Bobbin was the male tribute from District 8reaped for the 10th Hunger Games. His mentor was Juno Phipps. During his interview with Phipps, he impressed the public by explaining five different ways to kill someone with a sewing needle. He died during the night of Day 1 and finished in 13th place of the 24 tributes. He was preceded in death by Dill, the female tribute from District 11, and followed in death by Sol, the female tribute from District 5. Bobbin was the first person Coriolanus Snow killed directly.
Bobbin grew up in District 8 and became his district's male tribute in the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games.[1] He and the other tributes were taken to the Capitol in a dirty cattle car. From there, they were dumped into the monkey house at the Capitol Zoo.[2]
During the interviews before the Games began, his mentor, Juno Phipps, admitted that she'd been disappointed to get a District 8 tribute. However, Bobbin impressed her by telling her multiple ways he could kill somebody just by using a sewing needle.[3]
Death
During the Games, Sejanus Plinth snuck into the arena to perform a traditional District 2 death ceremony on his assigned male tribute Marcus's dead body. Coriolanus Snow was sent into the arena to coax Sejanus out, but, as they exited, Bobbin leaped out from the shadows in which he was hiding and attacked them with a knife.[4] In defense, Coriolanus seized a board and beat Bobbin so violently that the surrounding area was covered in blood, dislodged one of the boy's eyes, and rendered his face so swollen and bruised it was unrecognizable, ending Bobbin's life.[5]
Snow only found out about Bobbin's death from Dr. Volumnia Gaul. Although guilt was Snow's immediate feeling after learning that he had killed Bobbin, it changed after Tigris reacted with horror at the thought of him being in the arena and commented "Poor Lucy Gray." For the first time, he felt glad in the realization he killed Bobbin and the effect it would have on his tribute's chances. From Bobbin's death, Snow started to fully accept and understand the lessons being taught by Dr. Gaul involving the perceived reasoning, reality, and need for the Hunger Games along with the conclusion that humanity is defined by who has, how to keep, garner support, the enforcement, and survival of control. Through Bobbin's attack on Plinth and Snow—even after recognizing the two as the only mentors to publicly show empathy to the well-being of the tributes, along with how there was nothing to gain by their deaths since they were not in direct competition with them—did Snow truly grasp the depth of the districts' hate of him and all the Capitol.[5]
He also discovered, through his own reaction to Bobbin's attack, what Dr. Gaul meant by her opinion on human's inherent animalistic nature: that no matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you have, one's response to real and perceived threats will always be violence, not self-sacrifice. Bobbin's death furthered Snow's realization that to protect his and the Capitol's earned entitlement, power, and control, as well as to save the districts from themselves, the war would never be over. But by limiting hope and creating realistic expectations, it could be contained indefinitely.
Since the events leading up to and following Bobbin's demise all occurred after all the mentors and attendants had left for the night and Lucretius Flickerman's play-by-play recessed, the view inside the arena was limited and any movement hard to decipher without explanation. The arena itself contained little to no light other than the natural moonlight and the Capitol's view was only a single wide angle lens. Darkening an already dimmed stream could be explained away by clouds, so this eased the Gamemaker's job of damage control and Bobbin's death was easily covered up.[4] Luckily, Lucky and the mentors were initially more confused on how Marcus' body was moved and less on Bobbin's grotesque body and death, other than his mentor Phipps. No explanation was given and his memoriam was quickly glossed over to instead celebrate the Games were officially half-way to crowning their winner, ignoring Phipps's objections and demands for answers.[5] Bobbin's body was eventually moved by Reaper, along with the other dead tributes and covered, in part, by a Panem flag[6] until the Games had its Victor and was then removed for the arena's cleaning and repair with the other 13 dead tributes who had died in the Games.
Film adaptation
Spoiler warning: the following may contain spoilers (Skip section)
When the gong rang, he ran towards the pile of weapons, but hid when he saw the bloodbath. At night, Bobbin saw Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus Plinth in the arena, then chased them to one of the exits. Seeing that Bobbin was holding a knife, Coriolanus grabbed a block of concrete and hit him until Bobbin had died. Bobbin placed 11th.[7]
Etymology
A bobbin is a type of spool used to hold thread or yarn.
Trivia
While not explicitly written with a limb difference in the novel, Bobbin is portrayed in the film adaptation by Knox Gibson, who is an amputee.
Bobbin's profile
Sofia Sanchez, the actress for Wovey, posted profiles of Bobbin and Wovey from what appears to be a prop dossier used in the film.[8] Bobbin's profile lists his age as 14, his height as 5.7 feet (5 feet and 8.4 inches), his weight as 194 pounds, and his health status was scored a 5 out of 10. His special skills are his combativeness and hostility, while his weaknesses are that he is impatient and slow. His preferred defense is "knige [sic] fight", and it's noted that he is a loner.
The typo in Bobbin's profile, as well as possible inconsistencies between Wovey's profile and the film, cast doubt on their canonicity.
