#The ballad of songbirds and snakes spoilers

[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

[chippy-fresh]

In times of trouble remember Lucy Gray Baird

[fandumb-thoughts]

The absolute most crucial thing about Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus Plinth…Coriolanus is indecisive as FUCK for 95% of the book.

If Sejanus grabbed his face and kissed him full on the mouth at any point I’m fairly certain that Coriolanus would be like, ��Okay, okay, that happened. How can I spin this in a way that benefits me?” before fully processing if he was into it or not. If he thought he could get Mr. Plinth’s money through this method while still saving public face at one of his more vulnerable points…

The plot could be VERY different if Sejanus had juuuuust the right timing.

[cinnamon-coffees]

lucy’s last sentence being “i’m going to pick katniss” jaw on the floor. what

[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

[fictionaltrvlr]

I’m obsessed with all the repeating themes in the Hunger Games, but one I’m absolutely in love with is how Snow can never escape Lucy Gray.

[This post contains spoilers!]

We know this almost immediately simply from the title, Songbirds and Snakes, as we remember Katniss and her mockingjay and singing in the arena. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Snow hates Katniss for the rebellion, of course. But perhaps more than that is what a call she is to his lost love, not in personality so much as spirit.

Lucy Gray is Truly Inescapable

Lucy Gray is named for the Ballad of Lucy Gray, and immediately when we learn this, there is the sinking knowledge that she will not survive this story.

But after the disappearance of the ballad’s Lucy Gray, they follow her footprints, the impressions she’s left behind. And later is one of my favourite lines from the ballad:

Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living Child, That you may see sweet Lucy Gray Upon the lonesome Wild.

To all the knowledge that the girls family has, she has died. But they still see her.

And also pulling in the newly released Can’t Catch Me Now:

But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze My footsteps on the ground You'll see my face in every place But you can't catch me now

(I’m so in love with how well this song ties the franchise together, it’s so perfect)

From the second he lands in Twelve, Snow hates the mockingjays and does his best to eradicate them. He sees them as unnatural creatures who survived not only without the Capitol, but inspite of them. And yet he fails to get rid of them, the mockingjays survive despite his best efforts.

And even years later, their sheer existence haunts him, eventually proving to be one of his greatest failures.

And all of the messes you made Yeah, you think that you got away

This is a great line to me because, since this being told from the perspective of Lucy Gray, it turns the story on its head. We and Snow are never really sure if she survived, so you could think that she got away. But it’s in fact Snow who has deluded himself into getting away from her. She will follow him, everywhere, for the rest of his miserable life.

At the end of TBOSAS, he says there would be a vague memory of a girl who had once sung in the arena, and that Lucy Gray and her mockingjays could never hurt him again.

Then gloriously, devastatingly, 65 years later Snow sees another girl with braided hair from Distinct Twelve in the games, adorned with a mockingjay, who sings Rue to sleep, who escapes the arena by cheating with something the Capitol themselves has provided (Katniss with the berries, Lucy Gray with the snakes).

Katniss, who then goes on to spark rebellion with that same symbol of mockingjays, with the song that Lucy Gray penned.

Snow is seeing Lucy Gray everywhere, in the mockingjays, in Peeta’s personality, in Katniss’ appearance, in the song about that tree that changed his life. But he cannot catch her.

He tried, and never knew if he succeeded. But she is everywhere, the symbol of his weakness, the one thing that maybe could have made him give up his future. The person who made him come to detest the very idea of love, who made him swear that if he ever married it will be to someone he hates so they could never manipulate him.

Her spirit chokes him. He is drowning in her and her mockingjays, and they finally are his downfall.

And that is beautiful.

[sihtryggr]

Reaper Ash who apologised to each tribute personally for having to kill them; armed with a pitchfork and long knife, ready to engage- but in the end, never did.

Reaper Ash who was unable to make sense of the scene before him, the stabbed bodies of Tanner and particularly Lamina; who lifted Lamina up, carried her over to where Bobbin and Marcus lay, and arranged the three in a row on the ground. Reaper Ash who dragged Tanner beside Lamina; who spent the next hour collecting Dill and then Sol; who likely dragged Jessup's body over and lifted Wovey into his arms and laid them with the other tributes; who although gaunt and unsteady, teetered over to Teslee and Mizzen and did the same. Reaper Ash who only took notice of Lucy Gray when she dared to touch Treech's body then assumed the job of transporting Treech, placing him neatly with the rest.

Reaper Ash who lay Dill in the sun in her final moments; who watched Lucy Gray fill her pockets and let her go; who traded protection from the sun to Lamina for some bread and cheese; who when Lamina pointed out the pack, chose not to engage but, withdrew behind the barricades; who made no move to kill Lucy Gray when it came down to him and her as the final two tributes.

Reaper Ash who the only times we know of him hurting people were when he killed a peacekeeper and strangled Coriolanus Snow.

Reaper Ash who tied the piece of the flag he cut for Lamina around himself like a cape, spinning slowly, looking back over his shoulder to watch it fly out behind him; who ran, spreading his arms out as the flag streamed in the sunlight.

Reaper Ash who cut away swath after swath of the Panem flag to preserve what little dignity remained of him and his fallen, fellow tributes; who swatted away the flies then shielded their bodies and his.

Reaper Ash who said he'd make it up to the other tributes when he wins by taking revenge on the Capitol- but he didn't need to win to take revenge on the Capitol to make it up to them. Reaper did that by not participating; by giving his fellow tributes what respect that he could in their deaths- an act of rebellion against the Capitol and the games in itself and probably the reason why they began removing the bodies of the dead.

Reaper Ash who didn't let the games change him; who didn't let the games turn him into some kind of monster that he was not.

[proxythe]

snowjanus dynamic in my head… just walk with me yall.

[thisdayhappensonce]

i truly disagree with and resent the idea that “everlark is what snowbaird could have been”. rachel zegler said it recently in an interview, and in my opinion it couldn’t be farther from the truth. describing coryo as “a kind eyed blond” is so inaccurate it’s laughable. even in the film tigris says about the hatred in coryo’s eyes. from even the beginning of the ballad of songbirds and snakes novel, we see how highly coryo deifies power. from the start, he keeps up his image as a charming but humble rich boy, regardless of the fact he’s starving and penniless, simply because its the best way for him to maintain control over others.

coryo only ever is kind to others when it is convenient for him - take sejanus for example. his parents gave him gifts and fed him and treated him with great respect (to the eventual point of leaving him their fortune when sejanus dies) simply because coryo pretended to care about their son to receive those effects.

with lucy, it was, to use her own words “written in the stars” that their relationship would end up in ruin, because ultimately coryo was never a person who valued love over power. i stand by the fact that while he may have cared for and loved her, the ultimate truth is that that love did not trump (in coriolanus’ values) the inheritance of power he believed he was owed generationally, from his father and every other snow before him. he would have done anything to get back to where he “belonged”, in the capitol. even had she not run from him, it would have happened a different way eventually.

SHJDJFN STOP PUTTING SNOW ON A PEDESTAL AND SAYING U CAN FIX HIM NO YOU CAN’T HE’S HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! THE WORST!!!!!!

i don’t think any love of his would have led him to a redemption!!

[lostmymarbles]

the plinths end the ballad of songbirds and snakes living in an apartment underneath the snows. paying for the snows' apartment, coriolanus' schooling, supporting them. coryo ends up their heir for being such a ''good friend'' to their son.

even though they got out of the districts, they still ended up just servants to the capital. the grandma'am SEES ma plinth as her ''new maid''.

and I want to scream.

[oatm3al-c00kies]

everyone shut up i need to tell suzanne collins directly that the only part of 'the ballad of songbirds and snakes' that got an actual extended period of laughter in my theatre was the "tuberculosis on legs" joke, a joke made at the expense of a young, suffering, dying, sick tribute as she's about to accidentally ingest poison and kill herself because she's so thirsty and sees water and thinks it will make her feel better. this girl who's so sick because of the living conditions in her district, who was doomed as soon as her name was called, who was probably just so relieved to see an un-smashed bottle of water she didn't think anything of it, too exhausted and dehydrated to think anything of it.

a joke made by the capitol host of the hunger games to try and make capitol citizens laugh and make the horrific things happening in the arena better tv because they already don't see the tributes as people who have lives and who matter and maybe we're so close to her dystopia that we can actually fucking taste it

[spacy-snail]

Parts of the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie that did the book dirty

Spoilers!!

…

• Snow is the one to suggest feeding the tributes, not stumbling across Sejanus already doing it

• The downgrade of the whole rat problem/rat poison thing

• Grandma’am is nice now???

• The almost total removal of Clemensia’s character, her being a weird suck up instead of her making a normal teen lie, and the fallout showing the absolute apathy Dr Gaul has (and also making Snow realize he can’t even trust the Capitol)

• Dr Gaul literally spelling out what the snakes do and Clemensia still sticking her hand in that stupid snake tank

• Not having Snow calling Lucy Gray “mine” in a creepy way even once to show how he feels he has ownership of her from the very beginning

• The EXTREME downgrade of Snow and Sejanus’ relationship, and the weird bond he has with the Plinths in general

• Ma Plinth erasure

• Tigris erasure

• Getting rid of Arachne’s funeral

• Snow not going out of his way to get Lucy Gray a guitar

• Having a blink and you’ll miss it throwaway line of the tributes and Academy students that died in the explosion

• Not showing the other tributes that did the interview

• Not showing Mama Snow’s compact until Coriolanus deciding to give it to Lucy Gray

• Lucy Gray and Snow didn’t kiss before she went into the games??? I feel like that added and extra layer of her wanting to survive but idk

• The erasure of the iconic “it’s not over until the mockingjay sings” line

• The drones never being fixed was a super weird choice and I’m not sure if I liked it or not

• Snow being super suspicious and running out to put something with Lucy Gray’s scent in the snake tank instead of just getting lucky and putting it in there on the off chance instead of it being predetermined

• The Games ending with the snake scene instead of Lucy Gray having to be clever to outwit her opponents, like I get it’s dramatic but that scene with Dr Gaul was just so weird to me

• Highbottom TELLING Snow to sign up for the Peacekeepers instead of just implying it and also telling him to keep his identity anonymous instead of Snow doing it out of pride

• Sejanus not telling Snow about the diploma he literally bargained for for him

• Sejanus showing up on the train instead of after Snow gets to District 12 and has to wallow in what his life is now before having finally having someone that actually knows him

• Snow not having IMMEDIATE beef with the mockingjays

• Snow not calling Sejanus his brother until the moment he betrayed him

• Them playing the Jabberjay audio at the hanging instead of Snow having to sit with his guilt and finding out via the commander was so so SO cringy omg

• Snow finding out he was going to District 2 BEFORE finding out about the hunt for the guns and who killed the mayor’s daughter was so so weird like why did they choose to do it in that order I feel like it took away all suspense of wondering when the other shoe was going to drop

• Lucy Gray looking that man in the eye and calling herself a loose end while he has a gun in his hand and not getting shot then and there was the most unrealistic part of the movie istg

• Not showing the Plinths in the apartment with them at all and just kinda having a throwaway line about where the money’s coming from

• Dr Gaul never says that she destroyed all evidence of the 10th game because of everything that happened with Snow, Lucy Gray, Sejanus, and the other dead Capitol children

• Snow not throwing away the morphine and Highbottom digging to get it, and instead just leaving it on the desk, idk it takes away the agency of the murder to me, less like an accident and less thought out (and on top of that, not showing how meticulous he was with poisoning the morphine so it couldn’t be traced back to him)

[obsessedwithallthingsbooks]

caesar flickerman is a nepotism baby

[janegrey9]

if i had a nickel for every time a super hot, unstable, privileged man in a piece of media shaved his head before losing his absolute marbles in the woods with a gun and i STILL wanted to fuck him, i would have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

[daboyau]

I am reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and WOW I am getting extremely emotional over Reaper specifically. He has such a comparatively small role, and I’m not sure if we ever “hear” him even speak at any point, but there’s something about this boy that’s been pegged as a killer and the most likely winner of the Games from the start just being so extremely gentle all throughout it. He apologizes before the Games even begin for what he might have to do inside the arena, which may have just been a strategy to scare the others into staying away from him so he doesn’t have to fight or hurt anyone. I don’t think he actually harms a single person once the Hunger Games do begin. Instead, he spends the entire time keeping to himself and tending to the bodies of the other children with so much compassion and care. He collects them as they die. He covers them and lines them up and he keeps vigil over the bodies, guarding and protecting them. The only time we see him engage with anyone in a way that could be considered aggressive is when people try to mess with the bodies, and even then it seems like it’s just to chase them off.

This sweet boy spends the whole time in the arena, aware he’s most likely going to die, caring for the dead. He wraps a piece of flag (the same flag that he’s using as a funeral shroud for the others) around his shoulders like a cape and he runs around in it just to feel it flapping behind him. (Maybe he just wants one last moment of joy, a final chance to feel happiness.) He rocks himself to self-soothe once it all starts to be too much. In his final moments, once he knows he’s going to die, he uses the last of his strength to drag himself over to lay side by side with his fellow tributes, joining the other children he’s been taking care of all this time. Reaper is breaking my heart and this is the first time in a while that a book has made me cry.

[fictionaltrvlr]