Lamina was the female tribute reaped from District 7 during the 10th Hunger Games. She died on the third day of the Games and finished in 10th place of the 24 tributes (though only 15 tributes made it to the start of Day 1 of these Games). She was one of the few tributes to not be in a known direct alliance with their fellow reaped district partner (in her case, Treech). She was preceded in death by Jessup Diggs, the male tribute from District 12, and succeeded by Tanner, the District 10 male. Her mentor was Pliny Harrington, nicknamed Pup.
Biography
Lamina crying at the reaping.
Lamina grew up in District 7, likely becoming familiar with how to effectively use an ax, and became her district's female tribute in the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games.[2] Along with the other tributes, Lamina was taken to the Capitol in the back of a cattle car train. From there, she was dumped into the monkey house at the Capitol Zoo.[3]
At the first mentor-tribute meeting, Lamina had been unable to stop crying. Later, her mentor, Pliny Harrington, failed to prepare her for the interviews, giving up his chance to promote her.[1]
10th Hunger Games
When the gong rang signaling the start of the Games, Lamina was perceived as one of the weaker tributes. She expectedly ran straight into the arena's tunnels and forwent weapons in favor of hiding to avoid the assumed bloodbath over supplies that traditionally occurred. Later that day, she surprised everyone by appearing from the tunnels when she viewed it had been cleared of danger. She made way to the pile of remaining weapons and picked out a small axe and knife. Being from the lumber district, she quickly showed her fluidity with these specific tools while heading towards the two 20 foot vertical poles that connected a horizontal wooden beam. Here is where the District 2 male tribute, Marcus, was left hanging near death after being strung up pre-games by the Capitol Peacekeepers. Lamina, showing impressive skill in climbing, scurried up one of the poles and gracefully walked the beam towards Marcus' mangled form, delivering a coup de grâce on the 3rd strike of her axe and claiming the first official arena kill of the Games.[1]
Lamina then staked claim of the beam as part of a thought-out strategy that she created without the help of her mentor, shown by Harrington being as shocked as everyone else at her prowess. Her strategy was most likely to take the offense and preemptively use her advantages and strengths learned from her district rather than being hunted or the hunter, and stay on the beam indefinitely. She could use her strength and balance on the beam.
Soon after, she got a sponsor gift of water from her mentor, Pliny Harrington, but the drone crashed and the bottle was cracked on the ground. Another drone appeared, and Lamina grabbed the water before the drone crashed as well. She then buckled herself and took a nap. When the District 3 tributes, Circ and Teslee, appeared, she opened her eye to determine their threat level, and decided they were not strong enough, adjusting her position to be more comfortable.
The next day, she stayed where she was, but was sunburned due to no cover, and received a lot of food.
Reaper Ash from District 11 noticed her discomfort and negotiated with her, promising her cover for food. She relented, and he cut off a piece of flag. On the count of three, he tossed up the flag, and she tossed down food. The flag didn't make it, however. They negotiated, and Reaper threw the flag up and she caught it, rewarding him with more food. He sat down to eat, and when the District 4 tributes, Mizzen and Coral, and Tanner from 10 appeared, she warned him.
Death
The trio made their way to under Lamina's beam and got her attention by banging a sword on one of the poles. The District 4 tributes started to climb, and she was put on the defensive for the first time since the initial gong. Each climbed up on the two poles on opposite ends, with Tanner protecting the ground exit underneath with the weapons. This forced her to deal with them simultaneously while balancing on a narrow beam, exposing the one big fault in her strategy.
She targeted Coral first, swinging her axe at Coral's head and shearing off some hair before moving across to face Mizzen, who had mounted the beam. She used the flat side of the axe head to hit and injure his knee, knocking both off balance and causing him to fall off the beam. Unfortunately for Lamina, Mizzen caught himself instead of falling off and was left precariously dangling by one arm, causing her to take an extra moment to assess the chances of him pulling himself back up or whether she needed to finish him off. Meanwhile, Coral had reached the beam and charged at her with a war cry, catching the trident Tanner threw. The two sparred for a brief period of time before Coral moved her trident in a way that distracted the eye and plunged it into Lamina's abdomen. Lamina tottered before falling off the beam and dying on impact. She placed 10th out of 24 tributes.
Film adaptation
When the tributes entered the arena with their mentors to devise a strategy prior to the Games, Lamina and Treech initially stayed together and surveyed the arena as district partners. However, Coral called out to Treech to join her, Mizzen, and Tanner. Realizing that this was an invitation to a large alliance, Treech asked Lamina to come with him, but Coral made it clear that only he was invited. While hesitant to leave Lamina, Treech eventually joined Coral's alliance without her.
When the arena horn went off, Lamina was shoved to the ground by Tanner and took a few seconds to recover. After the fighting began, Lamina decided to move and stuck to the outer edges of the bloodbath, grabbing an ax and tying it to her belt when she saw an opportunity. Lamina was then spotted and chased by Hy, who was being chased by Circ, up the cornucopia were she then dropped down between two blocks at the top of the makeshift structure, losing Hy who was spotted by Otto behind the structure, and hiding in the cornucopia until the bloodbath ended. In the afternoon when the place was cleared of tributes, she left the hiding place with her ax and climbed up the beam Marcus hung from. Marcus asked her for help after she verified that he was alive. Lamina then decided to put him out of his misery and killed him with her ax, then cutting the ropes that held him by the wrists and letting him fall to the ground.
Her mentor tried to send her water, but the drone crashed. She spent the entire first day and part of the second on the beam, watching the events happening around her. At one point, Lamina saw Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus Plinth below her, but did not pay them any mind. On the second day, she was attacked by the alliance, trying to hurt Coral without success. Lamina then fought Mizzen, but stumbled and was stabbed in the back by Coral's trident. She tried to defend herself, but Coral stabbed her in the stomach after a few seconds and threw Lamina down from the beam. She placed 9th.[4]
Physical description
Lamina had a blonde halo of hair accompanied by puffy, exhausted eyes, with insect bites dotting her bare feet and legs. She was skinny, long-limbed and possessed a spindly frame.[1] After spending long hours in the sun, Lamina became badly sunburned.[5] Her reaping attire, which she wore into the arena, was a flour sack dress belted with a piece of rope.[1]
In the film adaption, she had red shoulder-length hair and wore a gray-purple vest patterned with leaves.
Etymology
"Lamina" refers to the main blade of a leaf.
Trivia
- Lamina was the recipient of the first ever sponsor gift delivered during the history of the Hunger Games.
- She dies in a similar fashion to that in which Mizzen met his end, falling to her death after struggling with a threat directly in front of her.
- Marcus, Mizzen, Lamina, Jessup Diggs, and Lucy Gray Baird are the only tributes in the 10th Hunger Games to have their ages confirmed, being 18, 13, 15, 18, and 16 respectively.
- In the 71st Hunger Games, Johanna Mason used the same tactic as Lamina, both appearing innocent and later skilled killers.