Fans online who have read Songbirds & Snakes theorize that Lucy Gray and Katniss aren't directly related, but instead that Katniss is the granddaughter of Lucy Gray's cousin, Maude Ivory, who is introduced in the movie, too.
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.
Hunger Games Theory Suggests Katniss Is President Snow's Granddaughter. Lucy Gray was from District 12 and a member of the Covey, a group of musical performers, but her connections to Katniss seemingly run too deep for them to be a coincidence in the Hunger Games franchise.
The actor, whose knowledge of the franchise is extensive, also points out that Katniss will have likely never known about Lucy Gray. "She's not aware that there was ever a female victor from District 12," she explains.
Is Lucy Gray Related to Katniss? (Hunger Games Theory)
Is Lucy Gray Baird related to President Coin?
With that said, there's also nothing revealed about who President Coin is descended from or much about her personal life. Due to this, any connections between Alma Coin and Lucy Gray Baird are merely speculation.
What happened to Lucy Gray after the Hunger Games?
Both the book and movie leave Lucy Gray's ending quite ambiguous. Dean of the Academy Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) underscores that point to Snow in the final moments of the film, confirming that she's simply vanished without a trace. Dr. Gaul even wipes all the video footage of Lucy Gray's games.
"I've heard both theories," "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" director Francis Lawrence told Business Insider. "Lucy Gray, I can say, is definitely not a relative of Katniss."
Maude Ivory's decision to stay in District 12 could have led to her becoming Katniss' grandmother. While author Suzanne Collins has not confirmed this theory, the upcoming film adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes could potentially explore this connection and bring the two stories together even more.
Gale Hawthorne is Katniss Everdeen's best friend and hunting partner. In order to not cast suspicion on Katniss and Peeta Mellark's highly publicized strategic romance, Gale is presented as Katniss's cousin. He bears a resemblance to Katniss, which makes their cover believable.
A Hunger Games theory suggests that Lucy Gray, the lead character in "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes," may be the mother of President Coin from the original series.
“Katniss” we learn, was Lucy Gray's preferred term for the swamp potato the Covey used to dig up near the lake. (I do want to point out the word “katniss” does exist in the real world. This wasn't a word invented by Collins.)
Coriolanus Snow Believed He Loved Lucy Gray - But It Was a Possessive Love. Though it's a little more complicated to tell without his internal dialogue in the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie, the book reveals that Coriolanus legitimately believed that he was in love—especially when they were in District 12.
Prim is the youngest of the Everdeen family; her sister is Katniss. Her father, Mr. Everdeen, died in a mine explosion four years before, leaving her mother, sister, and herself alone.
While they were walking away from District 12 making their escape, Coriolanus made a comment about having killed three people. Lucy Gray quickly did the math and realized that she had only known about two of them, and that Coriolanus had been lying to her, sowing doubt in her mind about him and their plan.
It was then shocking that The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes revealed that Tigris was the cousin of President Snow. The character was a member of the wealthy Snow family that lost their fortune during the First Rebellion. Like Coriolanus, Tigris Snow lost her parents, forcing her to live with her cousin and grandmother.
She does grunt work for a fashion designer in the Capitol, and with Coriolanus in school and their grandmother at the outer edges of lucidity, she's the family's primary breadwinner. Years later, Katniss will recognize Tigris in Mockingjay – Part 2 (now played by Eugenie Bondurant) as a longtime stylist for the Games.
She is only told that Tigris used to be a stylist for the Hunger Games, like Cinna, and that Snow fired her himself. Over the years, possibly to deal with the pain caused by her cousin's sadistic rise to power, Tigris tattooed and surgically altered her appearance so much that she looked more feline than human.
Collins says that while Lucy isn't mentioned by name in Hunger Games, she is responsible for bringing entertainment to the Hunger Games, and her legacy lives on through her songs like "The Hanging Tree" and "Deep in the Meadow."
In the books, we learn that Tigris became one of the stylists for the tributes of the Games and over the years, she began getting surgical enhancements to make her look more like a tiger, such as flattening her nose and getting tattoos. Because of this, Coriolanus fires Tigris.
Lucy Gray escaped 12 and went up North. She met a man and had a child with him. That child was a daughter, who grew up to be President Alma Coin. Lucy Gray told her daughter about her experiences with Snow, which is one of the reasons (aside from the dictatorship) Coin hated Snow so much.
Paranoid and convinced his crush wants to kill him, Snow hunts Lucy Gray through the woods with a gun, shoots at her, and seemingly hits his mark as we see her stumble. But all Snow manages to find of Lucy Gray is a singular earring. He follows her tracks until they mysteriously stop.
President Snow became evil because he's always been driven by the principle that, if a cause is just enough, then anything done in pursuit of it is justified. Unfortunately for the people of Panem, Snow believed the Capitol's dominance of the other districts was among the most just causes of all.
Volumnia Gaul, the Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games, erased all of the evidence of Lucy Gray and the 10th Hunger Games. She only kept one copy of the games for herself. She did this because she felt that this set of games made the Capitol look weak and, therefore, she wanted all of Panem to forget about it.
