Finnick might have voted YES for another Hunger Games
I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but during my recent reread of THG trilogy it struck me that Finnick might actually have voted ‘yes’ to another Hunger Games had he lived in order to protect Annie (and possibly also himself, although I don’t think he cares much about his own physical safety) from Coin.
Annie says that Finnick would vote no if he were there. I do not doubt for even a second the truth of that statement if the vote were solely about his personal convictions. I am in no way saying Finnick personally wanted another Hunger Games. But I still think there is a possibility he might have voted with Coin.
This is going to get long. Apologies.
First of all, there is evidence early on in Mockingjay that Finnick has Coin’s number. You can see this when he and Katniss watch the Distirct 8 hospital bombing propo. Finnick’s political awareness and strategic intelligence are on full display. The most striking part of the scene is how quickly his mind works.
What happens is this: an interview with Peeta comes on right after the rebel propo about the Distict 8 hospital bombing. Finnick and Katniss watch it. Peeta is in very bad shape. He implores Katniss to stop making propos, asks if she can trust the rebels, insists she is being manipulated into being a cause of death and destruction.
Finnick presses the button on the remote that kills the power. In a minute, people will be here to do damage control on Peeta’s condition and the words that came out of his mouth. I will need to repudiate them. But the truth is, I don’t trust the rebels or Plutarch or Coin. I’m not confident that they tell me the truth. I won’t be able to conceal this. Footsteps are approaching.
Finnick grips me hard by the arms. “We didn’t see it.”
“What?” I ask.
“We didn’t see Peeta. Only the propo on Eight. Then we turned the set off because the images upset you. Got it?” He asks. I nod. “Finish your dinner.”
And Finnick’s plan works. (“I pull myself together enough so that when Plutarch and Fulvia enter, I have a mouthful of bread and cabbage. Finnick is talking about how well Gale came across on camera. We congratulate them on the promo. Make it clear it was so powerful, we tuned out right afterward. They look relieved. They believe us.”)
This demonstrates that Finnick has Coin’s number while also demonstrating that he understands Katniss well enough to know she is not capable of playing the game she needs to in order to survive right now. He is in such bad shape mentally at this point that he “basically lives at the hospital” and yet he is sharp enough, astute enough, and quick enough to realise in a matter of seconds that:
a) people will be checking on them any minute,
b) Katniss will have to publicly respond to Peeta’s comments as well as assure Coin and Plutarch that she completely trusts them and the rebels if word gets out they saw Peeta,
c) Katniss does NOT trust the rebels or D13 or Plutarch, and especially not Coin,
d) Katniss is, in that moment, incapable of acting well enough to convince Coin and Plutarch that she does trust them, and
e) the consequences of that would be bad, bad, bad.
Therefore, it is highly likely that Finnick would be aware of the fact he and his loved ones are unsafe when it comes to Coin, and this knowledge would have been a factor in how he voted during the Games vote at the end of Mockingjay.
In fact, he probably realised this a lot sooner than the Games vote. Finnick probably understood immediately that he was now expendable - and potentially a threat - the moment he laid eyes on Peeta, the newest member of the Star Squad.
Katniss is a lot less politically astute than Finnick, so Boggs has to spell it out for her.
“But you’ll throw support to someone. Would it be President Coin? Or someone else?” [Boggs says]
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it,” I say.
“If your immediate answer isn’t Coin, then you’re a threat. You’re the face of the rebellion. You may have more influence than any other single person,” says Boggs. “Outwardly, the most you’ve ever done is tolerated her.”
“So she’ll kill me to shut me up.” The minute I say the words, I know they’re true.
“She doesn’t need you as a rallying point now. As she said, your primary objective, to unite the districts, has succeeded,” Boggs reminds me. “These current propos could be done without you. There’s only one last thing you could do to add fire to the rebellion.”
“Die,” I say quietly.
“Yes. Give us a martyr to fight for,” says Boggs.
Boggs tells Katniss explicitly that Coin wants Katniss dead because whomever Katniss supports as the new leader of Panem is who the new leader will be. Katniss has this amount of influence because she is “the face of the rebellion.” Aka she is extremely famous at this point - dare I say, as the Mockingjay, a living legend.
Who else is a living legend in Panem? Finnick.
I think Finnick would have realised Coin might now consider him a potential threat the minute he understood that Coin saw Katniss as a threat, which I think he would have pieced together the moment Peeta joined Star Squad. While Katniss undoubtedly has the most sway over who will be Panem’s new leader, it is highly likely Finnick held some influence, too. He is one of the most famous people in all of Panem and is now famously a rebel due to the several propos he made. Being the Capitol Darling for 10 years probably limits how much political sway he has over the general public, and his mental breakdown in D13 probably lost him some credibility with the rebels. However, he probably gained quite a bit of credibility points and general influence after his powerful confessional propo that revealed Snow’s forced prostitution of the desirable victors, Snow’s deadly rise to power, and other salacious details about the other most powerful people in the Capitol. His primary use was his ability to turn the Capitol against Snow. Now that he’s accomplished that, he is expendable to Coin - just like Katniss. It just took longer for Katniss to become expendable than it did for Finnick.
So Finnick would have known he could not afford to give Coin the impression he did not support her fully and without hesitation. He had Coin’s number from pretty early on and has a sharp political mind. This leads us to the vote.
If you look at the Victors who voted ‘no’, you realise the none of them have much influence over public opinion. Peeta (a ‘traitor’ due to his capitol tv spots during MJ, then an ‘evil Capitol mutt’ when returned hijacked) doesn’t have much influence. His credibility is shot. Annie, who has a very public reputation as the mad victor, also votes no. So does Beetee. Beetee has more credibility than Annie or Peeta with the public, but he is older, in a wheelchair, and not one of the most famous victors so he likely doesn’t hold much sway. He also cites political concerns for his vote, not moral objections, a move reminiscent of a wise advisor to a king. He also demonstrated his loyalty with the bombing of the Capitol that killed Prim.
So basically, the victors who vote against Coin are the ones who don’t pose a threat to Coin. Johanna and Enobaria vote yes out of a desire for revenge. The victors with more credibility and sway (Katniss, Haymitch) vote yes knowing that they can’t be seen to not support Coin (Kat) and knowing what Katniss is planning (Haymitch).
I think Finnick would have known immediately what Katniss was planning, but I don’t think that would have any influence on his vote.
Bottom line/TL;DR: I think he would have voted ‘yes’ to protect Annie. Because he would have known Coin might see him as a threat and his experience has taught him that presidents use his loved ones to punish him or keep him in line. He has seen the similarities between Coin and Snow from the beginning and has been given no reason to assume Coin will behave differently.
