Marlyn Farrow, 4

Marlyn has long, sun bleached hair. It falls down his back and is generally tangled and cut unevenly. He cuts it himself. He is muscular from hours of swimming. He has a dark tan because he spends most of his time in the sun.

He has pale blue eyes with brown flecks in his iris. His nose has been broken multiple times from getting into fights. His face has scars too, and his ears are malformed from too many shots to the head.

He has strong forearms from wielding a cleaver to clean fish. His fingers are calloused from shelling scallops and clams. His left hand has a scar running the length of his fingers and part of his head and it is slightly sunk in. This is from an accident with his cleaver, afterwards he learned to wield it more adeptly.

He weighs about one-hundred and fifty pounds. He has an athletic build, but one of his hands is mostly useless. He lacks fine motor skills in his left hand because he hit it with a cleaver. He manages with it, but that's the best he can do.

Marlyn is quiet and doesn't socialize with others unless he needs something from them. He is cruel to others verbally and physically because he is trying to assert his own dominance. This is behavior he learned from his father, who beat him on a regular basis, until Marlyn started fighting back. Marlyn learned a mechanism for dealing with violent and angry people, and that is to show that you are more angry and more violent.

Marlyn does have a soft side. He can't stand to see someone beaten or bullied outside of an even fight. He feels a need to stand up for anyone who is oppressed and can't do anything about it. This usually leads him into violent altercations where he can get carried away by his anger.

Marlyn is not educated. The only classes he finds himself paying attention to are the ones about the history of the Hunger Games. He is fascinated by anything to do with the games, and devours such knowledge. He fantasizes about one day entering the Games, so he doesn't feel a need to learn other things. He doesn't realize that the odds are against him.

Marlyn hates his father with a feverish passion, and idolizes his deceased mother whom he only has a few memories of. He doesn't remember much about his mother, but he does associate good things with her. He would do anything to bring his mother back.

Marlyn was born on June 6, he is fourteen years old. His mother was Fara, but he doesn't know her maiden name, he and his father were ostracized after she died when he was three. She was beaten to death by her husband, Coral Farrow. Marlyn knows what his father did from word of mouth. After beating her he dumped the body in the ocean and claimed she jumped from a seaside cliff. There was never enough concern or evidence to prove that he did it. Growing up without motherly love shaped Marlyn dramatically, it made him a rebellious and violent child. He treated others like they were worthless, often hitting or insulting other kids his age. This shows on his scarred hands and broken nose.

Marlyn was only average at school. He didn't pay attention because he assumed that one day he would be in the Hunger Games and come out of it a hero. He also feared the beatings he would be greeted with at home. Before and after school, he cleans fish and has grown quite adept with a cleaver. One day, he was woozy after getting into a fight with a bully. He started cleaning a fish and chopped his fingers just above the knuckles, leaving them scarred and crooked. The muscles never quite recovered, and he still has trouble holding them straight.

Marlyns first reaping was a good day for him, he saw as a chance to get into the Games and be a part of history. After that reaping he began to train in secret, mostly just running sprints on the beach and working out. He couldn't do much because he was generally malnourished, but when times were good, he was at his peak. He could never work up the courage to volunteer though. He tried when he was ten, but he just couldn't do it. He intends to volunteer this year, he wants to get into the Games no matter what it takes.

The day in his history that shaped him most dramatically was the day he knocked his father down and out. When he was thirteen he came home to find his father angry and drunk. He attacked Marlyn, but Marlyn managed to fend him off. He slammed the man's head into a table and knocked him out. That was the day he learned he could fight back against his father. Soon, he was able to best the drunken old man and the beatings stopped. Now, they only tolerate each other, casting sideways glances or greetings during a meal, nothing more or less.