The Hunger Games: 10 Things Only Book Fans Know About Gale

The Hunger Games books were full of nitty-gritty details. They were three unputdownable books of dystopian gold. So, when they were made into films, it was naturally going to be impossible to include all the descriptions and characters mentioned.

But, for those who want to know everything about the universe of Suzanne Collins, all they have to do is pick up her three novels and the prequel. One of the characters whose narrative was slightly altered was Gale, and there are things about him movie fans probably don’t know.

10 He Has Siblings

Gale’s father died in the same mining accident that killed Katniss’s father. He is the oldest sibling in his family and has two younger brothers, Rory and Vick, and one younger sister, Posy. They all live with Hazelle, their mother.

The films don’t really touch on Gale’s personal life except for his involvement in providing for Katniss’s family. Katniss’s thoughts on Hazelle are, “I like Hazelle. Respect her. The explosion that killed my father took out her husband as well, leaving her with three boys and a baby due any day. Less than a week after she gave birth, she was out hunting the streets for work.”

9 The Cause Of His Lashings

In both the film and the novel, Gale is lashed in the public square by Peacekeeper Romulus Thread. In the film, Gale is punished for interfering with the Peacekeepers’ violent actions towards the people of The Hob. In the book, Gale is charged with poaching. “Gale’s wrists are bound to a wooden post. The wild turkey he shot earlier hangs above him, the nail driven through its neck.”

He wasn’t caught with his usual haul and lied about being in the woods, “he found it wandering around the Seam. Said it got over the fence and he’d stabbed it with a stick.” What he said was still a crime, but it wasn’t leaving and hunting, which would have gotten him killed.

8 He Applied To Tessera

Tessera is a dire food exchange given to the districts on behalf of Panem. It is offered to those between 12 and 18 years of age in exchange for their name to be added to the reaping with each Tessera claimed. Gale and Katniss have both applied for the members of their family since they were twelve.

One Tessera is only enough to feed one person a year and is collected each month, and even then it might not be enough. By the reaping of the 74th Hunger Games, Gale entered his name into the reaping 42 times.

7 Young Katniss & Gale

While Katniss is alone in the kitchen with Gale after her mother and Prim tended to his wounds, she thought back to when they met. “The boy I ran into in the woods years ago, the one who accused me of stealing from his traps.” The two of them fatherless and providing for their families at the age of 14. How she taught him to swim and how he carried her home when she twisted her knee, the lazy afternoons they would spend fishing, and how they no longer felt alone.

6 Katniss Thinking About Gale Volunteering

“For the first time, I reverse our positions in my head. I imagine watching Gale volunteering to save Rory in the reaping, having him torn from my life, becoming some strange girl’s lover to stay alive, and then coming home with her. Living next to her. Promising to marry her.” Katniss thinks these thoughts after nearly losing Gale in Catching Fire. “Gale is mine. I am his. Anything else is unthinkable.”

5 Quarter Quell Training

Haymitch, Peeta, and Katniss start training after they learn the Quarter Quell will be using victors as tributes. They note down information about their competitors, and then start their daily exercises: combat training, fighting hand to hand, climbing trees, running, muscle building, and throwing knives. “Gale even steps into the picture on Sundays, although he’s got no love for Peeta or Haymitch, and teaches us all he knows about snares.”

4 Katniss & Gale’s Goodbye

In the film, Katniss and Gale’s goodbye is final. In the books, Katniss isn’t as cold cut and determined in her decision. Gale comes into her room before she has to kill Snow. He gives her an arrowhead, and she asks him if it was his bomb that killed Prim. He says he and Beetee don’t know, but that it doesn’t matter, as she’ll always think about it. “That was the one thing I had going for me. Taking care of your family. Shoot straight, OK?” He touches her cheek and leaves. She wants to call him back, she wants to make peace with it, to “remember the circumstances under which he created the bomb,” but she can’t.

When she returns home, she sits at her and Gale’s hunting spot. “I close my eyes and count to ten, thinking that when I open them, he will have materialized without a sound as he so often did.” As she sits with Peeta, she realizes she didn’t need “Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred,” but Peeta’s bright rebirth, a “dandelion in the spring.”

3 He Doesn’t Kill Katniss

After Katniss kills Coin and Peeta stops her from taking her nightlock pill, Katniss turns to Gale. “I start screaming for Gale. I can’t find him in the throng, but he will know what I want. A good clean shot to end it all. Only there’s no arrow, no bullet. Is it possible he can’t see me? No. Above us on the giant screens placed around the City Circle, everyone can watch the whole thing being played out. He sees, he knows, but he doesn’t follow through. Just as I didn’t when he was captured. Sorry excuses for hunters and friends. Both of us.”

2 Hanging Tree Comparison

In both the films and the novels, Gale is shown to love Katniss. The two have an intimate relationship, having grown close through their shared turmoil and tragedy.

In the novels, Gale compares himself to the man in “The Hanging Tree” song, his tears causing Katniss to kiss him. “Maybe I’ll be like that man in ‘The Hanging Tree.’ Still waiting for an answer.”

1 Katniss & Gale’s Conversation About Peeta

The night before the reaping for the Quarter Quell, Katniss and Gale walk back into town together, and he admits to her “It’d be better if he were easier to hate.” Katniss responds, “If I could have just hated him in the arena, we all wouldn’t be in this mess now. He’d be dead and I’d be a happy little victor all by myself.” Gales asks, “And where would we be, Katniss?” to which she gives a practical answer, “Hunting. Like every Sunday.”

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