Warning: This list contains spoilers for the Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
The Hunger Games in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) emerge as the victors constitute two very different events in the setting of The Hunger Games Saga. The differences between the 10th and 74th Games go far beyond Katniss’ district partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) surviving along with her, or Lucy Gray being mentored by Capitol student Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), who would become President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in Katniss’ time. The two Games depicted are distinct from one another, but both reflect the Capitol’s determination to control the districts.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes takes place more than 60 years before the original Hunger Games franchise and offers fans insight into the history of the Games, showing how they became a disturbingly massive event over 70 years. The 10th Hunger Games showcases the still developing logistical aspects of the Games, with rudimentary versions of the sponsorship and betting systems. This would grow into the glitzy spectacle seen in the Hunger Games movies, including the even more different Quarter Quell, for which previous victors are forced to return to the arena.
Related
These Are The Only 2 Hunger Games Characters Who Personally Met Katniss & Lucy Gray
Despite being the two female leads of the Hunger Games franchise, only two people have met both Lucy Gray Baird and Katniss Everdeen in the films.
7
Tributes In Lucy Gray’s Hunger Games Are Mentored By Capitol Students
For the 10th Hunger Games, the Capitol assigns one of its best students to mentor each tribute.
The concept of mentors is presented in The Hunger Games as the tributes being mentored by past victors. This already constitutes some districts having an advantage: Katniss and Peeta have only one mentor between the two of them because Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) is presumably the only living District 12 victor by the time of the 74th Hunger Games. In other districts, there are enough victors that mentors could eventually retire or rotate years of mentoring. However, this setup also means that the Games would have to go on for many years before there were even enough mentors for every district.
This is where Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes picks up. It is implied that the tributes were given no direction whatsoever for the first nine Games. The year of Lucy Gray’s Games, the Capitol decides to have its top students mentor the tributes in the hopes of making the Games a more entertaining spectacle. The evident tension and violence between the mentors and tributes during this year is likely what eventually led to the decision to have past victors serve as mentors, in the hopes that the tributes would trust people also from the districts.
6
Katniss Gets Luxury Treatment Before The Hunger Games Begin
Tributes in the 74th Hunger Games live in luxury and are treated as celebrities before the event.
Katniss, Peeta, and the other tributes in their year live in absolute luxury in the week leading up to their Games. This is part of the entertainment formula wherein the tributes are treated as pseudo-celebrities who are pampered and stylized as figures for the Capitol citizens to adore. Lucy Gray has no stylist, escort, or prep team; she and the tributes in her years are treated as animals up until the Games. They might not have even eaten anything before the Games if their mentors hadn’t brought them food. They also receive no training.
Lucy Gray’s year is also the first time the tributes do interviews. However, Katniss and Peeta’s comparatively better treatment still plays into the brutality of the Games and the Capitol’s government. They have lived in poverty their entire lives, and only get enough food to eat before they die, so they will have the energy to fight in the arena. They are also given monetary winnings and continue to be celebrities after the Games. Lucy Gray disappears after Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, after returning to her regular life in District 12.
5
The Sponsorship System Is Much More Efficient During Katniss’ Hunger Games
Lucy Gray’s year is the first time Capitol citizens can sponsor tributes in the Hunger Games.
As seen in Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the 10th Games is the first year Capitol citizens can buy gifts of food and water for the tributes. Snow comes up with this idea to make the Games more engaging, also suggesting betting be allowed. The technology surrounding this is still faulty in the 10th Hunger Games, with the delivery drones crashing and even being used as weapons if the mentors time their orders well. By the time of Katniss’ Games, the sponsorship system operates flawlessly: Gifts are delivered smoothly without disrupting any fights.
The gifts available for purchase also likely grew with time. In Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the mentors are only ever seen sending water bottles to their tributes. Katniss and her allies can receive food, water, medicine, and more. Among every known winner of the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) stands out because he famously won when he was gifted a trident. Katniss notes in the Catching Fire novel that this is probably the most expensive gift she has ever seen sent to the arena.
4
Katniss’ Arena Was Built Specifically For The 74th Hunger Games
The arena where Lucy Gray’s Hunger Games takes place has been used several times before.
Lucy Gray mentions that she knows there is nowhere to hide in the arena because she has seen it before. Presumably, this means that the arena where the 10th Hunger Games takes place has been used every year up until then. It appears to simply be an abandoned stadium in the Capitol. Possibly the only things the Gamemakers had done beforehand were Capitol flags being put up to remind the tributes of their place and circles painted for them to stand on until the gong went off.
Eventually, the Capitol would construct different arenas with unique ecosystems and threats for every Games, contained within a force field dome. Katniss’ first arena is a forest environment, while the Quarter Quell arena is a tropical environment structured like a clock. The books mention others, and some clips from a Games taking place in a ruined city setting are seen in the first Hunger Games movie. This does raise the question of how much land the Capitol has used up solely for building new arenas, but they may have destroyed old ones to make more space.
Related
What Happened To Every Hunger Games Tribute Who Survived Catching Fire’s Quarter Quell
Only a handful of victors survive the Quarter Quell in Catching Fire, and go on to play different roles in the rebellion against the Capitol.
3
All 24 Tributes Participate In The 74th Hunger Games
Several tributes die before the 10th Hunger Games begins.
The luxury is also accompanied by advanced security surrounding the tributes, making it impossible for them to escape before the Games begin. Therefore, all 24 tributes are alive at the beginning of the 74th Hunger Games. More than likely, this was the case for every Games for decades before. On the other hand, Lucy Gray’s year was considered a disaster by the Capitol because of the deaths among the tributes and mentors leading up to the Games.
After Brandy (Luna Kuse) kills her mentor Arachne Crane (Lilli Cooper), she is shot dead by Peacekeepers. Several more tributes are killed when the arena is bombed in Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes or are shot when they subsequently try to escape. According to the Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes novel, only 15 tributes are still alive at the start of the Games, including Marcus (Jerome Lance) from District 2. Marcus manages to escape during the bombing but is captured, beaten, and strung up in the arena. Lamina (Irene Böhm) from District 7 later kills him to end his suffering.
2
The Career Districts Don’t Exist Yet During The 10th Hunger Games
Later on, a few districts are always favored to win the Hunger Games.
A significant difference between the 10th and 74th Hunger Games is that the Career districts have not emerged yet in the former. As explained in The Hunger Games, Districts 1 and 2 (and 4 in the book) train their young people beforehand, who then volunteer for the Games. These tributes tend to ally together in the early stages of the Games, and there is an overwhelming number of victors from their districts.
This dynamic has not completely taken shape in Lucy Gray’s year. Districts 1, 2, and 4 might still have more resources than the others, but it is not suggested that their tributes have been previously trained. Coral (Mackenzie Lansing), the girl from District 4, becomes the leader of a prototype of the Career pack. Her allies include her district partner Mizzen (Cooper Dillon), Treech (Hiroki Berrecloth) from District 7, and Tanner from District 10 (Kjell Brutscheidt). In the book, the tributes from 1 and 2 besides Marcus are killed trying to escape when the arena is bombed.
Related
The Hunger Games Are Even Darker Than You Realize Thanks To 1 Subtle Weapon Detail
The Hunger Games are a brutal fight for survival, but the concept of the franchise is darker when considering one specific Cornucopia detail.
1
Lucy Gray Is The Only Victor Of Her Hunger Games
Katniss defies the Capitol and forces them to let Peeta live as well.
The 74th Hunger Games is the year that sets the districts’ second rebellion in motion when Katniss and Peeta threaten to end their own lives by poisoning. Rather than robbing the Capitol citizens of a victor to fawn over, the Gamemakers let both District 12 tributes live. This marks the first time in the history of the Games where there were two victors.
Lucy Gray being the single victor of the 10th Hunger Games is in keeping with what the Capitol intended the Games to be. However, her survival also connotes rebellion. Snow smuggles Lucy Gray rat poison, which gives her an unfair advantage. Specifically in the movie, Lucy Gray’s victory is accompanied by a musical performance which gives her more power over the spectators than she was ever meant to have. Ironically, the drastically different finales of Katniss and Lucy Gray’s Games in The Hunger Games Saga show how their characters are fundamentally the same.
The Hunger Games
Where to Watch*Availability in US
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
The Hunger Games is the first of four in the action-drama movie series based on the novels by Suzanne Collins. Set in a dystopian world where people are separated into twelve districts to maintain order, this first film in the franchise focuses on Katniss Everdeen as she is forced to participate in The Hunger Games: a draconian gladiatorial survival event where there can be only one winner.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Where to Watch*Availability in US
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
The second entry into the Hunger Games film franchise and based on Suzanne Collins’ book of the same name, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire picks up shortly after the events of the first film. Returning home to District 12 after their victory at the 74th Annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) begin to sense an imminent rebellion against the oppressive Capitol.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Where to Watch*Availability in US
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
After the events of the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss takes refuge in District 13 with her family, where she is convinced to become the Mockingjay, the symbolic figurehead of the districts’ rebellion.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Where to Watch*Availability in US
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is the fourth and final film in The Hunger Games adaptation saga and sees Katniss Everdeen lead the charge to the final battle that will decide the fate of Panem. With Peeta kidnapped and brainwashed and the lives of her family in danger, Katniss and her allies charge into the heart of the capital, but with every victory – comes sacrifice.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel movie set 64 years before the events of the original movie with Katniss Everdeen. The film centers on a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and shows his rise to power as the leader of Panem. Taking place during the 10th Hunger Games, Snow is tasked with mentoring Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the tribute from District 12.
