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“
Miss Everdeen. It's the things we love the most that destroy us.
„
~ President Snow's most famous quote.
“
Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear.
„
~ President Snow's other famous quote.
President Coriolanus Snow is the main antagonist of The Hunger Games trilogy and the film quadrilogy of the same name. He also appears as the main protagonist of the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes. He is the tyrannical ruler of Panem, i.e North America following the Apocalypse.
In the films, he was portrayed by the late Donald Sutherland, who also played Attila Mellanchini in Novecento/1900. As a younger man, he was portrayed by Tom Blyth. As a kid, he was portrayed by Dexter Sol Ansell.
His actions inflicted permanent psychological trauma on several of the tributes: Haymitch became an alcoholic to cope with the pain of the Games and the loss of his family and Katniss would constantly have flashbacks of her times in the games and wake up in the middle of the night screaming in horror, though she eventually learned how to cope with it to have a happy family.
He betrayed his best friend Sejanus Plinth, doing nothing as he is being hung, to Dr. Gaul for conspiring to help rebels escape with food supplies.
He shot and killed Mayfair Lipp. While Mayfair was going to get Lucy Gray killed out of spite, Snow indicates he felt no remorse for killing her.
Ruled over Panem for several decades as a tyrant, keeping all the districts in perpetual poverty causing widespread starvation and death and having his peacemakers harshly punish rule breakers with floggings and executions.
He continued the barbaric Hunger Games which forced people to celebrate as it aired live on TV to show his power over the districts and resulted in the deaths of thousands of children over the years due to them forced to kill each other every year.
It is calculated that over 73 years, 1,702 children perished because of Snow and his forefathers (22 of them on-screen), leaving 73 victors behind.
He punishes some traitors and rebels by cutting out their tongues and enslaving them which are called avoxes.
After the 50th Hunger Games, ordered the deaths of Haymitch's mother, younger brother, and girlfriend as punishment for using the rebound of the forcefield to kill the last tribute with her own axe attack, making the Capitol look foolish.
He personally fired his cousin Tigris from being a stylist due to being too altered to be normal even though Tigris made lots of sacrifice for him to have a good life when they were younger.
Constantly assassinated both his enemies and allies who he believed would be future enemies through poison in order to maintain his power and authority, starting with Casca Highbottom whose morphine he remorselessly poisoned.
Forced the Victors of the Hunger Games, such as Finnick Odair, into prostitution for wealthy Capitol citizens. Even worse said victors were underage and if they refused he kills someone they love, as shown with Johanna Mason, whose family he massacred.
The Hunger Games[]
Gets another 22 kids killed throughout the course of the 74th Annual Hunger Games (although a few of them, such as Clove, deserved it). Cato's fate is particularly brutal and Katniss quickly gives him a mercy killing because of it. This also directly causes a huge riot in District 11 midway through the Games.
Has his Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane executed by locking him in a room and forcing him to eat Nightlock berries as punishment for allowing Katniss and Peeta to live when they attempted to defy the Capitol by both killing themselves so there'd be no winner of the 74th Hunger Games.
Catching Fire[]
Threatened Katniss with the deaths of her family and the prospect of war against the Districts unless she attempted to calm the Districts down and convince them her actions were out of love, not rebellion.
Had the Quarter Quell consist of surviving Tributes from the Districts, forcing Katniss and the other tributes to relive the horrors of the Hunger Games as a means of killing Katniss and the other remaining tributes, due to their status as Victors making them believe they were exempt from the Capitol's authority (though again, a couple of them such as Enobaria deserved their fate).
He had Darius, a friend of Katniss turned into an avox and assigned as her personal slave just to mess with her.
Ordered Cinna to be interrogated and killed for having Katniss' wedding dress turned into a Mockingjay, a symbol of defiance against the Capitol, and because he suspected him to be a rebel. What’s worse is he had it done in front of Katniss just before she entered the games to rattle her.
Had District 12 bombed, resulting in the deaths of thousands with only 800 survivors (Although some of those that died, like Peeta's Mother, likely deserved it).
Mockingjay: Part 1[]
Bombs a hospital in District 8 because everyone in the hospital acquainted themselves with Katniss, and in his eyes, committed an act of treason.
After having captured two of the tributes, Peeta and Johanna, he subjected them to an entire montage of inhuman horrors:
During his torture session, had two avoxes, Darius and Lavinia tortured to death in front of Peeta with Lavinia dying from electrocution and Darius shaving body parts chopped off just so Peeta could see the torture.
Tortured Johanna through electroshocking, severely beating her and shaving her head, which made her afraid of water for a long time.
Had Annie Cresta, Finnick's lover, captured by the Capitol to be used as a weapon against Finnick to break his mind.
Had Peeta’s Stylist and prep team executed as payback for warning District 13.
Psychologically tortured Peeta by rewriting his mind using Tracker Jack venom, brainwashing Peeta to make him intensely fearful of Katniss and view her as a mutt responsible for the deaths of everyone in District 12, purposefully allowing Peeta and the other tributes to be rescued so that Peeta could kill Katniss himself.
Mockingjay: Part 2[]
During the final attack on the Capitol, upon seeing that Katniss was still alive, sent an army of lizard-human mutts to kill her and her squad, which ends up getting Castor and Finnick killed.
Uses the children of the Capitol as human shields in an attempt to force the rebels from attacking.
Though Peeta's sanity was eventually restored, his mind never fully recovered, the lasting damage inflicted by Snow's hijacking causing him to still have flashbacks and force him to hold onto a chair until his episodes end, yet he still found ways to cope with it alongside Katniss so they could have a happy family.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
He has a genuinely tragic backstory of being an innocent child who, along with his family, experienced poverty, hunger, and war. Also, when he was five, his mother died in childbirth (along with his unborn sister) and his father was killed by rebels, resulting in him growing up as an orphan. Though this is minor, considering his reign puts everyone in Panem through similarly harsh conditions for their entire lives.
While he shows a mutual hatred towards Katniss Everdeen, he genuinely respects her to some degree, even honoring his end of never lying to her and genuinely expressing his condolences to her when her sister, Prim, was killed. It is also mentioned that he sees her as Lucy Gray, his old mentee decades ago.
Despite betraying his own cousin, it is shown that Snow still has a deep admiration and care for his family. He keeps the white rose of his grandmother kept to him even in death and, in the movies, he also shows to care about his granddaughter, assuring her that she will find love one day and doesn't chastise her for wearing the braid like Katniss.
✓
Near Pure Evils
Near Pure Evils
