Who Wins The Hunger Games In The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes?
The following contains spoilers for "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes"
The prequel to the original "Hunger Games" series — "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" — chronicles the descent of Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) through the lens of his time as a mentor during the 10th annual Hunger Games. He ends up taking a liking to his tribute, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), who's not much of a combatant but wins over people's hearts with her musical talent. The competition itself may be a bit more rudimentary compared to what fans see in the original series, but in the end, Lucy Gray winds up victorious.
It's the same victor as the one in the novel the film is based on — the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins. Lucy Gray wins, not because she can outmatch her opponents through strength but through the underhandedness of Snow. He uses his position as a mentor and takes advantage of some handy new rules thrown in for this particular Hunger Games to ensure Lucy Gray survives, going as far as sabotaging Dr. Volumnia Gaul's (Viola Davis) snakes so that they recognize Lucy Gray's scent and don't attack her during the grand finale.
She gets to go home to District 12, which is undoubtedly a shock to many who watched the games since she is such a small girl. But she instills the idea in Snow that he needs to believe in her, saying, "You could start by thinking I could actually win."
Lucy Gray Baird's fate remains ambiguous at the end
Despite being the anti-Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) when it comes to survival skills, Lucy Gray Baird wins the games and returns home. She doesn't have much to go back to, seeing how District 12 remains one of the poorer districts. Simply having her life is enough, but there's more to Lucy Gray's story. We just don't know what it is at this point.
Due to Coriolanus Snow's cheating, he's banished as a peacekeeper to District 8, though he bribes his way to a District 12 assignment and starts up a romantic relationship with Lucy Gray in secret. But a series of tragic events results in Lucy Gray and Snow running away to a secret place where people live outside of the panopticon of the Capitol. Snow's terrible secrets come to life, and Lucy Gray leaves him behind. For now, that's all we know about her.
Unlike "The Hunger Games," which is based on an original book trilogy, "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" is a single installment (for the moment), so it's unclear what happened to Lucy Gray. She could've escaped and eventually reached a new home on her own. She easily could've been killed during the journey. In the book, it's explained how Dr. Gaul wiped Lucy Gray's victory from the archives, so she becomes nothing more than a memory.
Regardless of her fate, audiences understand Snow from the original "Hunger Games" series a bit better. It's clear he despises Katniss a bit because she reminds him of Lucy Gray. And perhaps not knowing what really happened to Lucy Gray only drives him into further madness.