About

The 10th Hunger Games, detailed in the prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was a experimental turning point for Panem. Overseen by Head Gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul, this year introduced several pivotal innovations to save the failing broadcast, including the introduction of Capitol Academy student mentors, public tribute interviews with host Lucky Flickerman, and the first-ever implementation of viewer betting and sponsor delivery drones. The games were plagued by chaos even before they began; a rebel bombing destroyed parts of the old Capitol Arena and killed multiple tributes and mentors, inadvertently opening up underground rubble tunnels that remaining tributes used for hiding. Ultimately, the District 12 female tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, won the games with the illegal assistance of her mentor, an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow. Snow covertly provided her with a makeup compact loaded with lethal rat poison to dispatch her rivals, and sneaked her scent into a tank of newly engineered, venomous snake muttations so they would refuse to attack her, securing her survival in a disastrous tournament that the Capitol subsequently scrubbed from all public record. Coriolanus Snow’s punishment for cheating in the 10th Hunger Games was banishment from the Capitol and a 20-year sentence as a Peacekeeper. After Dean Casca Highbottom discovered that Snow had covertly aided Lucy Gray Baird—by slipping her a makeup compact filled with lethal rat poison and using a tear-soaked handkerchief to immunize her against Dr. Gaul's rainbow snake mutations—he stripped Snow of his status and forced him to enlist in the military. To stay close to his remaining ambitions and track down Lucy Gray, Snow used a bribe to ensure his exile grunt assignment was stationed directly in District 12.