The Hunger Games - Blog Posts

Unto the Labyrinth

Fandom: The Hunger Games - All Media Types

Rating: Mature

Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death

Relationships: Original Character(s) & Original Character(s), Beetee Latier & Original Chatacter

Summary: “Maze Donahue always thought she would be lonely forever. No one wanted to be friends with a troublesome orphan with a penchant for pranks. But when the unthinkable happens and she is Reaped for the 57th Hunger Games, she is shocked to find people taking an interest in her for the first time ever - the Capitol, her mentor Beetee, and even other tributes. She must deal with the impermanence of this social support, including the deaths of her allies, and try to survive the horrors of the Hunger Games and all that comes afterwards.

But no matter what, she won't ever be alone again.”

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This is a rewrite and continuation of a fic called “Lonely Girl of 3” that I wrote back in 2014!

The original fic can be found on both AO3 and FFN!

Spoilers ahead!

Okay I finally got to watch the movie on Saturday and I've had time to process.

The brutality of the deaths really showed how horrific it was for both the Capitol and the Districts at the time. And slowly sensationalizing the games was portrayed really well. Lucky Flickerman was the forefront of the desensitization within the Capitol.

Hunter Schafer was amazing as Tigress, she was truly eye-catching and her last line in the move was...rough to say the least. I was genuinely heartbroken for her, after all her efforts to make sure Coriolanus didn't go down the dark path, it's the utter defeat when she said the line.

Rachel and Tom have amazing chemistry, just like the books, I was rooting for them until the second portion of the 3rd act. Would definitely petition for them to star in a RomCom or something just happier.

Josh gave the most wonderfully heart-breaking performance as Sejanus, I have no notes.

The songs are a bop, and next time I read the book again, 100% reading it with them in mind.

The foreshadowing of Katniss throughout the movie was awesome to see. Also Snow being left with his thoughts for two seconds and having a complete meltdown is so on brand.

The fashion of the Capitol was so wild to see, as they were dressed so "normal" like you would instantly be like "I would wear that," in contrast to the original trilogy shows how vapid and vile the Capitol became x2. Cause the classism and elitist mentality is already there.

Things I wish were added:

The first kiss the night before the games, I think for me it was both a emotional point, as these two have been bonding and falling for each other slowly, they might never see each other and I feel like it should've stayed.

Just more Clemmie in general.

I don't know why I jus really would've like to see Snow and the Covey interacting. Especially him and Maude Ivory more.

But overall this movie was amazing, and I felt a wave of nostalgia hit when I was watching it. Being immersed back into this world, and its complexities. And today my sister and I watched the first hunger games movies again, and I was just thinking about all the parallels, genuinely so cool and well done.

If it wasn't for fucking exams. I'd be in that theater first show watching TBOSAS.

thinking about mags flanagan, the silent living victor of the 11th hunger games and how she walked into her death for revolution. thinking about lucy gray baird, the singing dead victor of the 10th hunger games and how she ran from it for the same.

thinking about finnick odair. thinking about primrose everdeen. thinking about johanna mason. thinking about coriolanus snow.

Another rant.

In a sense I do believe that Snow did love Lucy Gray, but I saw this tiktok talk about how it isn't a love story, it's a tragedy. I have to agree, because Snow was given so many chances to choose the good path, he had people that genuinely believe in him. Tigris, Lucy Gray and Sejanus but Snow is so emotionally stunted and not willing to progress. (At least from my view that's what I concluded)

So many times throughout the book I caught myself smiling or laughing at something he said. And I literally would be like "wtf" but Suzanne Collins is such a genius writer like that, and like a broken clock I'll repeat, she wrote this book so well that, I was genuinely forgetting that this young man will become a man I will hate and wish death upon.

Reading the original trilogy as a pre-teen I never truly understood the gravity of Snow's evil and watching the movies again recently with context from the book, made so many little actions and lines hold more weight.

I hate over-analysing books because of English in school, but books like this remind me why I love to read and get lost in worlds that are are different but the same.

I'm rambling but this book and this whole franchise has been on my mind for a while and I need a creative outlet.

In the end "Snow lands on top" a rant

I just finished the book, and people are right, you actively find yourself rooting for Snow, for a split second you completely forget who he is, who he is to become. You want him to be a good person, the moment I knew his humanity was faltering was when he killed Mayfair and Billy Taupe. He excused it as protecting Sejanus and Lucy Gray, but at the root of it, Coriolanus Snow is a product of Capitol brainwashing and taught to dehumanize the people of the districts.

He's so complex and fucked up and sociopathic and Olivia's song is a perfect encapsulation of Lucy Gray, AND Sejanus Plinth haunting him for the rest of his life. Snow can pretend and poison and erase the memory of them but people with unfinished business tend to come back to finish it.

I had refused to read the last chapter holding it off, cause I already saw the mental change in Snow's character, I was invested but I knew my heart will be broken. Because we only ever knew her through Snow's lens; Lucy Gray Baird's fate forever a mystery, just like her life.

Thank you for reading this mini rant, I'll probably rant again after a while.

Is it just me or does "Carolina" by Taylor Swift really suit Lucy Gray Baird?

😭😭😭

One thing about Coryo is the fact that he never stopped losing the IDGAF war, like even 64 years after the ballad that man is essentially on his death bed and instead of getting himself treatment he decides that beefing with a teenager is more important

OK I'm half way through TBOSAS and since I knew about the the basic plot points beforehand. I can't stop thinking, do you think current or even middle-aged Snow ever thinks about Lucy? Or Sejanus? The first people he truly committed evil deeds too? I'm not even suggesting in a fond way and not through even Katniss and Peeta mirroring Lucy and Sejanus. Like in his lifetime, I've been dwelling on this for too long.