Snow Lands On Top

As one of the few female INTJs in the world, I have always connected with villains more than heroes. If you’re unfamiliar with The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the INTJ is known as ‘The Architect’ or ‘Mastermind’ and they are praised for their strategic and logical thinking and their ability to execute big picture ideas. This personality’s ability to form complex plans and control their emotions lends itself well to villainous or morally grey characters. Some famous INTJ villains include: Walter White, Hannibal Lectre, Magneto, Voldemort, Professor Moriarty, and Thanos. All formidable villains known for their ruthlessness and radical ambitions. The sweet neighbor or the girl next door? Boring! The brave, young hero who rescues the princess? Yawn! I want to hear more about Thanos’ plan to snap the universe in half!

Now, when you combine this villain loving personality type with a pre-teen hyperfixation with The Hunger Games books and films, you create someone who is fascinated by how the evil Capitol functions in the fictional world of Panem. Or more specifically, you want to know more about President Snow and how he came to be the leader. When Suzanne Collins released The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2023, my passion for The Hunger Games was reignited. Songbirds and Snakes offered a new exploration of a young Coriolanus Snow (an INTJ as well!) before he became the monster that we saw in the original trilogy. A young, hot villain? Suzanne, you knew what you were doing for the villain lovers. Can I fix him before he becomes president? Let’s find out.

Coriolanus Snow is deeply misunderstood. Many forget or neglect the trauma of his upbringing. In Songbirds and Snakes, we follow an 18 year old Coriolanus (or Coryo) (Tom Blyth) long before the dominant President Snow (Donald Sutherland) that we see in the original trilogy. Coryo shares how when he was a child, his powerful family lost their wealth during the Dark Days (when the districts fought against the Capitol prior to the first Hunger Games). Coryo’s father was killed in battle and the family fortune in ammunition was destroyed. The districts were starving the Capitol citizens and Coryo and his cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer) were forced to scavenge for food, passing by bodies and avoiding cannibals in the war-torn streets. Coryo, Tigris, and his Grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan) were forced to live in squalor despite living in the most luxurious penthouse apartment in the Capitol.

This trauma shaped Coryo’s perspective of the districts and created a need for control. They killed his father, stole his family fortune, and forced him to live on scraps. He did not want to continue living like this. He wanted to bring justice to his family name and avoid the disgrace of being forced to move to a cheaper place when they can no longer afford the penthouse. Snow and his family became attached to a saying, “Snow lands on top.” A reminder that when Snow falls, it will always land on top of whatever is beneath it. Coryo was determined to make himself a success and save his family. So, he continued to eat his boiled cabbage and stale crackers, walk confidently past the rubble of the Capitol’s past, and simply fake it until he makes it.

When presented with the opportunity to mentor tributes in the 10th Hunger Games, Coryo saw his chance. The mentor with the winning tribute receives the Plinth Prize, a university scholarship, and Coryo needed this to return the Snow family’s prestige. When he was assigned the female District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), he assumed that his chances were over as District 12 was poor and never wins the games, but Lucy surprised him and all of Panem with her gorgeous voice and spunky attitude. Coryo carefully watched her perform and knew that both she and he had the potential to succeed and nothing was going to stop him from achieving that goal. So, Snow did what he does best: lie, steal, and cheat his way to victory. He snuck food to Lucy Gray before the games, he manipulated the snake mutts so that they wouldn’t attack Lucy Gray, he gave Lucy Gray rat poison to use in the arena, and he even went into the arena and killed a tribute (in self-defense!). However, all of this was worth it, in his eyes, as he would save his family by winning and he did indeed win.

Unfortunately, Coryo’s cheating actions were discovered and he was forced to enlist as a Peacekeeper in District 12 as punishment. His plan had worked, but he just had the obstacle of acting as Peacekeeper before returning to The Capitol and rebuilding his home. However, Coryo soon discovers that a fellow friend from The Capitol, Sejanus Plinth (Josh Rivera), is involved in a rebel plot. When Coryo gets tied up in the rebel discussions and kills some involved, he sees a threat to his survival. He cannot be brought down to the level of the districts and he will not disgrace his name through his involvement. It’s him or Sejanus. When you have lived a majority of your life in fear, choosing yourself comes naturally. So, Snow turns his friend over and Sejanus is hanged at a public execution.

Did Coryo love Lucy Gray? I don’t know if he ever did. He was certainly fascinated by her but he mostly saw her as a tool to accomplish his goals. When he ran away with her, it was for his own protection, not hers. When she begins to suspect him of murder, he no longer had any use for her and quickly shifted back into survival mode. She could have ruined him with what she knows and he would never allow the districts, let alone District 12 of all places, to be the end of him. He chases her into the forest, shooting wildly, but the fate of Lucy Gray is a mystery. (Maybe he didn’t even kill her!) Either way, she no longer matters to Coryo as he returns to The Capitol and is offered a spot in the university, kills Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) for sending him to District 12 in the first place, and is even named as the heir to the Plinth’s, despite him killing their son. As always, Snow lands on top.

Like him or not, Coriolanus Snow is an intelligent man and intelligence is incredibly sexy. He may not have come up with the Hunger Games themselves (that was his dad’s drunk idea), but he saw how The Capitol could improve the games in groundbreaking ways, like sponsorship and the Victors Village. He turned the unsophisticated and messy Hunger Games into the spectacle that we see in Katniss Everdeen’s (Jennifer Lawrence) story. Snow knows how to manipulate people and situations in his favour, he is charming, and he will always fight for his name. (A man who respects his family? Big plus!) He was raised with a survival mentality and his perception of what is required for survival is warped, much like Gale Hawthorne’s (Liam Hemsworth). All of Snow’s actions can be perceived as incredibly selfish, but that is all he has ever known. You have to admire his ambition!

I do appreciate a good “I can fix him” joke but honestly, I find villains so fascinating and love them just as they are. Heroes are good and will sacrifice someone or something they love to save the world, but a villain will sacrifice the world to save you. Coryo lied, and stole, and cheated for Lucy Gray and she (probably) lived because of him! President Snow went on to kill hundreds of tributes and probably thousands of other citizens of Panem, but just consider what could have happened if those 10th Hunger Games went a little differently. What if he was never caught cheating? I think that he was just too clever for the Gamemakers and they were not prepared for someone like him. He was just taking advantage of his position! Tom Blyth is a good looking man and watching him cheat and murder is a great time. He is definitely a red flag, but red is my favourite colour. Yes, I could fix him, but do I really want to?