The ballad of songbirds and snakes : characters study in scarlet

64 years before the famous games which introduce us to Katnees Everdeen, the ballad of songbirds and snakes invites us to a walk between the Capitol and district 12 to discover the origins of the Hunger Games. And because the games of hunger wouldn’t be anything without its actors, (re)discover the characters who have marked the Hunger Games.

Coriolanus Snow : the snake

To Casca Highbottom :

Snow lands on top.

It is from the perspective of Coriolanus Snow, a character who we try to associate to the cold and rigid image of his future self, that we follow the story. Sometimes empathetic, other times (too) ambitious, Coriolanus is undoubtedly one of the most complex and interesting characters of the ballad of songbirds and snakes. Throughout the different parts of the movie (three), we discover several facets of his personality. First, loving and protective towards his family and his « protégé » (Lucy Gray) and rebel in view of the rules imposed at the beginning of the games, we meet a Coriolanus who tries to win his place in society and get his family out of misery.

When Lucy Gray is assigned to him, Coriolanus personality gradually changes as he registers the chance offered to him. Lucy Gray is both his gateway to the world he so wishes to integrate and a curiosity to which he will eventually become attached and break the rules for. However, Coriolanus has only one goal (and we will discover it soon enough): the Capitol. And this dream weighs so much in the balance that nothing else measures to it. Neither friendship, nor trust and even less love will be the answers to the dilemmas he will face all along the movie. In the end, all his heart choices are dictated by reason, and Coriolanus Snow will only choose his heart when he thought he had no other ones. Finally, he will eventually succumb to the violence surrounding him and his manipulative personality.

Lucy Gray Baird : the songbirds

To Coriolanus :

There is a natural goodness built into us all. We can step across that line into evil, or not.

We don’ know much about Lucy Gray but what we learn from Coriolanus’s point on view. Until the end, the curiosity of the Hunger Games will remain a mystery, like all the most beautiful legends. Thrown into the games for an absurd reason, she survives against all odds and conquers the public and Coriolanus, thanks to her courage, her beautiful voice and her originality. If at the beginning of the games the young woman is forced to rest on the shoulders of Coriolanus to survive, she finally gives him her trust and soon, much more. Did she really fall in love with him, or was she simply attracted by his « hero » figure?

Lucy Gray is a character who combines sweetness, strength and ingenuity. While the end of the Hunger Games leaves her traumatized, she remains true to herself and her principles. But she, like Coriolanus, is far from perfect. As much as everyone has goodness in him (Lucy perhaps more than Coriolanus), they both have a dark part inherited from their past in common and an instinct for survival that has pushed them to commit horrors. No one is all white neither all black, not entirely snake or entirely songbird. And the moment Lucy Gray discovers Coriolanus’s dark side, trust is broken and the songbird has no choice but to fly very high before succumbing to the poison of the snake.

Sejanus Plinth : the born too soon revolutionary

To the supporters of the games :

You’re monsters ! All of you !

Son of Panem’s president, Sejanus doesn’t share the same vision as his father and the other habitants of the Capitol. He is against the Hunger Games and does not hide his fierce opposition, although quite passive. In fact, throughout the movie, the young man attempts unsuccessfully to convince his comrades that the games are inhuman. Surprisingly, it is Coriolanus, of whom he is the best and only friend, who will also initiate his awareness. He’ll encourage him to fight for his own ideologies.

Following Sejanus’s path and seeing him evolve differently from Coriolanus was very interesting. Both have grown into different but at the same time very similar world, and both have taken two complete opposite paths that will irrevocably push them to go against each other. The « Sejanus chapter » will be the decisive stage of Coriolanus’s journey and will strongly impact the person he will become.

Tigris : the sentimental

To Coriolanus :

Poor Lucy Gray.

Cousin and confident of Coriolanus, Tigris is surely one of the most compassionate people of his circle. She is empathetic enough to feel compassion for the tributes, but also to see Coryo’s (as she so lovingly called him) glimmer of goodness. She will see him evolve, accompany him during the different stages of his journey and advise him regularly to prevent him, in vain, from deviating into the dark side. Though she wasn’t devoted to the game, it is her who will advise him to get closer to Lucy Gray. But unintentionally, she will also grow in his head the idea of the « modern » Hunger Games. And at the end, she will realize that the transformation of Coriolanus into his father was inevitable.

Dr. Volumnia Gaul : the twisted mind

To Coriolanus :

What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too. How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are.

It is to Dr. Gaul to whom we owe the officialisation of the « modern » Hunger Games. Scientist and head of the Experimental Weapons Division of the Capitol (cruel and evil are her subtitles), she is an enthusiast defender of the games. Dr. Gaul is in fact the one who has discovered the potential of Coriolanus. Convinced that the Hunger Games are necessary to society, she’ll gladly accept his idea of modernisation. But in reality, aren’t the games just another experiment conducted for her own entertainment ?

Casca Highbottom : the snake’s enemy

To Coriolanus :

Do you hear that, Coriolanus? It’s the sound of Snow falling.

Because of his past with Crassus Snow (Coriolanus’s father), Casca devotes an immeasurable hatred toward his son. He soon enough discovers Coriolanus true self, but unlike Dr Gaul, will automatically associates it with danger. Throughout the movie, he will take every opportunity to put obstacles in his way and prevent Coriolanus to thrive. Removing the seed before it spreads was his last chance of redemption for taking part in the games. But despite all his efforts, his mission fails and places him right into the snake’s den.

Do you believe some of these characters are either songbirds or snakes ? Maybe both ?