why Peeta believed Katniss LOVED him for real

Katniss went to great lengths to save Peeta and was kissing him all the time…like ofc he thought she was into him! 🙃

[mervegenc]

Katniss refuses to believe her emotions, because capitol took away her choice. And she long decided to never marry and risk having children to send hunger games. Since she has to be with peeta now, she hates the situation.

[Sootielove]

Katniss' emotional dissonance and the time it takes for her to commit to loving Peeta is one of my favourite parts of the Hunger Games. Katniss is someone who, despite everything, loves so hard. She cares so much about people but she knows that will hurt her so she tells herself she doesn't. I don't think she was in love with Peeta for quite a while into the books but I do think she loved him as a kind boy who saved her and she didn't want to let die.

From Peeta's POV he's seeing the girl he loves risk everything for him time and time again the same way he has. He sees that love, he just misunderstands what it meant for them

[rootru]

People also consistently forget that uuum. Katniss is NOT a good actor. This was part of the reason Coin didn't want her as the face of the revolution (among other things lmao) and Peeta does see elements of this throughout the first novel, and is also just good at reading people. It makes sense he wouldn't think Katniss was acting completely and it doesn't make sense that readers would think Katniss was acting completely, because if she was it would have been really bad acting 😭

[gabriellacardosopaiva]

I'm always perplexed when some readers insist that Katniss has no romantic feelings for Peeta whatsoever. We're literally in her head, and every time she admits to being confused by the whole situation

[parkjiminismylight]

Not to forget also that Katniss couldn't possibly understand her feelings when she didnt even know she could trust Petaa's feelings. When he revealed his crush, she thought it was a tactic and was using her, those doubts follow her all the time, every the step of the way, and dealing with developing feelings and ACKNOWLEDGE THEM, when Petta was probably bluffing and playing the PR Game, it was too much to actually deal with. Also, I think that part of her hurt to think he was using her like that, that him of all people, the one who saved her, would "lie and use her like that"just pushed her feelings farther away. Not only she had to come to terms with her feelings throughout the whole series but she also had to find a way to trust Petaa's feelings for her. And that was the tricky part, as she trust no one, everyone (exceptfor Prim) had always let her down up to that point.


That's pary of why I loved the arc the author gave Petaa in Mockingbird, because she always doubtes Petaa's feelings, but when they were truly gone, she realized how much she actually relied and trsut him deep down, because he was so *consistent* about his feelings even through all her doubts, that when she lost that Petaa, she couldn't find comfort in nothing, since he was the only one she had always relied on to feel safe even from a far. Snow knew her weaknesses even better than all the people who thought had Katniss figured out, they bought the lie she told herself about not loving Petaa, so everyone thought she just played along but never had real feelings for him. Only Snow knew, he saw through Katniss like the child she was, inexperienced in the matters of the heart. Thats why he made sure to break him and take those memories from him, from them, making sure they would never be on the same length. He really knew Katniss, but he truly underestimate Petaa's love for Katniss.

[iantophernicus]

Thank you for reminding me why Katniss and Peeta are so much deeper than the movies portrayed. No matter how Gale felt towards Katniss, he could never understand the feeling of surviving in an arena as a spectacle, playing a part for that invisible, insatiable audience as a means of putting on a show to avoid any freak fires or muttation attacks, while grappling with genuine feelings of attatchment and being forced to question whether it was an extension of this necessary charade or not.

Also I love the pink and blue flannel teddies.

[StingRaeSings]

A very good point that is often missed: Peeta didn’t just misunderstand her intentions/feelings… She simply couldn’t deal with those feelings. He doesn’t misread Katniss so much as Katniss misreads herself. We also know Katniss to be an unreliable source because of her inability to process emotions and communicate them. What Peeta saw wasn’t fake… Not all of it. And I think that part of him coming to terms with everything after the first games is also realizing that: She’s not in the right place/state of mind to admit it but she does care for him. He would have gone on selflessly caring for her no matter what but I think that on some level he does know that it wasn’t all fake and probably holds out hope that one day she will be able to acknowledge that and they can maybe revisit it. Obviously things take some rather drastic turns after but I don’t think that Peeta ever truly felt that all hope was lost. He isn’t a stupid guy. He’s emotionally more astute than she is. Still, he doesn’t take advantage like Gale does. He acts for the cameras but in the long run, what captures her heart is not the overtly romantic things Peeta does for Katniss but the every day acts of love and kindness and respect he continues to show her no matter how it affects him, no matter what she says or does to hurt him in her own attempts to protect herself… He remains constant. He remains her rock. So no, Peeta is anything but stupid. His soul recognizes something in hers and I think that is something that keeps him together through all that happens… Even when his love for her is distorted by the hijacking, something deep within him still recognizes not only his love for her but her love for him. That’s what I believe anyway.

[hopemckinney]

So it’s not just me who randomly became re-obsessed with this series this week ??

[lladnekdunn]

She also lost her shit when she found out he had lost his leg - and that was way before she rejected him on the train

[elaine_of_shalott]

To me the most important thing about Peeta is that even though he was hurt that she wasn't as ready to commit to him as he was to her he came back a little later and said he was sorry for pressuring her. Gale never did anything like that.

[kupotenshi]

The environment they grew up in had a huge influence on Katniss suppressing her feelings. Not falling in love and reproducing was important to her, to not bring a child into their corrupt society. So I think Katniss always gave off mixed messages unintentionally, as a survival instinct, and obviously that would confuse Peeta who didn't have the same mindset (and already had a crush on her)

[allismith]

The movies did not capture the complexity of their relationship

[ottoww]

You could say it wasn’t Peeta who was wrong in thinking Katniss loved him but Katniss who was wrong in thinking she didn’t love Peeta

[cecilyerker]

I think Katniss was traumatized from basically birth and had a huge attachment wound from how cruel and unstable her life was towards people in Panem. You could describe her as having a dismissive avoidant attachment style, out of necessity for survival. Her experience of love and attachment is always going to be distorted through no fault of her own.

[marcsmith]

Thank youuu great analysis! I hate when people act like katniss was just some manipulator who fakes everything, took advantage of him and didn’t really love him until catching fire. The same girl who had to feed her family as a preteen and could only think about life and death and survival was willing to throw her life away and die with peeta rather than just take the safe route and kill him ensuring her future with her family. Like thats so romantic to me, you don’t do that for a boy you’re just manipulating😭

[nimiaton]

I really like the way Katniss' feelings are revealed in the books. She doesn't even need to name her feelings because the reader already understands. In films, of course, it is more difficult to convey this without an internal monologue, and in films there is more emphasis on the love triangle. Peeta's screen time was significantly reduced for love triangle. But I don't understand those people who, after reading books, don't see Katniss's love for Peeta. She's literally going crazy without him.

[jennivamp]

I love how complicated and confusing Katniss's feelings and emotions were throughout everything. It is just so realistic for her situation. She's been in survival mode for so long, trying to understand her feelings and emotions was just not a priority so of course she's confused and doesn't understand her own motivations.
I also think she's just a good person who cares deeply about people, but can't acknowledge that to herself because in her world it's too dangerous to be caring or kind. But the deep bond she created with Rue was a perfect example of it, yes she reminds her of Prim but she's also impressed with her skills and courage and wants to take care of her.

[nicolealie]

I love this take and most people who read the books would read the situation like this. Of course Peeta thinks Katniss's feelings are real because: 1. They are. She is confused but she definitely feels something. If you go all the way back to the start of the book on the train ride, there are hints of how much she notices him. It is very telling. Of course he notices her- he's got a crush but she also is always very aware of him. 2. He has watched her repeatedly risk her life for his even when he is literally begging her to give up on him. I don't believe Katniss was "in love" with him in the arena but there is definitely something romantic there as well as a bond forged through their shared experience.. However, they are both teenagers, under enormous pressure, murdering people and fighting for survival while using their growing bond(encouraged by Haymitch) to give them access to sponsors for a better chance to survive. And she knows Peeta is charming and manipulative so she is unsure she can trust him. Katniss is a traumatized child who has spent the last five years only focusing on keeping her family afloat. A girl who has shunned romantic love because she doesn't want to ever risk having kids in their society. And a point that never gets brought up enough is how she witnessed the great love between her parents and then had to watch her mother's depression and dereliction of parental responsibilities after her dad was killed. She and Prim almost starved to death because her mother was lost in grief after her father died. She viewed romantic love as a distraction at best and a dire threat at worst. Of course this is a girl who can't process her emotions under these conditions. Collins is so smart as a writer for all the complexity she gives both characters.

[agathaofcamelot]

Katniss really loves Peeta, but she’s in a death tournament! With cameras and people watching her all the time! She has to survive, find a way to attract sponsors and then to top it all off, deal with romance. You can’t expect her to sort out her feelings for Peeta until she’s actually out of the Games!

[Zekapri]

I really like watching your videos, it gives a lot more insight to scenes where most viewers overlook, actively forgetting Katniss isn't necessarily the most reliable narrator. Wish these could be longer!