Tigris

Tigris is the cousin of Coriolanus Snow and an old acquaintance of Cressida and Plutarch Heavensbee who resides in the Capitol. She was a prized stylist in the earlier editions of the Hunger Games.^[1]

Biography[]

Tigris was born into the affluent Snow family, a part of an old guard of the elite from the Capitol, including other prominent families such as the Cranes.^[2] Their status gave them a lot of privilege, as she alongside her family could enter the amphitheater (later repurposed as the arena of the earliest Hunger Games) with an exclusive entrance. Her family status also allowed an Avox to attend to her needs.^[3] Despite their considerable wealth before the Dark Days, the family was affected terribly by the First Rebellion, as their wealth was amassed through laboratories in District 13. This factor alongside the sabotage of the Capitol’s supplies from the rebels eventually threw the entire family into poverty.^[4]

At an unknown point during or before the Dark Days, her parents were dead, forcing her to live with her close cousin, Coriolanus Snow, and her grandmother, whom Tigris nicknamed "the Grandma'am", in one of the most opulent Capitol penthouses. When Tigris was eight, she started cooking for the family after the death of Coriolanus's parents as they could no longer employ cooks.^[5]

She was also a former student at the Academy and was easily accepted due to her family’s long history with the school. However, she chose to eschew education at the University, preferring instead to pursue a career in fashion.^[4]

At some point in her final year at the Academy, she was in a relationship with a unknown individual. However, due to their poor lifestyle and the fact that she wanted to keep the family's financial situation a secret, Tigris was reluctant to invite them over. They interpreted this as a lack of commitment in the relationship, and it was one of the leading factors in their breakup.^[6]

The 10th Hunger Games[]

Tigris was 21 years old by the time of the 10th Hunger Games, having graduated the Academy years earlier and managed employment under fashion designer, Fabricia Whatnot, amassing a low income. Coriolanus came to her for assistance on the clothing he was meant to wear at the reaping and she tried to help him by attempting to fix the shirt and make it look more pleasing in the eyes of others as many students started to get back on their feet. With no money, he worried that she might trade herself in order to get something decent.^[4] Coriolanus felt that she was not a great beauty, but had a vulnerability and sweetness that caused people to take advantage of her. She worked under Fabricia Whatnot aspiring to work in the fashion industry, though Whatnot used her more as slave labor.^[4]

When Coriolanus was tapped for mentorship in the 10th edition of the Games, Tigris was mainly supportive. Tigris also pushed him into meeting Lucy Gray Baird at the train station out of sympathy, citing how alone the tribute must feel.^[7] When the tributes were displayed in the Capitol Zoo alongside Coriolanus, she was disturbed at their mistreatment given their young age. She even lost sleep over it, choosing to cook throughout the night to try to get her mind off of it.^[8]

She also wept over the death of Arachne Crane, a family friend, at the hand of her tribute, Brandy. Once Tigris calmed down, she and the Grandma'am both praised Coriolanus for his brave actions during Arachne's last moments.^[2]

After Coriolanus came home one evening before the Games, he revealed to Tigris that Clemensia Dovecote was bitten by a snake mutt in a stunt engineered by Dr. Volumnia Gaul. Tigris's face turned white with shock. She concluded that Dr. Gaul was sadistic and demented, and she advised Coriolanus to avoid Dr. Gaul.^[3]

After the Capitol Arena was bombed, she and the Grandma'am visited Coriolanus at the hospital. She easily believed that Lucy Gray had saved his life, despite the Grandma'am's refusal to accept it. Tigris told Coriolanus that knowing that he had been experiencing the bombing without her there with him was worse than actually experiencing it herself. Tigris also informed Coriolanus of what had happened during and since the bombing. She recounted the tributes and mentors who were killed, and the Capitol's fearful response toward the threat of rebels.^[9]

In preparation for the interviews, Tigris gave Coriolanus an old dress of hers for Lucy Gray to wear. In return, Lucy Gray gave Tigris her rainbow dress, and Tigris worked her magic to clean and mend the dress in time for the tributes' interviews. Tigris even supplied make-up such as blush and lipstick, unofficially serving as the first Hunger Games stylist.^[10]

Post-10th Hunger Games[]

After the Games, she was shocked at the twist that fate had dealt the Snow family. Coriolanus was caught out by Casca Highbottom, dean of the Academy, having cheated to help Lucy Gray win the Hunger Games and made him either enroll in the Peacekeepers or be exposed. When he explained what had happened, she was as a still as statue. Nevertheless, she accepted the news with poise, telling him that wherever he went he was still a Snow and nobody could take that from him. She then helped him to pack, not crying, and Coriolanus knew that she would hold her tears until after he left. That night, neither of them slept and she told him that he was set up to fail: the Hunger Games were a cruel, vicious punishment, and she felt that a good person like him couldn't be expected to go along with it. He warned her that it was unsafe to say that to anyone but him. She replied that she knew, and that that was wrong too. Before he left, she gave him an old sun hat and a pair of sunglasses that had been her father's, providing him with a sort of disguise for the trip.^[11]

After her cousin left for District 12, Tigris continued to update him on the events that had taken place back in the Capitol via letters. She told him that the family apartment was going on the market, them being unable to pay the taxes. She told him to write back of his life in District 12 and that it might not seem ideal, but he didn't know where it might lead.^[11] Eventually, however, Coriolanus returned to the Capitol, having been secured an honorable discharge from the Peacekeepers by Dr. Gaul, who had taken him on as her protege. Additionally, the Plinth family, headed by Strabo Plinth took Coriolanus on as his heir, and with this, restored the Snow family fortune and allowed them to keep their apartment. Tigris got along swimmingly with Ma Plinth, who became a sort of live-in maid for the Grandma'am.^[12]

At some point in the Games' development, Tigris became a stylist for an unknown district's tributes, though it was not District 12. Katniss Everdeen said that she knew Tigris from the earliest Games she could remember. Over the years, Tigris started to get surgical enhancements, specifically to alter her looks to look somewhat like a tiger. Tigris got face and arm tattoos, flattened her nose, and got some of the largest whiskers Katniss had ever seen from a Capitol citizen.^[1]

Although Tigris and Coriolanus were on good terms at the end of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, she eventually hated him so much that she smiled when Katniss announced her intent to kill him.^[1] She was also an associate of Plutarch Heavensbee; he told Cressida that Tigris could be trusted.^[1]

Second Rebellion[]

By the time of the Second Rebellion, she owned a small shop selling fur-lined clothes in the Capitol. The shop's inventory consisted of fur underwear and other under-clothes, of which she gave a pair to Katniss when she was hiding in her basement.^[1]

When Cressida brought Pollux, Katniss, Peeta Mellark (still wearing his manacles) and Gale Hawthorne to Tigris' shop after escaping the lizard mutts, Tigris was watching television while sitting by the counter. She then led the remnants of Squad 451 to a secret cellar inside her store, hidden by a rack of clothes. She fed them bread and cheese on the first day and chose not to eat alongside them, stating that she barely eats in the first place.

On the second day of Squad 451's stay, she left into the streets for the majority of the day to acquire intel for the team. She spied on the Capitol's current state until 6 o'clock, returning to fry meat and prepare ham and potatoes for them. She informed them that fur underwear is in high demand and that peacekeepers are going door to door to assign refugees, since many Capitol citizens around the city center blocked off their homes instead of welcoming them. She also stated that the rebels had moved into the city and caused many residents to lose their homes.

Eventually, Squad 451 was driven out of Tigris' shop after fear of being discovered by refugees. She then redesigned their looks to make them appear as Capitol citizens, and she sent them on their way.^[13]

Physical description[]

In her youth, Tigris was described as being no great beauty; she had a long, pointed nose, and a skinny body, as well as golden brown eyes. Snow described her to have a certain sweetness and vulnerability that invited abuse.^[4] In Mockingjay, Katniss was unsure if her parents named her Tigris for inspiration for her future catty look, or if she had altered her name as well as her appearance to go together.^[1]

By the time of the Second Rebellion, Tigris had her face stretched and tattooed with black and gold tiger stripes. Her nose was flattened until it barely showed, forming a short snout. Katniss says her age has made her skin wrinkly. She also has surgically implanted whiskers, but are longer than anyone else's in the Capitol, as well as what Katniss described to be tawny eyes.

Personality and traits[]

Tigris is a sympathetic, generous and hospitable individual overall, though this can be attributed to her poor upbringing during the dark days. She cares for others deeply, as she originally proposed the idea of Snow meeting Lucy Gray at the train station simply out of sympathy. She cooked for Snow and the Grandma’am regularly and did tedious work for Fabricia Whatnot.^[4] She even baked sweet food for Lucy Gray.^[8] Despite her caring nature, Snow believed that her characteristics and kind nature would invite abuse, believing that others would manipulate and exploit her vulnerability, as proven with Fabricia.

Tigris not only felt sympathy toward Lucy Gray, but felt frustrated at the Hunger Games overall that she hastily hit the pan on the oven when cooking for Snow and lost sleep at the thought of the tributes in the 10th Hunger Games. She also stated that it was horrible to see anyone in the arena and expressed sympathy toward Lucy Gray.^[14] She, unlike her grandmother, was less hateful toward the districts and often rebuked the Grandma'am's claims against the districts and other individuals. Tigris was also quite intelligent, as she managed to conclude that Snow killed Bobbin and piece together what specifically had occurred in the altercation accurately from the clothing Snow wore.^[15]

She was against the Hunger Games itself throughout Snow’s time as a mentor for the 10th Hunger Games, as before Snow was discharged as a peacekeeper in District 12, she revealed that she believed the Hunger Games was an unnatural and vicious punishment.^[11]

She wore her dead mother's fur coat when things were too overwhelming and frustrating for her.^[14]

She acts much like a tiger in the sense that she moves similar to a cat, eats only raw meat, growls and purrs. She speaks with a gravelly voice that sounds similar to a cat's purr. She dislikes President Snow, showing happiness when Katniss mentioned she planned on killing him. Tigris is kind and loyal to the Second Rebellion, an insider from the Capitol entrusted by Plutarch Heavensbee.

Relationships[]

Coriolanus Snow[]

Tigris and Coriolanus had a sibling-like relationship, having been raised together at a young age since she was an orphan. She cared deeply for Snow, as could be seen by certain examples like when Snow lost consciousness due to the swan flu in the middle of the street. In that instance, Tigris found him and managed to bring him back home.^[16] Tigris cooked many of Snow's meals at a young age and was incredibly kind-hearted to Snow. At one instance, when Snow was tired of his mentorship she answered calls for him to allow him to rest and woke him up so he could eat. Snow trusted Tigris so much that he told Tigris almost everything, such as the truth of Clemensia's hospitalization. In response, she attempted to make him feel better by concluding that he should try to his best to avoid Dr. Gaul.^[3] She also believed that Snow couldn't hurt a fly, and was shocked when she figured out that he killed Bobbin.^[15]

Although their relationship was rather favorable by the beginning of the 10th Hunger Games, as they grew older their relationship presumably soured. In fact, when Katniss mentioned that she was going to kill Snow, she smiled in return. This can be attributed to their different perspectives on the Districts and the Hunger Games itself, as Tigris was rather sympathetic, easily believing Lysistrata's story that the District 12 tribute, Jessup, protected her in the arena bombing and lost sleep over the way the tributes were treated. She was also against the games itself, whilst Snow believed the Districts were below him and continued working to implement new aspects of the games. Their relationship was so undesirable that Snow fired Tigris as a stylist personally. However, despite the fact that they drifted apart, Snow still seems to have cared for her in small fashion by sparing her, despite her implicit resistance against his regime and Tigris may have considered Snow's death as a simple necessity, rather than source of pleasure, smiling only due to the fact that the dictatorship would end.

Grandma'am[]

Tigris had a family-bond relationship with the Grandma'am, although she often disagreed with her. Despite cooking and raising money to better help the family, she had a rather complex relationship with her grandmother, as both disagreed with one another in many aspects. When the Grandma'am believed that Lysistrata was lying about her tribute, Jessup, saving her, Tigris rebuked her comments by claiming that District 12 citizens aren't as bad as the Grandma'am believes.^[9] Despite their differences in views and values, Tigris continued to care for the Grandma'am when Snow was discharged as a peacekeeper.

Lucy Gray Baird[]

Tigris was largely sympathetic toward Lucy Gray even before she arrived in the Capitol, as she convinced Snow to meet her at the train station and gift her a flower simply because she thought Lucy Gray was lonely.^[4] Above that, after Snow mentioned the Lucy Gray liked sweets, she started baking sweet food for him to bring her, showing consideration and care toward her desires.^[8] Before the interviews, she gave Coriolanus a cake of soap for Lucy Gray, which was shaped liked a flower and lavender-scented. She was also kind enough to clean Lucy Gray's rainbow dress for her interview.^[9]

After Snow arrived home from the arena, she expressed sorrow again for Lucy Gray, believing that no one deserved to be placed in the arena.^[15]

Etymology[]

Tigris is the Latin word for "tiger". It is also the name of a major Mesopotamian river, whose original Sumerian name could be literally translated as "fast as an arrow".

Trivia[]

• As the prequel revealed that Tigris is Coriolanus Snow's cousin, speculation has occurred on whether Tigris shares the surname Snow. Fans speculate in favor of Tigris' surname being Snow due to the shared statement "Snow lands on top", which was meant to motivate them throughout the war.^[4] The Hunger Games exhibition has named their Tigris costume Tigris Snow, further aiding in this theory's popularity.^[17]
• Katniss speculates on whether Tigris might have been deemed "too altered" by the Capitol itself.
• Tigris came up with her cousin's nickname, "Coryo", when he was a newborn.^[4]
• She implied to Coriolanus that she may have done sex work to help support the family.^[18]
• She was the first to style and dress a tribute in the Games for public appearances, having done so unofficially during the 10th Hunger Games for Lucy Gray Baird.
  • Given Tigris being the first to style a tribute for public appearances, her close relationship with Coriolanus Snow, and her having styled the tribute he was responsible for as a mentor, it's possible that Tigris herself inspired the creation of the official stylist position—especially when considering how Coriolanus himself implemented many changes in the Hunger Games.
  • She was also the last person to style "tributes," in an unofficial role, when she helped Squad 451 blend in with Capitol citizens during the Battle of the Capitol, which Katniss and Finnick called the "76th Hunger Games".

References[]