Katniss Everdeen

Katniss Everdeen is the main protagonist from the Hunger Games franchise.

After her younger sister, Primrose, was reaped to participate in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss volunteered to take her place as the female tribute from District 12. This action set in motion the events of the entire series.

Appearance
Katniss has long black hair, which she normally pulls back into a long braid, olive skin and gray eyes. She is small in stature and thin for her age as she was generally malnourished because of her district's poverty. She is thus one of the smallest tributes in her Games, but due to her outdoor life, she is strong for her size. She is also known as "The Girl on Fire" during the Hunger Games; she earns this title from her fierce personality and the outfits created for her by her stylist, Cinna. Katniss is not very image-conscious, to the dismay from Venia, one of her stylists. In the first book, her hearing in her left ear is destroyed because of the explosion caused in the arena, but it is fixed in the Capitol in the end, as are all of her other major and more minor injuries including the erasing of any scars from her years of hunting. Before entering the arena the first time, Katniss had many minor scrapes and cuts, and her outward appearance was very much imperfect. However, after she won, they were repaired by the Capitol doctors, including replacing the hearing in her left ear. Most notable about her appearance and demeanour, however, was the image she unconsciously projected, as noted by her co-tribute Peeta. In Peeta's interview, he says that a lot of boys like Katniss when asked if he likes anyone at home.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss wore worn-out clothes with hunting boots, and sometimes wore her father's old hunting coat. During the reaping, she wore her mother's blue dress. At the parade in the capitol she wore the costume that Cinna made that gave her the name "The Girl on Fire." She wore a black unitard representing coal and lit them with synthetic fire that doesn't burn but can be quenched by a solution made to counter it. He keeps the theme by designing Katniss' interview dress, a gown made completely of precious jewels in flame colors, reflecting the lighting to make her look like she is "engulfed in flames." During the Hunger Games, she wore a hooded black jacket that fell down to her thighs and reflects body heat, tawny trousers, sturdy brown belt, and a green button-up shirt. She also wears her Mockingjay pin. Cinna also designs her Victor dress, keeping the theme of fire, yet toning it down to candlelight to symbolize innocence other than the fiery spirit for which the theme was first created.

In Catching Fire, she wore many dresses due to the victory tour held six months after the games are over. The outfit Cinna designs for the first day of the Victory Tour Katniss describes as, "Flowing black pants made of a thick, warm material. A comfortable white shirt. A sweater woven from green and blue and gray strands of kitten-soft wool. Laced leather boots that don't pinch my toes." Another one of Cinna's outfits for the Victory tour includes a white coat, leather gloves, a bright red scarf, and earmuffs. The outfit Katniss wears in District 11 is described as, "a pretty orange frock patterned with autumn leaves." Cinna designs dresses for Katniss to wear to banquets and balls. One is described by Katniss as a pale pink and strapless. Another is described by Johanna Mason as a dark blue velvet number. The dress worn by Annie Cresta at her wedding was designed by Cinna for Katniss in District 5. After Katniss accepted Peeta's proposal during the Victory Tour stop at the Capitol, Cinna designed a set of wedding dresses. The Capitol audience voted on the finalists to select the one that would have been used for the wedding. Katniss describes the winner as having sleeves that touch the floor and lots and lots of pearls. During the third quarter quell she wore a fitted blue jumpsuit only 1/2 inch thick made of sheer material, zipper in front, six inch wide padded belt covered in purple plastic and nylon shoes with rubber soles. Every victor wore a blue jumpsuit, and a belt that was also a flotation device. The belt was filled with a thick, purple, liquid. Katniss also wore her Mockingjay pin.

In Mockingjay, she wore a plain grey shirt and pants since all residents of District 13 wear this. Cinna had designed a uniform for Katniss to wear for her role as the mockingjay. The uniform was black body armor. It had a helmet that can turn into a hood, a chest plate to protect vital organs and had a special reinforcements over her heart, short sleeves that reach to her elbows and white folds under her arms. She had hidden weapons in her boots and belt. Katniss wears a bloody bandage to cover the scar on her left arm that Johanna Mason gave her when she cut her tracker out during the 75th Hunger Games. She also wears her Mockingjay pin over her heart. It's also said in the book after the explosion in Capitol where her sister died, that some of her hair was burned off. Her Mockingjay suit is red, symbolizing the rebellion and the revolution.

Personality
Katniss has strong and independent survivalist instincts due to her difficult past and is good at thinking outside the box. She is not socially adept and has a hard time making friends due to the emotional strain on her life which has made her hard and cold. She is more concerned about feeding her family than being social, making her awkward around people. Though Katniss can be rather blunt, misanthropic, sarcastic, bitingly cynical and cold she has a very vulnerable side which she only shows around her family, and she has a natural maternal instinct as showed when she comforted Prim and helped Rue. She is not very good at acting for the camera and comes across best when she is herself. She is usually very logical except for times when her emotions get in the way.

Katniss has a habit of biting her nails when she is nervous or anxious and must consciously stop herself from doing so when around others. After she became a victor she could not think of a good reason to break the habit. However after joining the rebellion she appears to have stopped biting her nails as she does not mention doing so.

Katniss is very strong, stubborn and determined. Often, she will react first and ask questions later. She will do anything to survive. Even when she allied with Rue, she said she hoped that she didn't have to be the one to kill her. Yet when it came to Peeta, she tried her best to figure a way for them both to survive. This independent streak did not go well in the regimented confines of District 13 and Katniss largely did what she wanted and ignored her daily schedule. She had to discipline herself to undergo military training in order to prove that she could be sent into combat, and her unwillingness to take orders was perceived as her greatest weakness. This was targeted during her individual exam, but she was able to realize this and passes.

Even though she can sometimes be a bit self-centered and self-reliant, she does have noble traits, protecting those she loves. For example, caring for Prim, looking out for Rue, and ending Cato's life mercifully even though he caused her so much pain or when she shields Gale to keep him from being whipped, even when it means a lash for herself. Katniss has an instinct to protect those who are weak such as Rue, Wiress, and her prep team.

Unlike her younger sister, she is not a natural born healer. She once ran from the house in fright while Prim and her mother cared for a dying man. She even had trouble healing Peeta, being squeamish and reluctant to care for him unclothed. Instead, she is more like her father, being skilled at hunting and gathering.

Nevertheless, she was a fiercely determined and resourceful fighter and was reasonably easy to underestimate. She was almost always in disagreement with authority figures and liked to use her own resources when it came to survival (The instincts of a true survivor). Katniss was loyal to no one and had issues when it came to trusting others, but this grew to be her one of her greatest strengths.

In Mockingjay, it is shown that Katniss dislikes being a "pawn" and hates having the weight of Panem on her shoulders.

Katniss suffers from PTSD from her experiences in the Hunger Games throughout the series. This includes frequent nightmares and night terrors of those she killed and tried to kill her, avoidance to others/ isolation, irritability and favoring the wilds of the forest over human contact.

Abilities
Katniss is a highly skilled archer and hunter, which she learned from her father. After meeting Gale, she added fishing and trapping to her skills. This is shown when she was making snares in the Training Center, watching the training of the career tributes including Cato using sword, Glimmer using Bow and Arrows, and Marvel using and throwing spears.

She also had to educate herself on the edible, medicinal, and poisonous plant life of District 12. Hunting and gathering on a daily basis has given her a highly skilled sense of woodcraft.

In pre-judging, she scored the highest mark out of all tributes which was an 11. In the second movie, she demonstrated exceptional lethality during her combat simulation, which all the other tributes watched in awe. She did not use her bow, however, during the judging process; instead, she made a fake dummy which was hung by neck which on the chest was written "Seneca Crane." Seneca was the previous Head Gamemaker who was killed for allowing Katniss and Peeta to live after the Nightlock berry incident. She has some experience with wielding and throwing a knife in order to finish off a wounded prey animal. During practice sessions, she found that she was also a reasonably good spear-thrower, indicating she has skill with most- if not all- projectile weapons.

Before the third quarter quell, Peeta trains Katniss hand to hand combat skills, making her an exceptional opponent. She is also trained further while living in District 13

Later in District 13, she belatedly undergoes military training in order to participate in the fighting against the Capitol and gains enough proficiency with a gun to be selected for a sharpshooter unit, Squad 451. Katniss is a skilled tree-climber and a fast runner, which has benefited her in hunting and the Games. Additionally, she has a good singing voice, also inherited from her father, although she was reluctant to sing since his death.

She had good reflexes, mainly when carrying a bow. She could draw an arrow and strike several targets with a good amount of speed and flexibility. She uses her reflexes several times throughout the trilogy: When escaping the Cornucopia bloodbath in the 74th Hunger Games, evading fireballs when the Gamemakers create a forest inferno to draw the tributes together, when she ran from the wolf mutts, fighting Cato atop the Cornucopia, escaping the monkey mutts during the third Quarter Quell and then diverting her aim at the end of the book to assassinate President Coin.

Possessions
Katniss had her hunting jacked and bow and arrows given by her father. Katniss received a gold mockingjay pin, which was given to her by her friend, Madge Undersee. After she wins the Games, it becomes a symbol of rebellion for the districts against the Capitol, and a symbol of Katniss herself, as her actions were never meant to exist. However, many ignorant Capitol citizenz still use it as a symbol of fashion, as a remembrance of Katniss' exciting Games.Katniss also have a family plant book containing names of known plants which is an important possesion. Katniss also receives from Peeta a pearl along with a gold locket engraved with a mockingjay, containing a picture of her mother, her sister Prim, and Gale during the Quarter Quell in Catching Fire. She is later seen throughout Mockingjay keeping the pearl close to her as a prized possession. In Mockingjay Katniss receives a bow and arrows from Beetee. They have mechanical properties, and can be voice activated.

Trivia

 * Katniss' birthday is May 8th. This is a special day in France for the celebration of Joan of Arc, to whom Katniss had been compared. However, Suzanne Collins has not yet indicated whether this was intentional or merely coincidence.
 * Katniss' promotional posters for the films are distinctively unique, albeit the fourth film's posters has unique posters for each character who has one.
 * In the first film, she's the only character who is facing and looking right.
 * In the second film, she's the only character standing, not sitting in her chair.
 * In the third film, each character has the film's mockingjay emblem behind them. Katniss also has it, but hers is aflame.
 * In the final film, her subtitle reads "Panem Unite."
 * Her favorite color is green and her favorite food in the Capitol is lamb stew with dried plums served on grain.
 * Of all the promotional character posters for the The Hunger Games, Katniss' is the only one facing right.
 * Her name comes from the plant katniss, which is a plant shaped like an arrow.
 * All the tributes she killed in the Games were Career Tributes.
 * Jennifer Lawrence has described her character as "a futuristic Joan of Arc" while promoting every Hunger Games movie to be released thus far, and Donald Sutherland described her as "more dangerous than Joan of Arc" in his initial letter to the first film's director regarding the character of Coriolanus Snow (shown in the DVD featurette "Letters from the Rose Garden").
 * In the film, Katniss weighs 122 pounds and has 23-1 odds of winning the Games.
 * The two people in her family closest to her, her father and Prim, both died in explosions.
 * Her decision to volunteer for Prim for the 74th Hunger Games not only saved her from certain death, but saved the country from the oppressive rule of the Capitol. This stated, it is the primary driving event of the whole series.
 * Katniss killed both male tributes from District 1 in her two Games after they killed one of her allies; she killed Marvel after he threw the spear into Rue's stomach, and she killed Gloss after he slit Wiress' throat.
 * Katniss had received burns in all three books.
 * Katniss and Peeta are the only tributes to participate in the games two years in a row.
 * When the training scores are revealed, she and Peeta are the only tributes recognized by their first and last names.
 * In the Hunger Games A-Z, Suzanne Collins compares Katniss to the Greek warrior, Theseus.
 * Katniss, like many former tributes, suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This was apparent in the movie, as she thought she shot Marvel while turkey hunting. She also had MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) for a period of time after Prim's death.
 * There is also a variation from the book as Katniss was meant to have olive skin rather than be Caucasian
 * She was District 12's very first volunteer according to Effie in the first film, while in the book District 12 "hadn't had a volunteer in decades."
 * In the book, Madge gave her the mockingjay pin, while in the movie, Greasy Sae gave it to her. She wore it in her suit for the whole thing and also when she goes into the other battles she brings along the pin.
 * Katniss's father made her first bow and arrow.