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See also: The Hanging Tree (song)

The hanging tree was where executions were held in District 12 around the time of the 10th Hunger Games.[1]

Description[]

"A great tree stood at the edge of the wood, its branches stretching out like large, knotty arms. A noose dangled from one particularly horizontal appendage. Directly below it, a rough platform with two trapdoors had been erected."
—Description of the hanging tree[src]

The hanging tree was located at the edge of the woods, in front of "a large field of hard-packed earth and weeds." The district's Peacekeepers had rigged a makeshift gallows with two trapdoors underneath one of its more horizontal branches, because the Capitol had never provided them with a proper one. Beneath each trapdoor, there was a fifteen foot drop that would snap the convicts' necks.[1]

History[]

Lucy Gray Baird and Billy Taupe Clade used to go to the hanging tree to be alone together, since it was the one place in District 12 where they could be guaranteed privacy.[2]

Execution of Arlo Chance[]

Around the time of the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games, Arlo Chance caused an explosion at the coal mines that killed three men: a Peacekeeper and two District 12 bosses. Arlo was arrested and convicted. About a month after the bombing, he was taken to the hanging tree for his execution on a Friday at one in the afternoon. The mines were closed that day, and all of the coal miners were required to attend. Two squads of twenty Peacekeepers flanked the platform, with another sixty Peacekeepers stationed along the edge of the field. Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus Plinth stood in the back row of one of the squads of twenty.[1]

Arlo Chance at his execution.

Arlo Chance at his execution.

Hundreds of people from the district came pouring into the area, and three cars pulled up. The first contained Mayor Lipp, his wife, and his daughter Mayfair Lipp. Commander Hoff and six officers came out of the second car, and a pair of guards hauled Arlo out of a third vehicle, heavily shackled. Once Arlo was positioned on one of the trapdoors, a Peacekeeper read out the list of his crimes. The Commander nodded to the Peacekeepers on the platform, and they offered Arlo a blindfold, which he refused, before they put the noose around his neck.[1]

A drumroll began on the far side of the platform, sending up a cry from the crowd. Lil rushed forward, and she called out Arlo's name as her brother Spruce tried to carry her off. She was apprehended by Peacekeepers as Arlo called out for her to run, and the trapdoor opened, dropping and killing him instantly.[1] Jabberjays and mockingjays echoed Arlo's dying words and Lil's screams for some time afterwards.[3]

Lucy Gray composing "The Hanging Tree" in the Meadow.

Lucy Gray composing "The Hanging Tree" in the Meadow.

The event inspired Lucy Gray to write "The Hanging Tree", a song that recounted the execution from Arlo's perspective.[4]

Rebel escape plan[]

Billy Taupe and Spruce planned, with help from Sejanus Plinth, to free Lil from the Peacekeepers' base and head north. One Saturday, Billy Taupe went to the Meadow and asked Lucy Gray to meet him at the hanging tree and run away with him. Rather than doing so, she told Coriolanus about it.[2]

Execution of Lil and Sejanus Plinth[]

Lil at her execution.

Lil at her execution.

After Coriolanus recorded Sejanus's confession using a jabberjay, exposing the escape plan, Sejanus was taken into custody and sentenced to execution alongside Lil. They were weak with terror and trembling as they were led to the gallows, and many people in the crowd cried out Lil's name. Coriolanus was in one of the squads flanking the platform again, and as Sejanus passed him, they locked eyes, and Sejanus called him by his nickname, "Coryo". Coriolanus was unsure if this was a plea for help or a condemnation of his betrayal.[5]

Coriolanus looked away when the nooses were put around their necks, and he caught sight of Lucy Gray near the front of the crowd, weeping with her hair hidden in a black scarf as she looked up at Sejanus. Coriolanus closed his eyes when he heard the drumroll begin, and Sejanus cried out for his Ma just before the trapdoors opened. Like at Arlo's hanging, the jabberjays copied Sejanus's last words.[5]

In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Spruce was executed alongside his sister and Sejanus.[6]

Second escape[]

"Good-bye, District Twelve. Good-bye, hanging tree and Hunger Games and Mayor Lipp. Someday something will kill me, but it won’t be you."
—Lucy Gray's goodbye to District 12[src]

Lucy Gray performed "The Hanging Tree" for the first and only time at Commander Hoff's birthday party. This was in order to communicate to Coriolanus that she wanted him to meet her at the hanging tree at dawn so they could run away together.[7]

Coriolanus found her there the next morning with his mother's orange scarf in her hair as she unloaded items from a small wagon. The two hugged and kissed before discussing how the Covey would manage without her. As they prepared to leave, Lucy Gray took one last look out over the town and said a few parting words. When Coriolanus looked back, he could only see the gallows.[8]

Trivia[]

  • Many District 12 scenes for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, including the hanging tree scenes, were filmed at Landschaftspark in Duisburg, Germany.[9]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 22
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 27
  3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 23
  4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 24
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 28
  6. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
  7. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 29
  8. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 30
  9. https://www.panempropaganda.com/movie-countdown/2022/9/2/propaganda-posters-the-hanging-tree-peacekeeper-vehicles-ext.html
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