The Price of a Victor

The Hunger Games has always been about what power costs its instruments. The Capitol does not just kill the tributes who lose — it destroys the tributes who win. Victors are given wealth, a house, and a lifetime of nightmares. They are brought back as mentors to watch the children of their district die. They are owned. Haymitch Abernathy survived the 50th Games and spent the next twenty-four years drinking himself to oblivion, because that was the only way to survive surviving.