#the girl who was on fire

[kait-bait8]

The thing I love the most about the Hunger Games is Katniss’ character arc.

Katniss Everdeen in book 1 is like Harry Potter in book 7. That is to say, the Katniss we follow in THG is the strong and resilient fighter. She is brave and selfless and tough and she digs deep despite tremendous pain. She has already overcome the loss of her father and the dire circumstances of her youth. And the 74th Hunger Games should have been her boss fight.

The end of THG shows us a Katniss who is a champion, a winner, a Victor. It feels like we are at the triumphant end of a story. Until she is told that the Capitol is not happy.

In Catching Fire we learn about Katniss’ nightmares. We learn that she sometimes can’t look at Prim without seeing Rue. We see her relationships begin to strain and change.

Katniss finding out that she will be going back into the games is one of my all time favorite scenes. Because in THG Katniss is in Survival Mode from the second she steps onto the platform. She holds back her tears and tries to look indifferent for the sponsors. But in CF she shatters. She flees. She cries and drinks and screams. She isn’t strong or resilient or even a little brave. And you just don’t see heroes react like that in other stories. But you can’t tell me it’s possible to read that scene and not feel your own stomach twist at the thought of that reality.

When Peeta hits the barrier and his heart stops Katniss loses it. It’s clear she knows about CPR from watching her mother, the same way she knew about blood poisoning and tourniquets in the last games, but it doesn’t even occur to her until after Finnick starts kissing Peeta. She isn’t sharp and quick and able to think on her feet. She is desperate to keep Peeta and the rebellion alive and that is it. People say that the victors keep Peeta alive because “if they didn’t Katniss would kill everyone and then herself” but Katniss knew her fate. She knew she wasn’t going to survive the arena. And she knew a life without Peeta was pointless. She would have “stopped living” like her mother.

When Katniss is rescued and Peeta is not, there was no “what is the plan? How are we going to get Peeta back? How are we going to save him?” There was only enough energy and emotion to try to claw Haymitch’s eyes out.

And then we get to Mockingjay. I’ve heard people complain that they couldn’t get through the book because it was just Katniss sleeping all the time. But of course she is sleeping all the time. Of course she can hardly qualify to be a soldier. Of course she finds solace in Finnick and his rope tying.

She doesn’t assassinate President Snow on her rogue mission. She gets her friends killed. She can’t even save Prim. Katniss gets knocked out and wakes up with the War already won. She secures the safety of Panem for a time by killing Coin but even that is the act of someone who no longer cares for her own safety and well-being.

I’m not saying she doesn’t do anything, she does an incredible amount for her mental/emotional state. But she isn’t Strong or Brave or Resilient. She doesn’t dig deep because even if she did there wouldn’t be anything left. She is completely broken.

That is what makes her epilogue so beautiful. Because at the end of her story she isn’t a Victor. She isn’t The Hero. She just, learns to be okay. She falls in love and finds peace and happiness and safety. I don’t know if I would say that she ever becomes unbroken but she picks up the pieces she can salvage and does her best with them.

Katniss Everdeen’s character arc is not one of Strength. There are many strong characters. It is a study of weakness and the beauty and love and community that comes from weakness.

#Katniss Everdeen #the girl who WAS on fire #what a beautiful character #what a beautiful story of falling apart #of being a victim of your circumstances at every turn #and still being kind #and still finding love #figuring out that okay is enough #the hunger games #thg #Suzanne Collins

[clockworktributes]

Katniss‘s Reason

From the moment she got reaped til the moment she died, all of Katniss‘s actions were working toward the goal of protecting Primrose. It always gets me that Katniss went through hell, fought so hard, but in the end never managed to save the reason why she did all of those things in the first place: Her sister.

#the girl who was on fire #katniss everdeen #the hunger games #thg #thg edit #president snow #tbosas #primrose everdeen

[quotesfromall]

The reluctance to kill other human beings might be a result of socialization, part of the whole package of learning to be dependent on others as an infant.

Leah Wilson, The Girl who was on Fire

#antisocial #aspd #low empathy #cptsd #leah wilson #wilson #2010 #wilson 2010 #the girl who was on fire #The girl who was on fire : your favorite authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger games trilogy

[disableddyke]

#disability #ableism #disabled #meme #had a teacher who would always make this autistic girl feel stupid whenever she asked questions and would respond loud enough for the class #to hear the annoyance in her voice #catch on fire <3 #greatest hits #10k #15k #20k #30k

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Average Drama Enjoyer observes some peak drama.

#dungeon meshi #toshiro nakamoto #laios touden #kabru #izutsumi #Before anyone mistakes this as mischaracterization: The joke here is that it's ambiguous what the hell he means. #Kabru does love getting into fights a bit more than average but he's mostly here for the drama. #I screenshot the scene of him going 'The dark arts!' with a little smile everytime I re-read dungeon meshi. He's so catty. I love him. #And shout out to Izutsumi for adding fire to the drama. Girl said 'I am the listener. I heard that shit.' and refused to apologize. #Joke two: the deep cut - Welcome to more propaganda for whatever the hell is going on between Laios & Shuro & Kabru. #Laios trusting Shuro with some *heavy* information because he admires him so much! And wants to be his friend so badly! #Kabru also has another great character moment when he immediatly clocks Laios as not being as malicious as expected. #We love a character who can put the clues together! It is such a good subversion of what role we think Kabru is to play in this story! #Now he's eager to befriend Laios - who is barely interested and currently trying to befriend Shuro - who is barely interested and...well. #The painful triangle of people trying to get to know the other person better and being rejected...Friendship triangle. #We have all had a friendship triangle situation before. Right? You guys have also struggled to read people. Right? #Laios is universally relatable. Right?

[arealtrashact]

Lisbeth and her bag of tricks...

#lisbeth salander #the girl with the dragon tattoo #my art #once every few weeks I remember that the Fincher film will never get a sequel and I proceed to break every piece of furniture in my house #The Girl Who Played with Fire was / is my favorite book in the trilogy so it's even more painful #all...I wanted...was to see Niedermann hallucinate dragon Lisbeth....eating Zalenchenko's corpse.... #among other things that take place in the book but mostly That.

[wodania]

lyanna and her nieces, had she survived

lyanna talking to arya about swordsmanship, and lyanna gifting sansa a no-face doll (the starks are native and no one can tell me otherwise)

#art block so I will use my queen of dead girls who haunt the narrative to break it #except she isn’t dead in these ones #and nothing bad ever happened! #lyanna stark #arya stark #sansa stark #my art #asoiaf #extra tags: #fanart #a song of ice and fire #valyrianscrolls #house stark

[kagoutiss]

din’s champion

#tloz #ocarina of time #oot #ganondorf #din #um #ganondin #…..does anyone here ship them ha. hahaha #i mean their whole thing is funny actually because she didnt even choose him but he managed to steal her triforce and #so then hes her ‘chosen’ by technicality. but with her virtue being power it’s maybe kinda one and the same #and anyway beyond that ​point i feel like she loves shaking him around like a mortal dog toy #but like in some way she also must have believed in him enough to give him Power in a different lifetime. so he’d survive his own execution #i;m just saying there is so much you can interpret about their relationship. despite her being #literally an unseen 4th dimensional being who is the embodiment of power and fire and change amd earth itself etc #like what do they think of each other. what does she think of this tiny mortal who somehow stole a piece of her and now theyre bound by it #take my hand walk w me thru mortal x god hyperdimensional traumatic power imbalance situationship. and youre both girls

[steddiealltheway]

Something that is canon in my mind that I forget to tell people:

The reason why Steve can’t get bitches in his Scoops Ahoy era is because there’s a rumor going around that he’s gay (probably because someone caught him hooking up with Eddie)

#how else can you explain it??? #he is so so babygirl #all the girls would be literally at his feet begging for this man to date them #unless… they think he’s trying to make them his beard #also with the lipgloss and mascara… #it just adds fuel to the fire #and think. if Steve and Eddie were hooking up before scoops in a fwb gone wrong or secret relationship gone wrong type of situation… #aka Steve catches feelings and runs because of internalized homophobia and a fear of getting caught #there could be a season three rewrite of Steve catching feelings for Robin because she reminds him of Eddie #and after Robin comes out to him #Steve’s like “oh. maybe there are more people like me in Hawkins than I imagined. if she deserves a happy ending with a girl #why can’t I get a happy ending with a guy? #and steve slowly is able to come to terms with his sexuality #meanwhile eddie seeks out Dustin and the kids who steve has ranted and raved about #but he plays it off as him happening to find lost sheep #lots of thoughts… lots of thoughts… #all thoughts to explain why Steve isn’t able to get bitches #steve harrington #steddie #stranger things #scoops ahoy steve #stranger things headcanons

[catabasis]

#doctor who #tenth doctor #david tennant #dwedit #timelordgifs #dtennantedit #davidtennantedit #davidtennantedits #the prettiest girl #from 4x02 the fires of pompeii #dtedit #mygifs #mygifs:doctorwho #mygifs:tenthdoctor #mygifs:davidtennant

[shelovesplants]

Pretty bowl of some fire 🔥 😍🩷💨

#weed aesthetic #weed #weed pics #weed pictures #weed smokers #girls who smoke weed #girls that smoke weed #fire #cannabis #cannacommunity #cannablr #cannalife #420weed #420stoner #420culture #420life #marijuana #purp #purple #purple weed #purple bud #bowl of weed #dankshots420 #bowl #my photography #my photos

[yashley]

imogen & fearne in c3e75

#critical role #ygifs #imogen x fearne #imogearne #cr3 #I love fearne suddenly going imogen I think im discovering claustrophobia in realtime and imogens like girl I love you but youre SMALLER RN #bat fearne still being imogen's animal menace my beloved #fcg going well who gets the fire shard and imogen immediately saying well moron WHO is the HOTTEST? FEARNE. and it's biting my leg

[fictionadventurer]

Maybe the problem with Christian fiction is that it's non-denominational. People are just "Christian", with no effort put into showing what practicing that religion looks like for them specifically. No indication that there are other Christians who could have different beliefs. No wrestling with differing ideas and the struggle of how one should live out their Christian faith. And that makes it unrealistic and unrelatable.

#me reading any christian historical fiction set in england: why are none of these gentry anglican?? #they ARE all anglican and if they are not it is extremely plot and character relevant you can't just have them using evangelical buzzwords #but i'm also thinking of this because i started another charlotte yonge book #that is by far my favorite of the things of hers that i've read #because it has characters who have different upbringings and religious opinions #instead of just 'here's a bunch of high church anglicans judging people who don't live up to their victorian standard' #you have the very high church anglican rector whose wife is worldly but still a very good person #the girl raised in a very strict protestant family who is more scrupulous than the anglicans but is still recognized as a good person #you have people who are trying to work out the nuances of different issues #and that makes it so much more realistic and so much easier to integrate into the story #(the politics though are hilarious) #(most of the classics that survive are the ones that were 'ahead of their time' in politics) #(so it's equally fascinating and refreshing and a bit infuriating to see one that is very very of its time with regards to women's rights) #('why did this woman get up at the meeting and explain her very good ideas for rebuilding after the fire? she should have had a man do it') #(meanwhile i'm just screaming 'why on earth SHOULDN'T she???') #(it's almost enough to make a feminist of me)

[thesweetnessofspring]

Katniss actually said that if not for the existence of the Games and Panem's shitty state in general, that she, at 17 years old, could possibly be married and pregnant. Full-on teen mothering it with her dandelion in the spring if Panem could chill out for a sec and stop killing children. And then she proceeded to fantasize about Peeta and his child safe in the meadow. This thought alone gave her one of three nights of restful sleep without drugs post-Games during the series (the other two being when she was in Peeta's arms).

And yet when the Games did end permanently and Katniss indeed went ahead and married/committed to Peeta and had a family with him at about 30 years old, some people still did a surprise Pikachu face and complained it was out of character.

WHAT MORE DID SHE HAVE TO DO TO FORESHADOW THE ENDING?

#quote for those who want it: #(in reference to Peeta's baby bomb) #Isn't it the thing I dreaded most about the wedding about the future-the loss of my children to the Games? #And it could be true now couldn't it? #If I hadn't spent my life building up layers of defenses until I recoil at even the suggestion of marriage or a family? #(only change is the commas are taken out b/c tags) #girl basically acknowledged her trauma and said without it she could be married and pregnant at 17 that is WILD #having a secret toasting and then having sex with peeta (as this was the “it” she was referring to) #the hunger games #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #everlark #catching fire

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Been thinking about the X-Files recently. A show I have a hazy, but fond memory of.

#the x files #x files #fox mulder #dana scully #poorly drawn x files #is this going to be a thing? maybe? #iirc: The x-files is about two FBI agents who are trying so hard to be professional and not fall in love. And everything is a conspiracy. #...It *has* been nearly a decade since I saw the x files. I think I'd have a hard time rewatching for a few reasons but I did enjoy it. #This was initially just a work doodle I wasn't going to clean up #but the amount of x-files fans that Ive seen about + Lazycranberryart's wangxian x-files art got my brain too fired up. #Mulderscully vibes are like: "I'm her silly rabbit. she doesn't call me that outloud. But I believe in my heart it's true.' #Its about having faith and trust in each other! They might not always agree either but they have each other's backs! #Scully is 100% the one that kills the spiders in the relationship. Mulder wants to rescue them but his ideals aren't strong enough #Girl Daddy and Baby Girl Boy. That's who they are to me.

[amber-laughs]

there is just no universe where catelyn likes jon i’m sorry. she knows about R+L=J? ned made traitors of her and her children, put jon’s safety above their’s and is now an even bigger threat to their lives. she hates him. Rhaegar wins and he’s prince jon? he’s still the product of the event that the entire country had to go to war for and probably got her father killed in the process. at the very least she resents him. maybe even hates him. modern au? he’s just the cousin with the teen mom that gets high with her son in the basement and sneaks arya razor blades or whatever. she hates him!

#turns out i’ve already posted the bottom half of this post verbatim lol #their relationship is too fractured from even before his conception #i’m sorry y’all she’s never playing mommy to that boy #even tho he’s my son who deserves all the love and affection this world has to offer #that one girl who really doesn't play about jon and catelyn #jon snow #catelyn tully #valyrianscrolls #asoiaf crack #well kind sorta #catelyn stark #game of thrones #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf meta