#will graham analysis

[pesky--dust]

Do you believe Will orchestrated the escape? Was he intending to flee with Hannibal or was he genuinely planning to kill him?

First of all, I think that Will is a character whose behavior we cannot predict - just like Hannibal said.

In the first season, Will was vulnerable, but in the second season, he started manipulating people to get what he wanted, and he told Alana and Hannibal that he was an unreliable narrator of his own story. And I believe that this is true throughout the series, to a greater or lesser extent.

In The Wrath of the Lamb Dolarhyde attacked Will in a motel. Will was aware that Dolarhyde wanted to meet Dr. Lecter, Dolarhyde himself told him so! And this scene, according to the script, ends with the following words:

CABAL. The synonym for this word is intrigue.

So I believe that Will decided to use Dolarhyde to free Hannibal, knowing now that since Hannibal loves him and Will plays it right, Hannibal will do whatever Will asks him to do.

So yes... I believe it was orchestrated by Will to some extent.

However, was he intending to flee with Hannibal or was he genuinely planning to kill him?

That's a good question! And I will repeat what I have already written: I think that we cannot predict Will's behaviour. In Mizumono he called Hannibal at the last minute and was not sure what to do until the very end and in The Wrath of the Lamb Will tells Bedelia, "Decisions are made of kneaded feelings. They're more often a lump than a sum". It is what actually drives him.

I think he wasn't sure how this escape would turn out. Would Dolarhyde kill Hannibal? Both of them? Or would Hannibal kill Dolarhyde and him? Maybe just Dolarhyde? Or maybe he'll just leave the FBI's dirty work and not get his hands dirty in the process?

And so, another pillar of this series is curiosity. I believe that apart from his feelings, Will was also guided by his curiosity about what would happen. In my opinion, there was no grand plan. "Everything that can happen happens. Has to end well, and it has to end badly. Has to end every way it can", "If everything that can happen happens, you can't really do the wrong thing. You're just doing what you're supposed to do" (Primavera).

[EDIT, because I forgot to write about something I find important]

In ... and the Beast from the Sea, Will tells Hannibal, "I'm not Fortune's fool, I'm yours". "I'm Fortune's fool" comes from Romeo and Juliet. It's about acceptance of the fact that you have no control over your life, because everything is up to fate; Will tells Hannibal that he is his fate and so he accepts it. And in the very next episode Will finds out that Hannibal in fact loves him.

In The Wrath of the Lamb, when Will comes to Hannibal to ask him to be a bait, in his memory palace, he stands on the skull engraved in the floor, where years ago Hannibal left him his broken heart. Will accepts Hannibal's heart now and chooses him, with all its consequences, not knowing what would happen.

[END OF EDIT]

And in The Wrath of the Lamb, Will tells Reba that Francis couldn't watch her die. When Dolarhyde shot Hannibal, Will reached for his gun. I think that both curiosity and his own feelings made him want to protect Hannibal and kill Dolarhyde in this very moment.

His feelings after killing Dolarhyde caused him to throw himself and Hannibal off the cliff (personally, I think the fall didn't happen at all and is just a metaphor, but that's a topic for another post), knowing that he would never feel better.

This answer turned out to be longer than I thought, so tl;dr:

Yes, Will orchestrated the escape.

Will is driven by his feelings, curiosity and whims (as Chilton said in Hassun), so I think that he didn't have any bigger plan than freeing Hannibal and see what would happen and then ended up being driven by his feelings. So I would say that he neither planned to run away with Hannibal nor to kill him. He was acting on the spur of the moment. If Hannibal killed Dolarhyde? Great, one serial killer down. If Hannibal had killed both Dolarhyde and Will? Okay, they're finally free from each other. If Dolarhyde had killed him and Hannibal? Finally it was all over. But Dolarhyde killing Hannibal? Oh no, Will couldn't bear to look at it.

[thefawnfallacy]

The way that Hannibal and Will are never referred to as being queer is interesting. It’s not like sexuality never comes up, it does, predominantly with Margot who openly admits to being lesbian and talks about it often as a part of her character but I think that the way sexuality is framed is another mask.

Margot openly wants to kill her brother, so her sexuality is on display, she is a character that the viewer can “see”. The audience knows that Hannibal is queer — he doesn’t say it but it is shown through numerous other characters, predominantly through Will. Will is the filter in which the viewer “sees” Hannibal and so we know and acknowledge that he is a queer character.

Will is the blurriest and this is interesting in a variety of ways to me. Why does the viewer never have a clear sense of sexuality from Will? To start, Will is an unreliable narrator, we cannot explicitly trust the truth of what Will tells us about anything because it’s always just slightly shifted. He doesn’t victimise himself but he does elevate himself, just slightly, based on his current concept of morality. He was guilty when he killed Hobbes so we see him as guilty and unsteady, he was righteous when he killed Tier, so we see him through a lens of righteousness. No-one else can see him clearly and therefore, neither can we. He is not hidden in plain sight the same way as Hannibal and in doing so, makes himself very confusing to properly understand while also being exceedingly easy to pick apart.

Will is multifaceted and shifts the way he’s perceived a number of times throughout the series, while always giving the impression that he is completely unaware of it.

(side note: this doesn’t properly fit but I think it’s worth mentioning the “Will Graham is not a lesbian” line because there’s an undertone of stubborn curiosity there — is Will Graham a lesbian? Hannibal doesn’t know and Margot is quite smug about it, but that’s more gender based than anything).

Because of the ability to “chameleon” himself for any situation, he leaves a lot open to interpretation. Will Graham could be queer, he could be straight, he could a lot of things. It’s also worth noting that Will Graham experiences attraction in very different ways when it comes to men vs women based on the characters we see. With Matthew (and I’m using the definition of attraction very loosely here) as well as Hannibal, he is incredibly manipulative, like he can’t imagine being genuine with these men in the biblical sense but with Alana he is more open to being perceived and received a certain way. Molly is a more hollow imitation of Alana — he acts the way he thinks love should be but it’s hollow.

Hannibal, of course, is a curious show of attraction. He expresses a wide range of emotions towards him but never stereotypical feelings, if anything, he seems to take a sharp left when it comes to Hannibal but at the same time, he is very obviously more gentle and honest with him, like he’s trying to “show”the viewer what’s underneath. (meaning he does carry about Hannibal, we know he does, he simply shows a wrestling with these emotions that often come across as more violent or unrefined).

*this is just my interpretation, please don’t take it as gospel 🙂.

[grahamcr4ck3r]

season one - “killing someone is the ugliest thing in the world.”

season three - “it’s beautiful.”

[tayasui-mono]

While Hannibal's 'good samaritan' act in s1e1 is astonishing in its audacity, it's also so lovely that Will Graham's weakness is kindness in people. He saw Hannibal being a good, capable guy and forgave him the insult of trying to sneakily barge into Will's private life. In this way, he is like that naive lamb. He gravitates towards the good in people, he is attracted to it, and unfortunately, this made it easier for the devil to manipulate him.

[dr-reids-fidget-toy]

Oh my god okay. I am currently quite unwell so don’t take this too seriously but will graham analysis.

Will graham is a dog/wolf. Like the alpha of the pack (not abo in this sorry) but only for like dogs and stuff? he’s really bad at humaning. He collects strays and takes care of his pack.he is a predator and that’s his thing with Hannibal . The stag/elk is his prey and something that could easily kill him it is a challenge of life or death in many ways. The stag is also Hannibal. It is something so dangerous and yet so beautiful (to will) and it is so often mistaken as something peaceful and harmless. Also someone made a thing of them nuzzling like wolves on cliff scene. Ta-da will grahaam!!

There’s more but I forgot

if ur mad I linked ur post ill delete it 👍

[sad-wet-cat-hannibal]

Excellent tags by @willgrahamstrout who is insightful and should be blessed with happy visits from small woodland animals of their choosing instead of pain

[bluemoonscape]

Hunger is obviously a major theme in Hannibal—it’s literally the cannibal show—but the difference in how that’s portrayed with Hannigram is intriguing.

Hannibal was starving for connection before he had Will, and then everything changed for him. As Bedelia tells Will, “Did he daily feel a stab of hunger, and find nourishment at the very sight of you? Yes.” Hannibal’s hunger is sated by so much as the sight of Will. A mere look at him is enough to satisfy him.

But Will is different. Rather than being sated by his connection with Hannibal, it is the very thing that makes him hungry. There’s a frame in the Italy chapter that makes it look like he’s trapped in a starvation cage. In the script for his sailing scene, he’s literally described to look hungry:

Both Hannibal and Will have a possessive, obsessive, all-consuming love for one another, but it affects them quite differently. Hannibal is nourished by the very sight of Will, but for Will, no amount of the profound attention he experiences from Hannibal can fully sate his hunger—it’s a high he can’t help but chase. It fuels his pathological need to return to Hannibal again and again, no matter how self-destructive it is. I think this is why Will is more outwardly possessive of Hannibal than Hannibal is of Will. Hannibal wants Will to be his; Will wants Hannibal to be no one else’s. Both forms of possession, but Will’s is more jealous because of the way he experiences Hannibal’s attention. It’s a high, it’s a hunger—it’s a need, not a want.

[patchouii]

Sometimes I watch the show and try to think of Hannibal’s perspective and it’s a total trip. Like. Imagine you’ve been able to control and pick and choose your emotions and reactions your whole life, due to being somehow psychopath-adjacent. And the only time you couldn’t was when you were little with your baby sister, and it’s probable that as your brain matured, the possibility of feeling and forming connections like that dried up entirely. You read the psychiatric journals, and occasionally there’s something about a man who can connect with others so deeply he can become an echo of them. And then you meet this man, and he mocks your comment about eye contact while holding yours.

An understanding passes between both of you that you have hidden depths. Instead of killing him, you bring him breakfast, and make him dinner, and serve him drinks. Instead of being able to toy with his mind without a care, you think of him and your chest clenches, and your gut swoops, and his face and voice and his rude little barbs invade your mind like glittering parasites that you can’t remove. These feelings are alien, and they’re also yours. You know, deep down, why you’re letting him live, why you stare after him, why you toe the line of risking it all for him. But you don’t want to face it. It’s terrifying, this horizon of who you are and can be that looms before you with no choice of your own.

Framing him presents a convenient opportunity for ridding yourself of this thing he brings on in you, this total lack of control, this fever-dream surrender that breaches the walls of your mind and the tics and tells of your body so effortlessly— but you miss him. You don’t miss anyone, and the one person you do is more of an imago that never was able to grow into her own real person. But the you you’ve helplessly become certainly does. You’ve become an addict. You cannot let him rot when his presence gave your monochrome world color, you can’t quit the drug you’ve always shunned. This is all a devil’s bargain, certainly, but you’ve already damned yourself, and all that’s left to do is plunge further. Oh and by the way. The infuriating man in question looks like this:

Like okay then, good luck not having the crashout of the century 😭

[scarletdreamers]

Can we, for a second, think about the fact that Hannibal dressed Will before he carried him home through the snow?

Will is naked when he's about to get the face surgery from Cordell. We see a scene of him in the operation chair where he's shirtless, lower body covered by a hospital blanket. Hannibal, who cut himself free from the ropes that were holding him captive on Muskrat farm, who then killed a large sum of Mason's staff including trained security and surgeons, saves him before Will's face gets removed. This all happens off-screen. The next scene is Hannibal carrying Will (bridal style) through the snow. In this scene Will is dressed, including a jacket for the cold and all that. Imagine Hannibal, the violent beast we saw when he killed Mason's men, blood probably still on his hands, finding Will there. Unconscious, and then dressing him. Dressing someone is a very intimate thing, especially someone unconscious. It requires care and gentleness. That, and knowing how to handle a body and loving someone enough to dress them while they don't need to be. He buttoned his buttons for him, tied his shoes, put him in a jacket to make sure he wouldn't get cold - I mean, Hannibal himself doesn't even wear a jacket in that scene. There's blood and wounds all over Hannibal's face, he's exhausted and probably the one in the most physical danger, yet he takes care of Will before he takes care of himself.

This hits even harder if you think about why they ended up in Muskrat farm in the first place. In Florence, Hannibal tried to 'eat' Will. He tried to split his head open with a bone saw. That intense violence, the grotesque and desperate nature of those actions makes a perfect and sharp contrast to him saving Will after outside forces try to take their lives, which is a heroically gentle and intimate action. He didn't have to dress him up like that, he didn't have to carry him that way, but he did. Hannibal fails to kill Will in Florence, and with that he fails his last attempt to get rid of his feelings for Will. Or at least, to make his feelings bearable. He thinks that he can control himself better when Will is dead, so he tries to kill him but he fails. Not because he's stopped, but simply because he can't do it. If Hannibal wanted him dead, Will would have been dead. Mason's men only interrupted his theatrics. They gave him a reason to put away the saw and act like it was purely their fault, but then Will is in danger at the farm and Hannibal does everything in his power to save him and get him home safe and well. At home he takes off his jacket, literally lays him in bed and tucks him in. He covers Will with a blanket, he tries to write mathematical formulas to reverse time and cleans his wounds. That's why Will's rejection when he wakes up is so tragic and hard to watch. It breaks Hannibal, unbreakable and inhuman Hannibal Lecter. It simply hurts him enough to break his heart. It breaks him enough to give up everything he ever lived for and surrender to the FBI, which he spent a lifetime running from. He does this because when he decided to save Will, he realised he would never get over the things he felt for him. In Hannibal's mind, the worst thing that can happen is never seeing Will again. He finally realised that, after everything, and that's why he surrenders to the FBI.

Hannibal honey, you don't want to eat his brain. You just wanted him to love you.

It's subtle details like this that always stick to me afterwards. It's just another thought I had and I felt like sharing.

[pesky--dust]

Guys, I just realized something.

We know that many small details matter in Hannibal. Traditionally, seating positions at the table are important: they indicate the degree of closeness between the host and the guest.

Hannibal usually sits at the head of the table as the host. This isn't new knowledge in this fandom, but... have you ever thought about table seating positions in Naka Choko, Ko no mono and Mizumono?

In both Naka ​​choko and Ko no mono, after Hannibal believes that Will has killed both Randall Tier (true) and Freddie Lounds (not true), he is sitting across from Will - as if they are equals.

Screenshots from Naka Choko

Screenshot from Ko no Mono

However, do you remember how Will and Hannibal are sitting in Mizumono, during the last supper, when Hannibal already knows that Will is lying to him, that he didn't kill Freddie Lounds, that they didn't eat her meat?

Screenshot from Mizumono

Hannibal is sitting at the head of the table, alone. Will is sitting to his right - he is important, but he is not an equal.

Furthermore, the lamb served by Hannibal in the script is described in such a way that its ribs resemble hands folded in prayer, as if Hannibal was praying not only for Will to choose him, but also for Will to truly choose to be his equal.

This freakin' show, I swear...

[osbcrne]

nobody touch me

[grahamcr4ck3r]

When Will and Hannibal next have a scene together, Will is so much more comfortable with Hannibal than any other person. He is able to tell Hannibal about the dark thoughts and desires that plague his mind without feeling judged. because hes not judged. Hannibal would never judge him, he finds Will to.. perfect. He admires him so extremely and intensely. Will also laughs, yet again, in this session. Hannibal is still the only person that has made will smile and laugh. Will is free around him, he acts like himself. He’s never been able to unmask like this, and be truly himself around anyone, until Hannibal.

[pendragonsclotpole]

say what you will about will and his freakiness, but the fact that he could get a dog he randomly picked up from the street to stay calm during bath time is the biggest green flag i’ve ever seen.

you know what my dog does when we try to bathe him? fight me with his boxer paws or use his mouth to grab my arm. we have to leave his leash on in case he tries to make a run for it, and even with that stopping him from running off, it takes at least 30 minutes to get him to calm down!

after that i just feel bad because he hangs his head all pathetically and acts like he’s in prison while we scrub him down. then out of revenge, he waits until he’s inside to do a good shake EVEN AFTER TOWELING HIM DRY OUTSIDE AND LEAVING HIM ON THE PORCH FOR A FEW MINUTES TO AIR DRY. we don’t use the blow dryer. he tried to eat it the one time we did. it wasn’t worth him putting up his paws.

although one time, we just wanted to help him release some of his shedding fur during his annual great spring shed and we just let him run around the backyard while we aimed the hose at him.

hannibal could never.

Some more xP

[tayasui-mono]

Ok but Will doesn't even wear plaid that often. He wears a lot of Chambray-ish shirts, henleys, sleeveless vests, blazers, pullover sweaters, and a variety of jackets. He wears a lot solids and mix & matches his wardrobe constantly. What REALLY stands out is that everything he wears aside from his button ups and sweaters are stained. Fresh stains as well as permanent stains that can't be washed away, which makes me deduce (twisting my fake moustache here) that he classifies his clothes into 3 categories;

1. Professional clothes (plaid & solid shirts, ties, blazers -- unstained)

2. Bedtime clothes (old, too-worn, holey t-shirts and boxers)

3. Hobby attire / Casual clothing (literally everything else in his wardrobe that he doesn't go to work in -- henleys, vests, fisherman tops -- all stained with grease or something else. ++ Lots of sweaters/fuzzy tops which are kept with relative care)

And!! He visits Hannibal a couple times in his hobby clothes outside of work. Which makes me think this is his favoured state of dress.

In fact!! He vamps up his wardrobe in s2 to hide away his personality, offering Hannibal a battle-ready armour instead. He has stored away all vulnerabilities that Hannibal can take advantage of.

[trashwithvariety]

another totally unhinged hannibal post coming at ya but lemme just sit on hanni's side of the table for a sec and just, like, gush for him

this man has been looking at will like this

both where he's bloodied and bruised and just like so happy will didn't die in the first one and then season three when will bites dude's cheek off and spits it onto a plate??? Hanni could not be more proud of what will has become are you kidding???? I'm being a teenage girl for him right now because how could you not be happy that the person you're in love with is as unhinged and feral as you are??? (feral is not a word I would use to describe hannibal but will definitely is)

and then, to put it in perspective, from hannibal's pov, working his ass off for years to get will to understand him, to see him for what he was and to accept him and even love him. he loves will. that was almost blatantly stated in the show.

but in wrath of the lamb, will finally reaches for hannibal instead of the other way around

will reached out so hannibal could help him up but there is no heterosexual explanation for what happens after that. will's grip on his shoulder? strong. will resting his head on his shoulder? g a y.

and hannibal looks so relieved. he looks so relaxed. because we finally got here. that light tug on his shirt? we got here and it's almost everything he's ever wanted and then will lays his head on his shoulder and it's almost too good to be true.

it's beautiful, he says

and hannibal closes his eyes and puts this moment in his memory palace, because yes, it is

all gifs by @bloodydancy

[share-somelove]

I think it’s interesting how nbc Hannibal gives the viewers no context for most of the characters before the start of the series. Like even though Hannibal Lecter is a well known character from the books and other movies, it doesn’t give you much to go on for what’s going on with the characters before the first episode starts. We don’t meet a Will Graham or a Hannibal Lecter that don’t exist in the context of each other. And even when we get backstory, it’s vague or it’s a small part of their entire history. You don’t know what these characters were like before we meet them in the first episode. We only learn about Hannibal and Will as they exist with one another. And as for Will, we don’t really get to see him when he’s clear headed and fully himself. He has encephalitis, and then he has Hannibal in his head. Even in Dolce Will says his life is separated into before Hannibal and after Hannibal. The show doesn’t give us the before because it just doesn’t matter anymore.