The wolf mutts were muttations set loose on the tributes in the 74th Hunger Games.[1]
History[]
Wolf mutts were released into the 74th Hunger Games arena on the seventeenth day of the Games, driving the three remaining tributes— Cato, Katniss Everdeen, and Peeta Mellark— to the Cornucopia.[2]
Katniss fired her first arrow into the pack, killing one before she reached the Cornucopia and climbed, since she could protect them better off the ground. As Peeta climbed the Cornucopia's tail, Katniss shot the first mutt whose paws hit the metal, and she pulled Peeta up. The mutts appeared to strategize, gathering around the Cornucopia and then backing up to make room for one to leap onto the horn, landing about ten feet below the tributes. Katniss was horrified to realize this mutt resembled Glimmer, and after shooting it dead, she recognized other fallen tributes' lookalikes in the pack.[1]
The pack split into two groups, one on either side of the horn, and jumped up at Katniss, Peeta, and Cato. One caught Peeta's leg in its jaws, tearing a hole in his calf and nearly dragging him off the horn. However, Peeta managed to stab it to death and Katniss pulled him back up. Katniss noticed that Cato was beginning to recover from his sprint to the Cornucopia and nocked an arrow, but instead she shot a mutt that resembled Thresh.[1]
Peeta was weakened by blood loss, so Cato held him in a headlock, cutting off his air as they stood near the Cornucopia's edge. Cato pointed out that Katniss couldn't kill him without Peeta being pulled down too. However, Peeta drew an X on the back of Cato's hand in his own blood, and Katniss shot an arrow at this target. Cato reflexively let go of Peeta, who then slammed into his opponent, sending him falling into the wolf pack below.[1]
Cato fought off the wolves for about an hour, trying to make his way around the horn to the Cornucopia's tail so he could climb back up. He managed to kill a mutt "on occasion", but eventually the pack overpowered him. However, his body armor prevented them from finishing him off, so Katniss and Peeta had to listen to him suffering through the night until dawn came. At that point, Katniss shot him with her last arrow as an act of mercy. The wolves then left the arena through a hole that opened up in the ground.[1]
Film adaptation[]
A wolf mutt being created in the Control Room.
In The Hunger Games film, the mutts were designed by Gamemakers in the Control Room. They were first seen when Lucia showed a hologram to Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane for evaluation. He said that they were excellent, so she inserted them into the Games during an artificial night.[3]
The mutts killed Thresh before chasing Cato, Katniss, and Peeta to the Cornucopia. The altercation between the tributes went the same as in the novel, but Cato was unable to fight the mutts, and Katniss killed him much sooner. Instead of exiting the arena through a hole in the ground, the mutts ran off into the woods.[3]
Description[]
- "What did they do to them? You don’t think ... those could be their real eyes?"
- —Peeta Mellark[src]
Each wolf mutt resembled a tribute who had died in that year's Games, wearing a collar marked with the district number, and they had remarkably human eyes. The resemblance was so strong that Peeta wondered if they had been made using the tributes' real eyes. However, Katniss was more concerned with the idea that the mutts had been given the tributes' brains or memories. She wondered if they were programmed specifically to remember their faces and despise them, and she worried that the tributes they'd actually killed might have believed they were avenging their own deaths.[1]
In terms of abilities, the mutts were able to balance on their hind legs, jump very high, and had four-inch, razor-sharp claws. They could also gesture to one another like humans would.[1]
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A wolf mutt in The Hunger Games film.
Film adaptation[]
In the film, the wolf mutts held no resemblance to the tributes. They were large, bulky dogs with sparse fur, short muzzles, and powerful jaws, and they ran on all fours.[3]
Known wolf mutts[]
Katniss associated five wolf mutts with fallen tributes during the attack:[1]
| Tribute | Description | Collar |
|---|---|---|
| Glimmer | Good-size with silky waves of blond fur and green eyes | 1 inlaid with jewels |
| Foxface | Small with red fur and amber eyes | |
| District 9 male | Ashen hair and hazel eyes | |
| Rue | The smallest mutt; dark, glossy fur and huge brown eyes | 11 in woven straw |
| Thresh | Jumped very high |
Katniss killed a total of four mutts: two she did not identify, and the two associated with Glimmer and Thresh. Peeta killed the unknown mutt that bit him, and Cato managed to kill at least one more while he fought for his life on the ground. They killed at least six mutts altogether, but there could have been as many as 21 wolves total in the pack, since Katniss believed they were "all of the other tributes".[1]
Victims[]
- "It takes a few moments to find Cato in the dim light, in the blood. Then the raw hunk of meat that used to be my enemy makes a sound, and I know where his mouth is. And I think the word he’s trying to say is please."
- —Katniss observing Cato before she takes the shot[src]
In the novel, the wolf mutts never actually killed anyone, but they mauled Cato horribly[1] and wounded Peeta to the point that he needed his leg amputated.[4] In the film, they killed Thresh, and they did not attack Cato for long before Katniss mercy-killed him.[3]
Trivia[]
- Peeta had to have his leg amputated because Katniss used a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from his bite wound.[4]
- Fans have speculated about the nature of the wolf mutts and their creation— whether they were genetically engineered using the tributes' DNA, or if they were made from the tributes' actual corpses or organs, like Katniss and Peeta had wondered.
- In an early draft of the film script, the tributes had to fill out forms regarding their burial preferences and organ donation. Katniss specifically mentioned having agreed to donate her eyes, and later, she recognized Glimmer's eyes in one of the mutts— indicating that in this version, the mutts were given the tributes' actual eyes.[5]
- Some fans have speculated that the Gamemakers actually prepared a total of 24 wolf mutts, leaving three unused in the event that Katniss, Peeta, or Cato had died before the Games' climax. However, there is no indication of this in the book or the finished film.