Mockingjay
discussion
Alternate Endings






Then again, you guys just read the opinion of a girl who didn't like the last book. Sorry.


GENIUS! I absolutely love this. I definitely think you should have been given full rights to write Mockingjay. I really like the 2nd Epilogue.
Abbmulholland19 wrote: "I don't think anyone should die. I mean, it just kind of ended with Katniss and Peeta being happy, but everyone else dies or is unhappy! I didn't see it coming when so many characters died."
This was my main problem - All throughout the book, Katniss sobbed over how terrible her life was, everyone died, and the end was just like "Oh yeah, and I lived happily ever after even though my life was essentially riddled with nightmares and flashbacks." I wanted to rip the book to pieces at the end, but decided not to because I was reading it on a Kindle.....


You are exactly right! I get that the Hunger Games was really traumatic and everything, but Katniss went from being a really kick-butt heroine to being a depressed, woe-is-me, feel-sorry-for-me-I-went-through-the-Hunger-Games whiner! Might just be my opinion, but I thought that Katniss should have toughened up - She wasn't the only one to survive The Hunger Games after all...THERE WERE 75 YEARS OF THEM!
As for the so-called happy ending, I think that it seemed too neatly tied-together...I dunno...My extremely opinionated opinion ;)


As for the so-called happy ending, I think that it seemed too neatly tied-together...I dunno...My extremely opinionated opinion ;)
I so agree. When you have a strong, heroic, kick-ass character at the beginning of a book you want that person to still live up to those expectations at the end of the book. Despite the physical and emotional battle scars collected along the way, you still want to see the strength of the character (even if it is to the death). It didn't seem like she ended up with Peeta because she really loved him, but more because she was just resigned to what was expected of her by everyone else.


I agree!
Allison wrote: "I most say that though I not a did fan of the main characters dying those endings make more since then Prim dying. The whole reason Katniss went into the hunger games was to save her. And I don't t..."
I couldn't have said it better myself
I couldn't have said it better myself

I've imagined endings resulting with Peete+Katniss having much more integrity with respect to their beliefs (no more games). Others where Katniss becomes so emotionally hurt, she's the one leading the games. Anyway, thought your idea was pretty fun to create a new ending. :D


I agree with you completely. I think that, with such a strong beginning, and even throughout Catching Fire, the ending would bring something...MORE. Although the realism is, indeed, there, who wants to read a book - Young Adult no less! - in which the awesome heroine ends up wallowing in her own self pity? I also found the fact that Katniss voted for a Capitol Hunger Games completely absurd; the Katniss in The Hunger Games would NEVER have done that, no matter how much she hated the Capitol. WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT TEACHING YOUNG ADULTS?
Okay, rant over; I'm quite passionate about this as you can probably tell ;)
Sandybeach wrote: "Daisy wrote: You are exactly right! I get that the Hunger Games was really traumatic and everything, but Katniss went from being a really kick-butt heroine to being a depressed, woe-is-me, feel-sor..."
Yeah, it almost seemed to me that she chose Peeta by default. As if she thought, well, Gale isn't coming back so I may as well choose Peeta - AND I AM NEVER GOING TO BE HAPPY NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS ANYWAYS.

I totally agree. I mean she went from this awesome girl who will do anything to protect what she cares about, to a girl who just wants to live her life in a state of absolute depression.

Exactly! Not only was it a bore and a pain to read, but the message is all wrong! It's basically saying "If you get into a really bad place in your life, just sleep in closets and live a life of self-induced depression! And if someone does something really bad to you, make sure you do it right back to them because we can't let what is right get in the way of what we feel at the moment!"
Okay, I'm done.......

and what sucks is that she was a totally cool badass before and then she just sulked all day!!

I KNOW! Specifically when she chose not to abide by the rules of 13 and LITERALLY hid in closets to get away from her fears. Wait, what!?

By the end I literally hated her. I was so angry at the end of Mockingjay I felt like it was pointless to have even read the series!


I agree. It seemed like the ending was pulled together hastily, like Suzanne Collins couldn't figure it out and was like ah, this'll do.

I haven't read Twilight, and, frankly, I don't plan to! I wasn't ever interested in it as a story.






I think it was more that this is a YA book with a great dystopia feel (even if its a little ripped off from Battle Royale, I didn't care) that then turned 180 degrees and became a realistic emotional trauma novel. I love realism, I've read Germinal (Zola), Kite Runner and many more and those were harsh, amazing, and emotional pieces of human trauma. But this isn't a realism or even a war novel, at least it wasn't published as so, so its hard to accept the ending. We read these novels to escape from the realism, if you slap it in our face in the ending it's just a "great, now I get to be depressed when I was looking for a fulfilling ending." If we wanted the realism, we wouldn't be reading these books.
I don't really care if the author of this thread made a "better" ending. It's a feel good idea, that's all.

I think it was more that this is a YA book with a great dystopia feel (even ..."
I think you summed it up perfectly. Also, to Stephanee, I think that it's just up to interpretation and personal opinion!

I think it was more that this is a YA book with a great dys..."
I have to agree with Juliet and CMDelion. They are right, except for the twilight thing. i like the series(not read the 4th book yet) so far except for book two, bella does bug me in that one, but i still thought it was good. Anyways I don't think the ending was good at all!!!! Katnis turned into someone who know longer looked out for herself, but just stood back and drowned in pity!!! After reading the book i wanted to chunck the book at the wall! I mean who could finish a amazing series off so badly????


I love both!!! The first was more about moving on, but the second was more metaphorical. I love how she finds the mockingjay pin!!!!
I liked the book how it was! Of course the book is supposed to be sad, and the only thing you changed was the death of some of the main characters. Prim's death was neccessary in the end. At the beginning of THG, Katniss sacrificed herself for PRIM, and Prim died at the end. So, the thing that started all of Katniss' tribulations, her sacrifice for her sister, was for naught because Prim died anyway. The book shows that even though Katniss could incite a rebellion, survive a war and two Hunger Games; she was powerless to save the person she loved most, Prim. It shows just how human Katniss is. Katniss is not a brilliant strategist, or trained government official, or superhero; Katniss is a teenaged girl who wants to survive and wants those she loves to survive. Oh, and the reason people HATE the ending so much is probably not really the fact that Prim died, but what happens to Katniss after. Katniss isn't hailed a hero and she doesn't ride off with her lover into the sunset. Katniss is discarded when she isn't needed anymore, and she goes and lives a quiet life with the man she loves. Why do Americans not like the ending? Well, because it is realistic. We all want bells and trumpets to sound when a book ends. We don't want a poor half-crazy girl just living quietly with her lover. We want the book to be unrealistic and fake because we want Katniss to have a hero's blessing. We don't want a bittersweet epilogue that leaves much to the imagination, but all of life IS bittersweet, so the ending is so much better than a hero's life of liesure.

LOL, I think you could have stated nicer than that, but I think you hit right on the nail. The ending to the book was realistic. I mean, they were in a war and War is (for the lack of a better word) hell. There never a clear reason for anything happening other than the fact that it happened and you eventually have to move on with your life. Which is what Katniss did in the end. The ending was rushed, yes, but it was realistic, which is something that I really, really liked.

Couldn't agree more! From the start you knew that this series was never going to have a 'happy ending', not everything does nor should every book have a happy ending.

I agree 100%! I don't think any of the people reading the series would have been bothered if Collins took the time to write something solid instead of rushing through the 3rd book. After reading Hunger Games, I was 'hungry' for more, but upon finishing Mockingjay, I felt considerably discontent.
It wasn't so much that I was upset about people dying or the mixed up relationships, but really how confusing and sloppily written it was. I didn't even realize that Finnick and Annie were having a child. A lot of things I had to reread because they were unclear. The whole district 13 plot and the assassination of President Snow... It was like I was watching some action movie that I've seen a million times during that part.
What was with all the children piled out front? Why was it only children? Did the D13 leader know that Katniss would see her sister going in there to help? It all just seemed like a very farfetched plan.

So you see my point on ur endings?
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Here is what I've come up with over 45 minutes:
ALTERNATIVE ENDING ONE: (happier)
The peacekeepers have fully barricaded President Snow's mansion as a final stand against the rebels. They are outnumbered but well prepared and are fighting off the rebel's siege. Katniss and her team attempt to infiltrate the mansion in order to assassinate Snow and end the bloodshed because Gale reckons if it can be shown on camera that Katniss (the face of the rebellion) has defeated Snow then the loyalist capitol citizens will surrender and lay down their arms.
Snow has locked himself inside a secret bunker in the mansion and releases an emergency broadcast saying that if the rebels do not lay down their arms and surrender in one hour he will unleash his nuclear arsenal on them all with the reasoning that if he can't have Panem no-one can. He ends the address echoing Katniss: "If we burn, you burn with us"
During the pandemonium that results outside as the Capitol citizens riot and panic the team successfully infiltrates the mansion.
(I'm not going to go into details but a situation is set up where only Katniss has enough time and the position to take the shot and kill Snow before the end of the countdown, however, Snow has the power to kill Katniss before she can do it.)
Both Gale and Peeta, realising at the same time what is going to happen exchange glances and they see in each others eyes how much they each love her. Gale and Peeta team up and sacrifice themselves somehow (perhaps by exploding their special weaponry) in order to create a diversion for Katniss to take the shot. However, this backfires as she freezes up seeing them die. Time seems to slow down as she considers all the people who have died for the capitol, rue, the other competitors in her 1st games, all the people of district 12, the rebels, her bodyguards, Boggs, etc etc, and now Gale and Peeta. Her body starts working again and she lifts her bow up and fires an arrow at Snow but not before he can get a shot off at her.
Snow dies and Panem is saved from impending nuclear war. However, Katniss is hit in the stomach and is dying.
Story cuts to Prim's point of view, and for whatever reason she is closeby and comes to Katniss's aid. She attempts to rescue Katniss but Katniss's will to live has left her. They have some meaningful moment together before Katniss dies in Prim's arms.
Aftermath:
Story is still from Prim's perspective and there are issues with how the Panem will now be governed. Coin wants to become the new president arguments break out from the other districts. Prim knows in her heart what Katniss would have wanted but she is only a little girl and is ignored by the senior rebels.
Finnick finds her and takes her to Haymitch and together through them Prim gets her voice heard. In the end, Plutarch is pronounced caretaker President whilst a democratic election between the districts is organised.
Epilogue:
Short description of Prim's life as an adult in the new Panem. Ties off loose ends involving the new president, the citizens of the Capitol, her mother. She explains how a memorial was built to Katniss, Peeta and Gale at the site where the president's mansion used to be to serve as a reminder of the horrors of war. Prim is forever grateful to her sister.
THE END
ALTERNATIVE ENDING 2:
Similar set up to the other ending except the nuclear arsenal gets fired just before Katniss kills Snow. Prim finds Katniss bleeding and together they wait for end. Outside the peacekeepers, citizens of the Capitol, and the rebels lay down their guns and embrace just as the first nuke hits.
Epilogue:
Hundreds of years later after the dust and fallout have settled nature begins to reclaim the land. A mother mockingjay spies a shiny object on the ground and picks it up and takes it her nest. The sun hits it and we realise what it is, a golden mockingjay pin. The mother mockingjay pleased with her find, departs the nest and continues looking for worms for her new eggs.
THE END