A District 12 (and Mockingjay Pin) Family Tree: What We Learn from Sunrise on the Reaping

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD (and above) For Sunrise on the Reaping

With the release of Sunrise in March 2025, those of us hoping to fill in some gaps to Katniss’ family tree were treated to incredible new information. At the same time, it is arguably becoming more of a challenge to keep track of our favorite characters in Twelve and how they are all connected. I have seen requests on fan sites for a family tree of the three-plus generations now featured through Collins’ five novels. To that end, I embraced that challenge and created what I believe to be the most accurate possible representation of a District 12 Family Tree, along with the new knowledge we have about the route of the storied mockingjay pin.

While not going into excruciating detail here with all the evidence (or lack of same), I recently added this post about why it seems likely that Maude Ivory is Lenore Dove’s mother, who died in childbirth. Further, this family tree graphic indicates the characters that remain inconclusive with their roles. These include Maude Ivory as Lenore’s probable mother, Haymitch’s friend Blair — who could all too easily be Gale’s future father (or not) — and the mysterious Otho Mellark, the Baker’s son we meet briefly during the reaping in SOTR (see this post for more on the bumbling Otho as a “loose end”).

Further, the route of the mockingjay pin is now filled in quite a bit more, though we still do not know how it eventually travels from Maysilee’s drawer to her niece, Madge, by the time of the original series (see this more recent post about the Donner family connections, including the canary that Asterid inherits from Maysilee!). For now I am presuming that her sister, Merrilee, acquired the pin at some point and gifted it to Madge. But we just don’t know that yet from Sunrise. What we do know is that the pin was originally given to Mr. Donner’s mother (Maysilee’s grandmother), and he handed it down to an unimpressed Maysilee, along with a hummingbird pin to Merrilee (see related post on Maysilee Donner and grandmother). Humorously, Haymitch tells us the story of how Maysilee simply stuck it in a drawer at home, while Merrilee wore hers for probably five minutes before losing it down a well. Lenore Dove, who was irritated with their lack of appreciation, had planned at one point to break into the Donners’ home to steal back Maysilee’s pin. Haymitch and Blair managed to discourage her from doing so.

Perhaps the biggest surprise comes with the continued mystery around Katniss’ father, Burdock Everdeen. How exactly is he related to the Covey? With all the information Collins provides, we still cannot pin down his origins. I and untold others have repeatedly made the case that Maude Ivory is Katniss’ grandmother, as I explain within this post. But that very strong theory has not played out in SOTR, as we learn that Burdock (Katniss’ future father) is some sort of cousin to Lenore Dove (at one point he calls to her, “Hey, cuz”). We are further informed that Haymitch and Burdock had learned many of the Covey songs and music through “private performances” from Lenore Dove. This seems to be how the Covey’s music legacy is handed down to Katniss. Beyond this, there are further clues from Haymitch that Lenore Dove’s father is from the Chance family, and Lenore Dove’s uncles are pretty cagey about it. What this means is that the biggest remaining gap in the District family tree is the familial connection between Burdock Everdeen, Lenore Dove, and the Covey. Right now I can only connect them on this graphic as “cousins.”

Beyond these caveats (perhaps gaps to close within a future prequel?), I hope the following graphic is helpful to sort out the various relationships among our principal District 12 characters.

(PERMISSION FOR SHARING: Feel free to share the graphic (GIF embedded below) with proper credit, as it is meant to be educational for discussion purposes. My name and affiliation are on it already. Ever in your favor!)

(WHILE YOU’RE HERE: You may wish to check out my most recent companion book, Behind the Ballads: A Tribute to the People, Places and Music of Songbirds and Snakes (2024). A future companion guide for the Sunrise prequel and film is also in the works!)