#…and the Woman Clothed with the Sun

[pesky--dust]

Do you have time to speak about the last known moments of Abigail Hobbs’ life? 

In Mizumono Hannibal tells Will: “We couldn’t leave without you.”. Do you get it? Not “we can’t”, not “I cannot”. “COULDN’T”. That particular word shows what's about to happen. It was a zero-sum game: either they run away in three, or Hannibal runs away alone. Will had time to rejoice that Abigail was still alive, that neither he nor anyone else had killed her, only to have Hannibal slit her throat in front of him like a minute later. In Hannibal's eyes, Abigail's survival depended on Will and he betrayed Hannibal, so Hannibal betrayed Abigail.

But wait a second! We have also …and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, where we see what happened behind the scenes of Mizumono: Abigail was in the kitchen with Hannibal, when Will called and we have that conversation between Hannibal and her:

Hannibal: They're coming. 

Abigail: Are we going? 

Hannibal: We're waiting for Will. It's important that he sees you. I want you two to be together.

He had to know already that he is going to kill her (I guess the decision was made during his and Will's last supper), but he didn’t lie to her: he really wanted her and Will to be together (with him) and give her back to Will, because he knew that Will misses her, however since Will betrayed him (again: in Hannibal’s eyes), “It's important that he sees you. I want you two to be together.” has also deeper and more fatalistic meaning: he is going to leave them two together - give her back to Will - and run away on his own. Abigail was supossed to be his present for Will, so since they couldn’t leave in three, he left her with Will in this cruel way and hurting Will the same way he felt hurt.

I've just been thinking a lot about these two episodes lately, so don’t mind me. 

[hughdancybabyface]

Can you tell if they are in love from their eyes?

[grahamdolce]

Hannibal 3.10 And the Woman Clothed in Sun

[tedrailmi]

Hannibal, S03E10 "…And the Woman Clothed in Sun"

"Have you been to see him?"

[kuroshika]

[undercovercannibal]

Hannibal 1.02 “Amuse-Bouche” | 3.02 “Primavera” | 3.03 “Secondo” | 3.09 “...And the Woman Clothed with the Sun”

[cuties-in-codices]

mary as the "woman clothed with the sun"

in a manuscript containing alchemical illustrations, southern germany, c. 1570-1580

source: Vatican, Bibl. Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1885, fol. 14r

[mistikfir]

3x09 "And the Woman Clothed with the Sun..."

[weirdlookindog]

William Blake - The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, c. 1805-1810

[schilesteacup]

Hannibal and Will confronting each other in Season 3

S1 | S2

S3E02 Primavera / S3E07 Digestivo / S3E09 And the Woman Clothed with the Sun / S1E10 And the Woman Clothed in the Sun / S3E11 And the Beast from the Sea / S3E13 The Wrath of the Lamb

[pesky--dust]

You don’t understand what this moment does to me. 

We have a basic affinity for our family, we can detect each other from smell alone.

He smelled Will before seeing or hearing him. I'm so normal about this scene.

[hughdancybabyface]

Hannibal s2e1 | s3e10

[grahamdolce]

Hannibal 2.01 Kaiseki | 3.10 And the Woman Clothed in Sun

[stigmatam4rtyr]

Icon of the Woman Clothed in Sun (17th century)

[kuroshika]

now. i know what you're thinking. i know. "kallie oh my god let this quote die". but no. because i've had yet another thought.

"achilles, lamenting the death of patroclus. whenever he’s mentioned in the iliad, patroclus seems to be defined by his empathy."

"he became achilles on the field of war. he died for him there, wearing his armor."

i think by now we've all already seen the posts or recognized that hannibal and will have swapped clothes for the battle between them and dolarhyde. if not, here's a nifty little visual (2x13 mizumono, 3x10 ...and the woman clothed in the sun)

and if you're like me, you'd think "oh that's really sweet. he's wearing hannibal's shirt. it shows their lines beginning to blur". but you know what else it shows?

"[...] he died for him there, wearing his armor."

will went into war (the fight against dolarhyde) wearing hannibal's armor, and he (presumably) died there. he died in hannibal's armor, as patroclus died in achilles'.

and even THEN.

"he did. hiding and revealing identity is a constant theme throughout the greek epics."

"as are battle-tested friendships."

where will embraces his becoming, and steps into himself - where he casts off the persona of the man he'd been displaying and reveals who he really is underneath, which is a very constant theme throughout hannibal and will's relationship ― the battle to see each other, to understand.

"achilles wished all greeks would die, so that he and patroclus could conquer troy alone. took divine intervention to bring them down."

if you know me then you know, of course, i love love love the religious symbolism that hannibal is drenched in. and i think it's a very lovely parallel to the fact that hannibal, who sees himself as above but so intertwined with religion, and views will as his god, went to his death with the very man he worshipped.

you know. divine intervention.

[undercovercannibal]

Will Graham in Hannibal 3.09 “…And the Woman Clothed with the Sun”