Bow and Arrow : Hunger Games

If you are a fan of the Hunger Games, then you know Katniss Everdeen is one of the most iconic characters. She uses her bow and arrows to survive in the games.

In this blog post, we will talk about some of Katniss’ best bows, as well as other bows that have been used in The Hunger Games series.

About Bow and Arrow

A bow’s power is referred to as its draw weight, which is measured by the pounds of pressure it takes to pull the string back to the point where the arrow is released.

The arrows are straight pieces of material (wood, carbon fiber, or light metal); the arrowheads are typically and pointed and sharp (made of metal, stone, or animal bone); and the arrows’ ends are fletched with feathers – or material shaped like feathers – to help keep them straight in flight.

The arrows are stored in a container called a quiver, which the archer wears over their shoulder – where it rests on their back – or around their waist.

Some other types of bows that have been used in the hunger games include longbows, compound bows, and crossbows.

The longbow is made from a single piece of material, and it requires more strength because the draw weight – which measures how much force an archer needs to apply in order to string the bow and hold its tension before releasing an arrow – is high.

The compound bow has pulleys that help reduce this draw weight significantly by reducing the effort needed once the bow has been drawn to the right tension. The crossbow is a similar weapon, but it shoots bolts rather than arrows.

Bow and Arrow : Hunger Games

I. Katniss Everdeen

Katniss stored the bow that her father made for her in a hollowed-out log just outside the boundary of District 12.

Due to the extreme restrictions on owning weapons, it would have been too risky to keep in her house or anywhere else that unsympathetic Peacekeepers might have found it.

During her private training session, Katniss put on an impressive display of her archery skills, but the gamemakers were too focused on their food and drink to pay her any attention.

Enraged, Katniss used the bow to shoot an apple out of the mouth of a roasted pig on the buffet table, shocking the gamemakers back to attention and earning a training score of 11 (the highest of any tribute).

Glimmer initially claimed the bow and arrow from Cornucopia during the opening bloodbath. Katniss, while trapped in a tree by the career pack, dropped a tracker jacket nest on the careers, including Glimmer.

After Glimmer was stung to death by the tracker jackers, Katniss was able to recover the bow and arrows despite the hallucinations she was experiencing due to the tracker jacker venom.

Katniss proceeded to then use her new bow as her main weapon, using her skills to destroy the careers’ supply store, kill multiple other tributes including Marvel and Cato, and hunt for food.

Katniss Bow

Hoyt Buffalo Traditional Recurve 

Hoyt became involved with the “Hunger Games” movies after working with the movie “The Avengers.”

The prop house in Los Angeles that provided props for almost every movie with weapons asked Hoyt to send some bows for them to present to the producers of “The Avengers.”

After “The Avengers” was made, the same prop house asked Hoyt to send the Buffalo and some other recurve bows for consideration by the producers of “The Hunger Games.”

Hoyt sent the Buffalo and several of our Olympic-style competition recurve bows for them to consider.

“The Hunger Games” producers chose the Hoyt Buffalo, which had the look they wanted for Katniss: not too heavy nor difficult for Lawrence to use. They also wanted a bow that looked good on camera and had classic lines.

Hoyt built special 20-pound recurve limbs for Lawrence and her Buffalo. The prop house also wanted arrows that were black and shiny and looked distinctive, like the Easton X7 Eclipse arrows, so they would photograph well.

Unlike Hawkeye in “The Avengers,” in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” Lawrence actually pulled the bow and shot real aluminum Easton X7 Eclipse Arrows instead of computer-generated arrows.

The Hoyt Buffalo is lightweight and has a fast natural aim. Because the Buffalo is celebrity bowhunter Fred Eichler’s signature bow, it was designed to allow for the arrow on the rest to be situated very close to where the hand is positioned on the riser.

This bow features a raised shelf where the arrow rests prior to shooting. The bow is sold with a Flemish string, popular among traditional shooters.

The interchangeable limbs of the Buffalo — which fit into the Formula interchangeable-limb system — aid in accuracy and make the bow much easier and smoother to shoot.

THE HISTORY OF THE BUFFALO BOW

The Hoyt Buffalo was developed in 2001 by Fred Eichler. He wanted a bow that had the speed and performance of his compound bows, but one which could be shot on horseback with an elevated rest like a recurve or longbow.

Hoyt built him three prototype Bows: One each in aluminum, wood and fiberglass. Fred liked the performance of all three, but he particularly loved the feel of the aluminum Buffalo limb with its high brace height and narrow grip (which is more like a recurve).

The Hoyt design team then took that prototype to further refine it for production. The result was an extremely fast bow which has won many championships in traditional archery and is the go-to bow of many traditional shooters.

• Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence is not a traditional shooter. She had no idea how to shoot a recurve bow before being given the Hoyt Buffalo for “The Hunger Games” movie.

Her coach was Olympic archer Khatuna Lorig, who also coached actor Tom Cruise in his role as an expert marksman for “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.”

Lorig taught Lawrence how to shoot a bow and made her proficient in no time.

In fact, she was so good at it that the producers requested Lorig do all of the archery work for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” as well because Jennifer could not keep up with them due to other acting demands.

However, once Lawrence was able to keep up with the pace of filming, she shot real aluminum arrows from a Hoyt Buffalo bow instead of using computer-generated arrows as in “The Hunger Games.”

II. Gale Hawthorne

Gale Hawthorne was Katniss Everdeen’s best friend and hunting partner and one of the main characters. He is fiercely devoted to his family and to Katniss and is a true rebel and visionary at heart.

He is in love with Katniss and is forced to watch as she volunteers for the 74th Hunger Games in the place of her sister and fakes a romance with Peeta Mellark in order to stay alive.

After the Games, he becomes a threat to the Capitol through his semi-romantic relationship with Katniss, and is used to gaining leverage over her.

He escapes The Bombing of District 12, and manages to save approximately 915 (as stated in Mockingjay Part 1) others. In District 13, he becomes a soldier for the rebellion and fights on Katniss’ side for the remainder of the war.

Gale Hawthorne’s Bow

Crossbow

Gale uses a Crossbow in the place of a normal Bow. The Crossbow looks very futuristic and is probably designed by Beetee, like Katniss’ Bow.

It’s likely that Gales’ Crossbow uses three different kinds of arrows, just like the Bow of Katniss, but only one kind of arrow is seen in Mockingjay Part 1: The Explosive Arrows.

Gale’s Crossbow is a lot different from Katniss’ bow. It has to be reloaded after every shot, but it shoots much faster than the Bow and Arrow.

This makes sense since Gale lives in District 12 where there are no trees for him to make his own Bows and Arrows so he would have had to use an electronic bow and arrow.

III. Glimmer

Glimmer was the female tribute from District 1 in the 74th Hunger Games. Along with her district partner, Marvel, she was a member of the “Career pack” who banded together to hunt down the weaker competitors.

She was indirectly killed by Katniss Everdeen, who dropped a nest of tracker jackers on the Career pack as they slept. Glimmer and Marvel were the first to die.

Glimmer’s Bow

Glimmers’ Bow is a lot like Katniss‘. It’s limb has two different limbs inside it which you can extend by pulling them apart, but they only go as far as their hinges let them (unlike katniss’).

This makes Glimmers’ bow look like a recurve bow at first glance and it’s also easy to mistake for one too.

The limbs of katniss’ Bow can be pulled further than katniss’ could because they’re attached by string, not solid metal hinges like Glimmers’.

Glimmer has her own separate quiver full of arrows just like Katniss and has a bowstring that resembles Katniss’.

Glimmer’s quiver is said to be silver, but it looks like gold in the movie. It also has two long metal plates on either side of it which are there to keep katniss’ arrows from falling out when she runs away from the Careers.

Glimmers’ Bow has some interesting features that Katniss does not have, however. It’s limbs are designed to be able to extend by pulling two different trigger-like mechanisms on either side of the bow (one for each limb).

This is very convenient because Katniss only has one string which you need to pull to extend katniss’ Bow, but Katniss has one string for each limb.

Glimmers’ bow is a recurve-type compound hunting bow and it looks very similar to katniss’. It’s limbs are allowed to bend by two separate hinges on either side of the upper and lower half of katniss’ bow and katniss’ Bow is a little longer than Glimmers’.