I was having breakfast with my daughter yesterday, when she asked me, “Who would win – Katniss or Oliver?” And my mind exploded because I didn’t have a good answer, but I absolutely loved the question.
For the unanointed, my daughter is referring to two fictional characters. One character is Oliver Queen from the TV show Arrow (which she’s been watching via Netflix, starting at season 1, in preparation for the upcoming season) and Katniss Everdeen, the main character of the Hunger Games book/film series (which my daughter is re-reading). Both characters are archers, trained in combat and clever. In short, they’re both total BAMFs.
I know fandoms like to do this a lot in the superhero universe. We even got a crappy movie out of it (yes, I HATED Batman vs. Superman; and I also hated Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel, too [this video describes my feelings to a tee]). However, I really like both Oliver and Katniss, and feel like I’ve seen them through so much. It’s so hard to choose.
I think they’re equal as archers, though my daughter mentioned that Katniss shoots squirrels (who are moving) in the eye while hunting. I’ve never seen Oliver do that, but his archery skills seem absolutely awesome.
In hand to hand combat, I’d have to give it to Oliver. He was trained by the League of Assasins, as well as others. In the books, Katniss avoided hand-t0-hand combat and focused on her strengths of cleverness and archery.
In terms of cleverness, I’m going to give Katniss the slight edge. She survived 22 people wanting her dead, as well as the games makers. While Oliver has some clever ideas, it’s really a team show, and he’s often leaning on others for help. Not that Katniss doesn’t have help, too, but I feel like Team Arrow really is about teamwork in most situations. Katniss is often, particularly in the first book, relying on her own wits.
Even with those things given, I’m still not sure who would win. I find myself unable to root for a particular one, as I really adore them both. I did note that Seam Katniss would one hundred percent kick day-one stranded on the island Oliver’s butt. Prior to his training, Oliver was mush. And any post-island iteration of Oliver would kick the tail of end-of-book-3 Katniss (after the trial). She was desolate and in no condition to do anything, let alone fight.
However, the two of them, in their prime, fully trained, and fighting, I haven’t a clue who would win. (And I still have no idea why they’d be fighting; it seems more likely these two would grab a beer than fight. Maybe a friendly archery competition, but no knockdown, drag-out fight.)
So, if you’re an Arrow fan and a Hunger Games fan, do you have any thoughts? Who would win the Katniss-Oliver battle?