Gale Hawthorne - Tumblr Posts
secrecysensor:
“… I wouldn’t be here if I were the only person who had doubts. How’s the handsome cousin?”
“I don’t know… I don’t…”
“Speak, Miss Everdeen. Him I can easily kill off if we don’t come to a happy resolution.”
“Please don’t hurt Gale,” I whisper.
“… You’ll have to do even better if the uprisings are to be averted,” he says.
“I know. I will. I’ll convince everyone in the districts that I wasn’t defying the Capitol…”
“Aim higher in case you fall short.”
“What do you mean? How can I aim higher?” I ask.
“Convince me,” he says.
may the odds be ever in your favor march 2012.
‘I don’t have a type??’
……
‘okay maybe I do..’
y’all listen, if Gale canonically looks like a male version of Katniss, then theoretically disaster bi! Peeta may have had a mild hallway crush on him pre-reaping …
but idk that’s just an idea
!!!!!
i don’t know if this is a hot take but…….. i LOVE platonic everthorne
specifically platonic everthorne in AUs
if it cannon compliant. no thank you
canon divergent?? depends on how it’s done
AU?? GIVE ME ITTTT
romantic everthorne? no thank you sir
can we talk about the fetishization of Gale, a freshly 18 year old boy, from characters within the series…
the repeated comments about his appearance and being perceived as rugged and masculine by those around him.
I know Collins may have added those tidbits just for the sake of the main romance, subtly showcasing Katniss’ disinterest in Gale romantically, but it can also serve as commentary on how children of color (particularly black and brown children) tend to be perceived as older and less innocent in comparison to white children. This can also be applied to the way Katniss views herself and other visibly Seam characters versus how she views the characters with merchant features. Idk maybe Suzanne Colllins was unveiling her own internal biases, or maybe I’m overthinking …
Gale, Katniss, and Peeta
This person is my god.
all my students in my dystopian film class think gale is a better match for katniss than peeta and i told them they were Objectively Wrong and they assigned me a slideshow for homework to prove it and—
look. these children are about to be destroyed.
didnt think i'd be getting so heated over the hunger games in this fine year of 2020, but here we are.
Honestly? The only valid love triangle in a YA novel is the one in the Hunger Games, solely for its deeper metaphorical meaning. Like in the movies, it got blown out of proportion as a "ooo who will Katniss kiss, identical hunk #1 or identical hunk #2," but in the books the meaning is written so much better. It's way clearer how they represent her future, like Gale can hunt and wants war and to fight, and Peeta can bake and he's strong and soft. To Katniss, it's so much clearer in the books how in choosing one, she's either choosing to scrap along and fight, or to heal and grow from the trauma she faced in her youth.
And look like this is a short summary, I'm just pissy about how much the symbolism was reduced in the movie until it was "ooo love triangle romance marriage kissing ooooooo"
I most certainly WILL write a mile long text once I finish reading The Hunger Games about its bazillion critics on capitalism, race, and so on and there's nothing anyone can say or do to convince me otherwise
Gale and Revolutionary Hate
Okay, it's been a while since I last spoke about THG but I'll give it a try because I've been thinking a lot about this matter.
It's been a while since I saw someone on TikTok defending Gale because, if I remember correctly, he was somewhat of a true revolutionary. The person meant that Gale not only believed in the Revolution but also thought violence was justified for it and although I don't disagree with it - I do think violence is justified in the face of oppression - I think this person forgot a crucial part of what is needed in a Revolution: organizing.
When Marx first brought up the idea of hatred as fuel for the Revolution, what he meant wasn't scorching and annihilating the enemies but using the hatred (born out of indignation for our oppression) as motivation to organize. Organization means being able to get together, form a community, and with that be capable of resisting capitalistic oppression.
And that's exactly what is lacking in Gale.
Don't get me wrong, there is a tremendous anti-violence message in Hunger Games - although I attribute it more to the trauma Katniss goes through because of it (which is warranted) than any ideological point Collins could be trying to make. And that message is definitely not one to pass when the motives of the Revolution are fair but anyhow, the point is: message or no message, I still believe Gale isn't a good example of a revolutionary.
That's because Gale, although filled with an appropriate amount of hatred to fuel a Revolution, lacks another essential aspect of a revolutionary, one Che Guevara puts quite well: "The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
That's because love is the thing that should be at the core of your hatred. Otherwise, we fall into a trap: in our hatred and need to destroy our enemies, we forget why we're fighting in the first place - the people who are oppressed by this enemy.
So the fact that Gale is willing to go so far as to explode the people out of the mountain on District 2, that he'd bomb the Capital with no care for the people who are there on the side of the revolution but unable to get to the other side of the fight, is what makes him a bad revolutionary.
Because his hatred isn't filled with the notion of community, he sees anyone who doesn't rebel loudly and proudly as an enemy, which simply isn't true. Not everyone will help the Revolution by making a fuss, or by fighting, not everyone can do that. Gale's unwillingness to understand so shows that his hatred isn't founded in any idea of community between the oppressed or love for the people he's a part of but actually is founded in personal offense of the Capital against him and the people he cares about.
Although that's a valid sentiment if your motivations are wrong, so will your actions.
And that's why I think Prim (in the films) and Peeta are the closest thing to a good revolutionary we've got there:
Prim understands there's a reason for violence, which she doesn't partake in not because she thinks it is wrong but simply because it's not her. More than that, Prim's capacity to empathize isn't blurred by her need to survive like Katniss's (understandably so, of course) so she is able to see the people who become collateral damage with kindness and openness that lack in Gale, for example.
Peeta is the same: he understands the necessity of violence but he won't partake in it unless it's the only way (which reminds me of Fidel Castro's quote: "Revolutionaries didn't choose armed struggle as the best path, it's the path the oppressors imposed on the people. And so the people only have two choices: to suffer or to fight"). Peeta chooses to be kind but his violence stems from the hatred this very kindness creates.
So no, I don't think Gale is a good revolutionary regardless of how The Hunger Games was written.
I really like how this is structured by the way lol (:
Love, I'm not sure how you think all your points don't prove mine.
What I'm saying about Gale isn't that he isn't a good revolutionary at all, I'm saying, however, he's not an example to follow. So let's go through all of the points you make, shall we?
"What about the families, Katniss?" meaning, the families of his district. His community, the people he lived with his whole life, you mean.
It's easy to empathize with one's own community, the harder part of revolution is to understand not everyone is oppressed the same and empathize with the ones whose oppression doesn't look like yours. One thing that Gale repeatedly doesn't do.
So, the Nut provides weaponry to the Capital, right? And who produces this weapons? Is it the peacekeepers? Or is it the people of District 2?
The same people, mind you, who had their children thrown into the games despite having fought for the Capital during the Dark Days. The same people who were judged by the Capital as animals despite having more money then them, like with Sejanus. Their oppression is more insidious but it's there, that's why Katniss says that "they have no fight" between them.
Because they are not the real enemy.
Throwing a bomb at them is like killing factory workers for working on producing weapons for the US. Maybe it'd slow them down, maybe it'd cause problems, but at the end of the day, if the Capital had won, those people would be just another casualty of war and proof of the revolution's "barbarian ways".
Not even saying how dumb and disorganized it'd be to just blow the Nut and leave them to starve slowly under there, therefore denying the Revolution's own chance to seize these weapons, of seizing control of the flow of supplies, of seizing control of troops and gathering even more people for their own side. Not even saying what it'd do for the Revolution's propaganda.
Because you know, an organized revolution isn't just about gathering a bunch of people and weapons and attacking, it's also about spreading the revolution's prerogative, it's about convincing the people of their own struggle. Revolution doesn't work if you win but have a whole majority of people who oppose you in the territory you've won. It needs propaganda, it needs to be adhesive.
Otherwise you can win and never get to change anything because the people you claim to represent doesn't support you anymore.
Gale's idea for the Nut could've cost them the war, both strategically and politically, if it was done earlier in the war.
And the Capital? Is it the people in the Capital's own fault they're are systematically oppressed and alienated? Is it the avoxes choice to be slaves for the Capital? Is it their choice to be trapped there, most of them unable to reach District 13, like the Avoxes Katniss and Gale see running in the forest?
Sure, Gale has a lot of love — for people whose oppression he understands. He denies, however, the deep intersectionality that exists in oppression, the complexity of this oppression. And to deny that, is to deny the liberation of classes that also need liberation but don't look like you.
And I refuse to enter the discussion of whose oppression is more pressing. You don't have liberation unless every oppressed people is liberated.
Sure, I'm not saying the people in the Capital or even in the loyalist districts don't have much more privileges than Gale, Katniss, and the other Districts had. But that doesn't make them a free kill zone. I do support violent revolution, what I refuse to support is stupidity.
And do not accuse me of racism because I deny Gale's ability to represent revolutionary hate. I could very well cite Reaper or Thresh as better representatives of revolutionary qualities.
It's not by occasion that District 11 is the one to begin the revolution: all of the characters who represent District 11 exemplify perfectly what should be expected from a true revolutionary. They're compassionate people who understand no oppression looks the same and will NOT fight unless it's absolutely necessary to do so.
When Reaper gathers the bodies of the children who died in the arena, he gathers ALL the bodies, even of the kids from loyalist districts because he knows they're all oppressed. His empathy reaches all oppressed people, not only people whose oppression look like his.
That's revolutionary love. When he defies the Capital after giving the kids some dignity, that's revolutionary hatred.
When Peeta and Katniss want to donate their Victor's prize with Rue and Thresh's family, when all of the tributes from the Quarter Quell join their tables and have lunch together — that's revolutionary love.
When Katniss tells people to turn to the real enemy — that's revolutionary hatred.
When Fidel Castro tells people that the Revolution's use of violence is justified because that's the only language their oppressors understand, he doesn't mean it's fair game to annihilate your enemy. A revolution's ideal isn't to annihilate the enemy — it's liberating the oppressed. Cuba didn't exactly destroyed the US last time I checked for example but they did liberated their own people internally.
That's the crucial difference Gale's ideals and actions don't differentiate between. Armed struggle is more than fine but violence isn't the only tool at disposition and we shouldn't act like it is. Not only because it makes us forget the very purpose of the struggle but also because you don't win a war by only having the biggest army or being more ruthless than your enemy. War is decided by many other factors than this.
Violence for liberation is more than a must. Stupidity isn't, lacking will to empathize with others isn't, lacking of significative and critical strategy isn't, because that's lack of organization. Many of the reasons, for example, why Che left the fight in Congo was because their lack of popular support and internal conflicts between the revolutionary side.
Why do you thinks that is? Because organization comes from various fronts, and there's always other ways to consider how yo fight a revolution. Sides Gales doesn't acknowledges or recognizes.
White or non-white, Gale is a mediocre example of revolutionary so stop presuming things about me regarding my understanding of what I read and start respecting that some people do have both the intelligence and the academic background in both political science, war strategy and racial studies, and can still have a different take on a literary fiction than you do.
I don't appreciate being told what my own values and morals are by people who don't know me and don't seem interested of having a conversation instead of just dumping their frustrations and projections on me.
Gale and Revolutionary Hate
Okay, it's been a while since I last spoke about THG but I'll give it a try because I've been thinking a lot about this matter.
It's been a while since I saw someone on TikTok defending Gale because, if I remember correctly, he was somewhat of a true revolutionary. The person meant that Gale not only believed in the Revolution but also thought violence was justified for it and although I don't disagree with it - I do think violence is justified in the face of oppression - I think this person forgot a crucial part of what is needed in a Revolution: organizing.
When Marx first brought up the idea of hatred as fuel for the Revolution, what he meant wasn't scorching and annihilating the enemies but using the hatred (born out of indignation for our oppression) as motivation to organize. Organization means being able to get together, form a community, and with that be capable of resisting capitalistic oppression.
And that's exactly what is lacking in Gale.
Don't get me wrong, there is a tremendous anti-violence message in Hunger Games - although I attribute it more to the trauma Katniss goes through because of it (which is warranted) than any ideological point Collins could be trying to make. And that message is definitely not one to pass when the motives of the Revolution are fair but anyhow, the point is: message or no message, I still believe Gale isn't a good example of a revolutionary.
That's because Gale, although filled with an appropriate amount of hatred to fuel a Revolution, lacks another essential aspect of a revolutionary, one Che Guevara puts quite well: "The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
That's because love is the thing that should be at the core of your hatred. Otherwise, we fall into a trap: in our hatred and need to destroy our enemies, we forget why we're fighting in the first place - the people who are oppressed by this enemy.
So the fact that Gale is willing to go so far as to explode the people out of the mountain on District 2, that he'd bomb the Capital with no care for the people who are there on the side of the revolution but unable to get to the other side of the fight, is what makes him a bad revolutionary.
Because his hatred isn't filled with the notion of community, he sees anyone who doesn't rebel loudly and proudly as an enemy, which simply isn't true. Not everyone will help the Revolution by making a fuss, or by fighting, not everyone can do that. Gale's unwillingness to understand so shows that his hatred isn't founded in any idea of community between the oppressed or love for the people he's a part of but actually is founded in personal offense of the Capital against him and the people he cares about.
Although that's a valid sentiment if your motivations are wrong, so will your actions.
And that's why I think Prim (in the films) and Peeta are the closest thing to a good revolutionary we've got there:
Prim understands there's a reason for violence, which she doesn't partake in not because she thinks it is wrong but simply because it's not her. More than that, Prim's capacity to empathize isn't blurred by her need to survive like Katniss's (understandably so, of course) so she is able to see the people who become collateral damage with kindness and openness that lack in Gale, for example.
Peeta is the same: he understands the necessity of violence but he won't partake in it unless it's the only way (which reminds me of Fidel Castro's quote: "Revolutionaries didn't choose armed struggle as the best path, it's the path the oppressors imposed on the people. And so the people only have two choices: to suffer or to fight"). Peeta chooses to be kind but his violence stems from the hatred this very kindness creates.
So no, I don't think Gale is a good revolutionary regardless of how The Hunger Games was written.
I really like how this is structured by the way lol (:
Remnants of Ashes
masterlist
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 1097
Summary: Gale Hawthorne, now a Peacekeeper in District 2, struggles to adapt to its ambitious, unfamiliar atmosphere while haunted by memories of Katniss Everdeen from District 12.
***
District 2 was a world apart from District 12, place of stone and metal rather than ash and coal. Gale Hawthorne tried to make this new district feel like home, but the familiarity of District 12's ruins haunted him. The bustling activity of District 2 felt foreign, the people here driven by ambitions and ideals so different from the grim survival that had characterized his old life.
Each morning, Gale woke with the sun. He dressed quickly, leaving his small apartment and heading out into the city before the streets filled with people. His role as a Peacekeeper was a pragmatic choice, but it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He told himself it was for the greater good, to help rebuild Panem—but deep down, he knew he was running from ghosts.
He was running from Katniss.
Katniss Everdeen. The girl on fire. The Mockingjay.
To him, she had been so much more than just a symbol.
She had been his partner in crime, his confidante, his closest friend. But the war had changed everything. They had changed, and now, she was a phantom pain, an echo of what once was.
***
It was a Sunday when Gale decided to visit the training fields. It was a place of order and discipline, filled with recruits who were eager to shape the new world. He watched them sparring, their movements precise and calculated, so different from the desperate skirmishes he had known.
"You're here early," a voice said, breaking his reverie.
Gale turned to see Lyda, one of the senior Peacekeepers, approaching him. She was a tall woman with a sharp gaze, her uniform crisp and spotless.
"Couldn't sleep," Gale admitted, shrugging. "Thought I'd come see how the new recruits are doing."
Lyda nodded, her expression softening slightly. "You still think about her, don't you?"
Gale's jaw tightened.
"Every day."
That night, Gale couldn't sleep. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the silence.
The nights in the woods with Katniss, the warmth of the fire, the shared stories, the unspoken bond between them. Those nights were gone, buried under the rubble of war and time...
He got up and walked to the window, looking out at the city. District 2 was thriving, rebuilding itself with a ferocity that mirrored his own determination. Yet, it felt hollow.
No amount of anything could fill the void left by Katniss.
Gale sighed and turned away from the window. He opened a drawer and pulled out a small, battered notebook. It was filled with sketches and notes, plans for traps and strategies. But between the lines of his meticulous handwriting were glimpses of another story— drawings of mockingjays, notes about hunting trips, fragments of poetry that he would never admit to writing.
He flipped to a blank page and stared at it. Slowly, he began to write.
***
Weeks turned into months, and Gale threw himself into his work. He trained recruits, devised new strategies, and worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of the district. He became known as a strict but fair leader, respected by his peers and subordinates. But despite his accomplishments, the emptiness lingered.
***
One evening, after a particularly grueling day, Gale found himself wandering the outskirts of District 2. The air was cool and crisp, a stark contrast to the dusty heat of the city. He walked until he found a secluded spot, a small hill overlooking a valley. He sat down and let the silence envelop him.
"Hey, Catnip," he whispered to the wind. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need to talk to you."
He paused, taking a deep breath. "I miss you. I miss us. The way things used to be before... everything. I know things can never go back to the way they were, and I don't even know if you'd want them to. But I can't help thinking about what we lost."
Gale closed his eyes, feeling a tear slide down his cheek. "I wish I could tell you this in person. I wish I could see you, hear your voice. But I can't. So I'll just keep talking to the wind and hope that somehow, you'll hear me."
***
As the seasons changed, so did Gale. He found solace in small things—a recruit's success, a well-executed plan, the beauty of a sunrise over the mountains. He began to accept that Katniss was a part of his past, a cherished memory that he would carry with him always.
One day, while sorting through his belongings, Gale found the notebook again. He flipped through the pages, smiling at the memories. When he reached the end, he saw the words he had written that first night in District 2.
"Katniss, if you ever read this, I want you to know that I forgive you. And I hope you can forgive me too. We did what we had to do, and we survived. That's all that matters."
He closed the notebook and placed it back in the drawer. It was time to move forward.
***
Katniss's POV:
Katniss stood by the rusted fence, the setting sun casting a golden hue over District 12. Memories of Gale flooded her mind. Unbidden. Unrelenting.
Gale.
The name alone caused a pang in her stomach.
His grey eyes, always intense, haunted her thoughts. The woods had been their sanctuary, a place to escape the harsh realities of their lives... their laughter, shared meals, and whispered dreams of a future free from the Capitol's grip.
Now, those dreams felt like distant echoes.
The fence, once a boundary she and Gale had often crossed together, now felt like a wall separating her from her past. Katniss ran her fingers along the cold metal, feeling the rough texture beneath her fingertips. Each ridge and rusted spot a reminder of times gone by.
A soft breeze rustled through the trees, carrying with it the scent of pine and earth. She closed her eyes, breathing it in deeply, trying to anchor herself in the present. But it was no use. Her thoughts drifted back to the days when she and Gale would venture beyond the fence, into the wild, untamed woods where they could be free, if only for a while.
She could almost hear his voice, low and comforting, as he spoke of rebellion and hope. "Someday, Katniss," he had said, his voice filled with conviction, "someday things will be different. We won't have to live in fear."
But someday had come and gone. The rebellion had happened. The world had changed.
i think one of the reasons Gale is so hated is because he is aged up in the movies. It is much harder to forgive or understand the actions of someone that looks like a 30 year old man than an 18 year old boy.
Things people don’t talk about enough from the Hunger Games:
Many of Katniss’ strongest allies are women that are over looked by others (Madge, Rue, Mags, Wiress)
While Katniss has a strained relationship with her mother, her mother is never demonized. Katniss recognizes the trauma her mother went through and was willing to try to improve their relationship in CF
The rebellion didn’t start with the berries. The rebellion started when Katniss showed compassion towards a dying, black girl that the world had already written off as unimportant
One of the beauty trends in the capitol that Katniss finds odd is the shaving of body hair. When her leg hair grows back in CF, she expresses comfort in it.
Katniss’ character arc throughout the series is her understanding of who the enemy is. It isn’t the rich people in district 12, or the other tributes, or the other districts, or the people in the capitol. It’s the government and it’s Snow.
Katniss never wanted another hunger games with the kids of the capitol. In that meeting she recognizes Coin’s commitment to perpetuating the cycle of violence. She votes in favor of it to cover her plans of killing Coin.
The violence in the books is SUPPOSED to feel random and unfair. Prim being reaped was supposed to be against all odds because in the real world, violence is indiscriminate.
Gale is a victim too and was not solely responsible for the death of Prim. He spent the first two books feeling helpless as he watched people he loved be put in danger and suffer. Coin offered him a way to regain control. At the end of the day, Gale is only 18 and doesn’t realize the depth of the games being played.
Katniss is great with kids and actually enjoys being around them. She says the only reason she doesn’t want them is because she can’t imagine them being put in the hunger games. Her having children in the epilogue is a sign of her healing and finally feeling safe
botany major!katniss, who isn’t so good with her words, so she gifts you flowers that correlate with what she’s feeling. you walk hand in hand through the woods as she points out different plants, rambling on about how to recognize various species and their distribution patterns.
fine arts major!peeta, working tirelessly at his family’s bakery, making personalized latte art which leaves him with huge tips at the end of the day. all of his peers recognize you as the inspiration for all of his assignments, your features taking up every bit of his sketchbook.
mechanical engineering major!gale, his schedule so full and busy but always making time to see you daily. you’re always the first to hear about how he did on a particular exam, cuddled up as you watch nature documentaries.
aquatic biology major!finnick, known around campus as the university heartthrob. he spends most of his free time at the docks or the beach, feet always bare and buried underwater, occasionally splashing you playfully. suntanning and writing your initials in the sand is how your dates usually go.
athletic training major!johanna, who caresses your sleeping features and plants a small kiss on your forehead before leaving for her morning run. she teasingly flexes her muscles while you’re applying kinesiology tape on her body.