This article contains spoilers for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to the original trilogy, has given viewers plenty of room for interpretation. Due to its ambiguous ending, fans have taken it upon themselves to connect the prequel and the mainline series, which takes place 60 years later. Of course, the aftermath of many events is widely known at this point. Most importantly, Coriolanus Snow becoming the ruthless tyrant Katniss rebels against.
But the prequel still leaves some questions unanswered, and some characters and their fates are not heard from again. One of the most popular theories suggests that Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12 in the 10th Hunger Games, is connected to Alma Coin, the President of District 13 and main antagonist of Mockingjay.
Lucy Gray Baird has been the center of many theories since the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Her fate at the end of the story is left unknown. She is never mentioned again, appearing to have been erased from the history of Panem by the time Katniss leads her rebellion. After a confrontation in the third act of the prequel, Snow attempts to shoot Lucy Gray, but her body is never found. All that’s ever said about it is that she disappeared. While she may very well have died during the attempted attack, it is just as likely that she survived and hid. One popular theory suggests that Lucy Gray survived and fled to District 13, where she fell in love and had a child. The child in question would be none other than Alma Coin, who would grow up to become the leader of the presumably destroyed district, and a wicked villain with a personal vendetta against Coriolanus Snow.
Who Is Alma Coin?
Alma Coin is introduced in Mockingjay as the leader of the underground District 13, thought to have been destroyed during the Dark Days. She is an important leader in the rebellion, and as she helped the people of her district survive, she assembled and trained countless military troops in order to win the war. She is intelligent, ambitious, determined to take down the Capitol, and has a personal vendetta against President Snow. As the story unfolds, Katniss starts questioning Coin’s motivations, and it becomes clear that she has a hidden agenda of her own. Behind her charismatic exterior is a cold-hearted, power-hungry strategist who subtly manipulated the entire rebellion and portrayed herself as a hero to further her own interests.
Coin is motivated to become the President of Panem no matter the cost, so she appoints Katniss with the job of assassinating President Snow. When the time comes, however, in a shocking turn of events, Katniss fires her arrow at Coin, sparing Snow’s life and killing her instead. With Coin as President, she would only be replacing one form of oppression with another. Coin is revealed to be the true villain of the Hunger Games. Katniss saw her as a bigger threat than Snow, and her death as the only way to truly end the war.
|
Lucy Gray Baird |
Alma Coin |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Played by |
Rachel Zegler |
Julianne Moore |
|
Book appearances |
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes |
Mockingjay |
|
Movie appearances |
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes |
Mockingjay – Parts 1 & 2 |
|
Hair |
Dark, curly, and bouncy |
Gray, perfectly straight and even |
|
Eyes |
Dark |
Gray |
|
First line (books) |
“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.” |
“I told you we should have rescued the boy first.” |
|
Last line (books) |
“Well, I’m not made of sugar.” |
“Of course. And I’ll make sure he knows about the Games.” |
|
First line (movies) |
“Just give me a minute, please.” |
“What an honor it is to meet you. You’re a courageous young woman.” |
|
Last line (movies) |
“Well, I’m not made out of sugar.” |
“Mockingjay, may your aim be as true as your heart is pure.” |
A connection between Lucy Gray Baird and Alma Coin is never mentioned in the books or the films, but the theory that Lucy Gray is Coin’s mother has some solid backup. Lucy Gray’s fate after the ambiguous ending of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is left unknown, and what happens to her is never revealed in the original trilogy. As such, the possibility that she fled to District 13 and went into hiding seems likely. Another point in favor of the theory is the fact that almost nothing is known about Coin’s background, although it is likely that she had lived in the underground district all her life.
Coin’s personal vendetta against Snow makes this theory much stronger. Her reasons for this are never explicitly stated in the trilogy, but it would make a lot of sense to resent the man who betrayed and attempted to kill her mother, forcing her to run away and lose everything. Francis Lawrence, director of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and 3 out of the 4 Hunger Games films, hinted at this connection during an interview with Business Insider.
Without any sort of spoilers — because Lucy Gray sort of remains a mystery at the end — connections to 13, to Coin? Sure.
Another popular theory highlights a different connection between the two characters. Both theories start the same way: Lucy Gray survived Coriolanus’ attacks and fled to District 13. According to this one, however, she hid her identity with the purpose of coming back and defeating Snow someday. And, rather than having a child, she herself grew up to become Alma Coin. The theory has some solid backup, since Coin feels a strong hatred towards Snow, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to take him down.
When Lucy Gray is introduced, she is a charming young woman who loves colors, music, and life, unlike Coin, who is introduced as a cold, dark, and calculating woman. The theory explains this possible change as a mirror to Snow’s character development in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which shows how he went from an ambitious and idealistic young man to a vicious and ruthless tyrant. The film highlights the connection between Snow and Lucy Gray, and how they both changed each other and realized they were more alike than they would think.
Considering Lucy Gray went through the same events that caused the old Snow to die and a new and darker version of himself to take over, it is not too farfetched to assume that the same thing happened to her. Perhaps she, too, became a cold-hearted villain with the sole purpose of making Snow pay for what he did to her. The lack of color in Coin’s person and wardrobe could imply that she felt such a deep pain from Snow’s betrayal that any color would remind her of him.
The main issue regarding this theory is Lucy Gray’s age. In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Snow is 18 years old, and Lucy Gray is 16. The Hunger Games trilogy takes place 64 years later, which would make Snow 82 and Lucy Gray 80. From the characters’ looks in the movies, Snow’s age is represented accurately, but the villainous President Coin appears to be much younger than Lucy Gray would be. This is also the case in the books, as Coin is described as a woman in her fifties.
But not Alma Coin, the president of 13, who just watches. She’s fifty or so, with gray hair that falls in an unbroken sheet to her shoulders.
In the end, it is up to fans to decide whether they believe that Lucy Gray is Coin’s mother. This theory is just one of many possibilities, but with the way The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the Hunger Games trilogy play out, it has some solid backup. It would be pretty good foreshadowing on Suzanne Collins’ part, and tying it up together this way would make the stakes of the Mockingjay climax a lot higher and a lot more personal.
