District 1 specializes in producing luxury items such as jewelry. Children living there take pride in representing District 1 in the Games, and are often among the group of tributes nicknamed "Careers," who illegally train for the Games from a young age. Katniss refers to them as "the Capitol's lap dogs" in the first book. Once the Games begin, the tributes from the Career-heavy districts (typically Districts 1, 2, and 4) tend to form an alliance until they are forced to fight among themselves to determine the winner. Along with District 2, District 1 is heavily favored by the Capitol and is fairly wealthy compared to the rest of the districts.
In The Hunger Games, both tributes from District 1 (Marvel and Glimmer) join the "Career" pack. Glimmer is eventually killed by tracker jackers (mutant wasps), which were dropped on the Careers by Katniss. Marvel is killed by Katniss after he kills Rue. In Catching Fire, the tributes from District 1 are siblings Cashmere and Gloss, who are killed by Johanna Mason and Katniss, respectively. District 2 is in charge of stone cutting, fighting, and weapon making, though it was revealed in Mockingjay that it is also a center of training for the Capitol's army of Peacekeepers. District 2 is a large district in the Rocky Mountains, not far from the Capitol itself. Its citizens have better living conditions than most other districts; support for Capitol control is stronger here than in any other district. Some citizens of District 2 give their children names of Ancient Roman or Greek style, like those common in the Capitol. District 2 tributes often volunteer for the Games even when not selected in the drawing (this is said to make the Reapings very difficult). As such, their tributes are among those referred to as "careers". Like Districts 1 and 4, these tributes train for the games. This is illegal but because of the support District 2 gives for the Capitol, they are let off, along with District 1 and District 4, the other richer districts.
District 3 specializes in the production of electronics. Most of its inhabitants work in factories and are very adept in skills such as engineering, which its tributes have used to their advantage in the Games. In the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, the male tribute from District 3 manages to reactivate the land mines surrounding the Cornucopia so they can be used to protect the supplies of the Careers. One of the previous victors to come from District 3, Beetee, won his Games by setting a trap that electrocuted many of the other tributes. He also used his skills after being chosen to compete in the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games in Catching Fire. The other victor chosen to compete in the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games is a woman named Wiress, who discovered that the arena operated like a clock and told Katniss how to detect force fields, after she pointed (or at least started to point) out the force field put up between the Gamemakers and the victors.
Although District 3 seems to have technological advantages over other districts, it is actually the poorest of the wealthy districts and typically does not do well in the Games. District 4 is a coastal district that specializes in fishing. It is another wealthy district in which children often train to become Careers (tributes from this district are not considered Careers in the film). It is said that District 4 has the most "decent-looking" people. The most popular bread baked in this District is a salty, fish-shaped loaf tinted green by seaweed.
In the first book, the male tribute from District 4 is one of the eleven to die in the initial bloodbath at the Cornucopia; in the film he is depicted as being killed by Cato after an attempt to flee. In the book, the female tribute is shown as a Career and killed by the tracker jackers alongside Glimmer; however, she does not appear in the film and most likely has died in the initial bloodbath. In Catching Fire, Katniss finds important allies in Mags and Finnick Odair, the victors from District 4 chosen for the Quarter Quell. Mags is an elderly victor who mentored Finnick in his first Games and could make a fishing hook "out of anything." She volunteered for the Quarter Quell, taking the place of Annie Cresta, an unstable past victor who won her games by being able to swim the longest after the arena was flooded. During the third Quarter Quell, Mags is killed by a mysterious blister agent in the form of a fog. As for Finnick, Katniss describes him as "beautiful" and mentions that he won his Games at the young age of fourteen. In Mockingjay, Katniss and Finnick turn out to become great friends and eventually Finnick is killed by part-lizard, part-human mutations during the second rebellion, so that he could save Katniss's life. Finnick and Annie's relationship is shown to be similar in some respects to that of Katniss and Peeta. All four experience significant mental strain due to their participation in the Games, and the Capitol uses the captured Peeta and Annie in Mockingjay to further torment Katniss and Finnick while they work with the rebellion. After being reunited, Finnick and Annie are briefly married, and they conceive a son before Finnick's death. Annie is one of seven victors to survive the second rebellion. District 5 specializes in electrical power,[5] which Caesar Flickerman referred as the "Power Plant Workers" in the first film.
In the first book, Katniss nicknamed the female tribute from District 5 "Foxface" because she looked similar to a fox, with a slim face and sleek red hair. She was one of the last to die, due to her cleverness, avoiding any form of contact with other tributes. She also steals a small portion of food from the Careers' supplies, dodging the bombs set up by the Careers, shortly before her death. She dies by eating poisonous berries known as nightlock after watching Peeta harvest them. No name or description is given to the male tribute from District 5, except that he is one of the eleven who die in the bloodbath on the first day. In the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games, Finnick kills the male tribute with his trident at the Cornucopia on the first day. In the film, the female tribute is killed by the 10 o'clock wave that propels itself through the jungle. District 6 specializes in transportation, serving as a hub for the transport network. During the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, both tributes were killed in the bloodbath on the first day. In the film the male was targeted by Cato, who accused him of taking his knife during a pre-Games training exercise (though it was in fact stolen by Rue). During the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games the female tribute dies when a monkey muttation bites her in the chest and ruptures her internal organs as she blocks it from Peeta, who was its initial target. Peeta allows her to paint flowers on his face with her blood, and describes the many colors in the sky to her as she dies. In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire the tributes from District 6 were described as being addicted to morphling, a drug that caused their skin to turn saggy and yellow.
District 7 specializes in lumber and paper.
In the 74th Hunger Games, the male and female tributes died in the initial bloodbath. District 7 victor Johanna Mason won her Games by feigning weakness early on in order to catch opponents off-guard. In the 75th Hunger Games, Johanna was one of Katniss's allies – and part of the conspiracy to break out of the arena. Her district partner, Blight, was also part of the conspiracy, but he died after he accidentally walked into the nearby force field during the blood rain hour of the Arena, which electrocuted him (this led to Wiress becoming mentally unstable). After watching Johanna throw an axe into the Cornucopia, Katniss speculated that Johanna had probably been throwing axes since she was a toddler. It is believed that President Snow killed all her loved ones when she wouldn't let herself be bought by rich Capitol citizens. During the end of the game, Johanna attacked Katniss to remove the tracking device from her arm, but was revealed in Mockingjay to have been one of the tributes captured in the escape. During captivity in the Capitol, she was tortured by being soaked in water and then electrocuted, but was later rescued and taken to District 13. After that, she became aqua-phobic and during the tests conducted to assess the strength and weakness of the soldiers, Johanna loses control of herself when the lookalike Capitol streets are flooded with water. Johanna also steals some of Katniss's morphling to avoid dreaming about her imprisonment. She and Katniss became friends and roommates over the course of the rebellion. District 8 specializes in textiles (including at least one factory in which Peacekeeper uniforms are made).
District 8 was one of the first districts to rebel, as Katniss saw on Mayor Undersee's television. Two people from District 8, Bonnie and Twill, escaped during one of the uprisings and informed Katniss of the theory that District 13 still existed. It is implied that security is strict in District 8 following the uprising, and the citizens are desperate for hope. In Mockingjay, Katniss visits a hospital in District 8, which is later bombed by the Capitol. The leader of District 8, Paylor, is able to command fierce loyalty from her soldiers who follow her orders in preference to those of Alma Coin, the president of District 13. Paylor later becomes President of Panem. |