Highlights
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes explores the origin story of Coriolanus Snow and his relationship with Lucy Gray Baird during the 10th Hunger Games.
- Lucy Gray’s impact on the Hunger Games and her relationship with Snow is erased and forgotten by the time of Katniss’s rebellion.
- Lucy Gray’s legacy lives on through her music, as she is the original writer and singer of “The Hanging Tree,” a song that symbolizes rebellion and gives hope to the people of Panem.
This article contains spoilers for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)
The latest installment in the Hunger Games series, the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, presents the origin story of Coriolanus Snow as an ambitious young man from the Capitol, in a world just beginning to recover from the devastations of the war. Besides exploring how he became the vicious and cold-hearted President fans came to know, the story also introduces Lucy Gray Baird, a free-spirited tribute from District 12 for the 10th annual Hunger Games, whom Snow is tasked to mentor. As seen in the mainline series, her and Snow’s involvement in the games changed the tradition forever. While Coriolanus Snow is the powerful and ruthless President of Panem at the time of the original trilogy, 64 years after the events of the prequel, Lucy Gray’s existence is never even mentioned or acknowledged.
Ever since the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lucy Gray’s absence from the original Hunger Games trilogy has raised questions from fans. Following the events of the 10th Hunger Games, it would be expected for her name to become widely known amongst the people, or at least a legend passed down through the generations following her mysterious disappearance. The prequel’s ambiguous ending leaves her fate unknown, but it is apparent that, despite her and Snow’s enormous impact, Lucy Gray’s name and overall existence has been long forgotten by the time of Katniss’ rebellion against the Capitol.
What Happened to Lucy Gray Baird?
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Lucy Gray Baird |
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Appears in |
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes |
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Played by |
Rachel Zegler |
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First line (book) |
“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.” |
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First line (movie) |
“Just give me a minute, please.” |
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Last line (book) |
“Well, I’m not made of sugar.” |
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Last line (movie) |
“Well, I’m not made out of sugar.” |
Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) is a young and charismatic musician and member of the Covey, a group of traveling artists who perform around Panem. While stuck in District 12 due to the war, she is selected as the district’s female tribute for the 10th annual Hunger Games. Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is assigned as her mentor, and the two quickly develop a strong bond. Following his suggestion to perform and entertain the Capitol, Lucy Gray gains a strong following and becomes a fan-favorite to win the games.
With Snow’s help, despite the Capitol’s attempt to sabotage the event, Lucy Gray manages to survive and becomes the victor. She returns home to District 12, where she continues performing with the Covey and later finds out that Snow has been sent there for Peacekeeper training. The two then begin a secret relationship and plan to run away together. However, a series of events leads to a shocking confrontation between Snow and Lucy Gray. She goes to the woods and a paranoid Snow later follows her, firing his rifle in all directions, attempting to catch her. He fully embraces his cruel, ambitious, and ruthless nature, and returns to the Capitol. Lucy Gray is never seen again and her fate remains uncertain, leaving the audience wondering whether Snow killed her or if she survived and ran away.
Why Does No One Remember Lucy Gray?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book reveals more key details about Lucy Gray’s erasure. Dr. Volumnia Gaul, the vicious Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games and Snow’s mentor after returning to the Capitol, reveals that she had erased all evidence of Lucy Gray and the 10th Hunger Games, except for one copy she kept to herself. According to her, they made the Capitol appear weak, and she wanted people to forget about it. This crucial scene gives a better glimpse into the person Snow becomes, as Dr. Gaul is unafraid to show her twisted nature and enjoyment of other people’s suffering, which encourages him to fully embrace his dark side.
He was glad about the erasure. It was just one more way to eliminate Lucy Gray from the world. The Capitol would forget her, the districts barely knew her, and District 12 had never accepted her as one of their own. In a few years, there would be a vague memory that a girl had once sung in the arena. And then that would be forgotten, too. Good-bye, Lucy Gray, we hardly knew you.
64 years after Lucy Gray’s victory, when Katniss and Peeta are selected as tributes, it is revealed that the history of the Hunger Games is taught in schools, and the victors of the previous games are seen as important historical figures. But Dr. Gaul’s attempt to erase Lucy Gray and the events of the 10th Hunger Games is proven to be successful. Throughout the original trilogy, neither her name nor her story are mentioned at all, and, prior to Katniss and Peeta’s historic win, Haymitch Abernathy was always referred to as the only victor from District 12. In the first Hunger Games book, however, the existence of another District 12 victor, who is now dead, is acknowledged by Mayor Undersee during the reaping ceremony, but no name or details are revealed, and this mysterious victor is never heard from again. This implies that Lucy Gray is dead, and since no more information about it is disclosed, and it’s been decades since she was last seen or heard from, her being dead would be a fair assumption. But she might just as well still be alive somewhere far away from Panem. Her actual fate, status, and possible cause of death remains unknown.
Then he reads the list of past District 12 victors. In seventy-four years, we have had exactly two. Only one is still alive.
From her rebellious spirit to her association with mockingjays, Lucy Gray Baird is often compared to Katniss Everdeen. It is worth noting that despite them sharing many similarities, and that some foreshadowing in the prequel seems to hint that there may be some sort of connection between them, it is highly likely that the two of them are not related. Neither Katniss nor anyone around her seems to know about Lucy Gray, since her name and story are never mentioned. Her impact and relationship with President Snow could have really helped out Katniss during the games and later the rebellion, and, given the stakes, it would be too big a deal for any of her allies to casually omit had they known about it.
Lucy Gray’s Enduring Legacy
Many of Lucy Gray’s traits can be seen in Katniss, and her legacy played a crucial role in the rebellion led by the latter. Both made a strong impression since their respective reaping ceremonies and became important and influential figures through performance, as well as coming out of their respective games victorious. The two, however, have different motivations and strategies, as Zegler herself pointed out during one of her red carpet appearances:
Lucy Gray is a performer forced to fight and Katniss is a fighter forced to perform.
While Lucy Gray Baird may not have been mentioned by name at all during the Hunger Games trilogy, her impact on Panem is far from absent. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes reveals that it was Lucy Gray who originally wrote and sang “The Hanging Tree,” a song that symbolizes the rebellion and gave hope to the people of Panem. Her legacy lives on through her music and she, through Katniss, re-opened a wound in Snow’s cold heart that no one else knew about.
Knowing President Snow’s origins and history with Lucy Gray, Katniss being the mockingjay and the face of the rebellion, gives his eventual downfall a deeper meaning, serving as a reminder that karma will always find its way to him even when she is gone, and contrary to what the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes lead him to believe, Snow doesn’t always land on top.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- Cast
- Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Tom Blyth, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, Jason Schwartzman, Josh Andrés Rivera
- Franchise
- The Hunger Games
