The Just Series

The Just Series is a series of fanfictions written by misticalcookie, based on the young adult series The Hunger Games. The series consists of Death is Just a Game (which focuses on the 52nd Hunger Games), Fear is Just a Word (which focuses on the 53rd Games), Freedom is Just a Dream (the 54th), and 2 prequels of sorts, one called Happiness is Just a Memory, which focuses on the lives of some of the tributes before the Games, and another called Survival is Just a Maize, which is a full-fledged prequel and is set during the 33rd Hunger Games.

Tropes in this series include:
"Diana: I look like Dragan from two years ago. Amethyst: Yeah, that girl really decked him good, she had quite a right hook, and all you got decked with was a tiny little bitty stone."
 * Accidental Hug:
 * Accidental Murder:
 * Acquired Situational Narcissism: Diana gets it after
 * Action Girl: Nearly all the female tributes.
 * Action Survivor: Many of the tributes who aren’t Careers, outright insane, or Action Girls. Colten is a shining example.
 * Aerith and Bob
 * Alcoholic Parent: Dragan’s, Emily’s, Liviana’s and Aria’s mothers.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: The classic nice girl Janie finds herself falling for Angelo, a Blood Knight from District 2, who is the complete opposite of nice.
 * Alliterative Name: Berk Boyle, Dusty Dizzer, Fiver Flynn, and Thorn Trappe.
 * All Women Love Shoes: Even women in the distant future, as demonstrated by Janie and Annabel.
 * Aloof Ally: Dragan from Death is Just a Game and Liviana from Freedom is Just a Dream.
 * Alpha Bitch: Whimsical. Also, all four female District 1 tributes.
 * Ambiguous Gender: One of Sabine’s prep team members, and Traxxton’s stylist.
 * Analogy Backfire: This exchange in Freedom.

"“And he does deserve to die, mother, Dexter pushed Emily around at the playground today.”"
 * And I Must Scream: “He couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, but he could still hear her.” and “Jewel tried to talk, tried to scream, but it was no use.”
 * And This Is For: Three instances, said by different people.
 * Animal Theme Naming: Leo and Rex Long.
 * Also, all of Roan’s girlfriends are named after animals.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: A lot of them.
 * Anti-Hero: gradually morphs from a Type II into a Type IV during the Games.
 * Apologetic Attacker: Louka in the second-to-last chapter of Fear.
 * Audience Murmurs: Happens after Emily mentions her brother during her interview.
 * Ax Crazy: There’s at least one in all 4 Games, notable examples being Sarah from the 33rd, Dragan from the 52nd, Aria from the 53rd, and Amira from the 54th. Some of the Careers are like this, too, especially Lenea, Emily, and Diana.
 * An Axe to Grind: Autumn, being from the lumber district, uses an axe in the Games. Dragan also uses one, but that’s because he’s Ax Crazy.
 * Back for the Dead: Dragan disappears for two chapters during Death is Just a Game. The next chapter he appears in, he dies.
 * Beast and Beauty: Dragan and Emily.
 * Because I Said So: Emily’s Berserk Button.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Traxxton and Emily, Amethyst and Diana, Angelo and Janie.
 * Berserk Button: Never say “because I said so” to Emily if you’d like to live.
 * Also, Sadie would like to remind you that her name IS NOT SALLY!
 * Betty and Veronica: Jace is the Betty and Angelo is the Veronica.
 * Big Badass Wolf: gets eaten by a pack of these.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Dragan toward Emily, Colten toward his younger sisters, and Angelo toward his sister.
 * Big Brother Worship: Emily with regard to Dragan, Thorn with regard to Hunter, and Sadie with regards to Jael.
 * Big Eater: Amethyst and Aria.
 * Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti
 * Big Guy Rodeo: Autumn does it to Dragan, and later Anika does it to Marin.
 * Blade on a Stick: Jael uses a spear during the one time she actually fights. The District 4 tributes, almost stereotypically given their district’s industry, use tridents.
 * The Halberd family is named for the most effective poleax. And, appropriately, Emily actually uses one at one point.
 * Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Liviana (blonde), Amethyst (brunette), and Diana (redhead), the Career girls from Freedom.
 * Also, from the first story, Lenea (blonde), Sadie (brunette), and Anya (redhead).
 * And from Fear, we have the Girl Power Alliance: Delaney/Tilly (blonde), Meleana (brunette) and Myrrah and Rosylin (redheads)
 * Male example: Stelz (blond), Dragan (brunet) and Nemo (redhead), the Career guys from Death. The Careers seem to have a lot of these.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Lenea and Liviana.
 * Blood Bath: Diana mentions wanting to bathe in blood in chapter 29 of Freedom is Just a Dream.
 * Blood Knight: Many of the Careers.
 * Bond Villain Stupidity
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: The author often engages in short conversations with one of the tributes at the end of the chapter.
 * Brick Joke:
 * Death is Just a Game, chapter 6: “Better watch it, soon that will be your heart.” 10 chapters later, “I told you I was going to get your heart.”
 * Broken Bird: Emily, after
 * The Bully: Several background characters.
 * Bully Hunter: Dragan, who simultaneously manages to be both this and The Bully.
 * Call Forward: The D1 chariot prep in Survival. Almost all of it.
 * Captain Obvious: Seneca Crane gets called exactly this.
 * Carry a Big Stick: Angelo uses a mace at the beginning of his Games.
 * Cat Fight: Given that most of the main characters in the Games are girls, this happens a lot. The fight between Myrrah and Ivexonna toward the end of Fear actually gets called this. Similarly, the fights between Autumn and Lenea, and between Diana and Amira from the first and third stories are very good examples of this.
 * Cheerful Child: Sadie during Happiness is Just a Memory.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Tilly and Flamiken.
 * Child-Hater: Melinoe Halberd doesn’t exactly hate children, per se, but she certainly doesn’t like raising her son or daughter.
 * Liviana would be a better example, as she’s explicitly mentioned to hate babies.
 * Children Are Innocent: Subverted viciously. Played utterly straight with Sadie in Happiness is Just a Memory, though.
 * Cliff Hanger: Happens a lot.
 * Cloudcuckoolanders: Tilly from Death, Silas from Fear, and both Amethyst and Diana from Freedom.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: The Careers’ specialty. Ivexonna and Emily seem to be particularly fond of it. Unfortunately, this backfires on both of them.
 * The Confidant: Dragan is this to Emily, heck; he’s even called this in Emily’s point of view chapter of Fear!
 * Continuity Nod: All over the place.
 * Cool Big Sis: Jael Cross.
 * Crapsack World: This is the Hunger Games universe, after all.
 * Crazy Cat Lady: Paisley from Freedom is mentioned as someone who would probably become one of these.
 * Creepy Child: Aria, definitely.
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: Just about everyone, but especially how
 * Cute and Psycho:, Aria, Diana, and Amira.
 * Cute Clumsy Girl: Definitely Meleana.
 * Dark Action Girl: Lenea, Ivexonna, Amethyst, Tory, Sadie (eventually), Emily, Diana, Tallulah, Liviana, Amira, Sarah, and Aria. Jael was also supposed to be one in her days as a Hunger Games competitor.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Many of the tributes.
 * Darker and Edgier: The first story starts out as a light and possibly even funny Hunger Games story. Once it gets to the arena, it doesn’t hesitate to get instantly darker. From there, each story gets significantly more dark and edgy.
 * Dead Little Sister: Naturally, there’s plenty of these.
 * Deadly Game: Well, duh.
 * Deadly Lunge: Happens a lot in the arena.
 * Deadly Prank: Fret from Death is Just a Game apparently pulled one.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Mallow. Also Diana, and Fiver from Survival.
 * Death by Irony: His brother’s name is Leo, which means lion.
 * Death Glare: Liviana is apparently very good at giving these. The tributes of District 2 also tend to glare at each other an awful lot.
 * A Death in the Limelight: Many of the chapters of all three stories are like this.
 * Deceased Parents Are the Best
 * Defeating the Undefeatable: Whenever any of the Careers (especially the male Careers) die.
 * Deliberately Cute Child: Aria.
 * Designated Villain: The Careers. Most of the other tributes hate them, but deep down most of them have a conscience and families that genuinely love them.
 * Destined Bystander: Again, Tilly and Flamiken.
 * Died Standing Up: Silas.
 * Dies Wide Open: Richard.
 * Disney Death: Colten, Rosylin, Jael and Dragan (the first time, at least)
 * Disney Villain Death: Dragan, although he doesn’t die.
 * Disproportionate Retribution:
 * Disney Villain Death: Dragan, although he doesn’t die.
 * Disproportionate Retribution:

"Sadie: When I was an infant, she picked me up and threw me down the hall, mom wasn't thrilled at all. Then when I was three she tried to drown me in our bathtub at home. When I was seven she locked me in the attic, it was during that really hot bout of summer we had, I almost cooked to death, so yes, you could say we got along swell."
 * Yeah…need I say more?
 * Distressed Damsel: Any girl tribute who isn’t an Action Girl is most likely this. Nat Henley from the 52nd Games, Meleana from the 53rd and Nyx from the 54th come to mind.
 * Dramatis Personae: At the beginning of every story in the series.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Driven to Villainy:
 * Dual-Wielding: Diana wields a pair of knives.
 * Also, both Dragan and Aria are described as having a knife in one hand and a sword in the other at one point.
 * Due to the Dead
 * Duel to the Death: Happens so often, you lose count.
 * Dying Alone:
 * Dysfunctional Family: The Arrwood, Halberd, Maurice, and Meneme families seem to be very dysfunctional. Justified for the first three, as they’re from Career districts.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Myrrah appears briefly in Death, and Diana gets a mention in Fear.
 * Easily Forgiven:
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The whole Halberd family.
 * Enemy Within: One of the tributes from Survival is Just a Maize, Hannah, has this in the form of her evil other personality, Sarah.
 * Establishing Character Moment: Autumn gets one when she
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Careers, at least, the more evil ones.
 * Evil Gloating: A rather common tactic of the Careers.
 * Evil Laugh: Ivexonna, Dragan, Diana, Sarah and Jael are each noted to have one. Jael’s laugh, in particular, is mentioned to scare Sadie very much.
 * Evil Redhead: Rhine, the mean girl from District 8 whom Torrence hated. Also Diana.
 * Expy: Dragan seems to be an Expy of Drake Merwin from the Gone series, mainly because they’re both evil guys who enjoy torturing and whose names sound the same.
 * Eye Scream: Belle kicks Dragan right in the eye.
 * Face Heel Turn: pulls one midway through Death is Just a Game.
 * Faking the Dead: Delaney and Rosylin.
 * Faux Action Girl: Anya, Doris, and Amethyst qualify.
 * First off, Anya does a really good job showing off to the Gamemakers, and thus gets a training score of 8…but once we get to the arena, she does absolutely nothing, makes a point of not killing because “her brothers are watching” and skirts through almost the entire Games before
 * Doris volunteered for the Games, got a slightly good score of 7, and got into the Career pack, yet she’s shown to do hardly anything in the arena, not kill anyone, and get killed off herself fairly early.
 * Finally, Amethyst volunteers, presents herself as a formidable opponent, gets a good training score, but by the time she gets to the Arena, she alternates between annoying as heck and giggly girly girl. And then she
 * Fiery Redhead: Autumn, Myrrah, and Flamiken. Also, Jace’s sister Eileen.
 * Final Girl: Skylar, Tessa, and Anika.
 * Finishing Stomp: Myrrah to Ivexonna.
 * Also, Amira to Amethyst.
 * First Kiss: Nolan and Mallow’s kiss qualifies, as it was both of their first kisses.
 * Same goes for Janie and Angelo’s kiss.
 * Five-Bad Band: The Careers from the 53rd Games.
 * The Big Bad: Traxxton
 * The Dragon: Emily
 * The Evil Genius: Louka
 * The Brute: Ivy (Laurant could have been this, but he died in the bloodbath)
 * The Dark Chick: Doris
 * Also, from Freedom:
 * The Big Bad: Amethyst
 * The Dragon: Diana
 * The Evil Genius: Artis
 * The Brute: Angelo
 * The Dark Chick: Ross
 * Later chapters shift it to:
 * The Big Bad: Angelo
 * The Dragon: Ross
 * The Evil Genius: Artis
 * The Brute: Diana
 * The Dark Chick: Amethyst
 * Token Good Teammate: Janie
 * And from the first story, although they’re not as much of a team as the others were:
 * The Big Bad: Lenea
 * The Dragon: Stelz
 * The Evil Genius: Anya
 * The Brute: Dragan
 * The Dark Chick: Sadie
 * Also the Gamemakers, in a way.
 * The Big Bad: Flamiken
 * The Dragon: Seneca
 * The Evil Genius: Alidia
 * The Brute: Volouth
 * The Dark Chick: Wendetta
 * For the Evulz: Dragan’s motivation for killing Sadie’s kitten.
 * Foster Kid: Sabine.
 * Four-Girl Ensemble
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble
 * Freudian Excuse
 * Fridge Brilliance: Throughout the beginning parts of Fear is Just a Word, it’s made a point that
 * Especially brilliant when you consider that
 * Also, the makes so much sense if you go back and re-read Fear after The Reveal. There’s tons of subtle foreshadowing. For example:
 * When she was taken by the Peacekeepers? Probably orchestrated by rebels to make the switch.
 * Ryan’s thoughts about Colten.
 * Tessy mentioning that Delaney looked somehow different, subdued, and nervous.
 * Delaney’s thoughts during the countdown.
 * Delaney’s OOC behavior in the arena.
 * Similarly, Tilly’s OOC behavior.
 * Tilly reacting to the spiders-Delaney’s fear- and Delaney not reacting.
 * Tilly suddenly wanting to join Colt and Rose’s hug makes sense too.
 * Tilly’s thoughts during chapter 32.
 * The Colt/Tilly dialogue during the scenes in the D6 mentor box.
 * Also, on the surface
 * Friendless Background
 * Friend to Psychos: Emily. Although she later becomes a psycho herself.
 * Gender Blender Name: The names of both District 3 tributes in Freedom. Even the Gamemakers aren’t quite sure which is which.
 * Um, Seneca Crane, anyone? The character is in fact male, but the name could easily be used for a female.
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: At least, Volouth thinks so.
 * Girl Posse: Whimsical is mentioned to have one, but her only named evil minions are Sapphire and Diana. Diana later gets dropped from the group because she beat Sapphire to volunteering for the Games.
 * Gladiator Games: In addition to the regular Hunger Games, they apparently have these in District 4.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Some of the Careers are like this.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars
 * Go Out with a Smile: Nat.
 * Granola Girl: Tessa and Romy.
 * Green Eyed Red Head: Autumn.
 * Grey and Grey Morality: Nobody’s really evil in the Arena, not even the Careers.
 * Grey Rain of Depression: In the beginning of Fear’s Games.
 * Guys Smash Girls Shoot: Largely averted.
 * Hair Flip: Sadie does it after she kills Dragan.
 * Hammerspace: Evidently, where Ivexonna gets her weapons.
 * Hand or Object Underwear: The District 3 tributes in the chariot ride for Freedom.
 * Happily Adopted: Sabine.
 * Happily Married: Louka and Lindi, along with 6 out of the 7 tributes that were released from the arena in Freedom.
 * Hates Being Touched: Angelo. This changes later on in the story, though.
 * Heartbroken Badass: Colten and Angelo, and Jewel to a lesser extent (because she wasn’t really in love at all). Emily qualifies in the “sibling love” way.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Nat makes one for her brother Colten in both the real and alternate versions of the ending of Death is Just a Game.
 * Heroic Second Wind
 * Hidden Depths
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: In chapter 9 of Freedom, Diana stated, “I’ll never be like Emily.” Later in the story, she is actually a lot like Emily, taking Emily’s role of The Dragon and also arguing a lot with her district partner.
 * Also, Jael says that she wants to be the first person ever to win the Games twice. This becomes funnier if you consider the events of Catching Fire.
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Sadie. Need proof?

"spoiler:Ivy (to Louka): You wanna put Jewel out of her misery, or shall I? Jewel (to Louka): You wanna put Emily out of her misery, or shall I?"
 * How Dare You Die on Me!: Emily’s reaction to
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Mr. and Mrs. Braxus.
 * The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
 * Hypocritical Humor: Belle from the first story says it’s not nice to curse. Then she goes ahead and curses anyway.
 * Ice Queen: Melinoe Halberd and her daughter Emily. Also Liviana, who even gets called this.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All the chapters in Fear and Freedom follow a naming pattern of “To (verb) (article or pronoun) (noun)”
 * If I Can't Have You: Said nearly word-for-word by Seth in Freedom.
 * Ill Girl: Atarah, Jezebel Renn’s sister.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Whenever someone in this series throws a knife or just thrusts one forward, it always lands perfectly on target, right where they wanted it to be.
 * Improvised Weapon: Corinne demonstrates the use of a tube of toothpaste as a weapon.
 * Incendiary Exponent: Flamiken sets the 53rd Games Arena on fire.
 * Incest Subtext: Some subtext between Colten and Nat, Colten and Delaney, and Dragan and Emily.
 * Ineffectual Death Threats: Dragan tells Sadie he’s going to kill her. However,
 * Informed Ability: Sadie is apparently a more-than-competent archer, and she is also very good at tolerating pain. The first thing is never mentioned again, and the second is only mentioned in the span of about three sentences during only one fight and is never used again.
 * Insult Backfire
 * In the Back: How die.
 * Intoxication Ensues: Diana and Amethyst seem to be high in chapter 29 of Freedom because of some suspicious flowers found in the Arena.
 * In with the In Crowd: Diana.
 * Ironic Echo:

"Autumn: You! Utter! MONSTER! Tessa: I.AM. NOT. A. DOG! Angelo: STOP. TALKING. TO. ME! Angelo: I. DO. NOT. LIKE. HER. Sabine: Never. Ever. Mention. That. Night. Again."
 * I Shall Taunt You: A preferred tactic of Autumn.
 * It Gets Easier: Jael says this to Sadie before Sadie goes into the arena.
 * I Think You Broke Him: Said almost word-for-word by one of the Gamemakers.
 * I Was Beaten by a Girl: In the first story,
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: Terra Rockefeller seems to wear them.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
 * Kavorka Man: Roan.
 * Killed Off for Real: Lots of people.
 * Kill It with Fire:
 * Kill Steal: Bound to happen during the Games, most often with the Careers.
 * The Klutz: Meleana.
 * Knife Fight: One happens between Amira and Diana during the bloodbath of Freedom.
 * Knife Nut: Also Ivexonna, Emily and Diana.
 * Knight Templar Big Brother: Dragan qualifies.
 * Lack of Empathy: Many of the Career characters.
 * Lady Drunk: Oliviana Faustus and Melinoe Halberd.
 * Lady of War: Jael, while not being in the Games anymore, demonstrates she can still kick serious ass when necessary.
 * Like an Old Married Couple: This phrase is used to describe Casey and Nat from the first story, and Traxxton and Emily from the second.
 * Living Emotional Crutch: Dragan and Emily seem to be this to each other, if that makes sense.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Loners Are Freaks: Emily.
 * Love At First Sight: Colten and Casey.
 * Love Triangle: Colten, Casey and Nat, and later Colten, Rosylin and Delaney.
 * Also, Janie, Jace and Angelo.
 * Meaningful Echo: “It will be okay.”
 * Meaningful Name: A girl named Belle Petals certainly can’t be ugly, can she?
 * Meet Cute
 * Men Are the Expendable Gender: In Death is Just a Game; 11 out of 12 boys got killed off in the first three days of the Games.
 * Mercy Kill:
 * Moment Killer: Plenty of them, especially with the Official Couples of the stories.
 * Moment of Silence: After
 * Monster Misogyny: For some reason, Dragan only attacks, threatens, or kills younger girls. (Except for Hunter)
 * Morality Chain: Emily and Dragan to each other.
 * More Deadly Than the Male: Prominent in all three stories. Although in the first two,
 * Mutual Kill: do this.
 * Name's the Same: Diana, Rex and Amethyst were all named after tributes from other SYOT stories, which is why
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Dragan’s full name is Dragan Azrael Halberd, which should give an indication that he is not someone to be trifled with.
 * His parents’ names are Vladimir Stanislav and Melinoe Desdemona Halberd. His sister’s name, however, is the comparatively nicer Emily Lilith.
 * Also, Liviana’s last name is Faustus, and Amethyst’s last name is Diabla.
 * Diana’s name combines both a name to trust and a name to run away from- Diana Lucrezia Rockefeller. Is it any wonder she goes crazy during the Games?
 * Names to Trust Immediately
 * Neck Snap: Traxxton to Berk, and Dragan to Sadie’s cat.
 * Never Got to Say Goodbye: Skylar to her brother when he’s chosen for the Games.
 * Nonchalant Dodge: Diana does this while fighting Amira.
 * Noodle Incident: Whatever happened the last time the Gamemakers laughed at one of the tributes.
 * Odd Name Out: The Halberd family seems to have a tradition of Names to Run Away From Really Fast. The parents are named Vladimir and Melinoe, and their son is named Dragan. Then there’s their daughter, who has the decidedly normal and non-evil name of Emily.
 * Also, Fiver Flynn is the only one in her family who has a numerical name, and the only one named after her birth order. (She’s the fifth child out of six) To poke fun at this, her nicknames for her siblings are their birth orders.
 * Official Couple:
 * Off with His Head: How die.
 * Ojou: Diana, the second type.
 * One Steve Limit: There are multiple characters in this series that share names with other people in the series.
 * Only Friend: Diana to Emily.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Janie’s full name is Janette Swartzchild, but everyone just calls her Janie.
 * Also, Romy from Fear is never addressed by her full name, Andromeda, in the story.
 * The Ophelia: Amethyst and Diana.
 * Parental Neglect: The Halberd parents.
 * Pass the Popcorn: Somewhat of a Running Gag with the Gamemakers. Thorn also makes a joke relating to this at some point.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil
 * Peaceful in Death:
 * Personal Effects Reveal: Done at one point in Fear.
 * Person as Verb: To “pull a Ritch” means in this story that you commit suicide because your lover is dead.
 * Also, a “Trax and Emily relationship” is a relationship between two Careers, sometimes from the same district, sometimes not, and always laden with Belligerent Sexual Tension.* Perspective Flip: In Death is Just a Game, Dragan was portrayed as a vicious amoral psychopath. Fear is Just a Word and Happiness is Just a Memory beg to differ.
 * Plucky Comic Relief: Hunter from the 52nd Games, Thorn from the 53rd, and Nolan from the 54th.
 * Pop Culture Pun Episode Title/Double Meaning Title: The title of chapter 19 of Death, “How to Train Your Dragon”. Obviously refers to the movie and book, but also relevant to what happens in the chapter, i.e.,
 * Portmanteau Couple Name: Jangelo, which is Janie/Angelo.
 * Precision F-Strike: Aria in Fear.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Two particularly awesome ones, spoken by Sadie and Myrrah.
 * Prince Charming Wannabe: Seth.
 * The Promise: Dragan makes one to his sister that he’s going to come home to her and always protect her.
 * Promoted Fanboy: Tilly in a way, she was always a big fan of the Hunger Games and constantly dreamed of going into them.
 * Promotion to Parent: Natina Henley gets it after her parents both die. Likewise for Autumn’s older brother Leo.
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Dragan.
 * Psychotic Smirk: Many of the Careers seem to do this a lot.
 * Punny Name: Terra Rockefeller, from the stone quarry district.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni
 * Red Shirt: The “Bloodbath tributes”, although some of them become Mauve Shirts like Hunter and Torrence.
 * Relationship Upgrade:
 * Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The Rockefeller family, whose names are Minerva, Vulcan, Diana and Terra.
 * Reluctant Warrior: Louka and Sadie.
 * Retirony: Deliberately avoided with Louka.
 * Revenge: A very common theme in this series.
 * Ring of Fire
 * Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Emily and Diana.
 * Save the Villain:
 * Say My Name: “MYRRAH!”
 * See You in Hell: Jace says something to this effect just before he kills Angelo and Angelo kills him.
 * Self-Made Orphan:
 * Shiny Midnight Black: Nyx’s hair.
 * Ship-to-Ship Combat: Janie/Jace vs. Janie/Angelo.
 * Shout-Out: One of the chapters from Death is called “How to Train Your Dragon”.
 * There’s an Angry Birds reference in Freedom.
 * Shirtless Scene: Louka gets one in the penultimate chapter of Fear.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Tamiscius and Flamiken, Dragan and Emily.
 * Slashed Throat: How die.
 * Slasher Smile: Emily and Aria smile like this in the bloodbath chapter of Fear.
 * Sleeves Are for Wimps: Traxxton seems to believe this.
 * Smug Snake: Most of the Careers.
 * The Snark Knight: Mallow.
 * The Sociopath: Dragan, full stop.
 * Traxxton and Angelo also count, as well as Castiel. District 2 seems to produce a lot of these.
 * Split Personality: Hannah/Sarah from Survival is Just a Maize.
 * Spoiled Sweet: Pascal is a male version of this, he got everything he wanted, but was generally shown to be a pretty nice guy.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Seth.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Ritch and Lenea, Colten and Casey, Angelo and Janie, Jace and Janie, and as it turns out,
 * Stay in the Kitchen: Ethen from Freedom thinks this about girls.
 * Stealth Insult: Paisley’s dad named a poisonous flower after her.
 * Stepford Smiler: Jael is an implied type C. Diana, on the other hand, is definitely type C.
 * Stern Chase: One of the plots of Freedom is Just a Dream.
 * Straight Gay: Pontus from Survival.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Virus’s expertise, and how Aria dies.
 * Switching POV
 * Sympathetic Murderer: Nearly everyone.
 * Take a Third Option: Everyone in Panem was rooting for either Jace or Angelo, but won instead.
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Jael.
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Careers in all 3 stories.
 * Theme Twin Naming: Referenced and mocked in Freedom is Just a Dream.
 * That's What She Said: Mentioned to be a running joke in District 12.
 * Anika says it in chapter 43 of Freedom.
 * This Is Sparta:
 * Anika says it in chapter 43 of Freedom.
 * This Is Sparta:

": You monster. You! Utter! MONSTER!"
 * Title Drop: The original title of Death is Just a Game is dropped in chapter 19.
 * Together in Death: Ritch and Lenea.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Sadie and Jael, Anika and Ruby.
 * Troubled Fetal Position
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: There’s loads of it, especially in a story like this.
 * Tsundere: Most of the girls, especially the Career girls, are type A.
 * Unfortunate Name: The District 7 mayor has the last name Hardrict, which can easily be changed into…something different.
 * Also, Duncan Hiney, Laurant Peddler, and Whimsical Darling. Seriously, WHIMSICAL DARLING? Doesn’t help matters that she’s the resident co-Libby of District 2.
 * Unintentionally Sympathetic: The Careers. Some of them you just can’t help but be sorry for. Also, Aria and Amira.
 * Unusual Euphemism: The Career characters seem to use “playing with your food” or some variation thereof as a euphemism for “torturing an opponent”. This is never really explained.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Sadie, Aria, Ivexonna, Emily, and Diana.
 * Vague Age: Almost all of the characters don’t have their age mentioned or their age is only mentioned in passing. The tributes are between the ages of 12 and 18, though, and the mentors are most likely older than 18.
 * Valley Girl: Nolan’s sister, Odie.
 * Weapon of Choice:
 * Colten, The Hero of sorts, uses a sword to kill his last opponent in the Arena.
 * Autumn, from the lumber district, and Dragan, being a classic Ax Crazy, both use axes.
 * Angelo, the resident Brute of Freedom is Just a Dream, uses a mace during the Games.
 * Liviana, an experienced gladiator-type fighter, uses her bare hands.
 * Jezebel, a morally ambiguous girl, uses a bow and arrows. Sadie does too, but only during training.
 * The District 4 tributes, being from the fishing district, are adept with spears and tridents.
 * Emily uses a halberd at one point, which is appropriate given her last name.
 * Most of the characters use knives.
 * Mallow uses a sling fairly often.
 * We Used to Be Friends: Diana and Emily.
 * What Could Have Been: The 5th chapter of Happiness is Just A Memory has an alternate ending of Death is Just a Game, involving
 * "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Many of the chapters of Fear is Just a Word.
 * Wham! Line:
 * When She Smiles: Mallow.
 * White Sheep: Emily, the only relatively good person in her (mostly) villainous family.
 * Who's Laughing Now?:
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Diana Rockefeller. Full stop. Stands in direct contrast to her sister, who wears Jade-Colored Glasses.
 * Will Not Be a Victim: Sadie.
 * Working Title: The original title of Death is Just a Game was Survival: The 52nd Hunger Games, but it was changed to match Fear is Just a Word’s title.
 * World of Woobie
 * Would Hit a Girl: Dragan, along with most other male Careers, certainly would.
 * It’s even referenced at one point: “Dragan had never been taught that it was rude to hit a girl. And even if he had been taught that, he probably wouldn’t care.”
 * Write Who You Know
 * You Have No Chance to Survive
 * You Monster!: says this to  after