How Katniss Got Her Hunger Games Token From Maysilee: The Mockingjay Pin's Full Backstory

The new Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, addresses the connection between Katniss Everdeen and a past District 12 tribute, Maysilee Donner, through a piece of famous iconography. Sunrise on the Reaping recounts the events of the 50th Hunger Games, the victor of which is Katniss’ future mentor Haymitch Abernathy. Both outside and in the arena, Haymitch gets to know and allies himself with Maysilee, a girl from District 12’s wealthier merchant class who is ultimately killed by the Capitol’s mutts.

As was originally revealed in the Catching Fire novel — but cut from the movie adaptation — Maysilee is the original owner of Katniss’ mockingjay pin, which becomes the symbol of the districts’ rebellion after Katniss’ Hunger Games. Although it is not mentioned in the previous installment in the Hunger Games timeline, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Haymitch’s time, the Capitol formally allows the tributes to each carry a token from home, such as a piece of jewelry. The pin, however, is a thematic cornerstone of the series and symbolically connects multiple characters.

The Mockingjay Pin Has Covey Origins

Maysilee & Merrilee’s Pins Were Made By Tam Amber, Lucy Gray’s Covey Family Member

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird Turning While Playing the Guitar in The Hunger Games The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Sunrise on the Reaping depicts not just the owner of the mockingjay pin but its maker. Haymitch’s girlfriend is Lenore Dove, who is the daughter of Maude Ivory Baird, Lucy Gray’s cousin in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. As Lucy Gray disappeared and Maude Ivory died in childbirth, Lenore Dove was raised by her “uncles,” Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber, two more Covey members who grew up with the Baird cousins, though they are not related by blood.

Lucy Gray always referred to her people as travelers, even after they had been confided to District 12.

Tam Amber is a noted metalworker in District 12 and was commissioned by Mr. Donner to make two gold pins for his twin daughters. He fashioned one with a hummingbird design and the other with a mockingjay. This is noteworthy because it ties the pin back to the themes ᴀssociated with the Covey and Lucy Gray, who are all fond of songbirds and the freedom they have, as well as their musical abilities. Lucy Gray always referred to her people as travelers, even after they had been confided to District 12.

In The Books, Maysilee’s Pin Was Pᴀssed Down To Madge, Who Gifted It To Katniss

Merrilee Donner Is Also Present In Sunrise On The Reaping, Madge’s Mother

In Sunrise on the Reaping, Maysilee’s token is in the Hunger Games actually a collection of a few different necklaces, which she manages to pᴀss off as one item. Although it was a gift from her father, Maysilee was not partial to mockingjays and never wore the pin, but says to Haymitch she might reconsider the piece if she makes it home. Her family still has the pin some drawer or jewelry box in their home after her death. Her sister Merrilee eventually married the mayor of District 12, and the pin was pᴀssed down to their daughter, Madge.

Madge’s character was cut from the Hunger Games movies, but in the books, she is a friend of Katniss’ when neither of them falls in with a group at school. Madge wears the pin on reaping day, but when Katniss volunteers, Madge comes to say goodbye and asks if Katniss will wear the pin as her token. Katniss is a bit surprised as she never thought of Madge as a real friend; Madge also insists that the pin was a gift when Katniss offers to return it after the Games.

How Katniss Got The Pin If Maysilee Was Still The Original Owner In The Movie Universe

Katniss Would Have Inherited The Pin By Chance

The confirmed movie adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping has a bit of a challenge due to Madge’s status with the movie universe, as they will likely want to draw those parallels of freedom, music, and nature symbolized by the mockingjay between Haymitch’s backstory and Katniss. But Maysilee doesn’t actually wear the pin in the arena, and it’s more awkward in a movie to reveal the whole story of the pin when it’s not just Haymitch’s internal narration.

There is story value for Sunrise on the Reaping in the return of the mockingjay pin, requiring some narrative gymnastics but still meaningful to the characters and audience.

Additionally, in the first Hunger Games movie, Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss just finds the pin at a black market stall and gets it for Prim (Willow Shields), telling her sister it will protect her on reaping day. Theoretically, Maysilee’s family could have thrown the pin away if it was a painful reminder of their daughter, and it simply ended up in the market eventually. This would be a wild coincidence, but the movie universe doesn’t have many options without cutting this plot point altogether, if it is maintaining its own internal continuity.

Haymitch also never indicates that he recognizes the pin, but he might not have even noticed that Katniss had it until the Capitol made a fashion trend out of it. He’s then a private person and won’t tell Katniss and Peeta about Maysilee until after the events of the main trilogy. All in all, there is story value for Sunrise on the Reaping in the return of the mockingjay pin, requiring some narrative gymnastics but still meaningful to the characters and audience.