The fate of Lucy Gray Baird will always remain a mystery within the Hunger Games franchise, but there are a handful of hints that she might have lived. Of course, there are also several indications that this Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes character died, so, said and done, we still don’t have any definitive answers. This is by design, since the entire point of Lucy Gray’s ending is that her fate is left ambiguous. Still, it’s interesting to look at the various references to her character in The Hunger Games and consider the hidden truths they could conceal.
Lucy Gray Baird was introduced in the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but she was subtly referenced early on in the very first Hunger Games book. Katniss revealed that there had been one District 12 victor before Haymitch Abernathy, but no one knew who they were or what had become of them. President Snow’s prequel then dived into precisely why this was. The teenage Coriolanus had attacked Lucy Gray in the woods near District 12, and it’s uncertain whether she escaped or died. Now, between The Hunger Games, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and the new Sunrise on the Reaping, we can scrap together some hopeful clues.
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Snow’s Behavior In The Hunger Games Hints That He Still Feared Lucy Gray
Even With All His Resources, Snow Couldn’t Prove Lucy Gray Died
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a deeply valuable extension to The Hunger Games, since it explained many of President Snow’s decisions and behaviors. The reveal that he had once been in love with a District 12 girl added further context to his hatred toward Katniss Everdeen, since she surely would have reminded him of Lucy Gray. Haymitch’s prequel novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, took this further, revealing that Snow had remained obsessed with Lucy Gray for decades.
It’s clear in the Hunger Games franchise that Snow still fears Lucy Gray even 65 years after he last saw her. Katniss’ story reveals that the dictator has surveillance in the woods surrounding District 12, indicating that he had been keeping watch for Lucy Gray’s return (ᴅᴇᴀᴅ or alive). He surely knew about the grave the Covey had created for Lucy Gray (revealed in Sunrise on the Reaping), but that seemingly brought him no peace. This indicates that he knows that Lucy Gray’s family never actually recovered her body, and Snow remained trapped in his fear of her as a result.
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Lenore Dove Wouldn’t Talk About Lucy Gray In Sunrise On The Reaping
She Had Been Taught To Keep This Secret Close
Sunrise on the Reaping revealed that Haymitch Abernathy and Coriolanus Snow shared something in common—they had both fallen in love with Covey girls. Haymitch’s sweetheart as a teenager was named Lenore Dove Baird, the likely daughter of Lucy Gray’s cousin, Maude Ivory Baird. Though Katniss had no clue who the first District 12 victor had been, Haymitch knew in Sunrise on the Reaping that she had been a Covey relative of Lenore Dove’s. However, his lover refused to talk about or even share the name of the 10th Hunger Games’ victor.
If Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber had found Lucy Gray’s body after the events of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, there would have been no reason for them to teach Lenore Dove to keep silent about her. Lenore Dove had no problem speaking out against the Capitol or saying risky things, and she trusted Haymitch wholeheartedly. She had no reason to keep secrets from him, yet she remained loyally quiet about Lucy Gray. This seemingly implies that she had reason to believe she would endanger Lucy Gray if she talked about her.
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Haymitch’s Flint Striker Hints That Lucy Gray Told Her Story
Tam Amber Knew The Significance Of The Mockingjay & Snake
Custom Image by Milica Djordjevic
In Sunrise on the Reaping, Lenore Dove gave Haymitch a meaningful birthday present. She had Tam Amber make him a flint striker (meant for starting fires), which depicted a Mockingjay and a snake facing off. This is an overt reference to the тιтle of President Snow’s prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and a representation of Coryo and Lucy Gray themselves. Snow recognized as much the moment he saw the flint striker, smiling to himself and calling the bird and snake a “pretty pair.” He knew at once it was made by the Covey, because only they would know the significance of these two animals.
The big question here is how Tam Amber knew the significance of a Mockingjay and a snake. These two creatures served a role in Lucy Gray and Snow’s showdown, but only Snow himself would have known that if Lucy Gray had died. Tam Amber could have only made that flint striker after hearing the story from Lucy Gray herself.
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District 13’s Existence Hints At A Possible Refuge For Lucy Gray
The Hunger Games Set Up A Place For Lucy Gray To Hide
Lucy Gray is a survivor through and through, with more than enough knowledge of edible herbs and plants to survive off the land. However, even with these abilities, it would have been nearly impossible for Lucy Gray to survive in the wilderness by herself for long. The solitude itself would have been too much, especially for a Covey girl. This fact has been used to argue the likelihood that Lucy Gray died, but The Hunger Games already established a feasible refuge for her character.
Her parents had even been around when the Covey were still nomads, so Lucy Gray might have even had ancestral knowledge of how to get there.
In The Hunger Games books and movies, Katniss learned that rebel citizens had been running away to District 13 for years. Not many made it, but the lucky few were welcomed with open arms (since 13 needed to diversify its population). District 12 was still a long way from District 13, but it was the closest to the hidden district of all the other regions of Panem. If people from farther away could make it, Lucy Gray surely could have done it too. Her parents had even been around when the Covey were still nomads, so Lucy Gray might have even had ancestral knowledge of how to get there.
Lucy Gray likely wouldn’t have stayed in District 13 forever, but she might have stayed there for some years until she found a long-term plan.
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Lucy Gray’s Funeral Song Hints At When It Would Be Her Time To Die
Lucy Gray Might Have Still Been In The Old Therebefore
Lucy Gray expected to die during the Hunger Games, but she miraculously survived (with the help of Coriolanus Snow). While in the arena, she sang the song “The Old Therebefore,” which was again featured in Sunrise on the Reaping. District 12 uses this tune as a funeral song, and the lyrics detail when the surviving mourners expect to join their loved ones in the “old sweet hereafter.” While this is fairly straightforward in the literal sense, the songs of The Hunger Games tend to be packed full of symbolism and clues.
Overall, this song seems to suggest that Lucy Gray’s time wouldn’t come until the rebellion as a whole is complete.
The lyrics of “The Old Therebefore” claim that the singer won’t die until they have completely wrapped up their unfinished business. A couple of the final lines are, “When I’m pure like a dove, when I’ve learned how to love.“ Interestingly, the first line parallels Haymitch’s Sunrise on the Reaping story, with the word “dove” connecting to Lenore Dove. The second line links Lucy Gray to Katniss, since a major aspect of The Hunger Games is Katniss tempering her blind need for survival with Peeta’s love. Overall, this song seems to suggest that Lucy Gray’s time wouldn’t come until the rebellion as a whole is complete.
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The Inscription On Lucy Gray’s Headstone Suggests The Covey Didn’t Find Her Body
The Grave Was Likely Symbolic
In Sunrise on the Reaping, Burdock Everdeen led Haymitch to a secret Covey cemetery so he could mourn Lenore Dove. There, he saw a headstone for Lucy Gray (though he didn’t necessarily know who she was). Rather than put full names and dates of death, the Covey engraves their loved ones’ headstones with lines from their respective ballads. Lucy Gray’s stone read, “Yet some maintain that to this day she is a living child; That you may see sweet Lucy Gray upon the lonesome wild.”
Collins cleverly paid homage to Lucy Gray in Sunrise on the Reaping without revealing whether she had actually died or not. Her headstone only suggests that the Covey desired a place to mourn her, but the fact that they chose this specific line from the poem Lucy Gray by William Wordsworth indicates that they were in on the mystery. If Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine knew of Lucy Gray’s fate (one way or another), they essentially used the mysterious line on the headstone to taunt The Hunger Games’ vicious dictator.
The Hunger Games
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Suzanne Collins
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The Hunger Games
- Cast
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Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman
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