Plutarch Heavensbee

Plutarch Heavensbee is the Head Gamemaker for the 75th Hunger Games, taking the place of Seneca Crane^[1]. He becomes a commander of the rebel forces of District 13 during the Second Rebellion^[4].

Biography

Plutarch is a native of the Capitol, given that he was a member of the Heavensbee family, one of the influential Capitol families. He was able to secure high-ranking positions in President Coriolanus Snow's government. Suzanne Collins revealed that he had been plotting as an underground rebel at least since Finnick Odair's Games. In the same interview, she stated Plutarch had decided the Games were no longer necessary and set about ending them. Liking the challenge of a revolution, he was further motivated to end Snow's presidency due to fearing the president's willingness to kill colleagues such as Seneca Crane^[5].

Owing to the longevity of his plan, it is likely Plutarch worked his way into top positions in the Snow regime in order to help gain information in favor of his rebellion plans. In the movie version of Catching Fire, Plutarch mentioned that Katniss inspired him to "come back", possibly indicating he had been a Head Gamemaker prior.^[6]

It is unknown at what point he got in contact with District 13.

74th Hunger Games

In Katniss Everdeen's private session with the Gamemakers, she became frustrated when the Gamemakers showed more interest in a roasted pig than her. When she shot her arrow at the apple in the pig's mouth, Plutarch fell backward into a punch bowl, knocking it to the floor.^[7] During the interview, when Caesar Flickerman asked Katniss for details about her private training session, he jumped in, saying that she could not reveal any details^[8]. After the end of the Games, Seneca Crane was executed, and Plutarch was appointed as the new Head Gamemaker, citing that there were not many takers for the job^[1].

75th Hunger Games

Plutarch formally introduced himself to Katniss during a feast after the Victory Tour. He attempted to win Katniss's trust, but she dismissed his discreet hints of rebellion. He then showed her his watch, which in the right position revealed the symbol of the rebellion, the mockingjay. Katniss pondered what he meant but merely saw it as one of the Capitol's obnoxious trends.^[1] Later, he showed up as Head Gamemaker and kept a low profile. Plutarch showed no special acknowledgement of Katniss in public and treated her like all other tributes^[2]. He was surprised when both Peeta and Katniss showed signs of rebellion in their private training sessions^[9].

It came as a surprise to Katniss when Plutarch was revealed as a leader of the rebellion. Plutarch came to the arena in a hovercraft and saved her, Finnick, and Beetee after a plan of his making removed the Capitol force field. For several years, he had already been involved in an undercover group that was aiming to overthrow the Capitol.^[10]

Second Rebellion

Plutarch was a leader of the rebellion and was present during the meeting Katniss held to accept the role of the Mockingjay. After hearing her conditions, Plutarch showed Katniss the sketchbook Cinna made for her. Fulvia Cardew and Plutarch took both her and Gale downstairs, but they were stopped on their way by a guard. Gale distracted him, allowing them to see the guarded room, where they found Katniss' prep team being tortured.^[4] Surprised, Plutarch demanded that they be freed^[11].

Plutarch went along with the others to District 8 to shoot their first propaganda. During their visit to one of the hospitals, the Capitol attacked them. Plutarch tried to keep Katniss safe by not allowing her to fight, although she refused to listen.^[12] After the propaganda was finished, Katniss went to receive medical treatment. They met in the command room and discussed the propaganda^[13]. Afterward, they decided to allow Katniss to go into combat again and film more after she made a full recovery^[13][14].

Plutarch went to Katniss's hospital room after Peeta's interview because he was worried about her mental health. When he entered, Katniss and Finnick pretended not to have seen it.^[13] After Peeta's warning of the bombing on District 13 by the Capitol^[14], Plutarch helped evacuate the entire district to safe bunkers. Plutarch was happy during the bombing because Beetee was successful in hacking the Capitol and airing Katniss' propaganda, although he infuriated Katniss by dismissing the severity of Peeta's situation.^[15] After Peeta was rescued and revealed to have been hijacked, Plutarch helped put together a team to treat him. Later, Katniss asked to go to the Capitol, but he refused because they needed all the districts to be on their side first. However, as District 2 was still with the Capitol, Katniss told him to send her to District 2.^[16]

Plutarch showed up after Katniss was shot in District 2^[17] and was happy to finally have all the districts on their side. Plutarch explained further about the relationship between the Capitol and the districts. He announced that their next propo would be of Finnick and Annie's wedding.^[18] Plutarch gave the order of shooting new propaganda in the Capitol and told Katniss to get ready for training so they could film it.^[19]

Snow believed Plutarch to be part of the bombing that killed Capitol children and rebel healers, including Prim^[20]. Katniss killed President Coin for her part in the plan, but sought no vengeance against Plutarch. He did Katniss a favor by preventing Effie Trinket's execution^[21] and acting as a witness in Katniss's defense at her trial for Coin's murder.

Plutarch was appointed Secretary of Communications after the war.^[3]

Personality and traits

Plutarch Heavensbee was a man with uncertain motives and ambitions^[13]. He was exceptionally intelligent^[11][16][19] and manipulative^{[22][13][15][23][19][20][21][24]}. He was even able to fool President Snow into thinking he was one of his most loyal allies, when in reality, he worked for the rebellion. Plutarch saw the Hunger Games, and later the war against the Capitol, as giant chess games consisting of moves and countermoves. As such he was an ingenious strategist but this also caused him to be somewhat callous as he showed no concern for people who died in the Quarter Quell or the war^{[12][11][25][26][20]}. Plutarch was openly described by President Snow as brilliant^[27]. He is also rather fond of coffee^[4][28].

Physical description

Plutarch is a large man.^[1] As Head Gamemaker, he wore a purple robe with a fur-trimmed collar.^[2] In the films, he has short blond hair swept to the side.

Work

Plutarch works as a Head Gamemaker^[1], but is also a leader for the underground rebellion of District 13^[29]. He is only revealed to be part of the rebellion at the end of Catching Fire when he reveals that they are heading to District 13, a district believed to have been destroyed when the first rebellion took place^[10]. In District 13, he is head of propaganda^[4][14][30] and makes videos of Katniss as the Mockingjay^[31][13].

Plutarch is given the job of Secretary of Communications by President Paylor at the end of Mockingjay, which means he is in charge of the programming on the airwaves^[3].

Etymology

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, or just "Plutarch", was a famous historian and essayist in Ancient Rome. This ties in with the many Roman references and similarities of the series.

Trivia

• In a deleted scene, it reveals that Plutarch was the one who switched the Quarter Quell to have the victors fight.
• The actor for Plutarch, Philip Seymour Hoffman, died on February 2, 2014, while shooting the last film. Due to Hoffman's death, two scenes were altered. In Mockingjay Part 1, Effie replaced Plutarch to give Katniss Cinna's book. In Mockingjay - Part 2, Plutarch was orginally meant to explain to Katniss that her charges for assassinating President Coin were dropped. This information is instead revealed via a letter delivered by Haymitch.^[32]
• It is likely that he is a relative of Hilarius Heavensbee and Trajan Heavensbee.
• In the Mockingjay - Part 2, Plutarch appears to smile as he looks at Alma Coin's dead body, suggesting that he approved of her death.

References