After Sunrise On The Reaping, I Want More Than Ever To Read Prequels About These Two Characters

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Suzanne Collins’ novel Sunrise on the Reaping.Sunrise on the Reaping throws into question the history of the 75 years of the Hunger Games through the inclusion of several old Hunger Games characters, as well as the absence of two in particular. Haymitch’s prequel novel reveals that a failed attempt to bring down the 50th Hunger Games took place 25 years before the successful one during the third Quarter Quell. Many of the same people are responsible, including Mags and Wiress as Haymitch’s mentors, Beetee as the technological mastermind, and Plutarch as the double agent.

The plan to rescue Katniss and Peeta from the arena during the 75th Hunger Games is also made possible by Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason, victors of Districts 4 and 7, respectively. Finnick and Johanna are some of the more combat-savvy victors who help lead the pack and protect Katniss in the arena, and both survive to Games to have continuing storylines in Mockingjay. As they are fan-favorite characters, readers would have loved to have seen Finnick and Johanna return, but the Hunger Games timeline makes this impossible — perhaps increasing demand for yet more prequels.

Finnick & Johanna Are Notably Absent From Sunrise On The Reaping

The District 4 & 7 Victors Won’t Win For Another Decade

It’s literally impossible for Finnick and Johanna to have appeared in Sunrise on the Reaping, barring any flash-forwards, but the one that is included focuses on Katniss and Peeta from Haymitch’s perspective. Sunrise on the Reaping covers the 50th Hunger Games, while Finnick will win the 65th and Johanna the 71st. Given that Finnick is only 14 years old when he wins and that Johanna is a bit younger than him, neither of them have even been born yet when Haymitch is sent to the Games.

With the return of Mags, Beetee, Wiress, and Plutarch, all the major players of the future coup are there except for Finnick and Johanna, making their absence noticeable. Of course, it was always set up this way, as Katniss meets the others when they are middle-aged to elderly while Finnick and Johanna are still in their 20s. Wiress is revealed to have won the Hunger Games the year before Haymitch, and Beetee 10 years before her. Mags is much older than both of them and probably won shortly after Lucy Gray became the first District 12 victor.

The Entire Plot Of Sunrise On The Reaping Makes Me Question What Happened During Finnick & Johanna’s Hunger Games

If The Capitol Covered Up This Much About Haymitch’s Games, Anything Could Have Happened Other Years

Finnick and Mags smiling at each other in The Hunger Games Catching Fire

Sunrise on the Reaping turned out to have many surprises — readers might have gone in ᴀssuming they knew roughly everything that was going to happen, but Suzanne Collins took advantage of the established plot point that the Capitol controls which parts of the Hunger Games the public sees to its fullest. The version of Haymitch’s Games that Katniss watches is completely misleading because of how much was edited out, including his friendships with tributes besides Maysilee, the mᴀssive alliance of eight districts, and the fact that Haymitch repeatedly tried to destroy the arena itself.

They too, as well as many more tributes and mentors we’ve never heard of, may have attempted acts of rebellion in the context of the Games over the decades.

It might feel like a lot of retconning to some, but it made me seriously question what we supposedly know about Finnick and Johanna’s Games. They too, as well as many more tributes and mentors we’ve never heard of, may have attempted acts of rebellion in the context of the Games over the decades. The Capitol simply edited it all out to make it seem like the Hunger Games was a fully functioning insтιтution that everyone accepted. The stories of Finnick and Johanna’s Hunger Games are exposited in the original trilogy, but only briefly.

Finnick seems to have had a comparatively easy path to victory, with Career training to take out opponents and conventional beauty to win him sponsors. However, the fact that he was only 14 years old during his Games has always been odd, given that he comes from a volunteer-heavy Career district where there likely would have been someone older to take his place. Johanna won by pretending to be a cowardly weakling, so she was ignored until there were only a few tributes left, before revealing her vicious ax-wielding skills. In both cases, we know essentially nothing about what went on behind the scenes.

The Victors’ Rebellion Was Decades Old – When Were Finnick & Johanna Recruited?

The Victors Worked Together For Decades To Bring Down The Hunger Games

What Sunrise on the Reaping also establishes is that the victors’ rebellion as we see it in Catching Fire is decades old — they didn’t all just band together that year because they saw the opportunity in saving Katniss and Peeta; they have been covertly working as a unit for much longer, always with the help of Plutarch Heavensbee as their man on the inside. Mags, Beetee, and Wiress are all bound by this, while Haymitch knew what they were doing even if he largely stayed out of it for years.

By the time of Catching Fire, Finnick and Johanna are seemingly a part of this inner circle and had possibly already spent a few years working with the other victors to look for weaknesses in the Capitol when they were hit with the double opportunity of the third Quarter Quell and Plutarch being made head Gamemaker. Finnick was mentored by and is very close with Mags and was probably made aware of this alliance by her. Who would have recruited Johanna and when is more of a mystery, as her mentor may not have been another trusted ally.

What We Could Expect From Finnick & Johanna’s Hunger Games Prequels

Finnick & Johanna Actively Working Against The Capitol During Or Immediately After Their Games

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen Looking Distraught in The Hunger Games Catching Fire

Finnick’s prequel could answer the question of why exactly he ended up in the Hunger Games at 14 years old when it seems so unusual. Unless he and Mags already had some kind of plan, and he volunteered, even at that age, to carry it out. The victors tried using a tribute from an outlying district before as their agent but maybe thought that relying on someone with the advantages of a Career could be better, especially if Mags was already preparing him. Additionally, Snow’s abuse of Finnick after the Games is especially terrible and may have been influenced by what he did in the arena.

What is certain is that Sunrise on the Reaping has opened up many future possibilities for The Hunger Games.

Johanna’s strategy required a lot more acting, which may have fooled the victors into thinking there was nothing they could do to help her — but then again, maybe they suspected what she was up to from the beginning, and she them. After her Games, it would have been very clear that she was a fighter, as well as having no family and therefore nothing to lose, and was possibly then approached by Plutarch or someone else. What is certain is that Sunrise on the Reaping has opened up many future possibilities for The Hunger Games, and the fanbase would love to see Finnick and Johanna again.