So Lucy Gray could have been the Taylor Swift of Panem, but thanks to crazy Snowflake the world didn’t get the opportunity to appreciate her art.

In conclusion, Coriolanus didn’t want the world to listen to Pure as the Driven Snow (10 minutes version)

I’m sure someone has talked about this before but one thing I absolutely love about tbosas is how Snow’s descent into villainy is never once presented as something that was inevitable

So many villain origin stories portray this idea of a person who tries incredibly hard to be a good person, who takes every opportunity to be kind and to better themselves, but are ultimately doomed to fail by the narrative. Their environment and their circumstances make it impossible for them to be a good person, and while this is effective from a storytelling point of view it’s not exactly accurate to real life

In real life there is always a point where a bad person makes the decision to do something bad, they make the decision to prioritise themselves, their own power, money or desires over someone else. That’s how real life dictators are made, they are presented with every opportunity to be good, and they purposefully choose to not take it

This makes Snow’s storyline so effective because he is given so many opportunities to do the right thing and yet, at every single turn, he chooses to serve himself instead, exactly like how real dictators are made

Snow, unlike most people we see in the capitol, is in a unique position where he could genuinely have the chance to understand and relate to the people from the districts. He, unlike his classmates, is poor and spends most nights going hungry, he witnessed firsthand the cruelty of the capitol when Clemensia was bitten by the snakes for nothing more than lying about doing her homework, when his sister was forced to sell herself on the streets in order to feed the both of them

Throughout his book, the three people he is closest to are Tigris (who dislikes the hunger games, is a rebel, and a victim of the capitol forced to turn to prostitution), Sejanus (who is originally from district 2, dislikes the capitol and knows he will never be accepted there, and also a rebel) and Lucy Gray (who is a victim of the hunger games, from district 12, and is also treated horribly by the capitol). These are all people who gave him an opportunity to realise the cruelty of the system he was in, a chance to directly confront his prejudices and see that people from the districts are just the same as him, and yet he still refuses to take the chance to change

He is given every opportunity, he’s sent away from the capitol to be a peacekeeper in the districts, he forms personal connections with people from the districts, he helps Sejanus perform funeral rites, and yet at every moral crossroads he comes to he makes the wrong decision. He didn’t have to become a villain, and yet he made the choice to do so anyway, despite every chance he was given

I think it’s a really effective portrayal of Snow as a character, and it’s a very effective villain origin story for the type of villain that Snow is. It never once excuses him from his actions because it highlights just how accountable he was for his actions

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS CORIOLANUS SNOW?

honestly if the prettiest dorian gray looking man with those blonde curls came back to me in a buzzcut glow down and a cop outfit, i would’ve left him too

I’m not saying he’s not evil, I’m just saying he’s also ✨relatable✨

People who think Coriolanus didn’t love Lucy Gray need to realise that love doesn’t have to be *pure* to be true. Love can be toxic and complicated and messy. Using his own words, love can destroy you. His love for her wasn’t pure and perfect but it was true. In the end he just loved himself and power more. You don’t spend 60+ years being haunted by someone you didn’t genuinely love. You also don’t marry someone you hate so that love can never make you feel weakness again….

➳ THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES (2023)

Mysteries have a way of driving people mad.

If Coryo was solely looking out for himself throughout TBOSAS and never had genuine feelings for Lucy Gray, then explain this passage

He could’ve landed in one of the districts closer to the Capitol, but instead chose to exile himself to District 12 hoping to be reunited with Lucy Gray. The mere possibility of their reunion is the only thing that keeps him going. And that’s love.😌

A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes + Coriolanus Snow being unhinged

Things I wish the TBOSAS movie included from the book:

• Making certain parts of Snow's inner monologues clear, such as the fact that he considered selling Tigris & really hated Sejanus.
• The way the tributes started performing at the zoo to get bits of food & the fact that they were treated by veterinarians.
• A better look into Snow's friendship with Clemensia.
• The relationship development between Lucy Gray & Snow before the games started (it's much deeper in the book).
• Arachne's funeral & Snow singing.
• Lysistrata helping Jessup & him saving her in turn during the rebel explosion.
• The aftermath of Clemensia being bitten by Gaul's snakes.
• Dr Gaul's constant rhyming. It made her more unhinged and psychotic, whereas the movie mostly made her sinister.
• “Well, you know what they say. The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings,”
• Sejanus' mother wanting to go into the arena and get him herself.
• Lamina & Reaper's brief alliance.
• Teslee hacking the drones to kill Mizzen.
• Snow bonding with the other peacekeepers.
• The bond between the members of The Covey.
• The closeness between Sejanus and his ma which made his execution even more heartbreaking in the book.
• Snow's plan to marry someone he'd hate (Livia) so that he'd never feel love and be manipulated again.