Caesar Flickerman is the host for the Hunger Games, responsible for interviewing tributes the night before the competition began.[1]
Biography
Early career
According to Katniss Everdeen, he was the host of the Hunger Games for more than forty years.[1] The earliest known edition he hosted was the 50th Hunger Games, 24 years prior to the start of the trilogy. That year, he had to interview twice the regular number of tributes in honor of the second Quarter Quell.[2]
74th Hunger Games
Caesar with Katniss for her 74th Hunger Games interview.
Katniss says that his look in the 74th Hunger Games looked much better. He is shown to help tributes in each district with their interviews. In that year, his hair, lips and eyelids were dyed powder blue. While Caesar interviews Rue, they discuss her chances of winning, because the odds are against her. Rue says that she is fast and if they can't catch her they can't kill her and to not count her out, to which Caesar replies "I wouldn't in a million years."
While interviewing Katniss, he helps her because she doesn't do well in front of cameras. For example, when he asks Katniss what she liked the most since she came to the Capitol, she answers, "The lamb stew." He remarks that he can eat it by buckets and makes a horrified face when he asks the crowd if it shows. The crowd reassures him that it doesn't.[1]
Caesar with Peeta the night of the 74th Hunger Games interviews.
When he interviewed Peeta, the two of them were described as a good team, feeding off of each other and bantering easily. It was to Caesar in this interview that Peeta first revealed his love for Katniss, shocking everyone.[1] The interview was said to have gone down amazingly with the audience[3].
After the Games were over and they had an interview with Katniss and Peeta, he mainly conversed with Peeta[4][5] since Katniss is not very talented when it comes to speaking for the cameras and televised interviews[1][4].
Flickerman during the Victory Tour.
The 75th Hunger Games
Caesar announces the 3rd Quarter Quell.
- "We have never seen anything like it before... And we will never see anything like it again."
- —Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire[src]
As he did with the previous Games, Caesar helped the tributes in the 75th Hunger Games with their interviews. This year, his hair, lips and eyelids were dyed lavender. While interviewing the tributes, his questions were met with snide remarks from tributes. Most of them were bad mouthing the Capitol as a sign of rebellion before they went into the arena for a second time.
Katniss and Caesar
When he interviewed Katniss, he mentions her upcoming nuptials to Peeta. As per Snow's request, Katniss was wearing her wedding dress. Katniss was unaware that Cinna had made a few adjustments so that as she twirled, the dress would morph into a mockingjay outfit.[6] Caesar then interviews Peeta, who claims that he had been unofficially married to Katniss for months and that she is pregnant. While both claims are false, they explain Katniss' sudden "breakdown" and obtain sympathy. This revelation caused the audience to go wild, upstaging all of the other tributes' interviews (as Peeta also did the year before[3]). This also upset the Capitol audience enormously because they had grown to love Katniss and Peeta, and the thought that they would not both survive after being so close to each other, and that an unborn baby would probably be killed in the arena, overwhelmed them.[7] This resulted in some of them supporting the rebellion, not the Games.
At the end of Caesar's interviews, all of the victors stood and held hands as a show of unity; this influenced the Capitol audience further still[7].
The Rebellion
Caesar interviews Peeta
In Mockingjay, Caesar interviews a tortured Peeta. Caesar asks him questions like how he feels about the rebels and Katniss. While Peeta is explaining, he tells him and the audience how it feels to be in the Hunger Games, which fascinates them because no victor has ever spoken of this. Caesar tries to make Peeta as comfortable as possible during the interview. It is cut short when Peeta asks to go back to his cell, due to Caesar's comments on Katniss and her place in the rebellion.[8]
Caesar interviews Peeta for the second time. This interview is short, during this interview the two exchange empty comments to each other. Caesar asks Peeta about the rumors of Katniss shooting a propo. Peeta tells him that she probably doesn't know what they are doing to her and to not trust them. The last thing Peeta says before the interview ends is for Katniss to find out what they are doing.[9]
In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, Caesar interviews Peeta a third time in place of President Snow. During the interview, Peeta states he thinks they should end the war with a ceasefire because if they have a war it could mean the end of all living things. Caesar questions Peeta's statement and asks him more on his thoughts of the rebellion. Peeta warns the rebels of the impending bomb attack from the Capitol on District 13. The interview is cut short when the Peacekeepers go on stage and beat Peeta and take him away to receive a punishment.[10][11]
In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Caesar is featured in a Capitol announcement about the alleged death of Katniss and Squad 451 in a Peacekeeper attack, when actually only Leeg 1 and Leeg 2 were killed[12].
Caesar's ultimate fate is not revealed in the books or films, leaving it up for speculation whether he died or survived the war. Despite often-repeated claims that Suzanne Collins confirmed in a 2011 interview that he was spared from execution, no such statement can be located.
Physical description
Caesar's Capitol Portrait
He appeared virtually the same over the course of his career. Every year, he wore the same pure white makeup, the same hairstyle, and the same "ceremonial" midnight blue suit, "dotted with a thousand tiny electric bulbs that twinkle[d] like stars." The only thing that changed annually was the color of his hair, and his eyelids and lips were done up to match.[1]
- 50th Hunger Games - Dark green[2]
- 73rd Hunger Games - Crimson; it looked like he was bleeding[1]
- 74th Hunger Games - Powder blue[1]
- 75th Hunger Games - Lavender[6]
Personality
Caesar makes Peeta feel at ease.
Capitol Couture Portrait
Caesar is known for being helpful and brings out the best in the tributes. Katniss also notes that she thinks Caesar acts like this so that the tributes don't get worried or nervous. He is also known to like the Capitol's lamb stew. He thinks of himself as a little on the "tubby" side and loves Katniss' interview dress in the first book and asks her to twirl. It says in the book that Caesar can make a weak response into a memorable one. Like most Capitol citizens and TV personale, Flickerman has had noticeable surgery done on his face as noted by Katniss, and is rather interested in the arts of fashion as displayed with his vibrant and colorful costumes and suits. He is well liked by the Capitol citizens audiences, yet seems to have some sympathy for the tributes of the Games and honestly tries to bring the best out of them and increase their chances of survival.[1]
Stanley Tucci remarked that he thought Caesar to be "creepy, with the sort of false generosity and duplicity." Others view Flickerman's deameanor more as that of an amiable talk show host looking to help the tributes through the interviews.
Relationships
In the novel, Claudius Templesmith and Caesar have no known relationship. Yet, in the film adaptation, Caesar is placed as a co-host to Claudius during the chariot rides and actual Hunger Games[5].
Gallery
Trivia
- It is unknown whether any particular real-world talk show hosts were inspirational to the character of Caesar Flickerman, though Stanley Tucci did suggest that some existed in a special feature on the Blu-Ray of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It appears that Caesar is a sort of conglomerate of them in general.
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes features a character named Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, a popular weatherman for Capitol TV who was tapped to be the first ever host for the 10th Hunger Games. Their shared last name suggests a familial relation, and a legacy of involvement in both television and the Hunger Games.
- In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Lucky could briefly be heard making a restaurant reservation for a "party of two and a high chair", hinting at having a child. Fans have speculated that he was referring to Caesar.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 The Hunger Games, Chapter 9
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Catching Fire, Chapter 14
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Hunger Games, Chapter 10
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Hunger Games, Chapter 27
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Hunger Games
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Catching Fire, Chapter 17
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Catching Fire, Chapter 18
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 2
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 8
- ↑ Mockingjay, Chapter 9
- ↑ Mockingjay, Part 1
- ↑ Mockingjay, Part 2
- ↑ The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes