Coriolanus Snow

When he is 18 years old, Coriolanus Snow mentors the female tribute and the victor of the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird. He goes on to a short stint as a Peacekeeper in District 12 and then works as an apprentice Gamemaker in the Hunger Games. Coriolanus studies military tactics in university and slowly rises to power, eventually becoming the President of Panem.

Coriolanus Snow Character Profile

• Name: Coriolanus Snow
• Age: 18 (‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’), 82 (‘The Hunger Games’)
• Gender: Male
• Place of origin: The Capitol 
• Physical appearance: Handsome with blue eyes and blonde curls (at 18), paper white hair, thin body, and puffy lips (at 82)
• Skills: Using the rifle and guns, military strategies 
• Strengths: Leadership, control, manipulation, deceit
• Weaknesses: Merciless, incapable of love
• Loyalties: The Capitol 

Coriolanus Snow’s Personality 

18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is extremely proud and arrogant. This is because his family has drilled his class and his status into his mind from a young age, thereby making him look down upon the rest of the people in the Capitol and the districts. He also believes himself to be superior to his classmates in terms of his intelligence and skills. 

As the President of Panem, Coriolanus is a tyrant, who exercises absolute control over the districts and the Capitol with an iron fist. Any rule-breaking is not tolerated and the punishments he inflicts upon anyone who defies him are extreme.

Physical Description

At 18 years old, Coriolanus is a handsome young boy. He has pale blue eyes and blonde curls. Lucy Gray Baird calls him “gorgeous.” He always smells faintly of roses due to the roses his grandmother grows on the terrace of his penthouse. Coriolanus’s growth has been stunted due to malnourishment during the war and is therefore not as tall as he could have been. In the upcoming film, ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,’ Coriolanus is portrayed by Tom Blyth. 

At 82 years old Coriolanus is a thin old man, doubled over with age. He has paper-white hair and puffy lips that might have been genetically enhanced to look more appealing. He has several mouth sores from drinking small amounts of poison (Snow drinks small amounts of poison to alleviate suspicion when he poisons others). Thus, he always reeks of blood.

Coriolanus attempts to mask the smell of blood with the smell of genetically enhanced roses. This is why he always carries a white rose on his lapel. Notably, the smell of blood combined with roses fills Katniss with revulsion and makes her gag every time she smells it. Coriolanus is played by Donald Sutherland in ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy. 

Coriolanus Snow’s Early Life

Young Snow spends most of his early life being exposed to the war. He and his cousin, Tigris, are both orphaned during the war. Coriolanus suffers from PTSD from the events of the First Rebellion and often relives flashbacks of bombs, gunshots, and explosions.

Coriolanus is the last hope of the once-affluent family of Snow. The family has been reduced to poverty after the war, having invested in munitions in District 13. The enormous penthouse that they live in is the only asset they have remaining, having sold most of the furniture and clothes to pay for food and other expenses. Coriolanus cannot afford to repair the damages the house incurred during the war, nor can he afford new clothes or good food. However, he does not let anybody find out the condition of the Snow family. 

“Snow lands on top,” is the mantra of the Snow family, predicting Snow’s rise to power.

Coriolanus Snow in the 10th Hunger Games

Coriolanus attends the Capitol Academy for schooling in the post-war Capitol. When is 18 years old and in the final year of the Academy, Dean Highbottom introduces a mentorship program for the 10th annual Hunger Games. The program allows 24 exceptional students from the Academy to mentor the tributes for the 10th Hunger Games. Coriolanus is chosen as one of the mentors. He aspires to mentor the winning tribute as the reward for the same involves a substantial financial offering that would help save his family from destitution.

Unfortunately, Coriolanus is assigned to mentor the female tribute from the impoverished district of Twelve, Lucy Gray Baird. However, during the Reaping Ceremony, it turns out that Lucy Gray is a charming and plucky girl with the instincts of a fighter. Coriolanus thinks that he has a chance and begins to mentor the girl tribute seriously.

At the same time, he continues to attend the Academy and excels in his studies. One of the projects set by Dr. Gaul in the Hunger Games prequel involved coming up with various ideas to make the Hunger Games more interesting. It is in this project that Coriolanus comes up with the idea of betting on the tributes and introduces sponsorship for gifts in the arena. 

On a visit to the Capitol Arena, Coriolanus is saved by Lucy Gray during an explosion of one of the old rebel bombs. The two of them confess their love for each other before the beginning of the Games. Lucy Gray emerges as a Victor in the Games, through a combination of her cunning as well as the cheating ways of Coriolanus Snow and captures Panem’s attention. However, Coriolanus does not receive the financial prize in the end, due to his deceitful tactics in the arena.

Coriolanus Snow as a Peacekeeper

Dean Highbottom tries to get Coriolanus expelled from the Academy for cheating in the 10th Hunger Games. However, he is unsuccessful in his attempt. Sejanus uses his father’s influence to allow both himself and Coriolanus to graduate from the Academy. But Coriolanus is not allowed to live in the Capitol anymore. He is forced into a Peacekeeping job to atone for his crimes. 

Coriolanus requests to be stationed in District 12 so that he can be closer to his love, Lucy Gray Baird. He is therefore assigned to the Peacekeeping unit in District 12 where he is taught to use various weapons and strategies.

Coriolanus meets Lucy Gray and her family, the Covey, and attends the Covey’s performances at the Hob. Eventually, he discovers a rebel plan that was set afoot by Billy Taupe, Lucy Gray’s ex-boyfriend, and Sejanus Plinth. He records the plan as narrated by Sejanus with the help of a jabberjay and sends it to Dr. Gaul in the Capitol. A scuffle between the rebels and Coriolanus follows, and Coriolanus accidentally shoots Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of Mayor Lipp. Sejanus is caught for rebel activities and hanged to death.

Afraid that he might be in trouble for the murder of the mayor’s daughter, Coriolanus agrees to run away with Lucy Gray Baird. However, the day before they leave, Coriolanus discovers that he has been promoted to the rank of officer among the Peacekeepers in District 2. He despairs at the irony of letting go of the life he always wanted but meets Lucy Gray anyway.

Unfortunately, he lets it slip to Lucy Gray that he is responsible for the death of his friend, Sejanus. He also discovers the rifle that he used to shoot the mayor’s daughter. Given the chance to bury all evidence and go back to a life of luxury in Panem, Coriolanus decides to betray Lucy Gray. Both of them unsuccessfully try to kill each other before Coriolanus heads back to District 12.

There, he finds a hovercraft waiting to take him to the Capitol, where Dr. Gaul makes him an apprentice Gamemaker and enrolls him in the Capitol University. Upon returning to the Capitol, Coriolanus learns of the reason why the dean of the Academy hated him so much. It is because Coriolanus’s father, Crassus Snow, betrayed Casca Highbottom when they were in college, by passing off a drunken rambling as a college project. This also resulted in the creation of the Hunger Games for which Highbottom is credited. 

After learning the truth, Coriolanus poisons Highbottom with rat poison, thereby slowly beginning his rise to the top.

Coriolanus Snow as the President of Panem 

As an apprentice Gamemaker, Coriolanus implements various new policies for the Hunger Games including the introduction of the Victory Tour for the victors and the establishment of the Victors’ Village. How many years Coriolanus spent as a Gamemaker is unknown

Coriolanus slowly begins to climb the ranks, poisoning everyone who stands in his way. He eventually becomes the President of Panem, most likely before the 50th Hunger Games where Haymitch Abernathy was crowned victor. Thus, Coriolanus remains in control of the nation for at least 25 years before the beginning of the trilogy.

As the President, Coriolanus enforces various laws that further oppress the districts and help the Capitol become more affluent. He streamlines production within the districts and gives them daily quotas to fulfill. Coriolanus lives in the President’s Mansion at the heart of the Capitol in the City Circle. The mansion is huge and contains several bedrooms, a ballroom, several studies, a library, bathrooms, and closets. 

Coriolanus Snow in the Second Rebellion

No one challenges the power and authority of President Snow until Katniss Everdeen (and Peeta Mellak, unwittingly) in the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss’ trick with the berries causes a spark within the districts that ultimately leads to the Second Rebellion. The uprising is led by President Alma Coin of District 13, with Katniss as the “Mockingjay.”

The rebellion causes the loss of several lives both in the districts and in the Capitol. After months of fighting, the rebels take control of all 12 districts. The tide of war turns around in favor of the rebels when they take over the City Circle and bomb the President’s Mansion. President Snow is captured and sentenced to death.

Coriolanus Snow’s Death

Katniss Everdeen is given the privilege of killing Snow upon his capture. However, Snow reveals the truth about President Coin and her ruthlessness which resulted in the death of Katniss’ sister, Prim. Therefore, on the day of the execution, Katniss does not shoot President Snow. Instead, she aims an arrow at President Coin, assassinating her. Katniss is tried at a trial and is given a full pardon by Commander Paylor, the new President of Panem. President Snow is lynched to death by the mob at the execution.

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