Lizard mutt

A lizard mutt in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2.

The lizard mutts were reptilian muttations that were used against rebels during the Battle of the Capitol.

History

On their seventh day in the Capitol, Squad 451 went into the city's underground maintenance tunnels to avoid the people and pods on the streets above, and they settled in for the night around three in the morning on the eighth day. Shortly before seven o'clock, they began to hear mutts hissing Katniss Everdeen's name. Due to his hijacking, Katniss thought Peeta Mellark was programmed to respond to the mutts because he whispered Katniss's name in his sleep, but when he woke up, he was still in control of himself.

The squad redistributed their weapons to arm Peeta and the camera crew, then continued on the course Katniss and Pollux had planned for them. When they heard the sounds of Avox slaves screaming, Katniss argued that she should lead the mutts off while the others go on ahead with the "mission". However, while they argued, the scent of blood and roses grew stronger, and they had a brief gunfight with six Peacekeepers before the lizard mutts appeared. The mutts decapitated the Peacekeepers before chasing the squad into the Transfer.

In the Transfer, Messalla was killed by a pod that melted his skin like candle wax, and Jackson and Leeg 1 died holding off mutts at the "Meat Grinder", a pod with dangerous, spinning blades. As Katniss, Peeta, Pollux, Cressida, and Gale Hawthorne climbed a ladder out of the Transfer, the mutts decapitated Homes, Castor, and Finnick Odair. Finally, Katniss said the keyword "nightlock" three times into the Holo, activating its self-destruct, and she dropped it to blow up the mutts below.

Film adaptation

"The arena has moved underground."

—President Coriolanus Snow

Castor's death.

In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Egeria alerted President Snow that Squad 451, although previously presumed dead, had been spotted alive on surveillance cameras heading underground. Sometime later, lizard mutts were sent after Katniss and her squad in the sewers. When Jackson turned around to look behind her, the mutts emerged to kill her first. The other members of the squad fled, and while running, Castor was ambushed and killed as well, then Homes.

The remaining soldiers came to a room where they had to fight the mutts head-on before they could escape, and eventually, Finnick fought them by himself so the others could climb the ladder out. However, when he tried to climb after them, he was pulled down and swarmed. He yelled Katniss's name, and she activated the Holo's self-destruct to kill the mutts and end his suffering. Since the mutts had been killed in the sewers, the squad never fought them in the Transfer.

Description

Each mutt was the size of a grown human and skittered around on all fours. They were naked with tight, white skin and clawed hands and feet. They also had long reptilian tails, heads that jutted forward, and their faces were a "mess of conflicting features". They gave off a strong scent of roses that was meant to unsettle those familiar with President Snow, and they hissed Katniss's name.

They came in great numbers and they were very durable, since they could withstand dozens of bullets and still keep coming. They tracked Katniss by her own scent, which drove them into a destructive frenzy, and they killed their victims by biting their necks to decapitate them.

Film adaptation

A lizard mutt attacking Katniss.

In Mockingjay - Part 2, the mutts were more humanoid in overall build, and they could move on two legs as well as four. Like some real cave-dwelling creatures, they lacked pigmentation and they had no eyes, so their other senses had strengthened to compensate. They also had reptilian nostrils and ears.

Victims

These were the deadliest known mutts in The Hunger Games trilogy, killing 3-5 named characters and multiple other unnamed victims.

Book	Film
Avoxes Peacekeepers Jackson (possible)1 Leeg 1 (possible)1 Castor Homes Finnick Odair	Jackson2 Castor Homes Finnick Odair

1. In the novel, Jackson and Leeg 1 were either killed by the mutts or the Meat Grinder.
2. In the film, Jackson was the mutts' first victim, and Leeg 1 had died before the squad ever headed underground.

Trivia

• Gale Hawthorne was the only person known to have survived a neck wound from the mutts.
• Finnick's wife, Annie Cresta, was traumatized from watching her district partner get beheaded during the 70th Hunger Games, only for the same thing to happen to her husband.
• In Mockingjay - Part 2, the lizard mutts were played by members of the stunt team in motion capture suits so the actors could get more physical with the combat.
• The lizard and snake mutts each killed four people in the film franchise.
• Due to their humanoid frames in Mockingjay - Part 2, some fans have speculated that the lizard mutts were modified humans— possibly made from Avoxes, due to human experimentation Snow witnessed in the Citadel as a young man.
• Despite Katniss's suspicion, it is unclear whether Peeta had truly been programmed to respond to the lizard mutts. He was known to whisper her name in his sleep during the 74th Hunger Games, long before he was ever hijacked.
  • However, in the film, he struggled more with his self-control during their escape, and he even told Katniss to leave him behind because he was a mutt.