This article contains spoilers
Suzanne Collins’ new prequel to her original The Hunger Games trilogy released March 18. The new novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, takes readers back to the 50th Hunger Games when Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss’ mentor, was a tribute.
In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta watch a recording of the 50th Games on the train. The only details known are the Games having twice as many tributes, Haymitch having won the Games from District 12, he won by using the reflective forcefield, and his family and girlfriend were murdered after his victory.
Collins’ new novel, though, unveils the intricacies of the Games, emphasizes Capitol propaganda, and draws connections throughout The Hunger Games‘ timeline. These are just a few of the revelations and connections in Sunrise on the Reaping.
the reaping
Haymitch’s name was not originally called at the reaping. A different boy was reaped as the second boy to be sent into the Games. However, he attempted to run away and was shot. As chaos ensued, Haymitch interfered with Peacekeepers to keep his girlfriend Lenore Dove (a rebellious Covey member) from also being killed. The Capitol then forced Haymitch to be the replacement tribute despite not being legally reaped.
This information is unknown to Katniss and Peeta when they watch Haymitch’s Games. They are unaware of the illegal reaping and all the chaos in District 12 during the reaping, just like everyone else in Panem who was not physically at the reaping.
character connections
We learn more of the Covey family tree (Lucy Gray Baird, part of Covey, was the victor of the 10th Hunger Games, young President Snow’s love interest, and disappeared) and Lucy’s connection to Katniss. Lenore Dove is theorized to be Maude Ivory’s (Lucy Gray’s cousin) daughter. Lenore Dove is also the cousin of Burdock, Katniss’ father.
Asterid, Katniss’ mother, is not a girl from the Seam in District 12 (the district’s most impoverished area), so her marrying Burdock was unconventional. She was also Maysilee Donner’s best friend, one of the female tributes in the 50th Games. When Maysilee was reaped, Asterid and Maysilee’s twin sister Merrilee were shown on television for entertainment. Asterid also saw how many times the district was forced to retake reaction shots to air to the rest of Panem for the Capitol’s delight. Later, when her daughter Primrose is reaped in the 74th Games, Asterid is seen stone-faced and hiding any emotional reaction so as to not feed into the Capitol’s agenda.
Madge Undersee, from the original trilogy, is Merrilee’s daughter and Maysilee’s niece. She eventually gives Katniss the mockingjay pin, a symbol Maysilee was given as her token in the 50th Games, and tells Katniss that she, too, has a high chance of being reaped (referring to her aunt having been reaped previously).
Alongside Burdock and Asterid, Beetee, Wiress, Mags, Plutarch, and Effie are all mentioned in Sunrise on the Reaping. Effie stepped in as a makeshift stylist in the 50th Games, eventually becoming Haymitch’s escort and train partner for the next 25 years.
Beetee, a District 3 victor, was punished to be his son’s (Ampert) mentor and also help train all tributes including Ampert before the Games. He creates a plan to destroy the arena, getting Haymitch to initiate it as Ampert rallies up the other tributes. When it fails, Beetee is punished, being forced to watch Ampert die a horrifically and then later reaped in the 75th Hunger Games.
Wiress and Mags were allocated as District 12 mentors for the 50th Games as the district had no living victors (aside from Lucy whose whereabouts are unknown).
Wiress, the victor of the 49th Games, was forced to mentor after having outsmarted the Capitol in her arena. She was involved in Beetee’s plan and also punished after Haymitch’s victory. In Catching Fire, she is referred to as “nuts“, having clearly been through mental trauma as Capitol attempted to compromise her intelligence. Mags, the victor of the 11th Hunger Games, was also punished like Wiress and Beetee for her involvement. This is likely the reason for Mags being unable to speak in Catching Fire, something Katniss thought to be a result of her suffering a stroke. Both Wiress and Mags were reaped in the third Quarter Quell too.
propaganda
It is revealed in Sunrise on the Reaping that Plutarch had been plotting against the Capitol well before the 75th Games. As the 50th Games’ head game maker, he devises a plan to destroy the arena and bring President Snow down. He drops clues to Haymitch throughout his training, telling him how to follow the mutts and hijack the arena with the help of Beetee’s intelligence.
This plan and eventual failure is not something Katniss and Peeta see when they watch the tape 25 years later. Like the reaping, the Capitol pieced together clips that made the Games entertaining and anti-rebellious. Beetee, Wiress, Mags, and Haymitch serve as reminders that their depiction to the Capitol and rest of Panem is entirely in Snow’s hands. As readers, our only knowledge of the 50th Games before Sunrise on the Reaping and Haymitch’s life is only representative of Katniss’ knowledge — an unreliable narrator and citizen who had only seen what the Capitol wanted the country to.
Smaller details also relate to Katniss’ timeline, including poison in the 50th, 74th, and 75th Games (Haymitch’s arena, Nightlock berries, and poisonous fog). Both Haymitch and Katniss attempt to protect younger tributes (Haymitch with Ampert and Katniss with Rue) as well as their younger siblings (Sid and Primrose). To Haymitch, Katniss also reflects one of the tributes he tried to protect in his Games, Louella.
The movie adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping will come out Nov. 20, 2026.
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