#which.....is inspired since I relate to hannibal.......

[eli-elien]

Anyone willing to hear my crack idea for a gravity falls oc of a species of monster I just made up and I say crack bc its only understandable once you understand I'm the kind of guy who kicks his feet around when watching an analog horror series/horror movie and is obbessed with hannibal and dexter (its not quite related but you get the gist) if you understand me then you'll understand the character also its mostly just sleep deprived garbage bc night shifts have been draining on me lmao

basically I haven't seen anything based off of my fave monster of all time the wedigo, love the philosophy, metaphors and general symbolism of the thing and wanted to do something like that with the uncanny of general things that may talk, act or walk and be your very 'human' 'friend' but really is just trying to eat you give em all those characteristics....but they're a nice fellow. just don't let em near human blood and we're fine :]

anyways who wants to message me abt it?

[virologikal]

𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞

@nshtn requested: 3, 5, 10, 17 for Wesker (I love your Wesker takes too ahh)

⸻ ⸨ Thank you for the many questions you sent in and I am glad you like my takes so far! I hope you don't mind me splitting some of the questions up in multiple posts so I can better tag them to the relevant characters ⸩

𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒:

3 - NoTP? I don't really have a strict NoTP for Wesker (or any characters, to be honest - I think all dynamics can be interesting to explore depending on how it's done and what the focus is). However, if we are talking about some form of intimacy or even trust at some point, I'd say the least likely I could see him with is Excella. I'm happy to be convinced otherwise, but from my point of view it feels like she is merely a tool to him, and he doesn't exactly hold her in high regards rather than consider her both useful and ... nice to be around, probably? She is gorgeous and ambitious, and clearly admires him to a point where it would cater to his ego, but I doubt he'd be interested in anything more than that.

5 - Out of all your fanworks that include Wesker, which is your favourite? When it comes to writing, definitely my fanfic The Unquiet Grave, because I get to explore his character both in past settings as well as think of ways to bring him into the current game lore. I just like prodding this character like a bug under a microscope. Otherwise, my fanart for him referencing a quote from Hannibal (TV series) is likely my current favorite. It took me roughly a month to finish, and is the only piece I currently have of just Wesker (I just love to paint Chris and Wesker together tbh^^)

10 - What's your favourite piece of fanart for Wesker? Honestly? Impossible to decide. There are so many amazing pieces of fanwork out there, be it in writing or art. I have a few pieces an old friend did back when we used to roleplay which they did for my portrayal and that I still hold very dear and close to my heart, so maybe those stick out a bit. But otherwise - I can't possibly decide on just one thing. All art or edits you find on this blog that I reblogged count as favorites, I'd say!

17 - What's a book, movie, or show you think Wesker would like? Funny enough, I have a headcanon post in the making that pertains to how Wesker perceives media (since there is a recurring theme of him not getting some media related jokes etc.)

To make it brief for the moment: In my interpretation of him, prior to the Mansion Incident he doesn't have time (or take the time) to really sit down and enjoy a tv show or movie, due to the many tasks on his hand. He has to juggle his work for Umbrella, his double-agent plans to leave them and take the research with him, lead the S.T.A.R.S. team as captain without attracting suspicion and at least pretend to have a social life of some capacity.

Once he starts spending time with Chris, he eventually lets him distract him and he actually sits down with him to do "regular person" things (at least for a while, until Umbrella informs him about their plan to use S.T.A.R.S. as test subjects during the Mansion Incident). During this time I imagine Wesker's interests would likely be directed towards anything sci-fi, due to the scientific approach to fictional settings in many shows or movies. Maybe not exactly Star Trek level (though Wesker being a Trekkie is a hilarious crack headcanon), but I'm thinking Event Horizon, Total Recall and, yes, Matrix (we simply cannot ignore the fashion inspiration of RE5 Wesker okay).

As for books, he definitely is an avid reader in my portrayal. Of course mostly scientific works, but also works about human studies (mostly so he could build up knowledge about interpersonal relationships, manipulation tactics, etc.). His special interest in my portrayal being sealife and diving, he would also read a lot about that, including sharks, as I also headcanon he considered Neptune as some sort of "pet".

[randynova]

randdddieee bestie, I'm back whether you like it or not I'd be back!

so you know, ofc you don't since I haven't tell it yet, so okay here it is..

I have this idea and I thought to myself it's nice and I should try to write it cuz you know why not I'm the only one who's going to read it anyway. I already wrote a few things and now I don't want to finish it... help what should I do? (╥﹏╥)

lmao, wassup, bestie, enjoying ur company so dw (´・ω・｀)

But I hear you and it's okay! I've had moments like that where I don't wanna finish my own work either, which results in me,, lagging. But I managed to find some methods to help me get back into the swing of things.

I'll tell you what I do, may or may not work for you (im sorry):

Leave it alone for a few hours/days and come back to it with a fresh eyes when you feel inspired --- it lets your mind take in what you already wrote and add more ideas/details. I had moments where I was out in public and inpiration hits me out of nowehere, it's always a few days after writing the piece.

Listen to some music of your choice ( specifically upbeat, emotional, or folk music) while you write --- it can feed your creativty and inpsire new paths you didn't even consider taking before. Study even the lyrics and see what first comes to your mind hearing it. For example, "Oh Mami" was inspired by Chase Atlantic and the line "I might have to fuck her on the highway" led to the writing of the fic.

Read others work or even your past work --- this one is weird but it basically shows you how the story was paced and the amount of detail that went into a certain scene. You can try out the style the author described something or see a way the wrote a charcter, giving you a feel to how you may want to approach it. Even your past work can revive the engine of your mind.

Check out writing prompts and see which one sparks -- yea, I worded that weird. But hear me out: reading dialogue prompts does help your creativity go wild, so give it a shot.

Write it like a script --- if there's anything my professor taught me this semester, it's writing out your pieces like a movie script. In brackets, parentheses, astrids, whatever, write out what you want to happen. Ex.: [Iroh gives speech about his plans while fighting so-and-so]. Something like that.

First write out the scene that inspired you to even create the piece in the first place. Usually, or most of the time, we write something because of a random idea that hit us out of nowhere and sometimes, we struggle to write around the scene we wanted to get out or we don't know how to make something out of the idea we wrote. But that's okay. It doesn't even have to be detailed, it could be short and simple, just write out what you wanted to get to first. It forces your head to think of every possbile scenario

Look at Pinterest -- idk about you, but looking at photographs of a guy covered in golden paint gets my mnd going. Explore your pinterest feed and see what makes your mind click and if it relates to your fic.

Watch the movies/tv shows that inspired your fic or watch different media to for ideas -- you'd be suprised on how much I do this and how different shows inspired my fics. Take a concept that interest you and see if it works for your fic. Hannibal definitely inspired the gorey parts of my fics while Shameless inspired the smut.

Force Yourself -- this one, as much as I hate it and don't really recommend, does make me do a sloppy outline of what I want for the fic and when I'm more inpired, allows me to add onto the outline or even change it up a bit. It tricks me into thinking that I actually finished it, when I didn't.

Rest -- sometimes your mind is just overworked and needs time to rest and relax, bb. So its okay if you take some time off to gather yourself. It's a risky cycle if you write when you're already overwhelmed with other responisbilities. It's okay if you dont finish it for awhile, do it when you can or when you're more relaxed/inspired. You can always come back to it and it's not something you should beat yourself over -- it's okay.

I mainly reccomend 1 and 2 the most, because that's what works for me. But I hope at least one of these helps and I wish you luck, anon (♥ω♥)/ ♥

[alwaysthinkingoutloud]

Hannibal Episode-by-Episode Meta/Analysis: Episode 1, Season 1 (Apéritif)

The series start with Will Graham in a crime scene doing what he does, which is resurrecting crime scenes for further evidence and possible insight into the criminal’s mind and motives. What is interesting about this first scene is that for a first-time viewer, for the first a few minutes, it is not clear if what we are watching is a possible reenactment or it is actually a memory. That doubt gets cleared in a minute but until then, we don’t know if he is imagining or is he remembering. Is he a guy with a powerful imagination helping FBI who literally puts himself into the killer’s shoes or is he the killer itself, hiding in plain sight? To my thinking, the very first opening to the story does say a lot about the end of it all as well.

“This is my design”

Why not say plan, but design instead? Planning is something mechanical, strategical. It is the result of motive and effort of a rational brain rather than an acted-on urge. There is no much room for subjectivity or creativity since efficiency is the ultimate goal. However, design has a more artistical ring to it. It is like, its prior aim is not to be useful, but to be beautiful. Designing is done when aesthetics is of concern. We would say, Michelangelo designed David, plan would not look right there. It would be accurate as for explaining the mathematical part of it, the disciplined and patient hours that has been put into it, but it would not do justice to the inspiration, passion, and desperate need of the artist for his creation to materialize. A planner would not adore his work, but a designer would. And Will understands the difference a bit too well.

Later, talking with Jack Crawford, we learn that Will finds the name of Evil Minds Research Museum “hammy”. I do not think there is anything hammy about the name, it’s quite literal. It is not an ennobler name but why does Will find it so though? Does creativity and originality need to be perceived as abhorrent just because it was given birth by someone evil? This all-cautious way of approaching and overthinking things is a reflection of something dark within. Afterall, what is seen has at least a little to do with the seeing eyes, if not more.

Jack exhibits a disturbingly dominant way of communication with Will. He corrects Will’s eyeglasses, the guy who he knows is not comfortable with any kind of interpersonal interaction, within the minutes of their chat and holds down his bag to slow down his moving on. He is trying to make sure that Will feels Jack is the alpha and also that deep down, Will does not have the option to not cooperate. And more Will gets convinced to help for one step, stronger Jack drags Will into it for one more.

The first time we see Will interacting with any victim-related people, it is confusing. Being an empath and claiming that he can not only relate to narcissists and sociopaths but anyone, he does not seem to empathize much with the victim’s parents, cutting into the conversation about parents’ doubts on their daughter’s likelihood of being alive with a non-emotional, case related question. It almost makes you question if his ability to emphathize is just stronger with the dark side of the force than it is with the light one. Yes, the primer focus is to catch the killer and stop whatever malice is going on but after all, Jack came to Will with the need of help, so Jack must care about the case resolving more than he does. Yet, Jack seems more understanding of the parents’ feelings than Will, although Will is an ultimate empath. We even see Jack’s disapproval when Will cuts into the conversation. It is a brow mover.

Next, we get more insight about Will as he meets Winston. He finds him on the road roaming, tries to get close to him but cannot, so he drives all the way to his home to get something to lure him with and comes back to the dog. He is willing to go lengths to add a new dog to his pack, to his ‘family’, to his ‘social circle’. Something he is not willing nor comfortable to do for a person. Will's preferring an animal's company to a person's may say more than obvious. Afterall, he chooses Hannibal over Jack too, doesn't he?

Will who has already started to get traumatized by the case, is ambushed in the bathroom by Jack with an unforgiving mobbing, forcing ideas out of Will and stirring him up in the expense of his stability. Later on in his little chat with Alana, Jack’s intentions and priorities are further put into perspective. The way he talks about Will shows that for him, Will is more of a means to an end than an actual colleague. His insistence about “putting Will out there” despite Alana’s warnings and his admission of not being absolutely capable of protecting Will’s mental health just crowns that he does not genuinely care about Will. In fact, he even knows the risk of what he is doing, and he is trying to draw Dr. Bloom in to share, if not all together blame it on, the responsibility if something may go wrong.

We finally meet Hannibal in his office in a therapy session with his patient. The look Dr. Lecter throws when Franklyn blows his nose and places the dirty napkin onto the table… Up to this scene, we were not given any clue to suggest that Hannibal Lecter is a killer but after all, we do know who he is. And him being the first actual predator in the series we meet, we do not see him acting on brute violence or inelegant butchering. His first reaction depicted is unrest against rudeness. So the audience is welcomed into the mind of Lecter with an easily apprehensible act that can be shared by almost anyone. Almost to suggest that, this act of Franklyn’s may be enough to justify a wrath that may come upon him.

Jack shows up in Hannibal’s office unannounced and mistakes Franklyn with Hannibal. Hannibal, of course slightly annoyed, tells Jack to wait in the waiting room and invites him in with his own timing. Being a bossy and dominant guy he is, this takes Jack by surprise and it also tells us that there is an even stronger alpha here. So Jack realizes he cannot dominate Hannibal into his will like he did with Will. He may have to try something else. As Jack asks questions that are getting more specific and personal as they come, we see Hannibal getting cautious. Taking his scalpel into his hand and eyes widening. He lowers his guard only when he learns that he was referred to Jack by Dr. Bloom, his eyes visibly getting smaller, which are almost the only window to his thoughts anyway. So after seeing the sophisticated aura leaking not only out of Hannibal but everything around him, Jack chooses to sweet talk him into cooperation.

When Jack, Hannibal and Will first come together in a room, it is the first time in the show where Will makes such a long, non-blinked eye contact with someone, that being Hannibal. And we see mixed emotions and thoughts on Hannibal’s face. He is amused, intrigued and curious at the same time with the way Will thinks. He makes a quick analyze of Will which results in making him fling out of the room. Being the controlled, non-impulsive, strategic guy he is; even Hannibal himself is a little surprised with the sudden blurbing of his perception of Will. So maybe this first scene having Will and Hannibal together is another kind of first as well with both men doing something not typically them.

Hannibal, telling Jack that “he may help Will see the cannibal’s face”, he copies the crime of Minnesota Shrike. At the first look, this looks like an attempt of toying with the FBI and confusing them. But considering Hannibal’s last conversation with Jack, this feels more like a tribute, a helping hand for Will. Hannibal knows that Will would know that this is not the same killer the second he sees the crime scene. As Will later says to Hannibal, this was done to show Will a negative so that he could see the positive. So, we see from this point on that Hannibal’s wit does not focus on FBI, it does on Will. We see Hannibal eating and smiling, joyous of the fact that he now has an object of interest. Will imagining of a stag right after this, as stag will be the subconscious symbol of the Chesapeake Ripper / Copycat Killer before Will knows who he is and later when he does, of Hannibal; it shows that Hannibal literally entered his life and mind in more than one way.

Hannibal shows up in Will’s house very early and obviously very impatiently. So he does not only plan to interfere Will with being the Copycat Killer but through his ‘person suit’ as well. Feeding Will the meat of the girl he killed is also exciting for Hannibal as this manipulation game he has set to play with Will gets to be sicker for a normal human perception.

The breakfast scene is also the first time where Hannibal is looking for some ill-intent or killing inclination in Will, while Will denies having so. He wonders how much being able to empathize with killers say about Will’s own potential to do so. Hannibal suggests that Jack is treating Will as he is “a fragile little teacup, only used for special guests”. And that he himself sees him as “a mongoose that he would want under the house when snakes slither by”. He suggests that Will is not a pray that should be afraid to get hurt, that he is the predator. By that Hannibal does not only encourage the destructiveness Will may be trying hard to keep buried to come alive, but also the false perception that Will’s mind is strong enough to take any challenge Jack may throw his way.

Hannibal warning Garret Jacob Hobbs is literally setting the pieces in position of his will to get Will where and how he wants. He does not know what will be waiting in Hobbs’ house for Will but in the end, it does not matter so much since he just wants to see what happens.

When they arrive at the house, seeing Hobbs leaving his wife on the threshold her throat cut, Hannibal stands still. Is it because he is so confident that Will will be too frantic to ever look back and notice that, or is it because deep down he just does not feel like putting his person suit on in front of Will? I think both. When Will shots Hobbs and tries to tend Abigail on the floor, Hannibal walks in and sees Will caring hard for the girl. Hannibal’s face looks curious about what is going on but more than that, again, his focus is on Will more than it is on anything else. He sees all these humane emotions that Hannibal himself has always been somewhat stranger too on Will, those emotions that he thought, cannot come in a package with all the destructive ones. But maybe they can. And those emotions may even look nice. Because it almost does on Will. Although how the events would turn out Hannibal did not know, it was certain that the way he pushed things, there would be blood and there would be Will doing something that will change him one way or the other. After all, they have undergone a traumatic (for Will) and exciting (for Hannibal) circumstance together and it is a known fact that people who experience a significant situation together tend to develop emotional bonds. Maybe this was the least of what Hannibal hoped for. If that was the case, he got more than he wished. Will got to kill someone even if it was for a just reason and there happened to be an orphaned girl that Will desperately bonded the moment he killed her father, who maybe a manipulative tool for Hannibal in his game. The last scene where Will finds Hannibal holding Abigail’s hand in the hospital room highlights this perfectly. Now, Hannibal and Will has a mutual asset that Hannibal may use to draw Will closer to himself despite of Will’s initial reservations to do so.

[chuuulip]

Aria - The Opening

Pairing: Hannibal Lecter x Female Reader

Warning:  Some fluff, an ity bity bit of angs (if you squint), implied smutt?

Words: 1797

Prompt: Imagine where Hannibal is dating reader and she wants to learn his native language although she is sort of aware if not suspecting that he dint really had a good childhood due to loosing his family in a traumatic event.

Summary: "This skin to skin language may be the language I wouldn't mind teaching you right now, my dear. Are you interested?"

A.N: This is for @venusdemonroe a think a first fanfic request I received 😉 Also this like the first time I wrote Hannibal Lecter and I honestly feel intimidated haha. I would like to specifically thank you @detectivehannibal for feeding me Hannibal content fanfic and inspired me to wrote one ❤️ I honestly thinking to write a smut version of this prompt, but maybe another time? This piece isn’t beta and if there’s a grammar mistake, that will be on me 😉 but thanks to @jewels2876​ for the input.

---

It's not the first time Hannibal welcomed you to his humble abode. But tonight, it might have turned out into something more. But maybe you knew better not to put your hope up too high.

You accidentally meet Hannibal after the mushroom tragedy. You covered part of the investigation in a local newspaper. Less bitty as such of the Tattler.com. The second time you met the handsome psychiatrist after the opera performance marked the first time he asked you to attend a dinner party at his house. Thanks to your unwell sister that gave you the spare ticket.

"Didn't think I would meet you here, Miss?" Hannibal approached you. He kissed the back of your hands while you tried to calm down your nerves. Not only because Hannibal greeted you so effortlessly, but it's also because you fell in love with the performance that night, you felt like you were still in a dream.

Being the opera's younger attendee, Hannibal was kind enough to lend you his time answering your question that night.

"I'm a bit embarrassed that I haven't done my research before arriving here tonight." You played with the clutched at your hands. Luckily enough, you had an appropriate dress in hand to attend the performance.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Not knowing a new environment is expected." His deep melodic voice soothed your nervousness.

"The most important thing would be learning to adapt, and by that, I wouldn't mind helping you with such transition."

Oddly enough, both of you hit it off pretty quickly. Pretty much have the same hobby, enjoying quite similar food and the same thing when it's related to entertainment. Even though Hannibal was significantly older than you, there's no difficulty when it comes to conversation, and you are glad about that.

"Come on in." You were pulled back to the present when Hannibal put the right of his hands at your back. Guide you into the foyer of his house. It's been quite some time since the last dinner you have with Hannibal. Your work kind of required you to travel a lot and sometimes you missed his dinner party. Not to mention how busy he is with his job as a psychiatrist and helping the FBI with eccentric cases.

Hannibal helped you with your coat as he led you near the stairs.

"Would you mind waiting for me upstairs? I will bring some wine for us to enjoy."

You nodded at him and climbed the stairs. You aren't sure where to go, so you just wait in the corridor. Hannibal loves to decorate his walls with painting, and you can spend so much time looking at it one by one. A little bit different from Hannibal, you, on the other hand, were specifically into surrealism, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy other styles. One time you gushed about it so much Hannibal can't help to invite you to a specific exhibition that might be to your liking for your second date.

Darted your interest from the painting of Suzumi no Hotaru to something new by the end of the corridor, you approached it. There was an elegant chess set sitting by the windowsill, and the closer you got to it, the more you thought it might have been made of bone.

The light steps can be heard climbing up the stairs, but you don't mind it since you knew who that belonged to.

"Do you like my Bundesform set?" Hannibal stopped at your back. He kissed the top of your head and waited for your commentaries.

"It's beautiful. This one's new, I believe? Made of bone?" carefully, you pick up one of the kings and inspect it's details.

"Elk."

"You hunt?" There was a surprise in your voice although you have a vision Hannibal did that kind of activity.

"Occasionally."

A small giggled escape your red lips, but you let it die down quickly. Cleared your throat in an attempt to hide your amusement.

"You don't think I'm capable of such a thing?" There's humor in his voice.

You put the piece back and turned your body to face Hannibal. Placing your hand at the bottle of wine he has with him, you pried it out and secured it on yours.

"It's just that the image of you hunting in a full three-piece of suit popped up in my mind. That wouldn't do, right?"

Hannibal smiled at you. His lips curved up playfully. "That wouldn't do, sweetheart. You need to dress appropriately for a hunt, my dear. Shall we? Unless you wanted to stay and enjoy the bone crafted chess longer?"

You shook your head and let Hannibal lead you inside his bedroom.

—

Hannibal sent you an amusement look when you tried to drag both his turquoise armless chairs, facing the fireplace.

You took off your high heels and sat comfortably on the right side while waiting for Hannibal to take off his suit. Shortly after, he joined you in front of the fireplace. White shirt unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up. He carefully poured some wine in for both glasses on the table and swirled it. Let the wine warm up before it can be enjoyed.

When you have your glass of wine in hand, you snuggle to Hannibal. You rest your head back at the crook of his neck. Hannibal reached around and put his right hand behind your back in an attempt to pull you a little bit closer.

Both of you sipped the wine carefully. Savored the taste of its delicate dark berry fruits and enjoyed the warmth from the fire. Dance in the fireplace.

"It's been a month since I last saw you. Anything new?" His accented, calm voice murmured at the top of your hair.

"I missed you." You blurted, out of a sudden. Suddenly you are more interested in the rim of your wine glass than the man who snuggled with you in his bedroom.

Hannibal places his wine glass back on the table. He tilted your chin up softly to meet his beguiling hazel eyes. "You notice the absence of my presence, and for that, I'm grateful."

"Did you miss me?" One can’t help but demand an answer when the confession was made.

"I enjoy your company, and with the amount of time we spent together, I admit I wish I could see you more often.”

You gave him a wide grin so contagious that Hannibal can't help but mimic yours. He pressed his forehead to yours while he closed his eyes. Feeling content with the moment, he rarely experienced. You let your right hands travel up from his chest to his right shoulder, trying to absorb the pleasant warmth that’s Hannibal Lecter.

"I'm thinking of a transfer." You confessed.

"Didn't find a crime to be entertaining anymore?"

You shook your head. "I never found it entertaining in the first place, and I'm not Freddy Lounds, so..."

Hannibal positioned you to sit on his lap. Which was a score for you. He carefully stretched your legs on the chair while you circled your hands on his neck.

"So, are you going to elaborate more on your transfer?"

"I'm planning to focus more on opera and classical music." You received a gentle hum from Hannibal. His right hand traveled up to your spine. The backless of your red velvet dress made the skin to skin contact convenient.

"That is quite a jump."

You nodded at him. "By that, right now, I'm thinking about studying linguistics first."

Hannibal looked at you. He positioned his right hand on the head chair, supporting his head. "Language is an expression of a human being. It aided communication and helped with emotional release. It's also an attribute of a specific culture, making them unique in their own way. By that, I fully support this new journey of yours." Hannibal articulately gave you his opinion.

"Thank you, Hannibal."

There's a nervousness in the way you answered him. You are a confident woman. He found it odd that you hesitate to tell him. Hannibal shook his head, "I'm afraid this is not the only thing that is bothering you?"

 "I was thinking of studying Lithuanian language..." There was a long pause. You handle this situation like a high schooler in detention with his handsome but intimidating teacher.

"And?" Hannibal asked you patiently. He was under the impression that you weren't sure if bringing this up was a good idea. After all, when both of you spent time together, the discussion regarding childhood and past lovers were involved. Of course, Hannibal told a version of his story to some extent. He was determined to make this relationship work for both of you.

"I— I want you to teach me? I knew from our last conversation I concluded that your days back then weren't pleasant, but I feel like— if I learn it, I can feel a little bit close to you."

Speaking very gently, Hannibal told her, "People experience pain and suffering and overcome them. I would like to say that I overcame it a long time ago. Your intentions, on the other hand, are very optimistic. Although, I should remind you, my love, that it is quite an intimidating language to learn." He tried to make his emphatic statement a little bit funnier.

"As languages tend to simplify over time, I should warn you that this Language retains its ancestral tongue. Also, it has highly irregular cases. Are you ready for such a challenge?"

Your face was lit up; red lips seemed to be curled up in delight when you heard what Hannibal said. Without thinking, you moved your lips toward his. Your soft one meets with his pillowy lips. It was faint at first, just your lips and Hannibal's lips brushed together. But when his right hands traveled upon your spine and his left one secured your back to his, you straddled his lap. The soft kiss turned a bit desperate as your lips and Hannibal mashed each other. Gone was the carefulness he maintained. His tongue traced over your lips, demanding access. Your hand gripped the back of his white shirt as his tongue, and yours explored each other.

Hannibal suddenly pulled apart. The smeared of your red lipstick was stuck to his lips and some corner of his mouth. His sharp hazel eyes turned a bit darker as his left hands went down to palm the ample of your arse." This skin to skin language may be the Language I wouldn't mind teaching you right now, my dear. Are you interested?" Hannibal curled up the side of his lips, while eyes winked at you seductively. Obviously, you aim for an A in your first language class with Dr. Hannibal Lecter. There's no question needed.

---

As always, like, comment and reblog are really appreciated ❤️. Let me know what you think about this xo

[k-s-morgan]

Hi Katrin! Have you already watched (planning to watch) “Clarice” and what are your thoughts about it? If you are not going to watch it - do you have any thoughts about it in general and maybe about how it affects (if at all) NBC’s Hannibal? Sorry for so many questions, but I am actually curious lol

Hi! I haven’t watched ‘Clarice’ yet, I don’t have the means, but I’m planning on doing it at some point. I do follow it relatively closely as my friend shares her impressions. 

In general: I think the link between 'Clarice' and 'Hannibal' is extremely weak. No platform has been interested in picking up our show long before 'Clarice.' CBS would also be a terrible place for it because it prefers more standard procedural shows; 'Clarice' and 'Hannibal' have completely different target audiences and styles, so they don't really interfere with one another. In terms of the characters, it’s true that Bryan doesn't have the rights to Clarice and that he'd love to tell his version of SOTL, but it's also true that S4 would in no way be related to it. Clarice had to appear in S5 while S4 had to focus on Murder Husbands. 

Also, ultimately, SOTL is not that relevant to our story. Bryan even wanted to show it as a flashback at some point, so if some network decides to revive 'Hannibal', it should happen because of people's interest in Bryan’s narrative with Will and Hannibal, not because of the iconic value of SOTL and Clarice.

My opinion: I think Hannibal’s influence on Clarice is too integral to ignore it, which they have to do since they don’t have the rights to Hannibal. The story could be interesting, but imo, they should have done an AU spin like our show did it. There’d be more opportunities for Clarice’s development then. 

My attitude to 'Clarice’ had been neutral until I saw Kurtzman's interview. Seriously, implying that ‘Hannibal' was driven by ‘what’s the grisliest murder we can put on camera?’ approach while his 'Clarice' will be about the cases reflecting the characters’ inner struggles? This is absolutely the description of 'Hannibal' - it’s ignorant and offensive to say otherwise. So now I’m a little more negative about it, particularly as I can see that they did take some inspiration from our show. 

[staarchildren]

religious playlists

I went to catholic school when I was little so basically I'm a massive slut for religious themes and theology (even though I'm basically agnostic)

sacrilege based on the quote “godhood is just like girlhood: a begging to be believed” (kristin chang), because I’m obsessed with the idea of analyzing godhood through the lens of the experience of the teenage girl, thereby removing much of the power, agency, and capacity for violence that we associate with a male god (particularly in the old testament), and with men in general, and instead viewing god as a helpless, hysterical victim of fate the way we view teen girls, which then allows us to see the additional deeper layer of the pent-up, unexpressed female rage that often afflicts teen girls

*note: sacrilege feels a little incomplete, so if anyone has any suggestions or songs they think would fit feel free to tell me!

casual blasphemy songs with religious themes or outright discussion of religion, especially in ways that equate divinity with humanity (an idea that I find extremely interesting; I think religion is often people looking at humanity in its purest and strongest form and becoming so overwhelmed by it that they feel the need to remove it from themselves, elevating it and calling it “holy”)

holy sometimes when I listen to these songs I think I understand what people feel when they kneel with a rosary: god, not as a tyrant or an angry righteous father (those are commonplace and wholly human), but instead as protection and love and attention (description is from john 10:14, my favorite bible verse)

BONUS: 

fragmented supernatural-inspired, although it’s subtle (similar to sacrilege in that it relates divinity and teen girls, because i’m in love with the idea of castiel beginning to understand his own humanity by relating to the experience of the teen girl... fragmented, unsure of his identity, struggling with independence and the rejection of his family, lost and unseen, and with a relentless feeling of being misunderstood). also, cas’ biggest influences in the “human” front are dean and sam, who have never dealt with their own trauma in their lives and aren’t exactly great role models of emotional honesty, so I think the emotional rawness and honest anger that’s present in the music that teen girls resonate with would also resonate with him, especially since it’s all so different from anything dean and sam would listen to or allow themselves to openly engage with; therefore, it would allow him a space for emotional expression that is entirely his own and not a mimicry of the brothers. cas’ gender (or his lack of it, considering that he is technically a divine being in a male vessel) is another aspect of his identity that I feel he could grow to understand better through interaction with female artists and the female experience. on god somebody get these boys some mitski

links to my other playlists posts:

science concept playlists (julian bashir as dr. frankenstein au, mad science, and david from the alien movies aesthetics)

fandom playlists pt 1 (it’s always sunny in philadelphia, bryan fuller’s hannibal, and supernatural)

playlists about sex (an abandoned burlesque club, pegging the devil, and violence v. love)

horror or horror-ish-movie inspired (nina forever, the lost boys, and venom)

fandom playlists pt 2 (good omens, welcome to night vale, and the lighthouse)

[wipbigbang]

Art Title: Moodboards for “Les Fleurs Du Mal” Fandom: Doctor Who/Hannibal Link: 3 more moodboards can be found here. Warnings: Imagery related to murder with blood and gore Bragging Rights: The fic was really rich in imagery and themes and the mystery of everything, which was great for art inspiration. But with my not having a lot of focus for reading much at once it ended up taking a lot longer than I’d have liked to read through it all, so I’d not managed to make as much art as I hoped. The Chapter 4 moodboard was challenging to create since I couldn’t find exact matches for a lot of the dream imagery but I hope I got a good mood for it despite that. My favourite to create was probably the chapter 1 moodboard because of the contrast of the black and white with the stark colours of the flowers involved, as well as a great anatomical heart picture I found that is the mirrored centrepiece to it.

[writinghannibal]

MEME | | ROLEPLAY RELATED MUN MEMES

@mikejonesing​ asked ⌘ Where do you get some of your inspirations for plots/head canons?

Oh boy.

So, I saw Silence of the Lambs when it was released... which was way too young to be seeing it, but we’re blaming my mother for that. Blaming? Probably not the right word. I was also a voracious little reader when I was young and I read Silence of the Lambs at some point in the 90s. I didn’t read Red Dragon until the film came out, but I bought Hannibal the day it was released...

Hannibal was the first non OC character that I RPed riiiight around that time.

So, long story short, he’s been in my life since 1991. A lot of my headcanons are based in things from the books that I took and changed to update to the show canon, or because I didn’t agree with them or they sucked (most everything about Hannibal Rising sucks).

I get inspiration for plots from the people I write with. I’ve been really lucky to have some awesome RP partners.

I also dissociate while I write longer posts and get to be just as surprised as everyone else about what I’ve written, so that’s a cool source of inspiriation. ;)

[introvertguide]

Characters Based on the Crimes of Ed Gein

One of the most amazing true horror stories is the tale of Wisconsin native Ed Gein. He was born in 1906 and was convicted of murder and grave robbing in 1957, but was not considered psychologically capable of standing trial. He finally did have his day in court in 1968 and was found guilty of two murders and legally insane. He spent the last years of his life in a psychiatric institution until his death in 1984.

This might not seem like such deranged crimes that many films would be made out of the events, but it becomes more apparent with the details of the crimes. Ed Gein had a strange relationship with his mother, who apparently had a hatred for women she considered “harlots.” Ed’s father died of alcohol related illness and Ed’s brother died under strange circumstances which it is now speculated was another murder by Ed. This left the aging mother and Ed Gein alone for many years until her death in 1945. Ed basically went insane with her death and started stealing bodies from the local morgue to create a skin suit so that he could take the place of his mother. Ed Gein only was only charged with killing two women to use their parts, but a search of the house by police in 1957 revealed a horror show of products made of human skin and bones. He had been robbing graves to get female bodies for over a decade. Some of the products he created from all the corpses included: a wastebasket made of human skin, bowls made from skulls, a corset made from a female torso, skin masks, a belt made from nipples, and a lampshade made from a face. Horrific.

These actions are basically unimaginable unless you have the a truly damaged mind, but once they occurred it influenced many people to create their own monsters. There were many movies that demonstrate this, but I want to focus on the mainstream films that were influenced without actually having the killer named Ed Gein:

Psycho (1960):

The character of Norman Bates is very much based on Ed Gein. The film was based on a novel of the same name that came out right after the capture and conviction of Ed Gein. Norman has a mother who psychologically scars him with her tyranny and he tries to become her after she dies. Bates keeps the body of his mother (so did Gein), he dresses up like his mother in order to become her (as did Gein), and he hears his mother and does what the voices tell him (as it is reported that Gein did). Both Gein and Bates are very interested in taxidermy, but Gein uses human bodies while Bates stuffs animals. One major difference was that the actor playing Norman Bates, Anthony Perkins, was somewhat similar in appearance (both had a thin build) but quite a bit younger than Gein was at the time of arrest. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974):

This is a very well-known horror slasher that has a reputation for being horrifically violent. It is nothing compared to the level of violence in films today, in fact, it would even be considered quite tame compared to the slasher films of the early 80s. What attaches the film to Ed Gein is the character of Leatherface. This crazed killer is part of a murderous family and is really not very similar to Gein, except that he wears a skinned human face as a mask. Both the killer and the character chopped up bodies to create household furniture, however Gein primarily dug up bodies while Leatherface tortured live victims and eventually murdered them. Leatherface also looks nothing like nor does he behave anything like Ed Gein did. There is a lot of creative license comparing the two, but the screenwriter/director/co-producer, Tobe Hooper, says that Gein was a major influence. A major difference between Leatherface and Gein is the incredibly imposing stature of the actor: Gunnar Hansen is a very large Icelandic actor who stood 6′4″ and weighed about 300 lbs., while Ed Gein was about 5′7″ with a very slight build. 

The Silence of the Lambs (1991):

This award winning film features another character that does not end up being much like the actual killer he is based upon, but there are some similarities. Actor Ted Levine did a magnificent job bringing this horror show of a man to the screen. The character is nicknamed Buffalo Bill because of his tendency towards skinning his victims and it turns out he was making a skin suit very much like Ed Gein was attempting to make. Buffalo Bill had a disrespect for women similar to Gein and also carved up the bodies post-mortem. The actor was a lot more intimidating then his influence, since Ted Levine is almost six feet tall with a more solid build. One thing that stands out above the other characters in this list is the deep baritone voice of the actor. Norman Bates was very soft spoken and Leatherface did not speak at all, but Buffalo Bill had a tone where every word sounded dangerous. The role deeply affected Levine and he developed mental health problems similar to PTSD. It is quite a performance and a imagine it is heard to step into the mind of that kind of character without suffering some mental side effects. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

No Ed Gein based characters have ever won or even been nominated for an Academy Award (at least none that I could find), although The Silence of the Lambs won a slew of awards, including Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins as the other serial killer in the film, Hannibal Lecter. The story of Ed Gein is a cautionary tale about mental health, more so than the movie maniacs he has inspired. However, it is now easy for a screen writer to make a character that an audience will instantly fear and hate: base them (at least somewhat) on the actions of Ed Gein. 

[delectablesinn]

💙 10 Characters Tag 💙

Rules: Make a new post, name 10 characters from 10 different fandoms that you like, and then tag 10 people.

I was tagged by @spaceship-amie​

These are not listed in any particular order of favouritism, I decided to organize them by fandom instead. (Yes, I’m breaking the ‘10 fandoms’ rule.)

1. Ciel Phantomhive (Kuroshitsuji) - I have never empathized with a character so fully as I have with him. Arguably one of the most well-written characters of all time, next to Hannibal Lecter. Silly as it sounds, I feel as though I could have lived his life in another time. The definition of what a truly ‘morally-gray’ character is. His character design is also very aesthetically pleasing.

2. Sebastian Michaelis (Kuroshitsuji) - I felt compelled to return to my pagan roots after being introduced to this character, and have since developed an interest in demonology. Another incredibly multi-dimensional, complex character. I appreciate his mind and objectivity. He’s eye-candy too, which is a plus.

3. Will Graham (NBC’s Hannibal) - Another higher up on the list, his character possesses qualities I don’t often see represented in male characters - a nearly debilitating sense of empathy, sensitivity, emotional intelligence and introversion. Another character I empathize with very much. 

4. Hannibal Lecter (NBC’s Hannibal) - I have a love/hate relationship with this character I don’t think I have ever felt before. Even if one were to disregard how ridiculously handsome Mads Mikkelsen is, Hannibal’s mind itself is awe-inspiring and something that I have fallen in love with. He introduced me to a more multi-dimensional depiction of a sociopath. 

5. Oh Sangwoo (Killing Stalking) - What I find interesting about this character is that he isn’t a ‘toned-down’ depiction of a serial killer. He is cruel and abusive to everyone, including his own love interest. His unhealthy mannerisms and toxic personality affect all areas of his life. He instilled in me a constant sense of dread while reading Killing Stalking the likes of which I have never felt before. However, he is not a completely irredeemable character in my eyes. He was the consequence of apathy and an abusive father with an even worse mother. His suffering felt like it had no end in sight, & his entire development as a character felt ultimately pointless at the end, which unfortunately often reflects how these situations play out in real life. He is also, admittedly, handsome and quite funny at times.

6. Will Byers (Stranger Things) - While we saw very little of Will in season 1, his development throughout season 2 and especially 3 has led him to be one of my absolute favourite characters. He seems to be perceptive and intelligent in a way that many of the other ST characters lack, and his depiction as a gay teenager in conservative 80′s Indiana is nothing short of heartbreaking. I feel that there is so much potential to do amazing things with his character. I also feel a kinship with him, between the alienation being in the Upside Down has brought him and his fractured relationship with his father and now friends.

7. Chloe Price (Life is Strange) - I fell in love with her character, and she in fact was what brought me to realize my bisexuality. She has one of the most accurate depictions of the effects of trauma I’ve ever seen, and has a duality in her personality I don’t think I’ve ever seen. She can be hostile, insensitive and irresponsible, yet also truly loves those she develops close relationships with, to the point at which it is almost detrimental to her as she has a hard time letting go. She is like a force of nature, a disastrous storm contained within one person. She is beautiful.

8. Graham Eaton (But I’m a Cheerleader!) - While the movie itself was rather short, it was still one of the most beautiful, emotional, hard-hitting depictions of gay romance I’ve ever seen. It addressed the horrors of conversion therapy in a comedic, lighthearted manner. Graham appears to be the only one to see through the disgusting imposition of the camp’s beliefs and their manipulation from the get-go, and chooses to push at the boundaries of her controlling parents and her conservative environment. She has a hard outer shell, but is incredibly sweet and loving to Megan. Clea DuVall is beautiful, which also helps.

9. Spock (Star Trek: The Original Series) - I only have just recently begun watching TOS, but I adore Spock’s character and find him very relatable. He is one of the few healthy examples I’ve seen of what ‘logic’ truly is, and is incredibly balanced, intelligent and well put-together. He is rather stoic and often comes off as cold to others, but he is one of the most pure-hearted, self-sacrificing characters I’ve ever seen on television. Leonard Nimoy was an incredibly wise, talented man, and the world will forever miss him.

10. Mikkel Nielsen (Netflix’s Dark) - I have never felt such a sibling bond with a character before, and it tore me apart to watch him suffer the way he did. I wanted nothing more than to protect him, as I would my own little brother. He was so sweet and intelligent, both as a child and adult, and he deserved far better.

I tag:

@lifeisabouttogetstranger​ (I don’t have very many friends on here. If you wish to be added to the tag list, you can PM me.)

[philosophicalparadox]

For the ask! How about 7, 8, and then one that you want to do off the list :D

Hooo boy you sure know how to ask the hard ones don't ya?

Also these are gonna reference the newly re named Savages (formerly die Uhr dort droben) a fic which is basically my OC and Samael hating on and relating to each other Hannibal - esque style with Rin as an unfortunate collateral and try-to-be savior. (Or, Samael needed a good foil so I used what I had to make one)

WARNING: This gets dark pretty fast.

7. Favorite description in your WIP?

Is waaaaay too long to post here, but I really am proud of my description of some of Kage's body language. She communicates primarily through that, so I needed to get god level good at writing descriptive text and sometimes I actually feel like I made it. The entire camping/initial mission scene is really one of my faves, and one of the the dialogue below is taken from that scene.

8. Favourite dialogue in your WIP?

This is where it gets dark:

I couldn't choose between the camp scene and another, later scene so I will post both, sans the major spoiler parts:

Yukio scoffed, growing sense of irritation further confusing the teen. Rin was right. What was it about this...this animal, that aggravated him so much?

"You don't even say at our place, you always go back and forth to Mephisto's house. So why don't you just stay there? Or better still - why go back there at all?" Yukio leered with a wry, bitter smirk. He managed to catch himself from yelling at her, but only just.

...Kage stood still for a while, breathing unsettlingly steady. Yukio knew he'd struck something, but he hadn't quite decided if it was gold or pig iron. He braced himself for the latter when she turned her head slightly to make herself more easily understood.

"I am merely a stray dog that has found a new home. One which, coincidentally, has a much more benevolent master."

"Benevolent?" Yukio scoffed incredulously. A bud of confusion bloomed into a stark flower of regret as her body tensed almost imperceptibly. Her body turned toward him just enough for her to engage him with one hardened eye, its depths distressingly hollow but no less harsh when her reply came in softened tones, which had seemingly soaked up as much venom as she could muster without outright betraying that fact to the uninitiated.

"One should assume that would answer most of your questions about what sort of life I've led up to now." Kage paused, her monocular gaze trading some of it's hard, heavy edges for lighter ones, the hollowness filling up with a sad and resigned look that Yukio didn't know how to place.

"As well as why I can't afford to trust you."

And then there's this monster of a scene (oh god the angst. For some context, this is a scene that involves torture of the psychological kind. You've been warned.)

Shima felt a sick feeling settling into his gut, almost like going into shock. And he was shocked. What the hell? Shima felt his body beginning to tremble involuntarily as he resisted the sharp urge to choke on his tongue. What the hell?!

"It wasn't as if I had a choice." Kage explained, her voice entirely too calm, as it had been the entire time she stood over the demonness writhing silently beneath her. "If I hadn't complied, I'd of been killed." She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, seeming to think for a moment how best to respond. " I merely had to discover my sense for humanity, that's all. I discovered the human parts of myself for the first time, was made to really reconcile with them for the first time. It was either figure out how to be human, or die." She breathed a sigh, expression becoming owlishly keen as she tapped the side of the demons face with her sword, head cocking to the side in a way that made Shima's stomach churn.

"I simply started with the bad side of them. That's all." She paused, turning to look at Shima, a hot and hollow soul taking the place of where her eyes were supposed to be. A soul that didn't feel real. A soul that didn't belong to her. Not her, not Kage - no way. No fucking way. Not like this. Not like this.

"Not like I started out with the best examples of them, anyway."

And I choose 16 for Kage since this is about her anyway

16. a. What motives do you give your OC? What drives them?

Kage is motivated primarily by her own personal values. She values fairness and honesty above almost anything else, as indicated by her lack of ability to lie and insistence on reciprocity. She is also highly motivated by access to resources and ability to maintain social order. Be it hers or someone else's.

b. How much tragedy did you subject them to?

Ha. Ha ha. Ha. It was much worse when me and my concept of Kage were younger, but Kage is the ultimate survivor, let's put it that way. You don't live for nearly 300 years and not see some shit. Especially if you're a half breed.

And just for fun I'll do 27 too.

27. Do you have playlists for your WIP? What are some songs on it?

I do have a playlist for Savages but I don't want to give away more than I already have, so I'll list some character songs that suit her and her relationship with Samael

1. Unsurprisingly, Become the Beast by Karlienne was a big inspiration (as was the show Hannibal upon which it is based)

2. Liz Robinette's version of Unravel (Tokyo Ghoul OST)

3. The Wild One by Shawn James and the Shapeshifters

4. You Are The Moon by The Hush Sound

5. Fernes Uhrenticken by Clockwork-p on YouTube (from which the original title was taken) (I strongly recommend turning down the speed to .75 if you don't speak really good German)

6. Shrike by Hozier

7. Bad Apple (Liz Robinette's version) from Tohou

8. Burn the Witch by Shawn James

9. It's a Dangerous Game from the play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

10. And Don't Save Me by Noctura ( which describes her relationship with her father, but oh well)

Hope you enjoyed!

[sebastianshaw]

Rando Munday ramblings! For new followers, on Munday sometimes I just post a bunch of personal stuff I normally wouldn’t. Not usually anything intimately personal, more like random thoughts and news that just isn’t relevant to the blog in any way, not related to X-Men or RP or writing in general, etc. ....there’s a lot of Hannibal today, sorry, I’m rewatching it.

- I definitely wanna have a pair of critters named Hannibal and Hasdrubal at some point, maybe if there's a third I'd name him Hamilcar. I know everyone will think I named them after Hannibal Lector but actually these are really common names from Ancient Carthage. Like if you look at Carthagian history and records, everyone is Hannibal, Hasdrubal, or Hamilcar, it's like John, James, and Jim. I'd prefer the pair, though, since Hannibal and Hasdrubal were a pair of brothers and famous historical figures, so it would feel much more like a "set" that way (whereas they did not have a brother called Hamilcar) - Speaking of Hannibal Lector, I knew he was based on a real person, but I did not realize that person was a gay Mexican man. That’s...an interesting example of gay history, for sure. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Thomas Harris (the writer of the books that the films and later the TV series were based on) based Hannibal on a surgeon he met while interviewing an inmate at prison for another novel. This surgeon was so intelligent and charismatic that Harris implicitly assumed that he was a doctor in the employ of the prison. Nope---the doctor was an inmate himself. Harris was so shaken by the encounter that it inspired him to create Hannibal Lector, who, in contrast to the typical media portrayals of serial killers as uncontrolled lunatic slashers like Michael Myers or Leatherface, is a charming, culture, charismatic intellectual. To protect the man’s identity, Harris called him “Dr. Salazar” in interviews, so that was always how I knew him. I just now learned not only was his real name Alfredo Balli Trevino, but his victim was Jesus Castillo Rangel, his male lover. Harris describes him as a small, lithe man with dark red hair and, unsurprisingly, “a certain elegance about him”. Though Trevino was given the death penalty for his crimes, his sentence was commuted to 20 years and he was released in either 1980 or 1981. He died in in 2009 when he was 81 years old. He reportedly spent the last years of his life helping the poor and elderly, and he expressed deep regret for his “dark past”---which I suppose makes sense, since his crime was that he killed a lover in a fit of rage during an argument, whereas Hannibal simply killed people in cold blood whom he had no attachment to because he liked eating them (something Trevino never did) and to punish them for rudeness. - I’ve decided to stop buying silk, unless it's from a thrift store and thus my money won't go to supporting sericulture. Ahimsa silk isn't an option either, the bugs aren't technically killed but they're not treated well either. I know it might seem weird to eat meat and wear leather and yet not want to purchase something that hurt moths and larva, but...I have to eat meat for medical reasons, and my leather purchases is limited to boots that I then keep for YEARS AND YEARS so it's very sparing. There's really no such thing as a cruelty-free diet or lifestyle, whether that cruelty is suffered by animals or by other humans, but I can still make choices that at least lesson some small aspect of harm. I need to eat meat, I don't need real silk. ...Haven only wears bamboo silk for this reason and when this came up with Shaw, he absolutely thought she was fucking with him, like even SHE can’t be THIS insane, NO ONE ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT BUGS WTF - The books nearest to me right now are “Women Who Run With The Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype ” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, “X-Men: The Legacy Quest Trilogy” by Steve Lyons, two  horror anthologies, the script for “M. Butterfly” by David Henry Hwang, “The Spanish Riding School of Vienna: Tour of America 2005″ book I got from when I went to see the Lippizanner horses perform, and a big beautiful leatherbound English translation of “The Flowers of Evil” by Charles Baudelaire. This is...this is a summary of my whole personality, sans rodents. Also god I need to clean my room. - Something I've noticed is that many sci-fi horror films that do the whole "science went too far against nature!!!" thing....don't actually have the problem result from the lack of ethics involved or because the scientists did something "unnatural", it happens because they didn't follow basic safety precautions, lab protocol, common sense, etc. "Splice" for instance, is a really good example---the problem isn't that they made a part-human hybrid, that's not why shit goes wrong, shit goes wrong because the two scientists act like idiots, adopt the creation as a child, hide it in their barn instead of a sterile controlled environment, and then one of them HAS SEX WITH IT. Or in "The Fly" the problem isn't that Brundle invented a teleporter, it's that he tested it ON HIMSELF while he was ALL ALONE. Even in "Jurassic Park" the issue is less that dinosaurs are breeding and more the result of a disgruntled worker who was given way too much power over being able to run things, and thus shut them down when he wants to. So many "science gone wrong!" movies end up not really being condemnations of science itself, so much as depicting scientists as utter dumbasses. Which, on the one hand, I do like, because I dislike the notion of condemning scientific progress just because it seems icky or creepy or "goes against nature" (so do vaccines, I still like those!) But on the other hand, the movies don't FRAME it as "this is the result of failure to practice science safely and sensibly" they frame it as "they should never have attempted such an unnatural thing and this disaster is punishment for a moral sin" even though the issue doesn't happen because what the scientists did was "wrong" it happens because they do something DUMB. - Bringing it back to Hannibal, I reached the episode where Margot Verger first appears, and if I have one big disappointment about the Hannibal series, it's Margot. In the books, she's a huge butch lesbian, literally and figuratively. In the TV series, she's a pretty femme fashionista like all the other women, and she fucks Will in order to get pregnant. At the time this came out in 2013, I tried to be all resigned and fair-minded about this. I was like "ok, well, they didn't want to be offensive with a stereotype, and I guess that's fair, I guess not hurting people matters more to me than getting the horseback-riding bulldyke hearthrob of my high school years on-screen at last" but you know what? No. Firstly, butch lesbians deserve representation too. How many have you ever seen onscreen, let alone in a mainstream media production? Sure, it's a stereotype, but it's not an inherently negative one, they just get treated that way in media because society sees it that way. But the way to handle butch lesbians and femme gay men and so on isn't to erase them from the screen, it's to start writing them as human beings and not caricatures or jokes or monsters. Margot is a fleshed-out human being, she's nuanced and twisted and hurt like everyone else in this series, she would be PERFECT for that. She wouldn't be just a butch lesbian, she'd be a CHARACTER who just also happens to be a butch lesbian. I don't really think she was changed to avoid "hurting" lesbians, I think she was changed because the director, gay man or not, clearly has a way he wants the women in his series to look (they're all fashion plates, all have long hair, all very sophisticated, etc) and book Margot didn't fit his aesthetic, his design if you will. Because god forbid we just make her a DAPPER dyke, right? Back to having sex with Will, which most certainly did NOT happen in the books...that's not bad itself in a VACUUM, fucking men to get a baby is something real-life lesbians do, I had a friend in college who was actually conceived that way, but like...no media exists in a vacuum, and there is very little depiction of lesbians in media that doesn't feature them fucking men for SOME reason or another. They want a baby, or they start the story with a boyfriend, or they're actually bisexual, or they're even raped, but there's always SOME reason we have to watch a guy fucking them and it's frankly distressing. Like, remember Irene Adler in BBC's Sherlock? It's a pattern. And I'm not saying lesbians who have had a sexual past with men, or who were the victims of sexual violence by men, don't deserve representation, I would never say that, those are very common experiences, I'm not saying "gold stars only", I'm saying that there is a strong pattern in media where it seems almost obligatory that a lesbian has to have sex with or be attracted to men at some point, while comparatively the opposite case, where a lesbian is depicted as exclusively and only attracted to and "with" other women, is seldom there. And it's just kind of a kick in the nads for me, as I think it was for a lot of other lesbians, butch or not, that a gay director took an opportunity like Margot Verger and turned her into just another attractive lipstick lesbian that is okay with having sex with the male protagonist as a treat tee hee (Spoiler: She does end up with Alana though, which I appreciate)

[kathrynethegreat]

@random-emerald-thoughts​ asked: Hello, hope you are doing well. I have to say I am beyond fascinated with your Hannibal Au and was wondering if you might divulge some extra info about what you imagine season 1 would entail...Basically, anything you’ve got.

 Oh boy, do I have more info. 

 While I did not write full episodes, I do have a lot of details for them – some more than others. Season 1, and actually this whole series direction came about when I read Hannibal Rising for the second time. I wanted to see if I could use flashbacks from Hannibal Rising to run alongside the story I was telling. Since Rising has so much Japanese influence, I set the majority of season 1 in Japan to further bring that theme forward.

Below the cut is the following information:

Additional Information about each episode and the real crimes that inspired some of the stories

Artwork featured in each episode

A couple pieces of Fan Art that didn’t make the cut for the Season Rundowns.

Flashbacks featured in each episode

General Season Arcs / Information / Themes

 General Clannibal info (Will they kill each other or kiss each other? Who knows?)

A full summary of the absolutely bonkers season 1 finale (scroooolll to the bottom)

These notes in some instances assume you have read the four novels. If you have questions pertaining to anything you’ve not read, let me know.  The notes also sometimes specify how a scene may be viewed – because this is envisioned as a TV show and not a standard fan fic.

If anyone has questions about any of the below, want more info on season 1 or the other three seasons, just let me know and I’d be happy to provide. I’ve had all of this information sitting in my head for the last eight months, and I am glad to get it off my plate, as it were.

OVERVIEW

SEASON 1 SUMMARY | SEASON 1 DETAILS

SEASON 2 SUMMARY | SEASON 2 DETAILS

SEASON 3 SUMMARY | SEASON 3 DETAILS

SEASON 4 SUMMARY | SEASON 4 DETAILS

Season 1 General Notes / Arcs / Themes:

The main case Clarice is working on is the Gardner case, which spans all four seasons. However, in each individual episode, she is usually solving other cases along the way.

 Hannibal Lecter's background will unfold to help us better understand his attachment to Clarice Starling. Over time we come to understand how they are the same.

Flashbacks with regard to Hannibal and his esteem for Lady Murasaki will run parallel to the episode’s events and hopefully mirror Hannibal’s feelings for Clarice Starling. All flashbacks in general try to mirror some element of the present-day story.

This season focuses heavily on Hannibal Lecter's background, with heavy flashbacks from Hannibal Rising, with the big reveal essentially being that Mischa was eaten. There are a few Silence of the Lambs flashbacks as well.

This season also focuses on the growing relationship between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. Precarious, with an undeniable attraction at its core.

Hannibal Lecter's affection for Hiroshi Soah's youngest child mirrors his affection for Mischa

Emphasis will be put on the effects of WWII, specifically on Japanese art and culture. 

Please note this season takes place in 1990. No internet, no cell phones. Clarice Starling knows Lecter because she’s recently met him several times for the Buffalo Bill case – but our other characters have never seen him. American characters may have seen a photo in a newspaper, but would someone really remember?  Characters in Japan would have heard of his name, but almost certainly would not have seen a photo. He would not have been front page news in Japan. For this reason, we must suspend our disbelief and assume even the F.B.I team (except for Clarice and Ardelia (who is not yet on Clarice’s team)) is pretty clueless that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. Plus, they simply aren’t looking for him…he’s not on their radar.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 1: The One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshu

DATE: April 1990 FLASHBACKS: 

 Hannibal - Short bursts of young Hannibal sheathing Date's sword

Hannibal - Short bursts of young Hannibal painting with his uncle

 Hannibal - Short burst of young Hannibal seeing Murasaki in her bath

Clarice - Speaking with Hannibal Lecter at the Baltimore Asylum about The Flaying of Marsyas painting (broken into several different flashbacks)

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Concert by Vermeer - Gardner Museum

The Rape of Europa by Titian - Gardner Museum

Storm of the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt - Gardner Museum

Sheba by Robert Lecter  - Murasaki's Estate Sale, Hiroshima, Japan

Starling on a Branch in the Japanese Style, Signed with Infinity in Eight Strokes, Hiroshima, Japan, Painted by Hannibal Lecter, but attributed to Robert Lecter - Murasaki's Estate Sale, Hiroshima, Japan

Armor of Date Masamune, and 3 of its 4 pieces of weaponry - Murasaki's Estate Sale, Hiroshima, Japan

Flaying of Marsyas by Titian - National Gallery, Washington D.C., USA

NOTES:

The title refers to Date Masamune’s nick name.

 The episode opens with the Gardner Heist in Boston. We do not know the robbers. From their conversation, it is clear they have been hired by someone. We will not find out by whom until season four. They work quickly. One of the two men stops in the dining room to admire Titian's The Rape of Europa. "No." says the other robber, "He said he didn't want that one." 

In Japan two men bid against one another for the armor of Date Masamune at the estate sale of the recently deceased Lady Murasaki. We are introduced to Dr.John Fell and Hiroshi Soah. Those who have not read the book will not yet know that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. Clarice’s The Silence of the Lambs flashbacks throughout the episode will show Clarice talking to Lecter, but the viewer will be standing inside of Lecter’s cell, looking at Clarice. We will only see Lecter’s shoulder. During Clarice’s last Silence of the Lambs flashback at the end of the episode, we finally switch views to see what she sees. We see inside Hannibal Lecter’s cell, and we realize that Dr.Fell and Dr.Lecter are the same person.

 Both Dr.Fell and Hiroshi Soah bid on a piece by Robert Lecter. They both lose to someone over the phone. The viewer, Soah, nor Lecter knows who the anonymous bidder is. This will be revealed later in season four.

The Samurai armor comes complete with 3 of its 4 original weapons. Soah and Fell begin talking about the lost Tanto sword, and when Dr.Fell mentions he may be able to track it down, Soah is intrigued and understands that Fell means this may not be through entirely legal means. They quickly build a rapport, and ultimately Fell is hired by Soah to curate a new museum Soah is opening in Hiroshima. 

 Hiroshi was young when the bomb went off in the city, but he is still haunted by the war, and wants to create a world-class museum to showcase the culture of Japan, which Dr.Fell will help him with. In addition, Dr.Fell will work to track down the Tanto sword, as well as help to acquire pieces for Soah’s own private art collection – sometimes through legal means…sometimes not. Soah is aware Dr.Fell is a criminal with a decent background in art – but he has no clue he has hired Hannibal Lecter.  

 Clarice has a somewhat embarrassing meeting with Noble Pilcher's family. They are wealthy and educated and it is obvious that they look down on her. She is mortified. While she is more determined than ever to show that she has class, it is for her own self, not to fit in with his family, as she does not see her relationship with Pilcher as going anywhere. The incident is none the less formative. 

Miranda Pilcher, Noble Pilcher's mother is the Curator at the National Gallery. While Clarice and Miranda are frosty at first, ultimately Clarice trusts her judgment in art and will begin going to her for art-related advice in the future. In Miranda, she sees the kind of well dressed, well educated, classy woman that she wants to be. 

  Miranda mentions over dinner that she helped negotiate the sale of The Fall of Phaeton by Rubens for the Gallery in January of 1990 

  Clarice is devastated when she is put onto the Gardner case instead of being able to join Behavioral Science. Paul Krendler is shown to clearly not be a member of her fan club. None the less, she starts to do what she can, going over old evidence and trying to look deeper into the situation than those on the case before her.  They are expensive pieces of artwork - they were stolen by someone who appreciates them, and understands them. She knows in order to find the culprit, she too will need to learn to understand and appreciate these pieces too. 

 Clarice goes to visit the National Gallery to speak to Miranda and to see The Flaying of Marsyas. Miranda tells Clarice it is headed back to Czechoslovakia soon, but she is worried about the painting - she doesn't know if there will even be a Chzechosolovaia for it to return to.  This begins a deeper conversation about art that will carry through all four seasons.  Yes, museums are filled with stolen art from pillaged civilizations – but what about instances where art is put into museums for its safety? Where is the moral line?  The show doesn’t aim to give answers – as there are no easy answers – but it will aim to show that the questions are complicated.

 Miranda asks Clarice how she heard about the painting, and Clarice merely says "He told me to come to see it."  Miranda understands that "he" means Lecter. Miranda does not ask further questions. She does, however, mention she was also trying to purchase a piece by Robert Lecter from Murasaki's estate over the phone several days before but was outbid. Clarice asks if there is any relation to Robert Lecter and Hannibal Lecter. Miranda says she is not sure, but this gives Clarice an idea of where Lecter might be, and she is the first to understand that he is not in South America, but perhaps in Asia. 

 An event happening in the background is the fact that Lithuanian independence was restored in March of 1990. A recent development that Hannibal Lecter would be following closely, and would be bringing up very strong feelings.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 2: A.A.Aaron

DATE: May 1990 FLASHBACKS:

 Hannibal – Young Hannibal meeting Robert, Murasaki and Chiyoh

Hannibal – Young Hannibal awakes at night in the Chateau screaming. We know something terrible has happened to him, but we don’t yet know what.

Clarice - Hannibal in his cell in Baltimore, talking to Clarice about wanting to give her what she craves most - advancement. 

ARTWORK FEATURED:

An Experiment on a Bird In An Air Pump, by Joseph Wright - Hanging behind Paul Krendler's desk

Ancient Chinese Gu, unknown artist - Gardner Museum 

SUMMARY:

Hannibal Lecter leaves a clue for Clarice in the China Mail. He has seen that she is looking for the Gardner pieces, and he lets her know some information about the Chinese Gu that was stolen. He addresses Hannah, but does not sign his name, though Clarice pretty much figures it's him. She realizes her hunch that he is in Asia and not South America must have some merit to it. 

Paul Krendler has never forgiven Clarice Starling for catching Buffalo Bill. Krendler made sure Clarice was put onto the Garnder case, knowing all evidence that could be found, had already been found. Clarice takes this opportunity to create the F.B.I.'s Art Crime Team, which can not only work on the Gardner case, but other important art cases as well. Clarice trying to make the best of a dead-end case, and actually make progress further enrages Krendler. 

Clarice assembles her team – herself, plus four other agents.  Clarice asks Miranda to help educate her and her team about the ins and outs of Art and Art History.

Hiroshi Soah is recently widowed with three daughters. He is a patron of the arts, and very generous - but also suspected to be very dangerous, and a possible Yakuza (Spoiler, he is). He owns a very successful motorcycle business that he started just after the war with his brothers. Both brothers died of mysterious causes.  His sister-in-law, Chiyoh also recently windowed, has moved into his home to care for her nieces. She is suspicious of the sudden death of her husband and is fairly certain that Hiroshi had something to do with it. Chiyoh's husband was head of the Yakuza in Hiroshima, as well as the head of the board of the Motorcycle company.  With his death, Hiroshi's position as head of the Yakuza and head of the company was assured. She meets Hannibal when Hiroshi hires him on as curator. She has not seen him in years - not since Hannibal and Murasaki put her onto a train in France years ago. She is vaguely aware of Hannibal's past, but since she has lived for years amongst the Yakuza, his crimes don't really phase her. Turning him in does nothing for her either - she chooses to wait and see if he might be of any use to her at some point. They were good friends once - so she confesses to him her suspicions about the death of her husband. He shares with her how things ended with Murasaki and she confesses that she knows and that she and Murasaki met again after she moved back to Hiroshima. 

SEASON 1, EPISODE 3: Eternity in Eight Strokes

DATE: June 1990 FLASHBACKS:

 Hannibal - Robert teaching Hannibal to paint

 Hannibal - Murasaki teaching Hannibal Calligraphy, specifically Eternity in Eight Strokes

Hannibal - Mischa laughing in the garden in her bathtub

Clarice - Clarice's sitting on her father's lap, looking at his badge

Clarice - Clarice and Mapp discuss Johnny's tattoo 

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Eternity in Eight Strokes - Symbol

Three Beauties of the Kansei Era by Kitagawa Utamaro

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture by Ruth Benedict, being read by Clarice 

NOTES:

Since Hiroshi is recently widowed, his sister in law Chiyoh has been teaching the girls, but he asks Dr.Fell to augment their education in art and culture. Natsu, the eldest daughter, is about 18 years old and very impressionable. She very quickly falls in love with the charming and mysterious Dr.Fell. The middle daughter, Aneka, is about 10 and she is a complete smart ass and tends to not have a filter. She’s the comic relief. Emiko, the youngest is about 6 years old, and very sweet, and reminds Hannibal Lecter very much of his sister, Mischa. 

 When confronted with the Symbol Eternity in Eight Strokes, Clarice consults Jack Crawford’s extensive library on symbology. She finds that many past works by Hannibal Lecter were signed with this symbol.

Very quickly finding that the art theft rings she is dealing with are often dark covers for far dirtier crimes, with art often being used to help with the laundering of money, Jack Crawford decides to send Johnny Brigham to join Clarice and her team of agents.  Johnny is tasked specifically by Crawford to watch out for Clarice’s safety. 

Johnny has always liked Clarice and she has always liked him. His presence constantly alongside her begins the whole “will they or won’t they?” situation between them. He very quickly becomes smitten.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 4: The Provenance of Dr.Fell

DATE: June 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - "Clarice, your case file." The touch in Memphis before Lecter’s escape. The crackle in Hannibal's eyes. A shock runs through Clarice's body.

Clarice - Watching the news just after Hannibal Lecter's escape

Clarice - Ardelia asking Clarice if she fears Hannibal will come after her 

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Jade burial suit of Liu Sui

NOTES:

 Clarice uses her alter ego, Elizabeth Chase for the first time. Elizabeth Chase was the name of an art student and the wife of Robert Hecht, a man who dealt in smuggling antiquities illegally, and the name is an intentional selection on Clarice's part. Her whimsy is showing, and Hannibal Lecter would take notice.

 A discussion of art provenance and its importance in authenticating art leads to the idea that people also have their own provenance that gives them their value. This is a major theme that is unfolding, as we essentially see flashbacks from Hannibal and Clarice showing us their own “Provenance”

 Clarice does not yet know Hannibal Lecter is in Hiroshi Soah's employ, though she suspects he is somewhere in Asia. She goes undercover as Elizabeth Chase - an art dealer - at a private party at Soah's house celebrating the purchase of the Jade Burial Suit of Liu Sui. When she is dancing with Hiroshi Soah, he tells her about his new curator for the museum he is building, and that he would like to introduce her. He takes her over to Dr.Fell, whose back is turned to her.  When Dr.Fell turns around, Clarice is shocked.  "Do you two know one another?" Soah asks.  "Do we madame?" Dr.Fell asks, taking Clarice's hand and kissing it. She touch sparks again for both of them, and they are aware of it. "I feel if we had, I should not forget.”  Clarice is not amused, but cannot cause a scene, as there are several hundred people present, and doing so would endanger them, as well as ruin her cover and her mission.  "Not to my knowledge, Dr.Fell." She finally says reluctantly.  Dr.Fell asks Clarice to dance, and again she is hesitant to do so. When he sweeps her out onto the floor, they both begin to negotiate, talking quickly through gritted teeth as they both try very hard to smile and not let on that anything is wrong. There is a very real tension between them - both sexual, as well as a heightened feeling of danger. Lecter reveals that he has a good deal of insider information and that he can help her with her case, if only she will not reveal his identity. She agrees – for the time being.

Hiroshi and Johnny both watch Dr.Fell and Elizabeth Chase - Hiroshi is unaware of either Clarice’s and Dr.Fell’s identity, while Johnny also has no idea that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. What they do notice, however, is that there is clearly undeniable chemistry between the two. Natsu also witnesses the clear chemistry between Elizabeth Chase and Dr.Fell. Both Natsu and Johnny Brigham find themselves feeling jelous.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 5: Sadako and the Thousand Cranes

DATE: July 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Murasaki, Young Hannibal and Chiyoh fold paper Cranes for Chiyoh's cousin, Sadako

 Hannibal - Murasaki mentions her home, Hiroshima, being destroyed

Hannibal - Deserters approach the lodge, killing Jakov and Hannibal's parents

Hannibal - Authorities yell at Lecter in his cell, he folds an origami chicken

Clarice - Clarice speaks with Lecter and pulls the origami chicken out of her purse

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Children's Peace Monument by Kazuo Kikuchi and Kiyoshi Ikebe - Hiroshima, Japan at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Traditional Origami

NOTES:

One of the major art pieces in Heroshima is the Children's Peace Monument, which memorializes Sadako, said to be Chiyo’s cousin. The monument helps to emphasize the absolute horrors of war.

Though many of our characters are rather villainous – they have all been impacted by an actual war or a terrible hardship in their life. Soah had his home destroyed, Lecter lost his family, Johnny finds being back in Asia brings back memories of his time in Vietnam, something he doesn’t like to think about.  Clarice, though not affected by war, has had terrible hardships and is also learning about the horrors of war via the art she is studying.

Traditional Origami is used to link Sadako, Hannibal Lecter's past, and Clarice's experience with meeting Hannibal Lecter for the second time (When she rescued his origami chicken from a trashcan) - A clue to the Chinese Gu is uncovered in the Yakuza crime ring, and Clarice believes it may be in China

 Chiyoh and Hannibal come to an agreement - Chiyoh will not reveal who he is to authorities, and in exchange, Hannibal will kill her brother-in-law, Hiroshi Soah in retaliation for her husband's death. He agrees to do this in his own time.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 6:  Kyū Bon

DATE: July 15, 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Murasaki mending young Hannibal's finger and asking him to arrange flowers

Hannibal - Hannibal defending Murasaki from the butcher

Hannibal - Robert's death and funeral

Clarice - Hannibal asking her worst memory of childhood

Clarice - In the hospital with her dying father as a visitor recites Thanatopsis

Clarice - Cleaning hotel rooms, Clarice's mother tells her she must move to Montana

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Thanatopsis, a poem by William Cullen Bryant read as a v.o. in the last scene

The Tale of Genji, a novel by Murasaki Shikibu

Kokin Wakashū by Court Poets Ki no Tsurayuki, Ki no Tomonori, Oshikochi no Mitsune and Mibu no Tadamine

NOTES: 

 This episode deals heavily in family and their impact on us

Clarice disregards the festival, but ultimately changes her mind in the end, and winds up going back to the U.S. to visit her father’s grave.

Hannibal Lecter gives Clarice Starling Chinese Lantern flowers

SEASON 1, EPISODE 7: Honjō Masamune

DATE: August, 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - Hannibal asking if she thinks he is evil, Typhoid and Swans discussion

Clarice - Hannibal telling her they are going to be partners

Hannibal - Butcher being killed with a sword

Clarice - The Screaming Lambs Confession in Memphis / Clarice escapes in the night as a child

Hannibal - Very quick, flashes of Mischa screaming, an axe, Hannibal's hand reaching for Mischa. We still can’t see what happened.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Honjō Masamune, a famous sword

Homicide Investigation: Practical Information for Coroners, Police Officers, and Other Investigators by LeMoyne Snyder, being read by Clarice

David with the Head of Goliath, Caravaggio

NOTES:

August 26–28 – In Gainesville, Florida, police find five murdered college students, apparently killed by a serial killer. Clarice is pretty gutted to not be able to work on this case.

This episode is inspired by the real life sword. When Japanese weapons had to be surrendered in 1945, it was given over to a Sgt. Coldy Bimore. Unfortunately, no record of such a Sgt. has ever existed. This has never been solved, but this story tells a bit more about how Hannibal and Clarice uncover the sword at the hands of a man who falsified his name. The American Sgt.’s family had been killed by the Japanese during the war, and thus he took their sword from them.

This adventure takes place over a series of several days, and both Hannibal and Clarice must keep up their identities of Elizabeth Chase and John Fell. They speak a lot during this time.  Lecter wakes Clarice from her nightmare during this time.

Clarice experiences her nightmare during this time and heavily begins to question if what she is doing is enough - she’s rescuing art - not people (The Florida serial killer weighs heavily on her). Hannibal Lecter holds her in the dark and tells her that what she is doing is very important and noble. She says, "I was in the barn" she says, to which he replies, "I know." "I was so cold and afraid." she says, and he says "I know." again. He closes his eyes and we understand he is speaking of more than just her dream - that he knows from his own experiences. She is disturbed to realize that she feels very safe with him.

 Season 1, Episode 8: The Hall of Two Truths

When eighteen carefully chosen treasures are stolen from the Cairo Museum, the Minister of Antiquities enlists Clarice’s team to help find the culprit. Clarice suspects that a wealthy private collector may be responsible, but soon finds that the truth is far more complicated than she could have imagined.

DATE: September 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Inspector Popil arrives and says that organs of the butcher were removed

Hannibal - Murasaki tells Popil she and Hannibal are moving to Paris and that Hannibal is to enter medical school

Hannibal - Hannibal helps a doctor sketch dead bodies in order to remake De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, which was lost during the war

ARTWORK FEATURED:

 Bust of Neferititi

 Book of the Dead: The Weighing of the Heart Ceremony

 Canopic Jars

 De humani corporis fabrica libri septem,

NOTES:

The title references the Egyptian "Hall of Two Truths" where the human heart is weighed against a feather in the Egyptian afterlife. For our purposes, of course, the feather represents Clarice (bird imagery) and the heart represents Lecter (burning heart imagery, organs, etc)

The scales also represent the changing feelings and conflicting emotions going on with Clarice Starling.

Inspired by a 2011 Cairo Museum heist, which was never solved, but likely the pieces were stolen by a wealthy businessman who picked out specific pieces that he wanted.

The removal of organs in Egyptian mummification will be compared against Hannibal Lecter removing the organs of his victims. 

SEASON 1, EPISODE 9: Kintsugi

DATE: September 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Flashes of Dog tags hanging around the necks of the men in the lodge

Hannibal - Flashes of Mischa screaming

Hannibal - Flashes of Hannibal and Mischa with the deserters

Hannibal - Mischa is taken away “to play”

ARTWORK FEATURED:

- The Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin

- Japanese art of Kintsugi

NOTES:

 Kintsugi refers to the art of mending broken vases / pottery with gold

September 12 – Cold War: The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German reunification.

- A major theme is brokenness. Hannibal's brokenness, Clarice's Brokenness, but her scars ultimately making her more beautiful in Lecter's eyes. He also seems to be intrigued that her brokenness has not managed to destroy her. When Soah's daughter breaks a priceless vase, Lecter discusses with her the art of Kintsugi and discusses with her how one's damage is important to their overall history. Together they repair the vase, as Lecter thinks of Clarice and of his own scars.  

 On the other, much darker end, it is the shattering of one of the terracotta warrior sculptures reveals that they are fake, and their insides are filled with drugs. The art world is using them as a cover for a much larger drug smuggling operation.  Inspired by the movie True Lies, as well as multiple drug busts - hiding drugs in sculptures is fairly common. 

 There should be a discussion that each Terracotta warrior represented an actual person should tie in to Hannibal thinking about the dog tags, and that they are also tied to an individual. We don't know if this is actually true or not - I've read articles that confirm and deny this, but for our purposes the statues are indeed individuals.

The youngest of Soah's daughters likes the Ninja Turtles (popular in the 90s). Dr.Fell is confused as to why these cartoons are named after painters from the Italian Renaissance.

The episode would either open or close with the quote by Rumi, "The Wound is Where the Light Enters You."

SEASON 1, EPISODE 10: The Three Sacred Treasures of Japan

DATE: October 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Hannibal tries to remember the faces of the men who killed his sister and draws their faces in medical school

Hannibal - Uncovering the Dog tags in the lodge

Hannibal - Hannibal kills Dortlitch and puts the tag around his neck

Hannibal - Murasaki asks Hannibal to stop. He refuses.

 ARTWORK FEATURED:

Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, a sword

Yata-no-Kagami, a mirror

 Yasakani no Magatama, a jewel

NOTES: 

October 3 – Cold War: East Germany and West Germany reunify into a single Germany.

The three Sacred Treasures do exist, though very few people know where they are kept, and even fewer people have seen them.  Clarice and her team must figure out how to find something without even knowing what it looks like. This is paralleled with Flashbacks of Hannibal Lecter not knowing what his sister’s killers look like...

Not knowing what the 3 Treasures look like, and the search for them can bring flashbacks to Hannibal Lecter not knowing the killers that he seeks revenge upon for Mischa's death.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 11: The Last Emperor

DATE: October 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Hannibal sees Kolnas daughter's bracelet and flashes back to Mischa

Hannibal - Kolnas daughter puts his dog tag in the offering plate

Hannibal - Hannibal kills Kolnas with a Tanto after he is given information on Grutas

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Ancient Chinese Gu, unknown artist - Found in China, to be returned to the Gardner Museum

The Forbidden City

NOTES: 

When looking for a stolen Chinese Puzzle box, long lost, Clarice ultimately finds herself in search of a theif who it turns out has purchased the Chnese Gu from the Gardner museum. At first she thinks he may be the original theif, but she realizes the piece has changed hands several times.

The Chinese Gu has yet to actually be found.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 12: The Idol Thief 

DATE: October 1990

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Natarajan Idols

NOTES:

 This episode is based off of Subhash Kapoor is a New York-based art dealer on trial in Chennai for allegedly running a $100 million international smuggling racket.[2] He was previously the owner of the Art of the Past gallery in Manhattan. His sister business, Nimbus Import/Exports, specialised in selling antiquities from across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia to major museums around the world.

Natsu looks into Dr.Fell’s past and manages to uncover who he is. When she does, she also sees a picture of Clarice Starling and realizes that she is the same woman she knows as Elizabeth Chase.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 13: Yuanming Yuan

DATE: November 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Murasaki and Hannibal put Chiyoh on a train and discuss her fiancé, a man with two brothers who is starting a motorcycle business

ARTWORK FEATURED:

A variety of Chinese vases and bowls around the world

NOTES: 

This episode is inspired by several thefts of Chinese pieces that were stolen around the same time. The case has never been solved, but it is most likely a Government inside job.  Clarice - if she finds it’s a Government job - can’t really do anything when up against a Government. 

There is a discussion about theft. If the pieces were stolen from China...and China steals them back - is it stealing?

SEASON 1, EPISODE 14: Teacups and Time

DATE: November 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Hannibal searches for Grutas

Hannibal - Grutas confirms Mischa's fate

 ARTWORK FEATURED:

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Chinese Yixing Teapot

A Brief History of Time, a book by Stephen Hawking

NOTES: 

November 19–21 – The leaders of Canada, the United States, and 32    European states meet in Paris to formally mark the end of the Cold War.

Lecter reads A Brief History of Time. The broken teacup is mentioned. When he is at the Japanese tea ceremony, a teacup is broken, and his calm exterior falls away for a very brief moment. Clarice seems to be the only one to notice.

Clarice has found the Chinese Gu in a previous episode. This is a huge break in the Gardner case. However, since it appears all of the items that were stolen were dispersed to different people, the other items have not yet been found. Still, she has decided that though it is a great break in the case, they will keep its discovery a secret so that it does not compromise the rest of the case or her secret identity as Elizabeth Chase.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 15:The Tantō Sword of Date Masamune

DATE: December 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Grutas tries to shoot young Hannibal. He is shot in the back. He appears to be dead, but he pulls the Tanto sword out from the back of his shirt. It has deflected the bullet.

Hannibal – Young Hannibal asks where Grentz is and is told he is in Canada. Hannibal then kills Grutas and puts his dog tag around his neck. Murosaki has been witness to all of this.

Hannibal - Hannibal confesses his love for Murasaki. She rejects him.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife by Hokusai, on loan to the Hiroshima Museum of Art from the British Museum, in conjunction with an exhibition called "Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art"

 Starling on a Branch in the Japanese Style, Signed with Infinity in Eight Strokes, Hiroshima, Japan, Painted by Hannibal Lecter, but attributed to Robert Lecter - found in Dr.Fell's studio

Clarice with a Lamb by Hannibal Lecter, found in Dr.Fell's studio

Armor of Date Masamune, and 3 of its 4 pieces of weaponry - Hiroshi Soah's private collection.

Tanto Sword of Date Masamune, 4th piece of weaponry - on Hannibal Lecter's person

Tessen, Japanese War Fan - on Clarice's person

FULL EPISODE SUMMARY:

We open the episode in the newly opened Hiroshima Museum of Art, opened and funded by Hiroshi Soah in an attempt to help replace heritage lost to the Hiroshima bomb, as well as an attempt to make Hiroshima a center of culture for the nation – a Phoenix from the Ashes, as it were. 

Clarice stands in the Hiroshima Museum of Art’s newest exhibition on Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art, which was Curated by Dr.Fell (this is a real exhibit that would not happen until 2013/2014 at the British Museum). She stands before The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife and considers it, waiting. Johnny appears and stands beside her. He too considers the painting. He wrinkles his nose - he does not care for it. After a few moments of silence, Johnny hands Clarice some paperwork and tells her that they have enough information, and they now officially have permission from both the American and Japanese government to raid Hiroshi Soah’s private collection and arrest him. They have to be smart about it, as they do not think Soah will go quietly. His home is highly guarded, and even with a warrant, his thugs are likely to put up a fight.

Due to the museum opening, as well as some new private acquisitions, Soah’s private collection has been in constant movement. His renovation on his own personal gallery means there is lots of construction in the home, and it’s agreed that the FBI will disguise themselves as workers. Clarice will need to go in first and assess the situation to make sure to determine the important pieces currently are so that nothing is damaged during the raid, as that would defeat the purpose of the entire mission, which is ultimately to keep the artwork safe and back where it belongs. They agree that Elizabeth Chase will go during the day to assess the situation, giving some other art related reason for being there – offering up a painting she has recently acquired in the hopes that she could walk with Soah through his gallery and tell him exactly where she thinks it should go, meanwhile noting specific placement of everything.

Clarice Starling is mildy concerned and plagued with guilt, however. Several months before she had sent warning to Behavioral Science that she had found Hannibal Lecter. However, Lecter has not betrayed her identity, and has not only been helpful in uncovering information for her, they’ve also begun to confide in one another. She worries that if he discovers her betrayal that no one will be safe from his wrath.

Clarice Starling arrives for her appointment with Hiroshi Soah and is asked to wait in the garden. She sits and drinks tea and hears laughter in the background. She looks to see on the far side of the garden, Dr.Fell teaching the three girls about Japanese Weaponry. He has a long sword, and he two eldest Natsu and Aneka have shorter swords, while Emiko being very young has a fan. She is rather put out that she is not allowed to play with big knives.

Clarice goes closer to watch and she and Lecter acknowledge one another with a nod and a smile, but say nothing. Natsu, who has a big crush on Dr.Fell notices this, and her jealousy flares again – for she has found drawings of Elizabeth Chase in Dr.Fell’s studio. 

Dr.Fell assures Emiko that the fan she has is just as important as a sword, and he reveals to her that the spokes of her fan - a tessen - are pointed and indeed very dangerous. 

We see a short flash of young Hannibal Lecter fighting with Grutas. Dr.Fell, mildly disturbed by his thoughts, steadies himself back in the present and then teaches Emiko how to deflect a sword using the fan. She is placated. 

Clarice playfully mentions “When you taught me how to use a sword, you never mentioned the fan to me.” She then tells him that she has seen the new exhibit he curated at the museum, and she is not entirely sure what to think. Dr.Fell covers Emiko's ears, and seductively begins to talk to Elizabeth about how the West tends to find pleasure and sex sinful, but the east has no such reservations, etc. 

Natsu is further angered that Dr.Fell is very clearly entranced by Elizabeth. A servant comes for Elizabeth Chase and leads her into Hiroshi Soah’s study. Clarice and Hiroshi speak for a long time, and then walk down his gallery. Elizabeth mentions the piece she has just acquired from one of her customers who has passed away and pulls out photos from her purse. Soah isn’t sure, but they continue their walk, and she tells him she has a few other pieces that she thinks he might like. She also asks him how the restoration on the sword that she and Dr.Fell managed to find several months ago is going. He takes her over to a new portion of his gallery where he has many pieces of Japanese Weaponry on display – several swords, fans (Tessen) and of course the Samurai suit is the centerpiece.. He mentions that Dr.Fell did the restoration on the sword himself. He also mentions Dr.Fell is close to finding the lost Tanto sword – might Elizabeth be able to help with that as well and she and Fell worked together so well on finding the other sword? 

She mentions she will keep her ear to the ground about it. As Hiroshi, very polite and charming, escorts Elizabeth from the house, says goodbye and goes back into the house.

Chiyoh and the three girls are on the terrace folding origami as Elizabeth heads to her car. When Elizabeth asks where Dr.Fell has gone, Chiyoh mentions that he had been called to the museum to consult on the layout and hanging of several paintings. 

Emiko goes to Elizabeth and hands her a paper crane before she can descend from the terrace. “Doctor Fell asked me to give this to you.” She says. Elizabeth thanks her and moves put it into her purse when she hears Hiroshi Soah calling her name. He walks out onto the terrace and says he’s re-considered – would she be willing to leave those photographs of that painting with him for a couple of days? She says, of course and digs into her purse and sets them down beside the paper crane. He thanks her, and she turns again to leave, forgetting the crane. 

When Elizabeth is gone and the others have all gone inside, Natsu takes the paper crane and unfolds it to reveal a note written on it. It is addressed to Clarice and it indicates that he knows what she is up to, and that he does not advise a raid tonight, as security has just been doubled. It is signed “H.” 

Clarice assembles her team and discussed the layout, the plan, and where certain pieces of art are. Some they will take, some they will not, some have been illegally aquired, some have not. She also mentions where Soah will most likely be able to be found in the home. She alerts the men to the bedrooms of the three daughters as well as their aunt Chiyoh and makes sure that everyone is well aware to be very careful around the women, not to scare them, harm them, etc. 

Her team asks if Dr.Fell will go along with the law, and she confirms that she has made sure there will be an “urgent call” from the museum an hour before they enter in order to get him off the premises in case he comes back to the house.

Later, Lecter returns only to be called back to the museum on an emergency.  Clarice’s team watch and confirm that Dr.Fell has left. Dr.Fell, of course, knows it is a ruse, and later sneaks back in disguised as one of the construction workers, alongside the FBI.

Clarice goes in the back way to secure the inside of the gallery before the raid begins. The men outside await her go ahead via an earpiece, but it is dropped when she is grabbed by one of Soah’s security men who drags her into the newest part of the gallery containing the Japanese weapons, where Soah and Dr.Fell stand. Dr.Fell remains calm and betrays nothing until it looks like Clarice really is going to be killed by one of Soah's men who has a knife to her throat and is just waiting for Soah's command.

Finally, Dr.Fell lets in a sharp intake of breath, which causes Soah to make his men pause while he turns to Dr.Fell and asks if he likes Elizabeth?

 “I do believe my daughter is rather jealous of the two of you.” Soah confesses. “It was her jealousy that caused me to find out about you, miss Clarice Starling.” 

Fell admits Clarice Starling is very lovely. Perhaps they could make it look like she has gone missing? Soah considers. Fell has given him 100s of millions in stolen goods and has done a great job over the past year. It is clear that though Soah knows Clarice’s identity, he does not know about Fell’s… He agrees to let Dr.Fell have the girl. 

Clarice spits at both their feet and says she'd rather die. 

Soah says that can be arranged and gives the order for his men to kill Clarice. Just before the knife slits her throat, another knife is thrown through the air and strikes into the henchman’s neck.

 It is clearly a match for the Tanto sword of Masamune.

 We see a quick flash of young Hannibal Lecter getting up from the floor of the boat after having just been shot and pulling the Tanto sword out from the back of his shirt. We realize suddenly – he’s had the knife all along. We learn Mischa was eaten.

Hiroshi Soah’s eyes grow wide at the realization that it is the knife he’s been looking for. He turns to confront Dr.Fell, but Lecter has grabbed a sword from the armor and takes Soah’s head clean off. He then throws Soah's sword to Clarice, who catches it, midair, while he goes over to the wall and removes the sword he and Clarice tracked down together several months before. 

Together they are surrounded on all sides by member’s of Hiroshi’s Yakuza, and they must fight together to kill them. At one point Hannibal Lecter is almost taken down - there is a knife to his throat and he has no weapon. Clarice shouts out his real name to him as she tosses him a weapon that he uses to kill the man holding him back. 

All the henchman pause at hearing Lecter's real name - they only knew him as Dr.Fell. There is a new level of fear now that these men know they are fighting Hannibal Lecter. 

There is a quick flashback of Hannibal Lecter killing Grutas in front of Murasaki, and then confessing his love for her. She tells him there is nothing left of him to love and leaves him. 

Back to reality, the man standing closest to him is now frozen in fear, and Hannibal grabs him and rips out his throat with his teeth. Blood dripping from his mouth, he spits the contents onto the floor, reaches out, and grabs Clarice, kissing her fiercely before they go back to taking down the remaining men. 

While fighting, Lecter tells Clarice he didn't betray her. Clarice does not mention that she, several months earlier, had betrayed him. Clarice grabs a Tessen fan from the wall and uses it to deflect a sword and spike another henchman in the heart. Lecter makes a crack about fighting in her good shoes, at which point Clarice takes off her shoe and spikes the heel through one henchman’s eyes.

Lecter is delighted with both her resourcefulness and ferocity. Once all the men are dead, they are surrounded by bodies and covered in blood, breathing heavily. Standing inches apart, they grab one another and kiss hungrily, angrily. When they part he asks her to come away with him. She is upset by this and asks that he turn himself in. Again he asks for her to come with him and promises that he will give her everything she ever wanted. Again she begs for him to turn himself in. 

He says he won’t – and that she doesn’t want to turn him in either or she would not have tried to make sure he was off the property during the raid. She hesitates. 

Suddenly there is the sound of crashing glass as the FBI come in from the long side of the gallery, and Soah’s backup from the other side. Clarice rushes towards her men, while Lecter heads in the opposite direction. 

On his way out of the house he encounters Natsu, who has heard the commotion and come running. She is crying and tells Hannibal Lecter that she did not betray his true identity to her father – only the identity of Clarice Starling. Chiyoh comes up from behind Natsu and takes her arm, calls her a foolish girl and says that she would have been wiser to betray them both. 

Hannibal Lecter tells Chiyoh that their agreement has been settled, and she knows that Hannibal Lecter has killed her brother in law for her in retribution for Soah having her husband killed. 

Chiyoh lets Hannibal Lecter go, and later is seen speaking with the police. She is shown ascending to the head of the board of Soah's company - as well as becomes the head of Soah's Yakuza clan.

Ultimately the FBI is successful and manages to secure the pieces that they need, and arrest several of Soah’s men. 

Dr.Fell cannot be found, but all of his paperwork checks out beautifully...Chiyoh makes an agreement with the Japanese government, and Dr.Fell is not persued.

When Dr.Fell’s studio is found in the attic of the house, the FBI is surprised to find several drawings and paintings of Clarice Starling. Nobody yet realizes that Dr.Fell was Hannibal Lecter.

[parkiing]

GET TO KNOW ME BETTER!

I was tagged by @hollowbrds

1. name/alias: my name is Parker!

2. birthday: I’m turning 18 on August 10th!!

3. zodiac: leo sun, cancer rising, aries moon...🤡

4. height: I think I’m closer to 5’7 1/2 (171.5 cm) but I have “short rower complex” so I say I’m 5’8 hahaha

5. hobbies: working out, reading- especially about guardian angels, any kind of poetry, medical research, or politics! I also love doing yoga, listening to music, and I’ve recently reconnected with my middle-school self by getting back into playing piano and skateboarding hahahah

6. favorite color: this summer’s color is baby pink, baby!!!! Navy blue/black are my second favs.

7. favorite books: any book about guardian angels by Lorna Bryne. I’m also super interested in the book “A Tale of Two America’s” by THIRTY-SIX different contemporary writers which is my summer reading for KU! Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman was beautifully written and if you enjoyed the movie I also recommend reading the book. I love most of Ernest Hemmingway’s books too because I love the way he writes. My all time fav since I was like..12, is Walk Softly, Rachel by Kate Banks!

8. Last song you listened to: the last song I listened to was WHAT’S GOOD by Tyler the Creator and the current song I’m listening to is Timothy by Tennis!

9. Last film you watched: Midsommar by Ari Aster!

10. Inspiration/muse: I’m gonna have to say that the answer Joce gave was pretty spot on: I think, in regard to art and how I relate to it in everyday life, I’m inspired by: the Female Experience, the “interconectedness” between humans, the symbolism of religion in everyday life/nature, love, and the “tenderness” that comes with being human. These are all themes that seem to be most prevalent.

11. dream job: right now my dream job is anything in the medical field but specifically a trauma surgeon or neuroscientist!

12. meaning behind your url: I deleted my first tumblr which had the DUMBEST name back in like 2014/15 and parkiing was supposed to be temporary, but it’s stuck because I’m too scared to change it to anything else. Parking just reminds me of Parker.

13. top 3 ships: I don’t really watch/read a lot to ship a lot but I guess I would say Hannigram from Hannibal, I’ll forever be a die-hard Larry, and like mulder&scully from the X-Files duh idrk anything else hahahah

14. lipstick or chapstick: consider.... lipgloss

15. currently reading: A Tale of Two America’s (as I said before) and Sometimes God Has A Kid’s Face by Bruce Ritter

16. Some people I would like to do this are: @darkgreenwater @voleux @rilecones @dopplegonger @uninterestiing @ikatoria @skippingclasses @vhspilots @etherealeo @bydia-lew @crystal-lions @rockgarden @deathrind @merfaerie @bastard-lesbian @s-l-u-g-s @cpeacecastlec @softluvr @vmps @pensivewoman @ohth @oldpisces @sadbrowngirlclub @ikeeplosingthings @666morandi666 @gumdecay @sanfranciscoe @nefariousbrat @opuhala @virtualgirlscout @unitybyangels @floatingmirrors @dandelionquartz @soulful-alignment @penutbutteroatmeal @twinbright @higher-frequencies @198-94 @visionsofajohanna @calmd0wnparty @palmtree47 @1paulkraus9

[madhattermoffits]

by Rhonda Moffit, Moffits-Mad Hatter Adventures  March, 2020

With such very busy lives, every so often we love to unwind with a weekend adventure. This recharges our batteries and allows us to find inspiration and appreciation that propels us into the forthcoming work week and beyond. Our most recent weekend adventure took us to Martin’s childhood, as his relatives lived in Hannibal, Missouri, when he was a boy. He, much like Tom Sawyer and creator Mark Twain, ran around this historic Mississippi River town as a youngster having fun and learning life’s early lessons. What many do not realize is the incredible history of this locale….so read on and see what we discovered.

One of the places that I, Rhonda, book for our clients that visit Hannibal that has had great reviews is the Garth Woodside Mansion Bed and Breakfast. We were anxious to check this place out for ourselves.

John Garth and Helen Kercheval were married on October 18, 1860. They had two children, John David and Annie. Sometime after the Civil War broke out, in 1862 or 1863, Garth moved his family to New York City. There he was engaged in banking, brokerage, and manufacturing. They returned to Hannibal in 1871, and Garth started a successful business career. Garth purchased a farm southwest of Hannibal and constructed his Italianate Second Empire summer residence about a mile outside of the hustling city in 1871,  which he named “Woodside”.  On the farm he raised and bred shorthorn and Jersey cattle.

As a businessman Garth entered many ventures. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and served as its first vice-president. He became president in 1880, a position he held until near his death in 1899. He was also president of the Hannibal Lime Company, president of the Missouri Guarantee Savings and Building Association, and president of the Garth Lumber Company in Delta, Michigan. His wife and daughter funded several memorials to him, including the Garth Memorial Library Building, dedicated in 1902, and a tower and set of bells at the Trinity Episcopal Church.

Son John perished at the age of 21, sadly, while he was undergoing an appendectomy.  Family photos adorn the walls of Woodside.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, not only grew up in Hannibal but had multiple visits back to visit friends during his lifetime. One of his childhood friends was in fact John Garth.  Samuel Clemens visited Woodside on several occasions, preferring to stay with his friends. He had his own particular favorite bedroom in the house and spent many hours laughing with the family in the downstairs parlor. When he published Life on the Mississippi, Clemens sent the Garths a copy. John Garth replied, “Thanks for the book. Each and every one at Woodside has enjoyed it greatly.” A note from Clemens to his manager requested a copy of Huckleberry Finn to be sent to the Garths upon its release. John Garth died in 1899.

There have only been six owners of the mansion since it was built, and most all of the original furnishings are still used. This brings me to the beds. Oh, the beds! This particular bed is valued at $55,000, being one of the most valuable in the United States. It is said that Mark Twain slept in this bed and the hand carved craftsmanship is beautiful. Other furnishings are original to the house as well, and it is truly like stepping back in time. Because Woodside has changed owners so infrequently, many of the belongings of the Garth family remain. The current innkeepers/owners (very friendly!) allowed us to roam the entire house and grounds and we were able to see everything the house has to offer, which is a lot.

After exploring the mansion and visiting with the llamas (resident livestock), we ventured into downtown Hannibal and decided to eat at the Mark Twain Dinette. Martin regaled me with tales of when he was sent by family to the Dinette to buy and bring home a jug of their homemade root beer. They have made the root beer onsite since going into business over 76 years ago, and it does not disappoint! If you visit, you should try one of their pork tenderloin sandwiches- it is enormous and one of the main dishes that they are known for.

After dinner, Martin walked me around the Mark Twain historic buildings- my own private tour.

It was fantastic. We then journeyed the short drive back to Woodside and enjoyed the rest of the night with complimentary wine, a fireplace, and a large jetted tub that I really wish I could bring home with me.

The next morning, we were provided a yummy breakfast and had some wonderful conversation with other guests. There are cottages at the rear of the property and they provide a beautiful view and private hot tubs on their decks. These are quite popular, and from what I gleaned from conversation with the others many like to return a couple times a year just to rejuvenate.

The next part of our adventure took us to Lover’s Leap. The views from this historic location are remarkable, and it was a beautiful day to behold.

Next, we traversed to Mark Twain Cave.

Made famous in Mark Twain’s writing, this location is the real deal. They offer tours, so of course we were all in. We went 250 feet below ground and saw everything we could see in the miles of tunnels made of limestone. Samuel Clemens even signed the cave wall when he was young- if you look in the center of the following image you can see “Clemens“.

Many, many people have been to the cave over the years- here I am, wandering around trying to get a feel for it- and loving every minute.

There are over 260 passageways, and it is easy to get turned around in the labyrinth. There is also a “marriage rock” within that has a story. There was a woman who discovered one of her ancestors had signed the cave wall and she had her wedding in the cave under the signature as an homage to the relation. Also look carefully in the photos for the signature from 1865. There are so many echoes from the past.

The Mark Twain Cave was discovered in the winter of 1819 when Jack Sims tracked a panther into what appeared to be a small den. He later discovered it was an extensive underground network. Twain included a lot of the cave in his book “Tom Sawyer”, as he found it to be a true source of inspiration as a child. He and friends used to light candles and enter the cave to explore it. The “Discovery” entrance is the original entrance (green sign) that was used, as you can see in the image.

Also notable:

Joseph Nash McDowell – He bought the cave in 1848 and was the owner during Mark Twain’s childhood. He is infamous for putting his recently deceased daughter into a copper cylinder and placing the cylinder in the back of his cave hoping to further his theory of human petrification. When Hannibal residents learned of this act, they begged him to remove her and bury her as was deemed proper.

Here is an image of where both McDowell’s daughter’s corpse was stored and where Jesse James placed his signature in the cave.

Jesse James — After a botched robbery attempt he hid out in Tennessee. In 1879 he decided to head for Independence, MO to assemble a new gang. On his way through, he signed his name in the Mark Twain Cave which is dated September 22, 1879, sixteen days before he robbed a train in Independence with his new crew, and only three years before his death.

The cave was a remarkable adventure and we spent a lot of time exploring it.

Also in Hannibal is the home of the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown. Molly was born in this house just a few blocks away from the home of Mark Twain. Margaret Tobin Brown was an activist and survivor of the Titanic. Born in 1867, she was the daughter of Irish immigrants. In her lifetime, she and her husband rocketed to fame during the Gold Rush. In a lifeboat as the RMS Titanic sank, Molly shared layers of clothing and urged others to survive the disaster. She used her status to inspire others to fight for children’s and worker’s rights for the remainder of her life.

For all of us Disney fans, Hannibal is also a special place. It is the birthplace of voice actor and musician Cliff Edwards, better known as the voice of Pinnochio’s Jiminy Cricket. Edwards was born in Hannibal and left school at the age of 14 to move to St. Louis. He taught himself to play the ukulele, choosing it because he said it was the cheapest instrument in the music shop. He was nicknamed “Ukulele Ike” by a club owner that could never recall his actual name, and it stuck.

Hannibal has so many stories, and there is so much to do and to see. If you visit between April and November you can even take a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi courtesy of the Mark Twain- they even offer dinner cruises. We plan on returning again soon, and before we departed, we returned to the Mark Twain Dinette to grab a root beer for the road. OK, we actually bought a case to take home. What a wonderful getaway!

Hope you enjoy sharing our adventures- be sure to give us a like, a comment, or at least have a drink of this fabulous root beer next time you are in Hannibal for us!

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Images copyright Moffits: Mad Hatter Adventures, 2020

      A $55,000 Bed, Mark Twain, Jiminy Cricket, Jesse James, Root Beer and Spelunking- It’s A Weekend Getaway Adventure to Hannibal, Missouri by Rhonda Moffit, Moffits-Mad Hatter Adventures  March, 2020 With such very busy lives, every so often we love to unwind with a weekend adventure.