Summary
- Panem is likely the ruins of North America, drawing parallels between the Hunger Games and the American Revolution.
- Gale's disappearance from the series implies that he may have died, potentially because of Katniss's decision to kill Coin.
- There is a theory that Katniss's love for Peeta was a result of being hijacked, suggesting that their romance may have been a manipulation.
This article contains discussions of sexual assault and suicide.
Ten years after the first The Hunger Games film premiered, there's new interest in the series thanks to the prequel The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes. The prequel novel and the movie adaptation starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth expands the world of Panem for fans of the franchise, and only adds fuel to some of the fan theories that exist. The Hunger Games franchise is set in a dystopian society in which the 12 districts of Panem must each "reap" a teenage boy and girl every year to compete in a battle to the death. The Hunger Games are used to punish the districts for a past rebellion and to remind the citizens of Panem how easy it is to strip them of their humanity.
It's only natural for fans to theorize about the expansive series, particularly with how unreliable Katniss was as a narrator in the original story. How did Panem and the Hunger Games really begin? How deep did the manipulations and schemes go? Was Katniss and Peeta's romance real or not real? As grim as The Hunger Games already is, some fan theories consider how it might have been even bleaker.
An Alternate History Of The American Revolution
Panem Is The Ruins Of North America
There are many different theories floating around about what world The Hunger Games emerged from, but this one is darkest because it's based in real life. As one Redditor explains, the British won the American Revolution and destroyed Georgia as a show of force. They then practiced Mercantilism with a more active presence for potentially hundreds of years.
This Hunger Games theory actually has some validity, as Panem is canonically set in North America. The thirteen districts easily parallel with the thirteen colonies, and the Capitol makes sense as an allegory for an empire left unchecked. While people may not be happy with the current state of North America, it's almost certainly preferable to a system reliant on the sensationalizing of death matches between children.
Gale Is Dead
Liam Hemsworth Stars As Gale
After Prim's death, Katniss can't help but blame Gale for it. Luckily for her, he left for District 2, where he got "some fancy job." However, a theorist on Goodreads argued that he may have actually died, perhaps even because of her decision to kill Coin.
While the theory doesn't have much evidence behind it, it does point out the oddity that is Gale's disappearance from the series. In both the book and the film, somebody else tells Katniss that he moved away. She doesn't question it. Leaving his fate so vague makes it open to speculation, and his death is certainly one possibility.
Katniss Was Hijacked To Love Peeta
Josh Hutcherson Stars As Peeta
Fans were introduced to hijacking as a form of brainwashing in Mockingjay, but some fans theorize that it was first shown earlier in the series. According to Reddit lightning_fire, Katniss seeing Peeta while suffering under the tracker jacker venom in the Arena gave her an accidental but powerful sense of allegiance to him.
This is a particularly dark Hunger Games theory, because it suggests that the central romance of The Hunger Games was all a trick. Just as Peeta was conditioned to hate Katniss, she was conditioned to love him. If nothing else, it seems likely that the venom might have prompted her to give him a chance.
The Hunger Games Is About U.S. Soldiers And Veterans
Career Tributes Of Districts 1 And 2 Train Their Entire Childhood
This theory from Reddit suggests that The Hunger Games is about the treatment of soldiers and veterans in the United States. As they explain, the Reaping is a parallel for the draft, and the Games are battles fought by the young for the pleasure of the old, rich, and powerful. Catching Fire and Mockingjay show how veterans are used and abused when they return.
There's definitely some evidence to this theory. Suzanne Collins was watching Iraq War footage when the idea came to her, and she explained that the books are an exploration of the just-war theory. Her father was a Vietnam War veteran, which was explored in her children's book Year of the Jungle. Though she has never confirmed the theory, it's certainly a reasonable connection that shows a dark perspective on US military policy.
Katniss Accidentally Got Prim Reaped
Willow Shields Stars As Prim
This theory only applies to the films, but it's certainly one that would be horrifying if true. As Redditor moimoiquestion explained, the residents of District Twelve had very little jewelry, so Prim wearing the pin would have stood out. Since the Mockingjay was a symbol of the Rebellion before Katniss went into the arena, the Capitol may have rigged the Reaping to take out a "rebel."
Though it doesn't work with the book canon, this theory suggests that someone meant to control which child went into the arena, and Katniss accidentally made her sister a casualty of their schemes. Lending even more credence to this theory is how the reaping plays out in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It's implied several times in the movie that Lucy Gray ends up being chosen by the mayor for the Hunger Games, not by random chance, because of her relationship with the boyfriend of the mayor's daughter.
Foxface Committed Suicide
Jacqueline Emerson Stars As The District 5 Tribute
One of the more popular fan theories about The Hunger Games has spread widely on Tumblr and Reddit, and circlemanfan is one of many who added to it. The theory goes that Foxface was smart enough to realize that surviving the Games is only half the battle, so she orchestrated her own death in a way that the Capitol wouldn't blame her family. She ate the poison berries that Peeta didn't recognize to give herself an easy out and absolve her family of any repercussions.
There isn't much concrete evidence for it, but there's also nothing to refute it. Throughout the Games, Foxface is described as clever and good at surviving. Her accidental death doesn't add up, especially given her near-superhuman pattern recognition and matching skills displayed during the training before the tributes are placed in the arena. She spends much of her time identifying and matching plants, which means she would have known which ones were likely poisonous.
Cinna Bought Katniss
Lenny Kravitz Stars As Cinna
Johanna and Finnick introduced Katniss to the horrors of being a victor, yet she faced few personal issues herself. This Reddit theory claims that she would have, if not for Cinna's intervention. In Mockingjay, Finnick explained, "If a victor is considered desirable, the president gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them for an exorbitant amount of money."
As the Hunger Games theory goes, Cinna bought Katniss to prevent anyone else from being able to use her that way. They then spent a lot of time together, which would provide plenty of opportunities for Cinna to seemingly take advantage of her. There may not be much evidence one way or the other, but the theory as a whole draws attention to one of the darkest elements in the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games Test The District's Rebellion Capabilities
The Games Demonstrate Which Districts Play By The Rules
Panem relies on the Districts being submissive to the will of the Capitol, and this theory posits that the Hunger Games were actually used to keep an eye on whether the Districts could rise up again. As detailed on Reddit, the Games were used to give the Capitol an idea of which districts to fear, what weapons work effectively, and who to keep an eye on.
Though the theory doesn't mention this, it also explains why the victors are either showered with gifts or mercilessly attacked after they get out. The Capitol needs to keep the strongest fighters from getting any wild ideas of rebellion. This concept makes complete sense with the Capitol's strategies in the later installments and makes them that much more terrifying to try to fight against. Katniss, after all, thinks that if she wins the Games, she will be left alone. She doesn't realize that she'll be even more carefully scrutinized after winning, or that her family will be monitored as well.
Katniss's Entire Life Was Manufactured
Jennifer Lawrence Stars As Katniss
In the final chapter of Catching Fire, Katniss learns about "this elaborate plan in which I was a piece, just as I was meant to be a piece in the Hunger Games." She had been guided and prepared to start the revolution. But many fans, including a now-deleted Reddit , think that the manipulation started long before she entered the Arena.
The theory goes that Katniss's father began planning before Katniss was born, covertly training her to be a tribute and manipulating the Arena to be perfect for her. He couldn't risk Katniss doing anything unexpected. The theory means Katniss's entire life was a lie, but it makes complete sense with the world she discovers in the second and third books.
The Rest Of The World Doesn't Care
The Outside World Is Never Mentioned In The Hunger Games
If Panem is set in North America, what happened to the rest of the world in The Hunger Games? A theory from Reddit—influenced by other dystopian stories—claims that nothing happened. The rest of the world kept going on as normal, uncaring about the horrors in Panem. This makes for one of the darkest Hunger Games theories because of how realistic it is.
There are atrocities every day that the rest of the world ignores, and in a completely totalitarian system, it's entirely possible that the citizens of Panem wouldn't even know that there was any more to the world than themselves. The theory brings out the harsh truth that the rest of the world either doesn't know or doesn't care how bad things could get, which sends a troubling message about the real world. It would make the Hunger Games a bleak future, indeed.
