I Posted Something Similar, I Mentioned How Corio Had All Of The Opportunities To Become Better, All

I posted something similar, i mentioned how Corio had all of the opportunities to become better, all of the people, all of the experiences. He could have seen the districts and sided with them, but he used his experience to further his status. He could have met Sejanus and Lucy and their families and acknowledged the districts have the same people as the Capitol, but instead he turns against them.

Corio's life in TBOSBAS is like a choose your own adventure book, where he gets to the end of the chapter and chooses the most egotistical, self promoting, tyrannical option available.

I think what I like so much about the ballad of songbirds and snakes is that it shows the true extent of corruption and how it pollutes the soul. Snow wasn't born evil. He was undoubtedly prejudiced against the districts. He was certainly ambitious and snobby. But I think what I find most satisfying about his arc is that - to me at least - there are moments of genuine goodness on his part, or at least the potential to be good.

I think on some level, he did genuinely care about Lucy Gray. He did care Sejanus too, I think, though he didn't want to. Obviously all of this is complicated by his own toxicity and prejudices, but I think Suzanne Collins wanted to highlight the power of choices.

Snow could have chosen love and friendship. He an ample opportunity to. Those seeds of potential to do better and be better could have blossomed. but it didn't because of his own choices. because of what he valued.

I don't think Snow was born as the monster he eventually became, and I certainly don't think these moments of genuine care and affection on his part when he was younger excuses the irredeemable things he did when he was in power. But I think the great tragedy for everyone around him that were most affected by his actions (that knew him personally)- Lucy Gray, Sejanus, Tigris - is that those glimmers of goodness they saw in him that inspired them to attach themselves to Snow in the first place were, to some extent, real.

He just decided not to care anymore. He decided to complete/encourage the system instead of trying to dismantle it. Instead of seeing Lucy Gray as proof that his prejudices against the districts were wrong, he sees her as the exception. Instead of acknowledging Tigris and appreciating the sacrifices she made for him, he chose to honour his reputation and "pride" more. I could go on, really.

But part of the reason why I loved this book so much and that I'm still thinking about it months later is because it shows that Snow actively chose to become what he did. He didn't do it out of vengeance or some tragic revenge plot against the districts. He did it because ultimately he loved power more.

This is the last thing I'll show until the final result. I'm still going to correct the mistakes and paint as my art style (which will take a considerable amount of time) 👀

If you were in a fanfic, would you be the pining idiot or the oblivious dumbass?

post it in the tags!!

Coriolanus Snow was a charming person.

That's the main reason he climbed as high as he did. As much as we all wish he was completely repulsive, the main component of his progression as a character was his ability to charm his way into situations. Having just finished reading TBOSAS for the first time, I constantly kept reflecting on the moments when I realized he had charmed me into siding with him.

As with Katniss in the main trilogy, Snow is an unreliable perspective that distorts the events of the novel heavily with his input. Albeit, it is very different with a limited 3rd person pov, it affects the reader's experience in a very similar way. I found myself, as a person who despises Snow entirely (and still does 100%) reading Sejanus as a liability rather than a character whose values aligned with the cause that I rooted for simply from the way he affected Snow's idea of success.

TBOSAS was not written to make us forgive Snow. Instead, it masterfully shows us how a charming and fatally flawed young man turns into a truly evil villain.

PLEASE is anyone going to hear me out on this au

(all platonic btw)