#Gale Hawthorne defense squad

[thelakesogversion-blog]

“How different can it be, really?” Gale says grimly.

I’ve seen a lot of people villanizing Gale for this line, some even going as far as to say they started hating him because of it. However, I think most people need to remember A) the context of this line and B) A conversation between Gale and Katniss in Mockingjay.

Katniss, Gale’s best friend, is going into a life and death arena that kills 23 innocent teenagers each year. Gale absolutely hates this, for hopefully obvious reasons, and is by no means encouraging the games. What he was doing with this line was giving Katniss advice to come out of the games alive. Gale knows she’s an excellent hunter, a very important skill for the games. By making her believe she’s hunting, she is in a better mindset to survive the games. He hopes his best friend can somehow beat the unlucky odds, and stays strong giving her advice. He’s not going to say “Oh this is gonna be awful! You’re going to have to kill people but you have to in order to survive. But best of luck no pressure!” No. He was just trying to give his best friend advice to win. If my best friend or someone very important to me was going into the games, I would’ve said the exact same thing that Gale did. Is it a good situation? Not in the slightest! But, if someone that important to me was reaped, I wouldn’t be talking about ethics, but rather, how they could make it out alive.

And, in this conversation in Mockingjay, we see that Gale didn’t believe in what he said.

“So, it’d be easy for you? Using that on people?” I ask.

“I didn’t say that.” Gale drops the bow to his side. “But if I’d had a weapon that could’ve stopped what I saw happen in Twelve…if I’d had a weapon that could have kept you out of the arena…I’d have used it.”

“Me too,” I admit.

So no, he doesn’t want to have to kill people. It wouldn’t be easy for him. But, if he had to stop the games, or to stop the bombing in district 12, he would. And Katniss, who knows what it’s like to kill people, agrees with him. She responds with ‘Me too’!

[punkeropercyjackson]

I love The Hunger Games but Peeta should've been black.'The blonde white blue eyed boy is soft and feminine and the brown dark featured girl is rough,mean and masculine and he symbolizes peace while her equally brown childhood best friend symbolizes war' is NOT it

@refrigeratedboombursts @ribbonspice @desi-pluto

[justgayloringeverthrone]

Second, bitch wtf? How was he a shitty friend, when he literally saved her and her family's life multiple times? And he was a teenager with *GASP 😱* reactions of a teenager, he saw the love of his life, the only women he'd ever love, kiss another man and he had every right to be jealous. He obliviously didn't hold it against her personally if he managed to find time to be with her, along with working 12 hours a day, six days a week. And you're pretending as if Peeta didn't do the very same thing by saying "aLmOsT tHoUgHt ThAt KiSs WaS rEaL" and don't you dare say that Peeta apologized and Gale didn't because Gale might've not apologized with words, but actions.

And third, Gale knows a LOT about survival. He did not blame her, if he blamed her than why would he constantly be with and around her, he was jealous and apparently his crime is that he wasn't completely okay with the girl he loved kissing another dude, the dude who, let's not forget, stalked her for yearsl

okay one yes he did save her and her family's lies but other than that he wasn't really a good or supportive friend. second yes he's jealous but that's not the problem the problem is is that he's mad that she had to kiss penis to survive and he's making her feel guilty about it. I mean he even said it himself "I told you he hated me," I say.

"It's the way he hates you. It's so...familiar. I used to feel like that," he admits. "When I'd watch you kissing him on the screen. Only I knew I wasn't being entirely fair. He can't see that."

Yes Peter was just too but the difference is he realized it was wrong of him to hold it against her for doing what she had to do to survive and that's the difference Peeta take accountability and Gale does not. also Gale just tries to pressure kindness into choosing between him and Peeta even though she tells him multiple times that she can't think about a relationship right now because of her fear of being killed and he doesn't listen and he keeps bringing this up again again I'm going to give you a good example of this

"I knew you'd kiss me."

"How?" I say. Because I didn't know myself.

"Because I'm in pain," he says. "That's the only way I get your attention." He picks up the box. "Don't worry, Katniss. It'll pass."

this is what I'm talking about he literally admitted to making katniss to feel guilty and to kiss him oh and then he complains about her kissing him it's one of my most hated Gale moments because this it's just pure manipulation there's no ifs and their buts about it he knew how she was going to react feeling to him rejected and feeling like he doesn't have a chance with her romantically and he did it anyway and that to me is gross.

here's another example of him being manipulative and blaming katniss.

"I thought...I'll never compete with that. No matter how much pain I'm in." He spins the feather between his thumb and forefinger. "I don't stand a chance if he doesn't get better. You'll never be able to let him go. You'll always feel wrong about being with me."

This is blame. Straight up, Grade A premium blame being put on Katniss because OMG she has strong feelings for someone NOT Gale. This isn’t about her feelings. This is all about him and how he’s been ���mistreated’ by her. He’s laying all this guilt on her because he can’t handle

I hate that he was making someone else’s pain all about himself. Seriously, your “rival” has been tortured and brainwashed and all you can think about is how this affects you? While your supposed best friend is clearly miserable about this, and all you can do is just add to her emotional turmoil instead of making any kind of attempt at being a supportive friend?

what other example of this type of stuff but these two are the ones that piss me off the most and it really just shows to me that gale would never be a good match for katniss and Peeta is 100 times more better because like even though he's jealous he still a good friend the kindness he is there to support her and be there for her and coming her through nightmares I mean this man literally gives her a locket with Gale in it and so hopes that the create a life together this man is so selfless.

"she had to kiss penis to survive" IM SORRY I'M NOT JUDGING YOU FOR A TYPO BUT THIS HAS ME ROLLING ON THE FLOOR IN TEARS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Anyways back to the point, as I said, Gale doesn't apologize with words but over time admits he was wrong with his actions.

Second he doesn't push her into a relationship when she isn't ready, that would be Peeta, Gale saw she didn't want it and then backed off after he kissed her, she is the one who continued something romantic. He didn't manipulate her. He was insecure. He was jealous. You can't say he manipulated her just because he loved her in a different way than Peeta.

And while we're on the subject, yes, sometimes people think about how a worse situation for someone else affects them negatively. Gale didn't praise The Capitol for what they did to Peeta, he cooperated with him while still trying to protect Katniss.

Gale was a morally gray character. He wasn't perfect, nobody's saying that he is. But he was realistic and complex and different and he sure as hell was better than Peeta. His motives and actions are much deeper than even Katniss' so I understand how most people can't even comprehend how morally complex he was.

Also you didn't answer why you're following me, like, genuine confusion and no hate but your shitty English made me not understand some of the things you said.

[brookesophelias]

think about how

each five total time i read The Hunger Games Trilogy, the more times I THINK "WE WERE ROBBED" when it comes to Haymitch Abernathy & Gale Hawthorne.

IMAGINE

Gale Hawthorne: the resourceful hunter who thought his 42 slips would give him so much more than... well, nothing. (his family is still wanting, the girl he's crushing on doesn’t see him like that. HE'S A COAL MINER JUST LIKE HIS FATHER TO KEEP HIS MUM ALIVE).

of course, Gale's angry because the Capitol says all he has to is play The Game & he'll be full. But he never gets to play. He has all this anger at his government, for the sickness he sees. so much that it blinds him & all he yearns for is revenge. REVENGE is the only thing that lights him up these days!

he has no empathy for Victors—as he's unaware Haymitch doesn't allow anyone clean or cook for him, doesn't understand Haymitch sleeps with a knife every night for 25 years, & gets through the days drunk because he knows every tribute District 12 lost, the all 49 tributes he fought—when they have all the money & food he ever could dream & don’t do anything with it.

(Gale never knew Peeta's mother beat him for throwing bread to Katniss, doesn't realise Mrs. Undersee's maiden name is Donner).

so when Katniss wants to run into the woods with everyone AND Gale, Gale's (only?) sees "Loverboy," "the Mayor's daughter," as well as the single town Victor who trips on live TV like a drunken idiot.

therefore,when Alma Coin lures Gale into making Rebel weapons, he's enthralled. He is finally doing something useful with his skills & IT'S AGAINST SNOW? sounds awesome!!

it's not his fault President Coin wants to usurp Snow & is using anti-Hunger Games rebellions to do so. it's not his fault Primrose Everdeen is dead.

ok, but there’s Haymitch: resident Quell Victor who begrudgingly lets Hazelle in his Victor’s Village house. Hazelle, with her young children & whose son is pretending to be Katniss' cousin?

i mean (honest) gale/katniss is a major damage to the star-crossed lovers angle

is it because he could young Gale in himself? where Gale is skilled in building & planning & hunting, Haymitch knows methods & truly making something from for nothing

does Haymitch look at Gale's broken body after Thread whipped him & know that the younger man is already more than physically broken without even stepping foot in the Games?

does Haymitch just wish he could drill into Gale Hawthorne's cocky head that being angry at the Capitol is great motivation, just not how he's going about it.

Haymitch would probably give a month's worth of his winnings for life to Gale, just to hug the younger man and tell him: i see you, your effort, your determination to stop suffering?

the thing is: Gale believes he'd be able to survive the arena and still be himself & Haymitch knows that nobody can do that—not Maysilee; not even Peeta.

in all reality, Gale was just a kid that hungered for more than he received in return.

[outlawssweetheart]

Gale Hawthorne: A teenage boy (with *gasp* the emotional maturity of an average teenager! 😱) who grew up in utter poverty in a horrifically oppressive country. He joined the rebellion and helped create bombs to *checks notes* take out his horrifically oppressive government who subject their citizens to poverty and force 24 children and teenagers to fight to the death once a year. The fandom: "Gale Hawthorne is THE REAL VILLAIN of the story!! He is a narcissistic INCEL, and he murdered Prim! He absolutely knew how Coin was going to use the bombs! Not only that, but he actually stabbed Prim to death first, with his own 2 hands!! Forget that he made them with Beetee, Coin made the orders, and Plutarch followed them... IT WAS ALL THAT INCEL MONSTER GALE!!! He also did 9/11! Yeah, that was HIM!"

[bubblegum-hurricane]

For being readers, Gale Hawthorne haters sure have piss-poor comprehension skills. 🤔 🤷🏽‍♀️

[icedsodapop]

Hot take but White fans should stop making posts about Gale Hawthorne cos yall dont know how to eat him properly and respectfully without your biases showing.

Like is it racist to paint this poor Brown boy who has been the victim of police brutality and genocide as violent and sadistic?

[wlwocprincess]

You know the when it comes to the “demonized radical leftist freedom fighter that the narrative has chosen to turn into a villain (maybe they’re a terrorist? War criminal?) that makes the protagonist realize that radicalism can be Just As Bad but then chooses a way that’s easier and safer than Liberation” I’m surprised nobody has pointed out Gale Hawthorne. He’s this trope exemplified. Ppl will pick all these characters but Gale Hawthorne, probably because we have all sort of deluded ourselves into choosing the comfort of the easier and safer option that is so within the ending of these books, isn’t labeled this way which is wild. This is a poor brown character who we get to know really well throughout the first two books and because of how angry he is due to his oppression he quite literally ends up making Bombs that are used to kill children. And we just. Move on from that. Accept that’s just who he is now and that’s the end of his story as we know it. Huh.

[sasusakucore]

I love katniss, peeta, gale, prim, madge, everlark, platonic!everthorne(neutral on romantic!everthorne though I can understand why some may ship them), Lucy gray baird, sejanus plinth, Annie Cresta and Tigris snow and I won't tolerate slander of them.

[mega-ringsandthings-world]

I think the shift to declaring Peeta a proverbial saint and the hatred thrown Gale’s way within the fandom coincided with the rise of purity culture in fandom/online, because I’ve been in this fandom since its inception and the attitude towards Gale was markedly different years ago. 

[duaghterofstories]

Your long opinion about Gale pls?

Because the story is told by Katniss, we dislike Gale, when if it was from Gale's POV, we would think it was all okay.

A lot of Gale's behavior parallels the attitude of the hero of the classic stories. In another world, by another author, the story of the Hunger Games would be about Gale. I will elaborate under the cut.

Gale Hawthorne. His best friend, whom he's loved for years, was forced to go through the Hunger Games and pretend to a like a guy. He's begging her to run away with their families, but she refuses too.

After that, she asks to run away, but Gale knows that if they run away all of the people in their city will suffer. The other Districts are starting to rebel, and in order to distract people, his best friend, who he knows doesn't love the guy, is proposed to, and accepts.

Then a group of law enforcement arrives. They're more fierce and angry then the group you had before. The scene Gale had, with tackling the guy and then getting whipped? That's what happens with the main characters. You get what I mean? They react with their emotions and get punished, also driving their anger toward the system.

Now his best friend has to compete in the Games. Again. It's been less than a year since she came home traumatized, and she’s being forced to compete again. Once again with the guy she doesn’t really live.

While she’s away, the District is under attack. He joins the Rebellion hoping it’ll help. The District gets bombed and he tries to save as many people as possible, but it isn’t that many, since he only has a few minutes.

I haven’t read Mockingjay in a while, so I can’t rant about that as well, but I do know it still follows the same pattern.

Anyway, yeah, that’s why people disliking Gale is hypocritical since they love characters that are basically the same as him. Suzanne Collins just disliked him, and also wrote the story from a different POV than most people.

I would go on, but I’m in the car.

[thelakesogversion-blog]

Can we please talk about the fact that Gale ALWAYS had Katniss’s back?? It’s always one of the biggest reasons why I will always love their relationship . It didn’t matter if they were mad at each other/disagreed, if Katniss needed someone for support/help/advice, etc, he was there for her as soon as he could be. And also, they always listened to each other, they just didn’t always necessarily agree. And that’s actually shows a really strong friendship, as they didn’t just tell the other what they want to hear!

[justgayloringeverthrone]

TW: this post contains mentions of severe abuse, trauma and grooming

Am I the only one that thinks that Coin groomed Gale? First off, no, you don't have to be in a relationship with someone to be groomed by them. And grooming does NOT have to be sexual. Please go research it a bit further before commenting.

So if you are familiar with what grooming let's talk about why I think Coin groomed Gale. So basically, she used his trauma and age in a toxic way against him so he would work for her and eventually make the bombs. She saw how young and traumatized he was and she saw how he would to anything to help them win the war and so she used that in her own use which is literal definition of grooming.

And before y'all come saying that he knew what he was doing, he was a child, barely 19, he wasn't aware of the harm his actions were doing and he was very apologetic and blamed himself for all the deaths the bombs caused which doesn't make any sense because Coin was the one who gave out the orders and he was just a child with an idea and wish for a better life for his people. Coin saw that and used it.

Also while we're on the subject I think she used Wiress' death to motivate Beetee, she obvi didn't groom him, but I think she used the death of his wife and the fuel for revenge, but that's a topic for another day.

[lajeunefilleenfeu]

Y'all have to understand, it's not that I'm Team Gale or that I would love to marry a guy like Gale. I just feel bad for him.

[gale--hawthorne]

Welcome!

⤻  This blog is an Gale Hawthorne/Everthorne blog, and will focus on the character Gale Hawthorne from THG series and the Gale/Katniss ship. ⤻ Content on this blog will center around Gale and or Gale/Katniss. ⤻ Gale Hawthorne and Katniss Everdeen are not white, and original content on this blog will primarily feature them as poc. ⤻ No hate or negativity against Gale Hawthorne is tolerated or acceptable here. ⤻ Rude or hateful asks will be answered in kind. ⤻ This blog is not Everlark or Peeta Mellark friendly, so enter at your own risk. ⤻ Enjoy the Gale content!

[bubblegum-hurricane]

This is a Gale Hawthorne defense blog now.