- "One of the outer districts, this is nonetheless a crucial one. These brave and hardy workers descend deep into the earth each day to mine the coal that keeps our nation running."
- —Description from The Hunger Games: Tribute Guide[src]
District 12 is the smallest and poorest of the thirteen districts of Panem. Located in Appalachia, it had a population of around 8,000 people before the district was firebombed by the Capitol. District 12's main industry is coal mining, but after the Second Rebellion, the mines were closed and their main industry became the production of medicines. District 12 is also the original home to the victors Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mallark and Haymitch Abernathy.
Areas and places
District 12 consisted of four major areas: the Seam, the merchant section, the Victors' Village, and the Hob.
The Seam
- "District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety."
- —Katniss Everdeen[src]
The Seam was the poorest part of District 12 and was where Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne had lived. It was located on the border of District 12, next to the wild forests. It was extremely hard to find food in there, and many families lived in poverty. Because of this, an adult who lived to be very old is respected and thought of as wise; in contrast, a full belly and youth are frowned upon and loathed by the people in the Seam. Many who live there were missing members of their family, due to mining accidents or from starvation. Also, Katniss mentioned that they only have electricity a few hours a day, so they mostly use candles for light.
Early in the mornings, the streets of the Seam were crowded with tired and worn-down coal miners heading to work. Everything in that part of the district was covered in a layer of coal dust due to the coal mining of the region.
Typically, residents of the Seam have dark hair, grey eyes, and an olive complexion, which is why Prim and her mother always looked so out of place in the Seam; they both had blonde hair and bright blue eyes, due to Mrs. Everdeen's heritage.
Merchant section
This area of the district was definitely a step-up from the Seam. The mayor and his daughter, along with other families such as Peeta Mellark's, lived in the merchant area and were well-off by District 12's standards. It was mentioned by Katniss that the merchants "lived above their businesses," suggesting that the merchants' homes doubled as their shops as well.
The merchant section did exactly what its name implied - was a center for trading and buying goods. With the district's coal mines, they made some trades to the Capitol and occasionally to the other districts.
The merchant class' appearances set them apart from residents of the Seam, as most of them have blonde hair and blue eyes.
Katniss' mother originally lived in the merchant section, but she moved to the Seam to live with her husband after she got married.
The Hob
The Hob was District 12's black market, where Katniss and Gale went to sell or trade their excess game. Many things were available for purchase or trade at the Hob, varying from some of Greasy Sae's soup, a goat, or white liquor made by Ripper. It was later burned down by Peacekeepers in Catching Fire.
Victors' Village
The Victors' Village is a small area where the victors of previous Hunger Games dwell. The houses are grand and luxurious compared to the rest of District 12. In total, District 12 had four victors in the span of 75 Hunger Games, however the first victor from District 12 died sometime before the 74th Hunger Games, leaving Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark and Haymitch Abernathy as the only residents in District 12's Victor's Village.
The Justice Building
The Justice Building of District 12 was used for formal administration such as registration of marriages, a place for tributes to bid goodbye to their loved ones, and the occasional medal of valor for the oldest child in the families of miners who died in mining accidents, like Katniss and Gale's fathers had.
Weddings
- "Back home everything is so much simpler. A woman usually rents a white dress that's been worn hundreds of times. The man wears something clean that's not mining clothes. They fill out some forms at the Justice Building and are assigned a house. Family and friends gather for a meal or bit of cake, if it can be afforded. Even if it can't, there's always a traditional song we sing as the new couple crosses the threshold of their home. And we have our own little ceremony, where they make their first fire, toast a bit of bread, and share it. Maybe it's old-fashioned, but no one really feels married in District 12 until after the toasting."
- —Catching Fire[src]
The square
The square is where the reapings are held every year to see who will be put into the Hunger Games.
Boundaries
A twenty-foot high electric fence surrounded the district. According to the officials and Peacekeepers
Katniss standing beside the District 12 fence.
from the district, it was "electrified" twenty-four hours a day, but Katniss could tell if it was currently electrified or not. In Catching Fire, the district was given a new Head Peacekeeper named Romulus Thread, and when Katniss went out into the woods and came back, the charge was on. The fence was electrified twenty-four hours a day from then on.
In theory, the gate was said to be there to keep out the wild animals that roam the woods. Although, it is more likely that it was meant to keep the people in.
Known Tributes
- Maysilee Donner - 50th Hunger Games tribute.
- Haymitch Abernathy - Winner of the 50th Hunger Games.
- Unknown tributes of the 73rd Hunger Games - mentioned in the first book.
- Katniss Everdeen - Co-Victor of the 74th Hunger Games
- Peeta Mellark - Co-Victor of the 74th Hunger Games
Escorts
The only known escort for District 12 was Effie Trinket, a bubbly, pink-haired, air-headed lady from the Capitol. However, it was shown, in the recap of Haymitch's Games, that there was another escort before Effie. Effie was reluctant and slightly unwelcoming to the tributes as she felt as though she was bound to be promoted to a better district.
Destruction
At the end of Catching Fire, Gale sees Katniss on her way to District 13 and informs her that there is no District 12. It was destroyed with incendiary bombs by the Capitol. The only thing that wasn't destroyed was the Victor's Village. In Mockingjay, District 12 slowly rebuilds after the war.
Reconstruction
During the second rebellion, the rebels used District 12 as a transportation base to send troops to the Capitol. Katniss and Squad 451 were taken there before being transported to the Capitol. After Panem's second war, Katniss and Haymitch returned to District 12. Peeta eventually returned as well. Most of the remains of District 12 citizens were buried in a mass grave. A medicine factory was constructed, and District 12 began to rebuild. The filled-in mass grave is now the Meadow. In the epilogue, this is where Katniss and Peeta's children, their son and their daughter, play. Later, they agree to tell them one day about who they were and what they died for. Katniss and Peeta live in their home in the Victor's Village. They also start making medicine for the country instead of producing coal, due to the mines being closed.
Trivia
- All the living victors of District 12: Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta have killed Careers sometime in their Games. Katniss killed Glimmer, Marvel, Cato, Gloss, and a female from 4, Peeta killed Brutus, and Haymitch killed three unnamed Careers, including the District 1 female in his games. (This excludes Maysilee since even though she has killed a career tribute to save Haymitch, she was killed in the 50th Hunger Games).
- There have been two volunteers in the history of reapings a for District 12 (Katniss for Prim in the reaping for the 74th games and Peeta for Haymitch in the reaping for the Quell).
- All of the living victors of District 12 have competed in a Quarter Quell.
- All of the living victors of District 12 won their first Hunger Games at the age of 16.
- All three living victors have comforted a female tribute in their last moments: Katniss comforted Rue in the 74th Hunger Games, Peeta comforted the female morphling in the 75th Hunger Games and Haymitch comforted Maysilee Donner in the 50th Hunger Games.
- All of the named tributes from District 12 made their way into the top five.
- According to The Hunger Games Adventures, District 12 is located on the East Coast of Panem and is the smallest district by size.
- Each of the known victors from District 12 has done an act that makes the Capitol look foolish. Katniss and Peeta both almost ate the berries, knowing the Capitol need their victor, therefore both of them won. Haymitch used the forcefield as a weapon, because when the girl from District 1 threw her axe towards him, she didn't know it would come back, thereby getting an axe in her head, resulting in Haymitch's victory in the 50th Hunger Games.
- Although it was one of the most targeted districts during the 2nd rebellion, District 12 never had an officially organized rebellion against the Capitol, as it was fire-bombed and destroyed early into the war.
- In the film, it is recognized that District 12 only has 3 victors. However, in the first book, it is said that District 12 has 4 victors. In the first chapter of The Hunger Games on page nineteen, Katniss states "Then he reads the list of past District 12 victors. In seventy-four years, we have had exactly two. Only one is still alive." Due to the first victor being dead, and Haymitch having been the only one for many years, it can be assumed that the first District 12 victor won a very early Hunger Games, and was possibly alive to mentor Haymitch.
- According to the Capitol.PN, District 12 has 15 mines in operation with a population of 7,935, making it the smallest of the twelve operational districts, in terms of population.
- According to the Capitol.PN, District 12 claims 862,568 in tesserae, most of any district, proving that it is the most impoverished one of Panem.
- If the population is 7,935 and they claim 862,568 tesserae, that would equal to 108.704 tesserae per person, making it the 12th richest District, the poorest of all 12.
- It is considered the poorest district of Panem.
- District 12 is the only district to not pry from Capitol rule, since it was destroyed just after the end of the 3rd Quarter Quell.
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