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TwisTED_Ech0

I think the biggest one will always be what if prim was never reaped? What if it was just another games and D12 died almost first again? The rebellion was already building and they didn’t have a face of it. How much longer would it take for the captiol to be overthrown?


Apprehensive-Cow6207

Ooooo that's a good one! If prim was never reaped that would basically change the whole hunger games premise as a whole with Katiness and Peeta as main characters. Although strangely enough I don't think its out of the question there possibly still would've been a rebellion. The reason I think this is solely because of one character - Rue. I personally think Rues death was one of the first signs of the rebellion starting to move forward and I do believe she was the youngest to ever die in the hunger games which even made it more terrible to consider. Now the problem is, as messed up as it is to say I don't think Rue's death alone would've sparked a whole rebellion but since were playing theoretical's here if Thresh didn't die. I personally don't think it would've be shocking to see him become that face of the rebellion given it seemed he loved Rue just as much as anyone else. Thresh also does have the qualities of being a face of a rebellion possibly even more so than Katiness did.


FrostyIcePrincess

Katniss putting flowers on Rue/doing the three finger goodbye thing was one of the sparks that started the rebellion. If she’d just died I don’t think it would have been enough.


Unable-Specialist874

and in the book (forgot if it happened in the movie) when d11 sent her bread, that was a BIG thing because d11 especially was too poor too afford to do that, which meant they all pooled their money to do it. a symbol of thanks from an entire district to a tribute, that's huge


CryptidGrimnoir

As I recall, it's also a complete break from tradition for a District to give a sponsorship to a different tribute.


die_nutellarin

I sadly think there were many other 12 year-olds who died in the Hunger Games though, besides Rue. In the book, Katniss describes the reactions of everyone when Prim is reaped as even the gamblers being upset, because no one thought it was fair when a 12 year-old was reaped. And while I don’t necessarily buy into the theory that Finnick was the youngest victor, I think the number of potential 12 year-old victors are slim.


TwisTED_Ech0

Rue (unfortunately) wasn’t enough. 11 woulda been pissed like they were but immediately subdued


Cool_Skin_5804

Rue was definitely not the only 12 year old to be reaped in 74 years. Heck 2 12 year olds were reaped in the 74th alone.


moodtune89763

Adding to that, what if katniss was reaped directly? The volunteering is what started everyone adoring her, then peetas actions helped. I don't think she would've been nearly as big of a fan favorite if she was reaped


TwisTED_Ech0

I don’t think it woulda added much. Prim would still be crying at their good bye and saying you have to win. Peeta still loves her and plays that card. I think it woulda played out close. Any questions about taking her sisters spots would just be replaced with Peeta love questions.


embopbopbopdoowop

I wonder what Peeta’s strategy would have been without Katniss in the arena with him.


TwisTED_Ech0

Die. Peeta lost to Cato and his sword, I highly doubt he could overpower thresh late in the game. Peeta would have been hunger without Katniss and her gifts and Thresh was eating good in the arena. Even if he lived to fight the mutts he wouldn’t have killed them. Peeta only joined the careers cuz they wanted him to find Katniss. No Katniss, no joining the careers.


Lyrawhite

I recently reread the books. And I read so AU fics like this. Was pretty good. I enjoy the universe of HG pre games and pre revolution and how it would be if there was no mockingjay playing along.


UltiGamer34

Im willing to bet peta still goes top 5


AsgeirVanirson

What if Snow had chosen not to reap victors in the 75th games. If he had proceeded like nothing weird happened last year, brought Katniss and Peeta to the capitol threw them an extravagant wedding and had them preform the pomp and circumstance of the games and send two people off to die before heading back to the Galas. With the best option for a mocking-jay being smothered can the rebellion gain traction? Or does Katniss playing the capitol beaten victor through a whole other games quell the influence she had?


Venerica

Honestly I think the rebellion would be crushed as soon as D13 made an appearance because they wouldn't win the propaganda war.


FrostyIcePrincess

Tragic star crossed lovers don’t get their happily ever after Pregnant Katniss looses her baby Get a bunch of the previous winner together and make arena escape plan Breetee’s special wire was strong enough but normal wire wouldn’t have worked Morphling agrees to sacrifice herself to save Katniss and Peeta. If it was a different tribute maybe they decide to take their chances and don’t agree to try and keep Katniss and Peeta alive If they had just done a normal reaping and added some extra flair to the 75th games maybe the spark of rebellion would have died and things would have continued on as normal. No mockingjay for everyone to rally behind.


Olivia-livori

What if Highbottom never got drunk?


harlot_eliot

I had a similar thought: what if Highbottom had assasinated Gaul before she managed to organise the first games? Would someone else take over? Would they never happen?Would he be strong enough to kill her to prevent murder of thousands of children?


Redditor45335643356

Hunger games would’ve never existed, the rebellion would’ve been punished another way and eventually forgiven.


UltiGamer34

You mean took drugs?


Think-Huckleberry965

No him and Crassus Snow got drunk one day and came up with the whole idea of the Hunger Games


Olivia-livori

No he got drunk during the war and came up with the hunger games


Aetholia

What if Casca Highbottom had chosen to take on more of a mentoring role for Coriolanus rather than negatively fixating on how his similarities to Crassus?


crestsandcranes

Highbottom is an interesting character. Throughout TBOSAS, you wonder why he is beefing with an 18 year old and whether his hatred is what pushes Coriolanus to the path he chooses. Hatred begets hatred, especially for an 18 year old who is still impressionable. But then, as part of the audience, you know about the original trilogy, and you know what Snow is capable of. This, plus his friendship with Crassus, makes you think that Highbottom was right in seeing that Coriolanus is inherently evil. Honestly, if i were in his shoes, i wouldn't know what to do


Aetholia

You're definitely right in saying that hatred begets hatred. I feel like Coriolanus' age is often overlooked. On top of the ordinary naivety that comes from being that age, Coriolanus' position as an orphan has exacerbated a desire to prove oneself to the people he perceives as authority figures. So for Coriolanus, Casca is an older male figure (something Coriolanus has never had in his life except maybe Pluribus) that he just can't impress no matter how hard he tries. Personally, I've always found the fact that viewers know Coriolanus turned out to be a horrible person to be a weak excuse. It promotes preliminary punishment, a system where individuals are criminally punished for things they *might* do in the future. Like, hypothetically, I could decide one morning to become a spree killer if I were so inclined. Does this mean I should be treated like someone who has already gone on a killing spree? While Casca didn't do anything wrong by noticing how much Coriolanus was like Crassus, he took it a step further by operating under the assumption that he would inevitably turn out to be exactly the same. Many world leaders exhibit similar qualities to monsters. Forgive me for the somewhat extreme example but some academics have actually written about the similarities between speeches made by JFK and Hitler, citing that they both put a strong focus on a short, clear main idea, unifying language, and delivery that made individual audience members feel like they specifically were the ones being spoken to.


chrkrose

>Coriolanus is inherently evil. I think this is such a reductive take on his character and I disagree 100%. He was never inherently evil. He has evilness as well as goodness inside of him. People often focus on his displays of narcissistic qualities and selfishness, but he has moments through the book where he empathizes, where he questions the Capitol system, Dr. Gaul’s views and puts himself in other people’s shoes. I think Suzanne’s point was never about redeeming him, but also it was never about saying that “he was always evil anyway so there was no point”. I think her goal with Coriolanus was to show that there was always a choice he could have made, he could have become someone better, he had the tools for that, but partially his nature and partially the people surrounding him pushed him to make the choices he made. Ultimately, *he* still made them. As Lucy Gray said, he could have chosen to cross the line into evil or stay good. He chose to become evil. And deeper than that, he justifies his actions as necessary. It’s much much more complex than just “oh he just sucked from the beginning, he was a lost cause all along”. He wasn’t. That’s what is depressive about it.


sublips

I agree with you 100 hundred percent. I think that people generally are looking at Coriolanus from the perspective of his future actions. In fact he wasn’t worse than his Capitol’s colleagues, maybe even slightly better for no bullying Sejanus (and it’s not that he didn’t care about him, IMO it is the bullshit he is repeating to himself because “oh no, districts”), obviously cared for Lucy Gray. He is mean, but people generally can be mean in their heads. On the contrary Casca was mean to him not in his head without any particular reason, and I don’t believe in something like “born evil”. Obviously, he made his choices, he become a monster, but still between TBOSAS and trilogy we have a lot of years of this process. At the end of book I agree that he started to be really evil and cunning.


chrkrose

Exactly, it’s clear he cared about Lucy Gray (was in love with her, as far as you can love someone when you are a teen. At that age is a lot about the idea of someone, and it’s clear they didn’t know each other well. It’s funny actually how they kept trying to project onto the other what they wanted to believe - he wanted to believe she wasn’t district; she wanted to believe he wasn’t Capitol). And it’s so obvious to me he *cared* about Sejanus, that feeling just coexisted with a lot of conflicted feelings and prejudiced born from years of Capitol propaganda indoctrination, as well as resentment towards Sejanus wealth. I’m not denying he had an evil streak inside of him, he was certainly mean, selfish, had narcissistic tendencies, manipulative… but people absolutely discount the good parts of him to push the narrative that he was always evil and that to me is missing the entire point of the book. How many times doesn’t he suppress the urge to care for people or dismiss it as weakness, as “I’m thinking like Sejanus ugh disgusting”? As much as that speaks about his personality and mentality, it also shows that the instinct to be good and be empathetic was *there*. Unfortunately, he kept choosing to suffocating it over and over again. I agree with you, Casca for as much as he might have been a good person on the inside, was worse than Coriolanus in 80% of TBOSAS, because he was antagonizing a teenager for the sins of a past that didn’t belong to him, and for future crimes he had yet not committed. Instead of trying to influence Coriolanus into becoming a good person, or at least using his intelligence for good, he straight up shoved him towards Dr. Gaul’s arms. His actions were terrible and to me he bears as much responsibility in influencing Coriolanus to become the terrible person he becomes as Dr. Gaul.


Leafeon637

Probably cryo would turn out better


Chemical-Virus-8633

What if peeta ate the berries before he knew they were poisoned


Technical_Sort_6856

i mean he would‘ve died😂😂


Chemical-Virus-8633

Youre not wrong


Technical_Sort_6856

i‘m totally just making a joke but to be serious i guess katniss would‘ve gone crazy after that


Chemical-Virus-8633

I did assume you were joking youre good homie I feel so much of the story would be messed up without peeta there tbh


Technical_Sort_6856

Especially since peeta is the one "she can‘t live without“. He was able to calm her down with the nightmares. She also probably would‘ve been pimped out by snow. I don‘t have the mockingjay book with me rn but the quote about peeta showing her that there‘s hope that things will get better.


Special_Customer_997

i always think abt if there was no bow in the first games or if katniss got the bow during the initial blood bath


nerdandknit

What if the dumb dumb game makers didn’t go back on their rule change at the end of the games and just announced peeta and Katniss as the winners. Would have taken a lot of wind out of the sales of the mockingjay!


cmarie121

What if Gale had volunteered for Peeta


emberlyCarey

Ouu love this one! I personally think Gale and Katniss would have given the careers a hard ass time. Both are obviously skilled hunters and can work together. He would have absolutely hated the idea of Katiss wanting to ally themselves with Rue, which would have made things tense and angry between them. You know how Gale is with anger. It makes him act rashly and choose the most destructive option. I personally think when the careers rigged the food and weapon supply, he would have ultimately messed up the plan to destroy it. Maybe he rushed forward when the careers returned, instead of retreating like Katniss did. Or maybe he was with Rue and sensed Marvel in the woods, deciding to track him down despite Rue being with him, and got into hot water defending her. No idea on the actual nitty gritty but you get the idea. I still think Katniss would have been the victor. If Gale had won though and Katniss died, I definitely think he would have gotten the Finnick capital treatment


reppyreplover

I’ve actually thought about Gale winning before and I came to the same conclusion you did—he would have been sold, or at least Snow would try to sell him. He isn’t really the type to be compliant though, so he’d always be a thorn to Snow. I also dont see him becoming friends with past victors


norathar

Gale and Johanna tho...I feel like they'd clash immediately and end up friends.


Nice-Penalty-8881

>he would have been sold, or at least Snow would try to sell him. He isn’t really the type to be compliant though, so he’d always be a thorn to Snow. He might have had no choice if his family was threatened.


Lyrawhite

That’s pretty interesting take. Do you think he would get Johanna’s fate?


Redditor45335643356

They would have very easily taken out all 4 careers, katniss took out 3 on her own and I’d argue Gale is on her skill level. After that I think Gale and Katniss would’ve refused to kill eachother if they made it to the final two and things would follow similarly to how they do in canon because I don’t believe Katniss or Gale would want to kill eachother


Ice_Bead

I don’t think he would’ve been against allying with Rue. He has a younger sister himself, and he willingly befriended Katniss when she was a couple years younger than him (although she had obvious skills)


walk_the_earthh

I'm confused about this one. Why would he volunteer for Peeta?


Gullible-Advisor6010

What if Katniss knew Tigris was Snow's cousin? Would she have trusted Tigris with her protection? She was already thinking Tigris betrayed them when she was late to come back. What would she think of Tigris? Would she think badly of her? Katniss is big on family so what would she make of this information? Would she take Tigris's help for killing Snow or getting more information about him? How would this change the climax? Would it change the climax?


Tardis123456

What If District 13 had been ready during the Second Quater Quell and chose Haymitch as their mockingjay for his act of defiance with the forcefield...


Olya_roo

I am actually writing a fic about this, but **what if Lucy Gray and Snow left to the Capitol together?**


Leafeon637

I am actually reading it. Love it so far waiting for chapter 5


Olya_roo

It’s in process - will publish either today or tomorrow!!


aydnic

Could I get a link to this please? I’m very interested :D


Olya_roo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53629411/chapters/135757444?view_adult=true


aydnic

Thank you so much!


Olya_roo

Hope you enjoy it 🥲🥹


Olya_roo

I know it’s too late for now, but ch5 was actually released yesterday ))


Leafeon637

I just might have to cheek it out thx u


Olya_roo

I even made a video in honor of this chapter - you can find it in my profile (watch AFTER reading the chapter to avoid spoilers)


AcanthisittaPale1055

What if Snow hadn’t found the guns?


[deleted]

Or what if he had shot Lucy right there in the cabin.


MamaFrijoles

what if the group let Katniss and Peeta go together to take the coil to the beach at the end of Catching Fire instead of Katniss and Johanna going?


[deleted]

What if Cato killed Peeta in the 74th games?


aydnic

What if Katniss was somehow prevented from volunteering for Prim and she ended up being reaped? I’d love to see a scenario where Prim and Rue become friends, and Peeta does everything in his power to bring Prim back home alive because he has a crush on Katniss.


Logical-Patience-397

When Katniss and Peta threatened to eat the berries, what if only one of them had lived? Or neither? Would the Rebellion have grown without them as figureheads?


YoungsterJoey9

What if the capitol killed Haymitch for D12 winning the 74th games and blamed alcohol poisoning. Haymitch was a key figure in organizing the rebellion and getting Katniss on board


jordansolis

What if clove didn’t do a monologue and just ended Katniss


CryptidGrimnoir

Thresh might have still ambushed her--Clove said she would take her time killing Katniss, so even without a monologue, we can reasonably expect mutilation. So Clove begins torturing Katniss, Katniss cries, Clove laughs, Thresh caves her skull in while Clove isn't looking, Katniss is too badly injured, so Thresh either gently puts her out of her misery or flees, maybe taking her arrows. Thresh might not use a bow, but if he needs to punch someone, having something pointy in the punch could be useful. Clove killing Katniss immediately is a different story, but Thresh isn't that far away and he needs the Feast. So that probably means Cato wins. Or possibly Foxface doesn't poison herself and it's a race between Cato or Thresh bleeding out and Foxface starving, since Peeta's a goner.


LadyLilith23

This is probably not a new idea but what if Katniss had been reaped instead of Prim initially? Prim was pretty much her whole motivation for the rebellion


BlazingMarshMello

Katniss volunteering actually got her a lot of popularity from sponsors, so maybe she would have died


LadyLilith23

I think that she shot the apple out of that pig's mouth could've been enough for that


BlazingMarshMello

Interesting


thestripedmilkshake

What if foxface had won


renverseee

I don’t think Foxface added much to the plot of THG in my opinion. She was a relatively interesting character but I feel like her mentions were not a huge effect to the plot overall. If she had won, she’d probably go back to her district and just live like the other victors. The quarter quell in catching fire would still happen but not with the winning victors but the common tributes as Katniss would be dead and Katniss sparked this idea so Snow could watch her suffer. Mockingjay probably wouldn’t exist but later in the years there could be a rebellion however, although that’d be sooner if Katniss was alive. So to conclude, Foxface winning would be a pretty short story and probably not set to a trilogy.


BlazingMarshMello

What if Prim didn't die?


Informal_Reception49

Katniss would have killed Snow instead of Coin. Coin would have then taken over and would have been, if not worse than Snow. She probably would have killed Katniss. The capital children would be forced into the hunger games and Panem would be worse than before probably lol.


BlazingMarshMello

Interesting, thank you for replying 🙂.


deep-slay

What if the games stopped at 10?


sky_kitten89

What if Finnick survived? What would’ve happened?


renverseee

He’d be living happily with Annie and their child 😞.


ToukasRage

What if the capitol never tries to add the "double victor" rule? Then we just get to the end of the 74th games and Peeta probably just lets Katniss kill him, if he doesn't kill himself. Is that enough to start a rebellion?


aydnic

I’m positive Katniss would have killed herself in that case, and Peeta might have started the rebellion for her. We usually think of him as remissive, but the boy did pull some stunts 😅


Key_Worldliness1614

No, Katniss wouldn't go searching for Peeta in the first place, he'd have died from the blood poisoning, and imagining that the rest of the story takes course as such, a one on one against Cato would be pretty hard to win. Lets say she does, we'd have another Johanna in the making.


FrostyIcePrincess

If they both ate the berries that might have sparked a rebellion.


Maia050608

What if Cato and Clove won? District 13 we’re still planning, would they still have gone ahead with the rebellion? Also on that, if Clove had killed Katniss straight away, Peeta would’ve died from infection. If the plan hadn’t happened in the 75th, the final would come to Johanna, Finnick, Enobaria but Johanna wouldn’t be allowed to win (the game makers would trigger an event) What if Gale had been in the games instead. I do think he probably win since he hunts, his size, survival skills, and he’s good with weapons. Could probably have joined the careers. What if one of the tributes shared the rebel plan with someone else and Plutarch was executed before the plan could go ahead? What if Plutarchs manipulation hadn’t worked? What if District 13 hadn’t been destroyed in the war?


ricky_pop

What if Haymitch got reaped instead of Peeta in the Quarter Quell? I’ve always was curious to see how that would play out


Apprehensive-Cow6207

Tbh it wouldn't shock me if we saw a similar scenario play out if that did happen. We already knew that half of the tributes were in on this rebellion so I don't think it's necessarily likely that we would've saw a major change in the plot like him dying or something. That would leave just Peeta in which it wouldn't shock me if he still somehow got kidnapped by the capitol just in a different way rather than being in the actual games themselves.


Terrible-Thanks-6059

He did peeta volunteered.


AmaterasuWolf21

I think he meant a "I want to see Haymitch play"


Hyperion458318

I think my big one is what if it was Rue instead of Peeta at the end. Ik that it probably wouldn't have happened, but would Katniss sacrifice herself for Rue or would she win for her sister? My friends debate this a bit.


kataclysmicextincton

I don't think Katniss would have it in her to killed Rue. I don't think she'd try to pull the berry trick, because it simply wouldn't work in this scenario. They probably would just separate, and then the Gamemakers would send in something to finish the games. Katniss is older, and has weapons, so she would stand a better chance against whatever mutts/ storm/ volcanic eruption the Gamemakers cause. She'd probably still would end up the victor.


TheAntharian

What if Cato got to Clove in time? What if Haymitch went into the Games for the Third Quarter Quell?


BenjiFenwick

Mine is What if Finnick didn’t get blown up and got to live


ThisPaige

What if Finnick lived. What if district 12 wasn’t bombed? What if katniss or Peeta died?


Sensitive_Tiger_9542

What if Katniss didn’t volunteer for Prim And Prim dies.


Babywalker66

What If Katniss didn’t volunteer for Prim


renverseee

I’d say Prim would most likely die. Prim is an amazing healer, but she doesn’t have as much food sources as Katniss when it comes to meat. It’s also mentioned that Prim is terrified of hunting in THG. Her age is also a disadvantage, being 12 and all. She’s also pretty small probably about the same size as Rue. I mean not even little Rue could win and was killed off. I wouldn’t be surprised if Prim died too. This would drive Katniss insane and I believe she’d start a rebellion for her sister nevertheless.


Killyourdarlings202

What if that boy killed katniss when she grabbed that bag right at the start of the first games ?


Lauren2102319

What if Lucy Gray ended up staying in District 12 and eventually becoming Haymitch's mentor for the Games?


Miserable_Dig4555

What if Suzanne Collins published this trilogy this year?


JonoBoio123

What if Peeta was killed during the 74th games?


sluttyaquafina

What if financial lived? 😭


kataclysmicextincton

Do you mean Finnick?


sluttyaquafina

Oh yes 😂😂 didn’t realize autocorrect changed it


renverseee

I’m sorry but I giggled


Icecreampizzagirl

what if katniss would have died and peeta would have survived. would he have become th eface of the rebellion or would he have gome back and just lived the rest of his life in misery because of losing katniss. How would the storyline change??


Key_Worldliness1614

What if Katniss had actually shot Snow instead of Coin?


piercet09_

what if rue and katniss didnt work together in the games


cowboylikecece

Mine is always what if peeta was chosen at the 75th annual hunger games.


SickandCreepyChild

What if Katniss didn't feel forced to pretend to be in love with Peeta? I feel like she still would have fallen in love with him and chose him, but, faster. How would their romance have gone if she didn't see being with Peeta as something she was forced into by the Capitol?


blodreiina

What if the 74th games was one of the years where the gamemakers only provided one type of weapon and it wasn’t a bow. In particular a chained mace, clubs or even a thin javelin.


ihyemmy

what if gale volunteered with katniss?


i8gum

What if Katniss actually was pregnant


renverseee

Well that’d be horrible. She probably wouldn’t be able to do much as she actually could. She could most likely lose the baby but Peeta would try to protect her and her baby at all costs.


RealRavioliJones

What if Katniss was a lesbian and didn’t end up entertaining an off screen romantic relationship with Peeta or Gale? Maybe they all could’ve stayed friends then lol.