your pal, friendpatine

Haymitch in SOTR is so incredibly compassionate and caring and selfless--he's not trying to win the Games, he's trying to keep his loved ones alive, he's trying to rebel against the Capitol, he's trying to protect Louella and Lou Lou and Ampert and Maysilee and Wellie. Despite his running internal commentary labelling himself as selfish and wretched throughout the story, it's clear that everyone can detect his gentleness--Effie comments on it, it's why Ampert feels safe with him, it's what draws the District 6 doves to him--I mean, he calls them "my doves," doesn't he?! It breaks my heart that he narrates the story with so much self-hatred, and it's even worse when the story is edited by the Capitol to convey exactly that--

And then Katniss and Peeta, the people who know him best and love him best, see that heavily edited story, designed to paint Haymitch as a jackass, a selfish wretch, and they don't question it for a moment. Even they, who know what it is to be loved by Haymitch, don't question the way the Capitol paints him. Absolutely everyone is blind to the gentleness in Haymitch, most of all Haymitch himself.

If yall need a reminder Noah Lyles is this wonderful nerd

Noah Lyles won GOLD!

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.