#because will is the only person hannibal ever cared about truly

[variksel]

anyway hi guys hannibal never really ever cared about abigail really, he only saw her as a tool to use to manipulate will further ("feeling paternal, will?" "we're her fathers now" being him immideatly catching how will felt about killing abbys dad and the guilt and fear will felt about it and wanting to immideatly capitalize on it) yes he did want to try to get the same murderer insticts to unlock in abby as him but he was never nearly as invested in her as he was in will he never really cared about her beyond being a tool to hurt will (as evidenced as him killing her as soon as will betrayed hannibal) Also in terms of wills relationship to abby the picture he had of abigail and his relationship to her was never based in any kind of reality, not even any kind of potential one. abby never had any kind of relationship to will beyond them both admitting to the other that killing felt good (both cases which were instigated by hannibal btw) and he was never a real figure in her life, always just the unsettling fbi agent that visited her a few times but he was never anywhere near being a real father figure and she never felt a connection to him. also honestly the only reason will had those daydreams about him as abbys dad was because he felt like he adopted hobbs' life and role the second he killed him do you guys see it he adopted hobbs' life when he killed him do you guys see. the three of them never had a chance of being a family and it was all set up by hannibal, it was all a lie and a manipulation Anyway how many aura points did i lose by hannibalposting in 2024

[death-by-sc0tland]

even though hannibal is a terrifying person, i don’t think he ever tries to act intimidating. he’s always very well put together, he never yells, never tries to make himself scarier in any way cause i guess he knows he can be scary without all that. however, there was one scene that i genuinely felt terrified of him, and it was at the end of antipasto (s3 ep1) when he was killing anthony (will graham knockoff) in front of bedelia

hannibal is very reckless the entire episode. he is posing as dr. fell, but that cover is threatened when anthony enters the scene, cause he knew the real dr. fell. if this were hannibal from earlier seasons, he would dispose of him as soon as possible, cause he was always careful about his cover. however, hannibal just seems to not give a shit in this case.

bedelia sees this happening and you can see she is really distressed about it. she was probably expecting hannibal to kill him when he invited him over for dinner, but he let him go. this put both hannibal and bedelia at risk, but hannibal didn’t really seem to care. bedelia probably fully realizes what kind of shit she has gotten herself into - this is not the same hannibal it used to be. so bedelia decides to run away but unfortunately for her, she’s too slow and hannibal comes back before she can leave. this time he brought anthony over to finally kill him cause now he realized he’s only posing as dr. fell. honestly though, i’d go even as far as to say he deliberately brought him in to kill in front of bedelia as a punishment, cause he probably figured she’s trying to escape. and then the terrifying shit begins.

this man never yells, but i feel like in this scene, he came the closest to that through the entire show. bedelia is out of her mind and he’s just demanding “are you participating or observing?” after which he goes into straight up gaslighting mode and tells her she’s actually participating. like he’s literally actively killing the guy but he’s saying “what have you gotten yourself into, bedelia?”

and truly. she’s gotten herself into some utter shit and can’t take it. and hannibal is pissed about that. because it was supposed to be will with him. will that saw him and understood him and accepted him and wouldn’t be scared and wouldn’t try to run away. he brought bedelia as a weak replacement of will and he’s angry because she just cannot replace will. so he’s lashing out and acting all bitchy towards her here.

bedelia is later bragging about how she was with hannibal behind the veil. but she didn’t admit that it scared her and she tried to run. will has done all kinds of bad things to hannibal, but he was never scared of him and never wanted to run away from him.

[carnallysm]

The Hunger.

Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau / Psychiatrist! Dark! Reader helping at the BAU. (Inspired by Hannibal NBC).

Settled in earlier seasons, but doesn't necessarily follow canon events strictly.

This is an AU.

Beware of typical in canon content such as: murder and cannibalism mentions, overall dark content. There's also some smut towards the end!

— Summary: "Jennifer Jareau is no profiler. She can't tell, like the rest of her team (except Garcia), what exactly means if someone socks are unmatched.

But she understands people, in her own way. A more natural one. A more consuming one.

You, the BAU's new hired psychiatrist to help the members with their mental health, will be the most consuming person Jennifer ever met."

It wasn't a wound, much less a profound one that Jennifer Jareau felt her heart had. Instead, each and every string that formed her heart was intact.

No one ever truly saw it, what's within her. Jennifer herself is sure she doesn't want to know what hides beneath the mask she's had plastered on her face since so many years.

What she knows is there's a hole in her heart; a bottomless black hole that she's been trying to fill for just as many years as she has been wearing a mask wherever she went to.

Nonetheless, Jennifer is happy with her life. It's the kind of life she had to live, for her family back then and for her family now. The BAU gave JJ that: a family. One that was always there, unlike her mother. Unlike her sister...

Thoughts about death must be inevitable in her job, that's what Jennifer thinks. Seeing, catching, interviewing, chasing serial killers all up and down the States would have an effect on everyone.

She thought so until she met you.

Carrying yourself with an air of gracefulness, and yet easy to talk to. There was something about you that simply made JJ uneasy. You never even flinched at the bodies — and even so, you were unbelievably gentle with the victims, offering them sessions of therapy for free.

What about you was what made a cold shiver run through her spine whenever your eyes met?

Her blue eyes reflecting your appearance, always formal at job while at the same time not enough to seem too snob. Every time she talked with you, it was like her heart opened; for better and worse.

"I don't find you that interesting." Jennifer didn't exactly lie, because more than interesting alone, she found you interestingly terrifying.

Because you opened her heart, tired apart all the strings that protected it, and filled the hole that was there the same way she did to you.

Your heart, that you felt so cold and alone. You always knew you were alone, despite all the people who praised your work. None of them knew you, your deepness — or the deepness of your hollowness. That was filled by Jennifer Jareau, someone so kind and yet so frustratingly unaware of her own self.

"You will." You responded to her with a small nod, before taking a piece of sausage you made for breakfast for both of you. An special one, even if Jennifer was unaware of that as well.

It was only the beginning of the love, the first person you didn't want to consume physically, but emotionally and completely. Someone to consume with, perhaps. JJ, you were sure, was the only person who would understand.

But first, you had to pull her where you wanted her. Made her realize things, realize everything about death and love.

"My parents died when I was very young," You confessed in one of your therapy sessions with Jennifer, being the psychiatrist hired for the BAU members. "Taking care of my sister wasn't easy, but I loved her."

You immediately took account of JJ's softening features, the curves of her mouth frowning into a saddened expression. She understands, you know, even if you're not fully being honest with her.

But Jennifer understands loss the same as you.

"My sister died when I was eleven, and..." JJ had to take a couple of seconds to have a deep breath, faintly shaking her head to clear the few tears gathering in her eyes. "I froze when I saw her in the bathroom. That's why I swore to never freeze again."

She raised a hand to softly, almost barely actually touching and more like caressing the necklace she was wearing, the one that used to belong to her sister.

That's all she had left of her sister, and for the first time in God knows how much, you felt sorry for her. You carried your sister everywhere, while Jennifer had to conform with a simple necklace.

It was simply pitiful.

Meanwhile, you kept doing your work both at day and night, and serving the pigs that your victims were to your teammates. They didn't know, of course. But it was delicious to see how they all, unknownly so, enjoyed and cherished your dishes.

It speaks on its own.

To love is to consume, in some way or another. You consumed the reminiscences of your sister for love, and now you take pigs down for their rudeness.

That's love, too. The more pigs you haunt and eat, the less criminals there are that could kill like they killed your sister. It's all about love, at the end, and you only ever felt such thing for your long-time sister forming part inside of you now, and for Jennifer.

You never felt actually lonely before. You were sure you couldn't find someone who would chain you to this despairing world. Now Jennifer Jareau became your tether to life, and you became the same for her. She made all the cracks open in you, all the cracks that craved with never-ending hunger to be known, seen, loved.

Even if JJ can't accept the love, the violence that it's love between the two of you, because for sure it's inconvenient, you don't doubt what you two feel for each other for even a second.

Because right now, when her lips are devouring yours, you can feel every single thing that's inside of her.

There's no need for words.

She craves you — you, who are everything she always stood away from. Who are what she swore she'll always fight against. Who she hates loving, but who made her feel whole, finally complete in ways she couldn't understand.

She bit your lower lip, and blood spilled from it like a fountain with the statue of an angel pouring water in a scenery, except it was the blood of you, the devil who caught the deer and showed her a different way to love.

And Jennifer licked your blood, as if a starving wolf licked the guts of the rabbit he just ravaged.

When your back met the wall of JJ's room, you felt her hand forcefully tearing off your blouse as her lips never left yours; you were desperate for air, and so hungry for her at the same time you couldn't think straight.

Rather, your mind was focused on the pain and pleasure combining in an explosion of the only thing you ever knew: blood. Blood, in this moment with JJ was passion for you both, and frustration for her as well.

Her lips made their way down with deep bites alongside your jaw and collarbone as she pulled down your slightly bloodied underwear, exposing your breasts.

And as she pinched one of your nipples with one hand, biting harshly the other one, more blood came from you. Not much, but the trail of it falling from your breast to your stomach was as heated as JJ's touch was.

"You're so warm." It was a mere murmur in between all the chaos, probably never even meant to be heard, but it heightened your pleasure.

Warm. You were never called warm, no matter that people liked you. This is how love feels to you, warm. And to Jennifer, is the same. Warm, as in blood, as in guts, as in viscera and intestines.

She still doesn't even know what you do, but she'll find out soon. When that happens, you're dying to know JJ's reaction to it.

But for now, you're enjoying her hand sliding under your pants and pulling them down with a clear urgency; the urgency to be one, to be seen for what was also part of her. To see you, who was now part of her.

Her fingers found your damped underwear easily, circling around your clit for some moments. Your breath grew heavy, and you wondered if this is what felt like dying. Losing your breath, your control, your everything at the hands of someone or something surrounding all of you.

Once Jennifer's fingers fully and roughly pressed to your clit through your underwear, a louder whine escaped your lips before she made you quiet by kissing you once more. It was still as harsh, abrasively so, and it felt like fire was consuming the two of you.

The coolness of the wall was no more effective to keep your mind somewhat straight, not like you wanted to when JJ almost savagely pulled down your panties, and her fingers traced your wet entrance for a single second, before pushing two fingers inside you without warning.

Your hands were holding tightly on JJ's shoulders, as your head moved back in pleasure with a whimper, your back arching for more of that pleasant sensation.

The more you felt her, the more you understood her.

JJ, who always lived up to the expectations of others, was free for the first time in her life. Throughout your therapy sessions with her, you were able to conclude that, proving you wrong, someone out there was the same as you.

Someone living a lie. Someone who had potential to be your equal. Someone to whom death and love were hand in hand.

JJ's two fingers stroking and pumping inside of your throbbing cunt as you came only made you further sure of that.

All the time spent preparing JJ for this very moment was worth it, because she finally accepted herself. And she accepted you. She accepted her own twisted mind and yours.

"I have a very special dinner for us," You spoke in between heavy panting, barely calming down from your orgasm. "You'll see me, and you'll see yourself. Who we are. Together."

What was waiting in your basement was an unsub you couldn't put in jail for not having enough proper evidence. The meal to ultimately conclude your love with Jennifer Jareau.

Note: I will probably write more fanfics about this idea, such as JJ's past therapy sessions with reader and how it developed.

[stoneagedevil]

If you are still taking requests, I have one for you 🥺 how would Hannibal and Anton react to the reader having cardiomyopathy (aka a weak heart). Because of her condition reader faints a lot and is danger of going into cardiac arrest if she gets scared or frightened. If you don’t feel comfortable taking this request, please feel free to ignore it. Thanks, love your work! :)

IMAGINES/HEADCANONS: Anton Chigurh x Reader | Hannibal Lecter x Reader

Reader with a weak heart/fainting condition.

TW/CW: Fainting, death, guns, cannibalism, reader being described as pretty, medication, break in.

——————

HANNIBAL:

Because you’re so heavily affected when frightened, both would tread extremely lightly around you. Of course, there’s only so much one can do when you lead the lives Hannibal and Anton do.

Hannibal would do everything in his power to keep you from finding out who he truly is. His worst nightmare had turned from his inner circle becoming wary of him, to you finding out, leaving him, fainting, or even going into cardiac arrest. He’d kill anyone for you as to not actually kill you because of your condition.

If the chance comes where you do faint around him, he’s incredibly quick in noticing the signs. If he can smell cancer, he can definitely sense days when your condition is a little worse than usual. He immediately wraps a cautious arm around your waist when you mention you’re feeling lightheaded.

There was an incident where you fainted, nearly clipping your head on the sharp edge of his dining room table. If not your Hannibal practically diving to cup your head, there surely would’ve been a trip to the ER.

As a doctor, he reminds you of your medication, keeping an extra bottle on his person at all times as well. He picks up your prescriptions, always ensuring they’re the right ones, if there is a change in medication, he monitors you in order to make sure you have no adverse reactions to the medicine.

Hannibal takes great care in ensuring that there is no cross contamination when cooking his special cuts, and your dinner. Hannibal already has to be on his toes when seeing a doctor, as tests could reveal his prion disease, induced by his taste for human flesh. But Hannibal also has to be careful with how he feeds you. Hannibal already understands the risks of cannibalism, not particularly concerned about brain damage and the like, but with your condition, a prion disease could make your weak heart that much weaker.

Despite the fact that he enjoys feeding his victims to his inner circle of investigators, he’d sooner cut off his right hand than feed you people. After all, despite being animals in his eyes, no person could ever be good enough for you to eat….

lest it was him being served.

ANTON:

Anton shows his concern for you in a different manner. Under no circumstances are you allowed on his trips. Besides the chance of stray bullets catching in your flesh sending you into a panic that’s sure to affect your heart, you must be kept at a perfect temperature keep your heart healthy. Anton doesn’t let you leave in the cold. He doesn’t let you leave in the sweltering heat. If you need something, he’ll get it himself and probably get it done quicker too.

Anton keeps your medication stocked, checking over the expiration dates, questioning on whether or not you’ve taken your dose for the day.

Before tracking down a target, he makes sure you’ll be well taken care of while he’s away.

There was an incident where a target had managed to track down where you live. In a phone call, Anton felt the tables had been turned on him when his target said that he’d kill his partner. Llewelyn Moss might have failed in saving himself and his wife, but Anton would certainly not.

Your heart leaped at the sound of gunfire shooting out your lock, and you scrambled for the bedroom, quickly locking the door, opening the window, and diving under the bed. You sure as hell weren’t jumping out your window, as you were on the second floor. Your hyperventilating and rising blood pressure led you to feel light headed, your vision fading to black.

At the sight of the lock being shot into pieces, Anton’s chest tightened uncomfortably, and his brow scrunched almost imperceptibly. He kicked open the door quickly checking the corners of the house with his pistol. Of course, he’d navigated your home a billion times over, could even do so with his eyes closed. The man who’d promised to kill you didn’t stand a chance against him, but he wasn’t concerned about that. The concern was whether you stood a chance against the intruder. Checking the pulse of the man he’d shot, he quickly set off to find you.

He came to your bedroom door first, swallowing thickly when he saw the lock shot out as well. He drew his pistol, entering the room swiftly. He took notice of the window, rushing to it and looking down. Nothing. He closed his eyes, trying to listen for a sign of you - and wouldn’t you know it, he heard soft breathing from under the bed. He kneeled, peeking under the bedskirt, his eyes being met with your pretty face.

Of course. You’re smart, while you may not be able to fight very well due to your condition, you were incredibly sly and an excellent trickster. His lips quirked up slightly at the thought of the target looking out the window and deciding to turn back to the living room to find you outside, only to be met with the barrel of Anton’s pistol and a swift shot to the face.

He would drag your unconscious body out from under the bed, lay you softly down onto it, and time your pulse. After making sure you were truly safe, he’d shut the window, and turn the temperature dial to the right level for you and your heart.

He’d then take a seat next to your bed, watching your chest rise and fall until you woke.

——————-

Thank you so much for saying you love my work! I very much appreciate it. I hope I met/exceeded your expectations with this.

[addicted-to-the-knife]

I've come to realise that there are two ways people mischaracterise Will. (NBC Hannibal, specifically)

One being the "uwu innocent babygirl who was manipulated into doing bad things by the big bad Hannibal". And the other being the polar opposite of it, where even his better qualities are turned into something that signify how "evil" he truly is.

Where is the nuance?

Will Graham is a complex character with many different aspects about himself that don't cancel each other out.

He's not a good person. We know that. We should know that. The show has been very clear about that. But he's also not entirely bad either. People rarely are entirely good or bad. I'd argue that nobody is ever just one or the other.

It's not all black and white. And taking moments of his genuine goodness and turning them into something they're not just to prove the point that he's not a good, innocent little baby like some people believe, is just as wrong.

His empathy and compassion are not a lie. He's empathic to a fault. He has true compassion for others; especially those that are weak and vulnerable and are victimised by others or themselves or failed by the system. He genuinely wants to help them.

Of course he's doing that for his own gain. One could argue that his motivation is selfish, since he could not live with the guilt of lives not saved or letting victims be even more victimised. So, he helps in order to make himself feel better. He also helps others in an attempt to prove to himself that he's not as bad as he fears he is (especially in season 1).

To say that because his reasons for helping are selfish and only for his own gain, whatever that may be at times, make him a bad person and that he's actively preying on the vulnerable for it, is such a huge misunderstanding to me. Helping people is seldom a completely selfless act. Most people do it to get something in return; even if that something is simple acknowledgement and recognition for having done something good. The motivation behind it shouldn't matter as much if people are being helped in a genuine way that is good for them.

And to take Abigail as an example for his "true predatory and manipulative ways" is also not the way to go. He was genuine with Abigail. His killing of her father triggered such unbearable guilt within him that he reacted irrationally and tried to forcefully insert himself into her life and replace her father in order to minimise the guilt and make up for what he's done to Abigail. His intentions weren't bad, but they were selfish. He didn't manipulate her, though, nor was he preying on her vulnerability. He did genuinely care about Abigail (or rather, an image of her that his guilt produced), too much one could argue, and he acted irrationally and selfishly; because (re)actions fuelled by strong emotions are always irrational.

He was also very genuine about helping and caring about Georgia and Peter, for example. Especially Peter is a good example because that was at the beginning of the honeytrap. By some people's logic, he shouldn't have a single reason to care about Peter and be a friend to him, and he should have only been getting close to him to manipulate him. But that's not what happened. Will saw himself in Peter and he wanted to prevent from what eventually happened to happen at all. He genuinely wanted to help Peter out of his situation and come away as unscathed as possible.

Also, let's not forget that he had no reason to put on a facade with Bedelia in the second half of season 3. When he says, during their session, that his first instinct is to help a wounded bird, he wasn't lying or putting up an act. He was being genuine. His empathy and compassion for the weak and vulnerable is real. He wants to help. And he'd much rather hurt whoever has wounded the bird in the scenario. Bedelia even admits that her first instinct is to crush a weakened animal. Neither of them saw a reason to lie to the other.

When Will kills people, he feels righteous. He kills people that "had it coming". They deserve it, in his mind, for having hurt and/or killed others.

He's manipulative, yes, but from what we know and have seen, that is pretty exclusive to people in power, like Hannibal, or Jack. He doesn't manipulate a weakened person. (The only example that is iffy on either side is with Chiyoh, maybe. It shows that he's no better than Hannibal; even if he still wanted to believe that about himself at the time. He forced Chiyoh to kill because he was curious and he manipulated everything around that for it to happen. But again, Chiyoh isn't a weak or vulnerable person; especially not in Will's mind.)

By no means is Will a good person or innocent. And Hannibal didn't make him a killer. That was already inside him and all Hannibal did was to let that beast loose. And Will likes it. He likes how powerful he feels, and he likes the rawness of it all. And yet he doesn't use that against people that are already victims.

The fact that Will isn't a good person does not negate that he's empathic and compassionate and that he has a genuine want to help others. Because those things alone don't make you a good person. Those qualities can be true and exist, just like his enjoyment of killing and having power over others do. At the same time. They don't cancel each other out. That's exactly what makes him such an interesting and complex character.

[grasshopperdoingdogpaddle]

Do you think Chase doesn't shave his hair because he doesn't view himself as a "true" warrior since he's a turncoat or because he believes that cutting his hair would symbolize him cutting himself off from his old life/memories?

No, I wouldn't say Chase has any doubts about himself in that regard.

He's very prideful, and his ego's unshakeable. Chase Young genuinely sees himself as one of the truest warriors that's ever walked the earth, if not the truest.

He doesn't really feel guilt for being a turncoat either. Despite everything, Chase still sees himself as one of the only few honorable people alive.

He also makes little effort to hold onto anything that ties him to his past. Nor does he have to, since he and Guan will always have each other's existence to fill that role, whether they want to or not. They've done everything they could to erase everything else that ties them to those old lives, but they can't erase each other.

I think Chase just personally likes his hair long.

And like Omi, Chase is, at his core, a character who is ruthlessly loyal to his own desires.

I think Chase kept his hair long and unbraided because he wasn't ever particularly pious, nor did he place value in the standards of those he didn't respect. He's always had that prideful streak that placed others' values beneath his own, even back when he was good. He probably already looked down on everyone at the temple except for Dashi and Guan-- we know he already had disdain towards Dojo.

Chase likes how he looks with long hair, Chase likes to show off and play with that lose strand when he's getting serious and fix it back when he's behaving, likes to feel it flutter when he moves.

Even when he was a Xiaolin monk, what he fought for and believed in had more to with the Guan and Dashi at his side than any of the values and traditions set by the temple.

And Dashi and Guan probably joked about it from time to time, but as the only two people Chase respected and whose opinions he cared about, they weren't going to tell him to shave it or put it a queue for them. Chase does especially make sure fix the loose strand into place when he's around them. So if he truly felt the need to wear it more properly than that for their sakes, he probably would have, back then.

And he still keeps it long, and keeps that loose strand in his face, because he only lives by his own standard now. Hannibal probably told him to shave his hair, probably did shave his hair multiple times in Hannibal's vision of a true lapdog warrior, which probably motivates Chase even more to keep it long like Chase prefers it, partly out of spite for Hannibal.

[dysenchanted]

Do you think Hannibal was in love with Alana and Bedelia? The same way he was in love with Will? Or how do you see Hannibal's relationship with Alana and Bedelia compared to his intense love for Will?

Hiii 🫀

Short answer: No, I don't think he was ever in love with Alana or Bedelia

Long answer is a bit more complicated

I do think he had a true appreciation for both of them, him being a mentor turned college/friend to Alana and a mix of patient and somewhat friend to Bedelia.

(I also use the term "friend" kinda loosely in here because I also believe Hannibal never truly considered someone his friend until Will, but that's another rant)

I think hannibal used his romantic relationships as a means to an end. With Alana he started seeing her as a way of taking something from Will (same way as he was taking his position as profiler on the fbi) while also solidifying his good image and innocence (he used her as an alibi in Futamono), while with Bedelia he used her as a replacement for Will after Mizumono and as way to maintain his image while in Florence (they took the role of an existing married couple).

(While tipying the last paragraph I kinda realized he looked for the company of both woman after being rejected by Will so... take that as you will)

Returning to the appreciation, I do think he saw worth in them, as intelligent people and someone nice to have around, people worth maintaining alive. During Mizumono he could have decided to kill Alana without hesitation, but he didn't, he only promised to kill her after she refused to turn away after being given the option. During Dolce he could have killed Bedelia after she refused to go with him, but he didn't, instead he helped her support her alibi declaring he was maintaining her drugged and not conscious of her identity or actions (but Bedelia did deduce during their goodbyes that Hannibal was going to eat her someday, but that's another rant aswell)

(Also, i see hannibal as a hedonist, so of course if he's maintaining a romantic relationship with beautiful women he's going to take the opportunity to have sex and enjoy it.)

He saw worth in their company and in their minds, but he didn't see them as an equal, someone who could truly understand him, while he did see Will as one.

Alana could have never understood him, with her strong morals and inclination to always do what's right. Her transformation occurred only after being changed by Hannibal (and Abigail), she didn't have a tendency for violence beforehand. With Bedelia is a bit different, she had an awareness of his person suit and has always had a tendency for violence (I love her scenes with Will and their dialogues, I think that's when we begin to understand her more as a character), but also she had a deep fear of what Hannibal truly was and what he was capable of doing. He saw potential for her violence and changed her through their patient, but he also used that to have something to hold against her to encourage her to keep his secrets.

With Will is different, he saw his potential and by the end of the show he could truly see and accept him as he was, finding beauty in their conjoined slaying of the dragon. For Hannibal love is that, understanding and acceptance, and Will was the only person who could truly see him as he was. He could have never had that with Alana or Bedelia.

Anyways, I care so much about Alana and Bedelia and their relationship with Hannibal <3 I truly believe the exploration of the different types of romantic relationships enrich the show a lot and also highlight how special Will is to Hannibal.

[horsemansplague]

this scene was the first time that hannibal had ever raised his voice at will and he was probably so upset because hannibal had been the first person in wills life to truly understand and accept him and all of his flaws so he was really the only pillar of support that he had at that time and because of that he couldnt imagine hannibal being mad at him or disappointed which is also why will clung to hannibal when he got stabbed, because he saw every act that hannibal did as an act of and affection even if he didnt agree with it he still appreciated that there was someone that cared about him so much that hed hurt him for not wanting to run away together

[talktonytome]

Do you think he was ever in love with Bedelia like he was in love with Will? I ask this because Bedelia says they were both the "brides of Hannibal". But Hannibal never courted her like he did with Will, Bedelia came into Hannibal's life much before Will but he never pursued her like he did with Will.  Mads said he wanted a future with Will unlike with other people he hooked up with Alana, Bedelia or Anthony. He took her to Italy as a consolation prize when Will betrayed him. Even in Italy H was pining about Will all the time and telling Bedelia how much he loves Will.  I know he slept with Bedelia but he probably slept with Anthony too and he slept with Alana, Hannibal is a hedonistic guy who sleeps around. For him  sleeping with someone doesn't mean he is in love with them.  On the other hand he took a bullet for Will, went to prison for years for Will, made a human heart for Will, jumped off a cliff for Will, committed a whole massacre for Will. But when Will confronts Bedelia, she pretends as if Hannibal held them in the same regard which is obviously not true. Hannibal would choose Will over her in a heart beat and even she knows it  but yet she acts as if Hannibal sees them both equally. I don't understand why? 😭 Why do you think?why make herself seem like a competition when she is not?

Hi, thank you for the ask!

I think Hannibal cared about her in way, but love her? No, the only person he ever loved beyond his sister is Will.

Let’s start with s1 Bedelia. We know that Hannibal goes to sessions with her, even though she tried to refer him, after she killed her patient and Hannibal helped her. It wasn’t enough to completely put her off. Bedelia is a curious person and has a professional curiosity for Hannibal, but is also fascinated by and attracted to intelligence and the morbid and dangerous; she has her own streak of darkness and we know Hannibal likes to encourage and cultivate that in people. So, Hannibal lets her see just enough and I think she genuinely enjoyed their conversations and Hannibal can unzip his person suit just a bit with her. Now, come s2, Bedelia realizes she underestimated just how dangerous Hannibal is, after what happened with Will. She tells him she’s stopping their sessions and then disappears, until Mizumono. She’s in a position to be useful to Hannibal, to help him, and so she finds an in “behind the veil”. Hannibal goes along with it because he can use her and after what happened with Will, he’s unmoored and lonely. On to s3, we see how reckless Hannibal is being, well “reckless” for him. Bedelia is behind the veil and she says “she’s still in conscious control” but the scarier Hannibal gets, we see her fear. He’s impulsive and drawing everyone to him. He won’t stop talking about Will and she goes as far as to encourage Hannibal to eat him so he can finally let him go, basically doing anything for self-preservation, when she realizes he’s planning to kill her eventually. But also to test the “influence” she believes she has. She thought she was special because she got to see Hannibal, but the only one who could truly SEE him is Will. And so Bedelia could never replace Will.

By the time we get to Will’s sessions with Bedelia, they’re essentially cat fights. Will is jealous of anyone he thinks has a connection to Hannibal. Bedelia is a little bitter because why is Will special? After everything Hannibal put her through in Europe and then seeing him give himself up for Will? She truly understood Will’s place in Hannibal’s life and that she was always expandable. So she gets some jabs in to taunt Will, mostly for her amusement. I don’t think she ever truly saw herself in competition with Will, though, and she never cared for Hannibal that way. She was attracted to him physically maybe, and her proximity to danger around him.

All that to say, no, Hannibal was never in love with her. It’s only Will for him.

[gravity-what]

I have a headcanon that Chase is Omi’s great great great more great uncle. I like to think Chase had a little sister, she started a family, but has no clues on what happened to Chase after Hannibal corrupted him.

Fun fact: if you go back 3000 years every human currently alive is related! So from a biological standpoint it’s not too unrealistic to assume that Chase and Omi share some kind of common ancestry over 1500 years…only I think it also means that Chase would have that exact same relationship to most people in Asia.

I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that Chase’s parents had other kids. Multiple children was a common thing up until very recently. I fall into the headcanon though that as soon as Chase was given to the temple by his family at a young age he cut all ties with them and never really thought about/cared about them again. They abandoned him. Why would he ever want anything to do with them?

(Which is honestly probably lucky for them because I can also very easily imagine Chase purposely going and killing off his whole bloodline after becoming Heylin for revenge. I do think he destroyed his home village which probably including most of his family either way, but some could have survived if they had moved.)

Either way, I don’t think Chase would care all too much if he and Omi are related. Family has never been important to him. What he truly cares about is Omi’s potential and just how similar they are in personality.

[daisies-on-a-cup]

ive been trying to think through this in my head but i think i just need to write it out, but ive been thinking about hannibal and his concept of change and/or forgiveness. i dont think he really believes that change or forgiveness is a thing that can happen. and i know the big thing in s2 and s3 was all about will and hannibal forgiving each other for their transgressions against one another, but i cant really remember an instance where hannibal forgave someone that wasn't will. when hannibal eats the rude, i dont think its meant to be as an act of forgiveness. he's not forgiving the pig he slaughtered for tracking mud in his mind palace, he's simply getting rid of them/punishing them for their perceived slight against him. it's more complex than just him punishing them or him perceiving people as comparable to livestock, but, ultimately, he is ending their lives because he cannot forgive what they did to him

i see a lot of cool metas about how hannibal's cannibalism is an act of dominance as well as self preservation, an "eat them before they can eat you" mentality, and though i agree with some points, i dont exactly agree with others. i dont think hannibal ever really feels threatened by the people he eats and kills. hes not doing it out of some instinct to lessen threats in his territory and make himself feel safer by removing their presence. he eats/kills the rude and those he finds unpleasant because they are a nuisance in his otherwise perfectly comfortable life. i would compare it to swatting a fly or mosquito- they aren't a real, dangerous threat, but they are annoying and anytime you see one near you, your first reaction is to swat at it to try and kill it so it doesnt bother you anymore. again, not the best metaphor for how hannibal engages with people and those he decides to eat/kill, but i think it's somewhat comparable

which brings me back to hannibal's idea of what change and forgiveness mean to him. i think, because of his early trauma and exposure to cannibalism, hannibal has a hard time reconciling permanent change in others that is not brought on by a permanent figure conducting that change- consistently. his whole "nothing happened to me, i happened" line implies his perception of change being something that doesn't happen- not even to him

in order to forgive someone, change is needed- be it from yourself or the other person. i dont think hannibal believes change is capable of anyone he decides to eat/kill. a part of him believes that without complete influence, his victims or those who have slighted him are incapable of changing themselves for hannibal to forgive. you wouldnt approach a mosquito for biting you and assume they are capable of change- it is what they are, they bite and they buzz and they annoy you- much like how, to hannibal, some people are just irrecoverably rude and unpleasant to interact with, and that is just who they are and they cant change their nature. and, i think, for hannibal, if something cannot be changed, it cannot be forgiven because humans are meant to change, and if they can't, then they are not on the same level as he is. you can only truly forgive something you perceive as capable of forgiving, and i believe hannibal thinks so highly of himself and those he has deemed worthy (like will), that everyone else is just incapable of not being the banal creatures that they are, so it's no matter to kill them and eat them

even though there is care and preparation in everything hannibal does and consumes, there is no love. the last person he loved, he also ate, and that destroyed him. he was changed forever by that act, by the traumas he experienced, and the ptsd/memories he has so carefully stowed in his mind palace are the permanent figures that consistently force him to change and evolve into the being he presents himself as throughout s1-s3. the metamorphosis that hannibal went through was brought on by something catastrophic and timeless, and he had become something unrecognizable to everyone else. his desire for connection grew so strong that just an inkling of understanding from another was enough to force him to change again and become that permanent figure that would enact the permanent change in will. his transformation of will, and will's own evolution into his becoming, made will into a being he could forgive. hannibal saw the cracks in will's mask and forced a change, and that change cultivated into an ability to forgive, and i believe the last person he was ever able to really forgive was the first person he ever ate. mischa was also the last person hannibal really loved, and i think this act of seeing will change and forgiving him, and being forgiven in return, also opened hannibal up to the possibility of love again. will is the only person hannibal has ever put true effort, time, and trust into to change, forgive, and love. everyone else is just simple fodder to him. he can enjoy his time with them, surrounded by beautiful, artful things, but the second someone interrupts his placid world, then that is when change and forgiveness cease to exist again

[j0jorocityisntokay]

The Truman Show GerRome AU

You guys gotta hear me out about this

For the people who haven’t watched the movie, it’s about a man, Truman, whose entire life is a tv show and he’s the star. His entire life is broadcasted 24/7 since the day he was born, and he was adopted by a tv studio. Everyone he cares about is a paid actor that is being fed lines. Truman does get a happy ending (he escapes the tv set), but think about it��it’s not exactly happy. Why would Truman be able to trust anybody ever again? If someone holds the door open for him, is it because it’s out of the genuine kindness of their hearts, or is it because he’s Truman? Is it because they’re also being fed lines through an earpiece he can’t see? He would be in a constant state of paranoia. The only person that has cared about him was a woman named Sylvia, the woman he fell in love with when the producers intended for him to fall in love with another woman named Meryl. Sylvia wanted to free Truman so she tried to tell him the truth, but she was immediately taken off set and he never got to see her again. He’s motivated to escape for someone he fell in love with years ago, someone he only got to spend a brief amount of time with, and someone who he never stopped loving, despite having a wife. For this GerRome au, Agostino (Rome) is the star of the show. He is charismatic and handsome and funny and really all you could want in a man. He has a loving wife (Ancient Greece/Aikaterini) and a bright son (my Byzantine Empire/Alexios oc), as well as a beautiful home by the sea and a stable job as a college history professor—what more could he want? But deep in his heart, he never wanted a mundane, suburban life style. He yearned for excitement. He yearned to explore the world, to venture beyond his small seaside town. He’s tried to do it, but his fear of the ocean due to a horrible experience he had out at sea has prevented that from happening (his former boyfriend, my Ancient Carthage/Hannibal oc, took him out on a sailing trip to try to mend their relationship but drowned. The producers set all of it up so Agostino would be too scared to try to escape by sea, if he ever got the idea).

Agostino met Germania (Aldrich) in college, as a student. The producers wanted him to fall in love with Aikaterini—and he did, sort of. He thought she was pretty. They dated. But he was never truly happy. He just wanted to please Aikaterini. Agostino was practically attached to Aldrich and probably spent more time with him in college than with Aika. He wasn’t sure what it was about Aldrich that interested him, but he supposed it was everything. How he looked, how he talked, how he laughed (if ever), his look of surprise when Agostino came running to him, his blush of embarrassment, he could go on and on. But Aldrich did have somewhat of an ulterior motive once he got closer to him—he was going to get Agostino out of here. Before he became an actor on the show, he was a part (and still is) of a small group that advocated to free Agostino because obviously confining someone to a tv show and making them believe that their constructed reality is true is kind of fucked up. Aldrich thought the best way to free him was to become apart of the cast (he made sure to cover up the time he spent in that group). He eventually tried to tell Agostino the truth, that all of this was a lie, and tried to talk to him about escaping together, but a security guard dressed up like one of the background characters took him away pretending to be Aldrich’s father and he was fired.

Agostino lived in relative peace afterwards, but that wasn’t to say Aldrich left his mind. Agostino thought about him almost everyday. He even picked up drawing just to make sure he never forgot his face. His words never left him either. Agostino was wholly shaken up after the incident and for a while genuinely considered his words, but his “best friend” convinced him he was just overthinking it. He believed him obviously, but after finally finding out the truth for himself and going on a paranoid trip, he faces his fear of the ocean and tries to escape. The producers almost drown him, but he survives and makes it till the very end—only to find out that he’s in a tv set. Though, he does find stairs and an exit door and with a final goodbye to the camera, leaves, thus ending the show permanently.

Once’s out of the tv set, he attempts to find Aldrich, though Aldrich comes to him first. They have a bit of a cheesy confession scene and Aldrich decides to show him the real world.

Paranoia settles in again. What if people do favours for me because I’m me and not because it’s kind to do so? What if they’re also actors? What if the world he was in right now was just another tv set on a larger scale? Like with Truman and Sylvia, nobody has ever actually cared about Agostino besides Aldrich, which led him to cling onto Aldrich like it was the end of the world. They would’ve probably had a lot of fights over this since Aldrich thinks he’s overreacting and Agostino a genuine mistrust of everyone else, but Aldrich does eventually realise what Agostino is going through and helps him realise that maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

I’m going to keep thinking about this tbh. Sorry this was incredibly long, I just had a lot on my mind lol. Feel free to ask questions!

edit: I changed Rome’s modern human name

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

sniffs. can we get some will graham character analysis up in here

Gah I love talking about Will but I have the fear that I'm gonna end up presenting you with an entirely inaccurate analysis, and I just don't realise that all my thoughts about him are wrong. I also will admit its been a while since I've rewatched an episode.

Anyway: it seems like the reason Will even connects to Hannibal as quick and as hard as he does is because Hannibal is the first (and honestly only) person that has ever truly seen and understood Will for exactly who he is, and hasn't turned away from it. I haven't read the books so idk if there's anything more said about Will's childhood in those, but I doubt Mr "family feels like an ill-fitting suit and I never connected to the concept" has any positive experiences with family, whether family he was born into or chosen. Even the others around Will seem to find him useful or interesting rather than connecting with him as who he is. So with Hannibal coming along and continuing to connect with Will even after learning those things about him that Will thinks are bad (like when he admits he liked killing Hobbs), it's no wonder Will attached himself to Hannibal in the way he did in the show. Especially when Hannibal treats him with more respect and, to an extent, more care (of course, "care" is used quite loosely here considering Hannibal prevents Will's encephalitis diagnosis from being uncovered, and also frames him for murder. What I instead mean by "care" in this context is that like Jack wants to keep pushing Will to do his job because he's saving lives. Jack doesn't really seem to care that much that it's actively worsening Will's mental state. Jack would still put Will on more and more crime scenes. Hannibal also shows a bit more respect for Will, for example, in the scene after Will tells Freddie Lounds "it's not smart to piss off a guy who thinks about killing people for a living" Jack seems to almost place the blame on Hannibal and wonders why Hannibal let Will say something like that. Even though those are Will's words, not Hannibal's. Jack sorta just talks about Will as if he's not in the room. Hannibal does not. Alana does show more concern for Will, but its pretty clear that those two also are more like "professional" friends than having any proper connection.)

Anyway yeah, at least s1 Will Graham seems to connect with Hannibal quickly because Hannibal seems like the first person to at least try to connect with Will properly.

I've seen a few people make posts using dog motifs for Will and how Will is like a dog that bites. One that's aggressive and barks when he can. And yeah, I agree. But Will also is like a dog who is loyal I think. That's why he does go out of his way to travel to Europe to find Hannibal, and then to find a way to get him out of prison and kill with him.

Before I briefly mentioned that whole "parts of himself that Will thinks are bad" thing. Will himself admits that his "thoughts are often not tasty" and, with his empathy and the amount of serial killers heads he's been in, it really is no wonder his thoughts are like that. But I think Will wants to be better than that. He doesn't like the thoughts in his brain and he thinks all those things about him are bad. What probably doesn't help is how most of his coworkers talk about him, even to his own face. Beverly is the only one who even treats Will like an actual person (r.i.p Beverly, I love her so much btw). Also like in most scenes Will stands away from everyone else, not next to them. And it's because of what Will is like. Hell, there's times where Will says something strange and his coworkers briefly look at him like that one meme of the girls staring. Also, keeping in mind that Will is canonically autistic, it alienates him even further (and also makes him more relatable imo. Like I, too, stand away from everyone awkwardly and can't connect with people. He's just like me fr). So Will is pretty much completely alone in a way. He adopts stray dogs because he himself is like a stray dog. He lives in the middle of nowhere to be truly alone. But Hannibal sees these "not so tasty" thoughts and other strange behaviours, and still chooses to actively be a part of Will's life (and also falls in love with Will because of this stuff. Like Hannibal definitely manipulates Will into killing, but some of those thoughts and feelings were already there are the start inside Will. In Will's eyes, the best person of himself is a version that doesn't want to kill and isn't affected by thinking the way a serial killer does. But in Hannibal’s eyes, the best version of Will is a Will that doesn't deny who he is and the thoughts he has inside his mind, but accepts and indulges in them instead).

Anyway, s2 and s3 Will is when he starts becoming a lot more like Hannibal obviously. In s1, the two are still quite different characters. But, as time goes by, Will starts having similar kind of thoughts and behaviours as Hannibal. He manipulates. He kills. He even enjoys those things. After all, "you and I have begun to blur" (and that holds true for Hannibal too. I think another reason Hannibal falls in love with Will is because, to some extent, Will changes Hannibal just like Hannibal changes Will).

I do think that being away from Hannibal for years kinda slowly got Will to fall into his "old habits" though (as in, there was still a part of Will that just couldn't accept the killing and the "not tasty" thoughts inside him). That's why he married Molly. Molly is basically the opposite of Hannibal. Molly put her life at risk to save her son. Hannibal killed Abigail. With Molly, Will can have the family he's always wanted. But its not the life Will can have or even needs. Because Will still needs Hannibal. He can't live with or without him, but in a way I almost think without Hannibal is more unbearable for Will than with Hannibal.

In the end, Will has embraced those darker sides a lot more. Him killing with Hannibal is more romantic than most actual romance scenes if you ask me. I think that, if they were to survive the fall, Will would eventually fully accept the darker parts of him and, as a result, would also accept the fact that he's just as in love with Hannibal as Hannibal is with Will. The only reason he's not accepting it is because Hannibal is almost like a personification of all the things Will tries so hard not to be at the start.

[yanderememes]

every fanfic ive read with a yandere giorno always has him so calculative and well-composed && honestly it’s so hot but ????

i’d do anything to share a vulnerable moment with that man. i doubt it would happen anytime soon considering how he wants to maintain an air of composure around darling, even more so considering he’s kidnapped them and took any future aspiration of theirs down the drain. so he’d be really wary about illustrating any of his true, raw emotions. but after a few months/even years of being with him, and then there’s just a moment where he finally feels comfortable enough to break in front of darling??? and darling gives him the support he deserves after holding in all those burdens of his for far too long.

i know it might be unrealistic but god, i just want to hold him in my lap and brush his loose hair with my fingers while he falls asleep is that too much to ask for

ANON WE ARE LITERALLY THE SAME PERSON. THIS JUST PROVES ALL GIORNO SIMPS SHARE THE SAME BRAIN CELL

Ah~ I LOVE desperate yanderes. I THRIVE off of a desperate and vulnerable Giorno. Especially because he's the cool and calculated one, so seeing such a rare side of him is *chef's kiss*. On the outside, he's composed and wouldn't look like he cares but on the inside, he has a deep hearing for his darling. He practices a lot of self-control and is very disciplined but sometimes even he can crack. I love his possessiveness and straightforwardness. IT'S SO HOT but his soft and sweet side, I-

In my honest opinion, I think a vulnerable Giorno is really just heart-wrenching. Top-tier angst. I think the only time he would ever truly open up and be vulnerable is if his darling was empathetic and understanding towards him. I do hc Giorno always falls for an empathetic darling but that empathy doesn't extend to him for obvious yandere reasons. But in the end, darling is the only one who understands him. I really do imagine his vulnerable moment to be similar to Hannibal and Will:

Giorno is a complex individual who is misunderstood, he meets a darling who is empathetic but knows nothing of his underground crime syndicate. While Giorno doesn't ever want to put his darling in danger, he can't help but rope them into his mafia life because they are married. He's totally conflicted because they are meant to live in different worlds yet, darling is the only one who understands him and doesn't want to let them go. Slowly but surely, Giorno opens himself up but in the end, darling uses that against him (i.e., to escape, betray, manipulate, lie, rat him out to the police) and it breaks his heart.

Spoilers for Hannibal!

"I let you know me... See me... I gave you a rare gift. But you didn't want it."

[championari]

Hannibal - Little Words that Say So Much (3x12's Bedelia and Will exchange analysis)

One of my favorite scenes in the entire show is the infamous exchange between Will and Bedelia in 3x12, but It wasn't until recently when I watched it back in isolation that I realized why. it's a culmination of an epic catfight between Will and Bedelia, an exquisite explanation of the love Hannibal has for Will, and is a true showcase of this show's poetic writing that it communicated everything needed to be said in just 2 minutes.

I want to first talk about the amazing choice of having Bedelia be the one to tell Will about Hannibal's feelings towards him. Will has hated Bedelia pretty much since she got on that plane with Hannibal in Mizumono because she's the embodiment of Will's fear of not being "the one" to Hannibal. Will has MAJOR self-esteem issues and thus has always doubted whether Hannibal actually likes him likes him. he spent all of the series constantly questioning and second-guessing if Hannibal cared about him beyond being a "patient" or a killer pet project like Randall or Margot. and Bedelia has been the living, breathing reminder of that. SHE got to go with Hannibal, SHE got to be his wife in Italy, SHE got to walk away. having her basically shoot down all of Will's doubts about Hannibal's feelings towards him was the only possible way Will could ever be convinced of the truth. Freddie couldn't do it, valiant as she was to try ("you did run off to Europe together."). It had to be her, because, in Will's mind, she was the only person other than him who knew Hannibal the best. The only person Will could be sure wouldn’t lie about this topic. The dialogue supports this:

"It excites him to know that you are marked in this particular way." Translation: 'you have an effect on him. he likes to see you kill, he always has.'

"why?" 'why would it matter to him? why would I matter to him?'

"why do you think?" 'WHY in the fuck else other than him liking you?! you were all that he talked about with me!'

"Bluebeard's wife. secrets not to know yet sworn to keep." 'how should I know? I was his friend. YOU were the one who got to be his wife. YOU had his heart in your hands all that time in Italy. ill always be second in his heart to you.’

"if I am to be Bluebeard's wife, I would have preferred to be the last." 'there was only ever one person who could hold his heart, and it sure as hell wasn't me. It was always you.'

Will thought he had to fight with Bedelia over Hannibal's heart when ultimately Bedelia told him that there was never even a competition.

Then Will asks the big question, "Is Hannibal...in love with me?" (btw, I've always interpreted Will's question as not from a perspective of obliviousness, more that his question was simply a matter of confirming what he suspected. but many people smarter then me have already discussed that topic.)

Bedelia's response is where I think this scene truly shines.

"Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for you?"

Remember what I said about Will having self-esteem issues? Will Graham has spent his entire life thinking that he's either A. a monster no one could love because of his dark side, B. a tool for his gift to catch serial killers, or C. just overall not "normal" or "different" from the rest of society. He's pushed away anyone who tries to get close by being antisocial and rude. He's isolated himself by living in a house in the middle of nowhere with just dogs for company. His inner mantra is "conceal, don't feel, unless it's when looking for killers because that's all im good for." I doubt he's ever even experienced love before, has never had anyone want him. But Hannibal? He saw him, desired him, loved him; every day from the moment they talked about eye contact in 1x01. He hungered for him, an ache that he couldn't satiate like his hunger to kill. a weakness that he couldn't cut out no matter how hard he tried. which later is proven right by Hannibal himself: "My compassion for you is inconvenient, Will." He literally loved him so much that he overrode a core component of Hannibal's nature that was ingrained in him since his sister: to eat those closest to keep them with you forever.

"and found nourishment at the very sight of you?"

Hannibal spent so many years building his life in Baltimore. Killing those he deemed worthy of death and eating them to celebrate his victory/dominance over them. He considered himself above humanity or "pigs" as he would say. But all the luxury and spilled blood in the world could not satiate an even greater desire in his soul: to be understood, to be seen. He was alone until Will Graham walked into his life. Over the course of the series, as the two drew closer and closer to each other, Hannibal's ache to be known was satiated. For the first time since Mischa, Hannibal had someone to live for, to kill for, to die for. Will was his greatest vice, his drug that no other could match. While there were many that tried to know him (Franklyn Froideveaux, Tobias Budge, Antony Dimmond, and Francis Dolarhyde) none of them could match the radiance of his dear William. He would've given up everything (and did) just for the chance to see his beautiful face again because at last, he was no longer alone. Hell, I'd believe he would've given up killing if Will had asked (which Will obviously wouldn't, but still). After so many years of constantly wanting more, loving Will finally made him content.

All of that, in barely two sentences. Bedelia, within a few sentences, was able to smash the fort of doubt and fear Will had constructed to pieces, leaving the truth raw and bare. That Hannibal loved Will, wanted him from the moment he saw him, and cared for him so much to not only overpower his urge to kill him but to reject anyone else who would dare try to replace him. it's no wonder Will didn't say anything after that. he already loved Hannibal, but to know for certain that the person you love returns those feelings, and to understand the true depth of those feelings...he could no longer go home. He now knew what he tried to let go of and what he could still get back. After this point, he began his plan that led to Hannibal's escape, Dolarhyde's death, and Will's verbal acceptance of Hannibal's love and his own: "it's beautiful." It's such AMAZING writing, compacted in just a few lines of dialogue, and such a sophisticated way to finally get confirmation of a character’s romantic feelings then just saying “I love you”.

god I love this show. 

[k-s-morgan]

To begin with: I love your blog so, so much! I`ve read your threads like a hundred times. Keep that on, please!

Starting with my question. Ive been wondering what would happen if hannibal and will really did ran off. I mean the only thing that really ties the two together and makes them the only one to each other is that killing thing. I´ve read some people saying that will would be trying to convince hannibal to stop killing, but that is the only thing that makes them special to each other (I might be wrong with that). So therefore I don´t think that would be the case. What do you think?

Thank you so much, I’m happy you like my blog! 

Will and Hannibal could run away together at the end of S2 and it’s implied (and basically confirmed) that they did run off at the end of S3. I think they could make it in both scenarios, but they needed the pain and heartbreak of S2 finale and S3 overall to become truly unbreakable and capable of overcoming every obstacle as a couple.

What Makes Them Special for Each Other

Why I think they’ll have a long and mostly happy relationship after TWOTL: first of all, I don’t believe that love for killing is the only thing that holds them together. After all, Hannibal had people like Tobias, Anthony, Randall, etc. - they would love a chance to become his partner. They loved killing, particularly Tobias and Randall, and Tobias even tried to pursue Hannibal openly and be creative about it. 

Will also had other options: Matthew was fascinated with him regardless of whether he was the Ripper, and during his work, Will encountered more than one killer, all with different thoughts and motivations. And yet he never showed interest in any of them and he used and discarded Matthew like a toy. 

What Hannibal saw in Will: a unique combination of empathy and darkness, harshness and vulnerability. What Will saw in Hannibal: power and cleverness, brilliance and almost religious devotion to him. Most importantly, I think they experienced that special feeling people might get when they meet the love of their life. It's unexplainable and irrational - it's just there. It was each other and no one else - this is just how it happened. In more romantic words, they are soulmates who got a chance to meet and recognize each other.

Would Will Make Hannibal Stop Killing?

Like you, I can’t imagine Will ever doing this or caring about it. He never did before, and he himself got innocent people killed with no regrets, why would he start now? The whole point of his journey was to Become, to embrace his true self, to leave the murder closet. Suddenly trying to force Hannibal into it would be ridiculous, in my opinion.  

I love this quote from the book:

Hannibal: Tell me, Clarice, would you ever say to me, "Stop. If you loved me, you'd stop"?

Clarice: Not in a thousand years.

This fits Hannigram perfectly. Will never complained about Hannibal’s choice of victims. He called him destructive, but he never held his murders against him with the exception of Abigail. Will’s major conflict has always been with himself and his own darkness - Hannibal simply represented what he wanted but was scared of having. Other Will’s problems with Hannibal stemmed from their personal conflicts and misunderstandings.

Meanwhile, Will set up innocent people for death every time he chose to save Hannibal, knowing perfectly well that he’s going to keep killing. He dismissed justice for Nicholas Boyle when he realized he’s innocent because it protected Abigail. He toyed with Chiyoh and her prisoner, getting one of them to kill the other, even though Chiyoh has never murdered anyone and Will doubted whether the prisoner is actually a bad guy. This makes it even worse: Will considered the option that this tortured man could be innocent yet he still messed with him carelessly. 

Will set Chilton up, admitting he did it on purpose; he got all those TWOTL officers killed and didn’t even bother to spend a minute on mourning them; he easily endangered Molly, Walter, and Alana with her family by conspiring with two dangerous killers. Finally, he claimed Bedelia deserved to be killed and participated (or likely organized) the attack on her, even though she’s practically innocent when we compare their body count.

WIll is a dark and cold person, no matter how much he hates himself and what good qualities he possesses. He simply doesn’t care about human lives much as the seasons progress, so I can’t imagine him worrying about who Hannibal kills as long as it doesn’t interfere with their safety. He could set limits as a means of control, I suppose, to feel better about everything, but I don’t think he’d do that. He has his design and he acknowledges that Hannibal has his own. In many ways, he admires it. They are two beautiful predators who found each other.