Gale vs. Peeta, Katniss vs. the Capitol

On the eve of the super top-secret Mockingjay release, as we are all chomping at the bit for it to be released, I figured it's time for a little showdown! (Oh, and there may be spoilers, so if you haven't read The Hunger Games or Catching Fire, OH, MY GOODNESS. What are you doing?!! Go out and read them now. Seriously. Now.)

So. Peeta and Gale. Gale and Peeta. I love that Our Dear Ms. Collins gave us so much to work with! I could write an entire essay on Peeta and Gale with each of their pros and cons. A PeetaGalessay.

I won't, of course, because I love you.

(Unless you want to write a Peetagaleessay and then I could write a Peetagalessay, and then we could email them back and forth and have a 38 message email thread about the subject. Okay... I know most of you just coughed the word Geek. But a couple of you got enticed, I can feel it. Email me. We'll talk.)

If you've read the books, I'm sure you have one of these boys in mind that you think should win the Katniss games. (And thank you, Katniss, for keeping your distance as much as possible, and letting them both know that you're not ready to choose instead of totally and hopelessly falling for both of them and then spending the whole book wallowing about how bad your life is because you have two great guys that you're in love with and choosing either of them would totally break the other's heart and then that would break your heart and woe is you.

And sorry. I'll quit the tangents and get back to the subject at hand.)

Gale vs. Peeta

I'll tell you who I think should win if you tell me yours. (If you're reading this in Google Reader, click through to choose.)

poll by twiigs.com

You voted, right? Cuz no reading ahead until you vote. Okay. I think Peeta should win Katniss' heart. In the interest of NOT writing an essay, I'll just tell you my top two reasons:

1. Although Gale knew Katniss best, it was the pre-Hunger Games Katniss that he knew. You can't walk away from the Hunger Games as the same person. No one knows what she went through better than Peeta. He knows her best now. Plus, he's the only one who can stop the nightmares. (Wow. That last line was a special kind of cheesy, wasn't it? But if you take away the cheesy, you're still left with special. :) And that makes it all okay.)

2. Gale is a girl's name. Now I know you might be thinking, "But it's not spelled like the girl's name! It's spelled like the wind. A Gale-forced wind blowing through to take out the competition." Pfft. To me, that's the same as if he'd been named Dazey. You can tell me that he is so painfully beautiful, so lip-bitingly gorgeous that all you can feel when you look upon him is dazed. Whatev. To me, he's a daisy.

Now, onto predictions!

Katniss vs. the Capitol

Here goes my prediction: Katniss will lead a full-scaled revolution against the capitol. And they'll win. And then Katniss will die. Kaput. Goner. Kicked the bucket. 15 minutes of flame, gave up the ghost, pushing up daisies, off in a box, gone to her grave, dead.

Kind of a Frodo:"We set out to save the Shire, Sam. And it has been saved. But not for me." kind of thing. She'll save Panem, but not for her.

And here's my reasoning.

1. First person present tense is the best Point of View / Tense combination for killing off your main character. I'm just sayin.

2. Not only do I think Suzanne Collins could pull it off, I think she would if she felt like it was right for the book.

And there you have it.

Oh, and if you are looking for something Mockingjay-ish to sate you until it comes out, check out this interview with Suzanne Collins.

Now it's your turn. Sound off in the comments! I want to know why you think Katniss should choose Gale. Or why she should choose Peeta. Or why she should skip them both and choose Cinna instead, even though he's broken and bruised and probably scheduled to be an Avox for District 12 in the next Hunger Games.

And since everything has been so tight-lipped about the plot, what do you think's going to happen?