Poison is a deadly substance that can kill anything that ingests it. It is a favorite weapon of Coriolanus Snow.
History[]
During the 10th Hunger Games, Coriolanus Snow gave Lucy Gray his mother's silver compact to sneak rat poison from the Capitol Zoo into the arena as a weapon against the other tributes.[1] Wovey later died after drinking from a water bottle poisoned by Lucy Gray[2] and Reaper Ash drank from a puddle poisoned by Lucy Gray while he suffered from heat exhaustion.[3] Lucy Gray later admitted to Snow that her intention had been to poison Coral, but Wovey got the water bottle instead.[4] The discovery of Snow's cheating forced him into a sentence of 20 years of Peacekeeper service.[3]
During the 50th Hunger Games, the arena's flora, water and many of the muttations were poisonous. Carat and Urchin died of the arena's poisons on the first day[5] while the charcoal tablets in Haymitch Abernathy's backpack saved him, although it left him sick through the night.[6][7] While several of The Newcomers got sick, Wellie quickly figured it out and Hull's backpack contained a large bottle of an antidote so none of them died.[8] Poison barbs from a porcupine mutt later killed Buck, Chicory and Hull despite Haymitch and Maysilee Donner's efforts to save Hull using the antidote.[9]
During the 50th Hunger Games, Maysilee Donner used a blowgun loaded with darts dipped in the arena's poisonous substances as a weapon.[10] With this, she killed Panache Barker[11] and Loupe.[12] Although Maysilee believed that she hit Camilla as well, the Career tribute survived the poison and died in the later volcanic eruption. Maysilee later showed Haymitch how she made her poison when she collected more: Maysilee mashed up handfuls of poisonous berries into a juicy paste in a small bowl and then drained some of the juice into a heart-shaped glass vial that hung from one of her necklaces. The vial was designed for perfume, so it had a good tight lid to prevent evaporation, but Maysilee wished that it held more.[12]
One of the traps of the 75th Hunger Games was a poisonous fog. Mags Flanagan sacrificed herself to it in order to ensure Peeta Mellark's survival. The surviving tributes who were affected by it used salt water to leech out the poison and ointment sent by Haymitch as a sponsor gift to treat the scabs and scars that the fog caused.[13][14][15]
Use of poison by President Snow[]
After the 10th Hunger Games and his time in District 12, Snow took rat poison from the back alley of Pluribus Bell's nightclub and slipped it into the morphling that Sejanus Plinth had received for his breakdown. When Snow presented Plinth's personal effects to Dean Casca Highbottom, he deliberately slid the bottles of morphling into the trash, knowing that Highbottom - a morphling addict - would later retrieve them, ingest the rat poison, and die. This was his first murder with what would become his signature weapon.[16]
Over the next 64 years, Snow would rise to power as the president of Panem, and he maintained control by poisoning allies and enemies alike who posed a threat to him. Snow often drank from the same poisoned glass to deflect suspicion. Although antidotes saved his life, he was left with mouth sores that wouldn't heal. He wore roses to cover up the persistent stench of blood.[17]
Following the disastrous Chariot rides before the 50th Hunger Games, Snow poisoned Incitatus Loomy for his incompetence with a plate of oysters that he also ate from. While meeting with Haymitch Abernathy at Plutarch Heavensbee's home, Snow was visibly ill and was tended to by Haymitch and Plutarch. Snow took an antidote that he carried in his pocket and Haymitch realized what had happened to Incitatus from Snow's comments.[18][19]
On the final morning of the 50th Hunger Games, Haymitch received a sponsor gift of what he believed to be a jug of poisoned milk from Snow who was seeking to force Haymitch to kill either Wellie or himself with it. Before Haymitch could drink it, Wellie was found and killed by Silka Sharp and Haymitch smashed the jug instead.[20] The jug of poisoned milk was edited out of the final Game footage.[5]
As retaliation for Haymitch's actions during the 50th Hunger Games, Snow sent a bag full of bloodred poisoned candy to Lenore Dove Baird. When Lenore Dove ate one, the poison in it killed her despite Haymitch's desperate attempts to save her.[21]
After the 74th Hunger Games, Snow had Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane killed, although the method was never revealed.[22][23] In The Hunger Games film, Crane was locked in a room with nightlock berries, suggesting that Snow was executing him by forced suicide.[24] In the film Catching Fire, Plutarch mentioned to Katniss that Crane decided to "quit breathing... that or it was poison berries" implying that he ate the berries and died as a result.[25]
During the Second Rebellion, as a distraction for the rescue mission for Peeta Mellark and Annie Cresta, Katniss Everdeen and Finnick Odair performed a live interview to be broadcast across Panem. In the interview, Finnick publicly exposed Snow's habit of poisoning people which Finnick had learned about from his Capitol "clients," having been paid in secrets by them, some of which were about Snow himself.[17]
By the time of Snow's execution, his sores had seemingly worsened because he occasionally coughed up blood.[26][27] Ironically, Snow's habit of poisoning people may have ultimately led to his demise; Snow was believed to have either been trampled by the angry mob, or to have choked to death on his own blood.[28]
Antidote[]
A poison antidote was an antidote used to treat poison. One known kind of antidote took on the form of a syrupy substance.
President Snow poisoned allies that he felt threatened by, but he drank the poison as well to avoid attracting suspicion. Even though he took antidotes, the poison caused permanent sores inside his mouth that never healed. As a result, he always wore a genetically engineered rose, which covers the scent of blood stained on his breath.[17]
After poisoning Incitatus Loomy for his incompetence in the Chariot rides before the 50th Hunger Games, Snow took an antidote that he carried in his pocket.[18]
One of the items included in some of the tributes' backpacks for the 50th Hunger Games were bottles of antidote for the arena's poisons. Hull got one[8] and the Careers got at least one as well which ended up in the supplies of either Panache Barker, Barba, or Angler.[12]
Although some of the Newcomers ingested the arena's poison, Wellie quickly recognized what it was, and they survived thanks to the antidote in Hull's backpack.[8]
Haymitch Abernathy and Maysilee Donner found the Careers' bottle of the antidote while going through their supplies.[12] After the attack by the porcupine mutt, the two used it to treat their own injuries and in a vain attempt to save Hull's life.[9]
References[]
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 12
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 19
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 12
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 24
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 25
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 15
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 16
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 17
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 21
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 14
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 19
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 20
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 20
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 21
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 22
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Mockingjay, Chapter 12
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 9
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 10
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 24
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 26
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 2
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 17
- ↑ The Hunger Games film
- ↑ The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 25
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 26
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 27
External links[]
Poison on Wikipedia