Billy Taupe Clade

Billy Taupe Clade
Age	14-20
Occupation	Musician
Home	District 12
Gender	Male
Fate	Deceased (shot by Spruce)
Book Appearances	The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Movie Appearances	The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Portrayed by	Dakota Shapiro

"Too bad I'm the bet that you lost in the reaping."

—Lucy Gray Baird in song, referring to Billy Taupe

Billy Taupe Clade was a member of the Covey, before he betrayed them and broke Lucy Gray Baird's heart for Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of Mayor Lipp. He was also the older brother of Clerk Carmine Clade.

Biography

Early life

As members of a nomadic people called the Covey, Billy Taupe, his younger brother Clerk Carmine, and their family traveled throughout Panem amidst the First Rebellion.

Covey Genocide

A few years prior to the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Peacekeepers rounded up the Covey and killed many of them. This presumably included the Clades, save for Billy Taupe and Clerk Carmine. The few remaining Covey were trapped in District 12, where they made their living doing musical performances.

10th Hunger Games

"Oh no. If I swing, she's swinging with me!"

—Billy Taupe regarding Lucy Gray Baird, his last words

Billy Taupe had been in a relationship with Lucy Gray Baird, also of the Covey. Lucy Gray sent him to give piano lessons to the mayor's daughter, Mayfair Lipp. Billy Taupe struck up a relationship with Mayfair, thinking he could have both her and Lucy Gray; however, the two girls found out about each other, Lucy abandoned Billy, and Mayfair convinced her father to call out Lucy Gray's name at the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games. While in the Capitol, Lucy Gray wrote and performed "The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird" as a message to the Covey about Billy Taupe.

After Lucy Gray Baird arrived back in District 12 as the victor of the Hunger Games, Billy Taupe appeared at the Hob following a performance by the Covey. Coriolanus Snow recognized him as being the man that Lucy Gray had sung about, the man who had lost in the reaping. Billy Taupe also had an instrument that Snow did not recognize, but was in fact an accordion. Maude Ivory stood in front Lucy Gray, telling Billy Taupe to get out, as nobody wanted him there anymore. Drunken and slurred, he said that they needed him and were sounding thin. Barb Azure Baird told him that he had made his choice. He tried to appeal to Clerk Carmine, his brother, but when Clerk Carmine didn't respond either, he claimed that he would do fine on his own. However, when a couple of Peacekeepers closed in on him, he shoved one away and then somebody pulled out the lights, resulting in a drunken brawl. Afterwards, Coriolanus spotted Billy Taupe inside Mayfair Lipp's home, scowling with a bloody nose.

The next day, Coriolanus went with Sejanus Plinth to meet with Lucy Gray Baird and enjoyed a happy reunion. However, as their meeting was wrapping up, Billy Taupe arrived, saying he wanted the rest of his belongings. After they were given to him, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray discovered Sejanus was drawing a map of the Peacekeepers' base for Billy Taupe.

Billy Taupe told Sejanus that he could find him at the Hob if he wanted to talk more, but Lucy Gray warned him to leave and not come back. Billy Taupe asked if she would sic her Peacekeepers on him if he didn't, calling them a "pretty tame pair." She told him that there was no walking back what he had done. He said he hadn't tried to get her killed, but she replied that he was still running with the girl who did. He commented that she was "playing the kids" and told Coriolanus that he would "learn soon enough." Afterwards, Lucy Gray told Coriolanus that what he said wasn't true, that she did sometimes have to flirt as part of her job, and that he had a different set of rules for himself than he did for her.

One evening, after another performance at the Hob, Coriolanus stumbled into a shed where he discovered Sejanus and Billy Taupe crouched over a burlap sack with several weapons protruding out of it. Lucy Gray then spotted Coriolanus and they ended up both getting drawn inside, where another man, Spruce, revealed his presence. Spruce asked Sejanus about Coriolanus, and Sejanus responded that he was like his brother. He then motioned the barrel of his gun to Lucy Gray and Billy Taupe told him that Lucy Gray was going north with them, claiming she was his girlfriend.

When Spruce asked if Coriolanus and Lucy Gray weren't together, Lucy Gray lied, saying that Coriolanus was seeing Barb Azure. It seemed like everything was going to work out, until Mayfair showed up, looking for Billy Taupe. He told her to get home and he would explain things later. Spruce, however, told her to come with them, as they had no quarrel with her, only with her father. He asked Billy Taupe what was going on and he told him that she was just talking. She commented mulishly that she was all talk and no action, sniping at Lucy Gray, asking how she enjoyed the Capitol. She then tried to flee and Spruce rose his gun to shoot her, but Billy Taupe knocked the barrel to the floor. Coriolanus then shot Mayfair instead and called for Lucy Gray to flee back onstage. However, Billy Taupe declared that if he swung, she would swing with him, at which point Spruce shot him through the chest, leaving him dead on the ground.

Physical description

Billy Taupe was dark-haired and around Coriolanus Snow's age when they first met. He dressed in a sleeveless shirt and pants ripped off at the knees, with his instrument hanging over one shoulder. After the Covey's performance in the Hob, Billy Taupe's face gleamed with sweat and his movements suggested that he had drank too much white liquor.

Family

After the deaths of their immediate families, the six remaining Covey children were taken in by an old man for a fee. This included Billy Taupe and his brother Clerk Carmine Clade. The man didn't raise the children, but he didn't "much mess with [them]" either. He died of black lung the year prior to Lucy Gray's reaping, but some of the Covey were old enough to manage things by then.

Since Lucy Gray, Maude Ivory, and Clerk Carmine were all under eighteen, Billy Taupe, Barb Azure, and/or Tam Amber would have had to be the legal adults in charge of the household after the old man's death.

Etymology

Billy is a nickname for William, and his second name, Taupe, is a shade of brown-gray. Given how Covey members are named after ballads, his name may be taken from Billy Boy. Clade might come from the Ancient Greek "kládos", meaning a young slip or shoot of a tree, the kind broken off for grafting.