The Case for Maude Ivory as a Future Grandmother

(SPOILER ALERT for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes)

Perhaps one of the more light-hearted debates among fans has been whether we have indeed met one of Katniss’ ancestors within the prequel. After reading a variety of perspectives on this issue, I began to notice potential clues myself. Not all of Collins’ possible clues are found in her recent prequel, however, but they also spill over to the original series. Suggestions regarding who is or is not related to Katniss have been wide ranging. In my limited perusal of fan sights, it seems the number one candidate for a Katniss ancestor is Lucy Gray Baird herself. A close second might be Maude Ivory, followed then by a litany of other possibilities—any of which are potentially valid until Suzanne Collins decides to just tell us in some way what she was thinking. Some believe there is no family connection at all (see related guest post by Eddie Mikus). Like Lucy Gray in the woods—and the ballad for which she is named—the answer may be blowing in the wind.

That said, in this post I provide a collection of potential clues, or breadcrumbs, that appear to indicate a family connection between Maude Ivory and Katniss. When taken separately, they may each be meaningless. But when considered together, it is difficult to dismiss their consistent message. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite “breadcrumbs”.

Confirming a Musical Connection

Starting from a baseline of what Collins has already admitted, it is vital to begin with this excerpt taken from a recent interview between the author and a Vice President of Scholastic, David Levithan, released on the same day as the prequel. During this interview, Collins introduces us to her new character of Lucy Gray Baird:

Focusing on the 10th Hunger Games also gave me the opportunity to tell Lucy Gray’s story. In the first chapter of The Hunger Games, I make reference to a fourth District 12 victor. Katniss doesn’t seem to know anything about the person worth mentioning. While her story isn’t well-known, Lucy Gray lives on in a significant way through her music, helping to bring down Snow in the trilogy. Imagine his reaction when Katniss starts singing “Deep in the Meadow” to Rue in the arena. Beyond that, Lucy Gray’s legacy is that she introduced entertainment to the Hunger Games. (Scholastic Releases New Interview)

In my mind there is a treasure-trove of information packed in here. Collins admits to a planned musical connection between Lucy Gray and Katniss, though she stops just short of suggesting a family relationship. She even imagines out loud what Snow must be thinking when he hears Katniss singing the very songs he had heard decades earlier. Further, Collins all but puts to rest the popular notion that Lucy Gray is a direct ancestor of Katniss, claiming only that Lucy Gray “lives on in a significant way through her music”. This seems to imply that Lucy Gray either did not survive long after the prequel, or she did not remain long in District 12 to raise a family herself. Another post of mine provides the perspective that Lucy Gray likely survived her incident with Coriolanus in the woods, despite the Wordsworth poem serving as a clear metaphor (and foreshadowing) for her own life. Still, that does not mean that she necessarily hung out in District 12 for a long time, let alone raised a family.

This supports the belief of a portion of readers that Lucy Gray could not be related to Katniss or her father because Katniss would have naturally mentioned his grandmother or grandparents within all of her reminiscing about family throughout the original series. She seems to know nothing about her grandparents, about where her father learned all that music or why he knew so much about the woods and the lake. And, if that weren’t enough, why had Katniss never heard any details about how her grandmother had won the tenth annual Games? Some of these points provide relevant mysteries even if we believe Maude Ivory becomes the carrier of this knowledge and passes it down to Katniss’ father—a mystery I admittedly have yet to reconcile. However, let’s look at the following clues that seem to indicate a Maude Ivory connection. There are many more than this, which other readers can help to uncover. In the interest of keeping this post relatively brief, here are some of my favorites.

Doing the Math: Maude Ivory as Grandmother

In terms of “doing the math,” it does make sense that Maude Ivory could realistically be Katniss’ paternal grandmother. First, Collins makes a point to inform readers of Maude’s age. Near the beginning of the Covey’s first performance at the Hob, Coriolanus observes Maude Ivory and estimates that she “couldn’t be more than eight or nine” (p. 361). In this way, Collins is likely instructing us that Maude Ivory is, well, eight or nine. Why else would she mention this in her narrative?

Beyond such speculation, it allows us to calculate the timeline of possible future generations and births. As just one of numerous possibilities, let’s assume that Maude is nine years old during the tenth games. Then she could be around 29 when giving birth to Katniss’ father (the year of the 30^th annual games). This would make Katniss’ father a reasonable 28 years old when his own wife gives birth to Katniss (year of the 58^th games). Katniss would then be the correct 16 years old when she is reaped for the 74^th games. Thus, both Maude and her son—Katniss’ father—would be in their late 20s when they start, or continue, their own families. Even considering that average lifespans are likely shorter within the Seam, due largely to impoverished living conditions and mining hazards, this generational timeline would be realistic for Collins’ contemporary readership.

Mockingjays, Singing, and the Woods

Despite this oddity, it is difficult to simply ignore numerous clues that may point to connections between Maude Ivory, Katniss, and her father. Those connections largely involve their shared knowledge of Appalachian music, their similar singing styles and musical abilities, and their collective familiarity with the woods and the lake. Let’s focus first on Katniss’ father and his own musical legacy that was variously passed down to his daughters. Here is Katniss expounding upon her father’s musical skill and his love for singing—and for mockingjays in particular:

My father was particularly fond of mockingjays. When we went hunting, he would whistle or sing complicated songs to them and, after a polite pause, they’d always sing back. Not everyone is treated with such respect. But whenever my father sang, all the birds in the area would fall silent and listen. His voice was that beautiful, high and clear and so filled with life it made you want to laugh and cry at the same time. I could never bring myself to continue the practice after he was gone. (THG, Ch. 3)

Katniss’ father clearly commanded the attention of mockingjays, apparently more successfully than most people. One clue here is that the birds would “fall silent and listen” because his voice was “that beautiful”. Members of the Covey enjoyed similar influence over the melodic birds, singing along with them during their hikes in the woods.

Memorizing Music

Another song replete with generational connections is none other than “The Hanging Tree”. Just before Katniss sings it for the “propo team” in Mockingjay, she admits to remembering its “every word” despite not having sung it since she was around seven years old. Maude Ivory had similarly learned the ballad at a young age, claiming it had “real authority”. And she was most likely the one who quietly passed it on to others. This is due to the song’s having been banned in District 12, after which Lucy Gray promised not to sing it. Somehow, then, Katniss’ father learns it, thus allowing Katniss to sing it much later in Mockingjay. In part, Katniss reflects back on the time she practically knew it as a household song:

In the stillness I remember the scene. I was home from a day in the woods with my father. Sitting on the floor with Prim, who was just a toddler, singing “The Hanging Tree.” Making us necklaces out of scraps of old rope like it said in the song, not knowing the real meaning of the words. The tune was simple and easy to harmonize to, though, and back then I could memorize almost anything set to music after a round or two. (MJ, Ch. 9)

This passage provides perhaps the most significant reference to a potential connection between Maude Ivory and Katniss. Here Katniss admits that she could “memorize almost anything set to music” after only a little practice. In the more recent prequel, Lucy Gray explains why she chose to sing her own ballad as a way to communicate with the Covey back in District 12 (Note: “P” = new paragraph):

“The song, it was payback of a kind. Most people won’t know that, but the Covey will get the message, loud and clear. And they’re all I really care about.” (P) “Just on one hearing?” asked Coriolanus. “It went by pretty fast.” (P) “One hearing’s all my cousin Maude Ivory needs. That child never forgets anything with a tune,” said Lucy Gray. (BSS p.173)

In this case, Collins uses Coriolanus to lead into a discussion about Maude Ivory, by having him express doubt that the Covey would pick up a song on television with only “one hearing”. In response, Lucy Gray praises Maude Ivory’s memory by claiming that the child “never forgets anything with a tune”. Why would Collins insert this information if it wasn’t coded for some larger meaning? It is highly improbable that both Maude Ivory and Katniss Everdeen coincidentally enjoy the same ability, and at roughly the same young age. This does not imply, of course, that the special music skill they share is passed down genetically. Rather, this may be another literary approach to suggest a family connection between them.

To conclude here for now, this question of a potential family connection is just one “loose end” within the prequel that makes me believe more books are on the way. I invite readers to see my earlier post about Maude Ivory and Butter where I provide a litany of loose ends that may indicate that Collins intends to continue writing beyond the prequel (or at least we can hope that the odds are indeed in our favor). Until that happens of course, all of this is little more than fun speculation. So, in the meantime, fun we will have!