#betee

Looking at the humanitarian crisis of Panem I genuinely doubt with my whole heart anything like the Geneva Convention exists, so really what would be considered a war criminal in Panem?

Even if by our standards Betee is a war criminal, (I haven’t finished SOTR i’m sorry) he lives in Panem. He had to watch his son get murdered live on TV. He had to mentor his son probably knowing he would have to watch him die. He had to go back into those games again. He and everyone else in the districts of Panem, have suffered unimaginable pain and I feel like after all that it’s a disservice to his character and many others to describe them by the bad things they’ve done.

It’s cool to have these conversations sometimes of like, oh yeah he would be a war criminal by our standards kinda funny right? But what exactly does this add to the conversation? He’s not an angel? Yeah we knew that though. Everyone on the rebels side did things that were morally wrong, illegal, horrible, so they could get their independence. Like is that not one of the points of the books? That a corrupt government like Panem will hurt people and drive even good people to do unimaginable things so they don’t have to suffer anymore.

So I was watching Reaper pull down the poster, and my mom asked "So is he the old Mockingjay?" AND THAT GOT ME THINKING.

There was no physical mockingjay figure like Katniss at the time, but mentally? Oh yes. Now I do believe that the actual rebelling started in the 10th Hunger Games. It first started with people who had thoughts about it, but not acting. Then during the 10th Hunger games, when Lucy Gray was called, when she put that snake in the mayor's daughters dress and then sang in diffidence on the stage, that definitely got the district's all rallied up. That's why the bombing happened ( They were probably planning it for awhile but they got pushed to do it more after). Than Sejanus, going and paying his respects to the fallen in the games. Then you know, Snow lands on top for a while.

Betee comes into play, using the arena to kill the others.

Haymitch, making Snow own up to Louella's death, using the arena to his advantage, helping the mockingjay in the rebellion.

Finnick, gathering secrets about the capitol and Snow to use in the future.

Johanna, tricking the capitol into thinking she was so shy and didn't stand a chance and then killing everyone in the arena.

Mags being mags and sacrificing herself for the mockingjay and Finnick.

Lenore Dove, painting her own posters on the walls of District 12 and causing as much trouble for the peacekeepers as possible.

Peeta, painting Rue for his testing, getting back to Katniss despite the brainwashing the Capitol did to him.

Cinna, creating the girl on fire, creating the symbolism of the mockingjay, burning the wedding dress Snow gave Katniss and replacing it with a Mockingjay outfit.

Effie, defying the Capitol's propaganda and helping the mockingjay with the rebellion.

Katniss, becoming the mockingjay, exploding the arena, leading the rebellion, ETC.

And MUCH more.