The Hunger Games: Who Did Tigris Become?

Hello, Fantaticals! Today, we embark on a journey of Hunger Games theories. While I plan to focus more on the original trilogy, there will be some random moments that pop up that will include the sequel-prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

One character that seems to be an overall mystery is Tigris. In Mockingjay, we meet her as she allows Katniss and her crew into her shop to hide on their way to the center of the Capitol. However, Katniss recognizes her as a prior stylist; seemingly pulling her face from her memory as a younger child. When we meet her, she is also seemingly not fully human or at least doesn't look human; the way she looks though is tossed to the side as a Capitol fad from several years back. Not a surprise when you see how extravagant Effie looks at all times.

What Happened to Tigris?

Let's think about in The Hunger Games when we "first" meet Tigris, this is where TBoSaS comes into mention for a moment as, just like Snow, this is her origin. Tigris is the cousin of the future President Snow, and while she is described as "no great beauty" it is also said that she could find takers is she chose to; therefore, I feel that she is actually considered at least mildly attractive. Then when we meet her in Mockingjay, she is described as basically having her skin tattooed to look like a tiger and whiskers, as well as a tail that twitched when Katniss and co walked in.

There's really not much that we know, except that some minor blanks get filled in. She and Snow were cousins who were taken care of/took care of their grandmother after both sets of parents passed. However, they grew apart, potentially right around the 10th Hunger Games. We also know that she was once a stylist, but we don't know exactly WHEN, until Snow and the Gamemakers had her removed; just as we know she eventually turned into a human version of a tiger.

Dr. Gaul Experiment Victim?

There is a theory floating around out there that actually seems pretty sound when you think about it. Dr. Gaul was known very well for her experiments. She was the original Gamemaker, although we don't know how long she served in that position after the 10th Hunger Games. She was also the Head of the Experimental Weapons Division, and the original creator of the "Mutts" of the Capitol; not to mention she was indirectly involved with the creation of the Games in the first place, as well as the Mentor Program.

Knowing that there was a possibility that those Lizard-things from Mockingjay could have potentially been an idea of her's at any point is quite honestly terrifying. However, there are also assumptions that she included humans in her experiments considering that she did some experimenting with the Avoxes and Clemensia developed "snake-like qualities" after she was bitten by the snakes in the tank. This assumption is where one of our theories come from.

As there is no exact knowledge (potentially only as of yet) as to how, when, or WHY Tigris became more tiger looking, there IS the fact that she does have a working tail. This brings about the theory that at some point, Tigris was subject to human experimentation by Dr. Gaul, most likely some form of gene splicing or even a bite like with Clemensia. After that is quite possibly when she made the full transition, having her nose flattened and the whiskers added before the tiger stirpes were tattooed onto her.

When you consider the fact that we know nothing about her turning, this is actually almost quite sound.

She Was a Tiger as a (District 4?) Stylist

The fact that Katniss had a vague memory of her, it is likely that she went through this process after Snow came back from District 12, but before she became a stylist. We are not even sure as to which games she served AS a stylist, but we can definitely make some guesses based on previous Victors, and Katniss' age.

The running theory is that she was possibly Finnick's stylist. Here is why this works: Katniss was only about 6/7 when Finnick won his games in the 70th Games, and she says that she has memories from when she was younger which would fit for her age at the time. Here is why it doesn't: when Finnick won, Tigris is already in her 70's and while there are not many mentioned in the book by name, District 4 WAS considered a "Career District" which means they had several victors after Mags (11th Games) and pre-Finnick (70th Games).

In sixty-nine years, she could have been a stylist prior to Finnick up to roughly around the 65th Games and still have Katniss have SOME form of memory of her. On the flip side, her age also isn't much to consider outside the fact that many stylists we see are a bit on the younger side but her looking like a Tiger could actually circumvent anyone noticing her true age.

Post-Games Stylist Days, Mentor to Others?

While we are not entirely sure what Tigris did between being removed as a Games Stylist, to when we meet her in her shop, there is some speculation that she was possibly Cinna's mentor as he grew to become a stylist and then when he saw the fire in Katniss, he volunteered to be the stylist of the "worst District".

When you consider that she and Snow grew apart due to their different views on the Games, and that she was secretly a part of the Second Rebellion, it would not surprise me if she was, in fact, Cinna's mentor due to their similar views, and knowing that Katniss would be the revolution they needed.

What do you think happened to Tigris to make her into the tiger she became? Was it a human experiment gone wrong? Or a chance to try to distance herself from her cousin? Come join our forums and tell us what you think! Tomorrow, we will take a look into how "legitimate" the Games really were. Until then, keep on theorizing, Fanaticals!