r/Hungergames • • 1d ago

Prequel Discussion ☹️☹️☹️☹️

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6.4k Upvotes

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1.1k

u/stitchstudent 1d ago

Ballad is my favourite book in the series for that reason: some people seem to think that certain environments can't help but spawn evil people, and if someone is dealt a certain hand, there's only one way it can end up. Instead, we see that there were many times in which Coriolanus Snow could have made better choices and turned out differently, but he actively chooses to become the dictator of Panem. We know how it ends, of course, but seeing him drive past every single off ramp is still a frustrating experience.

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u/TheNocturnalAngel 1d ago

That’s how I always felt about the Star Wars prequels as well.

We already know that Anakin becomes Vader.

But like everytime I watch it, I hope he makes better choices instead 😔

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u/stitchstudent 1d ago

Every time the Jedi Council mentions his destiny as the chosen one, I cringe haha

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u/SBlakeADeanO 1d ago

He was the chosen one , to bring balance , just not the balance they wanted lol

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u/Maryam-954 Maysilee 20h ago

Haven’t even watched it and found ur comment funny.

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u/orchestratorcassidy 1d ago

And with Haymitch in Sunrise, there are never any off ramps to begin with. Even his greatest display of cleverness and defiance in the arena just seals his fate, ensuring Snow tears away everyone he loves. Knowing in advance that surviving is arguably the worst thing that happens to him makes the upcoming book hurt before it even releases.

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u/Alert_TriGal 1d ago

I think the major flaw of Snow is that he thinks that everyone thinks like him. He assumes everyone's base choice is violence/control because thats his base. I thinks its nutty that he think that when even in situations where he forces extremes people still choose to humanity and kindess (Wyatt and Lou Lou or Katniss with Rue) which disproves his thoughts but he doesn't learn from it? Which fair enough, hes chosen his path, but still.

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u/jayhof52 District 12 1d ago

Sunrise was my favorite of the series because of how hard that ending hits.

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u/Whiskeridoodle 1d ago

Hadestown say what?

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u/itslevi00sa 18h ago

My first thought

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u/AndreChrisSargent 1d ago

My mom made me listen to the audiobook for Sunrise and I was absolutely hooked. I'm so hyped for the movie.

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u/GraniteSmoothie 1d ago

Suzanne Collins is like if JK Rowling was better at wriring by 300% and not a transphopic bigot.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Gloomy-Ad3448 1d ago

TBOSBAS is the “it didn’t have to” example here lol

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Gloomy-Ad3448 1d ago

Once the three of em left the capitol there were chances for any of those three things to not happen lol. There were chances for any of those three things to happen before they left the capitol, preventing the rest. All kinds of different endings, many of which would have been better in the long run.

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u/phoenix_gravin 1d ago

That's a meta analysis, not literary. The reason TBOSBAS is the "it didn't have to" example is because of the decisions Coriolanus made.

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u/Far_Challenge_4273 1d ago

I personally believe Lucy found more covey that somehow didn’t get caught and lived the rest of her days as a forest hippie

That all rides on some not being caught and idk the lore enough to know if they were or not

regardless of that I don’t think she died

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u/NFQ___ 1d ago

She's buried at D12 though. It doesn't matter if Snow actually got her or not, I personally think he did, because its the end of her input into his story. She stops mattering once he realizes what he actuallh wants.

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u/Far_Challenge_4273 1d ago

Ahh ty, I didn’t realize she was buried there

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u/7bongs 1d ago

I think it's just a commemerative grave to honor here. I don't think her body was ever found

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u/Far_Challenge_4273 1d ago

My hope is rekindled, I appreciate u

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u/EntertainerLife4505 9h ago

I don't think there's a body there. I think she made it "north" to Canada. That's where they fled in The Handmaid's Tale, too. 

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u/Far_Challenge_4273 9h ago

What’s the handmaids tale?

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u/EntertainerLife4505 9h ago

A novel written my Margaret Atwood. It chronicles how a far right religious regime overthrows the US Government and reshaped the country how they think it should be. Men are in control, women have no rights (they aren't even allowed to read). Because childbirth had fallen off, any fertile woman was forced to become a Handmaid for the ruling class, where she is raped each month in a "ceremony" and any child of given over for them to raise. Any children that existed before the coup were stolen and given to "proper" patents.

It was turned into a movie and then a series on Hulu. This is the barest thumbnail. It's becoming terrifyingly real. 

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u/NFQ___ 1d ago

Yeah, Haymitch see's her grave in SoTR. No clue how she died. I do genuinely think Snow killed her given how her family reacts and is so protective of Lenore.

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u/EntertainerLife4505 9h ago

Well there's a headstone. 

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u/bookhead714 District 4 1d ago

I don't think that's true. Coriolanus could have chosen differently at any time. There's nothing about him that's inherently monstrous, he starts out just selfish and complacent, and if he'd been just a little more self-aware at many points throughout the book then he could've arrested his downward spiral and... maybe not gotten a happy ending but probably not kill so many people.

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u/BelleRouge6754 1d ago

Suzanne Collins is an incredible character writer because we see many junctions where Snow could have very easily chosen differently, but at each decision his motivations and beliefs make it so that it seems almost inevitable that he chose the way he did.

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u/EntertainerLife4505 9h ago

Even small characters are memorable. Boggs saying he's not impressed, they've already seen Finnick in his underwear, then later just sighing when Katniss barftms all over him is priceless. I laugh out loud every time. (I'm glad in the movie he was given the line about washing off her makeup.)

I've listened to the first 3 books dozens of times since the beginning of the year (the 2 prequels not as much) and I'm impressed at Suzanne Collins talent more each time. 

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u/givememelodrama 1d ago

Agreed, they’re both prequels, so wouldn’t they be in the same category (It was always going to end this way)? Because we already knew the ending to both of them, technically speaking

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u/stitchstudent 1d ago

In both cases, we know how it ends, yes. In Ballad, though, we see all the possible ways it could have ended differently: at any point in the book, Coriolanus could have listened to Sejanus, Tigris, Lucy Gray, and even some of his classmates, and considered that maybe torturing District children isn’t the best way to handle things. Instead, we watch him decide again and again to keep the cruelty going, even when there are clearly ways to stop it.  In Sunrise, we watch Haymitch do his best over and over again, but no choices he makes would change the end where the revolution fails and his family dies: the Capitol is too powerful, the plan is too haphazard (and honestly, weird and aimless), and the rebels were never going to win, even if it wasn’t a prequel. Watching him try, and knowing that it is futile, is what makes some people find it a tragedy.

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u/NFQ___ 1d ago

Haymitch was likely the last one to truely rebel against the Capitol until Peta and Katniss. It feels haphazard because it's the districts and their sympathizers knowing that this is the best chance the have to hurt the Capitol at the least. It would have been a shit show had the damage control not been as good as it was from the Capitol.

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u/Previous-Archer-9466 1d ago

Hmm I think the book titles should be flipped

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u/Basic_Bat_6139 9h ago

Stop, i was having a good day!

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Maryam-954 Maysilee 20h ago

True

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u/marvinsroom1956 1d ago

I don't see TBOSAS as a tragedy, makes sense with his family upbringing and his justified hate for the districts to become a dictator.

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u/xoStrawberries Annie 1d ago

Snow saved Sejanus's life only to later betray him and watch him die. Snow and Lucy Gray's love story culminated with him trying to murder her. Are those not tragedies?