Peeta Mellark is the lead male character of The Hunger Games series. He is also the romantic foil to Gale Hawthorne as both men fall in love with Katniss Everdeen. But more than a love interest, Peeta is a baker's son who comes from a tragic background, including an abusive mother and emotionally distant father.
When he becomes a competitor in the 74th Hunger Games, his life is forever altered. Peeta has his fair share of loyal and devoted fans, he's a well-written character with strengths and flaws, but there are a few things we never quite understood about him.
Peeta Loves Katniss But Isn't Above Manipulating Her
Peeta is openly in love with Katniss, pretty much from the first book. But there are times when he manipulates her into showing affection for him despite the fact Katniss is clearly uncomfortable.
One would think that since Peeta loves Katniss, he would have more respect for her feelings, but there were many times in the series where he would do things outside of her comfort zone without asking her first.
Was Cake Decorating An Actual Job In District 12?
Peeta worked at his family's bakery in District 12 where he would bake bread and other assorted goods. However, his real talent was in cake decorating, which was how he learned to be so crafty and creative with a paintbrush and camouflage techniques in the games.
However, one has to wonder how he learned to be so skilled. District 12 was notoriously poor. Were people really buying cakes? Most people think the implication is that he would design cakes for the Capitol, but surely the Capitol had their own expert designers.
Did District 13 Really Not Know That Peeta Was Brainwashed?
During the rescue mission to the Capitol where people from District 13 went to retrieve Peeta and Johanna, they seemingly aren't aware that Peeta had been brainwashed.
However, shouldn't they have anticipated something like that after realizing how easy it was to retrieve Peeta and hearing him ask for a ceasefire? Some theories suggest that they were aware, but trying to keep it hidden from Katniss so as not to affect her work for President Coin.
Peeta Didn't Get Much Of A Chance To Mourn His Family
Peeta's family dies in Mockingjay but he barely seems to care. To be fair, they were not the best of people. His mother was abusive, physically beating him whenever he made an error at the bakery.
But supposedly his dad was nice, if distant. Peeta also had two brothers who we never learned much about. Even if he didn't care about his mom's death, one would think he would have shown a little more emotion over the other members of his family.
Did Peeta Truly Not Realize That Katniss Was Faking Her Feelings For Him?
Peeta's character arc is a little different in the books compared to the movies. In the books, Peeta is unaware that Katniss is faking her romantic feelings toward him for the Capitol's benefit, but in the movies, it appears that Peeta and Katniss are playing on the same field.
There is a better sense of understanding between them. But one has to wonder if Peeta wasn't deluding himself a little in the books; some even posit he may have been living in a fantasy, especially since he was watching Katniss for a long time before they really crossed paths.
How Did Peeta Become So Adept At Camouflage?
Peeta's main talent when competing in the Hunger Games is his ability to create incredible camouflage. But the thing is, it doesn't really make sense of how he became so gifted with a paintbrush.
Yes, we've established that he decorated cakes and was clearly quite skilled at it, but there is a huge difference between decorating pastries and becoming skilled enough at body painting to completely blend in with your surroundings. The fact he was so gifted counted on audiences' willing suspension of disbelief.
The Capitol's Plan For Peeta To Kill Katniss
The whole idea of the Capitol brainwashing Peeta to turn against Katniss was certainly dramatic, but overall, it didn't make much sense. For starters, why didn't the Capitol realize that the brainwashing could be undone?
Why didn't they consider putting a tracking device of some kind on Peeta so they could find out where the District 13 headquarters were located? Also, they wanted him to kill Katniss, but if he had succeeded, Katniss would have died underground, hidden from the public. Snow might not have even known she was dead.
How Did Peeta Convince The Careers Not To Burn Down Katniss' Tree?
In his first Hunger Games, Peeta pretends to work with the Careers in an effort to keep Katniss safe. At one point, Katniss climbs up in a tree to escape from them and Peeta manages to convince them to wait for her to eventually come down.
It doesn't make much sense considering they could easily have started a fire and smoked her out of her hiding spot. Instead, they opted to waste a bunch of time waiting for her to come down. Why?
Peeta And Katniss' Epilogue Relationship
At the end of the entire series, Peeta and Katniss wind up in a serious relationship with children, a house of their own, the whole thing. While fans of the pairing were obviously thrilled by this development, a lot of people were more skeptical. Katniss never showed a lot of romantic feelings in the series, she was always undergoing some new trauma, and romance was hardly a priority.
On the other hand, Peeta was in love with her from the beginning. Maybe Katniss really did fall in love with Peeta, but many fans feel like the relationship felt somewhat forced, and that Katniss only wound up with Peeta out of guilt and a sense of misguided obligation.
Why Didn't Peeta Kill The Careers In Their Sleep?
Speaking of the time when Peeta briefly allied with several Career tributes to keep them away from Katniss... What really would have helped her out would have been him deciding to kill them off while they slept. Of course, the rational reason for this is that Peeta was never really a killer.
He didn't want to murder people if he didn't have to, and he may have been too scared to act against them since it could have woken the others and gotten him killed in the process — but it sure would have simplified things for him and Katniss.