Coriolanus Snow, the authoritarian president of the dystopian nation of Panem, is the central antagonist in Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy. Though he's certainly easy to hate, as is the case with many fictional villains, there's more to Snow than meets the eye. Collins shares his origin story in the prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which reveals his complicated history and sheds light on how he transforms himself from a teenager determined to survive into the cruel dictator seen in The Hunger Games. If you're curious to learn the backstory on this complicated character or just looking to brush up on your facts before The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hits the big screen this weekend, read on.
(Warning: Some spoilers for The Hunger Games series lie ahead.)
How is Coriolanus Snow described in the books?
In The Hunger Games, President Snow is described as a small, thin man with white hair and snake-like eyes. In fact, he is often described using snake imagery—beyond his eyes, his entire physical form and personality are said to be near serpentine. He has unusually thick, full lips, which some Panem citizens believe were cosmetically enhanced to make him appear more approachable, almost friendly.
He also has a distinct scent of blood and roses, a gag-inducing smell that Katniss loathes. And with good reason—the scent of blood comes from sores in his mouth. At one point, Snow used poisons to kill people in an effort to gain more control of Panem. First he drank the poisons, to lessen suspicions, before secretly taking the antidote. He was left with sores that never healed. He wears a white rose in his buttonhole at all times, partially to conceal the smell of blood.
Yet the 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow depicted in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is quite different from the cold, snake-like dictator in The Hunger Games trilogy. He's described as a handsome teenager, with blond curly hair and blue eyes. Many of his peers call him gorgeous or pretty, and he's often compared to his attractive father. Lucy Gray, the District 12 tribute in the 10th Hunger Games, mentions that he smells like roses.
Who are Coriolanus Snow’s allies and adversaries?
Katniss Everdeen: As an evil, ruthless, and calculating dictator, Snow doesn't have many close relationships in The Hunger Games trilogy. His most important relationship is with Katniss, and it's one that's marked by hatred on both their parts, though they swear to always tell each other the truth. After Katniss and Peeta are declared joint victors of the Hunger Games, Snow becomes enraged. He antagonizes her throughout Catching Fire and Mockingjay, leaving white roses for her to find in District 12 and using the people she cares about against her. When he's sentenced to death at the end of Mockingjay, Katniss is given the chance to shoot him but chooses to shoot President Coin instead.
Tigris: Tigris is Snow's cousin, though they live together as kids and are as close as any brother and sister. They support each other through the war and afterward, often because they don't have anyone else to look after them.
Sejanus Plinth: Snow and Plinth meet as children, but as Plinth's family comes from District 2, most of his Capitol peers tease him. Snow mostly ignores him instead, and so though they aren't friends, they're at least civil during the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. They both become mentors during the 10th Hunger Games, and at one point, Snow ends up saving Plinth's life. However, Snow betrays him by story's end.
Volumnia Gaul: A brilliant, manipulative scientist and teacher, Dr. Gaul is the head gamemaker during the 10th Hunger Games. She's known for her cruelty, exemplified by an incident in which she forces a student to stick her hand into a tank of genetically modified snakes to make a point. Snow's relationship with her is uneasy at best, but as she helps him out several times while he's mentoring during the games, he comes to respect her. Eventually, he views her as a mentor and valuable ally.
Lucy Gray Baird: Lucy Gray is the girl tribute from District 12 during the 10th Hunger Games and Snow's mentee. They have a complicated, tumultuous relationship. During the games, they develop a close bond, despite their differing views on human nature, and eventually become romantically involved. Snow reunites with Lucy Gray after the games when he's sent to District 12 as a Peacekeeper. After their final altercation, he decides to return to the Capitol, and he never learns whether she dies or escapes.
What happens to Coriolanus Snow over the course of The Hunger Games series?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
This prequel takes place 64 years before the core Hunger Games trilogy and focuses on an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow. He comes from a wealthy family now struggling with the aftermath of war. His father was killed in action, and despite winning the war with the Districts, the family's District 13 munitions factory was destroyed. Now Coriolanus, his cousin Tigris, and his grandmother are just trying to survive. Young Snow is determined to see his old family glory restored.
Thanks to his academic excellence at one of the Capitol's most elite high schools, he becomes a mentor to a tribute during the upcoming 10th Hunger Games. His mentee is Lucy Gray Baird, a girl from a family of traveling musicians from District 12. Snow is desperate to go to university and redeem his family name, so he sets out to do his best as a mentor and make a good impression on the gamemakers.
Immediately, things don't go to plan. When the tributes first arrive, Snow is accidentally trapped with them in the cage where they're being kept. He and Lucy Gray develop a connection, and start to play it up to appeal to the Capitol crowd. He has a run-in with his former classmate Sejanus Plinth, another mentor, who's struggling to connect with his own mentee. Before the games even begin, a slew of old rebel bombs detonate near the arena, killing tributes and mentors alike. Lucy Gray has a chance to escape but decides to save Snow's life instead. They kiss before she enters the arena.
During the games, Snow notices a tank of genetically modified snakes in the lab of Dr. Gaul, the head gamemaker. He knows from a previous encounter with the snakes that they'll only attack people whose scents they don't know. Assuming they're to be used in the games, he drops one of Lucy's handkerchiefs into the tank. When the snakes are released in the arena, they don't harm her, and she eventually wins the games.
At the celebration party, a university dean reveals that she knows Snow cheated. Instead of facing a public outcry, he agrees to go to District 12 as a Peacekeeper. He reunites with Lucy Gray, and they once again grow close. He also reconnects with Sejanus Plinth, a Peacekeeper as well, who has since become critical of the Capitol government. Snow sends word of these rebel tendencies to Dr. Gaul, and Plinth is arrested and executed. Snow then agrees to escape with Lucy Gray to an area north of District 12 where, according to rumors, the Capitol has no power.
Ever fickle but slowly becoming more certain of his own power, Snow changes his mind about escaping when he realizes he's capable of concealing the evidence of his involvement in the events that led to several deaths, including Plinth's. He goes after Lucy Gray with a gun, but during their struggle, he's bitten by a snake and loses consciousness. When he revives, he has no idea whether she has died or escaped. He returns to the Capitol, where he learns a startling fact—the dean credited with coming up with the games only intended for them to be theoretical, and it was Snow's father who told Dr. Gaul about her idea, thus making them a reality. The dean shares her opinion that Coriolanus is just as manipulative and callous as his father was. In response, Snow kills her with rat poison, foreshadowing the many people he'll kill with poison in the years to come.
The Hunger Games
At the start of The Hunger Games trilogy, President Snow has total control over the nation of Panem, which he rules through fear and intimidation from his mansion in the Capitol. He presides over the Hunger Games in a primarily ceremonial role, welcoming the new tributes to the arena and giving a speech about the importance of the yearly ritual. When Peeta and Katniss are declared joint winners, he is furious, fearing that their small rebellions will trigger a bigger revolution among the Districts.
Catching Fire
Catching Fire opens six months after the end of The Hunger Games, and Snow's worst fears have been realized: Katniss's actions have sparked rebellions throughout Panem. He visits Katniss in District 12 and demands that she tell the country that everything she did was because of her love for Peeta and was not in defiance of the Capitol. He threatens to kill her entire family if she doesn't cooperate.
During the Quarter Quell, where tributes are selected from a pool of past winners, Snow continues to antagonize Katniss. He singles her out at nearly every chance he gets. When her stylist Cinna turns the wedding dress she's supposed to wear to the Opening Ceremonies into a mockingjay dress, he captures Cinna and has him tortured. This is only the beginning of Snow's evil plans, though, which come to fruition in Mockingjay.
Mockingjay
After the Quarter Quell, Katniss escapes to District 13 with other survivors and rebels, but Snow has captured Peeta and two other tributes. He tortures and interrogates them, enacting his plan to use Peeta to manipulate Katniss. He forces Peeta to watch while his fellow tributes are tortured and murdered. Eventually, Snow has Peeta brainwashed so that he fears and detests Katniss. When rebels rescue Peeta and bring him back to District 12, he tries to kill Katniss, revealing Snow's plan to use him to kill her.
In the last battle of the war against the Capitol, Snow hides out in his mansion. He uses children as human shields to protect himself, but they are bombed in the final onslaught. Snow is eventually captured and sentenced to public execution. In a last confrontation with Katniss, he tells her that it was President Coin who ordered the bombs dropped and reminds her of their promise never to lie to each other.
Though Katniss is given the right to shoot him, she chooses to shoot President Coin instead. In the ensuing chaos, Snow, laughing, begins coughing up blood. When the crowd settles down, he's found dead.
How does Coriolanus Snow differ from page to screen?
Coriolanus Snow is played by Donald Sutherland in the four Hunger Games movies and by Tom Blyth in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. While President Snow differs slightly in physicality in the films, he carries himself with the same menace, and his ruthlessness is as disturbing to witness. The films are relatively faithful to the books, despite some small changes. In fact, the biggest difference in Snow's storyline is that he actually gets quite a bit more screen time than he does in the novels.
What are the best Coriolanus Snow quotes?
“Trust is important. I think it's more important than love. I mean, I love all kinds of things I don't trust. Thunderstorms…white liquor…snakes. Sometimes I think I love them because I can't trust them, and how mixed up is that?” —The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
“The ability to control things. Yes, that was what he’d loved best of all.” —The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
“And if even the most innocent among us turn to killers in the Hunger Games, what does that say? That our essential nature is violent.” —The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
“Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous.” —The Hunger Games
