The Hunger Games became a spectacle of the Capitol, but who would have guessed it began as a school project? From snake mutts to jabberjays to poisonous presidents, this is everything you need to know about Suzanne's Collins' post-apocalyptic world.
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00:00 The Hunger Games became a spectacle of the Capitol, but who would have guessed it began
00:04 as a school project?
00:06 From snake mutts to jabberjays to poisonous presidents, this is everything you need to
00:10 know about Suzanne Collins' post-apocalyptic world.
00:14 Like every post-apocalyptic story, The Hunger Games books and the franchise they spawned
00:18 are set after a devastating series of events that nearly decimated the Earth's population.
00:23 While the events in question may have been central for establishing The Hunger Games
00:26 universe, Suzanne Collins made the choice to keep details of the transition period between
00:31 our world and her story's world as vague as possible.
00:34 Therefore, we know that The Hunger Games takes place in an indeterminate future, on an Earth
00:39 that was ravaged by climate change and massive world wars.
00:42 With the human population drastically reduced and chains of supply for basic human needs
00:47 completely reconfigured, old governments fell apart and with them the entire political world
00:52 order.
00:53 The remaining few people and organizations scrambled for control of the remaining resources,
00:57 creating new governments in the process.
00:59 At some point, all that also became true of the United States, which ceased to exist as
01:03 we know it.
01:04 Later, a new nation-state called Panem was founded in North America, encompassing the
01:08 people who still lived there after the Old World's destruction.
01:12 Divided into 13 districts, little has been revealed about Panem's establishment and
01:16 how its government was instituted, but it wound up a utilitarian dictatorship with a
01:20 political order enforced by brutal policing.
01:23 It is in this setting that every published Hunger Games story has taken place.
01:34 Before the creation of The Hunger Games, the political and economic system that remained
01:38 almost until the end of the book's story was already in place.
01:41 The government extracted resources from all the districts by force, and those resources
01:46 funded the affluent society of the capital, the home to all the sociopolitical power in
01:50 Panem.
01:51 The capital itself was founded when some of the country's richest and most powerful families
01:56 came together to build an entire city just for the Panem elites.
01:59 Naturally, the citizens of the districts were unhappy living miserable existences under
02:03 the constant threat of military repression, all just to have the fruit of their labor
02:07 snatched away to prop up the lavish lifestyles of the capital.
02:11 Three years before the first Hunger Games, that widespread social dissatisfaction sparked
02:15 the first rebellion against the capital, which then became a full-blown civil war.
02:20 The rebel side of the war was led by District 13, Panem's leading manufacturer of weaponry
02:25 and military technology.
02:26 While the capital had no qualms about resorting to inhumane tactics and technologically enhanced
02:31 violence to quash uprisings, the rebels managed to gain ground over time with a combination
02:35 of guerrilla tactics and the technology supplied by District 13.
02:39 However, the capital did eventually regain control after a failed invasion attempt by
02:43 the rebels.
02:44 At that point, not wanting to escalate matters into a nuclear war, District 13 withdrew its
02:49 support for the rebellion and signed a ceasefire with the capital in exchange for its independence.
02:55 District 13 proceeded to establish an entirely underground infrastructure, while everything
02:59 above was carpet bombed to give the appearance that the capital won the war.
03:03 As a result, the rebels' war efforts were quelled entirely.
03:06 To decisively mark the rebellion's conclusion, the Panem government wrote the Treaty of Treason,
03:11 introducing a new set of national laws intended to nip any future subversive activity in the
03:16 bud.
03:17 The most notable of those laws created the Hunger Games, which were conceived jokingly
03:20 by former university student Casca Highbottom during a drunken rant as part of a school
03:25 project.
03:26 Much to Casca's chagrin, this instructor for whom the assignment was completed, Dr.
03:30 Volumnia Gall, eventually dug up Casca's proposal and presented it to the government
03:34 to be fully enacted.
03:36 Once in place, the Hunger Games became an annual event in which two teenagers from each
03:40 of the districts, known as Tributes, would be randomly selected or "reaped" into
03:44 a nationally televised fight to the death.
03:47 For the first few installations, the Hunger Games were held annually in the Capitol Arena,
03:51 the same amphitheater used for public executions during the war.
03:55 The first editions were somewhat rudimentary, lacking many of the features that would come
03:59 to define future games, such as mentors, tribute interviews, tracking devices, massive high-tech
04:04 arenas, genetically modified predatory mutts, and uniforms.
04:08 "I'm Lockie Flickerman, first ever host of the Hunger Games."
04:13 The tenth Hunger Games was the first to introduce several of those features, including mentors.
04:17 However, rather than mentors being past winners of the games, the first version of this concept
04:22 saw 24 seniors from a prestigious Capitol High School called upon to train that year's
04:26 new Tributes.
04:28 One such mentor was Coriolanus Snow, the son of late Capitol General Crassus Snow, who
04:32 was assigned to mentor District 12 Tribute Lucy Gray Baird and eventually fell in love
04:37 with her.
04:38 It was Coriolanus' suggestion that the tenth games introduced sponsorships and betting,
04:42 which would contribute to consolidating them as a major event in the Capitol's pop culture
04:46 and economy.
04:47 Under Volumnia Gall's supervision, the tenth games proved disastrous, with some Tributes
04:52 killing their mentors and being executed before the games even began.
04:56 Things got even more out of hand when mysteriously placed bombs went off during a tour of the
05:00 arena, killing several more Tributes and mentors.
05:03 Nevertheless, the games took place as planned, and after five days of carnage, Lucy Gray
05:08 Baird emerged as the first victor to hail from District 12.
05:12 The years following the Treaty of Treason were a period of reconstruction for the Capitol.
05:16 The Snow family, whose wealth came from Crassus Snow's District 13-based Munitions Empire,
05:21 faced a particularly brutal fall from grace in the wake of the rebellion and had been
05:25 left in shambles when their patriarch died during the war.
05:28 Thus, the responsibility to rebuild the Snow Dynasty was left to Coriolanus and his cousin,
05:32 Corus.
05:33 For this reason, when he was given the opportunity to work as a mentor, he vowed to have his
05:37 Tribute win by any means necessary.
05:40 It was eventually discovered that he had tampered with the snake mutts created by Gall for the
05:44 games so that they wouldn't attack Lucy Gray.
05:46 As punishment, he was forced to enroll in Penhems Military Police, the Peacekeepers.
05:50 Snow asked to be assigned to Lucy Gray's District 12, where he gained Gall's favor by ratting
05:55 out a rebellion to her using a recording bird mutt known as a Jabberjay.
05:59 He was eventually given an honorable discharge, taken under Gall's wing, and flown out to
06:03 attend his new mentor's class at the Capitol's University.
06:06 Under Gall, he became an apprentice game maker and rose rapidly through the game's administrative
06:10 ranks with his creativity and merciless cunning.
06:13 Lucy Gray, whom Snow might or might not have killed during a dazed altercation while the
06:17 two were attempting to flee north together, was never heard from again.
06:21 Over the years, The Hunger Games grew in popularity as an entertainment spectacle and proved an
06:25 efficient means of quelling dissent in the districts as they forced the populace to focus
06:29 more and more on surviving the games instead of opposing them.
06:33 Since tributes could volunteer, the figure of the career tribute, a tribute from the
06:37 wealthiest non-capital districts trained from an early age to excel in the games, was eventually
06:41 born, and Districts 1, 2, and 4 began to dominate the games as a result.
06:46 The 25th Games introduced the concept of the Quarter Quell, a special edition of the games
06:50 with unique rules held every 25 years.
06:53 "That's what we game makers like to call a wrinkle."
06:57 The first Quarter Quell saw tributes selected by voting among each district's population
07:02 instead of randomly reaped.
07:04 The second featured double the usual number of tributes and was won by Haymitch Abernathy.
07:08 The only surviving District 12 victor by the time the events of The Hunger Games began,
07:12 Haymitch used an unorthodox stunt to secure his victory in the games.
07:16 Having become president of Panem by that point, Coriolanus Snow had his entire family executed
07:21 as punishment.
07:22 Katniss Everdeen was born on May 8th in the year of the 58th Hunger Games.
07:26 The daughter of a miner and a healer, she grew up in the abject poverty typical of District
07:31 12's population.
07:32 Her sister Primrose, or Prim Everdeen, arrived four years later.
07:36 Due to the family's poverty, food was often scarce in the Everdeen household, and as she
07:40 got older, Katniss learned from her father to go hunting in the woods for extra food
07:44 and supplies.
07:45 The pair formed a strong bond, and together, they honed her archery and survival skills.
07:49 When Katniss was 11, her father died in a mining explosion along with several other
07:53 workers, including Gale Hawthorne's father.
07:55 This tragedy left Katniss' mother in a prolonged near-catatonic state, unable to work or interact
08:01 with her daughters.
08:02 As a result, Katniss was forced to become the family's breadwinner.
08:05 Although Katniss managed to make ends meet for the most part, poaching and trading in
08:09 the Hob weren't always enough to keep the family fed.
08:11 On one occasion, her family ran out of food completely but was saved from starvation when
08:15 the local baker's son, Peeta Mellark, covertly gave Katniss some bread.
08:19 Katniss eventually met Gale while hunting, and the two became best friends and mutual
08:23 supporters.
08:24 Gale was secretly a political dissident who dreamed of revolution against the Capitol.
08:28 But Katniss, although deeply altruistic and devoted to the well-being of her loved ones,
08:32 was uninterested in politics and harbored no dreams of a better world.
08:37 During the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games, Prim's name was drafted, prompting a desperate
08:41 Katniss to impulsively volunteer as tribute in her place.
08:44 Peeta was reaped as District 12's male tribute, and the two were taken to the Capitol to participate
08:48 in the Games while Gale vowed to provide for Katniss' family in her absence.
08:52 On their trip to the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta were accompanied by Haymitch, who had
08:56 slipped into alcoholism since his win, and their Capitol-assigned escort, Effie Trinket.
09:00 During preparations for the Games, Katniss bonded closely with her stylist, Sina, whose
09:05 bold fire-themed designs boosted Katniss' profile and inspired the moniker "Girl on
09:09 Fire."
09:10 Thanks to a strong performance in training and a defiant archery stunt during her private
09:14 demonstration with the Game Makers, Katniss was deemed one of the favorites for the 74th
09:18 Games.
09:19 Meanwhile, Peeta publicly professed his love for Katniss during his tribute interview,
09:23 claiming it was a strategy to draw audience sympathy.
09:25 "He did you a favor."
09:26 "He made me look weak."
09:27 "He made you look desirable, which in your case can't hurt, sweetheart."
09:32 During the 74th Games, Peeta initially allied with the career tributes, though he turned
09:36 on them to save Katniss and was almost killed as a result.
09:39 Katniss allied and befriended the 12-year-old District 11 tribute, Rue.
09:43 After a career tribute killed Rue, Katniss staged an impromptu funeral for her, wreathing
09:48 her body in flowers.
09:49 The act sparked spontaneous civil unrest in District 11.
09:52 Shortly after Rue's death, the Game Makers announced a rule allowing two tributes from
09:57 the same district to win together.
09:58 "From now on, two victors may be crowned if both originate from the same district."
10:05 With the possibility that they could both go home, Katniss and Peeta joined forces,
10:09 playing up their love story to win over sponsors.
10:11 The two of them succeeded in killing or outliving every other tribute, only for the new rule
10:16 to be revoked.
10:17 Unwilling to choose who would die, they made a suicide pact and were about to eat poisonous
10:21 berries when the Capitol declared them both victors.
10:25 The 74th Games' head Game Maker, Seneca Crane, was executed for fumbling the Games' resolution.
10:30 Meanwhile, following their pioneering double win, Katniss and Peeta returned to District
10:34 12.
10:35 Having won the Games, they were presented with all the benefits and luxuries of victor
10:39 life, including new houses next to hay mitches in the Victor's Village.
10:42 Despite this, Katniss continued to hunt in the woods out of habit.
10:45 She was eventually visited by President Snow, who explained that her and Peeta's near-suicide
10:50 had sparked revolutionary sentiment around Penem, and instructed her to convince the
10:54 nation that she had done it not out of spite for the Capitol, but out of love.
10:57 Katniss and Peeta then embarked on their victory tour of the districts, in which they saw firsthand
11:02 how widespread social unrest had become.
11:04 During the tour, Katniss and Peeta bonded over their shared trauma, and Katniss grew
11:08 to develop genuine romantic feelings for Peeta.
11:11 However, despite their best efforts to convince Penem of their mad love for each other and
11:15 their support for the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta's performance in the tour failed to
11:18 demobilize uprisings.
11:20 A two-day riot in District 8 took place before being suppressed by peacekeepers, and policing
11:25 around Penem became more severe.
11:27 As part of the new security in Penem, District 12 received a new head peacekeeper.
11:32 Romulus' threat dramatically increased the police's brutality in District 12, arresting
11:36 and whipping Gale in the town square when he was caught poaching.
11:39 At the same time, District 12 was struck by a harsh winter, and Katniss felt alienated
11:44 from her community.
11:45 In an attempt to convince Penem of their love, Katniss and Peeta got engaged while on tour,
11:49 and endless wedding preparations were thrust upon her while most of the populace starved
11:53 and suffered.
11:54 As if things couldn't get any worse, President Snow then announced the special rule for the
11:58 third quarter quell at the 75th Hunger Games.
12:01 This time around, tributes were to be reefed from the existing pool of victors.
12:05 Therefore, Katniss, as District 12's only living female victor, was guaranteed to participate
12:10 in the Games again.
12:11 She, Haymitch, and Peeta spent the following month's training, with Katniss and Haymitch
12:16 ultimately being reaped.
12:17 Unsurprisingly, Peeta volunteered in Haymitch's place to protect Katniss.
12:21 The lead-up to the 75th Games was fraught with anger and indignation from the returning
12:25 tributes.
12:26 During the televised interviews, the tributes made desperate pleas for the Games to be cancelled
12:30 and managed to win over Capitol audience's sympathy.
12:33 These efforts culminated in a display during Katniss and Peeta's tribute interviews.
12:37 While wearing a wedding gown designed by Sina, her outfit transformed into a black Mockingjay-shaped
12:42 dress when she gave it a spin.
12:44 In turn, Peeta made the false revelation that Katniss was pregnant.
12:47 These tactics proved so effective in evoking sympathy from viewers, protests against the
12:52 Games even occurred in the Capitol.
12:54 Despite the show of unity from the tributes during the televised interviews, the Games
12:57 continued as planned.
12:59 Right before Katniss entered the arena, Sina was brutally beaten by peacekeepers.
13:03 Still in shock, Katniss and Peeta quickly allied with District 4 tributes Finnick O'Dare
13:07 and Mags after receiving a covert message from Haymitch encouraging the alliance.
13:12 The 80-year-old Mags ended up sacrificing herself to save the rest from a poisonous
13:16 fog.
13:17 The group then teamed up with technical geniuses Beatty and Wyrus from District 3 and loose-cannon
13:21 Joanna Mason from District 7.
13:23 "Hickory dickory dock, the dog barked at the clock."
13:28 Remembering a clue given to her by new head Game Maker Plutarch Heavensby during the Victory
13:32 Tour, Katniss realized that the arena was designed like a clock with hazards filling
13:36 up one of 12 sectors every hour.
13:39 With that knowledge and some unexpected help from other competitors, her group managed
13:42 to outlast all but the career tributes.
13:45 They then geared up for a final confrontation with the careers, using a strategy devised
13:49 by Beatty.
13:50 The plan was to fire an arrow charged by a lightning bolt that struck the arena every
13:54 12 hours at the remaining careers.
13:56 However, just as Katniss was about to shoot the arrow, she realized that Beatty, Finnick,
14:00 and Joanna were actually carrying out a plan to destroy the arena, not to win the games.
14:05 She then fired an arrow at the venue's force field, blowing it up.
14:09 In the ensuing chaos from the destruction of the arena, Katniss was knocked unconscious
14:13 and extracted from the arena in a Rebel aircraft along with Beatty and Finnick.
14:17 The Capitol, however, captured Peta, Joanna, and the last surviving career tribute, Enobaria.
14:22 Waking up in the aircraft, Katniss was informed by Beatty, Finnick, Hamage, and Plutarch Heavensby
14:26 that they were all part of a secret movement against the Capitol, and that half the tributes
14:30 were involved in a plan to rescue Katniss.
14:32 They further explained that she had become a national symbol of insurgence, a plan Katniss
14:37 herself had been left in the dark about due to Snow's constant vigilance over her.
14:40 They set course for District 13, the home base of the New Resistance movement.
14:45 Meanwhile, inspired by the destruction of the games arena, the Second Rebellion erupted
14:49 across most Panem districts.
14:51 In retaliation against Katniss, the Panem government bombed all of District 12, leaving
14:55 only a handful of survivors, including Katniss' family and Gale.
14:59 The survivors were eventually discovered and rescued by District 13 forces.
15:04 In District 13, Katniss reunited with Gale, Effie, and her family and met President Alma
15:09 Coyne.
15:10 Acting as the Rebellion's de facto leader, Coyne tried to persuade Katniss to become
15:13 the Mockingjay, an official media figurehead for the Rebellion.
15:17 Katniss hesitated at first, but agreed after seeing that Peta was being forced to act as
15:20 a figurehead for the Capitol.
15:22 Plutarch Heavensby then oversaw the production of pirate propaganda transmissions known as
15:26 Propos, starring Katniss as the Rebellion's symbolic heroine.
15:30 In one, Katniss spontaneously sang "The Hanging Tree," a controversial song she learned from
15:34 her father, which became a nationwide anthem for the Rebellion.
15:38 Armed by District 13 and boosted by Katniss' symbolic leadership, the rebels managed to
15:42 gradually secure the districts one by one.
15:45 The Capitol arranged to retaliate against 13 with a missile strike, but Peta was able to
15:49 warn them during an unhinged TV appearance.
15:52 With a few extra minutes before the attack, everyone in 13 evacuated into a bunker just
15:56 in time to avoid the missiles.
15:59 Following the bombing, Katniss was left in despair at Peta's rapidly deteriorating mental
16:03 and physical condition.
16:05 Simultaneously, Finnick was going through similar emotional turmoil, as his girlfriend,
16:09 fellow victor Annie Cresta, had also been captured by the Capitol.
16:13 Katniss and Finnick attempted to film a Propos informing people that District 13 had survived
16:17 the bombing but couldn't perform due to their frayed emotional state.
16:20 Meanwhile, President Coyne's second-in-command Boggs oversaw an operation to infiltrate the
16:24 Capitol and rescue Peta, Annie, and Joanna.
16:27 Upon their return, Peta attempted to strangle Katniss, as the Capitol had used hallucinogenic
16:32 venom to brainwash him into believing Katniss to be a murderous mutt intent on killing him.
16:36 Peta was forcibly hospitalized and spent the following weeks being treated by District
16:40 13 doctors, while a horrified Katniss requested to join combat operations to be away from
16:45 him.
16:46 Katniss and Gale proceeded to take part in the securing of District 2, the last district
16:50 to remain loyal to the Capitol.
16:52 "District 12, District 2.
16:54 We have no fight except the one the Capitol gave us."
16:59 While on the field, Katniss succeeded in rallying District 2 citizens into joining the rebellion,
17:04 but was shot in an assassination attempt.
17:06 However, her official Mockingjay outfit was designed to be bulletproof by SINNA, so she
17:10 survived with only minor injuries.
17:13 Having lost District 2 and its air fleet, the Capitol had no hope of making any further
17:17 offensive strides in the war, leaving its peacekeepers to retreat into the city and
17:21 await the rebels' invasion.
17:22 Meanwhile, the rebels prepared for the final campaign, and Finnick and Annie got married
17:26 in a nationally broadcast prop-up.
17:28 The Battle of the Capitol began, with Katniss joining a special propaganda unit known as
17:32 Squad 451, which also included Boggs, Gale, Finnick, a film crew, and a slowly recovering
17:38 Peta.
17:39 After invading the Capitol, the rebels faced deadly technological traps known as "Pogs."
17:44 Boggs and several other team members perished in the journey, and the rest of Squad 451
17:48 was presumed dead due to footage surfacing of the destruction of a building in which
17:52 they had recently hidden.
17:53 Led by Katniss, they then decided to use their incognito status to infiltrate Snow's mansion
17:58 and kill him.
17:59 On the way to the mansion, however, Finnick and many others were slain by mutts.
18:03 The survivors sheltered at an elderly tigress' clothing shop, who had befriended the rebellion
18:07 after being spurned by her cousin.
18:09 Katniss and Gale then attempted to blend into the Capitol's citizens being welcomed into
18:13 Snow's mansion for shelter.
18:14 However, they got caught up in the bombing of the City Circle, which killed a crowd of
18:18 Capitol children presumably being used as last-ditch human shields by Snow.
18:22 Tragically, this bombing also resulted in the deaths of Prim and many other District
18:26 13 medics.
18:28 The deaths of the Capitol children prompted the last of the Capitol's forces to relent,
18:32 allowing the rebels to easily take over.
18:34 Snow was arrested and sentenced to death, but, when Katniss went to face him one last
18:39 time, he revealed to her that the City Circle bombing had not been ordered by him, but by
18:43 Coyn.
18:44 As a result, Katniss became permanently estranged from Gale, who she believed designed the bombs
18:48 that killed Prim.
18:49 Spurred by Coyn, the seven surviving victors took a vote on whether to hold a final edition
18:54 of the Hunger Games with Capitol teenagers.
18:56 Joanna and Enobaria supported the idea, while Beedie and Annie vehemently opposed it.
19:01 Although the proposition disgusted PETA, Katniss voted in favor of it on the condition that
19:05 she be allowed to execute Snow herself.
19:07 Haymitch followed her vote, trusting her intentions.
19:14 Then during Snow's execution at a public arena, Katniss fired her arrow at Coyn at the very
19:19 last moment, killing her instead.
19:21 This sent Snow into a maniacal laughing fit, and the crowd stormed the arena and murdered
19:26 their former president with their bare hands.
19:29 Following Coyn's death, Katniss was arrested, though her life was spared.
19:32 She returned to District 12 and began to rebuild it alongside the district's remaining survivors,
19:37 Haymitch and PETA.
19:38 The Penhem government held an election to choose a new president, and Commander Paylor,
19:42 the former leader of the District 8 rebel forces, was elected.
19:45 In turn, Plutarch enjoyed a high-ranking position in the new Republican government.
19:49 A few months later, Annie and Finnick's son was born.
19:52 All past Hunger Games arenas were demolished to make room for memorials.
19:56 Back in District 12, the coal mines were closed and replaced by a more prosperous agricultural
20:00 economy with the help of capital machinery.
20:02 PETA, now nearly fully recovered, managed to reconnect with Katniss, and although still
20:07 suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the two eventually rekindled their love, settled
20:11 down together, and went on to have two children.
20:14 [MUSIC]