r/Hungergames • u/emilychairdoasolo • 10h ago
Sunrise on the Reaping panem’s #1 peacekeeper Spoiler
minor book and movie spoilers for tbosas and sotr ahead! apologies if this is the wrong flair for this
as we see early in sotr, there’s a capitol propaganda campaign featuring banners showing a picture of Snow with the title “PANEM’S #1 PEACEKEEPER”. iirc, we have also seen still of this being included in the upcoming film.
i’m just curious, in your mind, do you think Snow’s past as a peacekeeper was public knowledge? and the banner was what his propaganda/marketing team thought was a clever nod to his past service, which he used to bolster his credentials when networking himself all the way up to president? or do you think it was intended to more be kind of a fun easter egg/ironic detail for the readers, and that Snow would have done everything possible to erase his past of peacekeeping from public record, so he could both further erase Lucy Gray and distance himself from anything associated with the districts. or do you think something else entirely?
personally i think he wouldn’t be able to help himself but to blab about how serving in the peacekeepers was the honorable thing to do and it gave him so much perspective blah blah blah. i think he would’ve used it in a political campaign to seem superior to his opponents. and he’d milk the parallels to his father’s military service as much as possible.
but i’m curious what others think ! please lmk :)
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u/BearsForSwears 6h ago
I think this is a tactic that is used by tyrants in real life too… Peacekeepers are like police, but they’re civilians too… So not only with his past as a peacekeeper does he show “look, I’m just like you guys!” But also “I have been keeping you guys safe even before I was president!” (Eventhough nobody in the districts actually thought of peacekeeper as safe keepers, in the Capitol they were this delusional…)
So I think he deliberately used his past as peacekeeper.
For all they know, he was a darn good peacekeeper, because he allegedly killed everyone that could oppose that… And the higher ups that knew he did some questionable things also knew he was loyal to them, so they were loyal to him as well (getting him out of 12 and giving him a better position)
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u/Mysterious_Bag_9061 4h ago
I almost wonder if after the events of Ballad, when Snow goes back to the Capitol to study under Dr. Gaul, if the peacekeeper thing didn't just keep going. Maybe he did end up taking that officers test, maybe he served for a while within the Capitol as part of his studies. We know he did a stint as a gamemaker, so maybe Gaul was spreading him around a little. Giving him a taste of various jobs and positions. She was definitely never against throwing him to the wolves if she thought the real-life experience would teach him more than she could. It would make a little more sense that he was able to rise to power so young if he had a variety of experiences and knowledge about the different interconnecting systems that keep the Capitol running.
Of course, it's also possible that the whole "number one peacekeeper" thing is just metaphorical, and something he came up with just so he'd have an excuse to put on a military uniform and get his picture taken like daddy
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u/littlecookiebear District 11 9h ago
In my opinion, it would have been public knowledge and spun in a way to make him seem honorable.
Like he didn’t take a summer off before college, he served his country - and chose a poor district, which would add to the propaganda aspect.
They would say that the Snow family had given everything to the country, his father gave his life while he gave his freedom up to serve.
Of course we know it’s all bullshit but the capital would eat that up.