Are Tigris in The Hunger Games and Tigris in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes the same person?

Question

In Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games series, there is a minor character named Tigris. She is the owner of a shop in which Katniss and her team of soldiers take refuge during the assault on the Capitol. In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the subsequently published prequel, there is a major character named Tigris. She is Corianolus Snow's cousin.

Are these two Tigrises actually the same person? In terms of chronology, Ballad takes place some 65 years prior to Mockingjay (10th Hunger Games and 75th Hunger Games respectively), and Tigris is 21 years old in Ballad. She would thus have to be something like 87 in Mockingjay. The Tigris described in Mockingjay is certainly not young, but I did not get the impression of someone approaching the age of 90. She is however described as having various surgical procedures to alter her looks, which may be concealing her true age.

Katniss does mention that she recognizes Tigris as a stylist from one of the earliest Hunger Games she remembers. Given that Katniss is only 17, this can't have been much more than 10 years previous. If Tigris is indeed Snow's cousin from Ballad she would have been in her late 70s as a stylist in the Hunger Games. While certainly not impossible, it would seem to be at least out of the ordinary.

On the other hand, it would be mightily coincidental if they are two different people. As far as I can tell, there are no other names that are reused in the series. Tigris is not exactly a common name that one would expect to appear multiple times. Additionally, in both books Tigris is shown to be someone with particular sartorial proficiency.

Is there any clear evidence in the books that Tigris in Ballad and Tigris in Mockingjay are one and the same person? If not, is there any significance to these two characters having the same name?

Answer 1

Below is my interpretation of the relationship between the two people. I also asked this question in another account but copied my own answer here.

Duplicate

Their professions.

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Not much of a student, Tigris had forgone university when she’d graduated from the Academy to pursue her dream of becoming a designer. - Coriolanus Snow

Mockingjay

She was a fixture—a younger, less disturbing version of herself—in the earliest Hunger Games I can remember. A stylist, I think. I don’t remember for which district. Not 12. Then she must have had one operation too many and crossed the line into repellence. - Katniss Everdeen

Both Tigrises have the same profession. While the Tigris in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes wants to become a designer, the one in Mockingjay is. It is very possible that they are the same person, the Tigris in Mockingjay having fulfilled her dream. Based on this, it could be possible that they are the same person.

Habits of Eating Meat

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Tigris craved it and would have eaten her whole portion raw if the Grandma’am hadn’t forbidden it. - Coriolanus Snow

Mockingjay

“I eat next to nothing,” she says. “And then, only raw meat." - Tigris Snow

In both stories, Tigris enjoys eating raw meat, something that two people with the name Tigris may not share. It is even more unlikely for someone named Tigris to want to go into fashion and eat raw meat.

Their eye color.

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

He noticed the lilac circles under [Tigris's] golden brown eyes and couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt. “When was the last time you slept?” he asked - Coriolanus Snow

Mockingjay

I have a moment of panic and find myself turning to Tigris, searching those tawny eyes. - Katniss Everdeen

Tawny is a color similar to a golden brown, but a bit more orange. I've added images of the two colors below. The one on the left is golden-brown and the one on the right is tawny. Although the colors are different, there have been studies in which eye color changes with age. It is very possible that Tigris's eyes darkened slightly as she aged, or she changed the color to look more like her namesake. It is mentioned above in the first Mockingjay quote that Tigris has had operations.

Based on these three points, I concluded that the Tigris in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Mockingjay were the same person.

Answer 2

I think that they are the same person as well. Snow mentions that his cousin prefers her meat raw and that the Grandma'am is always stopping her from eating it that way. In Mockingjay, Tigris says that she only eats her meat raw when talking to Katniss. It seems awfully coincidental to have two characters with the same name and affinity for raw meat.

Answer 3

I don’t actually know, and there is no evidence I have seen, but I do think she is the same person because Tigris is not a very common name. Also, Tigris in Mockingjay does not like Snow that much, so she must have had a close connection with him. Overall, I don’t think Suzanne Collins would repeat a name like this without clarifying.