spending the whole day with her loved ones, wrapped up in warmth, love, and music, singing old covey-christmas carols while snow fell outside.
sheâd wake up extra early to open her gifts from santa and from her uncles, eyes wide and bright with excitement as she opens up each gift. after that, sheâd spend the rest of the morning in the kitchen with tam amber and clerk carmine. her sleeves rolled up, hair pinned back, and ready to help however she could (and also tasting the food when no one was looking).
theyâd invite the abernathys over for a cozy, candlelit dinner, and afterward theyâd exchange their gifts. lenore dove always made something handmade for haymitch, with a little help from tam amber, and always poured her whole heart into it.
at some point, she would absolutely pull haymitch under the mistletoe that she placed there but swore it was an accident (haymitch doesnât believe her but heâs always eager to comply).
âShe loves unabashedly and without minimizing herself or leaning into moral apathy.â
this particular quote from whitneyâs new interview made me extra emotional because itâs obvious how much she understands lenore dove.
lenore dove loves loudly. she has never shown indifference to the wellbeing of any of her people. every-time she acts, it is in an attempt to help them.
she is governed by her own feelings and by an intuition that urges her to interveneâto step in even when she herself is not involvedâbecause she feels every social injustice as something personal, something lodged deep in her own soul. it is what led her to act the night before clay chance was to be reaped; what led her to set the panem flag on fire the night before her first reaping; what led her to step in and help woodbineâs ma when she was openly and cruelly denied the right to grieve her own son.
her emotional responses stem from that love, from how fiercely she values her community and the people within it.
lenore dove couldnât have been in better hands, and iâm so incredibly excited to see whitney bring her to life next year!!!
You have to understand Haymitch's feelings to get to Lenore Dove, to learn to see past the devotion he feels for her and see the real Lenore Dove.
Lenore Dove is not the perfect image of freedom, not the girl who plans ahead of tragedy.
Lenore Dove was born in a home with missing pieces, things torn apart, hearing stories of what used to belong to her family but was now out of reach. The freedom that shouldâve come naturally to her was something she had to fight for.
She struggles with her confidence, trying to find the courage to voice all the ideas running wild in her head, ideals that make her feel like sheâs standing on the sidelines, too far from the time she belonged in and too early for the world she wanted to help shape.
She longs to carry on the message of change and give her people hope, but she doesnât know how. She doesnât know if her mind will be misunderstood or her words twisted into weapons.
Itâs like she was born already missing people she never got to meet. When her reality suffocated her, when she faced the unmoving pain rooted in her district, she ran into the woods far beyond the lake to meet the people who had already left for their next destination.
"Sometimes she takes to disappearing deep in the woods, and I worry sheâs not coming back. Not really, but a little. Guess I can let that go now."
She always wanted more than what she had, more than what people were willing to give. She wore her heart on her sleeve and acted by following her soul. Every impulsive decision she made was born out of despair, out of the helplessness of watching life slip away without meaning.
She carries the weight of her failures deep in her heart. She was always willing to give her life seeking change and yet things went on as they were supposed to, leaving her behind, watching the world remain the same.
"Sometimes she cries because things are so beautiful and we keep messing them up. Because the world doesnât have to be so terrifying. Thatâs on people, not the world."
She takes the blame for her actions never being enough, even though she had given her soul and life to them.
"itâs true, that information could put me in danger, and if itâs false, what does it matter? âDidnât do much good anyway, did it? Clayâs dead and the reapingâs alive and well.â
This ache for something more moves her to be reckless, to let her temper guide her even knowing that the fire burning inside her is all-consuming and dangerous, she just canât help it.
âNo, darling, thatâs not how it went down at all. I overstepped, just like my uncles always warn me about. I lost my temper and started hollering and now youâre â oh, Haymitch . . . I donât want to be on this earth without you.â
She makes big decisions in the blink of an eye because she doesnât know what itâs like to have people depending on her. She owns her life freely, and sheâs willing to hand it over. She lives in a hurry to catch up with her people.
Lenore Dove is intelligent, yes, but she is moved by her wit and her heart. Her temper and her emotions are her strength, and laying her pain in public is what finally makes her feel like sheâs done something for her community. The vulnerability she offers is courage. She changes the people she loves, but she is far from perfect.
how at peace he looks. haymitch loved lenore dove so much he found his ground whenever he was by her side. he had to give up so many things in his life to take care of his people, yet with her he could finally find the contentment and peace he had always yearned for. his dreams were all about preserving his love for her and building a family. his soul will forever belong to lenore dove.
a small oneshot to celebrate the new sunrise on the reaping teaser trailer
oneshot. 1.5k words. also available on ao3
Request more here <3
I finished up my chores early today.
There are always many errands to be done. Both working under Hattie trying to deliver liquor to the people who could pay for it and trying to help my ma with the housekeeping, because she always works herself to the bone during the day washing clothes, which takes her twice as long since Pa died in the mining accident. If she is being particularly stubborn, which some days she is, only because she insists that I'm only a child who shouldn't have to work this hard, I spend my time taking care of Sid and showing him the stars. And I can't forget the eight hours a day that I'm at school, which seems pointless to most, because most of the people of the Seam either end up dead or in the mines. Though the mines are typically a death sentence in it of itself. It is usually a rush to get everything done both after school and before Ma puts dinner on the table, which I always try my best to be there for because I know just how hard it is to get the ingredients and find the time to cook just as lovingly as my Ma does. I know I am luckier the most when it comes to my family, and I try not to take that for granted. Even if it means rushing around after school to earn a couple extra coins.
But today is special. When I made it to The Hob and found Hattie's familiar stool, the older woman was grinning at me with a mischievous look in her eyes. One I knew well. One that meant she had something up her sleeve. She had told me that there were no customers to serve, and to her credit, waved her arms around to the lack of people surrounding her stool. Summer was coming up meaning that the reaping was drawing nearer by the day, but it also meant that Peacekeepers were being watched like hawks. Technically none of them are allowed liquor on a job and when you're in District 12, Peacekeepers are always on the job.
She winked at me as she told me to run on home to my Ma or to do whatever it is I got up to these days. The people that I spent the most time with no just how much I yearn to spend as much time as I can with my girl, Lenore Dove. Burdock and Blair are sick of hearing me talk about her but I don't care. I could spend all day talking about Lenore Dove and her beauty. The way her hair has a red tint in the sunlight, the way her curls bounce off her shoulders like waves in the ocean, or how her dress moves with her like it has a mind of its own, flying wild in the wind just as free as she is. I grin right back at her. With nothing else to do, I am free to escape to my favourite place in the whole District. The meadow. Lenore Doveâs home.
As spring turns to summer, the flowers that have been preparing to bloom are at full brightness. They are wildflowers much like the Covey itself and nobody really knows when they got planted but like clockwork every single year they grow and they thrive. You can only see them here in the meadow as if they have a personality of themselves and a preference for my girl. The meadow is as far out as you can get in District 12 meaning that whenever I see Lenore Dove, we are free to be alone. It's the only place in the whole District where I feel free from the Capitolâs watchful eyes.
I hear the geese before I see them, a clear sign of Lenore Dove's whereabouts. Wherever she is, the geese follow. Lenore Dove exists within nature, oftentimes in the trees that sit around the house she grew up in. Today isn't any different. I can't help the blush that taints my cheeks and the smile that curls from my lips as I spot the top of her head in between the trees. Since that fateful day at the age of ten, Lenore Dove has made my stomach do flips.
A faint chuckle echoes through my body as I reach down to grab a handful of wildflowers, arranging them like a bouquet on my way to surprise her. She isn't expecting me, not today and certainly not this early. If I'm quiet, I might catch her singing or playing one of the many instruments that the Covey owns, passed down in their family for generations.
âCareful now, youâll all get a chance if you just wait your turn.â Her honeylike voice reaches my ears as I draw closer, making my heart thump in my chest like a bird flapping its wings. Her geese gather around her, squawking impatiently as she scatters piles of food on the ground. âThere's enough to go around for everyone.â
âWhat about me?â I ask with a knowing grin on my face, clutching the flowers in my hand like they were more precious than gold. For me, they are.
Lenore Dove holds her hand to her heart, her accordion balanced on her lap as she spins to greet me, her shocked expression melting into a radiant smile. âHaymitch, you're here!â
âI'm here.â I repeat, crouching down to her level and holding out the wild bouquet. âFor you.â
Lenore Dove smiles to herself. âI'll press them into my book so I can keep them forever and it'll always remind me of this day.â
âSounds like a perfect plan.â I murmur, planting a soft kiss directly on her cheek. The geese are being surprisingly patient with me today, they have made it clear that they dislike me just as much as Lenore Dove uncle Cleck Carmine, usually hissing at me as soon as I make my presence known. âI missed you.â
Lenore Dove rests her head on my shoulder, something that will make my heart flutter no matter how many times she does it. âI missed you too, darling.â
She fiddles with the flowers, rearranging them in a much better way than I did. Lenore Dove is great with colours, always knowing which ones go best with each other in order to make the prettiest pattern. Her people have a way with them, just as they do with song. I settle down beside her, not planning to do much else but sit with her in my arms until I have to leave, which wouldn't be long. The days are long but time seems to always be short, so I treasure what time I get to spend with her. When the world around us is hard, Lenore Dove is a breath of fresh air, and whenever I am without her, I almost feel like I am suffocating.
She takes my hand in hers, lacing our fingers together like they were always supposed to fit like a glove. âCan we stay like this forever?â
Her voice is dreamy and desperate at the same time, her hand squeezing mine like she is terrified to ever let go. I can read her faster than she can read her books, and without looking at her face, I can tell she is anxious about the upcoming season. Summer brings flowers and heat and the birds in the forest She loves so dearly, but it also brings the Reaping. Both of us are still eligible and will be for years to come, a fact neither of us can help, but when the days become long, so does time to think and to dread what would happen when the games roll around again. It looms over every single person in the district like a dark cloud. But today I don't want to think about the games. I just want to think about my girl and the feeling of her hair against my arms, the sound of her voice vibrating against my chest, and the clear, beautiful meadow stretched out in front of us.
âWe can.â I reply, my voice just as soft as hers. âWe don't ever have to leave this place. Itâll be you and me, and these flowers, forever.â
We both know that I'm wrong. but neither of us say anything. Sometimes, pretending that nothing outside of the two of us exists is the only comfort we need. That if we truly believe it, we can sit in this meadow together for the rest of time. I pull her even closer, kissing the top of her head gently. Lenore Dove doesn't say anything in reply, but she starts to hum a familiar tune, her flowers clutched in one hand, and the other playing absentmindedly with my fingers. The sun is blaring down on the both of us, but the trees give us enough coverage that we could sit here for hours, and if given the choice, we truly would.
As I listen to her hum the words of her favourite song, I caress the palm of her hand, lightly grazing my fingers over every line as if trying to commit her to memory. She grins at me, her speckled green eyes lighting up like she was staring at a thousand fireflies. Never have I felt so much peace. As long as she is my girl and I am her boy, nothing could ever tear us down.
peeta, lenore dove & their parallelsâa short thread °ââ.ŕłŕż*:ｼ
throughout sunrise on the reaping, lenore dove is repeatedly associated with the color orangeâand specifically the soft orange color of a sunrise.
her dying wish was to prevent another sunrise on the reaping, and she used orange graffiti to fight against the capitolâs propaganda.
âOrange paint on her fingernails. This is Lenore Doveâs work. Her sign. Her reminder that I must prevent another sunrise on the reaping.â
similarly, peetaâs connection to the color orange is so palpable from the moment he says his favorite color is orange like the sunset. he chooses something soft, something familiar, a color that feels safe and warm.
âAnd yours is orange."
"Orange?" He seems unconvinced.
"Not bright orange. But soft. Like the sunset,â
these two characters representing the sunrise and the sunset; the start and the end.
the promise starts with lenore dove.
she makes haymitch promise to stop the sun rising on a reaping, but it was with peetaâs and katnissâ help that he finally managed to fulfill his promise after years of suffering and drowning in guilt and pain.
peetaâs mural of rue can also be seen as a direct parallel to lenore doveâs graffitiâboth of them turning to their art in ways to express their grief, fear, and the unbearable unfairness of the games.
they chose to let their art speak because there werenât enough words that allowed them to truly be able to express how burdened theyâve been feeling.
they both also carry a strong temper, a fire they constantly try to tone down, not because it isnât justified, but because they donât want to endanger the people they love. they try to rebel in ways that they deem as safe, all to make sure their people never have to be in danger for their actions.
peeta and lenore dove are the love interests of the main characters throughout their respective stories, and their relationships draw direct parallels from each other.
the flint striker and the pearl, both gifts given by them to their loves, are both being used as motivation and symbols of hope by the main characters.
katniss uses the pearl to ground herself; it comforts and calms her fears, reminding her of peetaâs warm presence and everything sheâs fighting for.
when she thinks sheâs going to die, she makes sure to keep it close because she wants peeta to have it back after her death.
âI have the pearl, though, secured in a parachute with the spile and the medicine at my waist. I hope it makes it back to District 12. Surely my mother and Prim will know to return it to Peeta before they bury my body.â
in district 13, after she thought she lost peeta, the pearl is the only thing that stops her mind from spiraling. she uses it to talk to him, to mourn him and to comfort herself through the grief.
in the very same way way, haymitch uses the flint striker to comfort himself while heâs in the capitol.
in the arena, he constantly needs to touch it, reminding himself of her presence in order to soothe himself. he kisses and speaks to it, an attempt to reach her when he thinks heâs going to die.
he also wants the flint striker to be returned back to his love after his death.
âThe trembling of her hands allows me to ask a favor. Will you make sure my token gets home to my girl?â
katniss and haymitch constantly try to reach their loves through the pearl and the flint striker, both of these items symbolizing their undying love, a love that exists even beyond death.
âI pull the flint striker over my head and give it one long kiss. Oh, Lenore Dove. Oh, love of my life. I am with you before, now, and always. And I will find you. I will find you.â
âI canât reach Peeta. I canât even reach my pearl . My eyes strain to capture one last image of beauty to take with me.â
peeta and lenore dove both have hearts far too pure for the brutal world theyâre living in. theyâre two sides of the same coinâboth are loved fiercely and unconditionally by the main characters, giving their loves a reason to keep fighting.
both are gentle, drawn toward art as a way to make sense of the pain around them, and both are symbolically tied to the color orange.
both of their presences are extremely important to the story, and without them there would be no story like the one we know today.
lenore dove: a calculated, clever and emotionally driven rebel°ââ.ŕłŕż*:ｼ
arguably one of the biggest misconceptions about lenore dove, is the idea that sheâs a manic pixie dream girl, a dead-wife, or a mary-sue character.
this usually happens when people choose to ignore her recklessnessâeither because they want to push the âshallow characterâ agenda on her, or because they think being impulsive is a bad trait to have.
lenore dove was incredibly cleverâshe was smart with many of her rebellious acts, and she made sure to try and keep that side of her a secret so as to not involve or endanger anyone else.
but she is also an emotionally driven rebel.
she is impulsiveâitâs a big part of her characterâand thatâs not a bad thing.
impulsivity isnât the absence of thought; itâs action born from feeling.
lenore dove acts when sheâs sad, mad, or scared. it is a characteristic she shares with other main characters in the trilogy, such as katniss herself.
her rebellious acts do not cease to exist, nor do they stop being meaningful just because she was emotionally driven.
Her impulsivity is not a weaknessâitâs proof of her humanity. And in a world built to extinguish that, her emotions were fueling her most radical acts.
âSometimes she cries because things are so beautiful and we keep messing them up. Because the world doesnât have to be so terrifying. Thatâs on people, not the world.â
she feels so deeply that silence becomes impossible. most rebels are driven by their emotions anyway; itâs a survival instinct.
many studies of revolution consider emotions as central to mobilization, and our rawest emotions are what fuel rebellions, âimpulsivityâ if you will.
lenore dove is self aware, she knows that sheâs driven by her emotions; haymitch and her uncles know it too.
âI overstepped, just like my uncles always warn me about. I lost my temper and started hollering and now youâre â oh, Haymitch . . . I donât want to be on this earth without you.â
âThatâs the part Iâm worried about. That she might be saying something rash.â
she was only a child living under an oppressive government that thrived in spreading fear and death amongst her people.
she grew up knowing of a past she couldnât experience and of relatives she never got to meet.
the rage and fire in her heart were something she grew up with, something she slowly developed through the years, and her ideals and beliefs only strengthened that need to raise her voice.
ignoring her impulsiveness is harmful to her character, because it is something that makes her who she is.
she started rebelling, from what we know, at twelveâboth her actions were fueled by her emotions, carefully planned, but not perfect.
she was arrested twice.
âMaybe it was overkill, the way sheâd prepared. Maybe the Peacekeepers could sense they were being played. They let her go again, but this time with a strict warning that they had their eye on her.â
at the age that she was, the action in itself, was impulsive.
she was fueled by fear the night before her very first reaping, she couldnât bear to stand the thought of itâshe wanted to stop it from happening, even temporarily, just in the hopes that none of her people fall victims to it.
âWhen I press her, she just laughs and says if itâs true, that information could put me in danger, and if itâs false, what does it matter? âDidnât do much good anyway, did it? Clayâs dead and the reapingâs alive and well.â
âThey needed a place to be together, to raise their voices. Sometimes the hurtâs too bad to bear alone.â
what truly unites people of all ages when it comes to fighting for change, is our shared hope for a better future.
lenore doveâs heart was with her people, and the reason she fought for change was because she loved life, and she loved her people.
she hated to see the ever-growing misery, pain, and the horrors that kept happening under the capitolâs control. she couldnât stand feeling helpless, and everything she did, she did it to help her people.
her emotions moved her, she was extremely empathetic.
and this trait of hers is something that makes her incredibly interesting, and shows how multidimensional and complex her character truly is.
so hereâs why lenore doveâs wardrobe is completely accurate to the book, and no, it does not dismiss her covey heritage.
lenore dove was never described as having a very colorful wardrobe in the first place. haymitch describes her clothes containing small snips of color. he makes it incredibly clear that, because he pays attention to her, he is able to see that small detail in the way she dresses.
âHow her faded overalls and shirts concealed snips of color, a bright blue handkerchief peeking from her pocket, a raspberry ribbon stitched inside her cuff.â
it is important to note that sunrise on the reaping is set more than fourty years after the events of the ballad of songbirds and snakes. the covey simply doesnât have the same amount of freedom that they had to express themselvesâthey donât even sing in public anymore, seeing as they have no lead singer.
the âlackâ of color symbolizes the control over the districts.
BUT. lenore doveâs outfits contain SNIPS of color.
âI think about the bits of color Lenore Dove adds to her wardrobe, the bright blue, yellow, and pink. Are they scraps from this girlâs dress? A way to keep her memory alive?â
she wears color, contrary to the gloomy and frightening atmosphere that the capitol strived to create around all the districts.
she carries lucy grayâs memory and her legacy, and this is a form of rebellion in itself. sheâs refusing to forget what the capitol took from her, refusing to let them erase her people and everything they stand for.
âWe will be together always,â I say with conviction. âI donât know how, and I donât know where, I donât know anything, but I feel that in my heart. You and me, we will find each other, as many times as it takes.â
The sunlight picks up the hint of red in her hair as she bends over an ancient piano accordion. She coaxes a melody out of the wheezy old thing, serenading a dozen geese grazing on the grass, her voice as soft and haunting as moonlight.
The pearl and the flint striker are full of parallels Ë â Ë đ
They are both tangible symbols of love, gifts given and held onto as tokens of devotion. Haymitch and Katniss cling to them when they enter the arena, each ready to die for the ones they love.
The pearl is the first gift from Peeta that Katniss accepts freely, without fear. She takes it with certainty that she is going to die for him, believing that all his love will have been worth it.
This last gift from Peeta. The only one I can really accept. Perhaps it will give me strength in the final moments.
The flint striker is the last gift Haymitch ever receives from his girl, the one thing that stayed close to him, reminding him of his love and of everything he lost to the Capitol. It represents something worth fighting for, something worth dying for.
My fingers wrap around the flint striker hanging from my neck. The picture of Lenore Dove, drenched and wailing in the storm, overtakes me, and my heart begins to splinter again.
Katniss says that when the time comes, sheâll be gone, and she wants to keep the pearl close until the very end. Yet her final wish is for it to return to Peeta once it has served its purpose, for him to hold onto it after sheâs buried.
I have the pearl, though, secured in a parachute with the spile and the medicine at my waist. I hope it makes it back to District 12. Surely my mother and Prim will know to return it to Peeta before they bury my body.
When the moment comes for both of them to die, to fulfill the greatest act of selfless love, they face it differently.
Katniss doesnât blow up the arena for her own sake; she does it for the greater good. But Peeta isnât thereâshe canât reach him, canât touch him. She loses the pearl out of sight, and then itâs all over.
I canât reach Peeta. I canât even reach my pearl . My eyes strain to capture one last image of beauty to take with me. Right before the explosions begin, I find a star
Haymitch doesnât have that same luck. He canât overthrow the arena, but he can hold onto his love. He kisses the flint striker, reaches for Lenore Dove and finally welcomes death as he always intended.
I pull the flint striker over my head and give it one long kiss. Oh, Lenore Dove. Oh, love of my life. I am with you before, now, and always. And I will find you. I will find you.
The flint striker returns to Lenore Dove as well, the love she had for Haymitch, and all the strength and courage it gave her, laid to rest by her side.
I bury the flint striker, snake and bird, in front of her headstone. I ask her to free me from my final promise. I ask her to let me come to her now. I ask her for a sign.
These objects are symbols of the love that exists between them. They are what each holds onto in the face of death, when everything else is uncertain. They represent who they are in the eyes of the ones they love, the flint striker as Haymitchâs fire, his force, his defiance and the pearl as the purity Peeta always saw in Katniss, regardless of the choices she made.
the take that haydove would eventually grow apart had lenore dove survived is so tone-deaf and has no ground itâs like people didnât even read the book.
if lenore dove was alive, the whole trilogy wouldâve changed.
thatâs the whole point. her survival wouldâve changed MANY things.
for a start, haymitch wouldnât had been able to keep away from her for long. he only starts pushing everyone away after she dies.
lenore dove wouldâve been the only person he had left. he wouldâve become dependent on her, on the reassurance that sheâs alive and breathing, right next to him.
he wouldâve craved her comfort and she wouldâve been the only one who could offer him a small sense of peace within all those ghosts and nightmares haunting his house.
haymitch was the man of the house. he was a caretaker, and ever since his pa died, all he thought about was how to protect his family. he knew people were depending on him for their survival.
he had never been on the other side of it.
lenore dove, on the other hand, had always been free to run as wild as the wind. no one depended on her for their livelihood.
with her suvrival, those roles wouldâve changed.
their love wouldâve caused both of them to be on the other side for the very first time.
haymitch would have to learn how to accept the help; how to let someone else take care of him for a change.
lenore dove wouldâve understood how important her life and survival is to haymitch, because she wouldâve seen a side of him sheâs never seen before.
she wouldâve seen his scarâthe reminder of everything he endured during his time in the capitolâand she wouldâve watched, year after year, as the capitol continued to break her boy down. she wouldâve known of what the capitol did to ma and sid.
this wouldâve changed lenore dove and the character that we know in many different ways. she wouldâve been shaped by the different experiences and new information that she had to process, all because someone she deeply loves was directly affected by the games.
haymitch had always been a rebel himself. he has been raised in a rebellious household, and the idea that he wouldnât be able to handle lenore doveâs rebellion is also very diminishing to both their characters.
lenore dove would NEVER get herself into danger while knowing that her boyâs peace of mind is hanging by the thread of her survival.
she wouldâve encouraged his willingness to participate in the revolution, and wouldâve involve herself too, offering help in whichever way she could.
i donât think they wouldâve had any children, not after everything theyâve gone through, but i do know with certainty they wouldâve been partners for life. their ideals and beliefs beautifully compliment each other and they wouldâve only developed and grown side-by-side, if she had survived.
she wouldâve undoubtedly been there, helping haymitch in ways no one else could, and she wouldâve played a critical part in the revolution too.
