Haymitch Abernathy

Spoiler-light.

Snapshot: District 12's surviving victor and Katniss's mentor — forced sober at last, and sharper, sadder, and more useful for it.

Role in the story

Haymitch is Katniss's anchor inside the rebellion. A secret rebel ally evacuated to District 13, he becomes a key strategic voice in the propaganda war and, crucially, the one person who understands both Katniss and the hijacked Peeta. When others script and manage Katniss, Haymitch is the one who tells her the blunt truth — that she only works as the Mockingjay when she is allowed to be real.

Personality

Sardonic, abrasive, and deeply cynical, with a bone-dry wit and no patience for sentiment, Haymitch hides a fierce, shrewd intelligence and a real protectiveness toward his two tributes. In Mockingjay, sober for the first time in years because District 13 allows no alcohol, he is irritable and physically miserable with withdrawal — but also clearer, more honest, and more present than Katniss has ever seen him.

What they want

To get Katniss and Peeta through the war alive, and to keep the rebellion from grinding them up — to protect the two young people he failed to save from the Games.

What they fear or hide

He hides his guilt and his care behind insult and irony. What he fears is losing Katniss and Peeta the way he has lost every other tribute he ever mentored.

Key relationships

• Katniss Everdeen — His tribute, his project, and the person he protects by telling her what no one else will.
• Peeta Mellark — His other tribute, whose hijacking Haymitch grasps better than the doctors do.
• Plutarch Heavensbee — His fellow strategist in the rebellion's media war.

How to recognize them on the page

The District 12 "Seam look" — olive skin, dark hair, grey eyes — on a paunchy, unkempt man in his forties to fifties. In Mockingjay, detoxing, he looks shaky and sleepless, shadowed under the eyes, hair falling where it likes, dressed in rumpled grey District 13 issue. Watch for the sharp, knowing, sidelong look that gives away the strategist behind the wreck.

Aliases

The following names and references in the book all point to this character. Use any of these as link anchors back to this page.

• Haymitch Abernathy (canonical — the most common form)
• Haymitch
• Abernathy

Discussion questions

1. Sobriety makes Haymitch more useful but no happier. What does the book suggest his drinking was for?
2. He is the one who insists Katniss can't be scripted. Why does he understand her better than the propaganda team?
3. Haymitch hides real care behind constant insult. How does the book let us see through the act?