In the original Hunger Games books and movies, the District mentors are the past victors from the Games—but this won't be the case in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The prequel film trailer showed a young President Coriolanus Snow serving as a mentor in the 10th Hunger Games, which seems to imply that he had once participated in the events himself. However, the book the Hunger Games movie is based on explains why this Capitol teenager ended up a District 12 mentor.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel novel released by Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins in 2020. Instead of centering on District citizens, the book's story followed the younger version of Katniss Everdeen's villain, Coriolanus Snow. Being set about 65 years before the original book trilogy, readers could see what the aftermath of the first rebellion looked like for the Capitol citizens and develop a better understanding of how the Hunger Games became what they were in later decades. It also provided further context for the evil President Snow, such as how he got involved in the Games, to begin with.
Snow Never Won Or Competed In The Hunger Games (But Did Help Lucy Gray Win)
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes reveals that Coriolanus Snow had been a mentor in the 10th Hunger Games, but this wasn't because he had been a victor. At this point in the Games' history, the concept of mentors was brand new, and no one had considered using District citizens to do the job. However, this isn't to say that the young Snow didn't understand what it was like to fight for his life. In fact, the Hunger Games were meant to force District children to experience what life had been like for those in the Capitol during Panem's first war.
Through Coriolanus' memories, readers see in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that when the Districts rebelled and withheld the Capitol's resources, Panem's elite citizens were forced to turn against one another for survival. They were weak and starving and, in many cases, resorted to cannibalism. These were the circumstances under which the future president of Panem grew up. Therefore, like the mentors of Katniss' Hunger Games, Snow understood the event's stakes.
Still, Coriolanus' experience with the Hunger Games didn't end at war and mentorship. In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the young mentor got wrapped up in a series of events that led to him sneaking into the arena. While there, he was forced to kill one of the tributes—his very first (but not last) taste of murder. Moreover, his role as mentor went even further when he cheated to ensure that his tribute, Lucy Gray Baird from District 12, won. Therefore, Snow's experience was deeply entwined in the brutal Games despite never being a victor.
Why Coriolanus Snow Mentored Lucy Gray Baird (Despite Not Being A Victor)
In the early days of the Hunger Games, the Capitol citizens took little pleasure in watching District children fight to the death. Viewership wasn't mandatory as it was when Haymitch mentored Katniss' Hunger Games, and leading up to the event, the tributes were kept in a zoo enclosure with no food or medical care. Many died before they even entered the arena, and those that did make it were often too sickly to put up much of a fight. This inspired the great minds of Panem to work out a way to get the Capitol citizens more invested in the events—and their solution was to get Capitol teenagers involved as the first-ever mentors.
During the 10th Annual Hunger Games, students in their final year of school were made mentors. It became the final project of their school careers, and doing it well—such as leading their tribute to victory—would result in scholarships for University. In the case of Coriolanus Snow, his family's fortune had been lost during the war, and they had only managed to maintain their status by pretending that they weren't missing meals or wearing their clothing threadbare. Therefore, his only chance of continuing his education and saving his family was if his District 12 girl won the Games.
How President Snow Transformed The Hunger Games
The idea to make Capitol children mentors for the District tributes was the first step towards the Hunger Games becoming what they were in Katniss' day, but some changes had to be made after the majorly significant 10th Hunger Games. Several mentors wound up dead due to their proximity to the Games, and Coriolanus' intimate involvement with his District 12 tribute made it clear that the whole thing had been a terrible idea. Still, the interest in that year's Games proved that there was something to the mentor idea, so past District victors were used instead.
This wasn't the end of Snow's impact on the Hunger Games. During the 10th Games, it was his idea to allow Capitol citizens to place bets on the tributes and send them gifts in the arena that could help them win. Then, after that year's disastrous Games came to an end (and all records had been wiped away to cover up the fact that so many Capitol children had been killed) the future President Snow suggested treating the tributes like royalty so that they would be even more fun to watch die in the arena. Of course, this would become a major feature of Katniss' Hunger Games, and it all started with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
