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balladofmyramblings · 3 months

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Lucy Gray Baird - an innocent victim or a manipulator?

What's your first impression of Lucy Gray?

Do you think she loved Coriolanus in tbosas?

What do you think might have happened to Lucy Gray in the end?

What's your opinion about theories :

1. Greasy Sae as Lucy Gray.

2. Coin as a daughter or relative of Lucy Gray.

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

I’d say a victim who HAD to be a manipulator, but overall was innocent and just knew what was up.

The first example we see is from when we are first introduced to her- the dress! She’s wearing that to the reaping to make a statement, to stand out, to let everyone know she does NOT conform and is already manipulating their view of her into what she wants.

However, later on, we also see that wearing the dress is the only thing keeping her together. So, we can infer that while it may have started out as something not super soft or sweet, suddenly the dress isn’t that anymore. There’s also the fact that she lets the little girl with the juice thing touch her dress- she’s trying to decide if the public and her manipulation of them is more important than keeping things close to her.

Then again, there’s the possibility here that we’re severely over or underestimating her (thanks, Coriolanus’ POV). Maybe every single part of her was orchestrated and carefully chosen by Lucy Gray, or maybe none of it was, and that’s part of the amazing mystery about her- we don’t KNOW if she was or not.

Were those tears fake? Did she ever actually love him? We’ll never actually know, and that’s part of why her character is so great.

My first impression though is she knows what’s up. It’s crazy how, even before manipulating the games was a thing…she manipulated the games. She might not have done it knowingly (it was probably more for the benefit against Billy Taupe & Mayfair), but she did, and it was incredible. I can’t say I ever thought she was crazy, but maybe a little unhinged.

I was also VERY against Coriolanus and Lucy Gray’s relationship in the beginning (like for my first 4 rereads), but overall came to like it, and how it shows different parts of their characters and how it REALLY showed Coriolanus’s character development into a tirant.

For if she loved him, I’d say that we honestly have no clue. It’s why she’s so interesting to explore. I mean, throughout the series, these characters stay pretty much the same as when they are introduced. Sejanus, the district 2 rebel sympathizer who can be a little goofy occasionally. Tigris, the girl who takes care of people, and protects them. Dr. Gaul, the maniac who’s powerful.

But with Lucy Gray? We’re first introduced to her as some slightly deranged district girl, and she also has that little bit of being district automatically added to how we perceive her (thanks, Coriolanus’ POV) so we automatically view her as less than, crazy, etc.

But this changes. We later view her as someone ABOVE the districts, and a performer, rather than a crazy person, and someone to take pity on. We (reader and Coriolanus) might even unconsciously underestimate her during this stage BECAUSE of this.

What’s super interesting about Lucy Gray is just how versatile the arguments about her can be. You can go around and around in circles, debating if she was a cold blooded killer or not. Like for example, her kills in the arena. The way she taunted Reaper with the flag, and literally ran him to death? Absolutely insane, but later on, she felt bad about it. Or did she? We have no clue.

Back to if she loved Coriolanus, though- I think she convinced herself she did, just like how Coriolanus convinced himself he did, and neither of them wanted to see how far they’d take that so we got the ending we got. Lucy Gray realized she couldn’t gaslight herself into falling in love with him because she couldn’t ever really love him because she couldn’t ever really trust him. I’ve talked about them before somewhere else, I think in a post about the endings, so if you’re interested in that I can link it but still. It’s fascinating, the way her character is written so well.

Dialogue is such an important part of character, and rereading Lucy Gray’s dialogue is especially confusing for me because every time I do, my mind changes. A lot of people would remember her differently if Coriolanus (and therefore us) spent less time thinking about her and more time interacting with her, but eh.

Personally, that’s why I think her most authentic showing would be around 2/3 into the book, while they have that little honeymoon period when Coriolanus is a peacekeeper and she’s just singing before stuff goes down. I know that wasn’t a question, but I want to expand on it.

There’s less pressure there to constantly preform and become this person she wants herself to be. Lucy Gray was one of (if not the) first to use capitol people’s views of the tributes to her advantage. She figured out the game and she played it, and now she has to realize how to stop playing it. She also has to make sure she can trust Coriolanus.

So really, it can be argued that all of her personality is a test or a performance. It can also be argued that none of it was.

I’m going to move on before I start going in circles again lol, but yall get the point.

I think in the end Lucy Gray realized she couldn’t trust ANYONE (and as she’s said before, trust is super important) (except for maybe the Covey, but she didn’t want to endanger them or herself by staying with them), so she just went off into the woods.

I know she said something about being too lonely without Coriolanus, but again, this calls the question; was she trying to manipulate him and play up his ego or was she really just sensitive?

Again, part of her character is her mystery. There’s a reason she’s named after the Lucy Gray from the story. She just…flew off.

I could see Greasy Sae as Lucy Gray. I think it’d make sense for her to come back in like 10 years once the mayor’s dead, pay off her good peacekeeper friends, and then watch the Covey and her/Katniss’ family from a difference (because I definitely believe she and Katniss are related).

Does that mean I think it’s true? Nope! I think Lucy Gray truly has left district 12 forever.

However, I will say for sure, she’s definitely not in district 13. Not as a citizen or Coin. It goes against everything she believes in and enjoys, and I think the citizens of such a recently broken home wouldn’t LET her become one of them. Plus the ages are off. Are we forgetting Coin didn’t want music at Finnick and Annie’s wedding? It’s honestly one of my least favorite theories because to truly believe it, you’d have to misinterpret Lucy Gray’s character (one of the hardest to misinterpret, given my reasons above) AND Coin’s character.

Ok. Sort of misread that question, but I’ll answer it too.

I don’t think Coin is related to Lucy Gray at all. Any child of Lucy Gray’s would be Covey, and I think it’d hurt her too much to raise a child so colorless and unempathetic. While I do admire this theory more than the other, I just don’t see it happening at all. Maybe if Lucy Gray was pregnant, dropped the kid in 13, and then fled, and then Coin had to be raised in that environment and see the destruction and devastation and stuff…or maybe seeing her mom after the games, and the impact they can have on people…still, it’s an eh for me.

This was really fun to answer, and sorry if I rambled too much or went in circles a lot lol. Thanks for the question, @curiousnonny! As always, feel free to debate but not argue in the replies/reblogs!

#ballad of my ramblings #bosas #ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #coriolanus snow #hunger games #lucy gray baird #katniss everdeen #lucy gray #Lucy gray things #lucy gray my beloved

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