Favorite Characters: Finnick Odair (The Hunger Games)

More so the books than the movies – while Sam Claflin does a fine job playing the role, Finnick gets a bit of the supporting-character-in-a-book-adaptation short shrift in the films.  I still like him, but with everything going on, the movies can’t quite provide the screentime necessary to get into the interesting facets of this character (Some spoilers for Catching Fire/Mockingjay.)

Image, media, and controlling the narrative all play important parts in the overarching world of The Hunger Games, and Finnick demonstrates these elements beautifully.  From his first Games (which he won at age 14,) people have been captivated by his no-one-is-actually-this-gorgeous-except-in-books-where-you-fill-in-the-details-with-your-imagination good looks.  He was showered with every gift he could possibly want in the Arena by his besotted sponsors, and ever since, he’s had a reputation as a lusty pretty-boy who breaks hearts all over the Capitol. 

But that’s just the image of Finnick.  In the Arena, his good looks helped him get what he needed to survive, but that doesn’t mean the victory was handed to him on a silver platter – like every other competitor in the Games, he was a child forced to attack and kill other children to stay alive, and he proved himself both lethal and highly capable at a very young age.  In the intervening years, though he’s earned a reputation as a shallow playboy, he has in fact become the personal property of President Snow, who sells Finnick to any wealthy Capitol citizen eager to pay a handsome price for the pleasure of his forced company.  He does this because, if he refuses, Snow will kill everyone he loves.  And, just like people in the Districts have to watch their children die in the Games every year and act like it’s event television, Finnick has to be sexually abused for someone else’s profit and pretend he enjoys it.  As he plays the part of the seductively beautiful plaything, he quietly gathers whispers and secrets from the beds he shares.

With these misperceptions dictating who people think Finnick is, what’s behind the sultry smiles?  Who’s the young man that Katniss actually gets to know, first in front of the cameras and later away from them?  (Side notae – the strong friendship that gradually develops between Katniss and Finnick is one of my favorite parts of Mockingjay.)  Well, he’s an excellent fighter and a fine strategist who’s instrumental in keeping Katniss and Peeta alive during the Quarter Quell.  While everyone who pays to sleep with him deludes themselves into thinking they have his heart, he’s in fact in love with a young woman from his District – a former Victor like him, one who suffered major psychological damage from her own experiences in the Arena.  Finnick’s a smart, shrewd guy, and it’s only when Annie is in danger and he can’t protect her that he hits his breaking point. 

In his own way, much like Katniss, his most driving instincts are protective.  When Annie is trapped in the Capitol, his inability to help her cuts through him, so much so that the strong, confident Victor can barely function.  He looks after Mags in the Quarter Quell, even though her age and frailty make her an obvious liability, and is grieved to lose her.  And when Peeta has undergone torture and brainwashing, Finnick acts as a sort of surrogate caretaker, standing up for Peeta against the others and helping him sort through his altered memories to figure out what he can trust.  When you think of the initial impression drawn of Finnick – ruthless in the Arena, pleasure-seeking in the Capitol, and out for himself in all things – it’s clear that there’s much more to him than meets the eye.