#SPOILERS THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES

[chasingwhitebunnies]

I feel a bit silly writing this because I’m sure other people must have but I’ve not seen anything about it

(SPOILERS - I’ll also tag)

I really love how we see Coriolanus’s character descent into who he becomes through each of his kills

His first kill is Bobbin. It was self-defence, kill-or-be-killed. If he hadn’t done it, he probably would have been killed himself, but this sticks with him. Coriolanus is horrified when he realises he took someone’s life. He thinks about it for a long time.

His next kill is Mayfair Lipp, the mayor’s daughter. It’s not self-defence, but he sees it that way. In a way, he’s got a point. She would have reported him, and he would have been hanged. So would Lucy Gray, so he shot her. This time, however, he had a choice. Maybe not much choice, but it was there. He chose to shoot her, but it doesn’t affect him anywhere near as much as Bobbin’s death

The third is the hardest. He doesn’t pull the trigger or tie the noose, but he might as well have. He betrays Sejanus. Sejanus who loves him like a brother. Sejanus who he has known since they were children. He made the decision in a moment and he questions himself afterwards, but he still made that choice. He reasons to himself internally that it was necessary and Sejanus was bound to get himself in trouble, anyway, right? Right? So it’s okay. But it’s not okay. The blood is on his hands and he keeps thinking of the moments they spent together before the betrayal. He benefits from his death and is rewarded for his loyalty. How ironic

Next is Lucy Gray. Possibly. For argument’s sake, let’s say he did kill her. He calls out for her, his gun slung over his shoulder. He realises how she might be scared, the gun sending the wrong message… but he doesn’t put it back. He brings it with him, not to use it, he tells himself. He would never use it, definitely not. He just… wants to talk some sense into her. As soon as the snake bites him, he abandons all pretence. Even though he admitted moments ago he understood why she would be scared, now she’s the enemy. Now she has to pay. How dare she. Not even an hour ago, he had plans to run away with her. He claimed he loved her. They were going to be together. Now, he’s chasing her through the trees with a gun in his hands and he’s screaming for her to show herself. He shoots a lot. When he thinks he finally got her, he’s pleased. It was her own fault, he tells himself, for the snake trick. Even afterwards, when he finds out that the snake wasn’t venomous - which Lucy Gray definitely would have known and therefore was only intended to slow him down - he doesn’t have a single moment of regret. The only thing he regrets is falling for her in the first place and he swears he’ll never do it again. His heart is stone. Frozen like snow.

Finally, his last kill (before the ones that take place once this book ends) is Dean Highbottom. This is the first kill that is not made in a split-second. This is premeditated. He carefully adds just enough rat poison to the morphling, sure to wear gloves, and sets his plan in motion. He has every opportunity to change his mind, to not resort to violent means. Not only does he not regret it, he feels proud. Excited, even. He hopes Dean Highbottom will know it was him that killed him

By the epilogue, Snow has gotten over (or buried deep enough) what guilt he had over Sejanus enough to use the Plinths’ grief to his advantage without any conflicting feelings. He’s convinced himself Lucy Gray was the villain who played him, when she was just a sixteen-year-old girl who was forced into a terrible situation. As we know, he goes on to directly and indirectly kill thousands between TBOSAS and THG, too many. I doubt he remembers most of them, just nameless, faceless children. He doesn’t care anymore, not like he did the first time

The whole world is his Arena. Snow lands on top until it melts

[lawfullyneutralbee]

One last thing about the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

SPOILERS

Can we please talk about the chapter of Coriolanus being in the woods? Ok I’ve accepted now that Lucy Gray put that snake there on purpose sure or at least that handkerchief.

BUT FOR THE LONGEST TIME READING IT I literally thought Coryo was going insane with paranoia like Edgar Allen Poe beating heart type paranoia. I genuinely thought “this is it he’s fucking crazy he’s lost it. He’s imagining a whole scenario where she’s vicious and out to get him and she’s literally just foraging roots?”

Like of course it was written to convey that but I thought that was it like of course when he shot her she ran duh but like I didn’t fathom the concept that she had actually done that to slow him down so she could think or run or what have you.

But yeah I thought he was just spiraling on his own and that the venom had sunk in (upon finishing the book I realized that wasn’t it) but yeah

[zorosnavigator]

[ayo-edebiri]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) + tweets

[timelesslords]

thinking about how the hunger games were designed to prove that without society, order, government, someone to rule, we devolve into little more than animals, and how the games themselves prove over and over again that this is not true. We see it in every single game we witness.

Katniss placing flowers around Rue's body in the arena. Thresh sparing Katniss because she was kind to Rue, even though he was making it that much harder for himself to win.

Haymitch going back for Maysilee after hearing her scream even though their alliance had been broken. Haymitch holding her as she dies the same way Katniss did Rue.

Coral's "I can't have killed them all for nothing" when she realizes she's not going home. Lamina cutting down Marcus at great personal risk. And, my favorite moment in tbosas, Reaper collecting the bodies of his fellow tributes, his peers, even the ones who tried to kill him, into a pile. Taking the weapons from their hands. Closing their eyes and crossing their arms in the best approximation of a proper burial he can manage, covering them with the Capitol flag as a makeshift shroud.

The Games bring out the worst in people, yes. But despite the extreme circumstances, despite the exterior pressure of the Capitol, despite the fact that it could mean pain and heartbreak and death, it also shows that people have an enormous capacity for goodness. That even in a situation purposefully designed to make empathy impossible, people can't help but have it anyway.

Snow looks at the Games and all he can see is what's inside himself-- this pure animalistic drive to conquer and defeat. He kills and it feels good and he thinks that everyone else must feel that way too. He doesn't realize (maybe can't realize) that he is the exception, not the rule. He cannot see outside himself, outside his own warped perspective, to realize that the fact that people do show humanity in the games proves his entire worldview wrong.

[xplore-the-unknwn]

Coriolanus Snow in TBOSAS a summary:

[edelwoodsouls]

thinking about the fact that they made a point to tell us that there are no cameras in the vents. like- lucy gray is a performer, she is always performing, it is her calling and her survival mechanism and when we meet her she literally cannot stop performing because she is always on camera or being perceived- by coriolanus, by the capital, by her fellow tributes and the folks back at 12. but for that one, awful moment, in the vents, watching dill drink the poisoned water she laid as a trap- for that one moment in the whole entire movie, lucy gray isn’t being observed. that is the only moment in the entire movie she isn’t performing for someone else, and she uses it to grieve

[if-i-look-straight-look-again]

Love love love the implication that Lucy Gray came back to haunt Coriolanus Snow in his last years of life, through her mockingjays, her songs, and her District, particularly Peeta.

I also can’t get out of my head the idea of an 80 something year old Snow absolutely haunted by the fact that every time Katniss Everdeen opens her mouth, Sejanus’ voice comes out.

[mockingjaysongbird]

years later

[danyllura]

The capitol callously watching and commentating on the hunger games as defenceless children are subjected to horror and death but standing up and gasping in horror at Reaper ripping down the flag. Reaper laying the bodies of the murdered children to rest and looking to the camera asking for acknowledgment of their suffering only to be cut off and for the only reaction of horror mustered from the capitol citizens coming from the news of the death of one of their own. The Hunger Games will never not successfully act as a horrifying mirror to the atrocities in our world.

[filmgifs]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) dir. Francis Lawrence

[tending-the-hearth]

coriolanus saying "is this real" to lucy gray about their feelings for each other because he needs to know that he's doing this for something and won't be wasting his time aka doing it for selfish reasons to make sure he's benefitting vs. peeta saying "real or not real" to katniss about their feelings because they're both equally traumatized and need the reassurance but their love isn't transactional and he's not asking for himself he's asking for both of them, so that they're both grounded in each other

[aqukana]

the part where they cut off the games to broadcast the president's son died with "an important life was taken today" SECONDS AFTER watching a pile of dead district children was chilling

[ayo-edebiri]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) + text posts

[agir1ukn0w]

I’m sorry but if this paragraph doesn’t fuck you up Idk what will:

“Coriolanus felt his anxieties melt away. Full of fresh food, shaded by the trees, Lucy Gray singing softly beside him, he began to appreciate nature. It really was beautiful out here. The crystal clean air. The lush colors. He felt so relaxed and free. What if this was his life: rising whenever, catching his food for the day, and hanging out with Lucy Gray by the lake? Who needed wealth and success and power when they had love? Didn’t it conquer all?

- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (pg. 438)

[xplore-the-unknwn]

"People can be good. You can be good"

Snow had so many chances to pick the right choices. So many.

I love this scene because he was so genuine here. The way his eyes were so desperate for answers about who he truly is, the way he was openly vulnerable to the person he trusted, his family. And you only have that often with Snow. If only in another world he didn't let his thoughts consume him. If only in another world he believed there was good inside everyone. If only in another world he retired with Lucy Gray in the woods. 😣