Yahoo News The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ending explained
Fire is catching, as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is officially here.
The prequel was released in cinemas on 17th November, and follows an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as he's assigned to mentor District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler).
So, what happens to Coriolanus and Lucy Gray? Here is the ending of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes explained. May the odds be ever in your favour.
Lucy Gray wins The Hunger Games
In the arena, Lucy Gray is the last tribute standing after the vicious snakes recognise her scent from the handkerchief Coriolanus put in their tank, so don’t attack her.
Inside the Capitol, Coriolanus and the other viewers call for her to be let out so Dr Volumnia reluctantly crowns Lucy Gray the winner of the 10th annual Hunger Games.
But, when Coriolanus goes to greet Lucy after her victory, he realises he has been found out for giving her rat poison and the handkerchief.
Casca Highbottom tells Coriolanus he’ll never see the Plinth prize money and he is to be banished to the Districts to work as a peacekeeper.
Coriolanus and Lucy Gray reunite
Coriolanus asks to be sent to District 12 and on the way, he meets Serjanus who is also going to work as a peacekeeper. Then, at a bar, he comes across Lucy Gray Baird again.
Soon, they reunite, share a kiss and begin a secret relationship. They discuss their future, with him saying he belongs in the Capitol and her saying they could have a calm, quiet life in the Districts.
Then, back at the army camp, Coriolanus is told he will be sent to District 2 in a matter of days because of his exemplary work.
Sejanus is killed
Sejanus decides he wants to help people trying to escape Panem and tells Coriolanus, who secretly records their conversation on a Jabberjay and sends the bird to Dr Volumnia.
Then, at Lucy Gray’s show, Coriolanus sees Sejanus’ leave and follows him to find him plotting with rebels, including the mayor’s daughter and her boyfriend.
Lucy Gray follows, an argument ensues and Coriolanus ends up shooting the mayor’s daughter after she threatens to expose them, and another rebel named Spruce kills her boyfriend.
A search for the killer quickly begins, with Lucy Gray worrying that the mayor will think it’s her. So, she tells Coriolanus she wants to flee north and he says he wants to follow her.
Soon, Spruce is found and is ordered to be killed at the hanging tree but shockingly, Serjanus is also dragged in, with the secret Jabberjay recording Coriolanus made implicating him.
Serjanus calls out to Coriolanus but he is hung as Coriolanus, Lucy Gray and the rest of District 12 look on.
Lucy Gray and Coriolanus try to flee
Lucy Gray and Coriolanus secretly meet at the hanging tree and begin to flee Panem. Here, he tells her that he has killed three people which confuses Lucy Gray, as she only knows about the tribute in the arena and the mayors daughter.
Then, they arrive at a cabin for shelter, where he finds the gun he used to shoot the mayors daughter, meaning he could dispose of it and go back to the Capitol.
But, Lucy Gray tells him that she is the only person left who knows the truth yet insists she wouldn’t tell anyone. Then, she leaves the cabin to dig for food and when Coriolanus follows, gun in hand, he finds his mothers scarf which he gifted her.
Then, when he picks it up, he is bitten by a snake hiding underneath. He calls out to Lucy Gray and angrily asks if she is trying to kill him, and when he hears a noise, he quickly shoots at Lucy Gray but when he approaches, she is gone and only her earring is left behind.
Then, birds begin singing ‘The Hanging Tree’ in Lucy Gray’s voice, to which Coriolanus frantically shoots at them.
Coriolanus returns to the Capitol
Coriolanus sinks the guns in a river and heads back to the Capitol, where he meets Dr. Volumnia who pardons him and says he’ll be studying under her at university, paid for by Sejanus’ father, who doesn’t know about Coriolanus’ betrayal.
She thanks him for getting more people to watching The Hunger Games and he tells her that he now knows that the whole world is an arena and the Capitol needs The Games to remind them of who they truly are.
Back at home with his grandmother and cousin, Tigress, he asks them both how he looks to which Tigress coyly says he looks just like his father.
Coriolanus then goes to to meet Casca, who tells him that Coriolanus’s father co-founded The Hunger Games as a way for the Districts to forever live in fear of the Capitol. He reveals he actually wanted to stop the Games and end the suffering, but Coriolanus revived them.
Casca also tells him that Lucy Gray disappeared, but Coriolanus doesn’t seem to care and simply tells him “Snow lands on top.” Then, as Casca drinks from his vial once more, he begins to choke and dies as Coriolanus has likely poisoned him.
Finally, we hear the older version of Coriolanus say “It’s the things we love most that destroy us.”
So, does Lucy Gray Baird die at the end?
We don't know for sure. It definitely looks like Coriolanus shot Lucy Gray as she lets out a grunt, but we think she managed to escape from him as only her earring was left behind.
But, with Casca later telling Coriolanus that Lucy Gray has disappeared, her fate is left wide open. Was she hung for the murder of the mayor's daughter? Probably not, unless they did it secretly to prevent backlash from her fans in the Capitol.
Some fans think she escaped to live off the land in the woods, while others think she took her own life. What we do know is that she frees herself from Coriolanus, her victory in the 10th Games was wiped out of the archives by Dr. Volumnia and she was never seen again.
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