murray Close/Lionsgate In her first "Hunger Games" prequel, "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," Suzanne Collins introduced readers to the Covey, traveling musicians forced to stay in District 12 after the first rebellion.In the novel, the found family consists of three cousins, Lucy Gray Baird, Maude Ivory Baird, and Barb Azure Baird; a set of brothers, Clerk Carmine and Billy Taupe; and a wandering soul named Tam Amber.Lucy Gray won the 10th annual Hunger Games, becoming the first tribute from District 12 to survive the arena. A young Coriolanus Snow mentored her during her Hunger Games, and they had an ill-fated love affair that led to her mysterious disappearance at the novel's end. Collins leaves "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" open-ended, as it's unclear if Snow killed her or if Lucy Gray fled to the woods.In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Haymitch says that Burdock has Covey cousins on his mother's side, making Katniss a Covey descendant. Likewise, Haymitch's girlfriend, Lenore Dove, is a member of the next generation of the Covey, tying both Katniss and Haymitch to the family.In fact, Haymitch wouldn't have even been in the Hunger Games if not for his love for Lenore Dove.Katniss and Haymitch had parallel reaping experiences.Katniss volunteered to be a tribute. Lionsgate Fims In "The Hunger Games," Katniss volunteers as a tribute after her younger sister, Primrose Everdeen, is reaped. Katniss is widely known as the first volunteer for District 12 in history making it all the more surprising that Haymitch was not actually reaped for his Hunger Games, either.During the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, Woodbine, one of the male tributes from District 12, fled after his name was called. Peacekeepers responded by shooting Woodbine, and when Lenore Dove tried to help Woodbine's mother protect his body, Haymitch threw himself in front of her to stop Peacekeepers from hitting her. His interference led the Peacekeepers to select Haymitch as Woodbine's replacement.Later, in "Catching Fire," Haymitch and Katniss became the last two people ever reaped for the Hunger Games. The tributes were reaped from the existing victors in the 75th annual Hunger Games, making Katniss the only option for female tributes and Haymitch and Peeta Mellark the options for male tributes in District 12. Haymitch's name is selected, but Peeta volunteers as tribute in his place.Haymitch tried to protect Katniss the same way he did Lenore Dove.A scene from "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Lionsgate For longtime "Hunger Games" fans, Haymitch's decision to jump in front of Lenore Dove on Reaping Day likely felt familiar.He makes a similar decision in "Catching Fire" when Katniss attempts to stop a Peacekeeper from whipping her friend Gale Hawthorne. Haymitch jumps in front of Katniss and scolds the officer for cutting Katniss' face ahead of her wedding to Peeta Mellark.The scene is eerily similar, but unlike his teen experience, Haymitch helps to de-escalate the situation with the Peacekeeper during the interaction instead of making things more tense, protecting Katniss in a way he couldn't ultimately protect Lenore Dove.The mockingjay pin is significant to them both.A mockingjay pin from "The Hunger Games." MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images In the "Hunger Games" universe, mockingjays symbolize rebellion against the Capitol. They came to exist after jabberjays, mutts the Capitol designed to spy on rebels, mated with mockingbirds, creating a new species. Their existence highlights that the Capitol cannot control everything.Mockingjays are also meaningful to Katniss and Haymitch specifically. Katniss wears a gold mockingjay pin that originally belonged to Haymitch's competitor, Maysilee Donner, as her token from her district during the games. In "Sunrise on the Reaping," we learn Tam Amber made the pin for Maysilee, who didn't like mockingjays until Haymitch taught her their symbolism.She says she will wear it if she survives the games, but she isn't given the opportunity. Years later, Katniss dons it, bringing down the Capitol with the pin on her chest.Katniss reminds Haymitch of his district partner from his Hunger Games experience.Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games. Lionsgate One of Haymitch's fellow tributes from District 12 is Louella McCoy, a 13-year-old girl who wears her hair in two braids. Haymitch grew up close to Louella, who had a crush on Haymitch when she was 5 and told him he was her sweetheart.She got over her feelings quickly, but Haymitch called her "sweetheart" for the rest of their friendship, which was cut short when she died before the Hunger Games started.Years later, when Haymitch sees Katniss at the Hob after her father dies, she makes him think of Louella. Haymitch says of Katniss, "Tough and smart, her hair in two braids then, reminding me for all the world of Louella McCoy, my sweetheart of old.""Hunger Games" readers will likely remember that Haymitch almost exclusively calls Katniss "sweetheart" when he becomes her mentor, and the revelations about its origin from "Sunrise on the Reaping" add new meaning to it.They relied on many of the same people to survive the Hunger Games and fight the Capitol.Beetee appears in "Sunrise on the Reaping." Lionsgate During her two experiences in a Hunger Games arena, Katniss gets support from previous victors and people employed by the Capitol. In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Collins reveals that Haymitch worked with some people who helped Katniss nearly 25 years later.Effie Trinket is Katniss' handler in the Hunger Games, guiding her through the days before the Games and her victor's tour afterward. In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Effie supports Haymitch as both a handler and stylist when his original team fails him, and she keeps an eye on him in the years after.Haymitch also has two mentors during his Hunger Games: Mags Flanagan from District 4 and Wiress from District 3. In addition, he develops a relationship with Beetee Latier, the mentor for District 3's tributes. Beetee and Haymitch hatch a plot to destroy the arena, which Wiress and Mags subtly help to facilitate.The plan fails, and Snow punishes Beetee, Mags, and Wiress for their involvement. Later, he takes aim at them again in the 75th Hunger Games when they are forced to return to the arena in the Quarter Quell where they all form an alliance with Katniss.Haymitch and Katniss try to protect younger kids in the arena even if it leads to defying the Capitol.Katniss Everdeen and Rue in "The Hunger Games." Lionsgate The relationship Katniss develops with Rue, a tribute from District 11 who reminds her of Prim, defines much of her experience in "The Hunger Games." The pair become allies in the Games after Rue helps Katniss recover from a tracker jacker attack, and Katniss takes Rue under her wing, feeding and protecting her. They work together until Marvel, a District 1 tribute, spears Rue. In response, Katniss murders him, and she holds Rue as she dies, singing to her.Katniss also defies the Capitol by giving Rue a funeral sendoff. Her actions are antithetical to the Hunger Games, which force children and the districts to see each other as enemies. Katniss refuses to give the Capitol the narrative they want, caring for Rue even in death.Similarly, Haymitch tries to protect two younger children in the arena: Lou Lou, a girl from District 11 who replaced Louella as a body double after her death, and Ampert, Beetee's son and a tribute from District 3. He cares for both of them when they find him during the Games. However, he is ultimately unable to save them.When the Capitol forces Lou Lou to die slowly from a poisonous flower, Haymitch ends her suffering. He also tries to run away with her body so the Gamemakers cannot take it, openly defying the Capitol until they force him to abandon her by attacking him with mutant butterflies.Later, the Gamemakers get revenge on Beetee by having mutant squirrels eat Ampert alive. Haymitch again tries to rebuke the Capitol in his honor, using an ax to try to tear up the arena in response to Ampert's death.Haymitch and Katniss both see it as their duty to aid those more helpless than them in the arena, and they are both willing to rebel against the Capitol in their honor.Katniss briefly appears in Haymitch's Hunger Games."The Hunger Games" and the katniss plant. Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Katniss is named after a plant in "The Hunger Games," as are her sister, mother, and father.Katniss the plant makes a cameo in Haymitch's arena, as he describes leaving his backpack "in a patch of katniss" in "Sunrise on the Reaping." A few pages later, he and Maysilee sit in it together.The reference foreshadows that Katniss will be in the arena one day, particularly because Maysilee tells Haymitch while sitting in it that one of them has to win so they can "refuse to play their game." Katniss does exactly that when she wins her Hunger Games, fulfilling Maysilee's wish.They also both work to damage the arena itself.Plutarch Heavensbee and Haymitch Abernathy. Lionsgate / Murray Close In the climax of "Catching Fire," Katniss breaks the arena with a massive electric shot, allowing the rebels to extract her and some other tributes to kick-start the revolution.Katniss doesn't realize that her destruction of the arena was decades in the making or that Haymitch attempted to do the same thing during his Games, which was covered up by careful editing from the Gamemakers.Haymitch worked with Beetee and Ampert before and during the Games, forming a plan to flood the arena by making a bomb. Haymitch did as Beetee instructed, but a generator prevented the arena from failing.Katniss' plan was also successful because Haymitch's attempt came before hers. Haymitch, Beetee, and their other collaborators, like Plutarch Heavensbee, learned from their mistakes, ensuring Katniss could destroy the arena.Poison threatened their partners, but Katniss was able to save Peeta.Peeta almost dies from eating poison berries in "The Hunger Games." Lionsgate In "The Hunger Games," Peeta has a close brush with death when he collects what he believes are harmless berries for himself and Katniss to eat. However, the berries are actually nightlock, a poisonous berry that would have killed them instantly.Katniss prevents him from eating them, and she and Peeta later use the berries to outsmart the Capitol into letting them both be victors.Haymitch, however, isn't so lucky when it comes to poison. After he returns to District 12, Lenore Dove finds a bag of gumdrops waiting for her in her favorite meadow just before she is reunited with Haymitch.Unbeknownst to them both, they are poisoned gumdrops sent by President Snow. Haymitch feeds Lenore Dove two before he realizes what they are. The gumdrops kill Lenore Dove before Haymitch, offering a darker version of events to Katniss and Peeta's experience with poison.
