The Philosophy of a Villain: A Deep Dive into the Hunger Games Ahead of the New Release
Since the first Hunger Games book release in 2008 and the movie premiere in 2012, author Suzanne Collins has built an elaborate universe that avid readers and watchers alike have subscribed to. In 2023, Collins released The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel to the original trilogy that sets the scene for the entirety of Panem, and her new book titled Sunrise on the Reaping is set to come out on March 18, 2025. The movie adaptation, which will cover Haymitch’s fight in the Quarter Quell and the ways in which Snow continues to exhibit his villainous character by silencing Haymitch’s attempts at fighting back, is slated to release in theaters on November 20, 2026.
To explain the basis on which Panem is built, Collins dives deep into Coriolanus Snow’s backstory in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Viewers and readers know him as the evil President Snow, but Collins’s prequel masterfully weaves together different characters to answer the question of whether villainy is a product of nature vs. nurture. In tackling what it means to be a villain, Collins explores the state of nature debate prominent during the Enlightenment period and championed by philosophers John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques-Rousseau. The central question of this age also contextualizes Snow’s character development: at its most base level, is humanity good or evil?
Throughout the movie, Snow forms his worldview and his idea of human nature through the influences of three main people, all of whom represent different philosophies of human nature. First is Sejanus Plinth, a childhood friend who follows the natural law philosophy of John Locke. Next is Dr. Volumnia Gaul, head gamemaker and subscriber to Hobbes’s belief in the natural state of war. Last is Lucy Gray Baird, the tribute from District 12 and representation of Rousseau's chained freedom analogy. The question is, whose influence is the strongest, or rather, who does Snow choose to be influenced by the most?
Snow’s first major influence in his life is Sejanus Plinth, who believes that the games are outdated. He even stands up for the tributes, saying, “Who wants to watch a group of children kill each other? Only a vicious twisted person. Human beings may not be perfect, but we’re better than that.” At one point, Sejanus sneaks into the arena to pay his respects to his fallen tribute. By risking his own life and his family’s pristine reputation, Sejanus is emphasizing that he sees the tributes for what they are: children and human, just like him. And just like John Locke, he argues that humanity has a natural law dictating that we shouldn’t harm one another.
Sejanus’s stunt in the arena is a critical turning point for Snow. While in the arena trying to get Sejanus out, Snow gets in a scuffle and kills a random tribute. Snow reasons with himself that the murder was done out of self defense, but contrarily, Dr. Gaul states, “What happened in the area? That’s civilization undressed. The tributes. And you, too. How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are. A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state.”
Dr. Gaul quickly becomes another major influence on Snow, and it is clear that she believes in the Veneer Theory and a Hobbsian state of war and chaos. The Veneer Theory, coined by Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal, explains that law and order is the only thing protecting us from the savagery of our neighbours, and that morality is a cultural overlay hiding an otherwise selfish nature. This philosophy is particularly noticeable when Snow argues that it was his position in the arena that forced him to kill, and Gail responds by saying, “You can blame it on the circumstance, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else.”
Following Snow’s momentous first kill, he begins to adopt Dr. Gaul’s pessimistic worldview, attributing the actions of tributes inside the arena to mankind’s natural savageness. This parallels Thomas Hobbes’s philosophy, in which people must be controlled by a state so as to avoid their natural state and inclination towards war. Snow gradually begins to view the world according to Dr. Gaul and Thomas Hobbes’s philosophy in which people must be controlled by a state so as to avoid their natural savage state and inclination towards war.
Lucy Gray Baird is the last influence on Snow, and her character contradicts Hobbes’s theory by emphasizing the kindness and compassion that humans possess. In the arena, Lucy Gray exhibits her character by refusing to leave her district partner, and furthermore, she kills only by using poison that Snow gives her. Some theories suggest that without this poison, Lucy Gray wouldn’t have killed at all.
When the games are over and Lucy Gray has won, Snow divulges his pessimistic worldview, stating, “Unless there’s law, and someone enforcing it, I think we might as well be animals. Like it or not, The Capitol is the only thing keeping anyone safe.” It is here that Lucy Gray counters with a monumental question: “And what do I give up for that?” Her band, The Covey, has been forced to stop traveling and singing certain songs by the government, taking her freedom with it.
This mirrors Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy in which society and civilization are the chains binding freedom. Rousseau argued that humans are self-preserving and compassionate under freedom, and that the Hobbsian way of thinking has scared us into giving up too much freedom, much like The Covey has had to give up theirs. Rousseau, and in turn, Lucy Gray, pins the chaos of the arena not on primitive instinct but on the forced nature of the games.
Through encounters and experiences with Sejanus, Dr. Gaul, and Lucy Gray, Snow begins to believe that human nature is inherently evil. The confirmation he receives when inside the arena cements his pessimism and begins to develop his negative worldview. When faced with kindness and goodness, it brushes past Snow. But when faced with savagery and chaos, Snow concludes that that’s just how humans naturally are.
The conflict between all three philosophies come to a head in the nature vs. nurture debate that informs Snow’s character. Suzanne Collins has emphasized that “You still need to leave room for Snow’s personality. Is he a product of nature or nurture? Everyone of his generation experiences trauma, loss, and deprivation. And yet Sejanus, Tigris, Lucy Gray, and Lysistrata turned out very differently.” Snow is not a blameless agent; he makes deliberate choices to focus only on what confirms his sneaking suspicions of human nature’s inherent savagery.
Everything culminates in the last scene of the movie, when Snow spirals about Lucy Gray being the last living witness to his crimes. Snow’s slowly formed worldview of humans as chaotic, violent, selfish beings, who, like himself, are ready to betray each other at any given moment, leads him to believe that when given the opportunity to betray another, it is everyone for themselves. Everything he has learned about the world culminates in this moment: betrayal is the only logical option for Lucy Gray, who will undoubtedly turn him in. By projecting his own selfishness onto Lucy Gray, Snow exhibits a final demonstration of character.
In a craze, Snow chases after Lucy Gray and cements his subscription to Dr. Gaul’s Hobbsian way of thinking. This is the Snow we see in the original trilogy: a harsh ruler who takes freedom from the people in order to inhibit their natural state of war. This is also the President Snow we will encounter in the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping.
Through this masterfully crafted prequel, Suzanne Collins demonstrates how villains can be both born and made. Snow ultimately chooses to be influenced by Dr. Gaul and her Hobbsian perspective, expediting the reemergence of the Hunger Games as a brutish spectacle of power and domination. Snow’s final decision marks the beginning of the apocalyptic Hunger Games universe, setting the scene for Haymitch’s games and the betrayals that come with the Second Quarter Quell.