Warning: This article discusses sexual slavery.
Cinna meets an unfortunate demise in the Hunger Games series, but there's a fan theory that he actually bought Katniss to save her from President Snow while he was alive. Based on the incredibly popular novels by Suzanne Collins, the Hunger Games films amassed legions of fans with their well-executed portrayal of the macabre and dystopian tournaments to the death as well as the events adjacent to them. These events were brought to life by the well-written characters of the stories, and Cinna, the tribute stylist, may have played a more crucial role than it seemed on the surface.
Panem's 12 districts volunteered youths to participate in grueling life-or-death battles and challenges, and Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was introduced in the first film as the series' heroine, the iconic "Mockingjay." However, there was certainly no shortage of interesting characters played by a slew of other solid actors in the Hunger Games movie franchise. Key ing characters who had pivotal moments included (among many others) Woody Harrelson's Haymitch, Elizabeth Banks' Effie Trinket, and Lenny Kravitz's Cinna.
Though Cinna was seemingly just the emotionally ive stylist who chose to work with Katniss, Reddit Finnick's Hunger Games fate played out, and the Capitol was in on it, it seems that a tribute like Katniss could've easily fallen into the same unfortunate position. Since Cinna is so well-connected in Panem's higher echelon, the Reddit thinks he "knew exactly what was in store for Katniss" and "bought her with [the] full intention of shielding her" because he was moved by how she stepped in for her sister, Prim, at the first movie's reaping.
It's an undeniably disturbing theory, but the entire premise behind the Games is horrifying, as well. Leaving districts in such downtrodden squalor and then having the sadistic audacity to force children and teens hailing from them to fight to the death for sport, is just as heinous as forcing those same children into prostitution. It's certainly plausible that the hypothesis holds weight within the Hunger Games series' universe. Fellow Redditor mirrorspirit brought up points within the Reddit post that the theory, as well. They pointed out that Haymitch may very well have pushed for Katniss and Peeta to end up together in order to protect them both from harrowing fates like Finnick's.
Hitting on a theme openly conveyed in the films, mirrorspirit also brings up that a "Romeo and Juliet type storyline" between tributes would make the Hunger Games producers "much less inclined to interfere with that" by forcing them into a role of prostitution. This, as is suggested in the post reply, could be an additional reason that Peeta circulated the idea that the pair were engaged and expecting a child while drumming up press for the Games. After all, "even though the Capitol had loose morals," marriage still likely had the "power to deter most of the pleasure seekers." Unless they directly address it, it's impossible to know if Suzanne Collins or the creative team behind the Hunger Games movies had any of these concepts in mind while crafting their art. Unfortunately, given the clear lack of respect or care for fellow humans that the Capitol exhibited during the series' events, the idea that Cinna, Katniss, and even Peeta were playing a metaphorical game of chess to avoid the latter two characters being forced into sexual slavery could very well be accurate.
