A popular The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes theory says that Lucy Gray is President Coin’s mother, and were this true, it would imply an even deeper connection between the villains and heroes of The Hunger Games. Of course, the prequel film leaves Lucy Gray’s fate ambiguous since it’s unclear whether she survived her fight with young Coriolanus Snow in the woods near District 12. Still, given what we know about her character, it makes sense that she would have the skills to make it to District 13 and have a child there—but what about Coin’s father?
At the end of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Coryo chases Lucy Gray into the woods, firing a rifle at her as he goes. He never figured out whether any of his bullets had found their mark or not, which meant he returned to the Capitol, never knowing whether his lover had survived. The ambiguous nature of Lucy Gray’s ending has led to dozens of theories, among the most popular being that she made it to District 13, where she eventually had a baby—Alma Coin. The idea of Snow’s Hunger Games enemy being his old lover’s daughter has a certain poetry to it, but it could go even further than that.
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Lucy Gray Being President Coin’s Mother Could Mean Snow Is Her Father
In The Hunger Games, it’s revealed that District 13 is near enough to District 12 that someone with survival skills could make a trip there on foot. This has served as the foundation for the theory that Lucy Gray ultimately wound up in District 13. If she fell in love and had a baby with one of the residents there, it’s always possible that their baby would grow up to be President Alma Coin. However, Lucy Gray going to District 13, to begin with, would make a whole lot more sense if she was already pregnant when she set out from District 12.
If Lucy Gray had survived her big fight with Snow at the end of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, it’s unlikely that the idea of living in an underground bunker would have appealed to her. She longed for a life of freedom, and District 13 was hardly a paradise for a traveling musician. If it were only a matter of her survival, Lucy Gray would have lived free in the wilderness. However, if she discovered shortly after leaving District 12 that she was pregnant, it would have changed everything. She might have found District 13, received medical care, and chosen to stay for the sake of her child—Coriolanus Snow’s daughter.
“Coin” was the president of District 13’s married name (her husband and daughter were killed during a pox outbreak), and we don’t know what the woman’s maiden name had been. The Hunger Games series reveals nothing else about her family history, so it’s certainly possible that Coin was the child of significant characters from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Ultimately, as the daughter of Lucy Gray and Coriolanus Snow, it makes sense that the woman would be willing to do whatever it took—even killing children—to “save” Panem. What’s more, this would create another poetic connection with the Mockingjay herself.
Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Also Implies Maude Ivory Is Katniss’ Grandmother
The theory that Lucy Gray and Coriolanus Snow are President Coin’s parents becomes even more impactful when remembering that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes heavily implies that Katniss’ family is connected to the Covey. Her father, who died before the events of The Hunger Games, was said in the books to have the ability to sing any song after only having heard it once, which is the exact skill that Maude Ivory bragged of in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Additionally, Katniss’ father was seemingly the only person in The Hunger Games who knew about the lake in the woods (a favorite location of the Covey), which is the only place in District 12 where katniss roots would grow.
Though these details could certainly be coincidences in real life, such parallels would only exist in literature for a reason. Therefore, it seems that Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins was subtly pointing out that Katniss was a descendant of Maude Ivory, most likely a granddaughter. If it’s true that Lucy Gray, who was cousins with Maude Ivory, is Coin’s mother, this would make Katniss and Coin cousins as well. Then, if Snow were the District 13 president’s father, then there is a family connection linking all of these major Hunger Games heroes and villains.
How A Family Connection Retroactively Changes The Hunger Games
The theory of President Coin’s parentage implies that she, Katniss, Lucy Gray, and Snow all share a family connection, and this retroactively changes the perspective toward these characters’ great rivalries in The Hunger Games. It’s certainly possible that Katniss, Coin, and Snow wouldn’t have known of this connection, but that wouldn’t change the fact that they were each working to kill their own blood. They were playing a game, trying to do away with the others, when, really, they were all family.
This same idea is reflected in the themes of The Hunger Games. By the events of Panem’s wars, relatively few human beings were left on earth, and it was frequently pointed out that even a small war could see the end of their race forever. Still, this didn’t stop the Districts from killing Capitol citizens or the Capitol from placing District children in the arena to die every year. It didn’t stop Coin and Snow from using Katniss like a piece in their redundant games. Humans committing such terrible crimes against other humans was no different from family committing crimes against family.
There Are Several Problems With The Lucy Gray/President Coin Theory
Though the idea of Coin being the daughter of Lucy Gray and Snow creates some interesting parallels to the themes of The Hunger Games, it’s far from a perfect theory. First, there’s no indication in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that Lucy Gray and Snow were ever intimate, and given the secretive nature of their relationship in District 12 (with Snow being a Peacekeeper), there wasn’t much opportunity for privacy. Additionally, even with District 13 being relatively close, it’s difficult to imagine that Lucy Gray would have found the underground bunker, especially given its reputation as a radioactive zone.
Still, these theories are all part of the fun of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ ambiguous ending. Collins left several clues throughout the prequel story regarding how the characters and events connect to The Hunger Games, with several strings of plot revealing how Katniss was, in a sense, always destined to serve as the catalyst for Panem’s revolution. Regardless of their connections, characters like Lucy Gray, Snow, Coin, and Katniss were all pieces in a violent and devastating game, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes revealed how this all comes down to the vicious cycles of war.
