Who Killed Thresh in ‘The Hunger Games’? His Backstory and Legacy, Explained
The 74th Hunger Games eventually won by Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark would have had a different outcome hadn’t Katniss encountered another tribute that saved her life. Here’s everything to know about Thresh and his participation in the Hunger Games.
The first movie in the hit dystopian franchise, The Hunger Games has witnessed some of the toughest fights that Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen had to go through, even though at least one of those was won thanks to another fellow tribute.
Eventually having no one else to kill but Cato before winning the Hunger Games, Katniss has yet another moment of tension when her paths cross with Thresh’s, but that doesn’t turn out to be the same as she could ever expect.
Despite Thresh never being Katniss’ ally in the first place, he does play a key role in the way Katniss eventually becomes one of the victors — here’s how.
How Does Thresh Save Katniss and How Does He Die Later?
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A male tribute for the 74th Hunger Games from District 11, Thresh is reaped alongside 12-year-old Rue who later on becomes Katniss’ ally (not for long though).
During the preparation, Thresh proves himself as one of the strongest tributes, which prompts the Careers to offer him their alliance; he eventually refuses.
Later, surviving the initial bloodbath at the Cornucopia, Thresh doesn’t show up much until the feast at the same place, overhearing District 2 tribute Clove threatening Katniss and mentioning Rue’s death.
He then ambushes Clove, smashing her head twice against the Cornucopia and killing her, and asks Katniss what the thing was about Rue and their alliance.
When Katniss tells him the truth, Thresh decides he will let Katniss go just once in order to honor Rue, but afterwards he won’t guarantee Katniss’ safety shall their paths cross again.
More notably, Thresh suggests that Katniss run as far away as she can, knowing that Cato is about to find her.
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Eventually, Thresh doesn’t get to live much longer after that, though his death differentiates in the novel and the movie series: in the films, Katniss and Peeta don’t hear the gong that signals Thresh’s passing, which is why they can’t figure out how exactly he died. In the book, however, Thresh is killed by the Capitol’s wolf mutts.
How Thresh Contributes to Katniss’ Victory in the Hunger Games, Explained
Since Thresh was the one to spare Katniss’ life at the time when he got just as close to winning the Hunger Games, Katniss had no one else to fight but Cato who was eventually killed by mutts too.
In the end, both Thresh and Rue’s sacrifices had a major impact on Katniss who struggled with delivering her personalised speech about her fellow tributes during the Victory Tour in District 11.
