Clove is highly sadistic and slightly unhinged. She has a personal vendetta against Katniss Everdeen, targeting her in the arena at every opportunity. Clove is ultimately killed by Thresh, the District 11 male.
Clove Character Profile
- Name: Clove
- Age: 15
- Gender: Female
- Place of origin: District 2
- Physical appearance: Well-built, brawny. Weighs about 150-200 pounds and has dark hair.
- Skills: Throwing knives
- Strengths: Ruthless ability to kill, highly skilled with knives (both from a distance and in close combat)
- Weaknesses: Overconfident, no match for brute strength
- Loyalties: Unknown
Personality and Physical Description
Clove has all the typical traits of a Career Tribute: she is highly arrogant, overconfident in her abilities, ruthless in her kills, and takes sadistic pleasure in hunting down her victims. She is eccentric and slightly manic as well, making her extremely dangerous in the arena. She revels in violence and is one of the most powerful tributes in the 74th Hunger Games.
Clove is described as being at least 50 pounds heavier than Katniss in the books, which makes her extremely well-fed and brawny. As a Career Tribute, she has trained all her life for the Games and is, therefore, physically well-built. She most likely has dark hair, as Katniss describes her wolf muttation as possessing dark fur.
Biography
74th Hunger Games
Clove is the female tribute from District 2. After learning about her deadly and precise skill with knives, one can assume that she volunteered for the Games.
During the Tribute Parade, Clove and Cato, her district partner, were dressed in Romanesque clothes and body armor to reflect their district’s main industry: weapon manufacturing and masonry.
Clove banded together with the other Career Tributes during the training sessions. She most likely showcases her excellent skills with knives in her private training session with the Gamemakers, thereby earning a score of 10. Although 10 is considered an excellent score, Clove is antagonized by the fact that Katniss outscores her with a score of 11. After this, Clove makes it a point to personally target Katniss at every possible opportunity.
During her interview, Clove is sarcastic and arrogant, but sweet at the same time. In the Hunger Games movie, she wears a striking orange dress and boasts of her ability to kill someone from halfway across a huge chamber.
In the Arena
Clove draws first blood in the 74th Hunger Games during the Initial Bloodbath at the Cornucopia. She aims a knife at the male tribute from District 9 and kills him. She next aims a knife at Katniss’ head. However, Katniss shields herself with her backpack and runs away into the woods.
Clove was an important member of the Career Pack, which consisted of the Career Tributes (Clove, Cato, Glimmer, and Marvel) as well as Peeta Mellark, the female tribute from District 4 and the male tribute from District 3.
On the first night, the Clove and her allies set out to hunt down the weaker tributes. Their first target is the girl from District 8. They send Peeta (who Clove sarcastically calls “lover boy”) to finish her off. In his absence, they decide to let him stay with them as they believed he would lead them to Katniss.
A fire forces Katniss into the center of the arena, where she encounters the Career Pack. The careers chase Katniss up a tree, where she is out of reach from them. The careers then decide to camp for the night and wait for Katniss to climb down. When they are sleeping, Katniss and her little friend, Rue, plan to drop a nest of tracker jackers on top of them. They are successful, giving Clove and the rest of the Careers several tracker jackers stings and scattering them. Clove runs to the lake to escape the tracker jackers and heal her stings.
Clove and the other careers decide to take over the Cornucopia and its abundant supply of weapons and food. They engage the services of the District 3 male to set up traps around the Cornucopia. Katniss and Rue decide to blow up the Careers supplies at the Cornucopia, and Rue begins a distraction to lure them away from the Cornucopia. This is when Katniss blows up the supplies, and Cato snaps the neck of the District 3 male in anger. The Career Tributes then set out in search of the person who destroyed their supplies.
Clove’s Death
Clove!” Cato’s voice is much nearer now. I can tell by the pain in it that he sees her on the ground.
“You better run now, Fire Girl,” says Thresh.
I don’t need to be told twice. I flip over and my feet dig into the hard-packed earth as I run away from Thresh and Clove and the sound of Cato’s voice. Only when I reach the woods do I turn back for an instant. Thresh and both large backpacks are vanishing over the edge of the plain into the area I’ve never seen. Cato kneels beside Clove, spear in hand, begging her to stay with him. In a moment, he will realize it’s futile, she can’t be saved.
Clove and Cato decide to go to the feast to retrieve their backpack. At the feast, Clove gets into an altercation with Katniss when she aims a knife at Katniss’ head. The knife grazes Katniss and inflicts a wound above her eye. Clove then pins Katniss down and begins to decide the best method of killing her. Sadistically, she decides to put on a good show for the cameras.
However, Thresh overhears Clove telling Katniss about the death of his district partner, Rue, and decides to take revenge. He pulls Clove off Katniss and asks her if she really killed Rue. Although Clove denies his accusations, Thresh does not believe her. He hits her head with a rock and cracks Clove’s skull. Cato comes running to Clove’s aid and begs her not to die. However, Cato’s efforts are futile as Clove soon dies in his arms from her injuries.
FAQs
What stops Clove from killing Katniss?
Clove is about to kill Katniss when Thresh overhears Clove talking about his district partner, Rue. Thresh then pulls Clove off Katniss and asks her if she killed Rue. Although Clove denies it, Thresh still bludgeons her head with a rock, thereby killing her. She dies in Cato’s arms.
What does Clove symbolize in The Hunger Games?
Clove symbolizes cruelty and brutality in The Hunger Games. Although she is only 15 years old, Clove is bent on killing the rest of the tributes mercilessly. She even targets Katniss specifically without being plagued with questions of morality.
Was Clove reaped for The Hunger Games?
We do not know for sure whether Clove was reaped for the 74th Hunger Games or whether she volunteered for it. However, coming from a Career District and having trained for the Games all her life, it is highly likely that Clove volunteered for the Games.
Did Cato and Clove volunteer?
Cato, the male tribute from District 2 volunteered for the 74th Hunger Games. It is highly likely that his district partner, Clove, was a volunteer as well. The deleted scenes from the movie with Caesar Flickerman reveal that Clove was a volunteer.
Who did Cato volunteer for?
The books do not mention who Cato volunteered for. Katniss mentions watching the reaping ceremony in district 2 and takes note of the boy who lunged forward to volunteer, This boy turned out to be Cato, the fiercest competitor in the 74th Hunger Games.
Who volunteered for The Hunger Games?
Kids from the Career Districts (i.e., Districts 1,2, and 4) generally volunteered for the Games. These children train all their lives for a chance to compete in the Games. Sometimes, even children who wished to protect their siblings volunteered. Katniss was one such tribute who volunteered for her sister, Prim.
Who saves Katniss from Clove? Why do they do this?
Thresh, the male tribute from District 2 saves Katniss from Clove. Thresh kills Clove because he thinks that Clove was responsible for Rue’s death. He later lets Katniss go in exchange for the kindness she showed Rue in the arena.
