The Biggest Plot Holes In The Hunger Games Franchise

While tributes in "The Hunger Games" are normally chosen during an event known as the reaping, there is another way for someone else to take on the responsibility. Volunteers essentially put themselves forward to replace the original tribute. Most often, volunteers are close family or friends of the tribute and offer to take their place out of love — as we see Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) stepping in to replace younger sister Prim (Willow Shields) — however, that is not always the case. While volunteers are rare, there are a select few districts that specifically train volunteers from a young age to be equipped to compete in the games. This makes them highly effective fighters and gives them a much better chance of surviving and winning the competition.

This does beg the question: Why don't all of the districts train volunteers? The practice is technically against the rules of the games, but Districts One and Two seemingly do this without suffering any punishment. The Hunger Games come with a lot of danger but provide one of the only ways to escape poverty and provide for their families, something that many might well be willing to do. Yet, only a small number of districts train volunteers, and the reason for this isn't necessarily something that is explored in detail. 

In the grand scheme of things, this plot hole might not seem like a major continuity error that has a large effect on the overall plot of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Yet, the spool of wire that Katniss is unspooling across the mountain from a tree to the shoreline as a trap against the competing tribe ultimately plays a vital part in the plot. After all, without the wire, Katniss would not have been able to attach an arrow to it and then use it to break the force field when lightning strikes and electricity shoots along the wire.

The plot hole itself has to do with how the wire suddenly becomes tight and stops unspooling as Katniss is laying it. Despite her best efforts to get the wire to continue to unspool, it won't budge and stays tight as someone on the other end pulls it at the same time. Of course, this doesn't make any sense as Katniss should still have been able to lay the wire as it would be loose on her end and easily unspool even if someone was tugging on the other end. The plotholes in "Catching Fire" haven't gone unnoticed, with Reddit user u/Racoonie commenting "That movie had plotholes so big, you could drive another movie through it."

Throughout "The Hunger Games" franchise Katniss' main weapon of choice is her trusty bow and arrow. The character is a skilled archer who honed her skills by hunting for food outside District 12 while she was a child. In the movies, Katniss uses the bow almost exclusively once she acquires it from Glimmer (Leven Rambin) early on during the 74th Hunger Games. From there, the bow and arrow give Katniss a way to source food for her and her allies as well as dispatch her enemies. She uses it to kill the likes of Marvel (Jack Quaid) and Cato (Alexander Ludwig), demonstrating just how deadly she is.

In "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1," Katniss is supplied with a far more advanced weapon that works with several different types of arrows, including explosive and incendiary arrows. This new bow also comes equipped with gadgetry, but none of this explains just how she is capable of shooting down fast-moving bombers that should be armored against explosives. While the hovercraft is not as fast as fighter jets, they still should not be able to be hit by an arrow shot by a bow from such a considerable distance, as shown when the bombers attack the District 8 hospital and are destroyed by Katniss.

The entire point of the Hunger Games in the franchise is that they act as both a deterrent against rebellion and a punishment for a previous uprising. Long before the events of the movies, the 13 districts rose up against the Capitol and engaged in a war that eventually saw the rebels mercilessly put down by the Capitol's forces and District 13 becoming an independent nation. The Capitol then sets up the Hunger Games in order to remind everyone that it holds all the power and as a way of instilling fear in the population of the remaining districts.

Fans have noted, however, that this is something of a plot hole. While the removal of two children who are then forced to fight to the death against others is frightening, it would not work as an effective way of suppressing rebellion. As noted in The New Yorker, stealing away children and having them be subject to such torturous conditions would likely lead to parents starting a rebellion to stop it from happening in the future, especially when there's nothing else they can do to prevent their children from being randomly selected. Considering that, the Hunger Games make little sense as they would be more likely to make people join a rebel cause after watching their friends and family constantly be slaughtered.

For tributes competing in the arena of the Hunger Games, life is not easy. Not only do they have to compete against each other, but they also have to face off against numerous threats. This includes a wide selection of traps, natural hazards, and "muttations." These mutts are genetically altered creatures that prowl the arena and can seemingly be introduced by the Gamemakers at any time to spice up the action.

One of these muttations is a group of wild dogs, which are much larger and more dangerous than domesticated dogs. They first appear in the original movie, although their sudden arrival in the arena has raised some eyebrows. Fans have noted how they seemed to just show up out of nowhere, almost as if they had materialized out of thin air when the Gamemakers decided to release them upon Katniss and her allies. There are other similar instances as well, such as when trees or other items suddenly appear without warning, opening up the question about how exactly this happens. It is clear the purpose is to make it even more difficult for the tributes, but the mechanics of how this is achieved are hazy.

The Hunger Games is an annual event where two tributes battle it out to be the sole survivor. Think "Battle Royale" but on a much smaller but no less brutal scale. Those taking part also have to face other challenges, such as mutated creatures and obstacles and can receive sponsorship from wealthy individuals to gain advantages over their fellow competitors.

The end goal is to be the sole survivor, bringing themselves and their families untold wealth and food while also demonstrating to the populations of the districts what compliance can bring. The rules clearly state that there can be only one winner, although this is later altered to allow Peeta and Katniss to be declared joint winners. However, such is the unpredictability of the games, there is no way to guarantee that there will be any survivors after the conclusion of the Hunger Games. While the Gamemakers have some control over the events, it is certainly possible for the last remaining tributes to die at the same time due to an explosion, which would make the entire experience pointless.

The Hunger Games event can theoretically involve any child between the ages of 12 and 18 to be chosen as a tribute. However, certain individuals can become more likely to be randomly selected by entering their names multiple times. This happens in some respect automatically, with older children receiving more ballots than younger ones. However, it is also possible for a potential tribute to voluntarily increase their entries in exchange for food supplies in a system known as tesserae.

This means that those taking tesserae were far more likely to be chosen as a tribute during the Reaping. For example, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) was entered into the lottery 42 times during the events of the first film because of the rationing system. Of course, if everyone did this and entered their names multiple times, there would be no change in the chance of being chosen as the tribute for your district. The odds of being randomly selected would essentially remain unchanged but everyone would get extra food. If that is the case, then why doesn't every child do this as part of an organized effort to ensure everyone gets the food they need? This question remains unanswered, and perhaps it was the fear of the games — instilled by the Capitol — that led people to choose hunger over possible death.