Hunger Games: How Each Character Is Supposed To Look

It’s happened quite a few times. A beloved book gets put on the big screen and the details aren’t there, facts are missing, and elements changed to appear more cinematic. Many times characters fall short of readers’ expectations and the question is always asked: Did you prefer the book or movie?

In Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, The Hunger Games, the fans of her novels were lucky to find that their favorite author was also a screenwriter for all of the book to movie adaptions. So how well did Suzanne do? Was she faithful to her novels? And was the casting director spot on with the characters as described in the books and imagined by the readers?

10 President Alma Coin

Alma Coin. An excerpt from Mockingjay reads her description as “fifty or so, with gray hair that falls in an unbroken sheet to her shoulders.” Katniss is “somewhat fascinated by her hair, since it’s so uniform, so without a flaw, a wisp, even a split end.

Her eyes are gray, but not like those of the people of the Seam. They’re very pale, as if almost all the color has been sucked out of them. The color of slush that you wish would melt away.” This description is very expressive of Coin’s no-nonsense, cutthroat demeanor.

9 Rue

A tribute from District 11, Rue was loved by Katniss. Katniss saw Rue as similar to her sister Prim, especially in age, as Rue was only twelve years old.  No one volunteered for Rue as Katniss did for Prim, somewhat disturbing Katniss. “Up close she looks about ten. She has bright, dark, eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with her arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound. It’s impossible not to think of a bird.”

She is small in size and stature, making her a competitor who is easily underestimated. Katniss thinks of her often, saying “everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the meadow by my house. I see her in the mockingjays that sing in the trees.”

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8 Johanna Mason and Finnick Odair

The two are first introduced in Catching Fire. Johanna a victor from District 7. “She won by very convincingly portraying herself as weak and helpless so that she would be ignored.” She is described as having spiky hair and wide-set brown eyes.

Finnick is a victor from District 4 who won at the age of fourteen. He has incredibly striking “sea-green eyes,” bronze-colored hair, tan skin, and a muscular, athletic appearance. Katniss says that she “can’t argue that Finnick isn’t one of the most stunning, sensuous people on the planet.”

7 President Coriolanus Snow

Snow is a small, white-haired man with snake-like eyes. “President Snow smiles and I notice his lips for the first time. I’m expecting snake lips, which is to say none. But his are overly full, the skin stretched too tight. I have to wonder if his mouth has been altered to make him more appealing. If so, it was a waste of time and money, because he’s not appealing at all.”

The enhancements weren’t for the sake of being attractive, but because of the poison he would drink when poisoning others.

6 Primrose Everdeen

Prim comes from the same part of District 12 as Katniss and Gale, but surprisingly has no gray eyes or dark brown hair. Rather, she has a “merchant look” with her small, frail build. “Prim’s face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named.”

She shares most of her features with her fair-haired mother making “their light hair and blue eyes, always look out of place.” However, the movies forgo Prim’s blue eyes in favor of the natural hazel eyes of the actress, Willow Shields.

5 Cinna

How to portray Cinna? Katniss says it best. “The door opens and a young man who must be Cinna enters. I’m taken aback by how normal he looks. Most of the stylists they interview on television are so dyed, stenciled and surgically altered, they’re grotesque.

But Cinna’s close-cropped hair appears to be its natural shade of brown. He’s in a simple black shirt and pants. The only concession to self alteration seems to be metallic gold eyeliner that has been applied with a light hand. It brings out the flecks of gold in his green eyes. And, despite my disgust with the Capitol and their hideous fashions, I can’t help thinking how attractive it looks.”

4 Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket

Haymitch and Effie are District 12’s mentors and escorts. Haymitch is said to be a “paunchy, middle-aged man,” with dark curly hair and gray eyes. Katniss goes so far as to call him disgusting as he staggers around in his drunken state. He has the looks of someone who used to be attractive but lost it years ago.

Katniss first describes Effie during the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games as “fresh from the Capitol with her scary white grin, pinkish hair, and spring green suit.” Effie is a lover of the extravagant, with some of her fashion choices including a pumpkin-colored headpiece and gold wig in support of the Mockingjay.

3 Gale Hawthorne

Gales appears as “someone menacing,” as he would seldom smile and has a tall stature. The eighteen-year-old is seen by Katniss as “too handsome, too male, and not the least bit willing to smile and play nice for the cameras.” She says that they “resemble each other, though, quite a bit.” As they share “that Seam look. Dark straight hair, olive skin, gray eyes.”

The two look so alike and Gale so alluring, that the media made Gale her cousin and not her best friend so that her romance with Peeta wouldn’t be jeopardized. Gale also has scars on his back from the whipping that took place in Catching Fire.

2 Peeta Mellark

Peeta Mellark was only sixteen when he was chosen at the reaping. He is the son of a baker and has “medium height with a stocky build.” He is also “broad-shouldered and strong.” Peeta has “ashy blond hair that falls in waves over his forehead,” a genuinely sweet smile and unmistakable blue eyes.

Peeta’s injuries from the Hunger Games result in him losing his leg, which often slows him down in the 75th Quarter Quell. Katniss’s reaction to finding out is as follows.” “New leg?” I say, and I can’t help reaching out and pulling up the bottom of Peeta’s pants. “Oh, no,” I whisper, taking in the metal-and-plastic device that has replaced his flesh.”

1 Katniss Everdeen

Book Katniss is described as sixteen years of age at the time of the 74th Hunger Games. A prominent feature is her long brown hair put into her signature braid. Katniss is described as having gray eyes, dark straight hair, and olive-toned skin, a look that is common to the Seam, the poorest area of District 12.

She has the build of a forager and hunter, small in stature but not starving. She is well-fed in comparison to others due to her abilities to provide for her family. Her father told her, “as long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.” She also signed up for oil and grain in exchange for putting her name into the Hunger Games many more times. Katniss is described as having inherited her father’s singing voice.

 

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