The Hunger Games in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) emerge as the victors constitute two very different events in the setting of The Hunger Games Saga. The differences between the 10th and 74th Games go far beyond Katniss’ district partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) surviving along with her, or Lucy Gray being mentored by Capitol student Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), who would become President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in Katniss’ time. The two Games depicted are distinct from one another, but both reflect the Capitol’s determination to control the districts.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes takes place more than 60 years before the original Hunger Games franchise and offers fans insight into the history of the Games, showing how they became a disturbingly massive event over 70 years. The 10th Hunger Games showcases the still developing logistical aspects of the Games, with rudimentary versions of the sponsorship and betting systems. This would grow into the glitzy spectacle seen in the Hunger Games movies, including the even more different Quarter Quell, for which previous victors are forced to return to the arena.
7. Tributes In Lucy Gray’s Hunger Games Are Mentored By Capitol Students
For the 10th Hunger Games, the Capitol assigns one of its best students to mentor each tribute.
The year of Lucy Gray’s Games, the Capitol decides to have its top students mentor the tributes in the hopes of making the Games a more entertaining spectacle.
The concept of mentors is presented in The Hunger Games as the tributes being mentored by past victors. This already constitutes some districts having an advantage: Katniss and Peeta have only one mentor between the two of them because Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) is presumably the only living District 12 victor by the time of the 74th Hunger Games. In other districts, there are enough victors that mentors could eventually retire or rotate years of mentoring. However, this setup also means that the Games would have to go on for many years before there were even enough mentors for every district.
This is where Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes picks up. It is implied that the tributes were given no direction whatsoever for the first nine Games. The year of Lucy Gray’s Games, the Capitol decides to have its top students mentor the tributes in the hopes of making the Games a more entertaining spectacle. The evident tension and violence between the mentors and tributes during this year is likely what eventually led to the decision to have past victors serve as mentors, in the hopes that the tributes would trust people also from the districts.
6. Katniss Gets Luxury Treatment Before The Hunger Games Begin
Tributes in the 74th Hunger Games live in luxury and are treated as celebrities before the event.
Katniss, Peeta, and the other tributes in their year live in absolute luxury in the week leading up to their Games. This is part of the entertainment formula wherein the tributes are treated as pseudo-celebrities who are pampered and stylized as figures for the Capitol citizens to adore. Lucy Gray has no stylist, escort, or prep team; she and the tributes in her years are treated as animals up until the Games. They might not have even eaten anything before the Games if their mentors hadn’t brought them food. They also receive no training.
Lucy Gray’s year is also the first time the tributes do interviews. However, Katniss and Peeta’s comparatively better treatment still plays into the brutality of the Games and the Capitol’s government. They have lived in poverty their entire lives, and only get enough food to eat before they die, so they will have the energy to fight in the arena. They are also given monetary winnings and continue to be celebrities after the Games. Lucy Gray disappears after Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, after returning to her regular life in District 12.
