Katniss
Katniss Everdeen is the 17-year-old protagonist and narrator of Catching Fire. Resilient and headstrong, her primary objective is to keep her loved ones safe. Though the quality of her life has improved after winning The Hunger Games, she finds it hard to adjust and she grows increasingly angry at the extravagance and corruption of the Capitol. Though she unwittingly becomes the face of the people's uprising, she tries not to provoke the Capitol. However, it is hard for her to remain stoic as the authorities abuse their power in the Districts. As Katniss is thrust into the Games once more during the Quarter Quell, she reluctantly decides her best chance of survival is to make alliances with those she feels are trustworthy. These connections, plus her brains and fortitude, are what keep her alive. At the end of the novel, Katniss realizes that she has been a pawn in the rebels' plan to bring down the Capitol and she is angry that she once again has little power over her own life.
Peeta
Peeta Mellark is Katniss's friend and co-victor of the Hunger Games. Though he knows Katniss does not love him in the same way he loves her, he agrees to put on a show of affection for the Capitol's Victory Tour. Peeta is honorable and devoted to Katniss, and he is also a good liar. In the Capitol, he concocts a story of their secret marriage and child to garner sympathy from the audience and expose the barbarism of the Games. During the Quarter Quell, he vows to keep Katniss safe and they grow closer. However, when the rebels are able to rescue the victors from the Games, Peeta falls into the Capitol's hands.
Gale
Gale Hawthorne is Katniss's closest friend and hunting partner in District 12. He has also harbored a secret crush on Katniss for most of their lives. Now 19, he works in the coal mine like his father before him in order to support his mother and younger siblings. Gale is crafty and angry at the Capitol's abuse of the Districts. He rejects Katniss's plan to run away when he learns of the progress being made by the rebel forces in other Districts. Gale's sense of duty to the rebellion is greater than his personal happiness.
Haymitch
Haymitch Abernathy is the only other Hunger Games victor from District 12 besides Peeta and Katniss. He has been a mentor to Katniss and Peeta since their selection as tributes. While his financial life improved with his victory 25 years ago, he has since become a drunk. Faced with the prospect of reentering the Games during the Quarter Quell, Haymitch trains with Peeta and Katniss though Peeta ultimately volunteers in his stead. After the rebels hijack the Games, it is revealed that Haymitch has been working with the resistance throughout the novel, orchestrating the alliances and Katniss' rescue.
Cinna
Katniss's stylist and ally from the Capitol. Unlike his team, Cinna is stoic, channeling his emotions into his work. He continues to mold Katniss into the "girl on fire," including creating a show-stopping look out of the wedding dress President Snow makes her wear for her interview. On camera, the dress burns away and Katniss is left looking like a mockingjay - the symbol of the rebellion. This act reveals Cinna's true intentions, and he is beaten and arrested before the Quarter Quell begins.
Effie Trinket
District 12's representative from the Capitol. Effie is concerned with order and keeping up appearances. Though Katniss later grows to sympathize with her, Effie is a characterized as annoyingly upbeat and naive.
Mrs. Everdeen
Katniss' mother is a healer who takes care of the ill and injured of District 12. Katniss has had a strained relationship with her mother since the death of her father. When the Peacekeepers begin to punish the people of the Seam, Katniss's mother puts to use her extraordinary gift for healing. Katniss learns more about her mother's past, including her close friendship with Maysilee Donner, a tribute from District 12 who was killed during the Games Haymitch won.
Prim
Primrose Everdeen is Katniss's beloved younger sister. Though Katniss still yearns to protect her, Prim has matured since the Hunger Games. She unflinchingly assists her mother in her healing practices and it is clear that her short, brutal life has made her wizened beyond her age of 13. To Katniss, Prim's faded innocence is motivation to rebel against the Capitol.
President Snow
The president of Panem. He threatens the safety of Katniss and her loved ones if she fails to convince him that her act at the Hunger Games was out of love for Peeta and not an act of rebellion. Katniss often likens him to a snake, and says he smells of blood and roses. Snow is ruthless, conniving and willing to preserve the Capitol and its grip on the Districts at all costs.
Hazelle
Gale's mother. Before the rebellion, she makes ends meet by doing laundry in District 12. Katniss and Hazelle have an understanding, as both are stoic and practical and willing to do whatever necessary to protect their families.
Rory, Vick, and Posy
Rory, 12, and Vick, 10, are Gale's younger brothers and Posy is his baby sister.
Cray
The lenient Head Peacekeeper of District 12 who was replaced by Romulus Thread.
Greasy Sae
A trader who sells soup in the Hob (District 12's black market) before it is set on fire by the Peacekeepers. Katniss and Greasy Sae have had a friendship for years.
Darius
A friendly Peacekeeper who is replaced after Thread takes over. He is enslaved by the Capitol and turned into an Avox, a mute servant, and forced to serve the District 12 team at the Training Center. Katniss feels responsible for his punishment.
Octavia, Venia, and Flavius
Octavia, Venia and Flavius are part of Katniss's stylist team with Cinna. They are flighty and self-absorbed, but affectionate with Katniss.
Madge
Madge Undersee is the daughter of the Mayor of District 12. She is a friend to Katniss and Gale.
Mayor Undersee
The mayor of District 12.
Portia
Peeta's stylist from the Capitol.
Caesar Flickerman
The affable interview host of Games-related broadcasts.
Plutarch Heavensbee
The new Head Gamemaker. He replaced Seneca Crane, who was killed by the President for allowing Katniss and Peeta to win. He is secretly a double-agent for the resistance and helps orchestrate the destruction of the Quarter Quell and the rescue of the victors inside.
Ripper
Sells alcohol in the Hob.
Romulus Thread
The brutal new Head Peacekeeper of District 12.
Bristel and Thom
Work on the same crew with Gale in the mines.
Twill and Bonnie
Katniss finds Twill and Bonnie them hiding out in the cabin by the lake. Twill was a teacher and part of the rebels. She and her student Bonnie worked in a factory making Peacekeeper uniforms in District 8. After a failed uprising, the District was put on lockdown. The factory was blown up the day the workers returned to work and the explosion killed Twill's husband. Presumed to be dead, Twill and Bonnie escaped. Twill tells Katniss that District 13 was not destroyed as the Capitol insists, but it is the seat of the rebellion.
Maysilee Donner
The deceased twin sister of Madge's mother. She was one of the female tributes from District 12 when Haymitch won the 50th Hunger Games. They were allies for a short time until Haymitch found the edge of the arena. She was killed by razor-beaked birds. Katniss's mockingjay pin belonged to her.
Finnick
Finnick Odair is the male victor from District 4 chosen for the Quarter Quell. He is known throughout Panem for his beauty and it is rumored he has dozens of lovers in the Capitol. He is an excellent swimmer and fisherman, using nets and tridents with skill. Katniss finds him vain and lewd, but he is secretly working with the rebels to keep Katniss alive and destroy the Games. Katniss reluctantly trusts him, and Finnick saves Peeta when he is electrocuted. He is rescued by the hovercraft along with Katniss.
Johanna
Johanna Mason is the female victor from District 7 chosen for the Quarter Quell. She is snarky and enjoys being naked. Katniss and Johanna have an intense dislike for one another, but there is a sadness under Johanna's hardened attitude. She is working with the rebels all along and is captured by the Capitol when the arena is destroyed.
Wiress
The female Victor from District 3. She is odd, trailing off in the middle of sentences that Beetee finishes. After winning her Hunger Games, Wiress was an inventor. Despite her eccentricities, she figures out that the design of the arena is a clock. The other tributes nickname Wiress and Beetee "Nuts and Volts".
Beetee
The male victor from District 3. Referred to as "Volts" by the other victors. He is fiercely intelligent and is working with the rebels to destroy the arena using gold wire he designed.
Mags
The selfless female victor from District 4. In her 80s, she volunteered to take the place of Annie, her district's mad female victor chosen for the Quarter Quell. She can make a fish hook out of anything. Though the other victors have written her off, Katniss sees something in her and wishes to ally with her. During the Quell, Finnick tries to protect her by carrying her on his back but she sacrifices herself in the poisonous fog so that Finnick, Katniss and Peeta may live. Katniss finds out later that Mags was Finnick's mentor in his Games.
Enobaria
The female victor from District 2. She is notorious for ripping out the throat of another tribute during her Hunger Games. Her teeth have been filed and inlaid with gold.
Cecelia and Woof
The victors from District 8. Cecelia is a mother of three and Woof is elderly. They both die in the bloodbath at the start of the Quarter Quell.
Cashmere and Gloss
The victors from District 1. They are sister and brother.
Brutus
The male victor from District 2.
Seeder
The female victor from District 11, about 60 years old. She is friendly and eager to talk to Katniss. She dies in the bloodbath at the start of the Games.
Chaff
The male victor from District 11 and one of Haymitch's oldest friends. He is gruff and has a dark sense of humor. Katniss doesn't want to be on a team with him because of his coarseness.
District 6 Victors
Unnamed in the book. They are known morphling addicts, sickly thin with sallow skin. Like Haymitch, Katniss assumed they turned to substance abuse after the Games. Both morphlings spend all their time at the camouflage station in training, bonding with Peeta. The male 6 dies in the bloodbath and the girl saves Peeta from a monkey attack, becoming fatally wounded in the process.
Seneca Crane
The Head Gamemaker of the 74th Hunger Games. President Snow alludes to having him killed after he failed to deter Katniss from pulling out the poisoned berries. During her private session with the Gamemakers, Katniss hangs a training dummy with "SENECA CRANE" painted on it to show that even the Gamemakers themselves are not safe from the wrath of President Snow.
Blight
Unnamed until his death, he is the victor from District 7.
Claudius Templesmith
The announcer for the Hunger Games broadcasts.
Rue
The tribute from District 11 who reminded Katniss of her sister Prim. They teamed up in the Hunger Games, but Katniss could not protect her. After watching her die, Katniss decorated her body with wildflowers as an act of protest. The tragedy of her short life haunts Katniss and she feels a special bond with the people of District 11 because of their friendship.
Annie Cresta
Annie is originally chosen as tribute for the Quarter Quell, but Mags volunteers for her. Annie went mad during her own Games after seeing her district partner get beheaded. The Capitol uses her voice in the jabberjays to disturb Finnick; he loves her.
