50th Hunger Games

50th Hunger Games
Also known as	Second Quarter Quell
Special features	48 tributes (2 male and 2 female from each district)
Victor	Haymitch Abernathy
Victor's home	District 12
Arena	Poison paradise
Duration	At least 4 days
Appearance	Sunrise on the Reaping
Mentioned	Catching Fire
Preceded by	49th Hunger Games Quarter Quell: 25th Hunger Games
Followed by	51st Hunger Games Quarter Quell: 75th Hunger Games

"He reads from the square of paper in the same onerous voice he used for ours, informing Panem that in honor of the Quarter Quell, there will be twice the number of tributes."

—The 50th Hunger Games twist announcement

The 50th Hunger Games was the year of the second Quarter Quell, held 24 years before the start of the trilogy. It is the subject of the prequel novel Sunrise on the Reaping as well as its film adaptation. The victor was Haymitch Abernathy from District 12.

Tributes

Coriolanus Snow read off a card that was supposedly left 50 years ago by the original creators of the Games, stating that as a reminder that two rebels died for every Capitol citizen, twice the number of regular tributes were to be sent into the Games: two girls and two boys per district, for a total of 48.

District	Male tributes	Female tributes
District 1		Unnamed female
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12	Haymitch Abernathy Unnamed male	Maysilee Donner Unnamed female

Arena

The arena was described as "the most breathtaking place imaginable." The Cornucopia sat in the middle of a sweet-smelling green meadow, and the sky was azure blue with fluffy, billowing white clouds. The meadow stretched for miles, and far in the distance there were woods on one side, and a snowcapped mountain on the other, which was later revealed to be a deadly volcano.

Everything in the arena was lethally poisonous, including the plants growing in the arena, the water in the stream, the butterfly stings, and even the scent of the flowers when inhaled too directly. The only sources of safe food and drink in the arena were the rainwater and the food from the Cornucopia.

Known muttations

• Fluffy, golden, carnivorous squirrels
• Poisonous stinging butterflies
• Candy pink birds with long, thin beaks

Summary

Pre-Games

From District 12, an unnamed girl from the Seam was reaped first by their unnamed female escort. The second tribute was Maysilee Donner, who was clinging to her twin sister and her friend, Mrs. Everdeen, before "bravely [disengaging] herself". She was followed by an unnamed, undescribed male, leaving Haymitch Abernathy as the last tribute called. Upon arriving in the Capitol, the boys and girls from District 12 wore "awful" coal miner costumes for the Tribute Parade.

Interviews

Caesar: "So, Haymitch, what do you think of the Games having one hundred percent more competitors than usual?"
Haymitch: "I don't see that it makes much difference. They'll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure my odds will be roughly the same."

—Catching Fire, Chapter 14

This year, Caesar Flickerman wore his usual twinkling midnight blue suit, though he had dark green hair and his eyelids and lips were done up to match. In his interview, Haymitch came across as snarky, arrogant, and indifferent. Since there were twice as many tributes, either each one had less than the usual three minutes per interview, or the total length of the television program was doubled to accommodate them all.

---

The Games

Day 1

Most tributes were distracted by the beauty of the arena when the gong sounded, so Haymitch was able to get a backpack and weapons from the Cornucopia and head into the woods before most of his competitors even left their plates. Maysilee Donner came away from the Cornucopia with a small backpack, which contained a bowl, some dried beef, and a blowgun with twenty-four darts.

In total, 18 of the 48 tributes were killed in the bloodbath, and an alliance of ten Career Tributes claimed the Cornucopia's remaining supplies. This included the only safe food and drink in the arena.

• Deaths: 18

Days 2-3

Traveling with the mountain far behind him, Haymitch encountered stinging butterflies and carnivorous squirrel mutts in the woods. Meanwhile, the Careers scoured the mountain area for potential victims for the first three days, and during this time, a number of tributes fell victim to the arena's many poisonous substances. Maysilee was able to use these poisons to turn her darts into deadly weapons.

• Deaths: 5

Day 4

On the fourth day, a volcanic eruption killed another twelve tributes, including five Careers. The lava flows made half the arena inaccessible, driving the thirteen remaining tributes into the woods.

• Deaths: 12 - five Careers, seven others

Unknown period

Haymitch continued moving in the same direction, but a hedge maze forced him to circle back to the middle of the woods, where he ran into three of the surviving Careers. Despite his size disadvantage, Haymitch made up for it with speed; he killed two with his knife before he was disarmed by the third, an unknown male. When the Career tried to slit Haymitch's throat, Maysilee shot him with a poison dart, and she and Haymitch became allies.

• Deaths: 3 - two Careers, one male Career

Together, Haymitch and Maysilee were able to get more rest, devise a system to harvest more rainwater, and share food from the dead tributes' packs, all while continuing on the course Haymitch had been set on. He explained that he was trying to get to the edge of the arena. During this time, five more tributes died. This brought both the remaining District 12 tributes into the final five.

• Deaths: 5

Last day

Eventually, using a blowtorch from one of the dead Careers' backpacks, Haymitch and Maysilee got through a dense hedge and reached "flat, dry earth" before a cliff edge, marking the end of the arena. With only five tributes remaining, Maysilee broke off the alliance when Haymitch refused to go back.

Once Maysilee left, Haymitch kicked a pebble off the cliff into the force field. Surprised to see the pebble bounce back, he threw a larger rock and watched it do the same. He laughed, but he was cut off by the sound of Maysilee screaming. By the time he reached her, candy pink birds had skewered her neck with their beaks, so all he could do was hold her hand as she died.

Later that day, another tribute was killed in combat, and one more was eaten by fluffy golden squirrels. This left Haymitch and the District 1 female as the final two. Both sustained nearly fatal wounds in their battle; Haymitch cut out her eye, and she disemboweled him with her axe. He had to hold his intestines in while he fled.

She chased him to the cliff and threw her axe, but Haymitch collapsed on the ground, dodging the attack. Due to the severity of his wounds, she thought she could outlast him even without her weapon, but Haymitch knew the axe would be flung back by the force field and lodge itself in her head. She died instantly, leaving Haymitch as the victor.

• Deaths: 4 - Maysilee, two unknown tributes, District 1 female

---

Aftermath

Haymitch's stunt with the force field made the Capitol look foolish. In retaliation, Haymitch's mother, younger brother, and girlfriend were all killed in the two weeks after the Games. Depressed by the loss of his family and forced to mentor year after year of doomed tributes, Haymitch developed an alcohol dependency and his life fell into disrepair.

Placing

• 1st - Haymitch Abernathy - victor
• 2nd (Last day) - District 1 - killed by her axe when it rebounded after she threw it into the force field.
• 3rd (Last day) - eaten by squirrel mutts.
• 4th (Last day) - killed in combat with another tribute.
• 5th (Last day) - Maysilee Donner - skewered through the neck by bird mutts.
• 10th-6th - Unknown.
• 11th - Unknown male Career - killed by Maysilee with a poison dart.
• 13th-12th - Two Careers - killed by Haymitch with his knife.
• 14th-25th (Day 4) - died in the volcanic eruption.
  • Five Careers and seven others
• 26th-30th (Days 2-3) - killed in combat or poisoned by the arena.
• 31st-48th (Day 1) - killed in the initial Cornucopia bloodbath.

Trivia

• Haymitch is the second District 12 victor, the district's first male victor, and their first victor in forty years. He's also the only victor from 12 who had to mentor tributes.
• Maysilee Donner was the only known District 12 tribute to make it to the final five who did not survive to become a victor. She was also one of only two known merchant tributes, the other being Peeta Mellark.
• An entire chapter was dedicated to recounting the 50th Hunger Games in Catching Fire, when Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark watched an edited recap. This was not included in the film adaptation.
• In the second Quarter Quell, 18 out of 48 died in the bloodbath alone. This was the deadliest bloodbath in Hunger Games history.
  • Despite this, it took four days for 75% to be killed because the number of tributes overall had been doubled. Nearly half the casualties were caused by Gamemaker traps.
  • In the third Quarter Quell, 18 out of 24 tributes (75%) died within three days, and most casualties were caused by other tributes.
  • In a reversal of the 50th Hunger Games, the Cornucopia in the 75th Hunger Games only provided weapons, so food and water had to be acquired from the arena itself or through sponsor gifts.