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Katniss is also described as having grey/blue eyes though, right? Generally those who have olive skin and light eyes tend to be of Mediterranean descent. But having the casting be restricted to Caucasian is pretty prejudiced, I didn’t hear about that until now.

gehayi:

rhiannonmcgavin:

ehhhh 

not

really

also like

there’s genetically engineered wolves with human faces and magic science burn medicine 

i think it’s conceivable for katniss to be a girl of color 

Also, there’s this famous picture of an Afghan girl named Sharbat Gula from a 1985 cover of National Geographic:

image

Clearly, dark skin and light eyes can go together.

But could Katniss be a woman of color or of mixed race?

Katniss comes from District 12, which roughly corresponds to the coal country of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Ever hear of the Melungeon?

They’re a group of people of mixed race in the Cumberland Gap area—which is East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western Kentucky. Traditionally they were viewed as mixtures of white, black and Native American; recent DNA evidence suggests that they’re primarily biracial. There are a lot of similar groups, too.

You can take a look at photos of Melungeon people here. There’s a huge range in appearance. Some are look like dark-skinned blacks; others, like light-skinned ones. Some look Latino or Italian. Some have dark skin but light eyes. Some look white. 

And the variations can occur within a single family. Take a look at four generations of the Ramey family of Tennessee.  

It looks like Katniss—with her dark hair, olive skin and light eyes—could be biracial or triracial. The possibility, at least, exists.