What THAT Lucy Gray Reference In Sunrise On The Reaping Means For Her Hunger Games Fate

Warning! Spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping ahead!

Sunrise on the Reaping included a mysterious reference to Lucy Gray Baird that provides some clues regarding her fate in the Hunger Games franchise. The question of whether this character lived or died served as the final big mystery of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and that was, of course, the entire point. Audiences were meant to ruminate on this and develop their own theories regarding Lucy Gray’s ending. Though Haymitch’s Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, mentioned the character a handful of times, one particular Lucy Gray reference stands out.

At the end of Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch searched desperately in the woods surrounding District 12 for Lenore Dove Baird’s grave. He was finally led to a small Covey cemetery by Burdock Everdeen. Haymitch found three graves, each engraved with lines from the poems the deceased had been named for. One grave was, of course, dedicated to Lenore Dove. The other two belonged to Maude Ivory Baird and Lucy Gray Baird, both characters in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This only presents Hunger Games readers with more questions.

Is Lucy Gray Alive Or ᴅᴇᴀᴅ? What Sunrise On The Reaping’s Headstone Means For Her

Lucy Gray’s Grave Doesn’t Solve Her Mystery

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird Turning While Playing the Guitar in The Hunger Games The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

At the end of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lucy Gray Baird attempts to escape Coriolanus Snow, who shoots after her through the trees. Snow was unsure whether any of his bullets had found Lucy Gray, and he was forced to flee the woods to seek care for his snake bite. As far as Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ever revealed, Snow remained uncertain about whether Lucy Gray lived or died all the way to his death. The fact that this songbird had a grave in District 12 in the year of the 50th Hunger Games could suggest that she had died, but it’s really not that simple.

Lucy Gray’s gravestone said only “ – yet some maintain that to this day she is a living child; That you may see sweet Lucy Gray upon the lonesome wild.” This is a line from the poem Lucy Gray by William Wordsworth, which the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes character was named for.

It’s possible that Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine found Lucy Gray’s body in the woods after Snow returned to the Capitol and buried her in the Covey cemetery. This would mean that she truly had been sH๏τ at the end of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It’s also possible that the two Covey men searched but couldn’t find Lucy Gray, so they dedicated an empty grave to her, ᴀssuming that Snow had killed her. Additionally, the grave in Sunrise on the Reaping could indicate that Lucy Gray returned to the District 12 years later and was buried in the woods following the death of a different cause.

Lucy Gray’s Grave Is The Perfect Way To Honor Her Without Solving The Hunger Games’ Best Mystery

Lucy Gray Is The Foundation Of Haymitch’s (& Katniss’) Story

Haymitch in the middle, Lucy Gray and Katniss looking scared on either side — Custom image by Ana Nieves

All the grave in Sunrise on the Reaping does is confirm that Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine have said their goodbyes to Lucy Gray. Whether they did so while possessing her actual body or they simply established an empty grave for her is uncertain. Still, Lucy Gray’s grave was an important feature of Haymitch’s prequel story. Whether she lived or died, it’s clear through President Snow’s actions in Sunrise on the Reaping that Lucy Gray left an impression. The mystery of her fate haunts him, and he takes this out of District 12 as a whole.

It didn’t solve the mystery one way or another, but the stone demonstrated that, despite Snow’s efforts, Lucy Gray was remembered.

For this very reason, Lucy Gray’s fate remaining a mystery is critical. Her tragic and mysterious fate quietly fuels rebellion, so Sunrise on the Reaping providing an answer would have been a mistake. Still, it was just as important that this Hunger Games prequel emphasized Lucy Gray’s role in the overarching story. The grave was the perfect way to do so. It didn’t solve the mystery one way or another, but the stone demonstrated that, despite Snow’s efforts, Lucy Gray was remembered. She may have lived or died, but her legacy came for the Capitol in the end all the same.