In the book and movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes details a fundamental turning point for the Hunger Games and draws out Snow's backstory, adding dimension to the villainous character who later becomes Panem's tyrannical president.
How does The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes tie into Hunger Games?
How is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes connected to The Hunger Games? The prequel takes place during the 10th Hunger Games and follows a character fans will be familiar with, Coriolanus Snow (played in the original films by Donald Sutherland).
Is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes a continuation of The Hunger Games?
Given the ambiguous final scene, it's a fair question—but before we dive into the future of the series, let's backtrack a bit. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games.
"Katniss Everdeen's connection to the Covey and Lucy Gray Baird is implied through their shared musical talent, knowledge of certain songs, and association with mockingjays."
Are any characters from The Hunger Games in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?
Mizzen is the male tribute from District 4 during the 10th Hunger Games. He's played by Cooper Dillon, a German actor making his major Hollywood debut in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
Watch This Before Seeing Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger Games Prequel Explained)
Is Lucy Gray related to Katniss?
No, Lucy Gray has no relation to Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. When the original novel for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes first came out, some fans suspected that Lucy might actually be Katniss' grandmother.
Ultimately, the only characters who appear in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes from the original trilogy are Snow — the dictator Katniss eventually fights to overthrow — and his cousin Tigris, the stylist with tiger-like body modifications who helps the rebels sneak into the Capitol.
For one thing, Songbirds & Snakes is set 64 years before Katniss volunteers as tribute. That means there's probably a generation or two between Lucy Gray and Katniss if they are related. Fans also know who Katniss' mother is, so that rules out Lucy Gray being her mom.
Fan theories posit that Lucy Gray Baird may be a relative of Katniss Everdeen or President Coin. Director Francis Lawrence told us Baird likely isn't Coin, but could have ties to the character.
He grows up in D12 with the Covey, and eventually at the age of 24 in what would be year 36 he gets married and has a baby boy born in year 37. That baby turns out to be Katniss's father. He gets married in year 57 and Katniss is born in year 58. So Snow could be Katniss's great grandfather.
This leads to an encounter in the forest where Coriolanus Snow shoots at Lucy Gray after he is bitten by a snake. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is specific about showing Lucy falling down and yelling after Snow shoots in her direction, but her body is not found when Snow gets to her presumed location.
Why did Suzanne Collins write The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?
Collins doesn't hide this, as she has revealed that the idea for the novels came from channel-surfing and switching channels between reality TV and news footage from the Iraq war. The series is also meant to represent the televised shootings, especially of children, that occur in America every day.
What happened at the end of Ballad of songbirds and snakes?
Lucy Gray's final line to Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes may appear trivial, but it foreshadows his downfall at the hands of Katniss. Snow and Lucy Gray's final scene in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes saw tension bubbling beneath the surface, with Lucy Gray leaving the cabin to ...
Coriolanus may be convinced that Lucy Gray betrayed him, but his paranoia makes him an unreliable narrator. Ultimately, her true intentions are never confirmed. She may have clued in on his untrustworthiness, but it's also entirely plausible that she had no plans on turning against him.
In the prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, it's revealed that Lucy Gray Baird wrote the song after witnessing the murder of a man named Arlo Chance, who is hanged at a tree where executions take place.
The young woman helped to raise the future President Snow and even worked with him initially, but Tigris didn't approve of the Hunger Games, and their relationship changed drastically after Snow was assigned to mentor a District 12 tribute in the 10th annual Hunger Games.
Suzanne Collins has never confirmed the theory labeling Maude Ivory Baird as Katniss' grandmother, but it's possible that the upcoming film adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will dive deeper into this idea, perhaps retroactively confirming the theory.
He married Julia Pompey but their marriage was loveless. It was suggested by many that he poisoned his wife because she tried to kill him and take their sons place.
At an unknown point in time years before the 74th Hunger Games, she was personally fired by Snow, the stated reason being due to her being too surgically enhanced.
The death of her father appears to cause severe depression in her mother. This leaves 11-year-old Katniss as the sole carer of her mother and younger sister.
Katniss is rendered deaf in one ear after she blows up the Careers' supplies, and she doesn't regain any hearing on her left side until afterwards when the Capitol gives her a hearing aid.
Believing Lucy Gray planted the snake to harm him, Snow goes on a rampage, shooting his gun into the woods. For a moment, it seems like he has hit Lucy Gray but then she starts singing “The Hanging Tree,” causing countless Mockingjays to join in chorus.
Lucy Gray Baird is supposed to be 16 in the film. Rachel Zegler is six years older than her at 22. Lucy Gray is the lead singer of a band who plays in District 12 when she's selected as a tribute in the 10th annual Hunger Games. Similarly, Jennifer Lawrence was 21 when playing the 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen.
