Mads

Peetas name is obviously an alternative spelling of ‘pita bread’, because he’s a baker and all. But the name Peeta is a variation of the name Peter, which originated from the word ‘rock’ in Greek. And this is so symbolic because Peeta is Katniss’ rock, and is throughout all of the series. She even hints at it in the first hunger games where she says “I’m glad now I have Peeta to clutch for balance; he is so steady, solid as a rock (thg,85)”

To Katniss, Peeta has always been a solid presence in her life. He’s always there for her, no matter what. He might have been having a bad day, but if he hears that Katniss is also having a bad day, he’ll put his feelings aside and comfort her, put her feelings before his. And he’s always done that.

On the train on the Victory Tour, they share a bed every night, and he comforts her after every nightmare she has, and holds and strokes her hair until she falls back asleep, yet, he never asks her to reciprocate. He wakes up from nightmares also, but he never wakes her up and takes that prescious sleep away from her, even if it is only 5 minutes before she wakes from another nightmare, he never wakes her up. He puts Katniss before himself time and time again.

Even when he comes back to D12 for the first time since the war and his hijacking, hes still obviously trying to work through all of the memories, shiny or not, and sort things out, but he plants the Primrose for Katniss, because he knows she’s also going through things. He’s always there for her, no questions asked. He’s a constant in her life.

(Not a hate comment, just curious as a neurodivergent person who loves Katniss Everdeen)

I think there’s quite a few autistic traits she presents! Yes she is traumatised and some of those traits could be from that, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be autistic as well.

• She has trouble recognising friendships - with Madge, she thinks they are just acquaintances even though they sat together everyday at school and would partner for things like PE etc. They both didn’t feel the need for small talk, so would just sit in silence and enjoy each others company. After the first games, they would spend a lot of time together and Katniss even comments on how she took Madge to the woods, and Madge would try to teach Katniss piano, but even after that Katniss still didn’t realise they were friends. Same with Peeta, she was struggling to recognise that she had romantic feelings for him and that they were friends.

• She’s terrible at socialising and Peeta comments on how she’s a bad liar; her facial features most likely show how she’s feeling all the time as she doesn’t feel the need to lie - this is another point, she’s always very blunt and straight to the point.

• She likes to fiddle with her braid and chew her finger nails, possible stimming.

• Wears the same clothes, though while this could be due to comfort its most likely because they’re poor and don’t have money for new clothes. Nonetheless, she wears the same clothes, like her fathers hunting jacket, and always has her hair in the same style. This could give her a sense of routine and comfort 🤷‍♀️