As The Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds lingers in my head, I have grown to really understand that the 10th games are as much of a tipping point for the continuation of the games as 74/75 are the tipping point of their destruction. Highbottom, the creator of the games clearly does not want them to continue. No one even watches the games and tributes die before even entering the arena. Dr. Cual is the only one who seems to love that games but she’s too vicious to know how to expand the necessity of games “correctly”.
The tenth games are a mess and could have been framed as a mistake to continue with, as Highbottom seemed to be pushing for. Dr. Gual was pro- killing the 24 tributes in whatever way, not fully playing into the killing sport of it all. She was willing to have the snakes kill all of the tributes in one go, essentially ending the spectacle with all the blood on the capitals hands. Snow combines the essence of humanity, the notion of punishment and need for entertainment to build out the continuation of the games.
All the lessons Snow learns from District 12 are weaponized to full effect by the time we read about the 74th games. Adding tvs and holograms to every district, betting on the winner, having the districts route against each other, heroizing the winner and marching them around as a prop. The victors not being able to return to normal lives and being pimped out by the capital screams like a greater punishment for Lucy’s escape attempt. Snow knows how to add stakes and, in turn, flex the power the capital holds over its citizens.
Snow road the middle for so long that he could see the cracks in the foundation and smooth them over to continue the process for years to come. Without Snow’s experiences, the games would never be as brutal and brilliantly propagandized as we see in the future, and most likely would have ended far sooner.
