The Hunger Games universe is known for its deadly competition of the same name, but the Gamemakers are the masterminds behind it – and some of them suffer just as bad of a fate as the competitors. Each round of the deadly brawl at Panem’s Capitol is controlled by a Head Gamemaker, with several others working in a control room to set off obstacles and beasts within the arena. The role of Head Gamemaker is a high-profile occupation that comes with an immense amount of pressure.
Based on the dystopian novels by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games film franchise follows the life of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she competes and survives two rounds of the games. Katniss hails from District 12 of Panem, one of the twelve districts that send two tributes to compete in the deadly publicized brawl each year. Upon her success with the games and her defiance of the Capitol’s oppressive agenda, Katniss becomes a symbol of the districts’ rebellion. Along the way she has assistance from her love interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), her hunting companion Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), her mentor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), and other allies — including Gamemakers.
Keeping Capitol citizens entertained is the primary responsibility of the Gamemakers. The games must be as bloody and spectacular as possible, and always more so than the previous year’s event. But the President is the one whose opinion matters the most, and for the movies, that’s President Snow. If the games do well, a Gamemaker acquires fame and fortune, but a poor performance puts a Gamemaker’s life in jeopardy. The franchise includes 5 named Gamemakers, each operating with different motivations and each succumbing to a different fate. Here is what happened to these 5 characters.
Seneca Crane
Seneca Crane was the Head Gamemaker during the 74th Hunger Games, which took place in the first Hunger Games movie and book. His role in the film, portrayed by actor Wes Bentley, was much more prominent. Crane coordinated the gameplay and unleashed deadly obstacles, like the forest fire and the mutant beasts. While he was initially persuaded by Haymitch to allow for two victors from the same district, he changed his mind once Katniss and Peeta were the last ones standing – only to revoke his decision right before they both threatened to commit suicide with poisonous Nightlock berries. President Snow wasn’t pleased with his Head Gamemaker’s actions and the seeming encouragement of Capitol defiance. He locked Crane inside a room with Nightlock berries at the end of the film, implying imminent suicide.
Crane’s merciful actions paved a path for the rebellion, whether it was intentional or not. If Katniss and Peeta had both died, hope would have perished along with them. While the games were always intended to be a device that controlled the districts’ existence, Crane’s hasty admission of two winners showed that the Capitol could be undermined.
Plutarch Heavensbee
An unexpected ally to Katniss, Plutarch Heavensbee was the Head Gamemaker for the 75th Hunger Games, succeeding Seneca Crane. Philip Seymour Hoffman played the character in the Hunger Games movies up until his death in 2014, after which his remaining scenes were filmed using CGI. Plutarch was a leader of the rebellion, and he eventually won Katniss Everdeen’s trust after keeping his goals to overthrow the Capitol on the down-low during his job. Though he was an intelligent strategist who saw the games and the rebellion as a chess game, he didn’t show a lot of concern for those who died in the war. He ends up surviving during the series.
Lucia
Lucia was a Gamemaker during the 74th Hunger Games, working under Seneca Crane. Portrayed by actress Sharon Conley, she only appeared briefly in the first Hunger Games film and was not a character in the novel. Though her role in the film was minor, she was most notably responsible for creating the mutant mutt creatures that killed Thresh and Cato and pursued Katniss and Peeta. Lucia can be seen working at her control room station when Crane approached and asked “Ready, Lucia?” She responded, “Right here, sir,” and she showed him a hologram of the mutts’ design. He asked her to enlarge the hologram in the middle of the control room and admired her work before initiating the attack. In the book, Katniss noted that the mutts had eyes and features of the dead tributes, but the movie left out this detail. Lucia’s fate in the Hunger Games universe is unknown.
Volumnia Gaul
An experimenter of weapons and mutations, Dr. Volumnia Gaul was the Head Gamemaker of the 10th Hunger Games. She was a character in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a spinoff and prequel to The Hunger Games book trilogy. Dr. Gaul worked as a professor at the Capitol’s University, and she was indirectly responsible for the creation of the games thanks to a project she assigned her students. When Capitol officials started to think that the games were getting boring, Dr. Gaul introduced the mentor program to retain Capitol interest for the 10th Hunger Games after another student project. She was a cruel woman who thrived off of praise and took pleasure in suffering. She took on Coriolanus Snow as a student and apprentice, thereby producing the series’ primary villain. She is presumed deceased in the original trilogy.
Coriolanus Snow
President Coriolanus Snow wasn’t a Gamemaker during the movies, but The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes featured his time as an apprentice following the 10th Hunger Games. After mentoring the winning tribute during those games, he went on to study advanced military strategy at the University and became a Gamemaker. He was accepted by his fellow Gamemakers as one of their equals, and he introduced new aspects to the games like the Victors’ Villages.
Snow became a manipulative dictator during his time as president of Panem, motivated by power and control. He was known to poison his allies before they came foes, even drinking the same potion to minimize suspicion with some help from antidotes. Though he was almost executed by Katniss after the overthrow of the Capitol, Snow was found dead in the aftermath of a rioting crowd.