Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Hunger Games franchise.

Among the many storylines from Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is the reputed love triangle between Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and Gale (Liam Hemsworth), a plot point that was magnified by the viral internet debate #TeamPeeta vs. #TeamGale. However, upon closer inspection, Katniss and Peeta’s romance isn’t one half of a love triangle—it’s a meditation on trauma bonding.

Throughout the quadrilogy, Katniss is forced to play up her relationship with Peeta to appease their sponsors’ view of them as star-crossed lovers, increasing their chance of survival. Though her feelings for Peeta eventually progress beyond mere performance, they are in reality more reflective of the pair’s shared trauma than true romance, as evident by her need for stability after the Second Rebellion in The Hunger Games.

Furthermore, while the events of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II would leave Katniss and Gale wholly incompatible, their affair emerged from far more sincere waters, only being trumped by the incomprehensible grief that bonded Katniss and Peeta in the Hunger Games. In essence, that latter bond isn’t love, but a companionship forged through the most extreme of human emotions.

Katniss Doesn’t Love Peeta, So The Hunger Games Isn’t A Love Triangle

Since 2008, the debate between #TeamPeeta and #TeamGale has raged on internet forums, with the latter arguing that the relationship between Katniss and Peeta was scripted by the Gamemakers from the start. To this point, the “Girl on Fire” was, without question, forced to play up her romance with Peeta following his televised admission of having a crush on her.

Moreover, during the 74th Hunger Games, the announcement proclaiming that tributes from the same District could be crowned as co-winners only increased the stakes for Katniss and Peeta’s romance, compelling her to dive deeper into the part of a star-crossed lover. Thus, this role, coupled with her loyalty toward Peeta, ignited a bond far from the traditional definition of love.

This budding relationship culminated with Peeta’s capture in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which saw him become the Capitol’s brainwashed puppet until being rescued and deprogrammed. Here, Katniss struggles between her options until discovering Gale’s possible role in her sister’s death. Following this realization, Peeta is Katniss’ last man standing, and their relationship—while not true love—outweighs all remaining bonds.

Did Peeta Ever Truly Love Katniss In The Hunger Games?

It’s arguable that Peeta’s supposed love for Katniss stems from an adolescent infatuation elevated by the life-and-death stakes of the Hunger Games. After confessing his crush on Katniss to Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) during his televised interview, the star-crossed lovers angle becomes his and Katniss’ best chance at survival, subliminally tying his desire to live with the illusion of love.

Furthermore, his realization that Katniss was only playing up their romance for survival in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire exacerbates his feelings of rejection and misconceptions over love, a reality that’s only worsened by his view of their bond as unbreakable. This storyline takes the backseat after his capture, only resurfacing after he’s then reunited with Katniss and the Rebellion.

In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I & II, Peeta is an emotional wreck, still recovering from his brainwashing. Once the Rebellion is successful, however, he—along with Katniss—have no one else to run to, turning once again to each other to pick up the pieces—not out of love, but out of a bond only attainable through the shared threat of death.

Why Katniss Chooses Peeta Over Gale

In the end, Katniss chooses Peeta over Gale not out of romantic desire or interest, but instead through her longing for a stable life with the person that she’s endured the most unspeakable trauma with. In a nation defined by class and punishment, escape is found only through human connection, and trauma shared and overcome prevails over all other bonds.

In contrast, Gale’s relationship with Katniss is far more grounded and simply unable to rival the intensity of the trauma she shares with Peeta from the violence of the Games. While Katniss and Gale do share a bond as former hunting partners turned lovers, this relationship is more reflective of the person Katniss used to be before volunteering as tribute.

Plus, following Katniss’ discovery of Gale’s likely role in the Capitol bombing that killed her sister, Primrose “Prim” Everdeen (Willow Shields), their story is finished, as the path Gale has gone down as a leader in the Second Rebellion is simply irreconcilable, leaving Peeta as the only possible person whose experience aligns with hers in a post-war Panem.

Thus, the once star-crossed lovers choose each other in a world rebuilt from the ashes of the tyrannical government that once pitted them at one another’s throats. Their bond in The Hunger Games isn’t built on love—at least, in its traditional definition. Instead, their partnership was forged through trauma built on the most powerful of human experiences—mutual survival.