For The Hunger Games series fans - Gale or Peeta?

[Julie Petitbon]

My friend and I have an ongoing debate about the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle. We both love the series and used it in our curriculum for many years. Our classrooms were across the hall from each other, so when we were teaching the books, we would often pop across the hall and analyze the plot and characters together with our students.

I just finished re-reading the series for the zillionth time, and, of course, I thought about our old debate and the questions that the students always asked - Who does Katniss truly love - Gale or Peeta, and when did you know?

My friend is certain that Katniss truly loves Gale, and I know that she is in love with Peeta. What do you think?

[Harley-Panda]

That's a tough question because there are so many moments throughout the books where I thought it could be either of them!
Katniss has been through so many difficult periods in her life with either Gale or Peeta, either when growing up or through the games themselves. I think having either Gale or Peeta to help her through has definitely shaped her relationship with both of them.

In the end, I think that going through the games with Peeta brought them closer than she could be with anyone else. They experienced and supported each other, through something which very few people had survived, and which could have left them a lot more (mentally) scarred than if they hadn't had one another.

I think she did love Gale, but she just didn't have that same connection with him. The person you love and want to be with should be someone you could describe as your best friend, and the person you can trust to support you with any difficulties in life, and you promise the same for them.

I hope your classes enjoyed the books - we never got to read anything quite as modern in lessons!

[camillegermo]

Being with Peeta during all of the games made a relationship that Katniss couldn't have had with anyone else. They went through so much trauma together. When Katniss ended up with Peeta at the end, it just made sense to me.

[Kenny_dream]

I was obsessed with the hunger game series and eventhough Peeta and Katniss had gone through many difficult situations, I still love Gale. Maybe Katniss and Gale were never meant to be together and Peeta and Katniss just clicked and made sense. somewhere deep down I still wish there was a slight chance for Gale. Both loved Katniss but honestly I'm happy either way but bit curious of how it might have turned out if Katniss changed her mind.

[iced_sunshine]

I'm a huge fan of Peeta. I never really liked Gale and I didn't ever think he had a shot with Katniss but Suzanne Collins used him as more of a plot device so as to ramp up the tension in a couple of scenes. Either way, I am and always will be a die-hard Peeta fan.

[Chinazo Anozie]

I think Peeta was (and Katniss also saw him as her saving grace) right from when he gave her a loaf of bread stolen from his dad's bakery and got beat up for it. He complemented her greatly, being the calm one where she was a hot-head, the yin to her yang, if you may.

The fact that they went through the games together twice only cemented what had been there all along and made Katniss finally realise it.

She and Gale were too alike with all of their righteous anger that if they had ended up together, they'd have probably been too combustible or something like that.

I just wish the movie correctly portrayed Peeta's character as it was in the books instead of making him look kind of weak.

[Melissa Breen]

Spoilers below!!!

I genuinely believe she loves both of them. I always read her as someone who just had no interest in romantic relationships (she had way too much going on!) But it makes sense that she ended up with Peeta, not because she loved him more, but because they were the only people who ever could or would fully understand her because of what they went through.

[mariana90]

I think she expected to marry Gale, before the Hunger Games. But in the end, Peeta won her over, because of all that they shared and his kind personality (plus the fact he was madly in love with her).

I don't believe she ever loved Gale as a romantic partner, though she cared for him a great deal. Peeta wasn't love at first sight (though for him it was), but a growing seed which flourished over time.

[Monet_va]

I felt that Gale was the better fit of Katniss. They had the same passions and focuses on their lives, and I felt like Peeta was too soft for Katniss. To me, their relationship never felt like it had a lot of passion, and I really look for that in a literary couple.

[ashtonf]

Spoilers

I think Katniss loves Peeta more. Gale kind of missed his chance in the first book when he didn't volunteer to take Peeta's place in the games. During the games, Katniss and Pweta developed a relationship after they had to depend on each other for survival. Afterwards, I think that since they've spent so much time together, they're public relationship became a real relationship.

[RoxieReads]

I wasn’t particularly fond of either, but in the end, I would have to say Peeta.

[mariana90]

Spoilers

I think Katniss loves Peeta more. Gale kind of missed his chance in the first book when he didn't volunteer to take Peeta's place in the games. During the games, Katniss and Pweta developed a relationship after they had to depend on each other for survival. Afterwards, I think that since they've spent so much time together, they're public relationship became a real relationship.

I get what you say about Gale missing his chance, but it would create quite a dilemma. If the two of them went into the arena, there was always the possibility of one having to kill the other to get out. He wouldn't have killed Katniss, but I don't think she could have lived with herself if she had killed him either.

[dorebri2020]

I believe that, as the series progressed, Katniss definitely loved Peeta more. Katniss and Peeta have been through multiple traumas, and Gale was overall unreliable. I can understand why Katniss inevitably went with Peeta.

[Tavaiel26]

I feel like in the end it wasn't about who she loved (and she probably loved them both) but about who she needed. Peeta was just a better compliment for the life that Katniss needed to live after the games.

[Brooke_4]

I read this book trilogy a few years ago. My opinion is she truly loved both Gale and Peeta, but in different ways. She went through the games with Peeta and created a bonding she could never have with someone else. Thus causing a love and connection no one else had. But she also grew up with Gale, hunting and helping their families together. Gale watched over her sister and mother while she was in the games. She obviously loved and trusted Gale too. However, I believe she loved Gale more as a brother and Peeta as a boyfriend.