Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes - Did Lucy Gray Love Snow?
Contains spoilers for "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes"
In the world of Panem — the dystopian version of the United States created by "The Hunger Games" author Suzanne Collins — true love can be hard to come by. In the original books and movies, Katniss Everdeen, played on-screen by Jennifer Lawrence, ends up in a sort of public arrangement with her fellow Hunger Games tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), despite her deep feelings for her best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth). So now that the new prequel "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" is out in the world, fans are asking an important question. Does songstress and early Hunger Games tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) really love the apparent object of her affection, Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth)?
In a Reddit thread discussing the matter, fans overwhelmingly seemed to think that Lucy Gray did love Coriolanus, considering that after the Games themselves end, they continue seeking each other out and end up in District 12 together. As u/atleastmymomlikesme wrote, "Personally I thought that Lucy Gray sincerely liked the guy. If it were only a Games strategy she would have dropped him once she became victor. But no, she continues to court him in District 12 and only runs from him once he's displayed about a billion red flags and genuinely frightening behaviors."
"The fact that Lucy has a type is also evidence for this," they continued. "Both Snow and her ex-boyfriend Billy Taupe are controlling and abusive people. Unfortunately, it's extremely common for abused girls to have a string of awful boyfriends because they're accustomed to bad behavior and don't notice the warning signs until it's too late."
What's the connection between Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird?
Others on the thread agree that perhaps Lucy Gray Baird does have legitimate feelings for Coriolanus Snow one way or another ... but that she's smart enough to essentially manipulate the situation at hand. After all, Coriolanus is her mentor in the Hunger Games, and he's still (ostensibly) a rich and powerful citizen of the Capitol, so he's somewhat useful. As u/Twodotsknowhy put it, "I think she did, but I think a better question would be if she would have loved him if she had not had to rely on him completely for her survival. I don't think she would have loved him if they had met under different circumstances." u/User Independent_Ad_1358 agreed, writing, "I think it's possible that she did genuinely like him but was also manipulating him at the same time."
u/leoxyz summed the entire thing up perfectly, illustrating that the final answer isn't actually necessary here. "Personally I love that there's no final answer to this," they wrote. "I think Snow despises Katniss because she reminds him of Lucy Gray, but mostly because he thinks she's always pretending (with Peeta, for instance). I mean, if she isn't, then maybe Lucy Gray wasn't either. And she truly loved him. And they could've escaped together and he'd have had true love, at least for a while. But he could only see the worst of people in the end and chose the safe path to preserve himself. And got old with all that power. But he never got an answer as to what happened to her and what she really felt."
At the end of the day, Lucy Gray Baird is a performer
The bottom line here is that, as some of those Reddit users pointed out, there's no real answer to this question. Lucy Gray Baird is an enigmatic and fascinating character, but above all else, she's a performer — which is precisely how she manages to succeed before, during, and after the Hunger Games themselves. A talented singer and musician, Lucy Gray has a serious flair for the dramatic, and she's not afraid to use her cunning and charm to get her way with anybody ... including Coriolanus.
Years later, when Coriolanus is the President of Panem and encounters a very different yet similarly strong-willed girl from District 12, he can't stop himself from absolutely hating Katniss Everdeen, likely because she reminds him of Lucy Gray in some way. Whether or not Lucy Gray truly loved Coriolanus is, as Suzanne Collins clearly illustrates, somewhat immaterial. What matters is their connection and the fact that they betray one another in the end, leaving Coriolanus to always remember the girl from District 12 who irreversibly hurt him.
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.