26th Games

Animals in the arena will often cause trouble for any tributes they encounter, but its rare for them to be a source of support, which was in fact the case this year.

This year's victor was Jericho clay, age 15, from District 9. The arena was set in mountainous hills, featured playful wolves, heavy rockfalls, and lasted for 12 days.

During the bloodbath, Jericho managed to grab a loaf of bread and a bow and arrow, but he was stabbed in the arm by Ceres (2). However he managed to escape and climb the hills. After felling like he was sufficiently far enough from the cornucopia, he was able to tend to his wound.

When Jericho was about to fall asleep upon a tree branch on the first night, he noticed a pack of three wolves trying to climb the tree to him. unlike most other tributes, he realized that they weren't actually trying to kill him, but were in fact just very friendly, a realization that likely saved his life. Instead of shooting them with his arrows, he broke off bread and dropped them from the tree for them.

When Jericho awoke the next morning, the wolves were still by the tree. He explored the hills and the wolves came with him. These wolves proved to be very loyal and there were several occasions over the next few days when he was saved by them, after they alerted him of the presence of others by growling whenever they sensed other tributes nearby. This allowed Jericho to hide, whilst these other tributes unknowingly passed him.

One evening, the wolves even brought Jericho a spear that had been left by a tribute who had attacked another pack of wolves. He used this spear to kill a turkey and after cooking it over an open fire, he gave some of the meat to the wolves as well. As Jericho slept, the wolves continued guarding him and alerting him of any danger.

One night, rockfalls were triggered near to where Jericho slept. He managed to climb a tree, but unfortunately, one of the wolves were killed by a falling rock. These rockfalls killed Edizen (3) and Citrona (11) and led Jericho to abandon his base and move inwards towards the cornucopia.

The next day, further rockfalls were triggered, which killed two of the remaining four tributes. However as Jericho was far enough from the perimeter, he was not affected and realized that he would have the final fight with Ceres. Jericho had become attached to the wolves and ordered them to stay where he left them, so that they were not hurt by Ceres, but little did he know at the time that they were following him back to the cornucopia.

Once the two boys met, Ceres got the upper hand and stabbed Jericho in the stomach, but as Ceres was about to slit Jericho's throat, the wolves jumped from behind and attacked Ceres by continually biting his neck, which eventually killed him. As Jericho lay in pain, the wolves waited with him until the hovercraft arrived.

Upon winning, Jericho was nicknamed "the wolf whisperer" by The Capitol and requested to adopt the two surviving wolves and take them back to District 9. This request was ultimately approved by The Capitol and he lived in the victors' village with his wolves.