Cato

"When we find her, I'll kill her in my own way, and no one interferes."

- Cato

Cato is a sixteen year old tribute from District 2 in the 74th Hunger Games and one of the main antagonists of The Hunger Games, due to being a Career Tribute. He is the leader of the Career Pack formed of tributes from Districts 1, 2 and 4.

Biography
This huge, strong, brutal male tribute from District 2 is Katniss's main enemy in the 74th Hunger Games. He is probably seen as the most dangerous threat to all the tributes, aside from dehydration or starvation, including all of the other Careers. Obscene, vulgar, and relentless, Cato uses brute strength for almost everything and fights hard to win. He is a Career tribute and for all of his life, has trained for the Hunger Games. During the reapings, after Clove is chosen/volunteers for the female tribute for District 2, Cato lunges forward and volunteers to be the male tribute since he had confidence in his abilities and believes he could win. He is the last tribute to die in the 74th Hunger Games, being clawed to the point of near death by muttations that the Gamemakers created with the dead tributes' DNA. He is finally killed by an arrow in the head, shot by Katniss as an act of pity. Cato is also one of the only tributes who stuck in Katniss' mind at both the reapings, and the interviews, along with Foxface, the unnamed male tribute from 10, and Rue. Cato is also the one who is responsible for severely injuring Peeta's leg.

74th Hunger Games
In the book, Cato trains at the swordmanship station and shows his skills with swords. He most likely shows off his skills with a sword to the Gamemakers in his private training session. Since he is a Career, he receives a high score of 10.

In the film, Cato enters the tribute parade wearing a Roman-like outfit along with his district partner Clove. Cato glares and listens to Katniss and Haymitch's conversation after the parade and gives them a dirty look. In the training center, Cato and the other tributes train and prepare for the Games. Cato sees Peeta's weakness and views him as a "meal" until Peeta shows his true strength, surprising Cato along with the others. Cato is angered when he thinks another tribute took his knife (when in fact Rue takes it while he isn't looking and climbs up high above the group to hide it from him) and gets into a fight with him until the peacekeepers separate them.

Bloodbath
Cato, along with the other Careers, kills other tributes for supplies such as weapons, medicine, and food at the Cornucopia. Many of the tributes who die on Day 1 are killed by the Careers in the Cornucopia. After the Bloodbath, Cato, Peeta, the District 3 Male, and the other Career Tributes make an Alliance.

Alliance
As is typical in the arena, the Career Tributes of the 74th Hunger Games make an alliance. Unusually, other tributes who are not Careers are added to the pack. The alliance includes Glimmer, Marvel, Clove, Cato, the District 3 Male, the District 4 Female, and Peeta (the District 4 Male, a Career tribute dies in the bloodbath). The Career pack begins to kill tributes throughout the arena. In the movie, it suggests that there is something going on between Glimmer and Cato. When Katniss looks down on the sleeping Careers, they are seen sleeping together. Also, in the arena, the audience rarely sees them apart; whilst Glimmer is interviewed, Cato is seen looking at her.

On the first night, the Careers go hunting for tributes and discover the District 8 female (74th HG) who has started a fire to keep warm. Cato attempts to kill her, but when the Gamemakers withhold the cannon, Peeta realizes something must be wrong, and goes back to "finish the job." When he leaves, the Careers argue about whether they should kill Peeta now, but they decide to let him stay, as he is their best chance of finding Katniss. A few days into the Hunger Games, just after the enormous fire brings the tributes closer, the Careers manage to find and chase Katniss up a tree. Cato attempts to follow and kill her, but falls, as the branches couldn't support him. Glimmer makes an attempt with her bow and arrows to shoot Katniss, but is inexperienced with it and misses. The Careers, knowing that it will be hard to kill Katniss while she is up in a tree, decide to make a camp below her, so she can not escape without them knowing.

Katniss sees Rue in a nearby tree, who silently points out the tracker jacker nest above Katniss, which is sedated from the smoke from the fire. Katniss cuts the branch away and throws it down on the Careers below. While Glimmer and the District 4 female are killed from their stings before they make it to safety, Cato and the other Careers manage to escape to the nearby lake. Katniss runs in the other direction, but goes back for the bow and arrows that a dying Glimmer is clutching, covered in tracker jacker-sting pus. Peeta returns and is alarmed that she is still there, and urges her to run. As she does, Cato then crashs through the bush and realizes what Peeta had done. While Katniss escapes, Peeta fights off Cato, resulting in Peeta's leg wound, with the addition of the tracker jacker stings and the burn.

Sometime afterwards, Cato and the other Careers come across the District 3 male, whom they let join their alliance on the condition that he would rewire the mines in the arena to protect their supplies. The Careers see the fire lit by Rue (as a decoy for the Careers) and go to kill the tribute who has started it, taking the District 3 male with them. When Foxface manages to steal some food from the Cornucopia with a series of carefully placed steps, Katniss realizes that the District 3 male had brought the mines back into working order, but Foxface has been stalking them and has found the path to safely reach the supplies, taking only a little at a time as to not alert them. Katniss then carefully shoots a bag of apples, causing them to spill out and activate the mines, which destroy the Careers' supplies. When Cato realizes this, he becomes furious with the District 3 boy's job, and snaps his neck, instantly killing him. The other Careers search for something to salvage, but find nothing. Marvel and Clove are able to calm him down by telling him that the one who destroyed the supplies was probably killed in the explosion. The mine explosion also injures Katniss's left ear, leaving her partially deaf.

The Feast
During the feast, Cato and Clove form a plan that Cato would scout the area for tributes hiding while Clove goes in for their backpack. Cato is out scouting Thresh, Katniss, and Peeta when Clove attacks Katniss after she makes a run for the table holding the supplies. When Thresh hears Clove talk about his fellow district tribute, Rue, he attacks Clove by throwing a stone hard to her skull. Katniss tells Thresh about their alliance together and how she had sung to Rue until she had died, and then covered her in flowers. Cato hears Clove's screams and rushes to Clove's safety, calling for her to "stay with him," but is too late. Thresh takes both his and Cato's packs and runs to the safety of his field, knowing Cato will pursue him rather than Katniss in order to claim his pack, which contains the thing he needs most. Cato presumably kills Thresh a few days later during a huge storm, in revenge for killing Clove. It is assumed that Cato's (and Clove's) pack contains armour, which would protect Cato and Clove from Katniss's arrows, as she was seen as the biggest threat left in the competition.

Death
On the last day of the Games, Wolf-like muttations appear out of nowhere chasing Cato out of the woods. Katniss and Peeta think he is on his way to kill them, so Katniss shoots an arrow at his chest, but it bounces off since he is wearing some sort of body armor. He rockets past Peeta and Katniss and makes his way to the Cornucopia, to which Katniss and Peeta follow, being chased by a pack of muttations. While Katniss is busy fighting off the muttations, Cato puts Peeta in a fierce head-lock, cutting off his ability to breathe. Katniss turns around, ready to shoot Cato with her bow when Cato points out that if she shoots him, both he and Peeta would fall to the muttations. While holding Peeta, Cato gives a speech about being a pawn of the Capitol and states that he only wanted to bring pride to his district, stating all he knew how to do was kill. Almost out of options, Peeta shakily draws an "X" in blood on Cato's hand with his finger and Katniss shoots her arrow at Cato's hand, forcing him to release the almost unconscious Peeta and fall to the mutts. At first Cato fights them off; the sounds of his sword impacting against the mutts' flesh and against the Cornucopia are heard for a long time before eventually he is disabled, leaving him at the muttations' mercy. The muttations brutally attack Cato for hours, but he is too weak to defend himself.

After what is perceived to be hours, Katniss hears Cato's moans of pain and despair and decides to use her final arrow to end his suffering. She jumps into the mouth of the Cornucopia and finds a savagely-bloodied, barely alive Cato at the back. He mouths "please," and out of pity, not vengeance, she shoots the arrow through his skull, killing him instantly. Cato places 3rd out of the 24 tributes.

In the film, Cato doesn't suffer for very long. After falling to the muttations, Katniss shoots an arrow at him and the wolf creatures.

Catching Fire
In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta went to District 2 on their victory tour and saw Cato's grieving family.

Possessions
During the Games, Cato, being a Career tribute, had many supplies such as medicine, food, water, and weapons from the Cornucopia, but they were destroyed by the mines set up by District 3 boy. Cato was left with his sword, and later he recieved some kind of high tech Capitol body armor, most likely from his District 2 backpack from the feast. This allowed him to deflect arrows and knives when they were thrown at his chest. However, it was too strong when he was attacked by the muttations, which allowed him to suffer for hours while the muttations attempted to tear into his flesh.

Description


Strong, muscular, good-looking, and blond, the monstrous boy from District 2 has no restraint when it comes to killing, and is thought to be the most dangerous tribute in the game. He uses all the weapons he can get his hands on. He can easily choke anyone within seconds of getting his hands on their throats, and he proves this raw, physical power by grabbing another tribute (the boy from District 3) and snapping his neck almost instantly. He is one of the most feared tribute in the Games, but is considered the second strongest of the tributes (Thresh being first). This reputation is solidified after supposedly killing Thresh.

Personality
Defiant and brave, Cato never gives in. After Katniss blows up the supplies, he unleashs another side of him, a side that convinces Katniss he is not completely sane, as he becomes enraged and snaps the District 3 male's neck. Determined to win, he does everything he can to achieve his goal. Cato is bloodthirsty and he does not care who he kills in the process, whose lives are spent, as long as he comes out alive. He later shows compassion and humanity when Clove is killed, and in the films, by giving a speech at the end about being a pawn in The Capitol's games.

Despite his deadly nature, Cato seems to be at least partially loyal to his friends and allies. When his partner from District 2, Clove, is at the mercy of the dangerous District 11 tribute, Thresh, he rushes to her aid, having been searching for Katniss and Peeta. When he arrives, he begs her to stay alive, but he is too late. Cato is genuinely saddened by her death, and in another fit of rage, he chases down Thresh to avenge her death. At the time, they could have used the same deal as Katniss and Peeta and both have been crowned victors.

Victims
Cato, along with the Careers, kills at least six tributes in total. He himself kills at least two tributes. The ones known to be killed by him were most notably Thresh (presumably) and the boy from District 3.

In the film, Cato does not kill Thresh, but is shown killing the District 3 boy by breaking his neck. He is also shown killing the boy from District 4 at the bloodbath who, if hadn't been killed, would have been Cato's ally.

It does not show Cato killing the girl from District 8, but rather he hands his sword to Glimmer, who is presumed to do the deed, though this does not happen in the book, and he is reported to say, "I stuck her myself."

Clove
In the book, it is hinted that Cato and Clove might have known each other before the Games (since they were from the same district) and had a good relationship. This can be seen in the feast when Thresh dents Clove's skull with a rock and just before he kills her, Clove screams Cato's name. Moments later, Katniss sees Cato kneel beside Clove and, despite his brutal emotions and actions, begs her to stay with him, sounding very hopeless and pained. However, in the movie, Cato and Clove do not seem to have much of a relationship, and Cato does not appear when Clove dies, although she screams his name twice. However, this could be because Katniss leaves shortly after Clove's death, thus possibly leaving before Cato has time to arrive.

Glimmer
Although Glimmer and Cato had little to no known interaction in the book, they have a romantic interest in each other in the film. Throughout the course of the film, the two are seen talking a lot, holding hands, and before her death, Glimmer is sleeping against Cato, who has his arm around her.

Film portrayal
Alexander Ludwig portrayed Cato in The Hunger Games film. He also played Will Stanton in The Seeker and Seth in Race to Witch Mountain.