Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Suzanne Collins' novel Sunrise on the Reaping.As the protagonist ofThe Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen has a sort of looming presence over both prequels to the trilogy so far, and the one released in 2025 more explicitly reveals details about her family tree.Sunrise on the Reapinglargely follows the50th Hunger Games, during which Katniss' future mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, tries to act in the interest of an agenda against the Capitol, which doesn’t always mean him planning on being the victor. This novel nearly tiesall theHunger Gamesinstallmentstogether, through the people Haymitch interacts with in District 12.
Previously, Suzanne Collins releasedThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel following a young Coriolanus Snow as he mentors the female tribute from District 12 in the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird.Lucy Gray comes from the nomadic group called the Covey, who are musicians by trade and were confined to District 12following the first rebellion. There have long beentheories that Katniss and Lucy Gray are relatedsomehow, andSunrise on the Reapingall but confirms this.
Sunrise On The Reaping Reveals Katniss' Father Burdock Is A Covey Cousin
Burdock Everdeen Is Somehow Related To Lenore Dove Baird
Suzanne Collins seems to have written this plot point as intentionally vague but does give us all we need to assume it.Sunrise on the Reapingconfirms that Katniss' parents' names are Burdock Everdeen and Asterid March. Burdock was a childhood friend to Haymitch, who convinced him to go into the woods outside for the first time when Haymitch was 10, upon which occasion he officially met Lenore Dove. Lenore Dove is said to be a Baird, but was raised by Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber, two other Covey members who are side characters inThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
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Burdock refers to Lenore Dove as “cuz,“and Haymitch says: “She wasn’t one of Burdock’s Everdeen cousins, but I knew he had some distant ones on his ma’s side.” Seemingly, this establishes that Burdock’s mother is also Covey.Sunrise on the Reapingnever returns to talk more about the relationship between Burdock and Lenore Dove, more focused on confirming their separate relations to Katniss and Lucy Gray. However, these comments would be strange things to include in the story if they were not meant to support the long-standing Katniss-Lucy Gray theory.
Who Is Katniss' Grandmother?
The Most Likely Candidates Are Barb Azure Or Lucy Gray
There are only six Covey characters inThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, all children-to-teenagers who live together and look after themselves as their parents were all killed by peacekeepers. Billy Taupe dies during the events of this book; Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber are suggested to only have Lenore Dove as a child; and Maude Ivory seems to be Lenore Dove’s mother, and died in childbirth.Lucy Gray apparently fled District 12, but possibly still could have returned without the Capitol knowing, especially if she married and changed her last name.
As Barb Azure is Madue Ivory’s cousin, if she were Burdock’s mother, he and Lenore Dove would be second cousins.
When Haymitch visits Lenore Dove’s grave, there are also headstones for Maude Ivory and Lucy Gray, with it not being said if the Covey made it in her honor after she disappeared or if she eventually came back and is actually buried there.It is technically still not impossible that Lucy Gray is Katniss' grandmother,but the one that seems less complicated is Barb Azure. As Barb Azure is Madue Ivory’s cousin, if she were Burdock’s mother, he and Lenore Dove would be second cousins.
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It has also been 40 years since the 10th Hunger Games inSunrise on the Reaping, just enough time for two new generations to come of age, andBarb Azure seems to be one of the older teenagers inThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so she could maybe be Burdock’s grandmother.Haymitch does characterize Burdock’s relationship with these cousins as “distant,” but this might also just be because the Covey broke up a bit as they grew up and had their own families, and are no longer a visible unit all living together.
The Full Covey-Everdeen Family Tree Explained
The Lineage of Katniss, Lucy Gray, & Lenore Dove
Prior to the districts' first rebellion, the Covey traveled around performing but were forced into District 12 where the adults were all killed, and the children left to fend for themselves. Lucy Gray’s two older siblings were also killed.This left the three Baird cousins — Lucy Gray, Maude Ivory, and Barb Azure— to live with brothers Clerk Carmine and Billy Taupe Clade, as well as Tam Amber. Billy Taupe was essentially disowned by the Covey after cheating on Lucy Gray with the mayor’s daughter Mayfair, who had her father rig the reaping to send Lucy Gray to the Hunger Games.
How Old Is Haymitch During Sunrise On The Reaping Compared To The Hunger Games
Haymitch is 16 years old in Sunrise on the Reaping, 24 years before The Hunger Games, which creates another parallel between him and Katniss.
Maude Ivory had Lenore Dove with an unknown man, possibly of District 12’s Chance family. Lenore Dove was raised by Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine, neither of whom married, but Clerk Carmine has a secret long-term relationship with a man who works in the town.Burdock is presumably a descendant of Barb Azure, and he married Asterid,the daughter of the merchants who owned the town’s apothecary, and had Katniss and Primrose.
The newest book makes this seem like it has always, in some ways, been a story of one family over several generations.
Hunger Gamesfans have delighted in searching for connections between the protagonists of each era, andSunrise on the Reapingleans into this more than ever. The newest book makes this seem like it has always, in some ways, been a story of one family over several generations who tried multiple times to better the world they lived in before the right person and set of circumstances finally came along.
