Chaff

Chaff is good friends with Katniss and Peeta’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. He is also a rebel fighting to keep Katniss alive during the Third Quarter Quell. As a part of the underground rebel network, Chaff’s mission is to protect Katniss and break her out of the arena, along with the other rebels including Mags, Wiress, Cecelia, Woof, and Blight, so that she can be rescued by District 13 for the Second Rebellion.

Chaff Character Profile

• Name: Chaff
• Age: Mid-Late 40s (Catching Fire)
• Gender: Male
• Place of origin: District 11
• Physical appearance: 6 feet tall, dark-skinned, and with an arm ending in a stump
• Skills: Spear
• Strengths: Survival skills, seasoned killer
• Weaknesses: Alcoholism, possesses only one hand, which puts him at a disadvantage in the arena
• Loyalties: Rebel

Personality and Physical Description

I know Chaff by sight because I’ve spent years watching him pass a bottle back and forth with Haymitch on television. He’s dark-skinned, about six feet tall, and one of his arms ends in a stump because he lost his hand in the Games he won thirty years ago.

Katniss Everdeen about Chaff in ‘Catching Fire‘

Chaff is brash, bold, and loud. He is almost always intoxicated with alcohol, much like his friend, Haymitch. He possesses a good sense of humor, generally making self-deprecating jokes to lift the spirits of his fellow tributes. However, he can also be inappropriate at times. He kisses Katniss as a joke, although the act makes her visibly uncomfortable. Chaff is a highly skilled fighter and a seasoned killer. Haymitch deems him and his district partner, Seeder, to be the perfect allies for Katniss and Peeta.

Katniss describes Chaff as being 6 feet tall with dark skin and an arm that ends in a stump. In the movie, the character is portrayed by actor, E. Roger Michael.

Chaff In The Arena: The 45th Hunger Games

Chaff is reaped for the 45th Hunger Games as the male tribute from District 11. He is highly skilled with the spear and emerges the victor in this edition of the Games. However, he loses one of his hands in the arena. The Capitol likely offered a prosthetic arm as a replacement. Nonetheless, it appears that Chaff refused the same, preferring to keep the stump instead.

As a victor, Chaff lives in the Victors’ Village and acts as a mentor for future tributes from District 11. It is, therefore, highly probable that he acted as a mentor for Thresh and Rue in the 74th Hunger Games.

After the 50th Hunger Games, which was won by Haymitch Abernathy, Chaff becomes good friends with Haymitch. The two of them begin drinking together, preferring to drown their sorrows over alcohol while acting as mentors for the next generation of tributes.

Chaff in the Third Quarter Quell

Reaping

Being one of the victors of District 11, Chaff is reaped as the male tribute alongside Seeder in the 75th Games. Being a close friend of Haymitch, Chaff is also highly opposed to the oppression of the Capitol. As such, he forms an important part of the underground Rebel network that is trying to keep Katniss alive in the arena. Thus, Chaff and Seeder’s primary aim in the arena is not to win the Games. Instead, it is to ensure that no harm befalls Katniss Everdeen.

At the end of the Tribute Parade, Chaff unexpectedly kisses Katniss on her lips. While this interaction makes Katniss highly uncomfortable with Chaff, Chaff, and Haymitch merely laugh it off as a joke. Peeta speculates that Chaff kisses Katniss to jokingly mess with her image as a “pure” tribute.

Training

During the training, Katniss attempts to find allies for herself and Peeta in the arena. Haymitch suggests Chaff and Seeder as good options for the alliance.

Choose who you like. I’d suggest Chaff and Seeder. Although Finnick’s not to be ignored,” says Haymitch. “Find someone to team up with who might be of some use to you.

Haymitch to Katniss in ‘Catching Fire’

However, Katniss is unimpressed by Chaff’s attitude and decides not to ally with him, even though Peeta has managed to get close to Chaff. Peeta practices with Chaff and Brutus at the spear-throwing station and even has lunch together with Chaff at the training center.

Interview

Seeder quietly ruminates about how, back in District 11, everyone assumes President Snow is all-powerful. So if he’s all-powerful, why doesn’t he change the Quell? And Chaff, who comes right on her heels, insists the President could change the Quell if he wanted to, but he must not think it matters much to anyone.

‘Catching Fire’

During the pre-Games interview with Caesar Flickerman, Chaff feeds into the story that has been developed by the other tributes of the Third Quarter Quell. He questions the President for holding the Quell at all, making the audience feel extremely emotional at having to witness their favorite victors go back into the arena. At the end of all the interviews, Chaff stands in solidarity with the rest of the tributes and holds hands with Katniss and Seeder to connect the chain of 24 tributes on the stage.

In the Arena

Chaff manages to survive the Initial Cornucopia Bloodbath, although his district partner, Seeder, is killed. Chaff escapes into the jungle and spends the next few days trying to find Katniss and Peeta. He is unsuccessful until the very end, when he meets up with Peeta. However, he becomes caught in an altercation with Brutus and is killed by him. Peeta avenges Chaff’s death by killing Brutus in turn. Chaff, therefore, places 8th in the 3rd Quarter Quell.

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