Cato

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

- Cato

Cato was a 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 was 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 was Katniss's main enemy in the 74th Hunger Games. He was 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 used brute strength for almost everything and fought hard to win. He was a Career tribute and for all of his life, had 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 to death 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 tribute from 10, and Rue. Cato was also the one who was responsible for severely injuring Peeta's leg.

74th Hunger Games
In the training center, Cato and the other tributes trained and prepared for the Games. He trained in the swordmanship station and showed his skills with swords. 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 killed by the Careers in the Cornucopia. After the Bloodbath, Cato, Peeta, the District 3 Male, and the other Career Tributes made an Alliance.

Alliance
As is typical in the arena, the Career Tributes of the 74th Hunger Games made an alliance. Unusually, other tributes who weren't Careers were added to the pack. The alliance included 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 began to kill tributes throughout the arena.

On the first night, the Careers went hunting for tributes and discovered the District 8 female (74th HG) who had started a fire to keep warm. Cato attempted to kill her, but when the Gamemakers withhold the cannon, Peeta realizes something must be wrong, and went back to "finish the job". When he left, the Careers argued about whether they should kill Peeta now, but they decided to let him stay, as he was their best chance of finding Katniss. A few days into the Hunger Games, just after the enormous fire brings the tributes closer, the Careers managed to find and chase Katniss up a tree. Cato attempted to follow and kill her, but fell, as the branches couldn't support him. Glimmer made an attempt with her bow and arrows to shoot Katniss, but was inexperienced with it and failed. The Careers, knowing that it would be hard to kill Katniss while she was up in a tree, decided to make a camp below her, so she could not escape without them knowing.

In the tree Katniss met Rue, who silently pointed out the tracker jacker nest next to Katniss, which was sedated from the fire. Katniss cut the branch away and threw it down on the Careers below. While Glimmer and the District 4 female were killed from their stings before they made it to safety, Cato and the other Careers managed to escape to the nearby lake. Katniss ran in the other direction, but went back for the bow and arrows that a dying Glimmer was clutching, covered in tracker jacker sting pus. Peeta returned and was alarmed that she was still there, and urged her to run. As she did, Cato then crashed through the bush and realized what Peeta had done. While Katniss escaped, Peeta fought 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 came 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 saw the fire lit by Rue (as a decoy for the Careers) and went to kill the tribute who had started it, taking the District 3 male with them. When Foxface managed to steal some food from the Cornucopia with a series of carefully placed steps, Katniss realized that the District 3 male had brought the mines back into working order, but Foxface had been stalking them and had found the path to safely reach the supplies, taking only a little at a time as to not alert them. Katniss then carefully shot a bag of apples, causing them to spill out and activate the mines, which destroyed the Careers' supplies. The mine explosion also injured Katniss's left ear, leaving her partially deaf. When Cato realized this, he became furious with the District 3 boy's job and snapped his neck in a fit of rage while the other Careers searched 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.

The feast
During the feast, Cato and Clove formed a plan that Cato would scout the area for tributes hiding while Clove went in for their backpack. Cato was out scouting Thresh, Katniss and Peeta while Clove attacked Katniss. When Thresh heard Clove talk about his fellow district tribute, Rue, he attacked Clove by throwing a stone hard to her skull. Katniss told Thresh about their alliance together and how she had sung to Rue until she had died, and then covered her in flowers. Cato heard Clove's screams and rushed to Clove's safety, calling for her to "stay with him", but was too late. Thresh took both his and Cato's packs and ran to the safety of his field, knowing Cato would pursue him rather than Katniss in order to claim his pack, containing the thing he needed most. Cato presumably killed Thresh a few days later during a huge storm, in revenge for killing Clove. It is assumed 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 turned around, ready to shoot Cato with her bow when Cato pointed out that if she shot him, both he and Peeta would fall to the muttations. Almost out of options, Peeta shakily drew an "X" on Cato's hand with his finger and Katniss shot her arrow at Cato's hand, forcing him to release the almost unconscious Peeta and falling to the mutts. At first Cato fought them off; the sounds of his sword impacting against the mutts' flesh and against the Cornucopia were heard for a long time before eventually he was disabled, leaving him at the muttations' mercy. The muttations brutally attacked Cato for hours, but he was too weak to defend himself and his armour was protecting him from death. After what was perceived to be hours, Katniss heard Cato's moans of pain and despair and decided to use her final arrow to end his suffering. She swung into the mouth of the Cornucopia and found a savaged, barely alive Cato at the back. He mouthed 'please' and out of pity, not vengeance, she shot the arrow through his skull, killing him instantly. Cato placed 3rd out of 24 tributes.

Catching Fire
In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta went to District 2 on their victory tour and saw Cato's furious and grieving family. They looked as though they could've killed her right then.

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 and muscular,good looking, the monstrous boy, Cato, 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 (the boy from district 3) 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 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.

Despite his deadly nature, Cato seemed to be at least partially loyal to his friends and allies. When his partner from District 2, Clove, was at the mercy of the dangerous District 11 tribute, Thresh, he rushed to her aid, having been searching Katniss and Peeta. When he arrived, he begged her to stay alive, but he was too late. Cato was genuinely saddened by her death, and in another fit of rage, he chased down Thresh to avenge her. 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, killed at least six tributes in total. He himself killed two tributes: most notably Thresh (presumably) and the boy from District 3.

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