Mentor Profile
Ellis Rutherford
Age: 46
District: 6
Hunger Games: 47th, aged 18
Mentored By: Blake Carlton
Kills in the Arena: 1
Preferred Weapons: Spear
Tribute: Blake Carlton
Mentoring Record: 17 Games/0 Victors
District 6's fourth and most recent victor, the fact that Ellis' victory is almost thirty years ago speaks volumes for the difficulties that the other victors of District 6 have been through in the long years since Ellis escaped the arena alive.
In many ways, Ellis is the victor that District 6 needs to be proud of, in the light of the unfortunate circumstances that have gripped their older victors. Despite a self-professed wasted youth, Ellis turned his life around with victory in the 47th Annual Hunger Games and has gone on to make a lot more of his later years than he did his younger ones. Despite all the bad will and distrust that has grown between the victors living around him, Ellis has somehow always managed to keep himself above it all.
Ellis' journey began almost thirty years ago, when he won the Games in a similar fashion to many of those from the outer districts; keeping hidden in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Just as with Dax of District 5, Ellis' only kill was the last of the Games. Compared to some victors, who have appeared arrogant, insensitive or deranged, Ellis has always managed to remain composed and speak with a level head, a voice of reason among a group of athletes and extroverts.
We regularly see Ellis at home in District 6 during broadcasts of the victory tour each winter, often the most coherent and approachable of the district's victors during the celebrations. Unlike many victors, Ellis has opted to live an active life in his district during his tenure in District 6, choosing to volunteer in the car factories at his district's heart, his pay given to those less fortunate than himself.
Unlike some of his peers, Ellis has never been one to shirk his responsibilities as a victor and a mentor, mentoring the male tribute for District 6 on seventeen occasions since winning the Games, although he is yet to mentor a victor himself. Part of that record is due to his fellow victors' inability to act as a unit; District 6's history of mentoring blunders is well-known and often over-analysed. The inability of the district's victors to work together has led to Ellis' attempts to fix District 6's fortunes in recent years, having mentored alongside Melissa for the past ten years. Although this new approach has yet to yield a victor, there has been a noticeable improvement in District 6's results in the past decade.
Faced with tough opposition that have shown far more unity and determination, it doesn't appear likely that District 6 will have a victor in the Third Quarter Quell, and the current odds have Blake and Molly as the two least-favoured of the twenty-four tributes in this year's Games. However, if they somehow do survive against the odds in the arena, Ellis' mentoring expertise is likely to be a deciding factor.