Coriolanus Snow is a character I tried my best to understand as to why he turned out the way he did in the Hunger Games trilogy. I have come to a realisation that there simply is no reason. He’s a Capitol supremist who believed he’s entitled to everything with power, especially the prestige that came with the “Snow” name. He is possessive and obsessive of people (like Lucy Gray and Sejanus) or things like (positions of power ie., being the president). Though he believed himself to have loved and cared for Lucy Gray and Sejanus, in a sick sense of justification he attempted and succeeding in “stopping” them from doing something stupid that may result in sabotaging of his great future. All in all, he’s an extremely complex character with a number of extreme complexes, particularly a superiority complex.

Lucy Gray Baird’s unknown fate being strikingly similar to that of the ballad in her namesake was a doleful irony, a clever way of ending the story but even still immortalising the essence of her life through the same songs she once sang to entertain the masses. As much as Snow hopes to have the memories of her existence erased, it’s clear in the Hunger Games trilogy that he was proven wrong. Her impact on the people, of both the Capitol and the districts alike, was thoroughly underestimated by Snow which he would realise later on. I do wish to know if Lucy Gray ever managed to survive the shots fired by someone whom she thought her lover, her trustee. Even if she did survive them, I don’t reckon she could’ve endured Snow’s betrayal anyway.

PS: The last 50 pages had my heart rate spiked to a point where I thought I could hear it. I love and hate this book at the same time (no offense to the author). Almost had a really silly belief that Snow could have redemption despite being aware of his future endeavours.