#abigail hobbs analysis

[deerabigailhobbs]

Abigail's outfit at the start: Flowy, light, unrestricted, hair down in waves

Abigail's outfit at the end: heavy looking, restricted, hair pulled back

[pesky--dust]

Was she "wasted" or venerated? Kinda wanna say a bit of both. Set aside on a pedestal, her death could never be like the others rude/banal flesh. She was going to die in hobbs desperation(he was caught, if he couldn't eat her, he could still have her death) or Hannibals shattering(she wasn't able to be the teacup come back togther.) There's an au in me somewhere, where she devours her father figures not out of revenge but out of love(?) for them and their craft

Hi! Honestly, I thought about it, too! And I want to agree with your opinion, but allow me to put it into my words and expand on it the way I see, too.

Abigail was different than their "regular" victims, and though both of her fathers' "love" was toxic, she was too important to die like others (not that both G.J. Hobbs or Hannibal had any time to elevate her to any culinary actually) - true, I completely agree with that.

But at the same time... the way she died negates everything she was taught about killing. Her father taught her that not eating their victims (human or not) is just a plain murder. Hannibal said to her that her father cut her throat out of love and you point out to that desperation, too!

We don't know whether she knew about Hannibal's "mottos" or not; however she was aware that Hannibal was a cannibal (Trou Normand's script says that Abigail recognizes the taste of the meat) and she had to have some thoughts on that then too, but sadly, we don't know anything about them, since she didn't confront Hannibal about the source of the said meat.

Moreover, we - as an audience - know that Hannibal believed he ate Mischa out of love and in order to forgive her.

But then again, when it came to Abigail - Hannibal killed her out of somewhat childlike tantrum, and so she became a sacrificial lamb that died because of the sins of her another "father" (Will).

I believe she knew what was coming, when he gutted Will and she realilsed that she made a deal with the devil, and so she undestood that there is no way out and she is about to die. Earlier, when they were faking her death, Hannibal told Abigail that if he ever wanted to kill her, he would do this the same way, her father did. It could be somewhat comforting, but at the same time? Dying in such a way seems to me a betrayal of all the values she has been taught.

It is such a banal example since I don't want to get into a true crime case that stuck into my head, but: it's like you were all you life taught by your parents that smoking is bad and you shouldn't do it only to find out that they are smoking all the time they were telling you it is bad! And so Abigail was told that killing and not eating victims is bad, only to end like an example of the "bad" killing.

I'm sorry for writing so much, but Abigail's fate touches me sometimes so much that it feels like my head is about to explode and so I like to vent my emotions by talking about her.

And I like your au so much!! It kinda reminded me about the fanfic I read, in which, in order to honour Abigail's mother, she and Hannibal baked a bread of her ashes. :(

[pesky--dust]

Forever thinking about it. I'm headcanoning that Hannibal had to bribe someone in order to make Will and himself her guardians, BUT!

In Potage Marissa says that people at school are talking, which means Abigail didn't finish high school yet, and this makes me think she isn't nineteen years old (we never got the confirmation of her age after all, did we?). Moreover, in the book she is described as a “girl”, so it means she isn't an adult.

In my country, everyone scares us with the final exams and choosing studies from the first year of high school and we also have meetings with university representatives and so on, so I think that Abigail may be just before the age of eighteen, like the second year of high school.

How the fuck were Hannibal and Will even able to become Abigail's guardians.

First off, she was 19 years old, an adult. It is never explained why she needs a guardian. Yes, she's in psychiatric care, but she hasn't been declared insane.

Hannibal is the one I find semi-believable - he's a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, he can help her work through trauma (even though becoming his patient would definitely constitute a conflict of interest). But even so - he witnessed her assault (Nicholas Boyle) and is also her other guardian's (Will's) (unofficial) psychiatrist? No conflict of interest whatsoever?

And do not get me started on Will. They made the man that killed her father in front of Abigail her guardian? Who in the actual fuck approved that. Why didn't Alana fight for her more. Why did no one step in and say "This is wrong".

I just keep thinking of all that could have been if not every single person in her life + the system had failed Abigail. I think of her and I get so, so sad.

A sacrificial lamb that never got the chance to be wrathful.

[asadstatue]

Will's expression towards Hannibal vs. his expression when finding Abigail alive just proves he didn't care about Abigail (and honestly, anyone else) as much as he did about Hannibal. He was shocked/relieved to see Abigail alive, but the real distress was when he expected Hannibal gone and safe, but he found him standing right behind him in the middle of the carnage, instead.

"You were supposed to leave." Not "how is she still alive?" Not "what did you do to her?" Not "why did you lie to me?". Only furious at risking his safety and staying while he should've been gone on Will's warning.

[a-little-cretur]

in the first few episodes of season 3, will has hallucinations of abigail being alive and of having conversations with her and there's something really telling about how she keeps telling him to go to hannibal, keeps asking why he chose to betray hannibal even after he gave will a chance to come clean, the way she tells him going to find hannibal is worth it even after he left them to die

obviously those were will's thoughts and he couldn't handle the fact that he still wanted to go to hannibal, regretted betraying him despite knowing it should be wrong that he projected it all to abigail in his mind.

like it was easier for his mind to create a fantasy where she's the one who still wants to go to hannibal than to admit that it's what he really wants

[localwhiskeyuncle]

NBC Hannibal not being able to get the rights to Clarice Starling was honestly a blessing in disguise; they were able to take all the best part of both book!Will and Clarice and make the most glorious version of Will Graham possible and it gave us Hannibal's dynamic with Abigail.

Regarding Will - I loved both characters so dearly, so to have them combined is honestly such a treat. He has book!Will's mind and temperament, but Clarice's fire, drive, and sharp sense of humor. I'm not kidding when I say the absolute best bits of each of their personalities were put into TV!Will and my God does he shine it's no wonder Hannibal is obsessed with him.

In the books Hannibal sees the potential in both Will and Clarice, but he misses his chance with Will, he pushes him too far. When Clarice comes along and is just as quick, and damaged, and bright (but younger and easier to mold), he is determined not to let her slip through his fingers like Will did. So with the two characters being of such similar significance to Hannibal, it is so perfect to blend the two of them together and makes all the sense in the world why Hannibal is absolutely bonkers crazy about Will Graham in the show - he's the amalgamation of the two most fascinating, promising people he has ever met in the source material. The show takes his obsession with two people and puts all that passion into an obsession with one person and it becomes, I think, all the more interesting for it.

Book!Hannibal is obsessive anyway (drawing Clarice as Jesus on the watch face, drawing her as a griffon on the copy of The Tattler in Florence, keeping close tabs on her career from another fucking country for seven years, Clarice being pretty much the only person he talked to Barney about, sending Clarice random gifts, etc.) but to have all of that obsession turned onto one person is delicious because Hannibal clearly finds genuine emotional longing/desire to be sort of grotesque but he cannot help but hope.

They also put some of Clarice's character into Miriam Lass (obviously - I would also say that Miriam's circumstances are a parallel to Jame Gumb's victims), but even more important, they gave some of her character to Abigail.

The books baaaaaarely touch on the Shrike and definitely have no mention of Abigail (WHICH SIDE NOTE - since she exists only in this universe she should've been called Hannah it would've tied into the books soooo nicely bc that name holds significance to Clarice and therefore begins to hold significance for Hannibal), but Abigail has arguably one of the most important pieces of Clarice, the one that kept Hannibal's interest aflame even after years of no contact: the parallel to Mischa. In the books his interest in Clarice is, at first, as a surrogate for Mischa. He attributed his connection to Clarice as a connection to Mischa for the longest time, I think partially because it confused him to feel that way for another person. He has displayed empathy at multiple points in the novels but it still doesn’t necessarily come easy to him. Abigail quite obviously steps into the surrogate sister/daughter role in the show and it's interesting to see how that plays out when you very deliberately subtract the (eventual) romance from the equation.

I guess to sum it up while I love Clarice Starling so dearly I'm glad she was not able to be included bc we ended up with much more complex relationships with the characters that do exist in the show

[red-icarus]

I believe Abigail was a representation of a the possibility of a "normal" life for Will and Hannibal, together.

Like, i agree with some people in the thought that they had more of a connection with what she represented, than who she was. The thought of them being together.

Don't get me wrong i do feel like they had a connection with her (Hannibal cause she reminds him of Misha, and Will cause she brings his paternal side). But she was nothing more than a gift, in Hannibal's eyes. Something to give to Will, if he followed him to this life, or to take away if he felt betrayed.

So her death is even more meaningful if you think that it's basically Hannibal saying "If you can't have this life with me, then you can't have this life with anyone else". She dies, and their normal life dies with, like the stag did.

Will tried to keep her alive, cause he wanted that life. But he had been too late to that realization, the realization that he picked Hannibal. And Hannibal took that as him picking Jack

Will hallucinating Abigail was more of him trying to understand why he wanted to go after a man that had done so much harm to him, and to others. He found it hard to accept the fact he wanted to be/ become a terrible man.

Also,, I don't think she would survive a family life with them, she would die in Will's or maybe in Hannibal's hands (possibly as a show how devoted they are to each other, willing to kill).

Because no person can survive their relationship if not themselves.

So yeah, in all probabilities, Abigail (Father's joy), was destined to die in her father's arms, it was just a matter of which one.

[jieobin]

“i let you in. i let you see me. i let you know me.” i let myself dream, i let myself hope that, once the wind blew past the veil and my monstrously divine form was truly seen, you would stay; you would exalt in being the only one to glimpse at me, to understand me, and *stay*.

“you wanted to be seen.” you let the wind blow, you let the veil lift. you allowed me to when you could so easily stop my machinations. you let me betray you.

“by you. a rare gift i’ve given you. but you didn’t want it.” cant you see? you’re special, you’re different. you’re the only one i would allow to get so close, to place a precarious step behind the veil, to gaze upon me the way you have. but you didn’t want that. all you wanted was to see, not join. you wanted to see me and rip the veil away, exposing me to the world. you didn’t take that step. even though i thought you would.

“didn’t i?” i wanted you. i want you. but i cant. i have a duty, a job, a reason to live. i couldn’t help myself, i enjoyed the life i had with you, the thought of the future i could have with you. i enjoyed our game; but it was only a game that i thought i couldn’t lose. i cant. but that doesn’t stop me from wanting.

[deerabigailhobbs]

I disagree with the crowd that says that Abigail likes to kill, that deep down she is like Hannibal, like Will, like her father, but just couldn't accept it. I don't think she gets a thrill out of murder, but out of survival.

This is a woman who (from what we know), was always watched by her dad, that had friends but wasn't close to them, she had no agency in her life. So when she could do something for herself, break away from the chains with force, it made her feel powerful.

She kills Nick because she thinks he'll kill her, guts him like her father taught her how. She lured the girls to her father, not because she liked it but because she wanted to live.

To her being alive is powerful, she's seen the faces of girls that look like her, seen them dead in her dreams, she knows her time could run out at any moment, so when she has the chance to face a potential killer head on, she does and kills him. She does to Nick what she wanted to do to her father for all those years.

When having that conversation with Will about her father in Relevés, Will says he felt powerful, but his version of "powerful" is very different to Abigail's. He felt powerful because he got to end a life, Abigail felt powerful because her life didn't end. It felt "good" to survive another day.

And even in the scenes with her fake and real death, she wants to end her life herself. She walks to Hannibal willingly, knowing she has no other option, and then in the flashback to the house she asks "can I push the button?" She wants to decide how her life will end, and not have it taken from her, and although there wasn't much of a choice in Mizumono, it was a choice nevertheless.

[deerabigailhobbs]

What gets to me is her thinking she'll finally be safe after waking from her coma. Talking of college, her own apartment, just being her own person with no one and nothing to hold her back.

But she couldn't help her desire to go home again, a place which was literally filled with murder and death, yet was such a consistent comfort. Even if it was for one final time, she needed closure.

Only for everything to become worse than it was before, to have new targets on her back. To be manipulated and used and fantasized about by everyone around her once again, and of course, eventually killed, with no one who could truly mourn over her.

All she wanted was to move on, but no one let her. Everyone had to harm her in some shape or form, be that mentally or physically. It's like they were trying to sacrifice her from the start, beating her down until she couldn't get up anymore. Until she decided to simply accept death by taking Hannibal's hand. Hannibal may have held the knife, but everyone killed Abigail

Sometimes I think about Abigail Hobbs for too long and then I cry. Like you’re telling me this 19 year old girl first becomes an orphan (I’ve been 19 and the idea of losing even one parent at that age is terrifying, let alone both??), and not only does she lose her parents, she loses her mom to her dad, who has been a cannibalistic murderer for a good time (which she later learns was related to her actions in his mind!), and he almost sends her to an early grave by slitting her throat???

She wakes up from a coma to having no immediate family, friends and media that believe her to also be a killer, and sole responsibility for whatever her parents left behind.

Like so much more happens to her in the course of the series, but even that much makes me want to wrap her up in a big hug and protect her from the world.

[pesky--dust]

Guys. I’m so weak. I couldn’t sleep thinking and crying because of teacups and Abigail (but also about Mischa and Clarice).

I know that everyone knows these things but let me get this all out of my head (hopefully).

Teacups are one of the most important recurring motifs of the show. Movies accustomed everyone to the fact that Hannibal Lecter is horrendous cannibalistic serial killer and that’s of course true, however I don’t remember anything about teacups/china from there, but it is in fact in the books. Hannibal is passionate about Stephen Hawking theory presupposing that if the universe starts to contract, then time should reverse.

The show’s famous quote was inverted from the book (“Occasionally, on purpose, Dr. Lecter drops a teacup to shatter on the floor. He is satisfied when it does not gather itself together”).

In the show he says he isn’t satisfied when the teacup does not gather itself together, because he does wish it would gather itself together, because he feels remorseful about Mischa’s death and if the universe would start to contract, then the smashed teacup should get itself back together again, and it would mean that he would go back in time to the moment where Mischa is still alive.

And he tries to deceive fate.

In the book he tries to do so by using Clarice but the effect he gains is not the one that was his original plan, if I can say so, however he is still happy with that anyway, as you can tell by “For many months now, he has not seen Mischa in his dreams”.

In the show he uses Abigail for that. He faked her death. Everyone thought that she was dead but it turned out that she was alive. He did it! He turned back time! The teacup did gather itself together! Right? Right???

However, feeling angry about Will, he decides, “Fate and circumstance have returned us to this moment. When the teacup shatters.”, and that moment for Abigail is the moment, when her father took her hostage and wanted to kill her. Of course, Will shot Garrett Jacob Hobbs then, but he was so shaken that he couldn’t put the pressure on her wound properly. If it wasn’t for Hannibal, she would die on that kitchen floor (and she also knew that!).

So Hannibal cut her neck in the exact same place as Hobbs. Because the teacup actually was midair the whole time, seconds before smashing, if it wasn’t for him.

Abigail was not his Mischa. She was Will’s Mischa. The child Will had to lose in order to truly understand him and his pain. Hannibal hoped to turn back time but you cannot do it with the teacup that is leaking from the very beginning?

Thank you. All these thoughts made me cry from midnight to two in the morning.

[ssaseaprince]

You can not convince me that when Hannibal saw Will in the Hobbs kitchen begging Abigail to survive that he didn't feel something, and that's why he saved her. I'm not saying it was pity or love, and yes, some of it was curiosity, but I do believe he felt a spark of something he couldn't explain and that's why he saved her for Will.

[queezleish]

Something something about how Abigail Hobbs is only a reflection/projected image of what the men in her life wanted her to be and we never actually saw who she was the entire time she was on screen

[deerabigailhobbs]

I think he was concerned for her, but only how it benefited him and his want to get closer to Will. I even think he loved her, but it was a really fucked up way of love (because this is Hannibal Lecter).

But yeah, he manipulated the shit out of her. He said that her killing Nick Boyle wasn't self-defence, but my guy wasn't even there! Nick ran up to Abigail and slammed her against the wall, even if he meant her no harm, wtf was he thinking? He'd previously antagonised her, she was thinking of a way to protect herself against someone who may have killed her. She had a knife in her hand and took no chances. The reason she "guts" him is because she's never killed before, and that's how her father taught her to treat animals. It was a natural instinct.

And then Hannibal says "nuh uh, not self defense" and she believes him because she was just attacked and is already in a vulnerable state. Her mind is all over the place, but here comes Hannibal to calmly tell her that he's willing to help

Is it just me, or did Hannibal “help” Abigail hide Nick’s body in order to groom her and control her?

Like… I don’t hate him, as a character, but I really do not think feel like Dr. Lecter was excessively concerned for little miss’ future.

[hootybal-lecter]

There are a lot of reasons why Hannibal killed Abigail but I think ultimately, he killed her for the same reason her father tried to kill her:

There wasn't a place in the world for her anymore.

We know that GJH wanted to kill and eat her because of how much he loved her, but he didn't want her to die so he killed and ate girls who looked like her. But the thing is when he actually tried to kill her he knew he wouldn't be able to "honor" her afterwards. He was already caught. So why kill her when he couldn't "honor" her the way he wanted to? Well, what life would she have to go back to after it was all over? People would likely find out that she helped him kill those girls, and even if she did it just to survive she would never be able to live it down.

There wasn't a place in the world for her.

Then Hannibal came along and became her surrogate father. He took care of her and faked her death, allowing her to break free from what the public thought of her. He planned to run away with her and Will so they could all be a family somewhere else. But that didn't work out. And what was Hannibal supposed to do then? Drag this traumatized teenager around with him as he evades capture? Without Will? Her new place in this world was supposed to be a peaceful life with Hannibal and Will, but Will rejected it. Abigail would be found at the crime scene, and what would she do then? If she didn't look guilty before she sure as hell would now, as she faked her death and secretly lived with another cannibal.

Her new place in the world was gone

The teacup that shattered had miraculously come back together, only to shatter once more. This time it could not be fixed.

[pomribs]

yes im still talking about abigail but i just cant wrap my head around how some people call her evil and manipulative.

she had to experience both of her parents and her best friend being slaughtered in front of her, then the whole world turns against her, successfully ripping apart any support systems she couldve had at such a pivotal time in her life. when she looks at hannibal like that, when she clings onto him, thats real.

HE is the one manipulating HER, actually. he saw her vulnerable at this time, clearly in need of a father figure with fucked up daddy issues and swooped right in. she was just a pawn to sacrifice to get will closer to him.

alana notes that she comes off as manipulative after the accident because of the way she chooses to withhold information. i think here, alana is expecting too much of her. shes expecting her to immediately be open to pouring her heart out to these strangers shes never met. if theres anything abigail has learned in her life its that the adults around her are not to be trusted. she casts a skeptical gaze over the gifts alana bought her, too, as if confused as to why a someone would choose to be so kind with seemingly nothing to gain.

ive seen people point out her expressions and mannerisms, and to that i say your honour my client is literally just a girl. she is the exact same in her nightmares, hallucinations, and alone, when theres no one to manipulate. she is genuinely afraid, cautious and heavily traumatised

im still rewatching s1 so i might add more if i rediscover some more scenes but yeah :p

abigail haters dni unless u wanna brawl!!!!!!