"I won't lie to you; the Games are a nightmare. And the person who walks away usually isn't the one who deserves it."
Lander entered the Hunger Games as a terrified boy who sprinted away from the bloodbath with his fifteen-year-old district partner, Mira, in tow. In an arena littered with quicksand and lava, the pair of them were quick enough to avoid danger - until they found themselves in the final five, being hunted by the other three. As they ran, Mira stumbled into the quicksand. With their pursuers quickly closing, Mira begged for a quick death at Lander's hands rather than what the others had planned for her. Reluctantly, Lander did as she asked, and managed to escape.
Then he heard screams. Turning back, he found the other three tributes trapped between a river of lava and a pack of griffin mutts. Instead of simply waiting and hoping they would perish, Lander, enraged by the death of his ally, charged into the fray, catching them off-guard and slaying one while the griffins consumed another. Left with only one opponent, he tackled the girl, and the two wrestled as the lava began to burn them both. With the last of his strength, Lander held the girl's head beneath the lava, securing his victory as he blacked out from the pain.
Lander left the Games angry and bitter: at the other tributes, the Gamemakers, and even himself. He severed ties with his family and friends, hiring a young maid to cook and clean ... and to shout at when he was in the mood. Three years after his own victory, however, his maid, Nicoline, entered the Games herself, never to return. When her brother, Shaw, volunteered the next year, Lander quickly dismissed both the boy and his district partner as lost causes, both too naive and too noble to make it far. But while Shaw seemed to prove him right - perishing in the bloodbath while trying to avenge a fallen ally - Carolina was made of sterner stuff than her mentor had assumed, and, to his surprise, became District Eight's second victor. Together, he and Carolina helped each other heal from their shared pain, and the pair quickly became fast friends. Already a family in all but name, they officially became a couple when Carolina abruptly proposed in the middle of Kit's victory tour in an attempt to distract from the young boy's ramblings. A hastily-planned ceremony was held in the Capitol, and the two were wed.
Age of Victory: 16
Reaped
Training Score: 8
Kills: 3
Arena: Volcanic Wasteland
Length of Games: 8 days
Current Age: 60
Successful Mentorships:
Carolina Young
Carolina Katzung
Victor of the 10th Hunger Games
"We all have to deal with what we did, what we became in order to survive. But we don't have to do it alone."
Carolina entered the Games determined to win without becoming a monster. After acquiring a map during the bloodbath, Carolina led her allies, Koray and Maeren, to what she believed would be a safe haven. This haven, however, was eventually revealed to be a tyrannosaur nest, and the trio fled. Realizing they couldn't all escape, Carolina shoved Maeren down into the path of the tyrannosaur, a decision that would haunt her for the rest of the Games. An injured Maeren and Koray - who had gone back to find her despite Carolina's objections - were found by Alicante and Kaji. Kaji quickly slew Koray, but Maeren's death at Alicante's hands was much slower; the young tribute was flayed alive. Meanwhile, Carolina followed the river to a waterfall and a herd of brachiosaurs. She remained there until the final eight, when Ardrey plunged off the waterfall in order to escape a flock of hungry pteranodon mutts. With Ardrey already injured from the fall, Carolina slew her quickly.
The next night, Carolina followed screams in the jungle to find Kaji being tortured to death by Alicante. Carolina and Kaji briefly allied to kill Alicante, an endeavor that cost Carolina an eye but rid them of a common enemy. At Kaji's request, Carolina granted her newfound ally a quick death before returning to the cornucopia, where she faced Lyre of District Ten and Thea of District One. Thea quickly slew Lyre, and the two girls were left to battle it out while dinosaurs ran amok around them. In the end, Carolina maneuvered their battle around a brachiosaur's legs, and, finally, put both herself and Thea directly in its path. The dinosaur trampled Thea, but the weight also crushed Carolina's legs, leaving her in critical condition as she was rushed back to the Capitol.
The road to recovery was slow, but it was one that Carolina was determined to travel alone - until her mentor and now fellow victor, Lander, opened up to her about the horrors of his own Games. More alike than either of them would have originally admitted, she and Lander have been there for each other ever since, supporting each other through the difficult times and helping each other to heal.
Age of Victory: 18
Reaped
Training Score: 3
Kills: 4
Arena: Isla Sorna Imitation
Length of Games: 6 days
Current Age: 58
Successful Mentorships:
Kit Rawlins
Kit Rawlins
Victor of the 40th Hunger Games
"You don't really understand the harm a careless word can do until it's too late."
Small, frail, and utterly unremarkable, Kit and his tightly knit alliance of younger boys passed under the Careers' radar during the bloodbath and escaped with their lives, determined to make the most of the time they had left. As Kit, Art, and Rob soon discovered, the different sections of the library represented different works of fiction or historical periods. The three of them learned to use this to their advantage, hiding behind fictional armies and monsters to shield them from the other tributes. The audience loved it. Before Kit realized what was happening, he and his allies were the only tributes left in the arena.
The mutts vanished. The imaginary worlds fell away. And they were left with only a dreary old library and the reality that, eventually, they would have to kill each other. A day passed, then another. Still, the Gamemakers did nothing. Even after three days without any action, Kit knew the Gamemakers wouldn't let them sit there forever. That night, Art's watch passed without incident. Rob's, too, was silent. During Kit's watch, however, he thought he saw something moving in the shadows. To this day, he still doesn't know whether anything was really there. All he knows is that, in that moment, he panicked, stabbing each of his sleeping allies before whatever was lurking in the shadows could attack them all. Kit instantly regretted killing his allies - his friends - but the deed was done. He was the Victor.
Kit returned home a nervous wreck, babbling about how they could have all lived - how the Gamemakers would never have been able to convince them to fight. To most, these were simply the ramblings of a grieving young boy, but some took them to heart. After the events of the 41st Games proved the power of his words, Kit fell silent entirely, terrified of causing any more harm with his careless ramblings. He's still much more cautious with his words than the boy who entered the arena, but, with the help of his fellow Victors, he's finally begun to recover.