- "And this moment here... this is a moment that you never forget. The moment when the tribute becomes a victor."
- —Caesar Flickerman[src]
Victors are tributes who have won previous Hunger Games. Because of this, they receive income from the Capitol for life, are given a special status in their districts, and are allowed to live in the part of their district called the Victors' Village with their families. In return, victors must act as mentors to subsequent tributes from their district in future Hunger Games. They line up sponsors, control the flow of gifts, and have a say in the tactics that the tribute uses. They must not mistreat their tributes or they will be punished. Highly attractive and desirable victors are almost always prostituted by President Snow to citizens of the Capitol, as was the case with Finnick Odair and Cashmere. Victors are also usually forced to take on special personalities; such as Finnick's flirtatiousness, or Katniss and Peeta's inseparable love.
Katniss and Caesar with all of the other victors in the background.
Many victors turn to alcohol or drugs after they have won their Games. Some examples can be seen with Haymitch Abernathy or Chaff and their heavy drinking, and the pair from District 6 with their addiction to morphling. They do this because of the traumatic experiences and memories of the Games, the demands that the Capitol continues to impose on them on penalty of death, and, for those who become mentors, having to train new tributes which more likely will end up dead.
After their victories, victors must find a talent or a hobby to take up, for example, Katniss Everdeen's talent was fashion designing, although her stylist, Cinna, secretly made things himself and passed them off as her work.
The main 11 victors in Catching Fire.
In the 75th Hunger Games, past victors were forced to compete in the Games as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol.
The Victory Tour
The Victory Tour, first implemented in the 11th Hunger games, occurs six months after the Hunger Games, and is held to keep the memory of the Games fresh in everyone's mind. They start in the highest numbered district and count down, skipping the victor's district and saving it for last. In each district, they give a speech and attend a dinner. The Capitol throws a huge feast for the victor's district where all the residents attend.
District 4 male victors at the reaping for the 75th Hunger games after Finnick is reaped
Known Victors
There have been 75 victors throughout the history of the Hunger Games. Just before the 3rd Quarter Quell, 59 victors were still alive. By the end of the second rebellion, only seven victors are known to still be alive. They are Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Johanna Mason, Beetee Latier, Haymitch Abernathy, Annie Cresta, and Enobaria. Sixteen died of natural causes, 18 died in the 75th Hunger Games, and the other 34 possibly died during the Victors' purge and the rebellion.
| Victor | District | Status | Hunger Games | Age | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucy Gray Baird | 12 | Presumably
deceased |
10th | 16 (BSS) | Hid for the duration of the games before poisoning the remainder of her tributes. |
| Mags Flanagan | 4 | Deceased | 11th | 80's | Mags could make fishhooks out of anything, and could make baskets so tight, water coudn’t get through. She also lived off nuts. |
| Woof | 8 | Deceased | Unknown | 70's | Fans presume Woof hid for the entire time during his Games. |
| District 4 male | 4 | Deceased | Unknown | 60’s-70’s | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games |
| District 6 male | 6 | Deceased | Unknown | 60’s-70’s | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games |
| Seeder | 11 | Deceased | Unknown | 60's | Fans presume she survived by being able to go without food the longest. |
| District 9 female | 9 | Deceased | Unknown | Assumed early 50's | Her weapon of choice was a staff, as such it’s presumed she won that way. |
| District 2 male | 2 | Deceased | Unknown | 50’s | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games. |
| Porter Millicent Tripp | 5 | Deceased | 38th | 52-55 | She received a spinal injury during the final battle. |
| District 2 female | 2 | Deceased | Unknown | 50’s | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games. |
| Beetee Latier | 3 | Alive | Unknown | 50's | He won using electric traps to electrocute six tributes (possibly the entire career pack) at once. |
| District 9 male | 9 | Deceased | Unknown | Assumed late 40's | He was noted for using a katana and battling hand to hand combat with Finnick. |
| Chaff | 11 | Deceased | 45th | 45-48 | Fans presume he won with a brutal manner. |
| Brutus | 2 | Deceased | Unknown | Late 40's | Career tribute. |
| District 5 male | 5 | Deceased | Unknown | Late 40's[Citation needed] | Fans presume he won with a brutal manner. |
| Wiress | 3 | Deceased | Unknown | 40's | Unknown. Fans speculate she possibly used electricity or observations. |
| District 4 male | 4 | Deceased | Unknown | Middle-aged | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games |
| Haymitch Abernathy | 12 | Alive | 50th | 40 HG/CF
41 CF/MJ |
Skilled with a knife, used a force field to kill an opponent with their axe in the showdown, and through an alliance with Maysilee Donner. |
| District 2 female | 2 | Deceased | Unknown | Middle-aged | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games |
| Lyme | 2 | Deceased | Unknown | Middle-aged | Career tribute. |
| Blight | 7 | Deceased | Unknown | Assumed mid 30's | Fans presume he used an axe because he was from the lumber district. |
| District 5 female | 5 | Deceased | Unknown | Assumed mid 30's | Fans presume she was very skilled with a knife and hid during her games. |
| District 10 female | 10 | Deceased | Unknown | Assumed early 30's | Fans presume she was skilled with weapons (axe and tomahawk) and medicinal herbs. |
| Female morphling | 6 | Deceased | Unknown | 30’s [Citation needed] | Camouflage |
| Male morphling | 6 | Deceased | Unknown | 30’s [Citation needed] | Camouflage |
| Cecelia | 8 | Deceased | Unknown | 30's | Fans presume she won using her intelligence and her skill with a sword. |
| District 4 male | 4 | Deceased | Unknown | 20’s-30’s | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games |
| District 6 female | 6 | Deceased | Unknown | 20’s-30’s | Was present at the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games |
| Enobaria | 2 | Alive | 62nd | 28-31 | Career Tribute. Used brutality, hand-to-hand combat, and her teeth to rip another tribute's throat out. |
| Gloss | 1 | Deceased | 63rd | 27 | Career tribute. Skilled with throwing knives. |
| Cashmere | 1 | Deceased | 64th | 26 | Career tribute. Skilled with throwing knives. |
| Finnick Odair | 4 | Deceased | 65th | 24 | Career tribute. Received a lot of sponsors and was given the gift of a trident in the arena. Used nets to catch other tributes and finish them off later with his trident. |
| Augustus Braun | 1 | Deceased | 67th | 23-26 | Career tribute. |
| District 10 male | 10 | Deceased | Unknown | Assumed mid 20's | Fans presume he was a skilled fighter with a sword. |
| Annie Cresta | 4 | Alive | 70th | 20-23 | Career tribute. She was the best swimmer during a flood in the arena. |
| Johanna Mason | 7 | Alive | 71st | 21 | Acted weak to divert attention. When a handful of tributes were left, she revealed herself as a savage killer. |
| Unknown victor from District 2 | 2 | Deceased | 72nd | Unknown | In an early version of the Hunger Games' script, Caesar Flickerman mentions to Cato that the 72nd and 73rd Hunger Games were won by District 2 tributes. |
| District 2 male | 2 | Deceased | 73rd | 16 | Used a spear during the games but beat the final tribute to death with a brick. |
| Katniss Everdeen | 12 | Alive | 74th | 16 HG/CF
17 CF/MJ |
Archery skills. Used a suicide threat to force the Gamemakers to let her and Peeta both win. |
| Peeta Mellark | 12 | Alive | 74th | 16 HG/CF
17 CF/MJ |
Camouflage skills and strength. Joined the Careers. Used a suicide threat to force the Gamemakers to let him and Katniss both win. |
Trivia
- In the Hunger Games trilogy, only 27 victors were initially revealed, with 3 more victors being revealed after the completion of the trilogy (Porter Millicent Tripp, Augustus Braun and Lucy Gray Baird) meaning that there is 45 unknown victors.
- District 1 is the only known district to have gained 2 victors in which have won consecutive years.
- In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, in the credits of the movie, it lists actors who have portrayed unknown victors as uncredited background characters: Kurt Bonatz, Abigail Jackson and Berglind Jonsdottir as victors from District 2 and Ron Stafford as a victor from District 4.
- In behind the scenes footage of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire under 'Friends of Foe,' , in the reaping scene of District 4 shows four male victors including Finnick and two female victors (Mags and Annie), showing that District 4 had at least 6 victors alive by the 75th Hunger Games.
- In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire behind the scenes photos of the District 6 Reaping it can be seen that there were 4 District 6 Victors alive at the time of the 75th Hunger Games. The of the victors were Morphlings, but the two other victors where uncredited.
- Katniss mentioned that children of victors were more often than not reaped to participate in the Hunger Games.
- Mags is the only known victor before the 75th Hunger Games who was married, as Annie, Finnick, Peeta and Katniss got married afterwards.
- Mags is the first victor to embark on a victory tour.
- The youngest victor to win the games was Finnick Odair who was 14 years of age.