Mentor

A mentor was an individual who prepared tributes in the week leading up to the Hunger Games.^[1]

History[]

Creation[]

The mentor program was established for the 10th Hunger Games. It was said to be the idea of Casca Highbottom, the dean of the Academy, who originally created the Hunger Games.^[2] In truth, Highbottom abhorred the Hunger Games and the project was in fact the brainchild of the Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul.

24 of the top-performing Academy students were invited to be mentors, each paired with a tribute from one of the districts. It was their job to then groom their tribute for the Games, with the idea being that those who did well would receive a monetary prize. In this early stage, there were few specific rules or guidelines for mentors.^[2] Dr. Gaul regularly visited them, encouraging them to consider the nature of the Hunger Games and, as viewership was low at the time, she asked them to brainstorm ways to get people more engaged.^[3]

During the Games, mentors wore bright yellow mentor badges on lanyards around their necks. They were also issued communicuffs, which they could use to track donations and send sponsor gifts to their tributes in the arena.^[4]

Ultimately, Dr. Gaul considered the 10th Hunger Games a failure and felt that it was a mistake to involve Academy students. Several had been killed over the course of the event, particularly in the Capitol Arena bombing. This presented the Capitol as being far too vulnerable.^[5]

Evolution[]

At an unknown point, the mentorship program was reimplemented, and past victors of the Hunger Games began to serve as mentors. However, since this was not mentioned during planning for the 11th Hunger Games,^[6] it was presumably not reinstated that year.

Purpose[]

A mentor's primary job was to convince their respective district's tributes to perform for the Capitol, both leading up to the Games and within the arena itself. Since victors had firsthand knowledge of the Games, they could provide invaluable knowledge to their tributes about how to play the audience and survive. By developing potential strategies based on a tribute's skills (or lack thereof), mentors played an important role in their tributes' potential for survival and victory.

Selection[]

10th Hunger Games[]

For the 10th Hunger Games, the top 24 students at the Academy were selected to serve as mentors, and each was assigned a single tribute before watching reaping ceremonies from all the districts. These assignments were not random, and the wealth and influence of a student's family could afford them a more favorable placement.^[2]

For example, when Livia Cardew was assigned to mentor the District 1 male, Coriolanus Snow believed this was because her mother ran the largest bank in the Capitol.^[2] Sejanus Plinth also suspected that his own father— war profiteer Strabo Plinth— had arranged for him to get the District 2 male, because Sejanus and his family had emigrated from District 2 after the Dark Days.^[7]

Later years[]

Little is known of how mentors were chosen in subsequent years, but when a district only had a single living victor, it was a compulsory position. For example, Haymitch Abernathy was forced to serve as District 12's only mentor^[1] since his victory in the 50th Hunger Games.^[8] It is unclear who, if anyone, would serve as the mentor for a district without any living victors, such as District 12 prior to Haymitch.

Despite the compulsory nature of mentoring, not all victors became mentors, as was the case for Annie Cresta. Peeta Mellark could not recall seeing her in the public eye after her Games,^[9] so it's possible that if a victor was too fragile to be presentable, they could be exempted. Furthermore, in districts with multiple victors, the newest victors were not always drafted for the job; older victors could also continue their work despite younger victors being eligible.^[10]

There were no gender restraints, so a male victor could mentor a female tribute (such as Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird),^[7] and a female victor could mentor a male tribute (like Mags Flanagan and Finnick Odair).^[10]

Tasks[]

Strategy[]

In general, mentors were responsible for advising their tributes throughout the process of going into the Games. This included helping them devise and implement strategies to use during chariot rides, training, televised interviews, and the actual Games themselves.^[11]

Sponsors[]

Mentors particularly focused on helping their tributes appeal to prospective sponsors. Mentors were the only ones who could seal sponsor deals for their tributes,^[12] and with that money, they could choose what items to send to their tribute in the arena and when.^[1]

Victors[]

If a mentor's tribute emerged from the Games as a victor, they were obliged to make an appearance at closing ceremonies. When the victor's support team rose up from beneath the stage for the occasion, the mentor was the last person introduced before the new victor.^[13]

Victory Tour[]

The mentor of a winning tribute also accompanied them throughout their Victory Tour across Panem.^[14]

Known mentors[]

Capitol mentors[]

Academy students who were mentors in the 10th Hunger Games.^[15] The victor, their mentor, and the winning district are bolded.

Victors as mentors[]

Victors who have either been confirmed as mentors, or had characters in the series speculate that they were mentors. Tributes who won their Games are bolded.

Trivia[]

• The 10th Hunger Games are the only Hunger Games in the series where every tribute is given at least a first name, and full names are given for every mentor.

References[]