I think most fans overlook the harsh reality of what the 25th Hunger Games probably looked like. Everyone talks about how terrifying it must have been for tributes to get chosen by their own neighbors, but what if most of these tributes were actually violent criminals?
Sure, some people think districts would pick the weakest members like disabled folks or extremely poor families. But honestly, wouldn’t it make more sense for communities to vote out their actual threats? Think about it - murderers, thieves, violent offenders who everyone wanted gone anyway. Plus the Career districts probably still had volunteers eager to compete.
This means the arena was probably filled with genuinely dangerous people who were already outcasts in their home districts. No wonder those games were so brutal that the footage got destroyed. The whole thing was probably way darker than any regular Hunger Games because of the type of people who ended up as tributes.
The Career districts angle is interesting. They’d probably still send their best fighters regardless of the voting system.
I’m not sure the districts would have been that calculated about it though. Remember these communities were already starving and desperate. They might have just voted for whoever they resented most at the time, not necessarily the most dangerous people. Could have been the baker who hoarded flour or the merchant’s kid who had nicer clothes. Fear and hunger make people petty, not strategic.
That’s actually a really dark angle I hadn’t considered before. The idea that districts would use it to get rid of their worst people makes the whole thing even more messed up than regular games.
The footage destruction makes way more sense if it was basically a gladiator match between actual criminals instead of random kids.
Yeah but imagine being one of the few innocent kids who got voted in just because someone had a grudge. That would mess you up even more knowing you’re stuck with actual killers instead of other scared teens.