History Literature / TheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes

* {{Unperson}}: [[spoiler:''The entire 10th Hunger Games'']], due to them being a clusterfuck from start to finish: [[spoiler:A mentor was killed by her tribute before the Games started; another mentor tried to kill himself by entering the Arena and letting the tributes kill him; when he was extracted, his saviour had to kill a tribute to escape; the victor only won because her mentor cheated outrageously; and the victor eventually goes AWOL after being falsely accused of murder.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHerod: Implied. A lot of Lucy's knowledge implies that she [[spoiler:ends up marrying into Katniss's family and spreading her lineage that way, therefore implying that Snow ultimately failed in killing Lucy.]]

* LoveCannotOvercome: Snow's initial excitement at [[spoiler: running away and starting a life with Lucy Gray is quickly dampered by the realization that he would have to live a primitive life fighting for survival, having lived a life of comfort back in the Capitol. He decides that even the idea of settling down with Lucy Gray cannot make up for this potential dreaded life and plans to leave her behind in District 12 so he can begin his Peacekeeping studies, but worries about breaking her heart. His final decision is made significantly easier just moments later when he discovers Lucy Gray's betrayal in the woods. Likewise, Lucy Gray made it clear that she values trust above all else, including love. While she may have still loved Snow, her trust in him had completely shattered when she found out about his involvement in Sejanus' execution, and tried to escape him.]]

* LoveCannotOvercome: Snow's initial excitement at [[spoiler: running away and starting a life with Lucy Gray is quickly dampered by the realization that he would have to live a primitive life fighting for survival, having lived a life of comfort back in the Capitol. He decides that even the idea of settling down with Lucy Gray cannot make up for this potential dreaded life and plans to leave her behind in District 12 so he can begin his Peacekeeping studies, but worries about breaking her heart. His final decision is made significantly easier just moments later when he discovers Lucy Gray's betrayal in the woods. Likewise, Lucy Gray made it clear that she values trust above all else, including love. While she may have still loved Snow, her trust in him had completely shattered when she found out about his involvement in Sejanus' execution]]

* LoveCannotOvercome: Snow's initial excitement at [[spoiler: running away and starting a life with Lucy Gray is quickly dampered by the realization that he would have to live a primitive life fighting for survival, having lived a life of comfort back in the Capitol. He decides that even the idea of settling down with Lucy Gray cannot make up for this potential dreaded life and plans to leave her behind in District 12 so he can begin his Peacekeeping studies.]]

* LoveCannotOvercome: Snow's initial excitement at [[spoiler: running away and starting a life with Lucy Gray is quickly dampered by the realization that he would have to live a primitive life fighting for survival, having lived a life of comfort back in the Capitol. He decides that even the idea of settling down with Lucy Gray cannot make up for this potential dreaded life and plans to leave her behind in District 12 so he can begin his Peacekeeping studies, but worries about breaking her heart. His final decision is made significantly easier just moments later when he discovers Lucy Gray's betrayal in the woods.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: Bird symbolism is used pretty blatantly in ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes''. Coriolanus, a Capitol born-and-bred who favors order and resents chaos, loves the jabberjays (through which the Capitol tried to impose order on the Districts) and ''hates'' the mockingjays (who represent "mistakes" that the Capitol accidentally created because they couldn't impose order), dreading whenever they start to mimic voices and at one point suggesting for hunting trips to eradicate them. He uses a jabberjay to rat out [[spoiler:Sejanus]] to the Capitol, but mockingkays prevent him from washing his hands clean of [[spoiler:the rebel plot]] completely, since they protect the last known witness of his involvement: [[spoiler:Lucy Gray Baird]].

* AffectionateNickname: Tigris called Snow "Coryo".

* AmbiguousSituation: The ending.[[spoiler:What really happened to Lucy Gray Baird? Is she dead? But if she's not, where did she go? Snow, who has made up his mind to forget about her, simply learns that she disappeared from the faces of the earth. It's heavily implied, but not made clear, that Lucy secretly married into the Everdeen family, due to her knowledge of the songs Katniss' father liked to recite, her relationship with mockingjays, and her love of katnisses/arrowheads.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHerod: Implied. A lot of Lucy's knowledge implies that she [[spoiler:ends up marrying into Katniss's family and spreading her lineage that way, because Gray didn't ultimately succeed in killing Lucy.]]

* RayOfHopeEnding: ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'' ends on this. [[spoiler:Snow finally chooses his destiny as a future leader of Panem and kills anyone who stands on his way, including his best friend. However, he is unable to snuff out the last link to his old life: Lucy Gray Baird, who presumably still hangs out in District 12 and becomes a precursor (either [[FamousAncestor literally]] or metaphorically) to a future rebellious girl from the same district who will take away everything he holds dear some sixty four years later]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The 10th Hunger Games themselves are a total mess in-universe. Elements of the Games that would become standard by ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' are either missing entirely or very different, such as the tributes being held in a rabies-ridden zoo rather than in a GildedCage and there is no emphasis on talents.

* ArcWords: "Snow lands on top." for ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes''.

* NiceJobBreakingItHerod: Implied. A lot of Lucy's knowledge implies that she [[spoiler:ends up marrying into Katniss's family and spreading her lineage that way,

* {{Unperson}}: ''The entire 10th Hunger Games'', due to them being a clusterfuck from start to finish [[spoiler:and the victor going AWOL afterwards, of course.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: Bird symbolism is used pretty blatantly in ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes''. Coriolanus, a Capitol born-and-bred who favors order and resents chaos, loves the jabberjays (through which the Capitol tried to impose order on the Districts) and ''hates'' the mockingjays (who represent "mistakes" that the Capitol accidentally created because they couldn't impose order), dreading whenever they start to mimic voices and at one point suggesting for hunting trips to eradicate them. He uses a jabberjay to rat out [[spoiler:Sejanus]] to the Capitol, but mockingkays prevent him from washing his hands clean of [[spoiler:the rebel plot]] completely, since they protect the last known witness of his involvement: [[spoiler:Lucy Gray Baird]].

* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler: In ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'' Snow runs away with Lucy to the woods outside of Twelve, and several times in the book he contemplates the possibility of living an honourable life, but he abandons that dream at the end of the book.]]

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:In ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'', Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird ultimately do not hook up, mainly because of [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill their differing views]] [[IJustWantToBeFree of the world]]. Lucy Gray ends up going missing and Snow returns to the Capitol, where he decides that LoveIsAWeakness and resolves to never let himself fall in love again.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Nero Price in ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'' cannibalised a dead maid in front of Tigris and Snow, and may have fed human meat to his unwitting daughter Persephone.]]
* MeaningfulName: In ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'', Lucy Gray's musical troupe is called the Covey. A covey is a group of quails, tying in with her avian theme.
* MusicalThemeNaming: In ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'', all members of the Covey are named after real-life ballads and poems. The most prominent, of course, is Lucy Gray (named after the poem by Creator/WilliamWordsworth; this is even pointed out in-universe). Another is Barb Azure (named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Allen_(song) Barbara Allen]]).

''The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes'' is a prequel to ''The Hunger Games'' trilogy by Creator/SuzanneCollins. It takes place 64 years before the first book and focuses on the 10th Hunger Games through the eyes of a teenage Coriolanus Snow, exploring the combination of nature and nurture that led to him becoming the villain of the original trilogy and the evolution of the Hunger Games within the story's universe.