Cato

"She's dead. I stuck her myself."

- Cato

Cato was the male 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.

Biography
The huge, sinewy male tribute from District 2 was Katniss's main enemy in the 74th Hunger Games. Obscence, vulgar, and relentless, Cato used brute strength for almost everything and fought hard to win. He was a Career tribute and for all of his life he has trained for the Hunger Games. During the reapings, after Clove was chosen for the female tribute for District 2, Cato lunged forward and volunteered to be the male tribute since he had confidence in his abilities and believed he could win. He was the last tribute to die in the 74th Hunger Games, being clawed raw by muttations that the Gamemakers created with the dead tributes' DNA, and finally being shot in the head with an arrow by Katniss as an act of pity. Cato was also one of the only tributes that stuck in Katniss' head at both the reapings, and the interviews, along with Foxface, the unnamed male from 10, and Rue.

74th Hunger Games
In the training center, Cato and the other tributes trained and prepared for the Games. He trained in the swordmenship station and showed his skills with a sword. He most likely showed off his skills with a sword to the Gamemakers in his private training session. Since he is a Career, he most likely received a high score. Katniss later confirms it was 10.

Bloodbath
Cato, along with the other Careers, killed other tributes for supplies such as weapons, medicine, and food at the Cornucopia. Many of the tributes that had died on Day 1 were mostly killed by the Careers in the Cornucopia. After the Bloodbath, Cato, Peeta, and the other Career Tributes made an Alliance.

Alliance
As usual, the Career Tributes make an alliance. This time, other tributes who weren't Careers were 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, was unfortunate, as he had died in the bloodbath ). The Career pack begins to kill tributes through out the arena.

On the first night, the Careers go hunting for tributes and discover the District 8 female (74th HG) who had started a fire to stay warm. It is unknown who killed her, but it is thought to be Cato. But when the Gamemakers withhold the cannon, Peeta goes back to "finish the job," as the girl's heart was still beating. The Careers, however, are too busy arguing about the status of the girl to notice Katniss.

A few days after the starting day of the Hunger Games, the Careers managed to find and chase Katniss up in a tree. Cato attempts to kill Katniss, but falls off the tree, as the branches couldn't support him. Glimmer makes an attempt with her bow and arrows to shoot Katniss but, not being able to use the weapon properly, fails. The Careers, knowing that it would be hard to kill Katniss while she was up on a tree, make a camp below her. It is there when another Alliance begins to form between Katniss and Rue, although they made it official about 3 days later. Rue points out the Tracker Jacker Nest next to Katniss, who cuts the branch supporting it, and the Nest falls on the Careers. Glimmer and the District 4 female were killed from their stings, while Cato and the other Careers managed to escape to the nearby lake. Katniss runs in the other direction, but goes back for the bow and arrows that the a dying Glimmer is clutching, covered in tracker jacker sting pus. Katniss struggles to get it off of her, but she finally does when the hovercraft comes. Peeta comes back and is alarmed she is still there, and tells her to run. Cato then comes crashing through the brush and realizes what Peeta did. While Katniss escapes, Peeta fights off Cato, resulting in Peeta's leg wound, with the addition of the tracker jacker stings and the burn.

Two days later, Cato and the other Careers hunt for other tributes. The remaining Careers stumble upon the District 3 male and allow him into their alliance if he provides protection for their food and supplies. The Careers see the fire lit by Rue (as a decoy for the Careers) and go to kill the tribute who had started it. They debate about taking the District 3 Male with or leaving him behind to look out. They eventually decide to take him with them. After Foxface manages to sneak her way into the Cornucopia with a variety of complicated steps, Katniss realizes that the District 3 male had brought the mines back into working order by the clever way Foxface is able to find a path that keeps her safe from the land mines. After a few tries, Katniss then shoots a bag of apples, causing them to spill out and activate the mines, which destroys the Careers' supplies. The mine explosion also injured Katniss's left ear. This results in the District 3 male's downfall, as Cato snaps his neck in a fit of rage, while the other tributes were looking for something to salvage, but found nothing. Marvel and Clove were able to calm him down and tell him that the one who destroyed the supplies was probably killed in the explosion. They wait for night to see the faces of the tributes who were killed and find out the one who destroyed their supplies was not killed in the explosion. Cato, Clove and Marvel then go in the woods to hunt Katniss, knowing she was most likely responsible. Eventully Rue is found by a career and killed by his spear.

The Feast
During the Feast, Cato and Clove form a plan that Cato will scout the area for tributes hiding while Clove goes in for their backpack. Cato is out scouting Thresh, Katniss and Peeta while Clove attacks Katniss. When Thresh hears Clove talk about his fellow district tribute, Rue,he attacks Clove, by bringing a rock down hard on her temple. Cato heard her screams and rushes to Clove's safety, calling for her to "stay with him", but is too late. Katniss tells Thresh about what she did to honor Rue when she died and he lets Katniss go.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, containing the thing he needs most. During this time, Cato presumably kills Thresh a few days later in revenge for killing Clove. It is presumed that Cato's (and Clove's) pack contained 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 appeared out of nowhere chasing Cato out of the woods. Katniss and Peeta thought he was on his way to kill them, so Katniss shot an arrow at his chest, but it bounced off since he was wearing body armor. He rocketed past Peeta and Katniss and made his way to the Cornucopia, to which Katniss and Peeta followed, being chased by a pack of muttations. While Katniss was busy fighting off the muttations, Cato put 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 will fall to the muttations. Almost out of options, Peeta shakily draws an X on Cato's hand with his finger and Katniss realizes what this means almost immediately. Just as Cato realizes what Katniss is about to do, she shoots her arrow at Cato's hand, forcing him to release the almost unconscious Peeta and falling 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, almost killing him, but are eventually called back, leaving Cato to suffer. But after what is perceived to be hours, the cannon that signifies a tribute's death (in this case Cato's) has not sounded off. Katniss hears Cato's moans of pain and despair and decides to end it then and there. While Peeta holds her by her feet, she swings into the mouth of the Cornucopia and finds a savaged, barely alive Cato at the back. Cato tries to say please to Katniss, begging her to kill him so he would stop suffering. Out of pity not vengeance, she shoots an arrow through his skull, killing him instantly, and his cannon sounds off. Cato placed 3rd out of 24 tributes. It was hard for Katniss to go to Cato's district and face his family, seeing as she was the cause of his death.

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

Possesions
During the Games, Cato being a Career tribute, had many supplies such as medicine, food, water, and weapons but were destroyed by the mines set up by District 3 boy. Cato was left with his sword, which he got at the Cornucopia and later he recieves 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.

Description


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

Personality
Defiant and almost stupidly brave, Cato never gave in. After Katniss blew up the supplies he unleashed another side of him, a side that convinced Katniss he was not completely sane. Determined to win, he did everything he could to achieve his goal. Cato was bloodthirsty and he didn't care who he killed in the process, whose lives were spent, as long as he came out alive--which is the point of the Games. Cato was a ruthless Career who killed people, innocent or guilty.

Although he was a deadly enemy, he seemed to be at least partially loyal to his friends and allies. When his partner from District 2, Clove, was in the hands of the dangerous District 11 tribute, Thresh, Cato rushed to her aid as soon as he could. When he wasn't able to save her, however, and was genuinely upset when she died. At this time, they could have used the same deal as Peeta and Katniss and both have won.

Victims
Cato killed six tributes. Only two are known: Thresh and the District 3 boy

Film portrayal
Alexander Ludwig will portray Cato in the upcoming The Hunger Games film.