Cato

"She's dead. I struck her myself!"

- Cato

Cato was the gay male tribute from District 2 in the 74th Hunger Games and one of the main antagonists of The Hunger Games.

Bloodbath
Cato, along with the other Careers, killed 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, and the other Career Tributes made an Alliance.

Alliance
As usual, the Career Tributes make an alliance. Though this time, other tributes who weren't Careers were added to the pack. The alliance includes Glimmer, Marvel, Clove, Cato, the District 4 Female, the District 3 Male, and Peeta. The District 4 Boy, a Career Tribute, was unfortunate, as he had died in the Cornucopia. 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 girl who had started a fire to stay warm. Cato kills her with his sword. The gamemakers withhold the cannon hoping the careers find Katniss in the tree above while Peeta goes back and pretends to "finish up the job."

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, but is unable to climb up the tree, as the branches were broken. 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. The nest falls on the Careers. Glimmer and the District 4 female were killed from the multiple 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 also comes back and tells her to run, then Cato comes and realizes whats happening. While Katniss escapes, Peeta fights off Cato, resulting in Peeta's heavy beating, with the addition of the Tracker Jacker stings and the burn.

A few days Later, Cato and the other Careers start to hunt for other Tributes.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. Katniss then shoots a bag of apples, they fall, and the mines explode, resulting in the blowing up of the Career's stash of food and supplies. The Mine explosion deafened Katniss's left ear. This results in the District 3 Male's downfall, as Cato snaps his neck in a fit of rage. 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 for tributes.

The feast
While Clove was being held by Thresh, and Cato was out scouting, Cato heard her screams. Cato rushed to Clove's safety and he calls for her to "stay with him," but it was too late. Thresh then takes both Cato's and his own bag and runs to the safety of his field. Cato is forced to chase Thresh to claim back his bag with what he desperately needs the most. This was where Cato presumably killed Thresh in revenge for killing Clove. Thresh's death brings great sorrow to Katniss.

Death
"The raw hunk of meat that used to be my enemy makes a sound, and I know where his mouth is. And I think the word he is trying to say is please. Pity, not vengeance, sends my arrow flying into his skull."

- Katniss

After days of surviving in the Hunger Games by killing and destroying, it was finally Cato's turn to perish. 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, he will fall to the muttations with Peeta locked in his arms. Almost out of options, Peeta shakily draws an X on Cato's hand with his finger and Katniss realizes what this means almost immediately. 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 begin to attack Cato and almost kill him but they retreat and leave him 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. They can hear the moans and groans of Cato's suffering, and Katniss 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 bloody, raw, half dead Cato in the back. Cato tries to say please for Katniss to kill him so he would stop suffering. Out of pity not vengeance, she shoots an arrow through his skull and his cannon sounds off. Cato placed 3rd out of 24 tributes.

Catching Fire
In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta went to District 2 on their victory tour and the residents yelled at them, saying that Clove and Cato could have made it back home if not for her and Peeta.

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 body armor most likely from his District 2 backpack from the feast.

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 the most feared man in the games, but was considered the second strongest of the tributes (Thresh being first). This reputation was solidified after killing his friend/fellow career tribute as well as the imposingly 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 blood thirsty 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 is a Career who killed people, innocent or guilty.

Although he was a deadly enemy, he seemed to be at least partially loyal to his friends. 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. 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 mostly killed a few tributes during Bloodbath day in the Cornucopia. Later when the supplies were blown up, Cato was in a fit of rage and snapped Distict 3 boy's neck. The Careers (including Cato) killed the male tribute from 10. After Thresh killed Clove he took the backpack for District 2 during the Feast and forced Cato to chase him. During this Cato fought Thresh and killed him.

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