JULIAN FINEMAN (Delirium)
Brief Summary (spoilers)
Julian is famous and a martyr to the cause, a hero to the DFA (Delira free America) and president of the organizations youth division. He has dark stormy blue eyes, his hair is caramel blond and wavy, which hangs to his mid jaw-line. He has a swimmer’s build with broad shoulders. Everything about his appearance says rich. He is uncured which at 18 years old is unusual. Scientists have thus far refused to cure him, due to a tumour on his brain which causes him to have seizures. It is later revealed that his father had a part to play in his seizures.
Julian was afraid of the uncureds and distrusted Lena upon her revelation that she was an uncured. He suffers from nightmares, in which Lena comforts him about and is uncomfortable in the beginning with others touching him. He soon, upon learning that Lena is uncured adapts to the news, and adjusts to the new world he has found himself in. He grows an affection for Lena.
-Courtesy of InvalidDaydreamer
Why We Like Him (mild spoilers)
Coming in from Delirium, you are prepared to hate Julian, just as Lena is. He represents all of the things she has come to detest; he’s influential on a podium, a martyr for the very cause she is fighting against. However, we start to learn that there is something different about him even as he’s introduced, his quirks piling up as the words run across the page. He’s a complicated, conflicted character with some glaring flaws. And that’s what makes him great.
You don’t know how to feel about him at first, but as the information on piles up, you grow to love him. He has the fatal flaw of curiosity, a real drive to be informed, that is to be admired. He has a closet rebellious streak despite his upbringing (hiding a forbidden book in his mattress, anyone? Sneaking into his dad’s second study?). Most of all, he’s very rational. All he’s trying to do is make sense of the things that are happening to him, and he makes these decisions rather quickly. Get mad at his reactions all you want, he’s handling all the changes very, very well.
Julian is a wonderfully written character. I came out feeling like he had developed just as much as Lena. He’s a very genuine character who seems to want to strive toward having experiences outside of what he’s had. And curious to the very end. – iwontstaylong
There are some people who don’t like this guy, but the moment we met Julian in PANDEMONIUM, I knew I was going to love him. I admire his open mind and curiosity and that willingness to learn new things. – Ice-ridden
HAYMITCH ABERNATHY (The Hunger Games)
Brief Summary (spoilers)
Strengths: He wields a powerful mind that’s main instinct, like Katniss’s, is survival. With all his prior experience with the games and brilliance with manipulation, Haymitch is a survivor that is inexcusably funny!
Weakness: Sobriety. He cannot seem to get a grasp on overcoming the horrors of his past.
- Courtesy of cns49
Haymitch is an intelligent man who has been so hardened by his past that he has opted to drown his sorrows in a bottle. After winning the second Quarter Quell, besting 47 competitors and outsmarting the game makers, the Capitol killed everyone that he loved. He was left with nothing except the unfortunate task of mentoring the district 12 tributes every year and watching each one of them die. Since district 12’s industry is mining and the citizens aren’t able to work in the mines until they are 18, the district produces the least prepared and skilled tributes. Every year Haymitch shows up at the reaping completely drunk and is regarded as a joke, but this is how he deals with meeting the two children he will soon fail in the arena. It is not until the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games that Haymitch gets a tribute out alive. We see him evolve as a character once he realizes that there is a very real possibility that Katniss can win the games. With this hope he sobers up enough to get sponsors and is able to get both tributes home. Even though Haymitch and Katniss have a seemingly volatile relationship, it is mostly because they are so much alike. They are both survivors who ultimately want to do what is right, but don’t like to have to accept help from anyone. His ultimate goal is to take down the Capitol and he is motivated and intelligent enough to play a lead role in the whole uprising. He’s a part of the rebellion and plays a role in getting Katniss out of the Quarter Quell arena alive. After the Capitol is defeated and Haymitch brings Katniss home after her trial he raises geese, drinks and helps Katniss and Peeta create a book to memorialize the fallen and as a sort of therapy. Haymitch also ends the series much like he began it, still drinking too much. However throughout we see him, Katniss and Peeta almost become a family unit. They are the only residents of Victor’s Village in District 12 and share the common bond of the last two Hunger Games.
- Courtesy of thgadminjessi
Why We Like Him
He starts out as a lovable drunk, but as the series goes on we begin to see how lonely his life is, and how difficult. When he lets Katniss and Peeta in, we see his love for them. He has a keen survival instinct, much like Katniss, and so he turned out to be a pretty good mentor. After a while, his alcoholism becomes acceptable – what with the hard choices he had to make over the years, choosing only one tribute to survive. When we learn the actual reason for it, well, that just flips his character around. He becomes the person you want to shield from the world, to protect – instead of the mentor who can’t quite control himself. Everything he does is calculated, every choice he makes is one for survival. He is yet another character who has been broken by the Games. – uchihakatniss
His history really interested me the most, which you only get glimpses of. The mystery of him is really compelling. – Burdge-bug
VOTING CLOSES END OF 8/25/12
