Tigris

"*Clothes speak to me, you know.*"
―Tigris to her cousin, Coriolanus Snow[src]
**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.

## Biography

Tigris was born into the wealthy Snow family, a part of an old guard of the elite from the Capitol, including the likes of other families such as the Crane family. Their status gave them a lot of privilege, as she alongside her family could enter the amphitheater (later repurposed to the arena of the earliest Hunger Games) in an exclusive entrance. Her family status even allowed an Avox to attend to her. 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.

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, who was often referred as Grandma'am in one of the most opulent Capitol penthouses. When Tigris was 8, she started cooking for the family after the death of Snow’s parents as they could no longer employ cooks.

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.

### 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 and amassed only a low income. After Snow came to her for assistance on his clothing he was meant to wear at the reaping, 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. Snow 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.

When Snow was tapped for mentorship in the 10th edition of the Games, Tigris was mainly supportive. However as the tributes for the 10th Hunger Games were shown in the Capitol Zoo alongside Snow, she was disturbed at their treatment despite their young age, eventually she even lost sleep over it choosing to cook throughout the night to get her mind off of it. Her feelings of uneasiness did not fade, as she was horrified at the death of Arachne Crane, a family friend and mentor of the District 10 tribute that she simply wept. However after her feelings started to die down, she along with Grandma'am pronounced Snow as a national hero, praising him due to his brave actions.

After Snow came home one evening before the Games, he revealed to Tigris that Clemensia Dovecote was bitten by a snake mutt from Dr. Volumnia Gaul, and her face turned white in shock. She concluded that Dr. Gaul was sadistic and demented and told Snow to avoid her at all costs although Snow continued to interact with her, unable to avoid her due to her status as the head Gamemaker of the 10th Hunger Games.

After the Capitol Arena was bombed, she alongside Grandma'am visited Snow at the hospital. She easily believed that his tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, had helped and ultimately saved his life, despite Grandma'am's refusal to accept this, due to her hatred towards the districts. She told Snow that knowing that he had been then experiencing the bombing and not being there with him was worse than actually experiencing it herself.

In preparation for the interviews, Tigris gave Lucy an old dress of hers for Lucy to wear. In return, Lucy gave Tigris her rainbow dress, and Tigris worked her magic to clean and mend the dress for Lucy to wear during the interviews. Tigris even applied make-up such as blush and lipstick, becoming possibly the earliest Hunger Games stylist, even if it wasn't yet an official position.

## Post 10th Hunger Games

After the Games, she was shocked at the twist that fate had dealt the Snow family. Snow 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 Snow knowing that she would hold her tears until after he left. That night, neither of them slept and she told him that he was setup to fail, the Hunger Games being a cruel, vicious punishment and that a good person like him couldn't be expected to go along with him. He warned her that he mustn't say that to anyone but him, that it wasn't safe. She told him that she knew, and that that was wrong too. Before he left, she gave him an old sun and a pair of sunglasses that had been her father's for the trip.

After Snow left for District 12, Tigris continued to update Snow 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. Eventually, however, Snow 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 Snow 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.

As the Games started to develop over the years, implementing new rules and aspects of the games, she was eventually picked to become a stylist for the tributes for an unknown district. Katniss had remarked that she remembers Tigris from the earliest games she could remember. Throughout the years, Tigris started to get surgical enhancements, specifically to alter her looks to look somewhat like a tiger getting face and arm tattoos, flattening her nose and getting some of the largest whiskers Katniss had ever seen from a Capitol citizen.

Although Tigris and Snow were on good terms by the beginning of the 11th Hunger Games, over time she grew a deep hatred for Snow eventually joining an underground rebel group within the Capitol. It can be noted that her indifference toward Snow can be attributed to his influence on the games, since Tigris was sympathetic toward the tributes and Snow’s involvement with Dr. Gaul who she personally disliked and was quite fearful of. At an unknown point in time years before the 74th Hunger Games, she was personally fired by Snow, the stated reason being due to her being too surgically enhanced. However, given their past history, it is possible that the actual reason was something else.

## Mockingjay

In Mockingjay, she owns a small shop selling fur-lined clothes in the Capitol. The shop's inventory consists of fur underwear and other under-clothes, of which she gave a pair to Katniss when she was hiding in her basement.

   When Cressida brought Pollux, Katniss, Peeta (still wearing his manacles) and Gale to Tigris' shop, Tigris led the remnants of Squad 451 to a secret cellar inside her store, which was hidden by a rack of clothes. She cared and fed them while they stayed, and informed them of what was going on in the Capitol, including President Snow's plan to accept refugees into his mansion. When she went out to spy on the Capitol's current state, she returned to tell the squad that the rebels had moved into the city and caused many residents to lose their homes and now the government was forcing shop keepers and safer residents to provide refuge, this is what drove Squad 451 out of Tigris' shop after she redesigned their looks to make them appear as Capitol citizens. Shortly after they left, Tigris housed many refugees kindly and survived on after President Snow was over-thrown.

## 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. In Mockingjay, Katniss is 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.

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

"*Imagine how terrified she must be, Coryo. How alone she must feel*"
―Tigris to Coriolanus Snow about Lucy Gray    Tigris is a sympathetic and generous individual overall, though this can be attributed to her poor upbringing during the dark days. She cares for Snow and others deeply, as she originally proposed the idea of Snow meeting Lucy Gray at the train station simply out of sympathy. She cooks for Snow and Grandma’am regularly and does tedious work for Fabricia Whatnot. 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, unlike her grandmother was less hateful toward the districts and often rebuked 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.

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 rebellion, an insider from the Capitol entrusted by Plutarch.

## Trivia

* "Tigris" is the Latin word for "*Tiger*".
* She is the only known Capitol citizen who was deemed 'too altered' by the Capitol itself.
* Tigris is one of the three characters in the trilogy to have been known to be born before the Hunger Games began, being 11 years old when the first Games commenced. The only other characters that are known are Coriolanus Snow and Mags.
* Tigris calls her cousin, Coriolanus Snow, "Coryo".
* Tigris is an orphan.
* She was the first to style and dress a tribute in the games for public appearances.
* It has been theorized by some readers that the Tigris presented in *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes* and the one in *Mockingjay* are not actually the same character. However, certain things stated about Tigris in *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, such as the fact that she craves raw meat and that she is an aspiring fashion designer, suggest that they are, in fact, the same character.
* It is unknown if her parents wanted her to have her look altered to match her name, or her name changed to match her new look.

## References

1. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 1
2. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 6
3. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 7
4. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 9
5. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 10
6. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 11
7. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 21
8. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Epilogue
9. ↑ Discussions - Is Is Tigris from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes the same Tigris we meet in Mockingjay?
10. ↑ *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, Chapter 12