Holstein was District 10's victor of the 47th Hunger Games. While Sequoia was District 7's victor of the 46th Hunger Games. After Holstein won him and Sequoia pretty much clicked and became inseparable, even if they only saw each other a small small handful of times a year. Sequoia ended up getting drunk and needy and stupid and young, he got a girl back home pregnant and decided to lavender marry her so she could use his victor benefits for the baby whom they ended up naming Sycamore. 5 years after Sycamore came Wisteria and that’s when Vinerie died from childbirth. Sequoia, as dark as it was, was pretty happy she was out of his life, they didn’t like each other much and she knew he was having affairs with Holstein back in the Capitol. Now that he was dead he could fully indulge in it, Holstein was his one and true love and that feeling was reciprocated. Holstein is extremely loyal and wouldn’t even lay eyes on another provocatively. He only had eyes for Sequoia and Sequoia alone, no one else.
Around the 58th Hunger Games Sequoia got into a freak accident with a peacekeeper and it resulted in him getting shot and killed(he was far too rebellious anyway.) And it absolutely shattered Holstein, and, true to his word, he never fell in love with another again. Sequoia was the only person who could touch his heart romantically. He fell pretty depressed and just fully kept to himself(even though he was immensely introverted from the start).
A few years later, the 61st games rolled around and he saw both Sequoia's children as the district 7s tributes. This made him extremely upset and because of how loyal and attached he was to Sequoia he absolutely refused to help the 2 poor District 10 tributes he had that year(he left them to the other mentors). Holstein really wanted Sycamore to win, because that boy was an exact physical replica of his father. But he knew in the back of his mind that it would never happen, the boy loved his sister too much to not give up his life for her.
The games went on, and Wisteria was crowned victor. She met him on her victory tour, during which he showed her his horses and ended up gifting her a small black-and-white cat, whom she named Hollyhock. Because she was Sequoia's daughter he naturally fell into the role of a surrogate father of sorts. Very protective of her and always there for her when he could be, even if she pushed him away, he didn’t take it personally as Wisteria is just extremely skittish. Once he found out she was being sold out he almost went to Snow himself to give him a piece of his mind. But not much could be done so he just tried to be there for her and shield her as much as he could.
After the rebellion, he usually keeps to himself and tends to his animals. He has 2 horses named Blondie and Redwood, and probably a few other farm animals. Wisteria visits him often, and sometimes she drags Sawyer along. She has her own room in his house.
He’s a good man, Holstein is slightly based on Ennis Del Mar from Brokeback mountain. I love him! I love cowboys!
(art by Brickbrack on insta!! Holstein and Sequoia happy ending if Sequoia was alive. The horse in this is Blondie, she’s a cremello appaloosa)