#finnick meta

[finicky-finnick]

District 4 is a Career District

To quote Suzanne Collins (emphasis my own):

“The exceptions are the kids from the wealthier districts, the volunteers, the ones who have been fed AND TRAINED throughout their lives for this moment. The tributes from 1, 2, and 4 [four] traditionally have this look about them. […] In District 12, we call them the Career Tributes, or just the Careers.” (The Hunger Games)

“Officially, tributes aren’t supposed to train, but no one tries to stop us. Even in regular years, the tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4 show up able to wield spears and swords.” (Catching Fire)

“Being from District 4, he [Finnick] was a Career, so the odds were already in his favour, but what no TRAINER could claim to have given him was his extraordinary beauty.” (Catching Fire)

“He [Finnick] was already a good fighter with the spears and knives he had found in the Cornucopia.” (Catching Fire)

“Then the boy from 4. I didn’t expect that one, usually all the Careers make it through the first day.” (The Hunger Games)

There are a ton more quotes demonstrating D4 is as much as a Career district as D1 and D2 throughout the novels, especially in book 1. I didn’t want this post to get too long so I didn’t list them all out, but I highly encourage people to go look them up if interested! 

D4 career tributes are known for their proficiency with nets, spears, tridents (possibly just a Finnick thing), knives, and rope. They are also usually the strongest swimmers in the field. Now, I'm using gifs of Izzy Lightwood from Shadowhunters because she uses a modified spear, whips, and ropes when she fights, so her fighting style is similar to what I think the fighting style of District Four’s career tributes would be. 

Fighting Style

Obviously, you have Finnick with his trident. Both tridents and spears can be thrown. 

Tridents have the additional advantage of being able to be used like a club. 

Spears can be used to stab enemies through the gut... 

Or as a staff. 

Even rope can be turned into a weapon. 

And we all know how devastating a net can be. 

But here is where it gets tricky

I actually don't think D4 trains with the same amount of intensity as Districts 1 and 2, if for no other reason that there is circumstantial textual evidence D4 does not always have volunteers. But I’ll save this for another post. This one is already long enough ha

[lovely-tothe-bone]

Three Sugar Cubes in A Death Match

Rereading pages 304 - 305 of Catching Fire (Ch 21) I was struck, again, by the beauty displayed amongst our sugar cubes (cause let's be real, Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick are complete sweethearts, it's part of what makes them a good team, binds them together like a band of bleeding hearts).

"When I've finally survived the worst...I'm functional enough to help Finnick."

Katniss's first thought once she's functional is to take care of Finnick. Not assess the surroundings or danger level or figure out the next course of action. It's simply to heal him even though she's still spasming. Watching Everlark work as a team to care for Finnick is peak feels. I can just see it in my head how they care for toastbabies when they are sick or just feeling down (drabbles or headcanons are encouraged on this specific topic!). Teamwork, or community, is a strong theme of THG and this is why I headcanon so many ways that Katniss + Peeta participate in post war recovery of 12, specifically with children. @mendontprotectyou shared a great snippet of headcanons on that a few nights ago, nearly identical to my own. Tell us your own!

The line that always moves me the most, nearly to tears is this:

"Finnick slowly begins to revive. His eyes open, focus on us, and register awareness that he's being helped. I rest his head on my lap and we let him soak about ten minutes..."

They've endured so much in less than 24 hours, especially Katniss, and here she is with Finnick's head in her lap, someone she barely knows, that she was put off by in their initial meeting, she has no reason to trust him and yet she affords him the small comfort and dignity of not having to put his head on the ground. It's a blink and you miss it gesture but when you see it, really see it, you see Katniss. This is the kind of person she is. I wonder if any district citizen saw this moment and felt inspired by it, you know, in Mockingjay when they are listing the times that they were moved by Katniss. It's got me wondering how much of an anomaly this action is among allies, all we really know from Katniss is that Careers usually turn on each other at the first opportunity. I doubt they treat each other with tenderness.

Here's another hit in the feels

"We help him sit up and let him grip our hands as he purges his eyes and nose and mouth."

I mean, come on, they did not have to do that. But they did. They held his hands through the worst of it for absolutely no other reason than they are good people and that's what you do for others. And that's what Finnick does for Katniss as best he can in Mockingjay and for Peeta after his rescue.