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Spoiler Alert! This page may contain plot details relating to Sunrise on the Reaping or unintentionally spoil elements of the book. |
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- "I had a friend who went that year, Maysilee Donner. Her parents owned the sweetshop. They gave me her songbird after. A canary."
- —Asterid Everdeen about Maysilee Donner[src]
Maysilee Donner was one of the female tributes from District 12 in the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second Quarter Quell.[2] She placed 4th out of 48 in her Games and was an ally of Haymitch Abernathy.[2] She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donner. She was Merrilee Undersee's twin sister and Madge Undersee's maternal aunt.[5] She was the original owner of the mockingjay pin.[5]
Quick Answers
Who was the original owner of the mockingjay pin in the Hunger Games?
What was Maysilee Donner's relationship with Madge Undersee?
Where did Maysilee Donner live before participating in the Hunger Games?
Biography[]
Before the Games, Maysilee Donner lived with her parents and twin sister Merrilee above a sweet shop on the merchant side of District 12. She was the best friend of Asterid Everdeen, and she also had a pet canary.[6] She often teased other children, telling Louella McCoy's sister that she looked like she used coal dust for powder, and calling Haymitch Abernathy "itchy itchy Haymitchy" when he had chiggers.[7] Maysilee was often dressed in the same clothing as her sister by her mother. She wears various necklaces to be herself. [8]
The mockingjay pin worn by Katniss Everdeen since the 74th Hunger Games[9] was originally Maysilee's[2]. She disliked the pin however due to the fact that the bird was half mutt, and that her sister was gifted a hummingbird pin instead. She wanted to return it to Tam Amber and have it melted down and remade into something prettier, but he declined. She then kept the pin in her dresser, much to Lenore Dove Baird's disdain.[10] It later became a symbol for the second rebellion against the Capitol.[11][12][13]
50th Hunger Games[]
Maysilee was one of the four tributes from District 12 in the 50th Hunger Games, along with Haymitch Abernathy, Wyatt Callow and Louella McCoy.[2] The usual number of contestants from each district was two (one male and one female), but because the 50th Hunger Games was a Quarter Quell, the Capitol demanded that twice the number of tributes be reaped for the event. They chose this to remind the districts that for every Capitol citizen that was killed during the Dark Days, two rebels were also killed.[6] Both Asterid and Merrilee were seen clinging to Maysilee at the reaping.[2] Her reaping was a surprise, as affluent town children are rarely chosen.[4]
During the train ride to the Capitol, Maysilee defends Louella from Drusilla Sickle's insult. The two argue, which leads to Maysilee slapping the woman and the woman beating her with her heel. Maysilee gains several welts, and insults Drusilla further. When Drusilla leaves, Maysilee tears up from the pain due to never being whipped before. As the tributes from twelve begin to sleep in their room on the train, she asks Haymitch about his necklace. She wants to see it, but Haymitch refuses due to it being personal.[14]
At the Academy's gym, she gets showered down and given a make-over. She pokes fun at Silka Sharp's outfit while there, as they did not hit it off in the locker room. As they are led out on the chariots, one of the crowd members tries to jab his cane in her face, but falls into the avenue. The horses pulling the chariot lose control and begin to run wild, causing the cart to crash but she and Wyatt manage to hold onto the railings. Louella and Haymitch are sent flying, and Louella dies from her skull hitting the floor. Maysilee and Wyatt join the other two, and she takes off a beaded necklace and places the necklace around the little girl's neck, as she was originally going to give it to her as her token. As Peacekeepers begin to come up to them, Maysilee encourages Haymitch to run and make them fight for her, as she doesn't belong to them. Afterwards, Maysilee complements Haymitch on showing the crowd not to mess with District 12.[15] Later at the apartment she and the remaining tributes of District 12 meet their mentors, Wiress and Mags Flanagan.
At breakfast the following day, Maysilee declines the food. Instead she drinks a cup of black coffee. She tells the others that she isn't a breakfast person, to which Haymitch makes a snide remark to her. She comments about disliking the matching outfits all three of them are made to wear. Mags begins to tell her and the other tributes about her mentoring plan. She asks each tribute what they want in the arena. Maysilee tells her that she doesn't want to beg or plead for her life, that she wants to go out with her head up. Haymitch agrees with her, but adds that he wants to make the audience consider that fifty years of the Hunger Games could be enough. Maysilee asks how he would do this. and he tells her that he would remind them that all the tributes are human beings. She agrees and calls all of the Capitolites stupid. Later in the conversation she offers to be Wyatt's ally. Haymitch tells them about Ampert Latier offering to be allies, and his plan with making his own version of a career pack, and Maysilee shrugs. Wiress and Mags then discuss what training will be like. When talking about rest, both her and Haymitch joke about Wyatt's snores.[8]
As the tributes are transported to the gym, Maysilee tells Wyatt that he needs to have more attitude. She addresses them all and comes up with their nickname: "loose cannons". They take on this persona during training, where they are unpredictable and wild. Maysilee notes how they are the last ones to arrive. They first practice throwing knifes with the group of tributes from 7. She hits more than she misses and Haymitch doesn't miss a single one. Haymitch, after being punched by Panache Barker and interviewed by Plutarch Heavensbee, pulls her and Wyatt aside. He tells them that they need to join Ampert's alliance as they walk over to Ringina. He tells her to not comment on her appearance to which Maysilee says she actually likes her hair. When Ampert joins them, Maysilee says he looks like a "weasal caught in chicken wire" due to his wired necklace. Haymitch introduces her to Ampert while she takes the wire from his neck. Her and Ampert discuss a way she could make it more tie it to be something prettier, to which Ampert agrees. They talk for a while as she braids it. When she finishes, Ampert calls it beautiful and perfectly symmetrical. He says that he wishes Maysilee was his sister. She says she'd be his sister, and Ampert gives her a hug that she stiffly returns. Throughout training Maysilee takes the other tributes of the newly-formed Newcomers pack and makes them into special bracelets, necklaces, and other nick-nacks. [16]
Maysilee achieved a score of 6 in her private session with the Gamemakers, presumably having demonstrated her ability at manipulating cords.[17]
Arena[]
During her time in the arena, Maysilee escaped from the Cornucopia with only a blowgun, a bowl, some dried beef, and a backpack of rope. She was very resourceful, dipping the blowgun darts into numerous amounts of poisons available in the arena to kill other tributes. On Day 2, she single-handedly killed Loupe.[18] When Haymitch was about to have his throat slit by Panache Barker, Maysilee shot the Career with her poison dart from her blowgun[19]. She arranged a temporary alliance with Haymitch, saying that they would last longer with the two of them.
On Day 5, they encounter Hull, Buck and Chicory being attacked by a porcupine mutt. Haymitch and Maysilee manage to deter the mutt but Buck and Chicory are already dead. They try to rescue Hull, feeding him the antidote but it just spills and he dies from the porcupine quills like the other two tributes[20].
On Day 6 of the games, Maysilee and Haymitch are ambushed by Silka and Maritte, but they encounter some Gamemakers cleaning up slime. Maritte killed one with a trident and Maysilee killed one with a poison dart. The other tripped and fell, smashing their head jumping into Sub-A. Silka was shocked and Maysilee told her to stop sucking up to the Capitol in an attempt to win. A bomb was dropped, separating them.[21]
Maysilee and Haymitch broke off their alliance when they were among the final five tributes alive, as she didn't want to have to kill him.[22]
Death[]
Maysilee died only minutes after parting with Haymitch, being attacked by a large number of bright, candy-pink birds that used their sharp beaks to skewer her in the neck. Haymitch held her hand and stayed with her until she died.[2] The birds were programmed to target only Maysilee and ignored Haymitch when he tried to save her.[23]
Victims[]
Maysilee was able to single-handedly kill both Loupe[18] and Panache Barker[24], and almost Camilla[18], with her poison darts. She also killed a Gamemaker with a dart to the neck.[25]
Physical description[]
Maysilee is said to have the traditional merchant look of smooth, straight blonde hair and blue eyes. She had "great cheekbones" as described by Plutarch[1], and long eyelashes[26]. She resembled Mrs. Everdeen, but even moreso her twin sister, as well as Madge, her niece.[2] After her capitol make-over, her hair changed from straight to tight curls.[27] Maysilee wore a lavender dress identical to Merrilee's pink one at the reaping ceremony.[4] She always wore half a dozen necklaces, some were beaded, some corded, some with trinkets hanging off them, and one made of real gold[7]. For the Tribute Parade, Maysilee and the other District 12 tributes wore coal miners' outfits.[2]
Personality and traits[]
The official synopsis for Sunrise on the Reaping describes her as "the most stuck-up girl in town".[28] She is indeed usually quite stuck-up, though she can be kind, as when she offered to help some of the other tributes with their tokens. She can also be quite blunt and critical, as seen on multiple occasions when she criticizes the fashion choices made by Drusilla.
Skills[]
Maysilee was described to be quite resourceful, as she came up with the idea to dip her darts for her weapon, the blowgun, into the poisonous substances in the arena. She was also quite accurate with her blowgun, killing even a Career tribute.[2] She also played a large role in creating and fixing tributes' tokens which helped Haymitch successfully execute his plan.
Relationships[]
Haymitch Abernathy[]
Haymitch and Maysilee had known each other most of their lives, but never liked each other due to living in different areas of District 12. Maysilee had a low opinion of Haymitch, calling him "Itchy Itchy Haymitchy" when he had chiggers[7]. She was also aware of the rebellious activities of Haymitch's girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird, but never revealed them to him. However, Haymitch and Maysilee's relationship drastically changed when they both were reaped for the Second Quarter Quell. She becomes impressed with Haymitch showing defiance towards the Capitol and joins him in forming the Newcomer alliance with other tributes to counter the Careers. Despite Haymitch's initial dislike of Maysilee, she made an alliance with him, and the two began to bond more, developing a a sibling-like dynamic, with Haymitch even call Maysilee "sis"[29]. When Maysilee killed a Gamemaker, she was angry that Haymitch did not join her and nearly broke their alliance until she changed her mind, showing she understood Haymitch's reluctance and did not wish to kill him. When Maysilee was fatally wounded, Haymitch ran to her and held her hand, comforting her as she died, while silently promising her to not let the Capitol "paint his poster" if he won the Games.
25 years later, when Katniss Everdeen watched the video of the Quarter Quell, she compared Haymitch and Maysilee's relationship and final moments to the friendship she had with the District 11 tribute Rue and how she spent her last moments with her as she died.[2]
Merrilee Undersee[]
Maysilee's twin sister struggled terribly after Maysilee died in the Games. Even after she married Mayor Undersee and had Madge, Mrs. Undersee suffered terrible headaches that she treated with morphling,[30] and she was confined to her bed, possibly suffering from severe depression.[2] Because of how badly Mrs. Undersee was affected by Maysilee's death, it can be inferred that the sisters were very close. They were identical twins.
Wyatt Callow[]
After facing rejection from Haymitch Abernathy and Louella McCoy, Maysilee and Wyatt agree to form an alliance. Despite Maysilee's abrasive attitude to her fellow district partners, she shows kindness towards Wyatt, defending him after Haymitch makes a nasty comment about how low the odds Wyatt's father placed on him were. When it's revealed that Wyatt is a loud snorer, she shows care for him by offering to wake him up or take precautions to muffle the sound of his snores. She ends up assisting Wyatt in appearing more intimidating, mussing up his hair and pushing up his sleeves before walking into the training center.
Later, during training, Maysilee weaves Wyatt's token (a scrip coin) into a necklace so he can easily wear it, but she designs it so that he can easily pop the coin in and out, knowing that fidgeting with the coin helps him think. While preparing for their interviews, Wyatt says that Maysilee "isn't a bad bet" and has a decent shot of winning the Games, displaying a clear respect for her.
Maysilee later expresses grief at Wyatt's death, having directly witnessed it, and follows Lou Lou after she runs from the Cornucopia, but ends up losing her.
Asterid Everdeen[]
Asterid Everdeen reveals at the card reading ceremony for the third Quarter Quell that her friend Maysilee Donner had been reaped for the second Quell. She had never mentioned Maysilee to her daughters before, probably because she knew they would want to know how she died.[6] Mrs. Everdeen was also standing next to her when she was reaped and broke down in tears along with Mrs. Undersee.[2] After Maysilee's death, her parents entrusted their daughter's pet canary to Asterid.[6]
Madge Undersee[]
Maysilee died before her niece was born, but Madge inherited her late aunt's mockingjay pin,[5][31] and she later gave it to Katniss as a tribute token.[32] Madge's mother and aunt were said to look a lot like her.[2]
Effie Trinket[]
Despite Maysilee's distain for most Capitol workers in the Games, she has a better relationship with Effie. She helps her offer the tributes style and makeup advice before the interviews. Haymitch described them as "two girls on a mission to beautify the world."
Gallery[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Trivia[]
- Maysilee Donner is the only known District 12 tribute to make it to the top five who did not survive to become a victor.[2]
- Merrilee Undersee and Maysilee Donner are the first confirmed pair of twins in the trilogy.
- Leeg 1 and Leeg 2, despite played by identical twin actresses in the Mockingjay - Part 2 film adaptation, are not explicitly referred to as twins in the book, though it is mentioned they look so similar in uniform that others can't tell them apart.
- Pollux and Castor are also described as having a strong physical resemblance to one another, and their names refer to a pair of mythological Greek twins, but they are not explicitly confirmed to be twins in the text.
- Revealed in Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch's stillborn younger sisters are the second pair of twins mentioned.
- She loved jewelry and fashion.
- Maysilee was predetermined to work at her family's sweet shop for life, but she shared to Haymitch that she never wanted to work there.
- Mckenna Grace, Maysilee’s actress in the upcoming The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, listens to “Von dutch” by Charli xcx to get into character before filming as Maysilee. [33]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 14
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 Catching Fire, Chapter 14
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 22
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Catching Fire, Chapter 7
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Catching Fire, Chapter 12
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 3
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 7
- ↑ The Hunger Games, Chapter 10
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 12
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 10
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 27
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 1
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 4
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 6
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 8
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 11
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 25
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 19
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 21
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 22
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 22
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 23
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 19
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 22
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 13
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 5
- ↑ Scholastic Reveals Cover for New Book in the Worldwide Bestselling Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 20
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 8
- ↑ The Hunger Games, Chapter 1
- ↑ The Hunger Games, Chapter 3
- ↑ Conversation with a fan