The Capital
The Capitol is the seat of Panem's brutal, totalitarian government and is located in the western Rocky Mountains of the former United States and Canada. The Capitol is surrounded by twelve outlying districts over which it rules absolutely.The Capitol is the home of the dictatorial President Coriolanus Snow and several major characters.
Citizens of the Capitol are far removed from the deprivation and open oppression of the twelve Districts, and are generally preoccupied with fashion, parties, and mass entertainment like the Hunger Games. Most Capitol citizens depicted in the novels appear either ignorant of, or totally unconcerned with, the poverty and desperation that prevails elsewhere in Panem. Compared with the Districts, the Capitol is extremely wealthy and technologically advanced, with citizens enjoying a very high standard of living. Visiting tributes, who have grown up with the constant threat of starvation, are shocked by what they consider wasteful decadence in the Capitol. For example, the selection of dishes served at parties is commonly far greater than one person could sample, so it is usual to provide emetic beverages to induce vomiting, allowing guests to continue eating. Due to this extravagant lifestyle, it is rare for Capitol citizens to join the Peacekeepers, as it requires its soldiers to avoid marriage for twenty years and is often considered a punishment to avoid spending time in jail. In addition, residents of other districts who are considered criminals or traitors may be forced into servitude in the Capitol and converted into Avoxes, which is a form of punishment in which the offender's tongue is removed and therefore can no longer speak.
Citizens of the Capitol are culturally distinct from those of the Districts, speaking with a characteristic accent and choosing first names of ancient Greco-Roman derivation, with the city itself having a distinctly modernized version of Roman architecture. In the books, the Capitol buildings are described as "candy-colored", rising in a rainbow of hues. The fashions of the Capitol are exotic and ostentatious, with citizens dyeing their skin and hair vivid colors, adopting tattoos, and undergoing extensive surgical alteration in the name of style. The Capitol accent is distinctive, said to sound "silly" and effete to people from the Districts; the accent is described as being "high-pitched with clipped tones and odd vowels". The letter 's' is a hiss and the tone rises at the end of every sentence, as if the speaker is asking a question.
Residents of the Capitol cannot be chosen as tributes for the Hunger Games, as the Games were instituted as a punishment for the twelve remaining districts of Panem for their failed rebellion. At one time there were thirteen districts, but District Thirteen was destroyed by the Capitol for possible use of weaponry (they were the nuclear weapons district for the country). The Games are an annual cause for celebration in the Capitol; citizens gamble on the tributes and sponsor their favorites in the arena, providing water, food, weapons, and other necessary provisions. Past victors are often able to cultivate celebrity status in the Capitol. Despite the bloodthirsty nature of the Games, the people of the Capitol are shown to be vulnerable to sentimentality and melodrama, becoming emotionally invested in the tributes, a fact ultimately manipulated by Katniss and Peeta.
Citizens of the Capitol are far removed from the deprivation and open oppression of the twelve Districts, and are generally preoccupied with fashion, parties, and mass entertainment like the Hunger Games. Most Capitol citizens depicted in the novels appear either ignorant of, or totally unconcerned with, the poverty and desperation that prevails elsewhere in Panem. Compared with the Districts, the Capitol is extremely wealthy and technologically advanced, with citizens enjoying a very high standard of living. Visiting tributes, who have grown up with the constant threat of starvation, are shocked by what they consider wasteful decadence in the Capitol. For example, the selection of dishes served at parties is commonly far greater than one person could sample, so it is usual to provide emetic beverages to induce vomiting, allowing guests to continue eating. Due to this extravagant lifestyle, it is rare for Capitol citizens to join the Peacekeepers, as it requires its soldiers to avoid marriage for twenty years and is often considered a punishment to avoid spending time in jail. In addition, residents of other districts who are considered criminals or traitors may be forced into servitude in the Capitol and converted into Avoxes, which is a form of punishment in which the offender's tongue is removed and therefore can no longer speak.
Citizens of the Capitol are culturally distinct from those of the Districts, speaking with a characteristic accent and choosing first names of ancient Greco-Roman derivation, with the city itself having a distinctly modernized version of Roman architecture. In the books, the Capitol buildings are described as "candy-colored", rising in a rainbow of hues. The fashions of the Capitol are exotic and ostentatious, with citizens dyeing their skin and hair vivid colors, adopting tattoos, and undergoing extensive surgical alteration in the name of style. The Capitol accent is distinctive, said to sound "silly" and effete to people from the Districts; the accent is described as being "high-pitched with clipped tones and odd vowels". The letter 's' is a hiss and the tone rises at the end of every sentence, as if the speaker is asking a question.
Residents of the Capitol cannot be chosen as tributes for the Hunger Games, as the Games were instituted as a punishment for the twelve remaining districts of Panem for their failed rebellion. At one time there were thirteen districts, but District Thirteen was destroyed by the Capitol for possible use of weaponry (they were the nuclear weapons district for the country). The Games are an annual cause for celebration in the Capitol; citizens gamble on the tributes and sponsor their favorites in the arena, providing water, food, weapons, and other necessary provisions. Past victors are often able to cultivate celebrity status in the Capitol. Despite the bloodthirsty nature of the Games, the people of the Capitol are shown to be vulnerable to sentimentality and melodrama, becoming emotionally invested in the tributes, a fact ultimately manipulated by Katniss and Peeta.
President Snow
The primary antagonist of the series, President Coriolanus Snow is the autocratic ruler of the Capitol and all of Panem. Though seemingly laid-back, his demeanor hides a sadistic and psychopathic mind. He initially appears in The Hunger Games at the opening of the Games giving the official welcome, but he does not speak to Katniss face-to-face until Catching Fire, when he pays her a visit at home and tells her that he is angry that both she and Peeta were allowed to survive the Hunger Games, as their act of defiance (preferring joint suicide to the prospect of one killing the other) has ignited rebellion in several of the Districts. She is too prominent to kill, but he threatens her family and Gale unless she proves to the Districts that her act of saving Peeta was merely that of a love-crazed teenager and was not related to any desire to defy the Capitol. Later, Snow indicates to her that she failed in this, meaning that some or all of his threats will come true. President Snow is described as having very puffy lips, which are most likely the result of an appearance-altering operation that is very popular in the Capitol. Katniss describes him as exuding a smell of blood and roses.In Mockingjay, it is revealed that the smell of blood is due to mouth sores he got from one of the poisons that he used to kill people in his monomaniacal efforts to control Panem. He drank the poison in order to allay suspicions, then took the antidote, but they could not cure him of the sores. He also smells strongly of genetically enhanced roses, as he always wears a white rose in his lapel to cover the scent of blood. The strong smell invariably makes Katniss gag. He is said to have prostituted winning tributes, like Finnick Odair, forcing them to have sex with wealthy Capitol citizens, under threat of killing their loved ones if they refused. Snow claims he only kills for a purpose, and he promises Katniss he will always tell her the truth. Whether these assertions are true or not is left up to interpretation by Katniss. He dies at the end of Mockingjay, after Katniss shot President Coin instead of him, though the rebels are unable to determine whether it was by choking to death on his own blood from his untreated mouth sores or because he was trampled by the crowd in the panic following the assassination of President Coin.
Seneca Crane
The Head Gamemaker during the 74th Hunger Games. He is executed because he lets both Katniss and Peeta live. The book gives no details; in the movie, Crane is escorted by Peacekeepers and locked in an opulent room containing only an elegant bowl of fresh Nightlock berries for him to consume. In the second book, Katniss effectively both impresses and shocks the Gamemakers by using the paint from Peeta's effigy of Rue, a practice dummy strung from the rafters of the gymnasium with a hangman's noose, and the name "Seneca Crane" as a warning and epitaph. This earns her a ranking of 12, designed to force other competitors to target her. Crane is played by Wes Bentley in the movie version of The Hunger Games.