Clove

"Forget it, District Twelve. We're going to kill you. Just like we did your pathetic little ally... what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well first Rue, then you, and then I think we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy. How does that sound?"

- Clove

Clove was the female tribute from District 2 in the 74th Hunger Games. She was also a ruthless and highly skilled Career Tribute who received a 10 for her training score in the 74th Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games


Clove was the female representative from District 2 and an expert knife thrower. She tried to kill Katniss with a knife at the bloodbath. Although she's smaller than most of the other tributes, she is highly feared because of her superb knife-throwing techniques and sadistic personality. Clove along with her district partner, Cato, were suited up in a type of Roman gladiator theme for the parade. The Career pack stayed together during the training sessions. During her private session with the gamemakers, Clove most likely showed them her knife-throwing skills and received a score of 10.

Clove made the first kill in the Games during the bloodbath (in the book), when she threw a knife into the male tribute from District 9's back. She targeted Katniss next and threw a knife at her head, but Katniss shielded herself with her pack and fled. Instead of pursuing Katniss, Clove continued participating in the massacre at the Cornucopia. In the film, she also kills the female tribute from District 7 during the bloodbath. As in most Games, the Career Tributes teamed up together at the beginning with the addition of Peeta Mellark, the male tribute from District 12, and the male tribute from District 3 (the Career Tributes usually consist of the those from Districts 1, 2, and 4 however in the film the District 4 tributes were not included). The Careers picked the Cornucopia clean of weapons and supplies and set out in the early morning to catch any victims off-guard. They came across the female from District 8 after seeing her fire, and they wounded her severely. When Peeta left the group to finish her off, Clove and the other Careers made the decision to keep Peeta alive in the hopes that he would eventually lead them to Katniss.

When the Careers next found Katniss, they chased her, and she climbed up a tree to safety. The Careers tried, but were unable to climb the tree (due to the branches breaking under their weight), and instead set up camp below. That night, Rue appeared in the tree below Katniss by way of climbing through the trees. Rue motioned to Katniss about the tracker jacker nest above her, after which Katniss got the idea to drop the nest on the Careers. She sawed through the branch holding the nest while the anthem played, to make sure the tracker jackers wouldn't notice a disturbance and come after her, and the Careers wouldn't hear. The nest dropped down from the tree and Clove was stung multiple times. Glimmer, the female tribute from District 1, was stung so many times from the tracker jackers she had died, along with the girl from District 4 (in the book). Katniss then jumped down from the tree after all the other tributes had run away and took Glimmer's bow and arrows.

Next Clove, Cato, Marvel, and the male from District 3 started hunting down Rue while Katniss successfully destroyed all of the remaining Careers' supplies, after which Cato killed the District 3 male out of anger, because he wasn't looking out for the supplies. Clove and Marvel calmed Cato down long enough to explain to him that the tribute who destroyed their supplies must have died, so they waited for nightfall. Only then did they realize that the "bomber" was still alive, so Clove, Marvel and Cato went hunting for Katniss.

The feast
The feast was Clove's biggest scene. Clove and Cato formed a plan, which involved Clove going in for their District 2 backpack with Cato covering her by scouting the area for hiding tributes. When Katniss came to get the medicine for Peeta, Clove threw a knife at Katniss, which caught her above the eye, and tackled her to the ground, pinning her down. Katniss gives an attempt to bite her hand, but she holds Katniss' head down by her hair. Clove asked her what is in her bag and expressed her hate towards Katniss. She taunted Katniss about Rue's death, and said she was going to give Katniss a slow, painful one--"I promised Cato if he let me have you, I'd give the audience a good show." She reached into her jacket to select a knife to cut up Katniss's face, starting with her lips as she would no longer need them to kiss "Lover Boy" (Peeta). Katniss spat blood into Clove's face, making her flush with rage. Thresh then grabs her and pulls her off Katniss, accusing her of killing Rue. Thresh doesn't believe her when she says it wasn't she who killed Rue.

Death
Terrified, Clove truthfully told Thresh it wasn't her who killed Rue and screams for Cato, but Thresh believed she was bluffing and dents her temple with a stone, causing internal bleeding, which she died from a few minutes afterwards, though in the movie, he slams her repeatedly against the Cornucopia. Thresh asked Katniss about Rue, and spares her life when she told him that they had been allies and she had honored her death and avenged her by killing Marvel. Cato, her District partner, rushed to save Clove, but arrived too late. Despite his callous exterior, Cato seemed hurt after losing Clove, and avenged her death by killing Thresh.

Clove placed 6th out of the 24 tributes. In the movie Clove's death was slightly changed. The final edit was Thresh slamming her head into the steel wall of the Cornucopia causing either a broken neck, cracked skull, or broken ribs that punctured her heart.

Mutt
When the wolf muttations of the fallen tributes appeared chasing Cato, Clove's was one of the pack, with dark fur. It is unknown if the muttation of Clove survived the battle between the pack and Cato, Peeta, and Katniss.

Victims
Clove was able to kill several tributes in the 74th Hunger Games, though the exact number is uncertain. After Clove gained a pack of knives, she threw one in the back of the male tribute of District 9, while he was fighting over a pack with Katniss. She targeted Katniss next, aiming a knife at her head, but Katniss blocked it with her pack and escaped. Instead of chasing Katniss, Clove stayed to kill more tributes in the Cornucopia, and later helped the Careers kill the girl from District 8, and, possibly, the boy from District 10.

Clove and the other Careers, Cato, Marvel, and possibly the District 3 Male also most likely killed the boy from District 10, but there is no information to who did this. In the 74th Hunger Games, Clove was the only person who got close to killing Katniss, two times—at the Bloodbath and the Feast, and certainly seemed to have a deep hatred for her, perhaps because Katniss got a higher score than her.

In the film, it was shown that Clove killed the girl from District 7.

Catching Fire
In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta went to District 2 on their victory tour where they see Clove's grieving family, and try to avoid eye contact. Katniss states that the appearance in District 2 was awful, and that both the tributes Cato and Clove could have made it home if not for her and Peeta.

Clove appeared in one of Katniss' nightmares before the 75th Hunger Games. She stabbed Katniss in the cheek and then turned into a mutt and began to lick Katniss' wound, causing Katniss great pain. Clove reminded her that she can't run away from her fears and the Hunger Games themselves, thereafter turning into a mutt and chasing Katniss.

Possessions
In the Games, Clove being a Career tribute, had medicine, food, water, weapons and other supplies from the Cornucopia. The supplies were destroyed from the mines set by the boy tribute from District 3, leaving her with her knives and whatever she had left in her pack.

Weapons
In the book it is described that Clove had a large selection of knives that were attached to the inside of her jacket. This is also portrayed in the film. The weapons that she had gave Clove such a big advantage because it is shown that she is very skillful with knives when she shows off in the training center and during the 74th Games as well.

Cato
In the book, during the feast, Cato showed that he was not completely ruthless, and that he did in fact care somewhat about Clove. While Cato was running towards Clove after Thresh had dented her skull, Katniss stated that as Cato called Clove's name, his voice sounded very "pained", and despite its futility, he begged Clove to "stay with him" as she died. He later avenged Clove's death by presumably killing Thresh. It is hinted that he and Clove might have known each other before the games (since they're from the same district) and had a good relationship (unknown if it was romantic or friendly). However, in the film, Cato instead seemed interested in Glimmer, and Clove and Cato seemed to have no relationship between each other, as he was not shown coming for Clove's aid in the feast when she screamed his name twice. However, this might have been because Katniss left shortly after Clove's death.

Katniss
Clove envied Katniss's high training score (an 11) and hated her more than the other tributes did. In fact, Clove somehow managed to almost kill Katniss two times while the other tributes, including the other Careers, couldn't. In the feast, Clove seemed joyful when she was about to torture Katniss to death.

Personality
Clove was strong, sadistic, dangerous and powerful. She has a strong hatred for Katniss due to her high score given by the Gamemakers. When she had captured Katniss at the Feast, she joyfully said she was going to make it a slow and torturous death. Clove is also smart, having supported Marvel in his idea to keep Peeta alive to get to Katniss, and was smart enough to go to the lake to heal her tracker jacker wounds, and was also instinctive enough to go back to the Cornucopia instead of chasing Katniss. She was raised with the Career mindset.

Physical appearance
Clove, like most Careers, was strong, healthy, brawny and fit. She had dark hair (while her mutt had dark fur). Clove was described as being 5'4", making her slightly smaller than most of the other tributes.

Film portrayal
Clove was portrayed by Isabelle Fuhrman in The Hunger Games film. Fuhrman had originally auditioned for the role of Katniss, but she was told that she was too young, only 15, and got a callback asking if she wanted to audition for Clove instead.

Trivia

 * In the film, she was given 5-1 odds, just like Marvel.
 * Clove's death was changed in the film. The final edit was Thresh slamming her into the steel wall of the Cornucopia until her head cracks and she dies.
 * Clove's name means to cleave, which means to split with a sharp instrument (which makes sense since Clove is very skilled with knives)
 * It is stated that they made Clove extremely skilled and a little mentally off in the film, due to the fact that Fuhrman was smaller than the other actors who played the Career Tributes. Also, the Career Tributes were supposed to be bigger than most of the other tributes to make them more feared, but by making Clove an expert with knives and a little mentally unstable, she was able to be just as intimidating.
 * Although not mentioned in the book, Clove's interview angle is described as "sarcastic with a little sweetness" in the The Hunger Games: Tribute Guide.
 * In the film, Clove got a training score of 10, only one point less than Katniss's.
 * Peeta paints a picture of Clove arranging her knives in her jacket after the Games.
 * According to Linda Flowers, the film's hair stylist, Clove's arena hairstyle was inspired by the "bad girls" in Japanese action movies, who had high ponytails. To make it look more original, they made it like little balls coming down her head.