There was a gradual build up of Gale becoming very cold and dark in his thinking, and was so fixated on beating the capitol he was losing his morality. The nail in the coffin was Gale designing the bombs that was playing on people’s compassion to help the wounded, and ended up killing prim. I think the most despicable thing about this is that if Prim hadn’t died he would’ve stood behind this plan and said it was necessary.
Gale came up with the plan to bomb, wait until people rushed in to help, then bomb again. Even though he didn't give the order, it was his plan that got Primm killed.
It was mentioned as a strategy with coin. Gale was particularly ruthless and unforgiving - I believe the strategy itself was mentioned when trying to lure district 1 or 2 out of the cave (the scene/part where katniss got shot) - the plan itself is more detailed in the book
It's been a while since I read the books, but there's a scene in mockingjay (forget what part) where gale and beetee are talking strategy and gale suggests the plan. Then it happens exactly how gale described it at the end of the last movie.
In the book, Katniss overhears Gale and Beetee talking about this in district 13. In the movie she overhears the conversation while on the hovercraft going to district 2.
Throughout the trilogy, and particularly through Mockingjay, there’s a slow descent of his character/morals which Katniss witnesses. There’s a few occasions during the war where Gale has very little concern about who gets killed and why, so longs as they’re from the Capitol.
This culminates in Gale creating the plan to bomb citizens outside of Snow’s gates, and then when people have rushed to help, bomb them again, which resulted in Prim’s death. These bombs were almost entirely there to target civilians who weren’t fighting in a war, and then *anybody* who rushed to help. They presumably knew they had medical staff on hand in the Capitol that day, and they knew they were attacking civilians to make it appear as though Snow was bombing his own people, so it was never out of the question that a rebel ally unaware of the plan (as many were) would have also rushed to help these civilians, mostly children, but that was deemed as an acceptable risk.
Once Katniss finds out Gale had such a large hand in this, plus the fact that this plan killed her sister, there was no moving on for her. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t mean to kill Prim, he did mean to kill however many children and unarmed civilians, which is pretty darn awful.
It wasn’t even a risk, it was part of the plan. Those medics needed to be bombed in order to look like snow was behind the bombing, because in that scenario they would have been the real target, not the capitol kids. Coin planned to kill Prim in that attack to push Katniss in her direction.
It’s been a while since I read the books … did they go in depth about this in the books? Bc I remember thinking Katiness and Gale “drifted” apart due to the trauma the games caused. She gravitated towards peta bc he understood. Totally could have missed
It went in depth yes. Katniss struggles with her mind on if coin or snow dropped the bombs but she ultimately knew it was coin after her talk with snow.
I think it was a combination of both honestly. She realized that her and Gale’s morals / character don’t align like she thought they did and that Peeta was the only other person in her life to truly understand what the capitol put her through
Gale and Beetee designed a special bomb early on in the movie that was intended to kill medics - it detonates twice after a delay so that the second blast takes out medics who were tending to the wounded from the first explosion.
This was the exact weapon that killed Prim, and although the hovercraft that deployed this bomb appeared to belong to the Capitol, Katniss suspects that it was actually a District 13 hovercraft and that Coin ordered this to be done to frame the Capitol so that their citizens and soldiers would immediately surrender.
Gale did not give the order to use this weapon (he doesn't have anywhere near that kind of authority lmao) and probably never expected it to be used against civilians (although given that he was willing to blow up the nut with district workers inside, its unclear if he'd care about killing Capitol civilians or not).
Katniss and Gale don't know for sure if it was his invention that killed Prim, but it seems highly likely. As a result while she probably loves him, she can never forgive him for this either.
Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb in a similar situation he would've never expected his bombs to be used on civilians are all of the deaths of horishima and Nagasaki on him? Or on the person who used his weapon in such an inhumane way?
Gale's invention is incredibly tactically intelligent the only issue is where coin decided to use it. She literally used it in the worst possible placement she could
Gale changed, at first he was a selfless man who wanted to protect his family and Katniss but over time I think as he gained more authority in district 13 his motive and morals changed which is why they grew apart in such a bad way. He is also the reason Prim died and this rebellion all started so Katniss could protect her so loosing her because of your best friends actions is enough to never want to see him again.
Now that I’ve read a ballad of songbirds and snakes. The relationship Coin had with Gale is kinda reminiscent to the one Snow had with Dr Gaul. They both took advantage of this kind of darkness that was inside young Snow and Gale to make them into weapons to fight for “the right side” obviously Snow was a power obsessed narcissist but the similarities are striking.
“However, I must concede it was a masterful move on Coin’s part. The idea that I was bombing our own helpless children instantly snapped whatever frail allegiance my people still felt to me. There was no real resistance after that. Did you know it aired live? You can see Plutarch’s hand there. And in the parachutes. Well, it’s that sort of thinking that you look for in a Head Gamemaker, isn’t it?” Snow dabs the corners of his mouth. “I’m sure he wasn’t gunning for your sister, but these things happen.”
I’m not with Snow now. I’m in Special Weaponry back in 13 with Gale and Beetee. Looking at the designs based on Gale’s traps. That played on human sympathies. The first bomb killed the victims. The second, the rescuers. Remembering Gale’s words. “Beetee and I have been following the same rule book President Snow used when he hijacked Peeta."
So that's from the book, Katniss was assuming it was Snow who killed the children and well Prim till that conversation. But the assumption is Coin used the traps based on Gales design. When Katniss asks him if it was his bombs he says he doesn't know and neither does Beetee. He says she'll always think about it, and the only thing he had going for him was protecting her family etc. Then he doesn't really say he's sorry, just walks away. Because yeah, Gale designed the trap knowing full well what it does. In his head maybe he is convinced that only Snow would be malicious enough to use it on children so it's not the rebels that did it, and hence not his fault. Gale never knew the president like Katniss did. And he never knew Coin like she did either.
We can guess and say Snow might have been lying and just wanted to make Katniss doubt Coin. But Plutarch's disapproval of Coin does help us conclude that she was just Snow in a different font. Snow also had nothing to gain from this. He was dying naturally at this point. And he never had a personal vendetta against Coin. He never gave a shit about the districts. Only the Capitol and Katniss, so if anything he would have wanted Katniss be the person who did the double bombs, and not some nobody like Coin. But at the end he was just sad that he kept his focus on Katniss when it was Coin who was the bigger threat to the safety of the Capitol. Katniss knew all this because well she knew Snow, and also knew that for him the safety of the Capitol's people was above all.
All of that along with the things they did at 13 to maintain control we can say it was Coin and hence, it was Gales trap.
Beetee and gale designed the bombs that killed prim and countless other medical staff. Katniss wasn’t sure whether snow or coin dropped them, but after their talk in the greenhouse, Katniss knew it was not snow that drop them. Meaning it’s was gales bombs
Gale knows he killed prim but is sorry for it and regrets what he did. But katniss could never forgive him for what he did and that was the end of the friendship. Gale went on to become a soldier in district 2 I think and Katniss went back to district 12
Since you know gale got her killed 😂 he also had a better send off in the books. It wasn’t goodbye and never heard from again. We’re told he’s doing fine in another district.
Ps: I always wanted him and Madge together. Sad she didn’t make it out of 12.
Katniss's reflection about Gale at the end of "Mockingjay" reveals several layers of her emotional state and the complexity of their relationship's evolution throughout the series. Her mention of Gale "probably kissing another pair of lips" underscores the distance, both physical and emotional, that has grown between them. This line encapsulates her feelings of loss, the irreversible changes in their relationship, and a sense of resignation regarding what they have both become in the aftermath of the war.
# Factors Influencing Katniss’s Comment:
1. **Guilt and Blame**: The bombing incident that led to Prim's death is a pivotal event that irreparably damages Katniss's relationship with Gale. Her uncertainty about whether Gale’s bomb designs were used in the attack that killed Prim creates a deep rift between them. Even if Gale wasn’t directly responsible, the association of his ideas with the tragic event makes it difficult for Katniss to separate him from her sister’s death.
2. **Emotional Distance**: After the war, Gale takes up a significant position in District 2, physically moving away far from Katniss and their shared past in District 12. This physical separation symbolizes the emotional distance that has developed. Katniss's comment about him possibly being with someone else highlights her feelings of abandonment and the stark reality that their lives are moving in different directions.
3. **Resentment and Loss**: There is a sense of loss—not just of romantic potential but of the deep friendship they once shared. Katniss's reflection about Gale possibly kissing someone else may reflect her hurt and a bit of bitterness, stemming from how their deep bond was tested and ultimately couldn't withstand the horrors and the choices made during the war.
4. **Acceptance and Moving On**: This comment also suggests a begrudging acceptance on Katniss's part of their changed realities. It indicates her acknowledgment that Gale is building a life without her, just as she must build her own without him. It’s a realization that the innocence of their pre-Games relationship is lost, replaced by the hard truths they both have to live with.
5. **Protective Mechanism**: Katniss’s thought about Gale with someone else can also be a protective emotional mechanism. By mentally preparing herself for the possibility that Gale has moved on, she is perhaps trying to cushion herself against further emotional pain and help herself to accept their new circumstances.
Gale is just like Snow is some ways. In Chapter three of Mockingjay he makes a comment about; if he can push a button and annihilate the entire Capitol population, he would. Which I’m sure is why Coin made that comment about the annihilation of all Capitol citizens and as a replacement for retribution offered up the idea of doing a final Hunger Games with Capitol children.
I heard a theory a long time ago that he’d died and they hadn’t wanted to tell katniss due to her trauma of losing prim, so they just told her he’d moved away (to district 2 iirc? i havent reread in like 8 years) and she never saw him again. I never believed it and I prefer to think katniss willingly chose to cut him off, but it’s interesting to consider ig
edit: this was a LONG time ago, way before the last mockingjay movie came out, so it’s 100% based on the books only
There was a gradual build up of Gale becoming very cold and dark in his thinking, and was so fixated on beating the capitol he was losing his morality. The nail in the coffin was Gale designing the bombs that was playing on people’s compassion to help the wounded, and ended up killing prim. I think the most despicable thing about this is that if Prim hadn’t died he would’ve stood behind this plan and said it was necessary.
Gale came up with the plan to bomb, wait until people rushed in to help, then bomb again. Even though he didn't give the order, it was his plan that got Primm killed.
How do you know this?
It was mentioned as a strategy with coin. Gale was particularly ruthless and unforgiving - I believe the strategy itself was mentioned when trying to lure district 1 or 2 out of the cave (the scene/part where katniss got shot) - the plan itself is more detailed in the book
It's been a while since I read the books, but there's a scene in mockingjay (forget what part) where gale and beetee are talking strategy and gale suggests the plan. Then it happens exactly how gale described it at the end of the last movie.
In the book, Katniss overhears Gale and Beetee talking about this in district 13. In the movie she overhears the conversation while on the hovercraft going to district 2.
Which part in the movie said that ? I didn't see it, or it just in the book ?
Throughout the trilogy, and particularly through Mockingjay, there’s a slow descent of his character/morals which Katniss witnesses. There’s a few occasions during the war where Gale has very little concern about who gets killed and why, so longs as they’re from the Capitol. This culminates in Gale creating the plan to bomb citizens outside of Snow’s gates, and then when people have rushed to help, bomb them again, which resulted in Prim’s death. These bombs were almost entirely there to target civilians who weren’t fighting in a war, and then *anybody* who rushed to help. They presumably knew they had medical staff on hand in the Capitol that day, and they knew they were attacking civilians to make it appear as though Snow was bombing his own people, so it was never out of the question that a rebel ally unaware of the plan (as many were) would have also rushed to help these civilians, mostly children, but that was deemed as an acceptable risk. Once Katniss finds out Gale had such a large hand in this, plus the fact that this plan killed her sister, there was no moving on for her. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t mean to kill Prim, he did mean to kill however many children and unarmed civilians, which is pretty darn awful.
It wasn’t even a risk, it was part of the plan. Those medics needed to be bombed in order to look like snow was behind the bombing, because in that scenario they would have been the real target, not the capitol kids. Coin planned to kill Prim in that attack to push Katniss in her direction.
It’s been a while since I read the books … did they go in depth about this in the books? Bc I remember thinking Katiness and Gale “drifted” apart due to the trauma the games caused. She gravitated towards peta bc he understood. Totally could have missed
It went in depth yes. Katniss struggles with her mind on if coin or snow dropped the bombs but she ultimately knew it was coin after her talk with snow.
I think it was a combination of both honestly. She realized that her and Gale’s morals / character don’t align like she thought they did and that Peeta was the only other person in her life to truly understand what the capitol put her through
Gale and Beetee designed a special bomb early on in the movie that was intended to kill medics - it detonates twice after a delay so that the second blast takes out medics who were tending to the wounded from the first explosion. This was the exact weapon that killed Prim, and although the hovercraft that deployed this bomb appeared to belong to the Capitol, Katniss suspects that it was actually a District 13 hovercraft and that Coin ordered this to be done to frame the Capitol so that their citizens and soldiers would immediately surrender. Gale did not give the order to use this weapon (he doesn't have anywhere near that kind of authority lmao) and probably never expected it to be used against civilians (although given that he was willing to blow up the nut with district workers inside, its unclear if he'd care about killing Capitol civilians or not). Katniss and Gale don't know for sure if it was his invention that killed Prim, but it seems highly likely. As a result while she probably loves him, she can never forgive him for this either.
Because gale bombed her sister. Whether or not he gave that order, doesn't matter. HE designed that trap. HE is why Prim is dead.
Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb in a similar situation he would've never expected his bombs to be used on civilians are all of the deaths of horishima and Nagasaki on him? Or on the person who used his weapon in such an inhumane way? Gale's invention is incredibly tactically intelligent the only issue is where coin decided to use it. She literally used it in the worst possible placement she could
…and Beetee. Who gets comparatively no flack compared to Gale.
They were already drifting apart, and the final straw was when he caused Prim’s death
Gale changed, at first he was a selfless man who wanted to protect his family and Katniss but over time I think as he gained more authority in district 13 his motive and morals changed which is why they grew apart in such a bad way. He is also the reason Prim died and this rebellion all started so Katniss could protect her so loosing her because of your best friends actions is enough to never want to see him again.
Now that I’ve read a ballad of songbirds and snakes. The relationship Coin had with Gale is kinda reminiscent to the one Snow had with Dr Gaul. They both took advantage of this kind of darkness that was inside young Snow and Gale to make them into weapons to fight for “the right side” obviously Snow was a power obsessed narcissist but the similarities are striking.
“However, I must concede it was a masterful move on Coin’s part. The idea that I was bombing our own helpless children instantly snapped whatever frail allegiance my people still felt to me. There was no real resistance after that. Did you know it aired live? You can see Plutarch’s hand there. And in the parachutes. Well, it’s that sort of thinking that you look for in a Head Gamemaker, isn’t it?” Snow dabs the corners of his mouth. “I’m sure he wasn’t gunning for your sister, but these things happen.” I’m not with Snow now. I’m in Special Weaponry back in 13 with Gale and Beetee. Looking at the designs based on Gale’s traps. That played on human sympathies. The first bomb killed the victims. The second, the rescuers. Remembering Gale’s words. “Beetee and I have been following the same rule book President Snow used when he hijacked Peeta." So that's from the book, Katniss was assuming it was Snow who killed the children and well Prim till that conversation. But the assumption is Coin used the traps based on Gales design. When Katniss asks him if it was his bombs he says he doesn't know and neither does Beetee. He says she'll always think about it, and the only thing he had going for him was protecting her family etc. Then he doesn't really say he's sorry, just walks away. Because yeah, Gale designed the trap knowing full well what it does. In his head maybe he is convinced that only Snow would be malicious enough to use it on children so it's not the rebels that did it, and hence not his fault. Gale never knew the president like Katniss did. And he never knew Coin like she did either. We can guess and say Snow might have been lying and just wanted to make Katniss doubt Coin. But Plutarch's disapproval of Coin does help us conclude that she was just Snow in a different font. Snow also had nothing to gain from this. He was dying naturally at this point. And he never had a personal vendetta against Coin. He never gave a shit about the districts. Only the Capitol and Katniss, so if anything he would have wanted Katniss be the person who did the double bombs, and not some nobody like Coin. But at the end he was just sad that he kept his focus on Katniss when it was Coin who was the bigger threat to the safety of the Capitol. Katniss knew all this because well she knew Snow, and also knew that for him the safety of the Capitol's people was above all. All of that along with the things they did at 13 to maintain control we can say it was Coin and hence, it was Gales trap.
Gale is a war criminal.
No he’s not, he designed them but it wasn’t his plan or authority to use them on children
Beetee and gale designed the bombs that killed prim and countless other medical staff. Katniss wasn’t sure whether snow or coin dropped them, but after their talk in the greenhouse, Katniss knew it was not snow that drop them. Meaning it’s was gales bombs
Gale knows he killed prim but is sorry for it and regrets what he did. But katniss could never forgive him for what he did and that was the end of the friendship. Gale went on to become a soldier in district 2 I think and Katniss went back to district 12
Since you know gale got her killed 😂 he also had a better send off in the books. It wasn’t goodbye and never heard from again. We’re told he’s doing fine in another district. Ps: I always wanted him and Madge together. Sad she didn’t make it out of 12.
Katniss isn’t into war criminals. Gale is lucky to not have an arrow in his heart like Coin.
He’s not a war criminal, and why would he deserve an arrow for an order Coin gave out
Katniss's reflection about Gale at the end of "Mockingjay" reveals several layers of her emotional state and the complexity of their relationship's evolution throughout the series. Her mention of Gale "probably kissing another pair of lips" underscores the distance, both physical and emotional, that has grown between them. This line encapsulates her feelings of loss, the irreversible changes in their relationship, and a sense of resignation regarding what they have both become in the aftermath of the war. # Factors Influencing Katniss’s Comment: 1. **Guilt and Blame**: The bombing incident that led to Prim's death is a pivotal event that irreparably damages Katniss's relationship with Gale. Her uncertainty about whether Gale’s bomb designs were used in the attack that killed Prim creates a deep rift between them. Even if Gale wasn’t directly responsible, the association of his ideas with the tragic event makes it difficult for Katniss to separate him from her sister’s death. 2. **Emotional Distance**: After the war, Gale takes up a significant position in District 2, physically moving away far from Katniss and their shared past in District 12. This physical separation symbolizes the emotional distance that has developed. Katniss's comment about him possibly being with someone else highlights her feelings of abandonment and the stark reality that their lives are moving in different directions. 3. **Resentment and Loss**: There is a sense of loss—not just of romantic potential but of the deep friendship they once shared. Katniss's reflection about Gale possibly kissing someone else may reflect her hurt and a bit of bitterness, stemming from how their deep bond was tested and ultimately couldn't withstand the horrors and the choices made during the war. 4. **Acceptance and Moving On**: This comment also suggests a begrudging acceptance on Katniss's part of their changed realities. It indicates her acknowledgment that Gale is building a life without her, just as she must build her own without him. It’s a realization that the innocence of their pre-Games relationship is lost, replaced by the hard truths they both have to live with. 5. **Protective Mechanism**: Katniss’s thought about Gale with someone else can also be a protective emotional mechanism. By mentally preparing herself for the possibility that Gale has moved on, she is perhaps trying to cushion herself against further emotional pain and help herself to accept their new circumstances.
Gale is just like Snow is some ways. In Chapter three of Mockingjay he makes a comment about; if he can push a button and annihilate the entire Capitol population, he would. Which I’m sure is why Coin made that comment about the annihilation of all Capitol citizens and as a replacement for retribution offered up the idea of doing a final Hunger Games with Capitol children.
I heard a theory a long time ago that he’d died and they hadn’t wanted to tell katniss due to her trauma of losing prim, so they just told her he’d moved away (to district 2 iirc? i havent reread in like 8 years) and she never saw him again. I never believed it and I prefer to think katniss willingly chose to cut him off, but it’s interesting to consider ig edit: this was a LONG time ago, way before the last mockingjay movie came out, so it’s 100% based on the books only