Haymitch Abernathy Character Analysis

The former champion of the Hunger Games, a member of the rebel alliance, and Peeta and Katniss’s mentor, Haymitch is a crafty, intelligent, and often deeply cynical man. He blames Katniss for abandoning Peeta in the Hunger Games arena, a decision that leads to Peeta’s torture and imprisonment by the government. Nevertheless, he helps Katniss film propaganda videos for the rebel alliance, displaying an impressive level of knowledge and insight into Katniss’s personality. Haymitch can be harsh—at the end of the novel, he votes for a final Hunger Games between the children of the rebels’ enemies, even though he knows firsthand how devastating such an event would be. In the end, Haymitch’s alcoholism and depression prevent him from being at the center of either the rebel alliance or the rebels’ new government.