Yahoo Movies Hunger Games prequel explains the true origin of the games
The Hunger Games prequel movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes not only gives us the villain origin story of Coriolanus Snow, but also reveals exactly how the Hunger Games were created in the first place.
We knew from the original series that the Hunger Games were set up by the Capitol as a punishment for the twelve districts of Panem, following their failed rebellion 75 years ago that ended when District 13 was supposedly destroyed.
The Games were created as an annual reminder to the districts that the Capitol is in charge, but we didn't really know exactly how they formed and who came up with the brutal idea.
Hunger Games fans who read the prequel novel will have already had this revelation, but in case you haven't seen the movie yet, spoilers follow.
The prequel explains that the idea for the Hunger Games came from Casca Highbottom, but Coriolanus Snow's father Crassus had a part in it.
During their final days at the Capitol University, Crassus and Casca were set a task by Dr Volumnia Gaul to come up with a punishment that was so extreme that enemies would never be able to forget what they did wrong.
While Casca was drunk, Crassus plied him with more alcohol to bring out Casca's evil impulses as Casca formed the idea of the Hunger Games. Crassus assured him it would just be their private joke, but he ended up giving the idea to Dr Gaul.
Once the rebellion was over, Dr Gaul started work on the proposal and credited Casca as the creator of the Hunger Games.
Casca was horrified that Crassus betrayed him and that his horrific idea would actually happen, even if he initially thought that it would die out. Of course, it didn't and Casca ended up holding a grudge against Coriolanus for his father's actions.
It's Casca who was instrumental in getting Coriolanus sent to District 12 after the 10th Hunger Games after exposing how Coriolanus cheated to help Lucy Gray Baird, but Coriolanus has the last laugh by fatally poisoning Casca when he returns to the Capitol.
Back to those initial Hunger Games though – they were very different affairs to the epic spectacles that we saw in the original series.
The tributes were mistreated before the games and held in the Capitol Zoo for the 10th edition, leading to several of them dying before those games – which take place in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – even took place.
Those original games were held in the Capitol Arena with weapons the only supplies to the tributes, and the winner was just sent back to their District without the lavish riches that later winners would receive.
It was the 10th Hunger Games that started the move towards the event that we came to know in the original series.
They were the first to introduce mentors for the tributes and, thanks to Coriolanus, sponsorship of the tributes was created and muttations (Dr Gaul's invention) were unleashed in the arena for the first time.
Lucretius Flickerman (relationship to Caesar Flickerman is left unclear by both the book and movie) became the first-ever TV host of the games, but the overall games were such a disaster that Dr Gaul destroyed all recordings of the games, keeping only one copy for herself.
And one final question that the prequel answers about the origins of the Hunger Games is about the name, which is shown during the grim opening to the new movie.
It's called the Hunger Games because during the rebellion, the rebels held the food-producing districts to starve the Capitol, resulting in people in the Capitol resorting to cannibalism to survive.
So the name is another reminder of the starvation that people suffered during the rebellion, and a nod to the dark depths they went to.
Grim.
For more on The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, check out:
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• What age rating is The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes?
• Is Jennifer Lawrence in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes?
• How to watch The Hunger Games movies in order
• The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes reveals origin of the Hunger Games
• The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes explains key Hunger Games moment
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is out now in cinemas.
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