#Like does hannibal want will to murder with him absolutely

[backpackingspace]

thinking about that post that was "all hannibal thought (on the way down from the cliff) was that he was holding the man he loved. With that in mind:

Hannibal would give up anything if will start holding his hand

[cedarxwing]

Absolutely FERAL over the hannigram privacy room scene...

Will is SO disgusted with Hannibal. From his perspective, either:

a) Hannibal thinks Will and everyone else is stupid enough to believe the copycat killer murdered the bailiff.

b) Hannibal is playing dumb to screw Will over in his trial, ensuring he'll get the death penalty.

c) Hannibal killed the bailiff but didn't do it properly on purpose to sadistically dangle Will's freedom in front of him before snatching it away.

Meanwhile, Hannibal looks sooo pathetic. Sad wet cat can't fool Will the way he could in S1 anymore. Ugh, step on him, Will. Squash him like a bug.

Hannibal's doublespeak here is insane.

"I wanted to dispel your doubts once and for all." <- Obviously, Will's first thought is that Hannibal means, "I want you to believe I'm not the copycat killer." That's the biggest "doubt" Will has about him, after all. But that makes absolutely no sense in this context, because how does a copycat murder happening while Will is in prison help prove Hannibal's innocence? It's doesn't! The opposite, in fact!

So we get a beautiful "what the fuck" moment from Will as he tries to figure out what Hannibal could possibly mean. Is Hannibal admitting that he did kill the bailiff on Will's behalf? Or does he only mean that he wished the secret admirer could be mistaken for the copycat, so that Will won't doubt that Hannibal is trying to get him out of prison?

"I want you to believe in the best of me, Will. Just as I believe in the best of you." <- Line that makes me want to throw Hannibal in a washing machine on a high spin cycle, because how does he always string words together into perfect optical illusions? He sounds like he's still trying to convince Will that he's innocent, but he really means, "I want you to believe that I have the best intentions for you." And to a normal person, "believing in the best of Will" would mean believing in his innocence, but of course Hannibal means that he believes Will is really a killer deep down inside. UGH.

But this is the moment that really does it for me. When Will won't play along with the bailiff lie, Hannibal throws a TANTRUM. Looking away, fidgeting, complaining that Will's locked away in prison like he's a toy his parents put on a shelf too high for him to reach. This line omits some sentences from the script, boiling them down to this momentary emotional outburst:

He's goading Will, trying to get him to participate in the "alchemy of lies and truths." Whispering, "Jack and Alana are no better than Kade Prurnell, lying about your sanity because they think you did it. They don't want you to walk free like I do. I'm willing to say whatever (or kill whoever) it takes to get you out of here."

And it works. Will ends up dropping his insanity defense. Is he so sick of prison life that he's willing to risk death for a slim chance at freedom? Or does he trust that Hannibal will do anything keep him out of the electric chair? The night after his plea of not guilty is ruled invalid, alone in his cell, is Will anticipating his own execution or the judge's?

Bonus points for Hannibal's pretty pink paisley tie and matching plaid suit. Babygirl dolled himself up before visiting Will. 💕

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 2.5 of the major bracket

Propaganda:

For Eddie Brock and Venom:

I'm pretty sure its Canon in the comics and like, Canon adjacent in the 2nd movie??? Idk I just watched the first one sooo, anyways, this isn't propaganda i just couldn't remember if you said they needed to be Canon so I put what I rembered about that here, idk I'm proboboly just gonna send the propaganda in the ask box at a later date 

They eat people:) venom is an alien symbiote and Eddie is the host and they have melded together into one being. They care for and protect each other and are so intimately intwined they are only ever separated by force. Also they’re both absolute disasters and they periodically bite and eat the heads off their enemies. 

They eat people <3 

For Will and Hannibal:

Ive previously only heard the term "murder husbands" refer to hannigram so it feels flitting. The whole series culminated with a murder they did together bathing in blood. 

The show and ship that coined murder husbands. It’s in the text in s3 from a journalist side character. They do Many murders either together or as a message to each other. Usually this involves turning the dead body into an art piece. The show ends with them killing a guy together in a slo mo scene backed by porno music.

They're both batshit and manipulative.

ALRIGHT so they're not canonically together but it is HEAVILY implied and they have some sort of fucked up psychosexual obsession with each other. in the later parts of the show they start committing murder and cannibalism together and they're soooo unhinged but it's awesome

kill people for each other. maim each other. kill people together. most batshit insane metaphors. send each other to jail. ruin everyone’s lives. someone can probably say this better than me but these gay people are insane

Literally THE murder husbands. They kill for each other. They've tried to kill each other. They're canon in all but name, like the homoeroticism between these two is the driving force of the show.

one time hannibal folded a guy into an origami human heart

They are in love and they kill and eat people. They are called Murder Husbands in canon.

The original murder husbands (literally, that's not just their ship name, they get called that in canon)

The show begins with Will working for the FBI and trying to catch Hannibal, but because Hannibal is so intrigued by the way Will is able to see the world and the motives behind the killings so easily, it becomes a game of Hannibal isolating Will even more from the people around and seducing him to try and kill. By the time Will starts embracing the side of him that Hannibal sees, he starts oulling back and trying to distance himself so that when the time comes for Will to fully embrace himself and Hannibal, no one really suspects what they have planned. 

hannibal literally does murder as courtship and it works bc will is also a fucked up little guy

I'm actually quite offended they aren't included by default (joke). They are THE murder husbands!!!!!! (mod note: they should have been, but I wanted to see how many submissions they'd get. They got 19, making them a little more than 6% of total submission count).

do i have to say it. they literally get called murder husbands IN THE SHOW

There are 3201 works for Hannibal on ao3 tagged Murder Husbands. They are the ogs, they are the pioneers we owe it all to them.

THEE murder couple. You know it. I know it. They commit crimes at each other as courting and then commit crimes together and then fall off a cliff to wash up somewhere and live on to serve cunt. Get referred to as 'murder husbands' in canon. What more do you need

Hannigram were literally called Murder Husbands in canon, they are the og, they are THE blueprint. They were gay as hell and comitted so much murder so many crimes. THEY RAN OFF TO EUROPE TOGETHER.

[theoraclephobetor]

Will Graham's whole thing with Alana is so fucking autistic at every turn. She has to lay out exactly what's going on for him because he can't not know, but he also just can't tell (which like... fair! She's being really confusing! Even she doesn't know what she wants!)

Of course he's going to feel more at ease with Hannibal - the man is so fucking consistent because he's trained himself to be placid.

Then there's also this autistic slant to Hannibal, because he's made his set of rules and he fucking sticks to it (and plainly insists that others stick to it as well, or else). He's great at social situations, but mainly those in highly structured settings like concerts or therapy sessions. He rarely shows facial emotions unless he's actively projecting something, and you can't tell me that the food thing isn't some kind of sensation seeking. Killing people is basically just a special interest. He dresses the same no matter the situation. He's got a vinyl murder onesie to keep himself clean.

Does Hannibal meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD? Absolutely not. But have you ever seen two autistic people who've known each other for long enough that all of their conversations are unintelligible to outsiders? That talk in collaborative run-on sentences and beat metaphors to death? Yeah, Will and Hannibal are sure as shit autistic with each other, even if Hannibal doesn't meet the criteria alone.

And like, we can all agree that they're both masking, yes? Will in the standard autistic way, and Hannibal in the person-suit way, but both definitely constructing their person-ness based on what they see as normal-enough-to-get-away-with. They use the people around them as their reference points for how to react to things. So shove Will and Hannibal in a room together and wait a week, and they'll both come out with the same mask. That's just season 2, honestly. Let these two get under each others' skin and they'll try to wear it. It's like flirting to them.

[k-s-morgan]

hi katrin i am such a huge fan of your meta analyses on hannibal. i was wondering if you ever had any thoughts of what would happen during s4 and if you ever had plans of writing your own post-fall story. i feel like you would absolutely crush it!!

Hi! Thank you, I'm so glad you found my metas useful!

I'm so satisfied with S3 ending and with the stories of other writers that I never felt an itch to write my own version of S4. Largely because I genuinely think Hannibal and Will have overcome the worst of their obstacles in the show, and now they only have a way up. In my fics, I prefer to tackle the biggest conflicts and drama myself, so I don't have a story interesting enough to tell.

I have a list with the post-canon recs here if you're interested, though they are pretty old at this point.

As for my thoughts on S4, I have two versions, one that I think is logical and one that Bryan might have created.

For the former, I imagine Will and Hannibal learning how to live together, and Will slowly figuring out the extent and specifics of his darkness.

Will consists of unpredictability, and Hannibal is fascinated by it. I think Will is going to kill when an impulse strikes. For example, he might go shopping, without having any dark plans, and end up murdering someone because the circumstances pushed some unfortunate soul onto his path. Will might or might not display the body depending on his mood. Today he can be in an artistic mood, but tomorrow he’ll be in a violent and impatient one, wanting to destroy the body entirely and leaving a total mess behind.

Will might prefer to kill “bad people” in the first two seasons, but it’s the process of murder that excites him. So I see his righteous choices as a preference that helps him justify his dark nature partly, not the core reason for his violence. Hannibal seems to be moved by his interest in human nature and his hunter instinct, but Will, I think, is a truer killer because he actually feels drunk on murder. Unlike Hannibal, he looks downright euphoric when/after he kills Randall and Francis. In TWOTL, Hannibal is more focused on the fact that his dream came true and he and Will killed someone together, but Will seems primarily caught up in the murder after-shocks themselves. Hannibal thinks about Will, Will thinks about how beautiful blood looks under the moonlight.

So, I believe that at first, Will will stick to killing bad people like murderers, but once some times passes, his need for justifications will fade. He’ll move on to rude people, only his rude will differ from Hannibal’s. Hannibal doesn’t differentiate between genders and ages, but I think Will will. He’s interested in a feeling of power, like he himself says, in a sense of dominance, so he’ll look forward to a fight. He won’t be interested in attacking a teenager like Cassie, for instance, because the power imbalance is too prominent. But as soon as someone more equal does something Will heavily dislikes, something that wakes his bloodlust (a personal insult, physical or verbal abuse toward other people/animals, etc.), he’ll attack. He’ll be careful - he knows how to avoid being caught, but it will still be unpredictable and passionate. Will is a storm to Hannibal’s calm.

As for Bryan's version, he said a great variety of things about what S4 could be about over the years, to the point where it's nearly impossible to form one coherent picture. Here is my attempt on it.

Will is going to feel drunk on his newfound darkness and freedom. He was repressed for so long that now that he Became, he’ll be losing his focus and drowning in his own preferences, forgetting what they were and turning into a much more vicious monster any of us expected. He’ll be chasing the high he felt from killing Francis and failing to find it. He’ll be surrounded by blood, his past victims (hence the return of everyone dead, like Bryan mentioned), and more madness. A part of him will want to impress Hannibal, to prove that he’s a worthy partner (which is supported by Will seeking Hannibal’s approval throughout the show - the way he glances at him after biting Cordell is a good example; the way he has low self-esteem and knows Bedelia failed Hannibal’s expectations). So he’ll be acting more and more violently.

Hannibal will see that Will is losing himself in a new way. He won’t want to start a physical relationship with him (which Bryan mentioned) because he’ll be afraid that it isn't for the right reasons, that Will is too far gone to made decisions. So, he’ll feel like the best therapy would be to push Will even more and make him realize that he’s approaching their new life from the wrong angle, to make him figure out that this isn't the kind of killer he wants to be. To do this, Hannibal’s manipulation will entail them going after Alana and Margot.

Will won’t be fond of the idea but Hannibal will manipulate him into accepting it, intending it as a test that will finally make Will snap out of his state. So Will will initially help hunt them down but then he’ll realize this isn’t what he wants to do. Hence finally getting his mind back and being happy in S5.

[avocado1under1murder]

Allright we all know how great the Lecter's love for cooking is. But have you noticed how Hannibal and Will's relationship is displayed in the scenes where they are sitting at the table?

For example, in the first such situation in the first episode: Hannibal is pre-interested in Will's empathy and thinking. Hannibal does not think about the future for a long period, but thinks about the possibilities and consequences (otherwise he would have been caught much earlier), and therefore he does not want to underestimate such a person. He doesn't know anything about him, but he already knows that he stands above ordinary pigs. That's why they're sitting opposite each other. They are equal. After all, Hugh once said that Will also realized from the first meeting that Hannibal was someone else, someone who knew the rules of the game of chess as well as himself.

They don't sit like that anymore in the first season, because Hannibal realized that Will is not a butterfly yet, not even a pupa yet. He is not ready to see him, to understand him. But deep down, he still wants it throughout the season, and therefore invites him to join the dinner party after the episode with the dude who stole organs.

After Will's release from the asylum, Jack Hannibal and Will have dinner. Hannibal in the center, Jack on the right, Will on the left. We could have expected that Will should have been seated on the right (the spouse of the owner of the house should sit on the right), but no. Although everything is forgiven, Hannibal still remembers Will's lies and the attempt to kill him. But more importantly, he wants to show Jack that he trusts and puts him above Will, to divert his suspicions away, because the ripper is gone. Sort of.

He does the same thing next, but with Will and Alana. Think for yourself why))

The most interesting thing. After the fake murder of Freddie, Hannibal immediately sits Will down in front of him. I think there's nothing to talk about. Lecter is now absolutely sure that Will has become a butterfly, his imago, his equal.

But after he sniffs out the truth, and therefore Will's lies lower him down the social ladder of Hannibal's approval and he again finds himself on only the right side

In season 3, they sit down at the table after completely smashing each other. Both desire liberation from the other. So much has happened between them, they have caused each other so much pain, and therefore they definitely cannot be on equal terms.

There's also a scene where Will imagines the best of his worlds. Where he and Hannibal sit across from each other and then kill Jack together. We finally understand that he also wanted and still wants this - to be with Hannibal - despite everything that Hannibal did to him.

This thought has been with me since 2019.

[asterdisaster06]

Strawberry Pie

Simon "Ghost" Riley x gn!reader

summary > The four times Simon helped you, and the one time you helped him.

word count > 2.5k

cw > Serial killer AU. Inaccurate police information + procedures for plot reasons. Allusion to murder + getting away with crimes, yeah, that’s the kind of help (:<

a/n >  inspired by hannibal + “strawberry” by andrew montana

ao3

“How does it look?” A simple twirl following the words accompanying the small smile. Lips painted blood red with a new lipstick. 

“Beautiful love, absolutely stunning,” Simon says with a slow blink, a cat-like behaviour to express his adoration for you.

“I found this sundress while out shopping. And I got my nails done while I was at it! I followed your recommendation,” You answer with a smile as soft as the blanket beneath your rosy fingertips. 

“And the lipstick?” Simon asks, tilting his head. 

“Something I found in college. It’s served me well all these years,” You send a grin filled with sharp teeth towards Simon. His sweet little vixen. 

“Others would call you crazy,” Simon mentions, the teasing tone trailing off as he stares at you intently.

“But?”

“But, I admire your gumption, sweetheart,” Simon says, cupping your face gently in his hands; laying a tender kiss on the tip of your nose.

“You missed,” You remark with a twinkle in your eye.

“Oh did I now?” His voice softened from its usual gruff timbre. 

Simon RIley leans in to kiss your forehead, and then one corner of your mouth to the other, and then finally landed home onto your lips. He didn’t seem to mind the transfer of dye nor the chastising you did because of it. It was messy, it was sweet, it was entirely and so wholefully the two of you with the only disturbance being the gentle breeze shifting the pastel curtains. The ones that Simon insisted on keeping open to let the precious sunlight in - he claims that the way it brushes against your skin is a look into heaven itself. 

“Okay, okay, I really have to go this time. You’ve kept me trapped here like your little Rapunzel for far too long, Simon,” You urgently get out between fits of laughter and giggles alike. 

“So satanic, the way you plan to simply leave the love of your life here to die alone,” Your boyfriend sighs, sagging back into the comfort of the mattress you both were now laying on. Of course, he was being dramatic. As per usual. It would be endearing if it wasn’t so humorous to see the giant of a man turn into a feeble ghost of the soldier he usually is. Price would be proud to see that his subordinate does in fact have some humanity left within himself. 

“Don’t panic. You’ll live, I’m sure of it,” You reply, giving him a sympathetic kiss on the cheek, before getting up.

“Hey love?”

“Yes, Simon?”

“You missed,” Was all he could get out before you rolled your eyes and gave him exactly what he wanted - despite the fact that it made you a minute late. 

. . .

“Welcome to our humble abode,” You smile, giving a sweet little twirl and a flourish of your arms. The team had to admit that it was a cosy little thing out in the sticks. The interior design was no doubt your doing, a cottagecore vibe, considering the fact that Simon was limited to plain walls being his entire experience. Plants here and there, sunlight streaming through the glass paned windows, and pots and pans hanging with their herb friends. 

“Thank you for having us,” Price responds.

“What he said,” Came from the other two. 

“Where’s your lover?” Soap asks teasingly.

“Oh, he’s out in the garden gathering a few last minute spices,” You say, a gentle expression taking over your features at the thought of your love doing so much for you. You see the group share a knowing look and a few chuckles were heard from behind you. A soft reminder is all they need to stop with their shenanigans while you’re cooking. Of course, Gaz offers a helping hand with chopping up various vegetables for the stew and Price had called dibs on doing the dishes. He claims it was the least he could do for the host. Soap on the other hand insists on being the taste tester. A gentle ring of a bell alerts you to Simon coming in from the outside, completely drenched. 

“What happened to you? You look like a stray dog,” You laugh, leaning against the counter. 

“In my defence, it started as a drop before it ended up pouring a minute later,” Simon grumbled, 

“We’ve needed a good shower, wouldn’t you say? Good for the fertiliser,” You say, sending your lover a wink as you scoot over to allow him access to the sink.

A playful eye roll is what you earn in response as he says, “This is what I get for agreeing to hide out in the country.”

“Bite your tongue if you know what’s good for you,” You nudge him good-naturedly. 

“You know I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, love,” He says, facial expression softening into pure adoration. He sends you this look even as he’s scrubbing his hands of the dirt and blood from the garden. The scent of decay quickly running down the drain, tainting the water black. 

“I know. My saviour day in and day out, wouldn’t you say?”

Before Simon got the chance to answer, the timer - the one in the shape of a chicken because Simon just couldn’t say no when you held it up to him with those puppy dog eyes - went off. 

“Your world famous strawberry pie? Again?” You click your tongue and shake your head with a sly smile.

“It’s world famous for a reason, love. And, we have guests that have yet to taste my creation,” Simon grins back at you. 

“Whatever you say, Simon,” You huff out with a laugh. 

Laughter filled the air as the dinner party continued later into the night before it all quieted down with the departure of the boys. A simple contentment washes over the two of you left on the couch, a fleece blanket encasing your figures. Something about it warmed your beating heart as you listened to the rhythm of Simon’s long after you drifted off into unconsciousness. 

. . .

“Simon, you wouldn’t happen to be busy right now, would you?”

“Of course not, love. What do you need?” Simon answers over the phone.

“There was a roadkill accident, and my car isn’t in tip top shape anymore. Do you think you could come pick me up? I’m about two klicks down the road from our house,” You say, your phone tucked in between your ear and shoulder as you slide latex gloves over your hands. 

“As you wish,” Simon’s voice rumbles in your ear, sending shivers down your spine. 

You drag the corpse into the bushes and thank whoever was listening that the only evidence left was the blood pool. It would be quite a shame if any innocent had to feast their eyes on the remains of the carrion. Vultures would have to find another meal elsewhere - this one was yours. Right on time, Simon’s car reverberated down the gravel lane. 

“I didn’t think you would become so reckless, angel,” Simon chuckles, hopping out of his truck to help you lift the body into the back of his car. 

“I like the word hasty more. It sounds better, don’t you think?”

“Whatever you call it, just remember I’m always here to help clean up your messes.”

“And I you, darling,” You nudge Simon as he opens the car door for you. 

“I should’ve seen it in your eyes when we first started seeing each other. You were trying to warn me,” Simon chuckles, humour lacing his words. 

“I always wanted to be able to see you in the morning, Simon,” You begin solemnly. ���I don’t wanna be alone, it’s quite boring, isn’t it?” You shrug. 

“Oh, baby, let me finish. I’m keeping you, you menace. Until the day one of us kills the other,” Simon smiles, giving your hand a tight squeeze. 

“That would be how it ends, wouldn’t it?”

“Of course, there’s no other way,” Simon says, a simple grin on his lips. A rare sight, but a common one with you. And just like the rain, it was washed away just as quickly.

. . .

“Shit, love, did you go after a military man?” SImon asks as he gently wipes away dirt and grime from your face. Your clothes were receiving the same treatment in the washer after you took a shower.

“I somehow doubt her boyfriend got into the military with that weak of a punch. He just got the jump on me. . . and had a pocket knife,” You explain, wincing when Simon brushed over your wounds. 

“That would explain all these lacerations, now wouldn’t it?”

“Actually those were from the girl clawing me half to death. The guy did jack all if I’m being honest. Tried to run like a pussy too,” You laugh, your ribs protesting at the act. 

“Sounds like you did her a favour, showing her the real colours of her boyfriend. A shame she isn’t alive to make a change,” He hums, confidently bandaging your arms and face like he had done a million times before. And like he would continue to do a thousand times over. As he does that you down a cheap whiskey from the bottle to ease the pain. 

“Quite a shame. Almost as much as the fact that I have some cleaning up to do later. They were surprisingly bloody for how little it took to bring them down,” You sigh, raking your hands through your hair before realising your hands were still stained metallic red.

“You just take a shower and leave the rest to me,” Simon says with a quirk at the edge of his lips. 

“What would I do without you?”

“Probably end up in jail.”

“That’s both true and insulting.”

“Whatever you say, love.”

. . .

“Simon? I think it’s time for a change.”

“What colour?”

“You know me so well. I was thinking something colourful this time around, really make the sight a seemly one before they meet their end,” You say, looking in the mirror and preemptively mourning for the identity that would be no longer. 

Not if Simon had any say in it. He had a surprising knack for disguise; although, you suspect that a few missions would require a little bit of magic to make it work. Odd, though, considering it’s doubtful that anyone would be left to tell the tale of the infamous Simon “Ghost” Riley. 

“You just get into the bathroom, I’ll be there soon with the dye,” Simon calls out from across the house. 

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Not today,” Simon answers.

“Well, I love you very much for all that you do for me,” You say, expressing your thanks.

“I love you too, sweetheart,” Simon chuckles, entering the bathroom with all that you could ever need for an identity change. “Although, have you ever considered wearing a mask? Speaking from personal experience, it does make a wonderful impression alongside shielding you from the public eye.”

You hum thoughtfully before responding with, “I have, although I’ve discovered the personal touch makes it all the more better. That, and, I think between the two of us, you pull it off way better than I ever could.”

“If you insist, love,” Simon laughs, the sound reverberating throughout you. 

“It’s the truth, now which colour would suit me better?” You ask, alternating two dyes in your hand and in your favour. 

“Tough question. I fear we might need a second opinion,” He teases. 

“You know me too well, get the team on the phone,” You grin, practically bubbling over with excitement. Some may say you were too enthusiastic given the circumstances, but not Simon. He always supported you in your little hobby and dinner parties - much to your surprise. He was everything that you could’ve ever asked for, and more.

. . .

“Hey, love, are you busy right now?” Simon asks over the phone - a surprising event considering that he was never one for calls. They irked him, verbatim words that make you giggle at the absurdity of all.

“No, of course not, Simon. What do you need?” You ask, slightly busy with cooking dinner but Simon always came first. You did put him on speaker though to make it a little easier. 

“Could you come down to the station? Some stories need to be set straight, if you know what I mean,” Simon almost growls out.

“I’ll be there in five,” You reply, dropping the pleasantries as a dark look overtakes you. 

. . .

“What seems to be the problem, Officer?” You ask, acting the part of an innocent victim.

“Can I get you some water?” Fake pleasantries. Nothing upset you more.

“No thank you. I’d prefer to get this cleared up as soon as possible, sir,” You spit out, decisive and curt with your words. 

“Of course. There appears to be significant evidence that forty-eight hours ago your significant other was put at the scene of a crime near the Lincoln bar. Likely as a perpetrator,” Is what the officer tells you, much to your chagrin. Despite the calm facade that you were putting forth, you were fighting the urge to roll your eyes. You know exactly what happened, exactly who was killed, and the reason behind it was all because of a jealous spat between Simon and a man who had the misfortune of hitting on you in front of the infamous Ghost. He just couldn’t control himself when it came to you.

“I find that highly unlikely,” You say brusquely.

“And why is that?”

“He was at the Lincoln bar, but both myself and three other people were with him the entire night. Here, I’ll write their numbers down,” You say, quickly uncapping the pen on the table. 

“We’ve already checked the surveillance, but thank you for these witnesses. There is a gap of time between 9:31 PM and 9:39 PM that we are awfully curious about.”

“From what I remember, he went to the bathroom,” You answer genuinely.

They continued their line of questioning, asking if you had any connection to the victim, if you had seen anyone suspicious, along with other interrogations that all ended with the classic ‘if you think of anything else, notify us.’ You had high hopes that Simon would be released almost immediately and you were proven right when he walked right out of the building over to where you were on the curb. 

“There’s my saviour,” Simon says, embracing you tightly.

“You haven’t forgotten our promise, right?” You ask with a smile.

“Of course not, love. I simply wanted to show my appreciation, as per usual,” Simon chuckles lightly.

“Be your alibi, and never ask why,” You say, interlocking your pinky with Simons.

“Never ask why,” Simon whispers back, promising it like a vow. 

“The boys invited us out to dinner at Price’s, angel. You feeling up to it?” You ask.

“Always if it involves you,” Simon flirts.

You roll your eyes, replying with, “You menace.”

“You know you love me,” Simon laughs. And you did. So, very, much. 

[slibbyjibby7000]

The hate for Jack Crawford is insane, or at least how he's depicted in most AO3 writing that I've read. I know the man is a very righteous, justice-driven, man-- a man indisputably changed by Hannibal since he is more than willing to cross ethics and morality (an example being how he continued to eat Hannibal's food while suspecting Hannibal to be a cannibal and serving human to his guests) in order to stop someone who he deems as criminal or deserving of justice, especially their own method of how justice is granted. Like Hannibal had said, Jack and Will do have that in common! And I continue to believe that they do share a lot more than that in common! Despite Graham willingly placing himself in the role of a martyr and Crawford taking advantage of that, I think Jack did have concern over Will more than what Will could provide for the FBI. Yes, he took advantage of Will's empathy and disregarded his mental health and dwindling sanity, but he wasn't a heartless monster, he saw a man broken, relating to that since he and Will have both seen more than what a person should see, and he took advantage of what Will could provide before he lost WIll. They were friends only because they wanted to put the same people away and because Will understood Jack so I think he really couldn't hate Jack for that, even if he tried (empathy and all that). Naturally, Will could blame Jack for many things; I'm not justifying the pressure of what he's put on Will and how he stood back and watched the brain of his bloodhound begin to burn for the sake of solving a few cases or showing up years later to pressure Will into leaving the life he's built to capture the Dragon, but he is genuinely a determined man with a heart, demanding as he is. For that reason, I feel like a lot of people mischaracterize him as a heartless, self-absorbed man who wants to manipulate Will purely for his own obsession, yelling at him and abusing him, but I truly believe his motivation was saving lives and justice. He's broken and changed but his own real morals, however opaque, is justice. Will and Hannibal have little to no morals, no boundaries. Also, Will is very cruel and an absolute asshole when he wants to be, let's just establish that. As much as I adore that silly goofy man, the show humanizes him because we see what he's going through in his mind but Jack doesn't receive that, and Alana and everyone else don't see that except Hannibal. Jack's hard on him because he sees Will as the grown man that he is, intelligent and more than able to walk away when he wants to, and believes Will can handle it (in professional circumstances I suppose, and emphasizing the people being murdered) and if he couldn't, then Will isn't nearly as useful as he ought to be. Jack's influence on Will is a double-edged sword. While Jack recognizes and appreciates Will's skills, using them only to save lives, he also places considerable pressure on him, often without fully understanding the toll it takes because he doesn't receive another other than capability from Will. Repeatedly, he's concerned in the show and approaches Will on it, fully aware of what looking at this can do to people, but Will snaps back and Jack brushes it off because, again, he sees Will as the grown man he is and doesn't babysit him, Jack only calls Will because Will allows it. And that was for Will to change frfr. Love Will and Jack shouldn't be so villainized to such a drastic, uncharacteristic extent, even if the show does place him in a bad light. (AGAIN, THE SHOW IS MAINLY FROM WILL'S POV) ANyway, rant over, thank you, and goodbye!

[nourrris]

I'm happy there was no season 4.

This could either be a popular, or very unpopular opinion, I'm unsure as frankly I've only began watching two days ago, and finished the show already, (god it was beautiful).

Anyways, I very firmly believe anything after a season 3 would have likely ruined the storyline, it ended on such a beautiful note, something that's so perfectly them. I'm also in a way, happy they never actually did kiss, although realistically I had been rooting for it to happen, the fact it didn't doesn't bother me one bit, it really brings out all the intimacy in their prior actions, and words, I love that their love was batshit insane, that it didn't need a kiss or pda to believe it was reciprocated, frankly surrendering eachothers lives together was more than enough for a confirmation.

But continuing on, I believe a season 4 would have been too messy, they left s3 on a very difficult position to recover off, and a position that didn't need recovering either, it didn't need fixing or changing - not one bit. It was so perfect in my opinion, their last things they did was kill a man together to save one another, then kill themseleves together, literally how much more fitting could it have been for these murder husbands? It just worked so well, that nothing can be more intimate than death for them, in my opinion.

Latching onto the last part of the first section of the post, I really liked how they portrayed the reciprocity of Will's feelings towards Hannibal. When Bedelia ask's Will if he 'aches' for Hannibal too, and it cuts off to another scene, I generally already took that as a yes, as it was a big damn claim, I don't think it's something you easily hesitate on, not when the person in question is a cannibalistic murderer. When he chooses to save Hannibal, and jump off the cliff with him though, that is the real confirmation of course, choosing to leave his wife and son, all friends and absolutely every inch of the life he made - for Hannibal, a man he physically could not get over no matter how hard he tried.

It's perfect, sorry I just finished the show today (like a few hours ago) and I love it so dearly, I've never watched something where the ending felt so genuinely satisfying, even if it seemingly hadn't meant to felt like a finale in that manner, it worked amazingly, I'm very glad it wasn't a s2 situation with such an insane cliff hanger, or else I would have probably just.. never watched the show. Some say it does feel like a cliff hanger, but eventually you can come to terms and realize that their actions, a double suicide in the name of love(?) couldn't possibly surpass anything else they've done at that point, their action's have led them to either horribly idiotic situations, or blissful moments.

Lastly I wanted to mention my original assumption of the ending, I midway through season 2 found out Hannibal was actually a incomplete cancelled show, also prior to that I found through spoilers that will eventually has a wife. Those facts are important because I very weirdly am a person who cannot consume a media without spoilers, (my anxiety is due to that). So I just about know every ending of a show before I'm even halfway into it, although I tend to prefer to wait later, I wondered if finishing the show was worth it so i searched it up, and watched briefly the ending, It was very relieving as if it actually did truly end in a heterosexual way it would have immediately made me quit the show, as yes they are intimite but I still did want any type of closure, without it I would have felt at most pretty indifferent with the ending.

Anyways, the show is beautiful, I love it so so much, even if it's a complete change in genres for me, I love the characters, I love the artistry and creativity in the show, and god do I love the ending.

(edit a day later: guys i totally missed that last scene w bedelia at the end, i still prefer s3's ending but did not know it was implied they were alive!!??!)

[cannibalovers]

since some ppl did say yes, buckle up for a VERY long analysis because this song and "want" + a few others are some of my ultimate hannibal songs.

Hannibal song of the day: song no.1

a bit about the song:

"Missing Piece" (released in 1997) is a song by Recoil, a music project by Alan Wilder (former member of Depeche Mode, a group which I absolutely love and have a lot of their songs in my playlist). The song was written and sang as a duo by Alan Wilder and Siobhan Lynch. It's a moody and dark electronica song with jazzy elements and even a violin solo In short, the song is about self discovery and enlightement that a relationship has brought to the narrator, who has felt alone and misunderstood their whole life until they met the person who was their "missing piece". It explores the complex emotions and realisations that arose from the relationship(whether the relationship ended or not isn't really implied, at least in my eyes, although for my view on the song when it comes to hannibal, i think it might have).

now, i think from that it's already clear enough that I'm thinking about hannigram for this. I mean c'mon, a narrator that felt misunderstood and has been afraid to fully opening up to anybody, because of it's risks, even though they have so much love to give. That's literally Hannibal.

Although I feel like the narrator can also be Will but with how open and desparate the narrator seems, I keep thinking of Hannibal.

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

Verse 1

"I wanna write myself

On the walls of your heart

Because the knot that holds us

Altogether throws us all apart

I'm gonna stop myself

Before I say something true

Because the answers

That roll from my tongue

Are nothing to do with you"

Hannibal loves to impact people (literally manipulates them), even though it doesn't last (usually).

Through the show, we can see just how many people he actually changed, changing their mindsets, convincing them to murder etc. that's more leaving an impact on their brain, but with Will, he's different. He indeed does change his mindset but he also really tries to get a place in Will's heart and get his attention because, as he confessed to Bedelia, Will intrigues him. I think the lyrics of the narrator wanting to write themselves on the walls of somebody's heart and leave an impact on them is just so incredibly hannibal.

But again, those people don't last usually, they usually end up dead, be it as Hannibal's dinner or something else. He knows this danger, and he knows this complicated knot of manipulation and lies he tied himself and Will with will most likely break off at some point, which he slowly comes to realise he doesn't want it to happen. (and then fucking mizumono happens)

In the song, the narrator hides the truth, most likely because of the fear of rejection, fearing the person doesn't feel the same, or because of the fear of losing the person. In season 2, his decision was to continue lying, not confessing the truth of his plan to Will, in my eyes to try and secure him in his hold, get his trust and love, see if Will would truly understand him and accept him for who he is - so, he stops himself from telling Will the truth, pretending his plan, his answers have nothing to do with his love for Will, but instead pretend that his plan is to destroy Will's life, leaving out the part where he's hoping Will would want to try and rebuild his life with Hannibal.

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

Chorus

"(And) I hold a piece up to the light

Hold a piece up to my eye

Found a missing piece from my set

Found a person I'd not met (x2)

Sometimes is a lonely place (x5)"

self explanatory. There's so little to say, because the lyrics describe it so well, yet at the same time there's SO much to say.

The chorus is sung as a duo, both the narrator and the narrator's person. They both feel like they're the same and are each other's missing pieces, harmonising together.

I truly thing the best way to describe hannigram's relationship is by saying that they're each other's missing pieces. Hannibal seems to be a well-organized set of his pieces that make up him as well as a set of other people that he manipulated kind of as a list (maybe some as trophies). He's so composed, he's sure of his values and knows who he is, he's fully in control yet still felt incomplete, so he has spent his whole life finding that last missing piece (perhaps another meaning for missing, maybe he already had one and lost it, the missing piece being his sister........ ouch, although can't give much thought to this cuz haven't seen season 3 yet), a person who will be just like him and will complete him, not judge him, see him, accept him and be with him. That piece is Will.

He holds him up to the light, analyses him, studies him, gets to know him to determine if he is indeed the missing piece (in the show, he does his usual tactic of manipulating with the intention of making him his dinner but the more he got to know him, the more intrigued he got and saw a possibility of Will understanding him), and he indeed is his missing piece.

The fact that the narrator's person only sings during the chorus makes me think of how Hannibal made Will realise that he is Hannibal's missing piece and that although Will didn't really want it to be true, Hannibal helped him realise that Hannibal is Will's missing piece too - That's why I see the narrator as Hannibal and narrator's person as Will. He seems to be the second to realise this and accept this.

"Sometimes is a lonely place" is straightforward, I think. The two literally admit and show that they feel alone without each other, they have never felt so true to themselves as they feel when they're together, a room or a moment in life without one another is empty, a period without each other is a period they feel the most lonely.

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

Verse 2

"So tow me over to the light

The sound, the sound it is in sight

Found my heart was contained within a cell

Found my heart in this tuck-a-way-me world"

ngl, verse 2 and chorus are quite similar in meaning to me. Maybe it's more so Hannibal letting Will study him as well and get to know him, letting Will tow him over to the light (let Will inside his mind). I feel like the lyrics about the narrator's heart being contained in a cell is maybe Hannibal becoming more and more aware of how restrictive he was with his emotions, how his human suit made him lock away his real heart and after many tries of trying to find the right key, Will finally found it and unlocked Hannibal's true self to the world. Overall, I feel like Hannibal feels the world is very restrictive for his type of people but he has found a way to live with it and accept it, although the desire to find a person like him never disappeared

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

Coda

"Sometimes I held the missing piece

I held the missing piece

I held sometimes

I held the missing piece

I held..."

the end seems very lamentful to me. Sorry but it reminds me of mizumono

the end is overall so beautiful, I love how dark, slow yet jazzy and classy the song sounds, the coda just sounds like absolute heaven to me and its instrumental reminds me of the show overall so so much

but anyhow, the lyrics getting repeated, the moody, whiny tone the narrator sings it in combined with the reverb and minor key just immediately makes me think that the narrator lost their missing piece, reminiscing the times they had with them. Because of that, I immediately think of Mizumono and how distraught Hannibal was when he realised that Will betrayed him, letting Will see him just for Will to try and get him killed, even though he had a plan of giving back Will everything that he lost and everything that was precious to him. The whole song sounding quite blurry makes me think of how much emptiness Hannibal probably felt after the events in mizumono, how much of a blur everything was to him.

in conclusion, the song is literally so hannibal lecter coded to me

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

additional notes: i already mentioned this song on my previous blog actually, together with "want" cuz together theyre AMAZING, i see want more from Wills perspective, i'll do that one tmr

could be lacking a little bit cuz i havent seen season 3 yet, maybe after it ill have some more thoughts but wont add them, i leave it at that

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

my playlist

to anybody who read this, thank you and hope you enjoyed my rant<3

[plain-as-pandemonium]

Why, do you think, did Hannibal choose Bedelia as his therapist when he started his career as a psychiatrist? He could easily have chosen someone else, someone who was just as well-respected at her, but much easier for Hannibal to fool.

I absolutely love this question (even though it often takes me a while to answer, soz), please keep them coming!

You make an important observation, which is that by choosing Bedelia as his (consulting) therapist when he embarked on his career in psychiatry, he set the bar for himself sky high. As you say, he could have chosen someone who would have rubber stamped his findings, thoughts, treatment plans; someone who wouldn't dig too deep into his personal psyche. But he didn't. Why?

I think the simplest answer is that Hannibal Lecter never does anything the easy way. He is no basic bitch, right? He won't wear off-the-rack suits; he gets an Italian tailor to hand sew his clothes. He won't drive just any old car; he gets a Bentley. He doesn't just commit serial murders; he makes ART out of corpses for the fun of teasing the FBI.

He's as extra as it gets, because easy isn't fun. Easy is not a challenge.

Bedelia presents a welcome challenge for him: She's wildly intelligent, experienced and capable of keeping him on his toes. She isn't satisfied with ticking boxes; she gets under his skin, shows real interest in him, and she's clearly willing to entertain morally questionable ideas.

But the thing I think Hannibal really likes about her, what initially piqued his interest and what keeps him coming back to her again and again? Her absolute insistence on maintaining appropriate boundaries with him. I mean, sure, she's willing to drink with a patient, indicating that her boundaries are flexible. But considering how successful Hannibal is at completely erasing boundaries between himself and every other character on the show, and considering she's the only person who can consistently tell him, "No", while also, you know, staying alive and well, I would argue that Hannibal considers this ability a feature not a bug.

We all need someone who can tell us directly when we've gone too far, and Hannibal needs that more than most people. With everyone else he can charm them, persuade them, even overwhelm them; even if they put up initial resistance he can bring them round to what he wants. Except with Bedelia. She is stable; she knows who she is. she can be counted on to maintain conscious control of her own actions, and that is precisely what Hannibal needs.

[gaslightgatekeepgirlbosscombat]

Group H, Round 3, Poll 2:

Propaganda under the cut

Medea

Her husband divorced her so to get back at him she burned his new bride alive, murdered her own children and casually escaped justice in a chariot pulled by dragons and *made from the sun.* She is iconic and I love her.

propaganda from @apollosgiftofprophecy

Princess with Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, granddaughter of the Titan of the Sun, Helios, and Priestess of Hecate, the literal Goddess of MagicStarts out a classic fairy tale (with a few murders in the mix for flavor)Jason (the man/husband she sacrificed EVERYTHING for) thought it would be totally alright to cheat on his sorceress wife with some princess and - double whammy - he planned to keep Medea as his mistress after he married this random princess!When she confronts him, he shows his true colors as a world-class bastard and she reminds him that he's only still alive, and only completed his quest for the Golden Fleece, because of her. (WHICH IS TRUE)To get back at him, Medea orchestrates the death of said princess (and indirectly the king's too, whoopsies :) ) by sending a beautiful dress for her that was laced with poison that caused the princess to catch on fire, and also killed whoever touched her (the king)She then murders her and Jason's two kids (after some emotional dilemma because she actually cares about them while Jason Does Not) and exits the kingdom In Style - how? Like this:Rises into the air on a golden chariot pulled by dragons given to her by Helios When Jason says the gods with avenge him, she tells him "lol, good luck with that oathbreaker!" and flies off into the night Like A Bossa little more context here: Jason's godly patron was Hera, the literal goddess of family and marriage. And he was going to abandon his children and break his vows to Medea.Also, she never is punished for any of this stuff, meaning her actions have the (reluctant :) always good to be morally gray) approval of the gods. She's one of the only nuanced female characters in Greek Mythology, and by god is she interestingThis, my friends, is why Medea is the ultimate Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss.

Hannibal Lecter

the og of gaslight gatekeep girlboss! he manipulates will graham and the fbi from the start, leads will to believe he has committed a large amount of gruesome murders by taking advantage of his encephalitis leading to him getting arrested, turning the people he trusts against him. he goes out to crime scenes HE CAUSED with the fbi to profile the killers and always stays one step ahead! absolute king

"Hannibal gaslights Will so hard that the latter thinks he (a) hallucinated a killer that was legitimately in the room and (b) that he blacked out and murdered their surrogate daughter. (Also manipulated at least one of his psychiatric patients into becoming a murderer in a prehistoric furry costume) He gatekeeps the FBI for fucking years, only showing what he wants to. Really messes with their minds by leaving DNA and voice recordings of a supposedly dead girl. (Then gaslights *her* so she believes someone completely different held her captive) Even when he was arrested, it was only because he chose to surrender — only so his One True Murder Husband-to-be would know where he was. Hannibal is also determined to succeed in whatever he does. In fact, failure is not his vocabulary. He confidently commits all his murders, makes puns literally every episode about his cannibalism, and always seems to have control over his situation. Even in prison, he plays and wins all the mental games he chooses to dabble in. Hannibal is a gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss bastard and I love him. Pls vote for him"

literally gaslighted will graham throughout season one. also induced seizures, committed major medical malpractice, allowed brain fever to occur, then promptly framed him for murder and attempted to convince him that he had done it. 10/10 insane gay behaviour. gatekeeps the serial killing community by repeatedly murdering other serial killers (tobias budge, that weird racist eye guy, probably other people). also gatekeeps the dante community, also with murder. girlboss in everything he does. the cannibal puns, shattering the fourth wall by looking at the camera, the camp gayness……… the list goes on.

The entire plot is him gaslighting will and gatekeeping various things from various characters and he girlbosses his way through murder and cannibalism

Please don't make me answer this.

Literally a cannibal who is a psychologist who manipulates will graham a lot

[ghouletteanon]

Hi hello, I may have gotten an idea to call in that favour you offered with that ask for emotional aspect of ghouls inheriting their predecessors' instruments, right, you know what I mean, hahah.

so, yeah, what about just a little tooth rotting fluff drabble with swissdew? giving u a total free hand, maybe something with domestic shit like, idk, cooking for each other? LMAO, idk, just FLUFFFF, do with that what you will

(if you want ofc <3)

So here's 400+ words of murder ghoul Swiss and Dew being all murder husband-y together in the Hannibal way. Swiss making a very special meal for Dew type of way.

In other words, tooth rotting fluff, just for you <3

Rated T for off-screen murder.

Dew is wrapped up in a blanket, keeping himself warm even in the late October night. The only source of light is the dying fire that Swiss is tending to, not that the darkness bothers hellspawn. But it does lend itself to a certain ambience that Dew has come to appreciate.

Swiss’ face is illuminated partially by the red embers, making his white fangs stand out as he bites his tongue in concentration. Dew knows his mate, knows his perfectionist side. It’s better to not break his concentration even if all Dew wants is to reward his efforts with a kiss. And lick the sweat of his brow, but that’s not important.

Instead, Dew has to be patient and just watch. It’s awfully domestic and romantic even. Dew had provided Swiss with the meat, a novice who really should have known better than to cross the line from just watching to touching a ghoul who was clearly spoken for. Now, the novice was much better off as a gift to show Dew’s devotion. And as a way for Swiss to show his devotion to Dew by preparing a lavish feast that took a night and a day to cook.

All the work has paid off when Swiss lifts a bundle out of the fire pit with his bare hands. Dew is not worried, Swiss’ hands have a sheen of purple magick protecting them. It’s one of the things Dew loves the most about Swiss. His innate quintessence magick mixed with his fire powers made him completely immune to when Dew overheats.

Swiss cuts open the bundle of wet paper and chicken wire that has been buried for hours, being slowly cooked as Swiss watched the fire pit. The smells of the aromatics and cooked meat mix in the cold air, making Dew salivate. Dew walks over to where Swiss is kneeling, wrapping his arms around him from behind and watches Swiss cut the roast. He gives Swiss’ long neck a loving nip with his canines.“Smells absolutely sinful.”

Swiss picks up the first cut and offers it to Dew, holding it between his fingers. “Only the best for my mate.”

Dew licks Swiss’ fingers, making sure he does not miss a drop of the juices. It also makes Swiss’ breath hitch, and Dew loves the power he has over his mate in intimate moments like this. “Almost as delicious as you.”

“Couldn’t have done it without you, little flame,” Swiss turns around and kisses Dew’s lips, sharing the taste of the lovingly prepared meal.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

I think a lot about Chiyoh’s arc, and how it aligns with the broader topics season 3 is touching on wrt justice, prisons, and moral responsibility.

Because what’s so striking to me is how unapologetically ruthless she is in her handling of the prisoner, in a way that even Will calls her on:

Chiyoh: He wants you to look at him, speak to him. But you’re not going to. Will: You’ve cast aside the social graces normally afforded to human beings. Chiyoh: He’s cast them aside. All he’s allowed is the sound of water. It’s what the unborn hear. It’s their last memory of peace. Will: You’re keeping him like an animal. Chiyoh: I wouldn’t do this to an animal.

The kind of solitary confinement she subjects him to is, effectively, torture. And yet she feels so strongly about murder! Her self-defense murder of the prisoner and its immediate aftermath marks the only time when she’s truly emotionally rattled, and everything about the situation suggests that not killing is a very stringent moral standard she’s held herself to. And no matter how wearying the prolonged imprisonment is to her, it’s not one that she has a moral objection to - she believes it’s justified by the severity of the prisoner’s crimes. (It’s questionable whether she considers her treatment of the prisoner to be violence, but if she did, she’d certainly term it “necessary violence”.)

(There is something similar to consider about the random mooks she shoots to ensure Hannibal and Will’s escape in Digestivo - is this “necessary” violence to her? Apparently, but if so, she considers protecting the man she considers to be family something for which it is worth taking lives. And the fact that those murders are far-off sniper shots suggests that perhaps she is averse to violence when it’s up-close, personal, and bloody, but is still willing to enact it when she can distance herself somewhat from its effects.)

All of that is to say - I am convinced that Chiyoh’s insistence that she only commits violence when it’s necessary, and her repeated disavowal that she is anything like Will, despite having actively undertaken vigilante justice, is pretty hypocritical on her part! I don’t say that to demonize her - the jumble of contradictory ethical principles is one of the aspects of her that I find fascinating to crack open despite her limited screen time, and Will himself by season 3 (and almost certainly post-canon) is also pretty capable of hypocrisy. And of course she’s not entirely like Will. She doesn’t seem to take much righteous satisfaction or sadistic pleasure in her handling of the prisoner - her line that “we have been each others’ prisoner” suggests that the situation wears on her just as much as him. But it is pretty clear to me that there are truths about herself, and her capacity for violence, that she is pointedly refusing to acknowledge, and that she’s clinging to some pretty narrowly defined moral principles so as to preserve her self-concept.

And I think the question that that arc involving Chiyoh invites us to ask - whether the bare life conditions she subjected her prisoner to really were all that morally superior to murder - constitutes one potential thread between 3A and 3B. Because what it brings to mind for me is Hannibal’s line to Alana in WOTL: “Any rational society would either kill me, or give me my books.”

And like many of Hannibal’s statements… it makes a twisted kind of sense.

To be clear, I absolutely do not think NBC Hannibal is trying to articulate a thematic statement against carceral justice - it’s too apolitical a show to bear that kind of weight. (And it’s certainly not interested in rehabilitation, either). But it is a show that is very interested in how our moral beliefs as well as our darker urges and fascinations define our selfhood, and the kind of moral doublethink we all engage in. And that kind of thematic backdrop does appropriately pair with the show’s general slant towards murder as not even necessarily more ethical than imprisonment, but more honest. As something that constitutes truly owning our moral judgments, feeling for ourselves the full weight and impact of delivering them.

Alana being the recipient of that line from Hannibal - and her overall role as his jailor - also has a certain kind of irony, given that she herself has to learn this lesson in 3A. She and Margot, as per their dialogue in Dolce, intend to have Mason arrested. But when that plan goes awry and they can’t rely on FBI intervention, Alana ends up having to pay the price of getting involved with Mason by getting her hands dirty. Notably, in the cases of both Alana and Chiyoh, Will has a hand in pushing them both towards murder (and in the case of Alana, Hannibal also plays a role in that - an interesting example of the aligned-but-divergent ways Will and Hannibal might exert influence on others post-canon). The situations are somewhat different in that Chiyoh has shouldered more personal responsibility in taking on the role as jailor, rather than ceding that authority to institutional higher powers. But her situation does still overlap significantly with Alana helping Margot murder Mason, in that the result Will engineers from her feels geared to force her to face what she’s taken on, to get up close and personal and really see.

(And of course, both murders bring some sort of freedom or moral catharsis, along with an intense self-recognition that can’t be found through the complacency of more socially acceptable forms of justice.)

Furthermore, in 3B, Will himself is engaged in a similar kind of thought process. In his conversation with Walter, he’s pretty firm on not killing Dolarhyde, and sending him to a mental hospital instead. And given Will’s arc at this point in the show, it’s pretty intuitive that this intention is a product of Will not wanting to be the kind of person who kills - an intention that is arguably also present for both Alana and Chiyoh. All three do have genuine ethical objections to murder as well, of course - I can pretty easily formulate all of them feeling that fewer people dying is an optimal outcome. But their personal conceptions of themselves are certainly also a factor in their disavowal of murder.

But the culmination of the Red Dragon arc, in which Will and Hannibal jointly kill Dolarhyde, is clearly much more preferable end for Dolarhyde. The way it’s cinematically rendered, with the blood fanning out in the shape of wings, suggests that murder constituted his ultimate transformation, in which his true sense of himself was fully realized. Although defeated, undergoing change to fuel our main characters’ radiance is a much more poetically resonant and satisfying ending, and it’s hard to imagine any other way he’d rather lose. Aesthetics > ethics.

Of course, in real life, I don’t believe that killing people - even genuinely bad people who’ve caused serious harm - is a remotely acceptable ethical solution. But within the world of Hannibal, a world in which the killers conceive of themselves in terms of artistic vision, for whom psychiatric language and its corrective purpose is nowhere near sufficient - by the internal moral logic of that universe, murder is often more merciful, and displays much more genuine understanding and empathy.

All of this is to say, I think Chiyoh’s arc can be figured within these broader themes in season 3. And the lesson she learned from Hannibal - and by extension, Will - from her intervention with justice is much the same as the lesson that Bedelia learned from Hannibal: that observing and participating are the same. Taking on the responsibility of enacting justice, in the world of Hannibal, requires becoming the executioner.

[the-rad-pineapple]

You know I love you, right?

Will and Hannibal have been dating for six months, and Will knows Hannibal is the Ripper, but he has no idea how to bring it up to him. The opportunity arises when Will walks in on Hannibal cooking someone, but how will Hannibal react to the intrusion?

ao3

words: 2.8k

It was bound to happen eventually. They’ve been together for over six months. Will tells himself they’ve gotten super close. Which is true. But he says they’re super close instead of saying they’re codependent. Because they are. And Will likes it. And he knows Hannibal likes it too. But Hannibal doesn’t know that Will knows he’s the Ripper. Will’s a little insulted Hannibal thinks he doesn’t know, but Hannibal’s ego has the ability to blind him if he isn’t careful. Will’s honestly flattered, because Hannibal is taken with him, and Hannibal’s ego’s grown because of how in love with Will he is. Because he sees Will as something precious and rare. He knows Will’s smart. Keen. Clever. He’s said as much. Hannibal knows Will solves murders as his job, but he’s so caught up in the notion that he’s been deceiving Will this entire time that he hasn’t realized Will’s known for a while.

Because that’s the other part of the problem. Will’s known for almost three months. Nearly half of their relationship. He didn’t handle it well at first. He went on a bender for an entire weekend and only convinced Hannibal it wasn’t about him by lying and saying it was about his dad. Will never talks about his dad, so Hannibal had latched onto it with his insatiable curiosity he seems to only have for Will and Death. It was actually one of the first times Will brought up his dad with Hannibal. It eventually led to Will opening up about him to Hannibal, which only drew them closer.

But, as time passed, Will slowly came to accept that Hannibal is a killer. He came to bask in it. Revel in it. Love Hannibal for it. And then three weeks later Will realized what Hannibal was feeding him and had to start the process all over again.

Will’s a little glad he hasn’t mentioned his realizations to Hannibal yet. He needed his own time to process that the love of his life is a serial killer. And then the realization that his serial killer is also a cannibal. Because of course if Will would ever date a serial killer it had to be the one that ate and cooked his victims too. And that he’d been feeding those people to Will.

It’s been an emotional three months to say the least.

Surprisingly, the most difficult part to process is how much Will enjoys it all. He likes the fact that his boyfriend (for lack of a better term since Will refuses to give Hannibal the satisfaction of calling him his lover or paramore, even inside his own mind) is the Ripper. That he’s a cannibal. And that Will likes the food he cooks. It pisses Will off that Hannibal’s food is so delicious since cooking human can’t be easy with how much Hannibal’s victims’ body types differ. It would probably be easier to cook real pork. It’s unfair that Hannibal is perfect at everything, including murder and cannibalism. …It’s also kind of hot.

But, with all of this to say, Will shouldn’t be surprised when he comes home early unannounced to find Hannibal openly preparing a cannibalistic dinner in his kitchen. Somehow he is.

Will’s been awake for nearly two days, he’s been stuck in a car with the entire Behavioral Unit for almost four hours, and it’s been pouring outside, so he’s cold and dripping wet. He walks into the kitchen, sees Hannibal cutting meat off a human thigh and wants to jump off a cliff. He absolutely does not want to deal with this right now. He wants a hot shower and to sleep for three days. Goddammit. They lock eyes, and Will feels a migraine coming on.

Yeah, he is not fucking dealing with Hannibal’s shit right now.

“Gonna take a shower,” he says.

Hannibal blinks.

Will doesn’t wait for him to reply and trudges up the stairs to Hannibal’s room. God! Hannibal needs to be more fucking careful, and, honestly, screw him for having it all out in the open for Will to see and now have to deal with. It’s a wonder Will loves him some days, but he’d be lying to himself if he ever said that it’s difficult to love him. Loving Hannibal shouldn’t be as easy as breathing, but it is, and it’s the main reason Will’s been able to so easily accept this lifestyle (even if he hasn’t acknowledged it to Hannibal’s face yet). He’s irritated and tired, so in a surge of pettiness, Will leaves his wet clothes on the carpet outside of the bathroom. It serves Hannibal right for being so blatant with his crimes.

Hannibal has a shower and a bathtub in his ridiculous bathroom. Will sticks with a shower today. He thinks he’d fall asleep if he took a bath, and he’s starving, so he still wants to eat after this. Will turns on the shower once he’s inside and instantly relaxes when the steady water pressure and hot water fall onto him. He’s getting used to this now. Living in luxury. Living in Hannibal’s luxury. He turns, so the water hits his back, and he groans as he feels the tension bleed out of his muscles. Yeah, he’s never giving this up.

His mind feels like pins and needles. TV static from his exhaustion. He thinks he might be too tired to be emotional about Hannibal, but then he remembers his weekend bender and trying to throw up after eating a person. (He couldn’t, despite how hard he tried.) He’s already been emotional about this. He’s already processed it.

But Hannibal hasn’t.

Will sighs. He’ll deal with his melodramatic boyfriend after his shower. Preferably over dinner. His stomach growls as if the thought reminds it how empty it is, so he quickly finishes his shower, throws on some of Hannibal’s sleepwear (pajamas would be too much of a casual term to call the knitted shirt and silky pants), and heads downstairs.

Hannibal is still in the kitchen. The leg is gone.

Will grins lazily and inwardly curses the way his heart melts when he sees Hannibal. He’s absolutely gone on this man, and it’s embarrassing. “Hey.”

“Will.” Hannibal is as stiff as a board.

Holy shit, he’s nervous.

Will can’t help but be endeared to the fact that his boyfriend, a serial killer and cannibal, is nervous to talk to him about this.

Will doesn’t slow down and walks over to Hannibal and plants his head onto his chest and wraps his arms around him. Will breathes in deeply, and he’s greeted with Hannibal’s usual scent: a sharp, dark cologne, spices from the food he’d been preparing, and the slight metallic tang of blood. It took forever for Will to place that last part. The smell of Hannibal comforts him, and Will relaxes into the touch.

Hannibal doesn’t. He continues to stand stiffly.

“Hold me,” Will demands.

Hannibal immediately obeys.

He’s afraid to lose me.

“I’m right here, okay?” Will reassures. His words are slightly slurred with exhaustion. “Not going anywhere.”

“Will—”

And Will knows where this is going, but he’s not having this conversation on an empty stomach. He’ll do it sleep-deprived and exhausted down to his bones, but he won’t do it hungry too. “I’m hungry. When’s dinner?”

Will feels Hannibal swallow. Hesitantly, “I put it away.”

“It’s done cooking?” The leg Will had seen looked raw. It almost feels indecent to call a leg raw, but Will’s too tired to care.

“No…I…stopped cooking.”

Will actually pulls away at that. Just enough to look up at Hannibal. “What.”

In a slight daze of bewilderment, “I assumed you would find it unappetizing.”

“You assumed correctly, but I’ve had time to adjust. Please tell me there’s food.”

Hannibal is frozen. He stares down at Will with wide eyes.

Will asks, “Do I need to order a pizza?”

The threat snaps Hannibal out of it. “…You know.” His voice still has an airy disbelief to it.

“Yes, I know, and I’m hungry, and I thought we’d be having this conversation over dinner.”

He’s starting to sound a bit more like himself when he asks, “How long have you known?”

Frustration burns inside Will’s veins. Did Hannibal not hear how hungry Will is? But the joke’s on him. Will knows all his buttons and soft spots. So he draws in close again and places his hands on Hannibal’s waist where he’s the softest. He mouths along Hannibal’s neck before sinking his teeth into the skin. Not enough to break skin, but enough for it to be a bite.

Will pulls back enough to growl, “Feed me, Hannibal.” Will hears Hannibal’s breath hitch and can’t help but grin. He has Hannibal, the Chesapeake Ripper, wrapped around his finger.

“I’ll need about thirty minutes to finish dinner.” Hannibal’s voice is rough like it gets when Will teases him in bed for too long.

“That’s better.” Will pecks him on the cheek and gives him a dazzling smile when he pulls away.

And, oh shit. The look Hannibal is giving him.

Will’s familiar with all of the looks Hannibal gives him from the frequent soft adoration to the ravaging lust saved for the bedroom. But Will’s never seen this one. Hannibal’s eyes are sparkling with wonder. Will thinks Hannibal doesn’t realize he dazedly leans in after Will when he pulls away. Hannibal is completely under Will’s spell.

Hannibal is in love with him.

They haven’t said it to each other yet. All of the conflicted feelings Will’s gone through during their relationship has delayed him from saying it. A few weeks ago in the midst of his confliction over Hannibal, he’d never even think about saying it. But now… He knew he’s in love with Hannibal the second he accepted him for his murder and cannibalism—when he realized he liked Hannibal for his crimes and darkness. So, why hasn’t Will said it yet? Why hasn’t Hannibal said it yet? Is he waiting for Will to say it first?

Will has time to overthink it while Hannibal cooks. He sits at the dining table and thinks himself into circles. It doesn’t help that he’s so tired that his mind keeps skipping around like a broken record player and catching and repeating certain trains of thought. He lets out a frustrated huff and rests his head on his arms laid on the table. He closes his eyes. He’s resting for only a moment.

“Will.”

He jerks awake with a spike of adrenaline. He blinks and rubs a hand over his face. “Was I asleep?”

A warm hand cups his cheek and turns his face in Hannibal’s direction. Loving eyes meet his. “Yes,” Hannibal replies. One of his thumbs rubs across Will’s cheek. It settles under his eye. “I didn’t realize how tired you were.”

Will hums. “Yeah. It’s been a long couple days.”

“Let me feed you.”

Will is about to say that’s exactly what he asked for, but then Hannibal is holding a fork in front of his face. Will blinks and realizes the table is set. Oh, Jesus. He’d been out. Will leans towards the forkful of heavenly smelling food, and Hannibal gently feeds him. It’s sublime.

“Amazing,” Will murmurs as Hannibal cuts him another piece.

Hannibal’s eyes are glued to Will’s mouth as he eats another bite. His eyes are dark, and his breathing is a touch too labored for him to be simply sitting beside Will.

Oh.

Hannibal is into this.

Will chews and swallows and watches how Hannibal’s eyes snap to his throat. Will asks, “Is this the leg?”

A small, almost sheepish smile tugs at Hannibal’s lips. “Yes.” He cuts another piece for Will and brings it to his lips.

A warm fondness fills Will’s chest. He takes a bite. Chews. Swallows. Hannibal continues to stare.

Will says, “I’ve known since July.”

Hannibal falters as he cuts the meat.

“But I realized you were feeding them to me in the beginning of August.”

“I had no idea.” And Hannibal sounds…thrilled?

The reaction throws Will. “Y-yeah, I know.” 

Hannibal feeds him another bite.

Will continues, “I needed some time to…come to terms with it before I brought it up with you.”

Amusement shines in Hannibal’s eyes. “And how did you picture that conversation going?”

Will chuckles dryly. “I’m not really sure, and I think that’s why I was putting it off.”

“I supposed it worked out then.” Hannibal shoves food into Will’s mouth before he can answer.

Will swallows his bite. “You need to be more careful, Hannibal.”

“I know what I’m doing, my love.”

Will leans away from the food Hannibal tries to feed him. “You started dating the FBI profiler for your murders. That’s not careful.”

Light pink dusts Hannibal’s cheeks. “I am quite enamored with you, Will. I usually have such rigid self-control, but I’ve found when it comes to you, I cannot control myself at all.”

The admission makes Will’s stomach swoop. He rolls his eyes and says, “You’re ridiculous.” He tries to bite back a grin, but he can’t. “This conversation isn’t over, but I’m too damn tired to have it right now.”

“Alright, Will.”

“I’m serious, Hannibal.”

“I know you are.”

“You’re an asshole.”

Hannibal feeds him again. They continue in comfortable silence.

The food is gone, but they’re still sitting at the table beside each other when Will says, softly, “You know I love you, right?”

Hannibal freezes. He looks stricken. A deer in the headlights.

No one’s ever said this to him before. Not really. No one’s ever seen the entirety of him behind his person-suit and loved him.

The realization hits Will like a ton of bricks. He grabs Hannibal’s hands. “Hey.”

“Will, I…” Hannibal is blinking back tears.

“I love you.”

“Will.” He’s breathless, and the tears freely fall down his face. His grip on Will’s hands is tight.

“Bring me to bed? I want to hold you.”

Hannibal nods, and Will pretends not to hear the helpless sound he makes.

When they both stand, Will isn’t expecting Hannibal to pick him up, and he yelps in surprise before clinging onto Hannibal as he takes them upstairs. Hannibal’s carried Will up the stairs to bed before, but it’s usually lust-driven and desperate. Will’s never taken the time to soak in Hannibal’s strength and the gentle way he holds him. Will kisses Hannibal’s neck, and he feels Hannibal’s hold on him tighten.

“Love you,” Will whispers because he can.

They reach the bedroom, and Hannibal carefully lays Will down as opposed to the other times where he practically throws Will onto the bed before hungrily crawling on top of him. Hannibal is sweet like this: gently brushing Will’s curls from his face and tears staining his cheeks. Will’s face aches from smiling.

“Hannibal?”

The bed dips as he settles in beside Will. “Yes, beloved?” They're so close Will feels Hannibal’s breath fan across his face.

“I love you.”

Hannibal is kissing him. It’s heated, but it isn’t lustful. It’s hot like a bleeding heart or a furnace warming a home. It’s a slow heat, building and intense. It burns how passion burns, and Will knows Hannibal is saying he loves him too. He’s gently cradling Will’s face in his hands. His warm body presses Will into the soft mattress. He’s making these soft helpless sounds that pour directly into Will’s mouth that he’s never heard before.

Hannibal’s completely undone, and Will’s the one who undid him.

It seems fitting since Hannibal’s done the exact same to Will.

“Will,” he whispers breathlessly. He kisses him again. And again. Another quick brush of lips on lips and, “Will, I love you. I love you so much. Do you feel how I ache for you?”

It’s Will’s turn to make a helpless noise.

Hannibal doesn’t stop kissing him. He doesn’t stop whispering in a voice so fond it stings like a thorn on a rose. “I love you. I love you so, Will.” More kisses. “I’d bring you the moon and the sun and God himself if you asked me.”

Will’s dizzy. He’s tired and warm and comfortable and loved, and the words fall out of his mouth before he even knows he’s speaking. “Let me watch you.” Another kiss. “Please.” He gasps, “I want to see how you do it.”

“Do what, my love?”

“Kill.”

“Will.”

Their lips meld together, only broken apart by soft gasps and broken moans. It feels like an eternity has passed yet it feels like no time at all. Perhaps they exist outside of time, their love so strong they’re enveloped in their own pocket universe. A place where only the two of them exist, and time is no longer real. A place where teacups can’t shatter.

“Yes,” Hannibal finally answers. “I’d love to show you.”

They kiss again, and Will never wants them to part. He doesn’t remember when he drifts off to sleep. He only knows the warmth and safety and comfort of unconditional love.

[phoenixkaptain]

The all-consuming urge to do a character breakdown of Will Graham from Red Dragon…

They changed Will a lot from the books to the show. And don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but book Will Graham is so… silent.

He doesn’t speak to people. When he does, his responses are curt. He’s blunt. He doesn’t give a single fuck about hurting people’s feelings. Other people don’t like working with him. He’s quiet but intent and nothing fazes him. He can be insulted to his face and he just does not respond.

He’s a very nervous person, and rightfully so. But it’s a different nervous than Will in the show. Will in the show is very twitchy, Will in the book is still. Will can tell when psychiatrists (coughChiltoncoughcough) are trying to read him and he is Unimpressed.

When Lecter tries to derail the conversation, Will gets up to leave, and even says goodbye. Lecter says Will can’t appeal to his vanity, but when Will brings up Dr. Bloom being on the case, Lecter insists on looking over the files. He’s intimidated by Lecter, downright afraid and more than a little traumatized by Lecter, yet he still handles Lecter with finesse.

(If Dr. Bloom’s secretaries were better about not giving out people’s addresses to strangers on the phone, Will probably never would’ve been stabbed in the face.)

He isn’t exactly confident, but he knows when he’s right. He’s cold to people. People are scared of him. People don’t understand him.

He calls his wife all the time to get distracted from the case when it gets to be too much, and he genuinely seems to like Molly a lot, but Silence of the Lambs tells us that they don’t stay together.

Will doesn’t kill Dolarhyde. Molly kills Dolarhyde. She shoots him until she runs out of bullets. Will just gets stabbed in the face and runs until he collapses.

Will had a good conversation with a psychiatrist all of once in his entire life, and then that psychiatrist turned out to be a cannibalistic serial killer who obsesses over him. Will had a wife and a son and dogs and he loved them, and they left him. Will thought he was finally, finally done with Crawford and murder and serial killers, then he got stabbed in the face when he put his guard down.

I understand why they changed Will. I’ve heard people say that he’s difficult to relate to. He’s difficult to understand or like. He’s an alcoholic who pisses off a murderer on purpose and he’s so tired.

The biggest change is how much Crawford has to push him.

Will in the book is wheedled into it, but he refuses to do anything unless he has to. He refuses to see Lecter until he feels like he has to. He refuses to speak to anyone until someone else tells him to. He refuses to leave his hotel room unless Crawford drags him. That isn’t to say he doesn’t want to catch Dolarhyde. He definitely does. He just really wishes that he wasn’t the bait.

He’s an interesting character. He understands murder. He says that there’s a reason for the Dragon to bite his victims aside from sex, because there no hickeys. He says that it’s likely their suspect has never been incarcerated before. Lecter gives his opinion and then says that Will already thought of it, and Will had. He knows things. He’s haunted by things. He’s traumatized.

He figured out Lecter was the Ripper. Lecter figured out that Will knew. And Will asked him if he could leave to use the telephone down the hall. Perhaps more absurd, Lecter let him, and only stabbed Will after Will had already outed him. But that’s Lecter, Hannibal Lecter is the absolute most absurd character in all of fiction, I just find the image hilarious, like: “…may I borrow your telephone?” to the person you know painstakingly recreated the Wound Man with a corpse, as well as on paper.

I love book Will Graham. I am obsessed with his nonchalance that masks his terror. I adore that he got a Christmas card from Lecter and burned it. I can’t stop thinking about him, alone in an unfamiliar hotel room and surrounded by gruesome images of the cruelest of mankind’s mind, trying to use alcohol as a lifesaver so he doesn’t sink so deep that he can never resurface. Crawford thinks that as long as the criminal is ultimately found, it’s fine even if Will breaks.

The criminal is found. And Will most certainly breaks.