Pluribus Bell

Pluribus Bell is an aging resident of the Capitol in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a dealer in black-market goods whose family trade turned toward luxuries after the war years known as the Dark Days. A musician in his younger days, he ran a nightclub of his own before hard times forced it closed, and he had a partner named Cyrus; these days he does business from home with a fluffy white cat, Boa, for company. Bell is a neighbor of the Snow family and one of the few people who knows how far their fortunes have fallen, a fact he keeps to himself and never uses to make them feel small. During the leanest stretch of the war he helped keep their household fed, selling crates of dried lima beans when fresh food had all but vanished from the city. He wears lemon-tinted spectacles and a white powdered wig that falls to his waist.