With the production of The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, finally starting, fans will get a look into the world of Panem before the Hunger Games (as they are in the main trilogy) began. With President Snow's history being revealed in the movie, it will be time to see the decisions he made to become the infamous antagonist that he is known to be.
In The Hunger Games trilogy, each character had to make quick decisions at one point or another, and while some were beneficial to not only the character development but also the storyline, other decisions proved to be more detrimental.
Katniss Everdeen - Caring Too Much
Katniss Everdeen is portrayed as a strong, independent character, and while it may be argued that Katniss' worst decision was volunteering as tribute, ultimately her worst decision was constantly telling everyone she loved and cared about that everything would be okay when things seemed bleak. Every time she does this she creates emotional hardship for herself as well as that person when something goes wrong. If Katniss distanced herself and didn't give in to her feelings so often, she would have saved herself a lot of emotional turmoil, and maybe even some physical pain too.
Peeta Mellark - The Riverbank Disguise
Peeta Mellark had both a lot and a little going for him when entering the 74th annual Hunger Games. He's strong, a people person, and he can paint well; however, maybe he should have spent some more time in the survival skills station during training. Peeta's worst decision was when he decided to take the time to paint/disguise himself as a part of the riverbank instead of looking for Katniss, or trying to use the water he was right next to treat his wound. He was able to utilize his skills to camouflage himself and hide from the Careers, but he may not have survived had Katniss not found him when she did. It could have been the end of his character, which would have drastically changed the rest of the movie, had he died.
Gale Hawthorne - Staying Home
There may be lots of debate on this topic, but Gale not volunteering as tribute may be his worst decision. His character becomes brooding and moody as the games go on as he watches Peeta and Katniss have to lean more into the star-crossed lover's bit. His jealousy is palpable and could have been prevented if he had just volunteered as tribute.
Not to mention, if he had been in the games, he could have made some grandiose defying act that would have really shown up the Capitol and President Snow. Instead, he just stayed home, took care of Prim, and got jealous.
President Snow - Underestimating The Lower Districts
President Snow lives lavishly up in the Capitol of Panem, often tending to his rose garden. He gets upset with Seneca multiple times throughout the movie for his support of Katniss' performances, even explicitly stating how he doesn't like an underdog, and how he doesn't like the lower districts, but this may be his biggest flaw and his worst decision. By believing that he is above the lower Districts he is blinded to the power they hold when they come together. Had he seen them as at least equals, there is a chance that he could have prevented the uprising and better-handled things when District 11 got unruly. He also easily could have made a spectacle out of Katniss, and made the lower Districts believe he was rooting for them, but instead, he tries to work against her and then gets mad that she cheats the cheating system to have herself and Peeta win.
Seneca Crane - The Mutts Are Weak
As Head Gamemaker for the third year in a row, Seneca Crane clearly was building quite the reputation for himself. He seemed thrilled when the Mutts were released. Being roughly the size of a smaller bear, they should have caused Peeta more damage when one jumped out of nowhere and pinned him to the ground. Peeta got away practically unscathed which was surprising. Being the Head Gamemaker, he [Seneca] should have double-checked on their strength and made them more lethal, otherwise, they seem pretty useless on their own making them a poor decision. This decision could be due to his arrogance in having created multiple games, but ultimately it lead to him getting killed. If the Mutts had been stronger, they would have killed Peeta thus resulting in one winner instead of two.
Haymitch Abernathy - Stepping Up To Mentor Too Late
As the only victor of District 12, Haymitch isn't the most optimistic person. It takes a lot of questioning from Peeta, and a slight threat knife threat from Katniss before he actually even starts to mentor at all. Haymitch's decision to go into their training with a "you're going to die, accept it" attitude probably cost them sponsors. His decision to give them little to no hope makes his 180 character change seem more dramatic. It's evident that one day it just clicks, and that he believes in Katniss and Peeta to win the games. Had that switch never happened, they would have never gotten the sponsors they needed to get the items they required to win the games.
Effie Trinket - Style Is Everything
From the moment she makes an appearance on screen, Effie is an unforgettable character, primarily due to her physical appearance. The juxtaposition of her outgoing, brightly colored, and loud attire compared to District 12's mundane look is unparalleled. While a lot of her looks are outrageous (as are most of the looks the citizens in the Capitol wear), her first look has to be the worst decision. Wearing bright magenta, with the huge flower on her head, and being all happy while picking the two District 12 tributes was jarring, and her wardrobe decisions definitely got better and matched the tone more as the movie went on. She cannot be faulted for looks though as she is just a prime member of the Capitol. Effie's fashion perfectly matches the aesthetic of the place she is from, but seeing as she has been the announcer of the tributes for District 12 before, she could have tried to match the mood more - or potentially chosen not to work with the Hunger Games at all, although the Capitol as a whole simply do not recognize these as the brutality they are.
Foxface - Berries Were Her Way Out
During training, the audience sees Foxface excel at identifying different plants that were supposed to be in the arena on a chart, thus implying that she knows her stuff when it comes to recognizing different plants. So, her decision to eat the nightlock berries when she sees Peeta harvesting them seems pretty hard to believe. Foxface is portrayed to be incredibly smart and even made it to the top five, so why would she decide to eat the berries she most likely knew would kill her? Maybe the way she saw it, the odds were no longer in her favor and it was a better way out than getting killed by someone else. Had she not eaten the berries, she probably had a good shot at winning since she had made it that far on her own.
Cato - Climbing Trees With Swords
District's 2 strongest contestant has a lot of good skills that help him excel in the arena. Common sense may not be one though. When he and the other Career tributes chase Katniss up a tree, this weakness shows. Not only can big, strong Cato not climb a tree it seems, but he also attempts to climb it with a huge sword in his hand. He might've just been trying to show off to the other Careers since he was the leader, but the whole situation could have been approached differently.
Surely there was someone in their group of five that could climb a tree, so why didn't anyone else try after he failed? Maybe he would have succeeded if his ego deflated for a second and he tried climbing it without his sword. The sword was the biggest problem, and he's quite lucky it didn't kill him when he fell from the tree.
Clove - You Talk Too Much
Cato and Clove were the only other two from the same District left besides Peeta and Katniss, and they had a fair shot at winning too. Clove ruined that chance when she attacked Katniss in front of the Cornucopia. Clove had her pinned to the ground, knife to her throat, and was waving another knife around, but she was talking for so long. Thresh overheard the mention of Rue's death and came in and killed her for it. If she had just killed Katniss when she had the chance she could've lived and won the Hunger Games with Cato even. This decision truly matched her smug character though, but everything would have been so different had she just killed Katniss when she had the chance. Or truly, maybe everything would have been the same as it normally was since another Career would have most likely won the games had Katniss been killed.