#panem prequel
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How did the first rebellion fail?
It’s the last few weeks of the Dark Days but our two protagonists don’t know that. Both generals on opposing sides, Syrus Reed leads the Revolution, struggling to keep the 13 districts dedicated and steadfast after three long years of fighting and many sacrifices made. While on the other side, Crassus Snow has been cut off from the Capitol for nearly a year after a critical error on his part, he must find a way back home so he can finally put an end to this inane war. Every chapter, we alternate POV between Syrus and Crassus and see how their stories are oddly similar, intersect, and couldn't be more different.
I am currently writing a brand new Hunger Games fanfic called They Will Come For You In the Night and I am so proud of what I've written so far. This fic is essentially 98% OCs so obviously I haven't had very much engagement (with the exception of one reader who is potentially the best reader to ever exist... Don't believe me? Check out the iconic comments they leave on each chapter.) so I'm hoping that putting myself and my fic out there will get a few more eyes on it. I really love it and have put a ton of thought and consideration into it so it would mean the world to have a bit more visibility.
I've written nearly 13 of 17 chapters so far, and I've posted 10 so no need to worry that I'll abandon the fic half way through because we're already in the home stretch. I've also been having fun on canva so I think I'm going to post chapter covers periodically that fit the mood along with chapter summaries until I eventually catch up with my posting schedule.
I hope to see some of you there! 💚
#the hunger games#hunger games#thg#thg fanfiction#panem#ballad of songbirds and snakes#the hunger games trilogy#crassus snow#reaper ash#thg prequel#panem prequel#fanfic#ao3 fanfic#fanfiction#ao3 writer#ao3 link#ao3#ao3feed
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The moment Snow got his curls shaved off is when he became evil
#coriolanus snow#president snow#coryo snow#the hunger games#hunger games#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#ballad of songbirds and snakes#tbosas#suzanne collins#hunger games prequel#thg#tbosas movie#panem
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btw we know that in thg games the victory tour goes from 12 to 1 and finaly the Capitol and I love how stupid the roadtrip is like What is this, I know that it makes some kind of sense going in district order but the route looks so funny
the 5 to 6 to 7 part is my favorite like what the fuck
#coriolanus snow#president snow#the hunger games#hunger games#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#coryo snow#ballad of songbirds and snakes#panem#tbosas movie#hunger games prequel#suzanne collins#tbosas#thg#katniss everdeen#the hunger games peeta#peeta mellark#everlark
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Panem Propaganda posters
#the hunger games#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#thg#thg fandom#tbosas#thgedit#fanart#panem#propagandhi#propaganda#posters#president snow#thg fanart#thg prequel
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i don’t want a 50th Hunger Games prequel book i want the 51st Hunger Games. I want Haymitch’s first attempt at mentoring while grieving over his family and friends, feeling betrayed by the Capitol. Knowing that 12’s tributes haven’t got a single chance and he’s going to be witnessing them die every single year. Haymitch realising he’s still stuck on the Capitol train.
#asking for a prequel 50th HG would just feel like a rehashing the 51st gives us mentoring and tragedy and some 50th flashbacks#plus we could see chaff and mags and the other victors and stuff#and more panem worldbuilding anf the evolution of it and thr games#the hunger games#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#haymitch abernathy
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New Stills from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 🐍🐦⬛
#thg#the hunger games#tbosas#hunger games prequel#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#ballad of songbirds and snakes#district 12#capitol#panem
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Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 4 stars – I liked it; it was good The prequel book to the Hunger Games series which I bought as part of a hoard of books a little while ago. I first had to read the series, and at first, I thought this was a fourth book of some kind, but then found out that it was a prequel. Read: Jan. 2 – Jan. 13, 2023. To buy your own copy of this book,…
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#book recommendations#book review#bookreviewer#books#coriolanus snow#district 12#district twelve#districts#dystopian world#fiction#hunger games#opinion#panem#prequel#suzanne collins#tbr#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#the capitol#the hunger games
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like i remember the vitriol that came out when the mere PREMISE for ballad of songbirds and snakes came out bc it was “about the villain” and wasn’t instead a novella of one of the many cute likeable faves of the masses. i remember how fast people were to tear down the book before it even came out (and still do now). and it’s like look, i get it, suzanne created so many interesting characters that it would be incredible to learn more about and get more content for. but her choosing to write about snow for a prequel isn’t like Romanticizing The Villain or whatever bullshit y’all are claiming as hot takes on twitter -- ballad fits right into the common themes and tone of the series in that its not a romanticization but a reflection on how snow became what we know him as in the original series. both in how he already had some less than charming or healthy traits (just like katniss does -- suzanne is always clear that people are not inherently good nor evil and parallels were drawn between how snow and katniss view the world and think strategically, etc, from the second book), but also in how society and the choices of the greater community in panem created snow. like ballad is a really interesting piece of lore and history and worldbuilding for an already rich and elaborate setting that suzanne created, allowing us to see how that world even came to be and the kind of toxic impact it had on the people surviving in it while still pointing out that those people are human and that everyone has humanity and yet can still cause unfathomable harm to one another based on circumstance and need to survive and pressures of all kinds and like i have lost the plot here now but suzanne is one of the best authors of our time who actually gives a shit about creating layered, nuanced characters and worlds rather than black and white good and evil and unfortunately the hyperpolarization of our hot takes social media culture nowadays just can’t handle her anymore. suzanne im so sorry we don’t deserve your storytelling. anyway i’ll be seated for this movie y’all can skip and keep giving lukewarm takes on twitter to make urself seem so smart for hating a book you probably didnt even actually read
#suzanne collins is one of the only mainstream authors these days who clearly writes for purpose rather than profit#and puts thought into her writing always 100% of the time. but we as a regressing online society are not ready for her anymore#people are so scared of nuance in their media its incredible (derogatory)#the hunger games#ballad of songbirds and snakes#maggie.txt#fandom crit#to the people who are actually looking forward to this film + enjoyed the book i respect YOU
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just finished the ballad of songbirds and snakes and like. god what a talent. I feel like it's incredibly hard to write a prequel in the pov of the evil villain as a fresh faced high school student without either going down the 'some people are just pure evil, boo, hiss' path or the 'poor coriolanus snow, he tried to be good but he never had a chance' path. and by god if suzanne didn't pull off the secret third 'sometimes people make hard choices, and the choices they make determine who they are and what they become' path like a fuckin' boss
but also in light of the events of this book I cannot believe that fifty years later president snow had to deal with a district twelve tribute named katniss who everyone started calling the mockingjay and whose performance of 'the hanging tree' went viral across panem. in the hunger games universe there is definitely a god who definitely enjoys fucking with coriolanus snow specifically
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The Feral One • Epilogue
Finnick x Y/N
Series Masterlist Link
Prequel is coming in a few months! I haven’t made a Taglist yet and probably won’t start one till I’m closer to publishing. I’ll make a post tagging this series’ Taglist when I’m starting the next one.
Content Warnings - Mentions of fertility issues/miscarriage; death; the end of this series (don’t worry it’s a good ending imo)
Dear Brielle,
A lot has happened in seventeen years. I’ve now lived half of my life without you, mom, and dad. I’ve been thinking about you a lot so my husband Finnick (yes that Finnick lol) said I should write you a letter of all the things I wanted to tell you but never could.
A little over ten years ago we killed President Snow. The districts rebelled and won. The war was brutal and there were times I nearly died, but Finnick pulled me through.
We got married a year later. We never really did the whole dating thing, our friendship just evolved into a beautiful romance overnight. He was there for me after you left and he has been here ever since.
The years since the war have not been easy. I’ve had bouts of seizures that leave me bedridden and ill for days. The doctors said my condition should be worse so I should be grateful. Countless medications and treatments have made slight improvements to my health but the pain will always be there.
Two years after our wedding we almost hit our breaking point. Finnick and I had been trying to start a family for over a year but nothing was working. It was the most frustrating experience of my life post-war and I do not wish those struggles on anyone.
Three years after our wedding, Mags passed of old age. Although we were sad, we were all glad she got to live out her last few years in a free Panem. Johanna decided to move in with Annie afterwards so she wouldn’t be alone. We are still neighbors to this day.
Four years after our wedding, I got pregnant, only to lose the baby a few months in due to a bad seizure. This was Finnick and I’s lowest point to date.
It’s now been a bit over 9 years since I married the love of my life and the father of my child. We were finally blessed with a baby boy, Neptune, 4 years ago today. He is everything I could have asked for in a child; rambunctious, kind, and adventurous. He looks just like his father but acts like his mother.
Two years ago, Neptune’s best friend arrived in District 4. Annie and Johanna adopted a little girl, Jodie, from District 7. Neptune and her do EVERYTHING together. Finnick keeps joking that we should build a tunnel between our two houses so the kids can hang out all the time.
All in all, it’s been a very painful 34 years of existence. Part of me is glad you didn’t have to witness what happened. The other part of me still hopes you’re out there, even though I know you aren’t. I hope that wherever you are, you’re at peace.
Love, your dear sister,
Y/N
Taglist:
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#hunger games#finnick odair#hunger games fic#the hunger games#finnick odair x reader#finnick x reader#catching fire#mockingjay#finnick odair angst#finnick angst#finnick#thg finnick#finnick fluff#finnick odair x y/n#finnick odair fluff#the feral one
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Deep Dive Chapter 1: Day 1051 of the Revolution
This chapter introduces us to Syrus Reed, the first protagonist of They Will Come For You In the Night. When she lets you in, she'll show you that she's funny and silly, but to everyone else, she is the fearless leader of the Rebellion.
We learn a bit about Syrus' upbringing and District 11 in this chapter. I created the concept of the underground libraries because every time we've seen a character from District 11, they're always subversive in very clever ways that can only come from an intimate and somewhat academic understanding of the Capitol. From Chaff refusing a prosthetic so that the Capitol must confront what it has done every time they drag him on a stage or in front of a camera, to Reaper who covers the bodies of his fellow tributes to deny the Capitol the spectacle they seek.
Reaper was actually the seed of this whole story idea. He was the most fascinating character to me from the The Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes and I was desperate to know more of how he came to be, hence the libraries.
Then I came upon a quote from the great bell hooks which opens this chapter: "One of the most subversive institutions in the United States is the public library." Not only is this space publicly available without cost, it is also a place of learning regardless of whether the knowledge contained within is subversive or taboo. Hence hooks' observation of their value opening this story.
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enchanted- tom blyth | preface & ch. 1
. ˙ ✦ ♡ㅤ°. • . ˙ ✦ ♡ㅤ°. •
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10
part 11
part 12
"please don't be in love with someone else please don't have somebody waiting on you"
"she's flawless"
"she's not flawless"
"what?"
"she's not you"
❤ ENCHANTED ❤
after starring in one of 2022's top movies y/n y/l/n has risen to stardom. at 23, she's only at the start of her career. julliard trained, cover of teen vogue, things are going great for her. and now, she starred in one of the biggest franchises as clemensia dovecote in the prequel for The Hunger Games trilogy, the ballad of songbirds and snakes. she's been attending galas, doing press, all alongside her co-stars, rachel zegler, josh andres rivera, and most importantly, tom blyth. she's liked him since the second she met him, but he hasn't seemed to bat an eye at her hints. but what happens when he finally starts hinting back, all while a spiraling rumor about a relationship between him and rachel arises?
characters
y/n - the newest hollywood it-girl
tom blyth - y/n's costar, the lead in her new movie, the ballad of songbirds and snakes. internet's new bf
josh andrés rivera - starred mainly alongside tom blyth as sejanus plinth, friendly with y/n
rachel zegler - starred as lucy gray baird, and has gained fame. played the "love interest" of coriolanus snow, over time has gained a "sister-like" bond with y/n.
AU: rachel and josh are NOT dating (for the plot)
Authors Note: i'm in love with tom blyth WHA- enjoy this book! ongoing but should be finished soon! part 1 should be out in less than a day. called jhk fan but writing abt tom blyth (2024theplot)
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✦ i.
the camera flashes blinded you as someone guided you towards a crowd of people with microphones. you almost trip over your floor length gown as you approach a shorter woman, no taller than 5'0. your security guard lingers behind you, ensuring no one tries to pull anything. you felt a bit overwhelmed. yes, you'd been exposed to this before, but it was still fairly new. the flashing lights, people screaming your name begging to get your attention, figures holding out posters and whatnot to sign, and of course, the red carpet interviews. they gave you a sense of comfort. you could focus on one person, talk to one person, and tune everyone else out for a short minute before you had to move on.
"hello dear, mind if i ask you a few questions?" focusing back into real life, you glanced at the woman holding a microphone to your face.
"no i don't mind. shoot." you replied, adjusting the strap on your dress.
"first of all, your role in this movie was small, but mighty. people online are loving it, they call you "panem it-girl." people have also been making edits, now my question is, have you seen any of these?" you chuckled at her question. you attempted to stay off social media as much as possible, but in this day, its very difficult. and the answer was yes. your own feed had been filled with lots of these edits. it was strange, seeing yourself on your screen, with others saying things like "panem it-girl" and "she deserved more screen time" and "iconic queen." the whole idea made you laugh, for your role in the movie had been fairly small, but your newfound fame had secured you a spot on the press tour.
"yes i have seen them. it's pretty weird, seeing myself, but i am just glad people love the character. to make a long story endless, i've always been a fan of the books so when this prequel came out i bought it as soon as possible. i loved clemmie the second i read about her, so it was really cool to be able to bring her to life, and i'm so happy people liked the way i played her." you replied. you tried to keep it simple, but sometimes you felt like there was too much to say and not enough time to say it, which led to extra long answers to really short questions.
you heard her shout a thank you as you were whisked to the next interviewer.
"hi, so nice to see you, who are you wearing?" the man asked. you glanced down at your dress that had taken you ten whole minutes to get into. the whole process of getting ready took three hours, not to mention the photoshoot your publicist encouraged. getting your hair just right took an hour alone.
"today i'm wearing versace. i was really inspired by blake lively's dress from the met gala and i thankfully have a great stylist who was able to find the perfect dress for me." you had always loved red carpet looks, and began to design your own in a fashion sketchbook when you were twelve years old. one of your favorite perks of being well-known was the ability to wear the dresses you had always loved.
the security guard whispered in your ear that it was time to go pose. you thanked the man interviewing you and walked away. as you approached the middle of the red carpet a few people caught your eye. rachel zegler was standing in front of the cameras, flashes of light every second without fail. you seemed to have caught her eye, she turned to you and waved. you returned the gesture and made your way to the place you were supposed to pose. the cameras began to flash as soon as you stepped in front of them. you positioned yourself into your signature pose, which showed off the best parts about you. rachel walked over and gave you a hug.
"you look great" she attempted to compliment you, but it was hard to hear her over the people shouting.
"you look better than i ever will." you returned the compliment and saw a disappointed look on her face.
"girl you know so well that's not true" she laughed before returning to her initial position, maybe a few feet closer to you now. you returned back to posing, the flashes still going off, your name being mixed with rachels, being called from ten different directions. you began to walk off when you heard cheering from your left. you turned to see who had arrived.
wearing a white blazer, a white, barely buttoned top, and black slacks was tom blyth. he had just stepped out of the vehicle dropping him off. you heard an overwhelming scream of voices. you had met tom on the set of the new movie, but had learned that you had both went to juilliard, and he graduated the year after you enrolled. there was a one year period where you too had been at the same school, yet never met each other. when the two of you first met, there was an immediate friendship. you guys drove to set together, practiced lines together, and hung out as many time as you could, squeezing in your busy schedule. but there had always been something more there for you. to you, he was the most charming, alluring, funny, kind person you'd met. it had always been one sided. you'd learned to suppress it, and accept that maybe he wasn't as interested in you as you were in him. while you were thinking, he had finished his interviews and was coming over to the two of you. you waved over to him and he flashed a smile at you. you approached him as he gave you a hug. you embraced it as much as you could.
"hey! how are you?" he asked. you glanced up at him. your height difference was perfect in your mind.
"i'm doing great, how are you?"
"fantastic." he replied. he looked around you, finally making eye contact with rachel. you watched as his face lit up, and your heart sunk a little lower. there was nothing going on between them, at least, that's what you'd known. but seeing him excited to see her gave you a sense of jealousy. you knew it was selfish, obviously he made the entire movie with her, why shouldn't he be more excited? but you couldn't control it. he patted you on the shoulder and watched as he gave rachel a hug. a much more meaningful hug, that's what it looked like, at least. he wrapped his arm around her waist and posed with her. you asked your security guard to take you away from the photo area, off the red carpet altogether, but he told you to wait because they wanted an all cast photo. you decided to go back and do more interviews. you approached another woman.
"hello." you greeted her.
"hi! im with letterboxed, would you care to give me your top four movies of all time?" you loved this question. you watched every video they posted of celebrities top movies. you'd never been asked before, and you had planned this out weeks in advance. it distracted you a little from your heart.
"i LOVE this question, i've been planning for weeks."
...
once the movie was over, you exited the theater and made your way to the afterparty. you changed into a much easier outfit. one you could dance in. you were going to need it anyways. the dress had a corset-esqe top, with a very short skirt. like sabrina carpenter. you put on some high boots and fiddled with your hair a little.
you entered the afterparty fashionably late. most people were already there. you recognized a few of your castmates from "the academy." you went over to them and got yourself a drink from the bar.
"you look amazing, drop the makeup routine right now." you heard one say. lilly cooper, the actress for arachne crane. you laughed at her, but promised you would. you talked to a few more people, the actress for livia cardew, actor for festus creed, and more. before you knew it, 45 minutes had passed. you ventured away from them, and into the more central area.
"girl get over here!" you heard. you pivoted on your heel and spotted rachel, tom, and josh. you happily walked over and gave josh a hug, you hadn't seen him all night. "this outfit is out of this world." rachel complimented. you did a little twirl to show off every bit of it. when you returned to your initial place, you saw tom laughing. a smile broke out on your face.
"im ready to dance guys, when's that happening?" you asked them. rachel grabbed your hand, along with tom's. josh followed you guys as you headed for the dance floor. they were now playing "breaking dishes" by rhianna, one of your all time favorite clubbing songs. you had always been proud of your dancing skills, and now was the chance to show off. on your way to the dance floor, you picked up another drink, and downed it as fast as possible. finally on the floor, you and rachel began to dance together. she spun you around and you did the same to her. soon, josh swept you away and you danced with him, making sure to one up every move he made. you felt yourself getting tipsy, but that didn't matter, what did was that you were having fun.
mid turn with josh, you felt yourself get pulled away again, a new hand holding onto yours. you looked up to see tom, who had ditched his jacket, and your pretty sure had unbuttoned another button or two, pulling you to dance with him. you agreed happily and began to dance with him. you had never noticed how good a dancer he was. every time you tried to one up him, he would pull out some move you hadn't seen before.
"i saw you trying to one up josh" he shouted over the music. "isn't going to happen sweetheart." he called you that as a joke, but you felt yourself getting red. your stomach dropped.
"wait here, i'm going to get another drink." you yelled, attempting to be louder than the already blaring music. he grabbed your arm and pulled you back.
"hey how many is that now?" he asked, referring to the amount you had drunken that night.
"oh please." you shook him off and went to get another drink. you downed it and returned back to him. you felt the drinks going straight to your head. he spun you and you felt very dizzy. too many drinks. you had always been a bit of a lightweight. three or four drinks was way to many. you continued to dance with him. he spun you again, this time returning you to him. he spun you back and he pulled you into his chest and you knocked into him. rachel came up behind you and you almost tripped on her feet.
"woah, you've had too much to drink." she immediately noticed. you tried to defend yourself, but found yourself slurring your words together. "yeah, you're done." she walked you over to a couch and sat you down. you laid down and your vision began to blur as you passed out.
...
you woke up the next morning on a sofa. but this sofa was not the same sofa from last night. this was your sofa, in the hotel you were staying at for the premier. somehow, you had gotten home. no idea how, no idea when, but you had gotten home. you immediately noticed your discomfort, you glanced down, seeing yourself in your outfit from last night.
after a shower and skincare, you still tried to ponder who had gotten you home last night. whoever it was knew your room, found your room key, and took care not to wake you as you were transported home.
you pushed the thought down, thankful for whoever did it, but stopped wasting time on it. you packed up your suitcase and made your way back home.
#tom blyth#jhkfan123#coriolanussnow#hollywood#hungergames#rachelzegler#tom blyth x you#tom blyth fanfiction#tom blyth imagine#tom blyth x reader#hunger games#tbosas#coriolanus snow#coriolanus x reader#coriolanus x you
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Watching tbosas like:
Me and friend 2 when they cut Snow hair: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Friend 3: having a laughing fit because of our reaction
Friend 2: NOW HE'S EVIL! NO MORE REDEMPTION FOR SNOW ONLY EVIL
#coriolanus snow#president snow#the hunger games#hunger games#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#coryo snow#ballad of songbirds and snakes#panem#tbosas movie#hunger games prequel#suzanne collins#tbosas#thg
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A Terribly Organized Almost-Essay About Suzanne Collins and Why I Think She Writes
Lukewarm take because it's been years, but here it goes: if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that Suzanne Collins is not a people pleaser. (The author, at least. I don't know her personally lol). And she be pleasing the people, that's not what I mean! I just kept hearing the same question being asked over and over again. "Why Snow? Why him?? Why not anybody else? Really?? A prequel about HIM??" It really made me think.
And don't get me wrong! I'd slash someone's tires for a Finnick prequel just like the next person (Suzanne please!), but that has never been the point of her writing. The Hunger Games novels, and by extension, the prequel book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, aren't just fun fiction reads. Yeah, they're gripping. The world-building is superb. Young people are at the center of it. And all these characteristics are great, but the thing that draws us in, that keeps us consuming her media like hungry little caterpillars, is that they are, time and time again, a captivating and accurate criticism, analysis, and deconstruction of the broken systems society experiences in the real world. I can only speak from my own experience as a Mexican American woman in the United States, so take all of this with a grain of salt.
The Capitol is colorful and fun and interesting and horrible and sadistic. And it is all those things because it is a symbol of our own real-world 1%, except our own glittering Capitol members here in the real world feed us the hope that we may reach their status if we only work hard enough for long enough. The Hunger Games system never makes that claim. In fact, they are fed the narrative that the system only works because they're stuck where they are. Suzanne Collins is taking everything one step further in her writing because it is a type of satire, a critique of the things we already know. So as an author, she blows it out of proportion so that her reader will say "look at this! How ridiculous! How would someone let the system treat them this way!" And it is ridiculous, it's downright laughable that an entire society, an entire country, would let itself be oppressed in such a cruel way by just a few people in charge instead of rising up and- oh wow, yeah, I see it. She wrote about us.
Suzanne Collins just organized everything neatly into boxes- well, districts. Because every district comes with some form of product that they manufacture, but much more importantly: a class. We go in order from 1-13. District 1 manufactures luxury items and District 2 makes weapons (but mostly trains Peacekeepers), so they have the most privilege and wealth. On the other end, Districts 11 and 12 are the agricultural and coal mining districts, respectively. That's back-breaking work. Not to mention District 11 puts kids as young as 12 to work, and District 12 is poverty-stricken and starving. "But what about District 13?" You may ask, "They make nuclear weapons! Why aren't they up there with 2?" Fantastic question. If we know, and the people of Panem know, that the hierarchy is very clearly set by literal number order, why would one of the most powerful and competent districts be given more power and be put at the top? Placing them at the end lets them believe that they aren't powerful or competent. I mean, jeez, look at 12 and they're before 13? I wouldn't believe I could make it on my own either. (We know now that's not how things go down, but it's a clever power move regardless.)
But after all this, would it hurt Suzanne to give us a single book just for fun?
Yes, I believe it would, that's the whole point. We're not meant to fall for the Peeta/Katniss/Gale love triangle. We're not meant to be interested in Finnick's secrets and early life. We're not meant to want to know the morbid details of how Haymitch won his Games (with double the contestants! Ooh. Aah.) We're meant to be horrified at every turn, at every story. We're meant to ask ourselves how things got so bad, how anyone let this happen. Suzanne Collins has written wonderfully fleshed out characters that grip us and make us want to know more, but the point has never been them or even their loved ones. It was never about Katniss or Prim or Peeta or Finnick or Annie. It's always been about the systems that let this story happen, and where Suzanne got her inspiration: the very real lives we lead. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows us the same thing.
So why Coriolanus Snow? Because he is the catalyst to a broken system that only serves the powerful. If Suzanne were to write a novel about any of our much more beloved characters, then she would be writing the exact same book over and over about the same oppression happening in the same system. She does not write for the sake of bringing her very well-written characters to life, but to flesh out the poverty, the starvation, the power struggles, the horrors they experience. We know this because she writes a lot of her characters as symbols. (Coin, for instance, as the symbol for a power-hungry figurehead, or Prim as the innocent during war.)
Snow is living in a slightly different biome than what we know from The Hunger Games series. He has to make sacrifices and decisions for him and his family, but it's different. It is a view and critique from the inside looking in. This is not Katniss getting to experience the Capitol for the first time and understanding just how terribly unfair everything is. This is someone who is very aware of the way things work and playing the game to stay in power and keep their privilege. Not only that, but it's someone who feels entitled to all of it. In this novel, Suzanne plays around with power and people's position in it. What if a mad scientist was in charge? What if the creator of the thing that brought a semblance of peace was just as horrified as the reader? How far is one person willing to go for power? What if we saw the dawn of a world we're already familiar with?
So I hope she keeps writing, because I love seeing our world through her eyes and the parallels she writes from our world to hers of the injustices happening every day. Even though we'll probably never get the stories we crave, but that's okay. Keep putting those kids through hell, Suzanne.
#tbosas#The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes#books#The Hunger Games#Suzanne Collins#reading#author#essay#spoilers#THG#tbosas spoilers#thg spoilers#i didnt have a great ending or conclusion for this my bad#i just have a lot of thoughts#finnick odair#peeta mellark#katniss everdeen#primrose everdeen#coriolanus snow#president snow#district 12#catching fire#dangerouslypassiveaggressive
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In the prequel, Suzanne Collins continues exploring one of the central themes of the THG trilogy: how the adults and government in the series use children, the most innocent in society, for their own aims.
This is primarily seen in the original trilogy with the cruelty of the games, where the government has deemed it legal and proper to take custody of children, throw them in harm's way, and make them kill each other to pay for the sins of their forefathers.
In TBOSAS, we get to see how Lucy Gray and the other tributes were dehumanized and thrown in cages to be gawked at by Capitol citizens who viewed them as little more than animals. They were kept in chains and survived on handouts, with some tributes having to entertain Capitol citizens for food (tbosas, pg 96).
But it's also clear Capitol children aren't as protected in Capitol society as expected. Dr. Volumnia Gaul makes Clemensia Dovecote retrieve the proposal she claims she worked on with Snow from the tank of rainbow snakes, knowing she could be seriously injured. She even hides the truth of Clemensia's injury from her parents, saying she has the flu.
This makes Snow, who witnessed Clemensia's injury and the death of his classmate Arachne earlier by another tribute, reel at the implication that the Capitol puts little value on children's lives, whether Capitol or district.
"He buried his head in his hands, confused, angry, and most of all afraid. Afraid of Dr. Gaul. Afraid of the Capitol. Afraid of everything. If the people who were supposed to protect you played so fast and loose with your life... then how did you survive? Not by trusting them, that was for sure. And if you couldn't trust them, who could you trust? All bets were off" (tbosas pg 116).
Even Snow gets put into harm's way when Dr. Gaul asks him to retrieve Sejanus from the arena, with the peacekeepers guarding the arena lying to him that they "have his back" (pg 231). But when the pack of tributes goes after Snow and Sejanus, the peacekeepers don't do anything to save them, forcing Snow to kill Bobbin in self-defense. When an angry Snow complains to the peacekeepers, they all say they were following Dr. Gaul's orders (pg 239).
And it goes back to something Sejanus says when confronting Gaul in front of all his classmates. Shouldn't the government protect everyone, district and Capitol alike? (tbosas 92). Not in Panem's society, where children are seen as complicit in their parents and grandparents' crimes, where their innocence is stolen from them, where they are asked to kill or be killed.
#tbosas#lucy gray baird#coriolanus snow#thg#a ballad of songbirds and snakes#suzanne collins#the hunger games#katniss everdeen#peeta mellark
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I love so much to see you calling out how TS has dug deep into fandoms that she has no business in, because I've been trying to get back into THG fandom since The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes and my god... the amount of swifties in this fandom is genuinely mind-boggling. How do they not get any of the hypocrisy? (though I've seen some truly terrible takes. People actually saying they'd want to be friends with the fascist dictator just bc we got a prequel from his POV which frankly, just makes him out to be worse when we get into his head idk how anyone can ignore all the racist and anti-sw thoughts he has) I get that she was part of the soundtrack for the original movies but people making edits of the characters to her dumbass songs really makes my blood boil when most of them would probably hate her for helping uphold the system of oppression
yeah i was talking about thg fandom in that post actually!!! more under the cut:
ofc im in other fandoms where swifties are present (a diff, way smaller fandom inspired me to create this blog bc i was so pissed off) but im currently on a thg kick and seeing the amount of swifties is pissing me offffffff
it’s genuinely so crazy how many of them are coryo apologists and infantilize him yet demonize gale??? a man of color rightfully vengeful against the system that oppressed his community through routine state sanctioned child murder and starvation, and radicalized by seeing his entire home and his people bombed to death where only <10% of D12 survived??? does this sound familiar to a current ongoing situation we are witnessing right now yet???
i feel like they just romanticize peeta mellark/everlark and completely ignore all the overt political commentary happening. and i mean this when i found out that @/muttpeeta aka atetheredmind on ao3 was a swiftie and a zionist…this is so selfish and shallow to say but i was so upset 😭
it really is a testament to swifties poor critical thinking skills when they make thg edits with her music. like they did not absorb the story at ALL. every time i see a thg swiftie i block but now i have so many people blocked the everlark tag is basically dead to me 😭 it’s such a shame because the series is so good and its appreciation can never be fully realized through a swiftie’s eyes because they are too deep into ts bullshit to realize she is the capitolite that panem is overthrowing 😭
#anti taylor swift#ask#notyouraryang0dd3ss#anon#anti swifties#im not even gonna tag thg because i want peace in my life honestly.#i am not entertaining dozens of anon hate from butthurt everlark swifties#or snowbaird freaks wtf is wrong with you#fandom swifties
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