A new Hunger Games book and movie are on the way, and this could finally be an opportunity to prove some of my favorite theories correct. The upcoming prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, will be set 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This places the new prequel in the middle of the existing franchise, which is intriguing. The story, which should follow Haymitch Abernathy’s 50th Hunger Games, is in a unique position to serve as the connective tissue of the franchise, linking the events of Snow’s prequel and Katniss’ story with new tidbits of valuable information.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, but the story still managed to link itself to Katniss’ time as tribute, victor, and Mockingjay. The prequel provided answers to the origin of the “Hanging Tree” song, as well as retroactively explaining why Snow took Katniss’ existence in the Hunger Games so personally. We can likely expect something similar from Sunrise on the Reaping, and this gives me hope that some of my favorite Hunger Games theories will be confirmed.

7

President Snow Was Responsible For Haymitch’s Hunger Games

Sunrise On The Reaping Can Confirm Whether Snow Was Head Gamemaker For The 50th Games

40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes should place Sunrise on the Reaping on the 50th Hunger Games, which were won by Haymitch Abernathy. Thanks to Catching Fire, we already know a great deal about these games, also called the second Quarter Quell. Haymitch was one of four tributes selected from District 12, since the Quell rules indicated that two boys and two girls be selected from each District. The arena these tributes were placed in was also unique, with breathtakingly beautiful meadows and forests that were deadly poisonous.

Though Coriolanus Snow was already president during the 50th Hunger Games and no longer a Gamemaker, I can’t help but believe that he took charge of the second Quarter Quell. The arena was precisely his MO—deceptively beautiful like a rose but rotting with poison. If Snow really did make the 50th Hunger Games his biggest and bloodiest creation, it would also explain why he became so enraged when Haymitch, a boy from District 12 of all places, won by taking advantage of the arena’s magnetic fields.

If Sunrise on the Reaping takes Snow’s perspective at all, I should get my answer. However, Collins’ Hunger Games books have never strayed from a single point of view before. If the new novel is from Haymitch’s perspective alone, then it may only be the upcoming movie that can again fill in the details of what is going through President Snow’s mind.

6

President Snow Ordered Maysilee Donner’s Death

Sunrise On The Reaping Is Sure To Introduce District 12’s Maysilee Donner

Even if Snow weren’t responsible for creating the 50th Hunger Games arena, he certainly would have had the authority to order one of the tributes killed. Maysilee Donner was one of District 12’s female tributes, and she and Haymitch were allied for a time while in the arena. While tributes from the coal-mining District were typically quick prey in the Hunger Games, Maysilee proved to be a fighter. She took advantage of the poisonous features of the arena to make deadly darts, and she wasn’t afraid to use them. Unfortunately, she was eventually skewered through the neck by the long beak of a bird muttation.

There is an great deal about Maysilee that Snow wouldn’t have liked. First, she was a girl from District 12, and I can imagine that Snow hadn’t much taste for these ever since his experience with Lucy Gray Baird in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The fact that she was doing so well would have been unacceptable to the dictator. Additionally, Maysilee entered the arena with a significant District token—a gold Mockingjay pin. This would have been more than enough to remind Snow of Lucy Gray, and I don’t think the deranged man could have resisted ordering her death.

On this same note, it’s interesting to consider that President Snow was the reason that so few District 12 tributes survived the games in general. Katniss assumed in The Hunger Games that her District was just too small and malnourished to offer much in the way of victors, but this all might have simply been because Snow despised the coal miners more than the rest of Panem’s citizens.

5

Lucy Gray Eventually Returned to District 12

Sunrise On The Reaping May Reveal Lucy Gray’s Fate

I have mixed feelings about Lucy Gray’s fate being answered in Sunrise on the Reaping. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book did such a beautiful job leaving her ending ambiguous, and, like her name-sake song, Lucy Gray may be better off left a mystery. However, one of my guilty-pleasure theories is that Lucy Gray eventually returned to District 12 under a different name—Greasy Sae. While this sounds silly at first, it makes a certain amount of sense in the world of literature.

Katniss mentioned in The Hunger Games that, aside from Haymitch, the only other Hunger Games victor from District 12 had been entirely forgotten. No one knew their name or what had become of them. The fact that this was noted in the first book indicates that author Suzanne Collins already had a plan for this victor. It seems unlikely that, that early in the game, Collins already had conceived of Lucy Gray. However, it’s certainly possible that she had secretly included Greasy Sae, knowing that this old woman was a past victor no one remembered being in the games.

Ultimately, Greasy Sae being a forgotten victor would explain why she was the one to take care of Katniss after Coin’s assassination. Additionally, this theory adds a certain poetry to Greasy Sae and Lucy Gray’s names, which are strikingly similar. While I wouldn’t expect Sunrise on the Reaping to outright confirm this theory, it would be fun to see a few more dropped hints.

4

Katniss’ Father Was Related To The Covey

Katniss’ Father Would Be A Teenager During The Events Of Sunrise On The Reaping

There seemed to be hints all throughout The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that Katniss’ father was somehow related to Lucy Gray’s troupe of musicians. Though Mr. Everdeen was never given a proper name in the Hunger Games series (the books were from Katniss’ perspective, and she only ever called him her dad), a great deal was revealed about his character. He had been a music lover with a singing voice that made the birds stop to listen. He was also a skilled forager with a profound knowledge of edible and medicinal plants.

These are skills revealed to be foundational to the Covey, and many of the songs Mr. Everdeen taught Katniss were written by Lucy Gray herself. While it’s certainly possible that Katniss’ father learned all this secondhand, this seems unlikely considering what we know about District 12. Foraging and hunting were not permitted since the Capitol wanted the District citizens to be dependent on the Tessera for survival. Such a thing had to be done secretly, and even Katniss, with all her compassion, didn’t teach people what she knew. The exception is Gale, but this trust took time to develop.

Lucy Gray’s songs were also banned, and considering her relationship with Snow, this makes a lot more sense. It seems these things could have only been learned in the safety of a home, indicating that Mr. Everdeen learned Covey skills from his parents, just as Katniss learned them from hers. Mr. Everdeen should be a teenager in Sunrise on the Reaping, which means there’s a possibility that the details of his family life and connection to the Covey could be even subtly explained.

3

Tigris’ Physical Transformation Was Because Of Snow

Sunrise On The Reaping Can Finally Explain What Happened To Tigris

Tigris was first introduced in the Mockingjay book when she offered her shop as a refuge for Katniss and her fellow rebels. The woman had been through extensive surgeries to look like a tiger, and, even with the strange styles of the Capitol, Katniss found this odd. She assumed that Tigris had been fired from a Hunger Games for taking her cosmetic alterations too far, leading the woman to despise Snow and become a rebel. However, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hinted that Katniss’ judgments of Tigris had been incorrect.

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Tigris was a kind young woman who despised the Hunger Games and felt immense compassion for the District tributes. She also loved her little cousin, Coriolanus Snow, whom she had cared for for most of their lives. It simply doesn’t make sense that Tigris would have become the greedy Hunger Games celebrity stylist that Katniss imagined her to have been in Mockingjay. So, this begs the question—what was the real reason for her transformation?

Tigris should still be a Hunger Games stylist in Sunrise on the Reaping‘s 50th Hunger Games, so we should get some answers in the upcoming prequel. The theory I find the most likely is that Tigris purposely overdid her surgeries to escape her role in the Hunger Games and to make herself undesireable so that Snow couldn’t sell her body as he did his other “possessions.” Or, perhaps Snow forced Tigris to get these surgeries so no one would want her. Regardless, I believe Sunrise on the Reaping will reveal that Snow played a significant part.

2

The Rebellion Began With The 50th Hunger Games

Sunrise On The Reaping May Plant The Seeds Of Katniss’ Rebellion

In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Katniss discovered that many of the Hunger Games stylists, mentors, and even some Gamemakers were part of a secret rebellion against the Capitol. They had become allied with District 13 and took advantage of the third Quarter Quell to break the tributes free and begin the official war against President Snow. How this was organized and when it began wasn’t revealed. Haymitch may have only just become aware of the rebellion after Katniss’ first games. Or, perhaps, he had been part of this movement for years.

It makes sense that the mentors’ breaking point would have come long before Katniss’ stunt with the berries. The 50th Hunger Games was unique in that twice as many victors were sent into the arena to die. This means that rather than helping two children who were unlikely to survive, each mentor was forced to lead four to their deaths. This might have been enough to inspire the mentors to get organized. So, after Haymitch wins his games in Sunrise on the Reaping, it’s possible that he will become a mentor just as things begin to get intense.

Sunrise on the Reaping could see the beginning of the mentor’s rebellion if the story follows The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes lead and continues past the ending of the 50th Hunger Games. We could potentially see Haymitch’s first official year as a mentor and the beginning of what would take 25 years to grow into an official war against the Capitol.

1

District 13 Was Waiting For Their Mockingjay Long Before Katniss’ Games

District 13 May Have Had More Gamemakers On Its Payroll

It’s typically assumed that District 13 took advantage of Katniss’ stunt with the berries to begin its war against the Capitol, but Sunrise on the Reaping may reveal this wasn’t the case. A popular Hunger Games theory is that Katniss’ first games were orchestrated in a way that ensured she would become the Mockingjay—a figure to inspire a revolution. This would have involved the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, recognizing Katniss’ potential and purposely changing the rules to allow two victors, thus the girl into doing something remarkable.

After Katniss volunteered as tribute and later gave little Rue a touching funeral in the arena, District 13 might have realized this was their girl. If Seneca were secretly a rebel, he might have been instructed to ensure that Katniss and Peeta made it to the end, forcing them into a corner to inspire their mini-rebellion. If the plan failed, the worst that would happen is that tributes, who were already basically doomed, would be killed. If they succeeded, it would be the spark District 13 needed to make their move.

Sunrise on the Reaping could prove this theory correct if there were indications in the 50th Hunger Games that Gamemakers, maybe even Seneca Crane himself, were in District 13’s pocket. It would set the stage for Katniss’ story in The Hunger Games, precisely what we want from a great prequel.