**SPOILER ALERT** This article about the missing Hunger Games characters contains spoilers for The Hunger Games Series!! If you haven’t read the novels yet you can read my recommendation here and purchase the novels through my affiliate links with Amazon.
books to movies
One thing that irritates me about book to film adaptions is the cutting of characters, details, and events that I feel are significant to the storyline.
Everything a writer puts on the page is with purpose. In fact, at school I have learned to trim sentences down to next to nothing. If a word/sentence/phrase is there, it must serve a purpose.
When reading The Hunger Games after I had already watched the movies, I was more then disappointed to note some characters were missing and some changes were made. Let’s talk about these missing Hunger Games characters.
Gales Family
Gale, one of Katniss love interest in The Hunger Games Series gets some hate and there is no denying it. I’m not a huge fan of him myself. However, I do feel for his character in certain parts and in the novels he was quite the family man.
- I think the responsible, masculine, provider type makes it more understanding why Katniss was conflicted. He was her best friend, he was good to his family and she felt she was a part of that family.
- In the novels, Gale’s mom relied a bit on Katniss and Katniss even helped set her up with a job.
- They looked after each other and it was assumed they were end-game via their families.
- Katniss was considered to value family and trust above everything and that was something her and Gale had in common and it really connected them.
Darius, The Peacekeeper
Darius was a kind and very young peacekeeper of district 12. He turned his head when the citizens were breaking rules, goofed around, and even flirt with Katniss a bit. He was considered a part of the hob community. His storyline was significant for three reasons:
- It further bonded Gale and Katniss. He was their friend, they cared for him and sold him food. It was his friendship with the community and his kindness that makes his storyline so heavy.
- It shows the ruthless the capital was even to their prized puppets. Peacekeepers were often capital citizens paying off debts or from district 2 which it was considered to be an honor to be a peacekeeper and even they weren’t safe from the capitals cruelty.
- It added to the Katniss / President Snow tension because of Snow taunting Katniss with him. She was deeply enraged by what happened to Darius and rightfully so. Snow wanted to shake Katniss up, and he did.
Madge, The Mayors Daughter
Madge was the mayors daughter and a childhood girl-friend of Katniss. We learn more about their friendship over the course of the novels but it starts when Madge gives Katniss her aunts Mockingjay pin to take as her reminder of home. This then becomes the symbol of the revolution.
- Madges family plays a major role in the fourth novel. Not mentioning that she was the one who gave Katniss the pin takes so much value from the symbol. It was significant, it was made by someone, it belonged to someone, and it was trusted with Katniss as a gift from her only friend. It wasn’t a random thing.
- The girl friendship was important to/for Katniss. I think the slow reveal of her friendship with Madge reminds the reader that she was simply a girl. The friendship with Madge was also symbolic for Katniss mother, adding to the understanding of her intense mental illness.
- Madge’s storyline impacts the trauma Katniss feels in Mockingjay and emphasizes the impact of war. It get’s her mad, it adds to the fire that makes her want to fight and keep going.
It’s why, when I see there is a novel, I want to read it. Now that I know of these characters when I watch the movie I can’t help but roll my eyes. Let this be my petition to Hollywood to stop stripping novels down to their nitty gritties just to make a movie. Can you imagine if The Hunger Games was a TV adaption instead? I think it would have been so much better. What do you think? Comment below!