The Hunger Games books reveal that Haymitch Abernathy sleeps clutching a knife — when he sleeps at all — but this is a detail that might raise questions from book readers and movie watchers alike. Haymitch’s backstory will be explored further when The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping debuts on March 18. However, Suzanne Collins’ original trilogy gives us enough insight to make sense of his character beforehand. In particular, Catching Fire offers many revelations about Haymitch and what he has been through.

Among the second book’s Haymitch reveals is that Katniss and Peeta’s mentor sleeps with a knife, something Katniss recalls when she visits him in the first chapter. When she wakes him from a deep sleep, she notes, “He jumps up, kicking his chair ten feet behind him and wielding a knife. I forgot he always sleeps with one clutched in his hand.” Given that this happens in the kitchen, it may escape Hunger Games movie fans altogether. And Katniss doesn’t dig much deeper into this habit in the book, though readers can piece together the reason Haymitch does this.

Haymitch Starts Sleeping With A Knife Due To The Trauma Of The 50th Hunger Games

The Capitol’s Retaliation Leaves Him On Edge All The Time

While Collins doesn’t explicitly tell us why Haymitch sleeps with a knife, The Hunger Games makes sense of this decision through his backstory. Haymitch wins the 50th Hunger Games, also dubbed the second Quarter Quell, which is easily the bloodiest tournament in Panem’s history. As if this isn’t traumatizing enough, he’s punished for using the arena’s force field to win, something the Capitol perceives as an act of defiance. Even after winning the Games, Haymitch loses his family and the girl he loves when the Capitol kills them in retaliation.

And what happens after Haymitch’s Games explains his behavior in the first three Hunger Games books. Haymitch sleeps with a knife because he knows that the Capitol can come for anyone at any time, and he wants to be prepared for it. The trauma of the second Quarter Quell and the Capitol’s retaliation leaves Haymitch anxious and paranoid, and understandably so. Sleeping with a knife is symbolic of that, and it’s not the only sign of Haymitch’s inability to rest or let his guard down.

Haymitch’s Knife Is Just One Way Suzanne Collins Shows How On Edge He Always Is

All Of His Habits Stem From What The Capitol Did To Him

Most of what we learn about Haymitch in the original Hunger Games book is through Katniss, and she notes a few other details that highlight how traumatized Haymitch is, even decades after his time in the arena. Not only does Haymitch keep to himself — likely to avoid the possibility of losing more loved ones — but she notes that he has trouble sleeping in general. This is partially because he has nightmares about the Games, but the knife in his hand suggests that Haymitch struggles to drop his defenses as well.

And this adds another layer to Haymitch’s use of alcohol as a coping mechanism, as it likely helps him calm down. When it comes down to it, all of Haymitch’s habits throughout The Hunger Games trilogy stem from his past. Sunrise on the Reaping will shed further light on why Haymitch is so on edge all the time, digging into the tragedies that shape his character in far more depth than Katniss ever could.