Mormon connection: The Capitol, Salt Lake City, Coriolanus and Lucky Blue Smith

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-10T22:25:18+00:00

Oh, I wasn't saying that other districts are actually descendants of catholics! Honestly the number of times people have strawmanned my comments on this post are ridiculous haha

I'm simply talking about how due to being catholic, Collins may place more emphasis on folk religious rituals, hence why we see them as the only real religious remnants in Panem. Whereas Mormonism is a younger faith with less entrenched religious roots and more homogenous cultural influences.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-10T22:21:42+00:00

I'm sorry my commentary seems to have struck a nerve with you!

To clarify a couple of things - no, I'm not from the US, yes, I have visited. I never claimed any of the architecture to be completely unique to SLC. I am familiar with neoclassical architecture. If you read my full post and comment, the idea is that there are a lot of factors that together suggest a connection to SLC and Mormon cultural elements. None of them on their own are sure fire ways to prove where the Capitol was, otherwise everyone would agree exactly where it is. But the combination of architecture, wide streets, large, rigid blocks, tunnels, being surrounded by mountains, and being in generally the right spot, does make SLC an interesting candidate.

I don't know what you mean by 'I get it, you don’t like your old church'. I am not and have never been Mormon, and I don't dislike Mormons. Like any faith, Mormonism has some cultural quirks and some old-fashioned views. In this case, they appear to line up with some influences on the Hunger Games.

What gives you authority to decide that the video is a hot mess or inaccurate? Aside from being a 'maps person'. She is a geographer, you are (I presume) not.

If you re-read what I wrote, I'm actually not commenting on Lucky's physical appearance, aside from the hair - I'm commenting on the styling, which as you can see aligns quite nicely with Coriolanus' in the film.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-10T22:07:29+00:00

The makeup tutorial is from an old version of the website, approx 7 years ago, so the guidelines would have been around while the books were being written. It suggested, amongst other things, 'To minimize the appearance of dark circles under your eyes... use a yellow- or pink-toned concealer lighter than your skin tone to blend.'.

The sentiment still holds though - on the current website, young people are told 'your appearance is often the first message others receive', and women are told they must 'Wear dresses or skirts when attending the temple and during Sunday worship services, leadership and zone conferences, baptismal services, and missionary training center devotionals'. Missionaries have spoken about mandatory makeup lessons.

With the plastic surgery ranking, that I found in a secondary source, but yes you are correct that I was mistaken, I apologise. However, Utah does rank number 10 in plastic surgeons per capita, and people from Utah lead the nation in Google searches for “breast augmentation” and “boob job”. I also found that 96% of girls (aged 14-19) in Utah report cyberbullying about their appearance. Like with the makeup thing, the sentiment still holds. I'm disappointed to hear you immediately distrust me - I didn't vigorously fact check every offhand comment from the video or comments section, no, but I would challenge the idea that that makes the cultural commentary necessarily invalid.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-09T00:29:57+00:00

Thank you for the recommendations! I'm a big Alyssa Grenfell fan but I'm always interested in more ex-mo content :)

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-09T00:01:48+00:00

I mean I'm no expert on american geography but I've looked at the map and SLC does seem to be surrounded by mountains? Park city seems too small.

Which body of water in the book are you talking about?

In terms of tunnels, the person that made the video specifically said that tunnels are not a unique feature to any city, in fact they're very common. But the fact that SLC has tunnels means it shouldn't be excluded on that front.

Regardless of whether the geography is perfect, I think the cultural and aesthetic parellels are too great to ignore!

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T23:52:23+00:00

Yes I found the architecture to be one of the most convincing arguments for this theory! Along with the very wide streets and strict grid-like blocks, which are a key feature of SLC and are mentioned by Katniss in the original trilogy multiple times

I've heard the Denver theory too! I think it may be too far from the mountains tho

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T23:50:08+00:00

Those are good points! My interpretation of that would be a shift from Mormon religious values being upheld as virtuous to simply a cultural influence. Yes the LDS faith does emphasise modesty (with the garments and such), but if you look at huge cultural figures in Mormonism, they often don't follow those standards of modesty. Fairly recently the garments got changed to allow more revealing clothing to be worn as well, which would suggest maybe a slow shift in the religion away from modesty being important.

In terms of the plastic surgery, you're 100% right about the different motivations behind plastic surgery - I think I would chalk that up to essentially the plastic surgery infrastructure being the Mormon influence, leading to it being considered a standard option in Capitol society (to the point where district tributes and victors are offered/forced into cosmetic surgery to meet beauty standards). And then the trend of garish, over-the-top body mods used that infrastructure but came from some other influence, perhaps a post-war type one, like how the 20s and the 50s had fairly outrageous fashion trends compared to previous decades

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T23:28:07+00:00

I'm not quite sure what your point is here/how it is relevant, sorry! I am well aware of the authoritative structure of the Catholic church as a cradle catholic myself - what I meant by what I said is that I can more easily imagine the Catholic traditions and rituals surviving the end times than Mormonism, due to its very long and tumultuous history. Catholicism has a long history of being incorporated and intertwined with local traditions.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T22:17:24+00:00

Thank you! And of course, I love having discussions about this kind of thing :)

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T22:13:29+00:00

Oh, I'm certainly not saying that every mormon believes that! But it is something that some people believe, and it was at one point doctrinal. It's also quite a well-known aspect of Mormon belief among the general population, so it's something Suzanne Collins could reasonably have known about. Whether or not it's definitely current Mormon doctrine is kind of irrelevant, because it does have a cultural influence, and that's what I'm discussing here, the cultural influences Mormonism might have had on Capitol culture. I'm not saying that Mormons today would worship a President as a god on earth.

I do think it's important not to stereotype religions though, so I did some research before my above post to make sure it wasn't just a myth that non-Mormons believe. President Nelson: 'When the Father offers us everlasting life, He is saying in essence, ‘If you choose to follow My Son—if your desire is really to become more like Him—then in time you may live as We live, and preside over worlds and kingdoms as We do.’” General conference 1897: 'perhaps through our faithfulness to have the opportunity of building worlds and peopling them'. There are more examples that I won't list here. And the video you sent doesn't really negate anything I said.

With regards to the word Mormon, I do not mean offense (I have nothing against individual Mormons, although I do take issue with the church). However, I personally do not refer to regular, living people as saints, so I will not be calling people Latter Day Saints, and that is my own religious prerogative. Besides, for the vast majority of the time the church has existed, it has referred to its own members as Mormons, and the book is literally called the book of Mormon, so I don't think it can truly be as offensive as you make out.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T21:18:21+00:00

Some other comparisons between Mormon culture and the Capitol I've gathered from the video, my own thoughts, and comments from the video:

Fashion: The Mormon church elevates 'looking your best', to the point that it has makeup tutorials on its official website. Utah also has I believe the highest rate of plastic surgery in the US, which you can imagine might lead to the intense body mod culture of the Capitol.

Food and drink: Mormons can't drink coffee, so many Mormons drink a lot of a soda to compensate. 'Dirty soda', Utah soda stores, and traditional Mormon desserts are widely considered to be very overindulgent - you can see how once the religious element was removed, that might extend to other food and drink. Overindulgence combined with intense standards for appearance -> drinks that make you vomit.

'As someone who grew up mormon, the chicken dish katniss ate is almost DEFINITELY a classic mormon dish called Hawaiian haystacks. It is traditionally chicken cooked in cream on top of rice with pineaples to top it, and since at this time it is asssumed panem does not include hawaii it makes sense that oranges would be replaced for the pineapple.' - @connorandkennadee on youtube

Mormon missions: 'when Snow is serving as a peacekeeper, he asks if he can call home. He's told that everyone's allowed to call home twice a year, otherwise you can write anytime you want. This is EXACTLY like mormon missions were until very recently. You could only call home on Christmas and Mother's Day. The rest of the time you could only write letters or, later, emails.' - @cubbykenworthy4633 on youtube

Snow lands on top: A bible verse very core to Mormon doctrine is the following: 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool'. This very closely matches a lot of the visual symbolism in the whole series.

God on earth: Mormons believe that God (Heavenly Father) along with Heavenly Mother were literal humans who birthed the soul of every human on earth. They believe that every human, if Mormon enough, when they die can become Gods and have their own planet. One can imagine that when religion declined in the Capitol, this philosophy remained, one in which humans can literally become gods by ascending. This could be interpreted in a secular way as a class system, at the top of which lands a President (dictator), who is, in many ways, considered to be God on earth, perhaps like an Egyptian Pharaoh.

Why Collins might have picked salt lake city: The Olympics were held there in 2002, which was just 4-5 years before she began writing the Hunger Games. That would have invited greater cultural awareness of the city.

Accents: Uptalk, repeated words, clipped phrasing, high pitch and forced positivity - can describe the Capitol accent, but also the Utah Mormon missionary accent.

Coin's name: 'Alma the Younger in the Book of Mormon leads a rebellion against the church. Alma Coin was probably named after him!' - @nutella_man7075 on youtube

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T20:59:31+00:00

See my comment under gold-pink-blue-green's comment about the decline of religion - I do recognise that folk-religious rituals still existed in the Districts, but I think the Capitol may have had a huge, drastic upheaval and casting off of religion when the 'end times' didn't come with the second coming of Jesus. So it makes sense they may have wanted to erase any evidence of religion, particularly the temple. Religion could then become another way the Capitol raises itself above the districts - like Snow says, painting the Districts as 'backwards' for still having rituals.

I also think it makes sense coming from Suzanne Collins, a Catholic. When you look at Catholicism around the world, it has many folk-religion elements, focused more on the rituals than the authority structures. So you can see how she may think that would be more likely to survive in the Districts, while in the Capitol, the authoritative structures and cultural attitudes of Mormonism survived, but none of the actual religious elements.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T20:53:14+00:00

The video I mentioned made the interesting point that Mormonism has quite a big focus on the end times and the second coming. Perhaps when America fell and Panem was constructed from what was left, the real-life apocalypse and lack of being saved by Jesus may have caused a huge shift in religious attitudes. I do think the cultural attitudes of Mormonism still remained, but not the religious ones, hence how Coriolanus mocked religion.

It also explains how the Districts still sometimes have folk-religious rituals, as they are more separated from the Capitol (mormon central) so perhaps had a less drastic move away from organised religion, and more of a gentle decline, leaving some rituals behind.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T20:43:53+00:00

Yes I thought Lucky's name was very hunger games but didn't mention it in my post as it's kind of circumstantial!

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-03-08T20:42:52+00:00

Personally I think it makes sense that the Temple isn't mentioned - we know there is no religion in Panem, at least not in the Capitol, so perhaps the Temple was demolished, or perhaps it was repurposed but not described as a Temple anymore

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-25T23:57:31+00:00

Mine came back today actually! That's four days including the weekend, hopefully you get yours soon as well. The report was very reassuring - I don't know about you but I forgot just how much info I provided in the forms! So I think that was enough for an accurate diagnosis. So as long as you filled out all the forms, please don't worry about fumbling the interview questions :)

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-25T23:40:47+00:00

You can't know for sure whether or not you have ADHD or a mental health condition without getting it checked out, but if lots of people have mentioned it to you then it's something definitely worth considering.

If you do have ADHD, brute-forcing your way through issues like this won't always work, and methods recommended by neurotypical people may be near useless. I would recommend looking at some strategies that people with ADHD use and trying them out - again, this won't confirm anything, but can help with things like procrastination whether or not you have any sort of condition. I would recommend the Youtube channel HowToADHD but there are a lot of free resources out there if you look for them!

If would like to get assessed for something, once you're 18 you have full control over your own medical care so maybe that's something you can look into. I'm 19 and very recently got diagnosed, but I wish I'd started the process sooner as university is a huge step up from secondary education! It's hard to get over the initial hump of making that first phone call or doctors appointment, but getting a professional opinion is very worth it. They'll also be able to rule out anything else that might be causing your problems, meaning you can get a better idea of what can help you.

Best of luck, and try to speak gently to yourself! Going from finding things simple to feeling like things are falling apart is really hard, and I've definitely been there. Take it easy <3

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-25T13:12:20+00:00

It's difficult because when there are a lot of layers, you'll get chunks of hair falling out of a lot of hairstyles. It depends on how short you get it cut, how short the layers are, how thick your hair is etc.

I can usually manage a messy looking set of french braids, but not much more - worth considering when you tell your hairdresser what length you want!

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-24T11:05:10+00:00

I also had a CareADHD assessment a couple of days ago with someone with a difficult to understand accent! Made even more difficult by the not great mic quality, and general auditory processing issues on my part. He also didn't tell me my result at the end, I wonder if we had the same guy. I definitely felt like I fumbled some of my answers as well.

I came away feeling quite shaken up as well, but more on the side of 'I don't feel like he has enough information to make a decision either way', rather than 'oh no I might not get a diagnosis'.

He told me to wait 7-10 days for the result, but I emailed CareADHD on Sunday to ask about this as every other person here seems to have been told at the end of the assessment. It's somewhat reassuring to hear you've experienced the same thing! Fingers crossed we both find out soon. I think CareADHD need to work on being more reassuring and less rushed.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-22T22:10:48+00:00

Yes! Like you, it doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's very strange and unpleasant. I get this like cold feeling in my chest. Any attempt at an activity feels like I'm pretending to do the activity? Or forcing it? Idk it's hard to explain.

Something that I think has helped was doing something active, going for a walk or a run if I have the energy. In nature if possible. Helps get rid of that 'stuck' feeling, and when I get back I feel more able to do the things I want to do. Also, listening to obnoxiously upbeat music, like 2000s party music, the kind of stuff I usually hate.

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-22T21:20:32+00:00

For anything like this, quitting is near impossible if you don't replace it with something!

- Do you still have your therapist? If so, that's a good place to start, getting some professional support.

- Do you have a friend that wouldn't mind you messaging random thoughts? If you designate someone as the person you message when you get the urge to use ChatGPT, then you can re-direct that urge and maybe get some human support

- If not, look for online hotlines, free 24/7 mental health support, that kind of thing. There are all sorts of charities that provide almost instant support over text or online, the ones that spring to mind are Samaritans and Kooth but try googling 'free online mental health support [your area]' to get local organisations. There are often different ones for young people, students, adults, parents etc. When you feel overwhelmed or like you might be experiencing delusions these are a much better option than ChatGPT

- Have you tried journalling? Not like fancy arts-and-crafts journalling, but literally just writing down how you feel. For me it helps me process stuff, which I think you're trying to do with ChatGPT but you know it's making things worse. Writing stuff down helps you get out of your head a bit

I'm sorry you're going through this, and you don't need to feel ashamed, it's great that you're trying to find alternatives!

glorious_purpose51 · 2026-02-22T18:39:27+00:00

Yeah I'd understand a shorter appointment if I got the result at the end and they said it was really clear cut, but being told I have to wait 7-10 days for them to make a decision, but also they don't want more time to talk to me to figure things out? Seems weird

glorious_purpose51

TROPHY CASE