This is something Iāve seen a lot and Iāve also joked about a lot but after SotR I just need to clarify my actual thoughts on this topic: Snowās ātwink deathā and his inability to let go of, what was essentially, a month long relationship.
The thing is, itās not Lucy Gray that heās holding a grudge againstā¦ itās her lifestyle. He got to experience first hand, the freedom and self-assurance that groups like the Covey generated for themselves. He saw Lucy Gray run off into the woods, swim in a lake, sing and dance with her peers, all after a game that shouldāve destroyed her spirits - because that is the point of the Games. To have a sole surviving reminder of why the Capitol is in control. To send back one āvictorā who every district hates because the person standing in front of them is taking their friend/child/sibling/cousin/partnerās spot. To completely dismantle that personās ability to cope with the world the way they used to and to have them beholden to the Capitol for āawardingā them with riches. Theyāre supposed to serve only as a reminder, a threat, a shell of a person who is visibly hollow and tarnished, hated by many, feared by some and pitied by few.
Lucy Gray is not that shell. Lucy Gray, therefore, serves as a constant reminder to Snow of what should not be happening to those who get to leave the arena. The more he takes command of the Capitol and the Games, the more the āmistakesā of the Games stand out to him because his benchmark for measuring them is Lucy Gray.
Keep in mind that the 10th Games were also the first time he got to see from the inside out. He saw what pissed off the tributes. He saw how they were transported. He also saw how the public reacted at the home district. Lucy Gray had nightmares, sure, but her ability to re-mingle with her friends was a failure of the Capitol. He saw the need to maintain a constant difference between āvictorā and āfriendā. He saw the need to put them on tours so that the divide and distance grows. He saw the need to be able to broadcast every aspect of the Games without having to constantly be frantically cutting the feed or very obviously fixing the narrative, because that was yet another failure of the system the Capitol was trying to enforce.
This becomes so clear in SotR when he has his talk with Haymitch and realises that the Lucy Gray spirit he has been trying to squash is still alive. Not only that, itās infectious. It can take someone like Haymitch, someone who is very well pressed under the Capitol thumb, and spark a fire inside him. The colours of the Covey, the singing, it doesnāt just represent Lucy Gray, it represents aspects of freedom that shouldnāt exist. Even him saying:
āYou love her. And oh, how she seems to love you. Except sometimes you wonder because her plans donāt seem to include you at all.ā
Is so telling because he canāt fathom that a person in the districts could have the independence of thought to do whatever they want. To him, she should be desperate to go back to the Capitol with Snow to get a chance to live the dream that theyāre trying so hard to sell, but obviously failing.
So no, Lucy Gray isnāt just the girl he couldnāt get over. Sheās the girl that serves as a warning, as an abomination of the purpose of the Capitol. As his personal blueprint of what should not be repeated ever again.
germansingergirl
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
jbbartram-illu
izzy806
prguitarman
kaledo-art
